January 2013
Professors at Queen’s University
have written an open letter apologizing to former adjunct history professor
Michael Mason over the school’s handling of accusations that he used racist and
sexist language while teaching last year.
The letter follows a September
report from the Canadian Association of University Teachers alleging Queen’s
administrators acted “callously and irresponsibly” and violated Prof. Mason’s
academic freedom in the way it addressed complaints from students and teaching
assistants about remarks he made inside and outside the classroom.
Queen’s administrators have
disputed the CAUT’s findings, and have declined to apologize to Prof. Mason, as
the report recommends. In response, several Queen’s professors penned the open
letter, released to the media on Monday, that claims the school’s administration
“cannot and does not represent Queen’s,” and that is signed by 150 members of
the Queen’s community so far.
“Queen’s consists of Queen’s
academic staff, Queen’s non-academic staff, Queen’s alumni, and Queen’s
students. As Queen’s University, authorizing ourselves as per article 14.6 of
the Collective Agreement, WE apologize to you, Professor Mason,” the letter
concludes.
Prof. Mason, who has 40 years’
experience teaching at universities, says he was quoting the words of others
from historical documents when he used racial epithets and that he did so to
illustrate and criticize widespread racism after the Second World War. He also
said a remark that he hoped students would become “masters and mistresses” of
the course material wasn’t intended to be sexist.
The CAUT report claims Queen’s made
procedural mistakes in questioning Prof. Mason about the allegations without
advance warning and without advising him of his right to seek advice from the
Queen’s University Faculty Association, which has since endorsed CAUT’s
conclusions.
Queen’s maintains its response is
bound by confidentiality rules, but principal Daniel Woolf said in a statement
Monday that CAUT’s findings “are incomplete, inaccurate, and based on a portion
of the facts in this case.”
“Academic freedom is of the utmost
importance to Queen’s University,” Dr. Woolf said. “However, this is
fundamentally not about academic freedom. It is about behaviour in the classroom
that was reported to have created a hostile and unsafe learning environment for
students.”
The Globe and Mail, November 19, 2012.
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