Thursday, April 28, 2022



Tenured female economics professor is fired for saying Black Lives Matter 'destroyed' Mount Royal University in Calgary so much she 'doesn't recognize it'

A tenured economics professor in Canada was fired for saying Black Lives Matter destroyed her university to such an extent she 'doesn't recognize it anymore'.

Frances Widdowson, who also taught justice and policy studies, was sacked from Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada last year.

The academic is now calling for an open arbitration hearing with the school to have it out with the institution next January - but bosses are yet to agree.

Widdowson was fired in December for saying BLM had destroyed the college to such an extent she 'doesn't recognize it anymore'.

Activists rounded on her and called her a racist for claiming Canada's residential school program offered Indigenous children chances 'they wouldn't have received'.

But the lecturer launched her fightback this week as she pledged to take university bosses to an arbitration.

Meanwhile the institution refused to be drawn on any hearing, adding it 'will not be providing specific details on this personnel matter'.

Widdowson called for it to be held from January 16 to January 27 next year in which she can air her issues with her treatment, Fox News reports.

She told The College Fix in an interview recently: 'All of my grievances are going forward together at this time.'

The associate professor, who studied indigenization for 20 years, said she wanted it to be open so journalists could attend and report on the case.

She added: 'Without upholding academic freedom, we have no ability to explore ideas and pursue the truth.'

Widdowson is being supported by the free speech group the Society for Academic Freedom, which claimed some of her old colleagues also backed her.

The academic was unceremoniously dumped from her job at the end of last year over her comments about race. She had claimed BLM had 'destroyed MRU' to such an extent that she 'doesn't recognize the institution anymore'.

She told the Western Standard Online at the time: 'You're supposed to be teaching. That's your job.

'You can go on strike to protest police brutality but what does it have to do with you? A 'woke' faculty is now in charge. This isn't going to be good.'

She also found herself in hot water over comments about Canada's controversial residential school program.

She claimed it offered Indigenous children the chance 'to get an education that normally they wouldn't have received'.

But she said it at a time of heightened tension after unmarked graves were found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

Her comments saw students and activists round on the professor as they called for her to be sacked. One petition, which was hoping for 7,500 signatories but only got just over 6,000, branded her a racist.

It said: 'Frances Widdowson is a racist professor who works at Mount Royal University. 'This is a call to demand that the university condemns Widdowson's hateful actions against the BIPOC community and that she is terminated for her racist remarks.'

It added: 'In ignoring the racist actions of people in power, we directly contribute to the systemic racism within our society.'

In January Widdowson signaled her intension to fight her dismissal, telling CBC: 'I was generally criticizing 'woke' ideas.

'Basically, identity politics that has become totalitarian, and is imposing itself on the university, and preventing people from openly discussing ideas.'

But the university shot back that it 'unequivocally supports academic debate' but 'academic freedom does not justify harassment or discrimination'.

A spokesman told DailyMail.com: 'Mount Royal University can confirm that Frances Widdowson is no longer a faculty member and we will not be providing specific details on this personnel matter.

'MRU is committed to fostering expression and free speech, and strives to be a model for allowing opposing viewpoints to co-exist.

'The university unequivocally supports academic debate and will always defend the rights of faculty related to academic freedom.

'However, academic freedom does not justify harassment or discrimination. Mount Royal employees have the right to work in an environment that is respectful and free from harassment.

'The collective agreement and MRU policies outline a process for resolving issues of workplace conduct, and decisions are always made following rigorous due process.

'The MRU community is committed to a learning environment free from harassment and discrimination for our students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and the broader community.'

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Putting trigger warnings on books like Harry Potter does students a 'disservice', warns minister after University of Chester issued caution

Putting trigger warnings on books like Harry Potter 'to protect university students' is doing them a 'disservice', a minister has said.

Universities minister Michelle Donelan has called for 'common sense' after the University of Chester placed warnings on the first book of the JK Rowling series over 'difficult conversations about, race, sexuality, class, and identity'.

Its English Department sounded the klaxon to freshers on its Approaches to Literature module, led by Dr Richard Leahy, and even told them they could raise concerns with him if they had 'any issues' with the topics discussed.

But Ms Donelan today said students 'have to be able to live in the real world' as she questioned whether universities 'are getting their priorities right'.

She added: 'Harry Potter is actually a children's book. Fundamentally it is probably a multimillion-pound industry that has been franchised into films.

'To say that we need to protect some of our brightest and our best from the likes of Harry Potter is to not only do our universities a disservice but to do our students a disservice.'

'And it's not the way to ensure that they can enter the world having those skills at their fingertips - the ability to challenge, to be critically astute - and that's certainly not the interpretation that I'd had talking to students, that they want or they need this from their universities.'

Harry Potter: a magical masterpiece or a triggering tome?

For most JK Rowling's wizarding fantasy is pure escapism - and a classic battle between good and evil.

But the University of Chester's concerns mere discussion of it could spark triggering themes is not the first time it has been flagged in this way.

Most recently an anti-semitism row was sparked over the goblins that run Gringotts bank over the suggestion they were caricatures of Jewish people.

It was claimed they were based on figures from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an infamous text that purports to show a Jewish plan for world domination.

Ms Rowling has always been a staunch opponent of anti-semitism.

Meanwhile the portrayal of Dudley Dursley, who is one of the larger characters and is initially a bully, has prompted some calls of 'fattism'.

Ms Rowling has spoken about it herself and said Harry Potter characters who were 'on the plumper side' include 'several of my most important, admirable and loveable characters'.

There are also some themes of racism within the books.

The series' villain Voldemort believes pureblood wizards are supreme and any other people are inferior.

There are also themes of loss and abuse in the books of some of the young characters.

A literal reading might prompt some to question why there are no mental health interventions available to them at Hogwarts School.

There has also been concerns raised at the lack of diversity in some of the books.

One of the characters Cho Chang has attracted attention, with some describing her name as 'stereotypical and inaccurate'.

And despite Hermione being one of the series' main characters, there have been accusations of sexism in the books.

Some readers feel many of the female figures are portrayed as being annoying or tag-alongs to the males on their adventures.

She continued: 'There are no trigger warnings every day as you operate. I've not met students who have called for these trigger warnings either.

'They are not the issues that students are bringing up to me - they're bringing up sexual harassment, they're bringing up antisemitism.'

Ms Donelan also questioned the priorities of universities that have not yet signed up to the international Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, adding that the institutions should focus on tackling harassment and antisemitism rather than looking at trigger warnings on content.

She said: 'I think their priorities, fundamentally, should be the welfare, the wellbeing and the education of students.'

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is one of the University of Chester course's three set literary texts alongside Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games and Philip Pullman's Northern Lights.

The trigger warning, seen by MailOnline, tells students: 'Although we are studying a selection of Young Adult texts on this Module, the nature of the theories we apply to them can lead to some difficult conversations about gender, race, sexuality, class, and identity.

'These topics will be treated objectively, critically, and most crucially, with respect. If anyone has any issues with the content, please get in touch with the Module Leader to make them aware.'

It comes after JK Rowling's views on transgender rights has seen her criticised from some quarters.

But Ms Donelan said there is 'an undeniable link between quality and free speech', pointing to 86 per cent of Nobel Prize winners coming from countries with the highest rating for academic freedom - with just one per cent from nations with the lowest.

The minister added: 'Vice-chancellors need to ensure that they're not on the wrong side of history on this. We want them to proactively be supporting their members of staff - they may face criticism but certainly shouldn't face harassment when they put forward their views and their academic research.'

Today, Ms Doneland told a meeting at the Policy Exchange think tank in London that supporting free speech is 'no longer enough' and, instead, it is something that has to be 'actively defended'.

She continued: 'Where would we be now if the views of 100 or even 200 years ago had never been challenged?

'As a woman, I doubt I would be a Member of Parliament, let alone the Minister for Higher and Further Education," she said.

'But, sadly, where once we found critical debate and arguments which were run on their merit, today we have seen an upsurge in physical threats and complete intolerance of opposing ideas.'

She said professors have been 'harangued and hounded just for doing their jobs', as well as 'prominent, well-respected guests no-platformed'.

'Who would you rather employ - an inquisitive, critical, open-minded graduate, or a self-contained cookie-cutter graduate who is afraid to be challenged or confront new ideas?', she asked.

Ms Donelan also referred to the case of Kathleen Stock, who was forced to quit the University of Sussex due to her views on gender identity.

The minister said she found it 'completely deplorable' how 'balaclava-clad protesters forced a female academic to stay off campus under threats of physical violence'.

She added that Ms Stock's case was not an 'isolated event' as an 'intolerant mob' threatened the Israeli ambassador outside an event held at the London School of Economics just a few weeks later.

'We're not talking about peaceful protest here, the right of which of course is sacrosanct. We are talking about threats, intimidation and harassment', she said.

Ms Doneland said Policy Exchange polling had shown that 32 per cent of academics identifying as right-wing had refrained from airing their views in teaching or research, while around 15 per cent identifying as politically centrist or left-wing also reported self-censoring.

University vice-chancellors, academics and students should not 'allow the history books to record your name as part of the small cabal of the intolerant', she added.

Instead, the minister called on vice-chancellors to 'go into bat' for their staff and "put their money where their mouth is" on the issue rather than bowing to the 'intolerant few'.

The Government's Free Speech Bill has been carried over to the next session of Parliament.

Ms Donelan said she expects the House of Lords will have 'a lot to say on this subject', but that the Bill is less about what happens in Parliament than 'a culture change that will reverberate through the sector'.

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Why I'm suing my kids' school district

I love the public schools in my hometown of Rochester. I went to them myself, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and my experience inspired me to become a teacher. My husband and I both graduated from the district, and we chose to live in Rochester largely for the schools. We want our kids, who are currently in elementary school, to have access to at least the same level of excellent education.

But now I’m suing the school district. It’s surreal. But it’s necessary.

What happened? Last August, I was casually browsing social media and stumbled upon a teacher's post, which featured reference materials for a new "Ethnic and Gender Studies" class at the local high schools. The books immediately raised questions, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. So, I reached out to get more information. While my kids are years away from being able to take this class, I wanted to learn more about what’s coming their way.

The teacher instructed me to contact the district’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director, who was in charge of training the teachers in charge of the class. I did so, but she evaded my questions. The Secondary Director of Education offered to share material with me, but all I received was a one-page course outline, a teacher training PowerPoint, and a lesson plan filled with "ice breakers" for the first two weeks of school. I also wrote to our school board and superintendent, but heard nothing back. And I repeatedly asked administrators for information that should have been readily available, such as course materials and student assignments. But after several weeks of trying to get answers, I received nothing of substance.

Eventually, the DEI director told me to send a Freedom of Information Act request. Since school districts are legally bound to provide public documents, I felt hopeful that I might finally get access to the information I sought. As it turns out, I was overly optimistic.

The district has devised new ways to stonewall my search for the truth. In response to my FOIA request, the district claimed that, other than the few documents I had already received, no other curriculum documents existed. That seems impossible, since based on my communications with the district, I had reason to believe there were already case studies, daily questions, readings, and Google classroom assignments. But the district refused to shed light on any of this.

What’s more, the FOIA requests alerted me to more transparency concerns. For example, I discovered that the district had removed the 6th and 7th grade Advanced Language Arts classes without following an approval process or allowing for public input. And when I tried to obtain teacher training materials, the district again attempted to block my efforts. While I paid more than $400 for the FOIA request, officials refused to provide copies of any copyrighted materials, despite the "fair use" exemption in the copyright law.

As the months went on, and after talking with others who were charged exorbitant fees for FOIA requests, I began to wonder: Why all the secrecy? Why all the efforts to keep parents in the dark?

Betsy DeVos: Parents are ‘tired of being thought of as a nuisance, taken for granted’Video
Frustrated by the constant stonewalling, I reached out to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which is helping me sue the district for answers. I am asking Rochester Community Schools to provide me with copies of teacher lesson plans, curricula, reading materials, video materials, and assignments. To be clear, questioning a class does not mean I am opposed to it. I just want to confirm that these sensitive topics are being addressed in a fair and balanced way.

Some of my friends and family have asked me, "Why do you keep pursuing this?" It’s a good question. If administrators had responded with straightforward answers, I wouldn’t have needed to go this far. But they didn’t. Nothing taught in our schools should be under the cover of secrecy. If there is any reason why secrecy is desired or needed, that alone is a red flag.

For the sake of my kids, and for the sake of all other parents who send their kids to Rochester public schools, I need answers. We have a legal right to know what our children are taught in school. And the public schools that we pay for with our taxes have a legal duty to tell us.

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My other blogs: Main ones below

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

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