Gender issues

On Thursday October 22, the Globe and Mail editorial board rejected  The Honourable Lynn Smith's interpretation of academic freedom in her  report , which was based on the University of British Columbia's  academic freedom policy  as well as Smith's thorough research into the history and definition of academic freedom. The  Globe also rejected Smith's conclusion that the university interfered with my academic freedom "through the combined acts and omissions of Mr. Montalbano, the named individuals in the Sauder School, and others," a conclusion Smith reached after conducting 20 interviews, reviewing hundreds of pages of documents, and weighing other evidence. The  Globe wrote that I "should be free to comment casually on university politics" but that my "post was one remark about one unexplained kerfuffle in a university’s administration." Below is my reply , which appears in Tuesday's paper (October 27).

On Friday October 23, former Sauder School Dean Michael Goldberg wrote a letter to the editor of the Vancouver Sun accusing me and "members of the professoriate" of "close-mindedness and viciousness" and of abusing and hiding behind academic freedom, "reminiscent of the McCarthy Era witch hunts." Below is my reply , which appears in Tuesday's paper (October 27).

Two months ago I wrote about my experiences of reprimand at UBC after publishing a blog post that raised uncomfortable questions about organizational culture, diversity, and leadership. A fact-finding process was agreed to by the University of British Columbia ’s Faculty Association and the UBC Administration into allegations of interference with my academic freedom. The findings of the third party investigator, the Honourable Lynn Smith, Q.C. , led her to conclude that UBC failed in its obligation to support and protect my academic freedom. The Smith Report notes that "The protections of academic freedom extend to the dissemination of scholarly research and opinion through these new electronic media" (p. 5) as well as to "commentary (whether positive or negative) by members of UBC on the extent to which the central functions of the University are being advanced or hindered by decisions or initiatives affecting the University" (p. 6). Some people did not unde