Because there might just be a student present who snoozed through the lecture, only managed to catch the quote you used in order to criticize it, and will rush off to complain:

A York student hears a professor say something anti-semitic, rushes out of the room in a rage, and informs on him all over the Jewish community. The professor is branded an anti-semite.

The professor, who is Jewish, was clearly using the anti-semitic statement in his lecture about prejudice as an example of a reprehensible opinion. The student failed to understand this.

[Senior Sarah] Grunfeld said Tuesday she may have misunderstood the context and intent of Johnston’s remarks, but that fact is insignificant.

“The words, ‘Jews should be sterilized’ still came out of his mouth, so regardless of the context I still think that’s pretty serious.”

Brainwashed by a culture where you are not complete unless you are a victim of something, the student in question was searching for a reason to be offended and found it by ripping a quote out of context. And is she apologizing after it has been explained to her that the fault lies with her for not listening properly? Not at all. She actually insists that the statement was still offensive.

So, as I say, be very very careful about what you say in class. There are potential victims in search of victimization everywhere.

York University has, indeed, gone completely to the dogs. They’ve had freedom of speech issues before, too.