Allan Rock 'hopes' to become a law professor

Allan Rock's 8-year presidency at the University of Ottawa (Canada) ends this month (June 2016).

There has been some speculation about whether or not the newly elected Trudeau government would give the former federal minister and former Liberal candidate for Prime Minister a status job such as ambassador to a G8 country or Senate seat or high-level judgeship.

It appears that none of that is to pass (see below). Allan Rock is too much of a continued liability for the Liberal Party. Voters have not forgotten his three major political fiascos: the Irving ethics saga, tainted blood victim abandonment, and the gun registry costs manipulation.

Following his demotion from the Canadian ambassadorship at the UN, Rock continued to have a "shit magnet in his pocket" at the University of Ottawa where he decided that it would be a good idea for his family to start a legal marijuana enterprise in anticipation of a Trudeau legalization.

Furthermore, his actions at the U of O have led to unresolved legal cases, such as his unilateral dissolution of the entire student hockey team as part of his image management of sexual assault charges, which gave rise to a class action lawsuit against him and the school.

It is therefore not surprising that Trudeau is staying away from Rock, and is in no rush to legalize marijuana.

Yesterday, we learned in the school's alumnus magazine that:

"Rock is so deeply embedded in the University that he will not be gone for long. After a sabbatical, during which he will spend a semester at a U.S. law school, he hopes to teach in the Faculty of Law."

Therefore, in the tradition of Liberal nepotism, Rock "hopes" to be hired in the Faculty of Law where his "boss" would be dean Nathalie Des Rosiers, the dean he recently placed in that very position, after a period of allowing her to be in charge of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

One problem is that Rock does not have any graduate degree and is therefore not eligible for a tenure-track professorship position, if the rules of peer-committee selection are followed, which apply the academic standards on hiring.

Is Rock's planned "semester at a U.S. law School" intended to provided him with a "graduate degree", or experience that a peer-committee could interpret as equivalent to a graduate degree? If so, the value of a graduate law degree will have been degraded significantly.

Furthermore, how can Rock's "semester" be part of a "sabbatical" if he has not already been de facto hired as a professor, prior to any academic committee review?

I would recommend that a media organization make a freedom of information request to learn about the new agreement that the U of O (which Rock still heads) has made with Mr. Rock about his future.

Academic standards in the Faculty of Law are at stake, as is the very principle of university collegial governance.

Academic supression in the U of O Faculty of Law: Zabo v. University of Ottawa

Zeph Zabo (left), Denis Rancourt (right), with M. Zabo's new book about his ordeal

M. Zabo was subjected to an egregious case of suppression of his academic freedom. Two external thesis evaluators accepted his PhD thesis for defence but two internal U of O law professors wanted him to write a different thesis, one about economic rather than legal analysis. Then "our" Canadian courts refused to recognize that he had a contract with the university that had formally accepted his originally planned thesis topic. Despicable case of academic abuse and legal discrimination.

I support M. Zabo's vehement quest for reparation and justice. Enough is enough. The U of O must be accountable.

Related post: Book.

Court decisions are here.

U of O's Stéphane Émard-Chabot thinks the secrecy laws are just fine

U of O's law professor Stéphane Émard-Chabot thinks the secrecy laws are just fine.

Émard-Chabot is a former chef of staff of president Allan Rock and, as such, was subjected to an access request in the past (link) (link). The important stuff was never disclosed.

Recent article:
Editorial: The shroud of secrecy at the Ottawa Police Services Board (LINK):

That makes the exemption sound broad, but Stéphane Émard-Chabot, a municipal law expert at the University of Ottawa and former city councillor, says it’s actually quite a high bar.

“The fact that you’re dealing with contentious issues, that’s certainly not a reason in itself to go in private,” he says. “You have to show the ‘outweigh’ factor: the fact that keeping it private is paramount or of such importance that it outweighs the principle of keeping things open.”