Quebec tells universities how to protect academic freedom
(Quebec) The Legault government tabled a bill on Wednesday to “protect university academic freedom” which imposes a definition on this concept and which obliges universities to adopt a policy whose parameters are dictated by Quebec. If the rectors reserve their comments for the moment, the University of Montreal deplores the fact that the government is setting “a very bad precedent”.
Bill 32 tabled in the Blue Room by the Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann, is the government's response to the report of the Independent Scientific and Technical Commission on the recognition of academic freedom in the university environment, which submitted its report last fall . According to the minister, "we [must] be able to use all the words in the educational, academic context, and obviously according to ethical standards [and] scientific rigor", she said.
“Several disturbing events have drawn our attention to the subject, and it has me worried. Censorship has no place in our classrooms [...] and we must protect the teaching staff from censorship," added Minister McCann, referring to the cases of self-censorship that have been reported in recent months by different media, especially surrounding the use of the word beginning with N.
No to large-scale “trauma warnings”The bill tabled by Quebec “forces” universities to “adopt a policy relating exclusively to university academic freedom” and “specifies the main elements that this policy must provide for”. The government therefore requires universities to set up a "council whose main functions are to monitor the implementation of the policy", whose mission is "to examine complaints relating to an infringement
of the right to academic academic freedom". .
Universities will also be prohibited from requiring all faculty to include "trauma warnings" (i.e. warning students that offensive content is being discussed) in all Classes. “All words are allowed in a context of respect and scientific rigor,” said Ms. McCann. Professors who themselves choose to present such warnings may, however, do so.
A definition and reactionsIn the explanatory notes to the bill, Quebec also defines the concept of "university academic freedom" as being "the right of any person to exercise freely and without doctrinal, ideological or moral constraint an activity by which he contributes, in his field of activity, to the accomplishment of the mission of such an educational institution”.
"The definition that has been adopted essentially takes up that of UNESCO, which is the one that has the most consensus around the world", declared, satisfied, the former minister Alexandre Cloutier, who chaired the scientific commission on the academic freedom.
The rectors, gathered under the aegis of the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI), will meet to take stock of the bill before commenting on it. “It is neither necessary nor expedient to adopt a legislative text by which the government determines for universities the content of academic freedom and the means by which it must be protected. […] Legislative intervention to impose uniformity of treatment in relation to a subject that is at the very heart of the academic life of each university is a very bad precedent”,
considers for its part the University of Montreal.
The Quebec Student Union (UEQ), for its part, is asking to be included in the councils that universities will have to create. The National Federation of Teachers of Quebec (FNEEQ – CSN) says Bill 32 is “a major step forward”, but “does not change the elephant in the room, job insecurity , the main obstacle to academic freedom”.
“I am surprised that the government is introducing a bill of this nature so late in the legislature. I also wonder about the minister's priorities. […] In substance, there are several questions to be asked about the government's project: will universities receive additional resources to manage this new responsibility? asks Alexandre Leduc, from Québec solidaire.
Bill 32 tabled in the Blue Room by the Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann, is the government's response to the report of the Independent Scientific and Technical Commission on the recognition of academic freedom in the university environment, which submitted its report last fall . According to the minister, "we [must] be able to use all the words in the educational, academic context, and obviously according to ethical standards [and] scientific rigor", she said.
“Several disturbing events have drawn our attention to the subject, and it has me worried. Censorship has no place in our classrooms [...] and we must protect the teaching staff from censorship," added Minister McCann, referring to the cases of self-censorship that have been reported in recent months by different media, especially surrounding the use of the word beginning with N.
No to large-scale “trauma warnings”The bill tabled by Quebec “forces” universities to “adopt a policy relating exclusively to university academic freedom” and “specifies the main elements that this policy must provide for”. The government therefore requires universities to set up a "council whose main functions are to monitor the implementation of the policy", whose mission is "to examine complaints relating to an infringement
of the right to academic academic freedom". .
Universities will also be prohibited from requiring all faculty to include "trauma warnings" (i.e. warning students that offensive content is being discussed) in all Classes. “All words are allowed in a context of respect and scientific rigor,” said Ms. McCann. Professors who themselves choose to present such warnings may, however, do so.
A definition and reactionsIn the explanatory notes to the bill, Quebec also defines the concept of "university academic freedom" as being "the right of any person to exercise freely and without doctrinal, ideological or moral constraint an activity by which he contributes, in his field of activity, to the accomplishment of the mission of such an educational institution”.
"The definition that has been adopted essentially takes up that of UNESCO, which is the one that has the most consensus around the world", declared, satisfied, the former minister Alexandre Cloutier, who chaired the scientific commission on the academic freedom.
The rectors, gathered under the aegis of the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI), will meet to take stock of the bill before commenting on it. “It is neither necessary nor expedient to adopt a legislative text by which the government determines for universities the content of academic freedom and the means by which it must be protected. […] Legislative intervention to impose uniformity of treatment in relation to a subject that is at the very heart of the academic life of each university is a very bad precedent”,
considers for its part the University of Montreal.
The Quebec Student Union (UEQ), for its part, is asking to be included in the councils that universities will have to create. The National Federation of Teachers of Quebec (FNEEQ – CSN) says Bill 32 is “a major step forward”, but “does not change the elephant in the room, job insecurity , the main obstacle to academic freedom”.
“I am surprised that the government is introducing a bill of this nature so late in the legislature. I also wonder about the minister's priorities. […] In substance, there are several questions to be asked about the government's project: will universities receive additional resources to manage this new responsibility? asks Alexandre Leduc, from Québec solidaire.
HUGO PILON LAROSE
THE PRESS
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/education/2022-04-06/projet-de-loi-32/quebec-dicte-aux-universites-comment-proteger-la-liberte-d-enseignement.php
THE PRESS
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/education/2022-04-06/projet-de-loi-32/quebec-dicte-aux-universites-comment-proteger-la-liberte-d-enseignement.php
