Beyond Words and Waivers
The case of Laurentian University Professor Michael Persinger follows a number of recent academic freedom cases at Canadian universities, including my own . His case raises interesting questions about academic freedom, political correctness, and respectful environments. As in all cases, it is important to not take his words out of context, but to consider what was expressed, why, how, and to what effect. All we know so far is that Professor Persinger was removed from teaching a psychology course for requiring students to sign a waiver agreeing to his use of certain words, including slang terms for genitalia, sexual intercourse, and sexual orientation. These might be the only ones on his list that are generally considered to be "vulgar," or to risk eliciting personal feelings of shame, objectification, arousal, or trauma in some of his students. There are no such racially charged words on his list. Other words on his list include "politician," "solipsism"