This past November, McGill’s Advisory Panel on Campus Expression (APCE) delivered a report on the state of academic freedom and expression at the university. The report recommended that McGill exercise “institutional restraint” and refrain from responding publicly to controversial geopolitical issues in order to preserve academic freedom. This policy encourages[Read More…]
Tag: Academic Freedom
McGill Senate concludes 2024 with reflections on guest speaker policies and financial standings
McGill’s policy on controversial speaker events, the university’s projected $45 million CAD deficit for fiscal year 2026, and the school’s fundraising standing were among the topics of discussion at the university Senate’s final meeting of the calendar year on Dec. 4. The meeting commenced with two memorial tributes to the[Read More…]
Discussions of campus security and academic freedom dominate McGill Senate meeting
The McGill Senate convened on Nov. 13 to address issues such as the increased police and security presence on campus, the adjusted move-in date for first-year students, and academic freedom. The meeting began with memorial tributes to the late Professor Michael Smith, Professor Emeritus Bohumil Volesky, and Professor James Archibald. [Read More…]
Reconceptualizing free speech on an unequal campus
The debate over free speech in higher education has attracted significant attention in recent months. Elite universities, such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have received international attention as raging conservative movements take down administrations while these same administrators stumble over institutional oppression. Recent right-wing backlash against[Read More…]
Charles Bronfman’s $5 million donation to MISC raises concerns about academic freedom
Statement of Retraction The original version of the article below quoted Students for Palestinian Human Rights McGill (SPHR) about Charles Bronfman’s latest donation. The quote stating that the “McGill administration [are] puppets to their Zionist donors” played into anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jewish people being “puppet masters” of institutional decisions—a trope[Read More…]
Academic freedom does not justify discrimination
*Content Warning: This article discusses systemic discrimination and suicide. On Jan. 19, the Religious Studies Undergraduate Society (RSUS) published an open letter calling on McGill to address discriminatory behaviour by Dr. Douglas Farrow, a faculty member in the School of Religious Studies. The letter describes how Professor Farrow creates a[Read More…]
If McGill refuses to protect students, it should at least protect its reputation
On Nov. 30, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) published an open letter regarding McGill’s Statement on Academic Freedom, arguing that the statement’s unclear wording allows professors to engage in bigoted behavior under the guise of academic freedom. SSMU demanded that McGill do more to protect students from discriminatory[Read More…]
Student groups write open letter concerning Religious Studies professor
Five McGill student organizations—Religious Studies Undergraduate Society (RSUS), Theological Undergraduate’s Student Association (TUSA), Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS), Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU), and Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE)—have signed an open letter outlining concerns about Douglas B. Farrow, a professor in McGill’s School of Religious Studies (SRS). The letter[Read More…]
McGill Senate approves Fall Reading Break and discusses limits of academic freedom
Following a campaign led by students since at least 2018, the McGill Senate approved a motion to establish a Fall Reading Break for the Fall 2021, 2022, and 2023 semesters during its meeting on Nov. 18. In Fall 2021 and 2022, the break will consist of a two-day extension to[Read More…]
A foot on either side
In March 2017, Andrew Potter, former director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), resigned after publishing a column titled “How a snowstorm exposed Quebec’s real problem: social malaise” in Maclean’s magazine. In addition to causing a rare McGill snow day, the blizzard also sparked a decidedly less rare debate over[Read More…]