UBC faculty members speak out in support of instructor who says he was let go for pro-Palestine activism

An instructor at the University of British Columbia who was recently let go by the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) is receiving support from colleagues who say the school violated his “academic freedom,” demonstrating an “alarming erosion of free expression at UBC.”

Sean Tucker, a former sessional instructor at UBC’s SPPH was told in October that he would no longer be teaching at the school after months of advocacy around the genocide in Gaza.

In November, faculty members of UBC Faculty for Palestine penned a letter in support of Tucker, demanding that UBC reinstate him as an instructor.

“We demand that SPPH reverse this decision, immediately rehire Dr. Tucker, and reinstate SPPH 526 for SPPH’s OEH students,” the letter, which was obtained by PressProgress, reads.

“This course has been taught from his area of scholarly expertise for its entire two years of existence. It was summarily canceled without any due process in October 2024.”

The UBC Chapter of the Jewish Faculty Network also wrote to the SPPH director with a similar demand, highlighting that Tucker himself was invited to help redesign the course by the school in 2022.

“We understand that Professor Tucker has taught graduate courses in leadership since 2010 and that in 2022, he was invited to redesign and teach a course requested by the School of Population and Public Health (SPPH) that no other SPPH faculty member was well-qualified to teach,” UBC’s Jewish Faculty Network’s letter reads.  

“We were shocked to learn that Professor Tucker was recently abruptly removed from this teaching assignment and are deeply concerned that the decision for the removal relates largely to his advocacy for more learning and discussion about Palestine and Israel. We are aware that the university is being lobbied intensely to silence discussion of what is happening in Gaza, and we strongly suspect that the decision regarding Professor Tucker is linked to his activities in this regard.”

Tucker says he started supporting SPPH student learning and advocacy around Palestine earlier this year by sharing information with faculty and the school about events they had planned.

“Students were talking about ethical leadership and living your values and there were comments from a few students that they didn’t feel like they could talk about what’s happening in Gaza in their classes, so that was when it first came on my radar,” Tucker told PressProgress.

Tucker co-hosted a screening of the film Israelism with SPPH students in February 2024 in response to their request and he supported a student-led event on the war on Gaza at that time.

Tucker says after sharing a letter with some members of the SPPH leadership team about what he was hearing in the classroom, he did not receive a reply. 

In April, Tucker and a colleague helped plan an event with a Humanitarian Advisor of Save the Children to discuss the ongoing war on children in Gaza. 

A poster for Tucker’s event with Save The Children

Tucker reached out to the SPPH, asking them to sponsor the event which included putting their name on the poster alongside other faculties or schools at UBC that were supporting the event. 

“My sense was that there were a lot of behind the scenes discussions about whether SPPH could do this, and in the end, a couple days before the event they declined to sponsor,” Tucker said.

“I don’t understand why there would be so much sensitivity around just putting the school’s name on a legitimate public health event. It’s a respected NGO—Save the Children.”

Months after Tucker’s event, the School adopted a new bulletin board policy, stating that posters that contributed to an “uncomfortable environment” would be restricted.

UBC SPPH’s Bulletin Board Policy (provided)

“In early May I filed a complaint with the faculty association, that by not being able to communicate about events that are relevant to public health through the school’s newsletter, that my academic freedom was being violated,” Tucker said. 

“I then wrote an op-ed in Tyee, but I didn’t know my employment was under threat at the time.”

Tucker’s op-ed urged universities to “do better when discussing Israel and Palestine.”

“In September, I was invited to the student orientation session where I introduced myself and said that I was the instructor for this course in January and then it was about five weeks later when I found that I wasn’t being reappointed,” Tucker said. 

“A subsequent email I received from the director indicated that the course wasn’t going to be offered, but it is being offered and I don’t believe my removal from the course is unrelated to my activities related to Gaza. You would think that there would be more clearly communicated reasons as to why you would not be re-appointing an instructor who has raised issues and made a formal complaint to their union.”

Tucker added that he had reached out to the faculty association who told him they had “started the process to filing a grievance.”

Two Jewish members of the SPPH say that the school is creating a climate where people are unable to openly express their opinions.

“The essence of our school is supposed to be on health equity and social justice. A school of population and public health that has a global health mandate and should be opening space for discussion of the huge affront to population and public health going on in Gaza, so it’s all the more upsetting,” one of the members told PressProgress.

“There’s really a mismatch between what the university president and Provost say about academic freedom and the culture within the school. The culture within the school is that nobody’s allowed to say anything that might possibly offend somebody who doesn’t want to hear about the genocidal atrocities happening.”

The members say that they wish to see Tucker reinstated and for the school to allow respectful debates, discussions, and events on the topic.

“This Palestine exceptionalism is just not acceptable. To me, the attitude of the school is itself anti-semitic because it implies that to talk about what’s going on in Gaza offends Jews,” another member said.

“There should be a recognition that there’s a diversity of opinion. Don’t stereotype Jews as people who are all expected to have values that are supremacist and racist and who don’t care about the suffering of Palestinians. We find that offensive.”

Tucker adds that the school’s actions send the message that “academic freedom is being attacked.”

“I would like to be reappointed to the position and I would like my academic freedom to be respected and I would like to see the school and UBC issue a statement that they respect and will defend academic freedom of all instructors—not just tenured faculty,” Tucker said.

“Students are maybe receiving messages that it’s in the best interest of your career, not to talk about this but that’s not what universities are for. Universities are for learning and discussing difficult issues.”

In a statement, Thandi Fletcher, spokesperson with UBC Media Relations said that the school “respects academic freedom of UBC scholars.”

“We recognize these are very challenging times for many students, faculty, and staff, and the families and communities impacted by the violence and crisis in Israel, Palestine and neighbouring regions,” Fletcher said in a statement to PressProgress. “We respect the academic freedom of UBC scholars who may organize and engage in collegial academic discourse and inquiry on the conflict and the related health challenges.”

“Professors and students hold a broad array of opinions, and the university and its units, which, under the University Act, must be non-sectarian and non-political in principle, cannot presume to speak for everyone in matters external to its own operations.”

Fletcher added that they could not comment on specific employee matters due to privacy law.