Today I was informed of some very troubling news concerning academic freedom. To a select few, including myself, academic freedom in Canada seems to be a bit of an oxymoron. If you’re comfortable with the world, and don’t care about such petty things as academic freedom, go back to watching your television, chatting on MSN, or playing whatever video game was making your life significant before you came across this nonsense.

First, I want to share two quotes, which I’ve been reminded of by U of O Watch:

“An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all.”
–Socrates

“One knows … that the university and in a general way, all teaching systems, which appear simply to disseminate knowledge, are made to maintain a certain social class in power; and to exclude the instruments of power of another social class. … It seems to me that the real political task in a society such as ours is to criticise the workings of institutions, which appear to be both neutral and independent; to criticise and attack them in such a manner that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight against them.” – (Michel) Foucault, debating/agreeing (Noam) Chomsky, 1971.

My thoughts on academic freedom are aligned with those of men such as Dr. Denis Rancourt and Dr. David Noble, who have had to battle through several challenges within the university system. Both of the struggles are still going on, and I encourage you to read about Rancourt and Noble on your own time, but also through those provided links.
The University of Ottawa has a disgraceful track record in terms of their dealings with Dr. Rancourt, and one of his former students Marc Kelly. I have a video to show you that is really quite ironic. Kelly teaching a class about campus corruption, and is arrested. When Rancourt tries reasoning with the officers in charge, he is also arrested under trespassing charges. Here is that video. A google search of ‘marc kelly ottawa’ brings up a host of related videos (if you have Kikin installed, if not click the video tab) about similar run-ins with the U of O security team, and Ottawa police officers.
I bring up the discussion of academic freedom for a direct reason. Today, I received an interesting email from Marc Kelly, which was addressed to the students of the U of O.

Here is a lengthy excerpt of the email:

but if this message fails to reach all of you, probably intercepted and censored by the University, I could stay stuck in a prison cell until early next year after the court case is all cleared. so this is my last chance to explain, in as much detail as i can, why I need each and every one of you to come out and stand by me on thursday

i need each and every one of you to help protect me from the bizzaro university!
if you came out tomorrow, i’d listen to everything you have to say to me too!

i love this world.
i love our society.
i love you if you are my friend.
i love you if you are my enemy

(but I do not love this country)

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On May 14th, 2009, three Ottawa Police Officers were sent to my home apartment by the University. They entered without a warrant, and they arrested me while I was sleeping. I was charged under the Criminal Code of Canada for “speaking directly to” the President of the University, because I asked him a question on March 4th, 2009, during the Q & A of his inaugural lecture series.

YOU CAN WATCH THE VIDEO OF ME ASKING AN ILLEGAL QUESTION HERE:
fast forward the video, my question starts at 1:11:35

Responsibility to Protect: a Doctrine of Humanity
http://events.onlinebroadcasting.com/uottawa/030409/index.php

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I DO NOT THINK IT IS OKAY THAT IN THIS COUNTRY A STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA CAN BE ARRESTED BY THE POLICE AND PUT IN JAIL FOR ASKING A QUESTION

aren’t we not always taught by our professors, “there are no stupid questions” ?

if illegal questions exist, does that mean there are indeed stupid questions too?

if that’s true, then what’s the difference between an illegal question and a stupid question?

Here is an excerpt from my reply:

This news is very troubling, and this case speaks about university education in a very clear light. This story saddens me greatly, and further reinforces my desire to find a better place to further my education outside of Canada. I’m truly anxious to see what unfolds tomorrow, as the authorities will be alerted to this event I imagine, and he will definitely be arrested for trespassing. It is pathetic that a university can arrest him for trespassing when he poses absolutely no threat to anybody on the campus, and has paid his tuition (though he is now expelled). I admire this guy’s stand, but his approach is a little bit off. I’ve realized a number of reasons why his paper was rejected. First, the basis of it doesn’t seem that scientific, despite the formulae present in it (I found a copy of his proposal online – http://sites.google.com/site/marckellyuottawa/test). Secondly, if you check his references you will find U of O’s public enemy number 1 among them – Denis Rancourt. The idea behind the paper seems interesting enough, and I would have thought some individuals in the physics department would have loved to help him with his research.

So far from this email and my provided links we’ve gathered a number of things. First of all, it’s illegal to ask the President of a university a question. Secondly, that academic freedom is not a guarantee in Canada, according to James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, who suggests he is dealing with at least 25 to 30 cases at the moment. Thirdly, any questioning of the political leanings of a university’s top administrators will find you in the university’s doghouse, or in the case of Dr. Noble, forced to sue the university you work at for defamation.

I am not suggesting that every university in Canada is void of academic freedom, but I am suggesting that universities take a serious look at how free they allow their professors and students to be. Academic freedom SHOULD BE the cornerstone of any proper university education , although that is the ideal and not the reality presently. My experiences at Laurentian were good, but I only did one undergraduate degree there, and was never employed at the institution (so my experience has been admittedly one-sided in all of it).

For more information on all of that is going on at University of Ottawa, please look into this website, U of O Watch.