While the racial slur itself was never used, L.D. said the discussion made them feel “extremely uncomfortable” and “unsafe.”
academic freedom
Lawsuit regarding Lieutenant-Duval’s use of ‘N-word’ in classroom continues as committee of arbiters meet.
“Our history is who we are. And if you’re going to talk about academic freedom, you have to incorporate that history within your teachings,” said panellist Dr. Lashley during Friday’s event.
“Scholars must remain vigilant whenever academic freedom collides with diversity. The former can be compromised by EDI activists, who in turn will only be pacified once their demands to censor ‘offensive’ remarks or ‘dangerous’ ideas are met by university administrators,” writes University of Ottawa school of sociological and anthropological studies professor Stuart Chambers.
“The Committee is therefore against the exclusion of words, works or ideas in the context of respectful academic presentations and discussions whose educational goal is to promote the dissemination of knowledge,” wrote the Committee on Academic Freedom in its report.
“The reason in question is that if all parties in a discussion have the freedom to speak their ideas without punishment, this prevents proponents of reprehensible ideas from becoming martyrs,” writes Quinn Sam, a second-year political science and economy student.
In an email to students on Tuesday, Frémont pointed to the court of public opinion as the reasoning behind the creation of the committee.
We need to stop painting each other as militants, instead, we need to work together to ensure that we can create a better learning environment to prevent an incident like this from happening again.
“Academic freedom, which protects professors and researchers from sanctions when they dissent from prevailing opinions, has been seriously undermined by the authoritarian left. This was confirmed recently in a controversy concerning a University of Ottawa professor who spoke the ‘N-word’ in class,” writes Stuart Chambers, a professor at the school of sociology and anthropology at the University of Ottawa.
“What is happening at the University of Ottawa is not about white folk’s right to access reclaimed verbiage by communities outside of their own, nor about academic freedom, as we have been so led to believe. What we are collectively bearing witness to is about power; namely who can access it, and who must succumb to it,” writes Shadé Edwards, a second-year common law student at the University of Ottawa.
The University of Ottawa’s president and vice-chancellor Jacques Frémont responded early this morning to the recent incident of a professor uttering the ‘N-word’ in an online lecture. The professor had been suspended since early October, and a group of professors had written a letter denouncing her treatment at the hands of the U of O administration.
Homa Hoodfar, a retired Concordia University professor and researcher, sat down with the Concordian to discuss her 112-day experience in Evin prison in Iran.
