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ANALYSIS

Academic Freedom at Canadian Universities Threatened as Schools Police Speech on Gaza, Canadian Organization for Faculty Associations Warns

Association representing 70,000 academic professionals says teachers and students are facing repercussions for speaking out about Gaza

Universities across Canada have adopted a policy of supposed “institutional neutrality” when it comes to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, but their actions reflect efforts to quell dissent says the association representing 70,000 professors and academic professionals. 

The Canadian Association of University Teachers, a national organization representing teachers, librarians, researchers, general staff and other academic professionals across Canada, says academic freedom at Canadian universities is being violated by “institutional neutrality” policies that are impacting the ability of professors and other academic professionals to exercise their rights to free expression. 

Although CAUT President Peter McInnis says threats to academic freedom on university campuses are not necessarily new, university administrators are making a more deliberate effort to dodge “difficult” conversations – ones that would be fitting for places of education. 

“The idea of challenging things regarding human rights is always going to be contentious, but it speaks to the need to (protect) academic freedom,” McInnis told PressProgress. 

“I think this is a test of how willing we are as a society to engage in these difficult conversations and if not at universities or colleges, where would this be held?”

McInnis points out universities across Canada have adopted various policies and mechanisms to enforce “civility,” such as “respectful workplace policies,” “institutional neutrality” and “directors of risk management,” which ultimately work to undermine academic freedom.

“There has been for some time an effort by universities and colleges to pass what they call ‘respect for workplace’ policies, but the idea that we all have to be respectful and polite, it is a way of cloaking censorship of academic freedom,” McInnis said. “To raise issues around Gaza, for example, would be causing contention and be impolite.”

“They now have directors of risk management and part of it is just a kind of cynical appraisal of reputational risk to the university in terms of angering the provincial government or potential donors.”

McInnis says Canadian post-secondary institutions are increasingly shifting to “risk management” approaches in response to a more precarious financial situation.

“Shifts in provincial government funding, the increasing reliance on private philanthropy and the general ideological climate of hyper-critical engagement on social media have all played a role,” McInnis said. 

“University boards of governors who, in effect, run the institutions, have over-representation from private corporate executives. Faculty and student voices on boards are in the minority and are usually told to be quiet and listen. Unlike academia, private corporations expect a ‘duty of loyalty’ from employees and do not permit them to speak out on controversial topics. This is directly at odds with academic freedom as a professional faculty right, especially regarding intramural and extramural expressive rights.

Coupled with the fact that private donors “attach strings” to their donations, institutions are inherently fearful of funds being withheld if universities attract negative attention. 

“This happened at the University of Manitoba College of Medicine in May 2024 when the main donor threatened the faculty over comments he found ‘antisemitic’,” McInnis said. 

McInnis cites similar incidents at other universities including police responses to student encampments to protect the reputation or “marketing brand” of the institution.

According to McInnis, individual professors and students are bearing the brunt of consequences for speaking about Gaza: “While there are some people that are willing to stand up and risk their careers, many academics are intimidated or simply wouldn’t engage in that kind of public activity.”

At UBC, Sean Tucker, an instructor at the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) was let go in an example of what colleagues have called a violation of his academic freedom.

Students in the SPPH also penned a letter to the university in support of Tucker and to condemn the university’s “culture of silence” and “chilling effect” at SPPH and UBC in regards to Israel’s war on Gaza. 

“The direct silencing on issues about Palestine suppresses academic freedom and undermines one of the primary functions of the university,” the letter obtained by PressProgress states. 

“Not only has SPPH silenced and censored student efforts to engage with critical education on the crisis in Gaza, but the School continues to suppress dialogue within its community.”

But the stifling of free expression in relation to Gaza isn’t exclusive to UBC. 

In 2021, after pressure from donors, the University of Toronto rescinded a job offer to a human rights scholar for her work on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. 

Since then, it appears universities have become even more “risk averse,” as McInnis calls it. 

At York University in November 2023, a student group at York University issued a statement condemning Israel, causing the university to push back, “accusing the students of being out of step with the institution’s values.”

Last May, the valedictorian at the University of Manitoba’s college of medicine delivered a speech urging doctors to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. As a result, the school’s dean issued a public apology for the statement, which he called “divisive and inflammatory.”

At Western University, after students set up an encampment for nearly two months, the university implemented then quickly rescinded new protest rules requiring prior approval for protests and requiring them to take place within a set time frame.

Muhannad Ayyash, a professor at Mount Royal University and member of Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism, Racism, Colonialism & Censorship in Canada (ARC) says universities are more conservative than they would have you believe. 

“They don’t like to rock the boat too much despite their claims of commitment to innovative ideas and revolutionaries—they don’t really mean that,” Ayyash told PressProgress.

“I’d say the majority of university administrators would look at this issue and they would calculate that they don’t have anything to gain from supporting academic freedom in this case and that they have a lot to lose in terms of public pressure (and) threats of funders to withdraw their funding.”

Ayyash says this is one of the main reasons for the affront to academic freedom, particularly when it comes to Palestine. 

“A university administrator’s job is to stand up for academic freedom and communicate the importance of it to the public, not just to bow down to these governments or special interest groups or lobby groups.”

“The primary job of any university administrator is to protect academic freedom and they’re clearly not interested in doing that when it comes to Palestine.”

McInnis emphasizes one thing to bear in mind is that universities are heavily unionized environments and wants professors and faculty to know they can exercise their rights within their collective agreements by filing grievances when needed.

“Part of it is understanding that you have these rights and that you have to exercise them.” 

Ultimately, the institutional neutrality being posited by universities is often a cover for giving in to outside pressures, signalling a disturbing trend for academic freedom moving forward.

“Universities are saying they will adopt a position of institutional neutrality, but that’s not true.”

“My university was happy to put up the flag of Ukraine around the invasion of Russia, which I would support, but they would never try to put up a Palestinian flag or anything like that so we’re calling them out on their inconsistencies and hypocritical missions.”

This is not a new problem, but universities are often the first place that are attacked by repressive regimes, so we’re going to see that maybe in the US but maybe in this country as well.”

 

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Rumneek Johal
Reporter
Rumneek Johal is PressProgress' BC Reporter. Her reporting focuses on systemic inequality, workers and communities, as well as racism and far-right extremism.

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