Early last year I posted about the Frances Widdowson case. Dr. Widdowson was a tenured professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary until she ran afoul of the politically correct crowd and was fired. Widdowson challenged the dismissal and the Mount Royal Faculty Association took the case to arbitration.
A cantankerous lady, Widdowson had offended received views on reconciliation at a school that states on its website “Our goal is to indigenize Mount Royal University.” It goes on to include in its goal “respect and embrace Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing.”
This is generous but is it sound policy or just noblesse oblige? One expects knowledge to be open to rigorous investigation at a university, not respected and embraced in blanket fashion. Indigenous knowledge is, furthermore, Stone Age knowledge and we have learned a few things since those early days. In any case, Widdowson had her doubts and questioned the validity of much Indigenous knowledge in light of what science now tells us.
She went further, and claimed the residential schools were not genocide and did offer students some academic benefit. She also points out the claim that 215 children are buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School is not supported by any forensic evidence nor by any parent claiming that a specific child went missing.
Not content with offending sensibilities at one university, she then went on to excite tempers at the University of Lethbridge. She had been invited to speak on a favourite topic of hers: the threat “woke-ism” poses for academic freedom. The university in effect made her point for her by refusing to provide space for the lecture. She showed up anyway but was shouted down by several hundred students, presumably because of her views on reconciliation. She, supported by a student and a professor, has challenged the university under the Charter, claiming that the rights of those who wanted to hear her were violated by the university’s decision.
Widdowson did get to speak in Lethbridge eventually, but at the public library where she delivered a talk entitled “Indigenization Destroys Academic Freedom.” She also spoke at the University of Alberta on the topic “Academic Freedom Under Threat.” The response at U of A was rather more mature academically: student groups hosted an alternative talk by University of Manitoba professor Sean Carleton on residential school denialism. Let both sides be heard.
The arbitrator in the Mount Royal Case has now made his decision and Widdowson has been vindicated. According to arbitrator David Phillip Jones, ”She has controversial views on a number of topics. However, there has never been a complaint about the quality or ethics of her scholarship; she has never received performance management counselling for either her teaching or scholarship; and the university has supported and recognized her scholarly activities.” He stated that there was just cause for discipline but not for dismissal.
The decision is bittersweet for Widdowson, however, as Jones also concluded that the relationship between the two parties has deteriorated to the point where reinstatement is no longer viable. He suggested a monetary settlement, yet to be negotiated.
Widdowson may be a provocative colleague but, as the arbitrator pointed out, neither the “quality or ethics of her scholarship” or her teaching are in question. Her firing did indeed appear to be for questioning received views around reconciliation and perhaps around wokeness as well. As someone who also disagrees with conventional wisdom from time to time, I find myself in Widdowson’s corner. She deserves a generous settlement from Mount Royal. And I hope Mount Royal and Lethbridge universities eventually achieve the maturity of, say, the U of Alberta when faced with contrary views.