On December 10, 2008, U of O physics professor Denis Rancourt was barred from campus, suspended from all responsibilities, escorted off the premises by university police, and told that he would be fired as soon as it could be arranged. .
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This catalyzed numerous responses and the creation and growth of several new web sites dedicated to tracking the University of Ottawa’s campaign to fire Rancourt:
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The news also generated a frenzy of comment posting activity on UofOWatch, illustrating both sides of the debate.
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A support committee (the Committee for the Defence of Education, CDE) has been set up and is chaired by psychology professor Claude Lamontagne, who can be reached at claude.cde -at- gmail -dot- com.
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The CAUT announced its Independent Committee of Inquiry (ICOI) in the January 2009 issue of the CAUT Bulletin.
11 comments:
I'm sorry, if you think there is extensive controversy about the decision to fire you, there is no evidence of it in the university community and virtually none here. Furthermore, if you think that someone posting on your wretched self-promotional site is evidence of debate, it is not. I will refrain in the future, so as not to be co-opted in yet another of your self-aggrandizing propaganda campaigns.
I'm sorry, if you think there is extensive controversy about the decision to fire you, there is no evidence of it in the university community and virtually none here. Furthermore, if you think that someone posting on your wretched self-promotional site is evidence of debate, it is not. I will refrain in the future, so as not to be co-opted in yet another of your self-aggrandizing propaganda campaigns.
It's pretty amazing that this guy claims his site fosters debate about him, when so many of the posts ignore him completely, pointing out that he is irrelevant and a thing of the past. And then proceed to ignore anything to do with him.
It seems like self-serving propaganda from apparently narcissistic Rancourt, who IS going to be fired. With cause. And that's the first constructive thing I have heard of in association with him.
Denis, you've become a joke. I particularly like your denisrancourt blog site, which looks like you might be gearing up to sell action figures of yourself.
Why do all your so-called activism web sites end up being about you and nothing else?
The best joke of all, though, is the one where you claim that Allan Rock is personally trying to fire you as some sort of jewish conspiracy.
Uh, Denis "I don't really do the guilt thing" Rancourt: that's not all the documents. But you know this.
Where are the rest? And why do you go to such extremes to attack anyone who don't agree with you?
Do you really think Israel is trying to have you fired?
Do you really believe that it's a good idea to be able to arbitrarily change a course's content to fit your personal whims? Should we let anyone who is supposed to teach, say, first year music appreciation actually go and talk about how to build roofs?
When did you cross the line into actual insanity?
Regardless, it's time for someone whose extremism has rendered him impotent and irrelevant to actually go. Firing you is a very sensible idea, tenure or no.
Oh my, it seems incredible, even for Rancourt, but he is now claiming a Jewish conspiracy behind his dismissal. Spending a bit too much time with that Noble guy from York, maybe?
"that's not all the documents"
the documents on academicfreedom.ca include all the documents that the Dean included with his recommendation of dismissal. if there are other documents, please let us know, but also try to figure out why the Dean didn't believe they were worthy of inclusion in his large "dismissal book", as it's called on academicfreedom.ca.
Holy crap, this guy thinks he's being fired because of secret lobbying pressure from Israel?
I hear you can stop the aliens from getting in your head by wearing tin foil hats.
Someone definitely drank their own kool-aid.
Where is that troll "cultist-sycophant on and on" prof? It's almost like he was told to stop? Come back. We need you to explain this.
We tried to keep him busy here as much as we could.
Maybe the Dean judged that his continued posting on U of O Watch was affecting his workload performance...
Find a productive resolution, rather than seeking ways to jump back in the gutter. Abusing people who appear to have been angered/hurt by Rancourt's very public actions does not improve the way university members view this matter. The smart response is to try to understand why the person in question is so put out.
Apart from Rancourt himself, who is not probably worth discussing, why would you want to attempt systematically to underestimate the people who oppose you? It is not, demonstrably in this case, a winning strategy.
In any event, comments like these will win your cause (if it is your cause - I am not assuming anything) no friends among thinking people, which is nearly everyone in any university. Nothing good will emerge from schoolyard bully tactics, which, in my considered view, is the approach used commonly by Rancourt himself. Elevate the debate in a way he never did and you will end up doing much better than him.
Just my $0.02.
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