Physics professor Denis Rancourt filed a $10 million grievance on May 18th against the University of Ottawa for alleged violation of academic freedom, executive interference, sustained harassment, slander, and misfeasance, by the President, Mr. Gilles Patry, the VP-Academic, Mr. Robert Major, and the Dean of Science. The first-step required mediation attempt is to be scheduled before the end of next week.
This followed workload attributions where Prof. Rancourt was removed from all three first-year courses that he developed, including the controversial SCI 1101 Science in Society activism course, and from the popular Cinema Politica series that he organizes, and given only final-year and graduate physics courses.
The full text of the grievance is posted HERE.
Student and community member supporters have formed the Freedom of Expression Committee (FEC) to rectify the situation. The FEC campaigns are described on THIS web site.
The FEC is calling for the resignation of Patry, Major, and dean André Lalonde and has initiated an aggressive petition campaign. The petition can be reviewed and signed electronically HERE.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
U of O Removes Activism Course – Prof Files $10M Grievance
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Speaking of transparency, isn't it worth noting that the person writing and managing this blog is the professor filing the lawsuit? Or at least the contact email address seems to indicate as much.
No kidding. He also happens to be arguably disgruntled and in my view at least, largely discredited.
And with 3 'activist' blogs a little too hungry for the limelight I might add, but I guess that's neither here nor there.
This website is all about DGR's personal frustrations, but subversively masked as a legitimate university watchdog.
Was the intention of this website to trick unwary visitors into thinking DGR's thirst for vengeance was of true concern for the U of O community?
Keep up the good work and the battle.
Thanks. We will.
People like this look harmless enough to must of us, but we can't afford to ignore him, especially when he
preys on the young and impressionable. It's unethical and unacceptable for him to continue jeopardizing their good in private and public for his own nefarious end, not least of which is the glorification of his own massive ego.
When at least two graduate students have been threatened of reprisals by profs from another department (profs who never even met these students before) just for having publicly supported the "activism course" initiatives, I'm wondering who's thirsty for vengence?
Philippe Marchand
Department of physics
(See, Mr. ********, I won't be silenced just because you're threatening me.)
If true, that's alarming, and perhaps if this was a legitimate watchdog instead of one man's manifesto, it could serve as a credible advocate.
The only comments with any credibility here come from people who say what they have to say in their own name. So, whether or not "anonymous" is one person or a number of people acting in concert ("thanks, we will"; whether or not he is a colleague of Prof. Rancourt or, say, an illiterate like David Warren of the Ottawa Citizen, the cowardice is pretty apparent.
Kudos to Phillippe Marchand for refusing to accommodate the pettiness of small minds and pointing out the obvious (and ironic) disdain for academic freedom that some academics seem to possess.
So what if this blog is authored by the same person who is its subject. How is that different from most other blogs?
Have you ever broken a limb and simply gotten tired of having to tell the story of how it was broken to so many different people? This is no different. Instead of having to tell people individually, DGR writes it up and refers people to the site.
Makes a lot of sense, considering how many people ask him on a regular basis how it is going.
Meanwhile, Mr/Ms anonymous, if you don't like it (which seems to be implied by the similar anonymous comments on nearly every post in this blog), go back to consuming your "Fair and Balanced" news from traditional outlets.
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