Academic Freedom
The Issue
Academic freedom at Canada’s post-secondary institutions is being seriously undermined. A significant proportion of university and college academic staff are being hired into contingent positions lacking the job security that makes protection of academic freedom feasible. In response to chronic underfunding, universities have agreed to fundraising deals and collaborative projects that compromise academic integrity and academic freedom. Universities are actively implementing codes of conduct and respectful workplace policies that attempt to regulate speech permissible under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Why It Matters
The public mission of the university is to advance and disseminate knowledge, educate students, and encourage critical thinking and free expression. These ends cannot be achieved without academic freedom.
Our Work
The Centre engages in public education about the nature and importance of academic freedom. It highlights current threats and works to ensure that academic freedom rights are extended to all academic staff.
Resources
The Professor, the Petition and the President: Professor Bhabha, B’Nai Brith, and President Lenton
On June 23, 2020, B’Nai Brith issued a press release and posted an online petition calling on York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton to bar Professor Faisal Bhabha from teachin
Academic Freedom and Perceptions of Harm
Something very wrong has happened at the University of Alberta. A professor has been fired from part of her academic job for views on sex and gender that break with current orthodoxy.
By Carolyn Sale
Just doing their job: why we all need professors to exercise their academic freedom in Premier Kenney’s Alberta
Academic freedom, the “cornerstone” of the academy, is always under threat, often in subtl
By Carolyn Sale
A Cautionary Tale: Dangers to Collegial Governance in the Time of COVID-19
On March 19th, the Executive of the General Faculties Council at the University of Alberta took the unusual step of acting on delegated authority, at a special meeting, to refuse to gran
By Carolyn Sale
New Hotline to Assist Students Approached by CSIS Addresses a Problem Neither New nor Unprecedented
Co-Authored by Nader Hasan
On November 12, 2018, the University of Toronto’s student newspaper, The Varsity, reported that Muslim Student Association executives had been regularly receiving surprise visits from RCMP and CSIS agents regularly since 2016. Since the events of 9/11 in the United States, security and intelligence officials have taken an interest in Muslim Students Associations (MSAs) across universities in both Canada and the United States.
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