The work carried out by the Independent Scientific and Technical Commission on the Recognition of Academic Freedom in Universities is rich, informative and very comprehensive. Anyone wishing to access a summary of the excesses of recent years in Quebec universities and their impact on essential academic freedom should dive into the report, which concludes neither more nor less to the capitulation of the universities in the face of the mistakes caused by political correctness. .
Yes, it must be admitted: for lack of clear guidelines or a lucid understanding of the principles flouted by particular groups or fashionable theories, universities have laid down their arms and tolerated the intolerable: surveyed by the Commission led by the ex-politician and vice-rector at UQAC Alexandre Cloutier, a majority of faculty members (60%) claim to have already refused to utter a word in class for fear of causing a scandal (15.6% of respondents did so regularly, 25.3% sometimes, and 19% rarely). The Commission therefore concludes that there is a “heavy trend” within the universities rather than isolated events, blown up by the media beats.
In its work, the Commission not only proceeded by poll and call for papers, but it also carried out a rich overview of practices within university establishments, of the policies and definitions enacted here and there, of the protections conferred by collective agreements and case law governing key concepts, such as freedom of expression. The portrait allows us to conclude that the bastion of protection of academic freedom is in complete decrepitude within universities: unequal, variable, unrecognized, underused. We are less surprised after reading this report to have witnessed, powerless, to “drifts” here and there, student groups having literally taken university freedom hostage in the name of a right that simply does not exist, or this fictitious right not to be offended in the protective enclosure of the classroom.
In addition to its shocking recommendations, including a national law to regulate the concept of academic freedom, the Commission also issues five very relevant opinions, one of which specifies precisely that there is no such concept as that of “spaces”. safe ”for classrooms where the confrontation of ideas, expressed of course with respect, should be encouraged and normalized rather than sheltered under the great cover of political correctness.
The report produced by the former Supreme Court judge Michel Bastarache following controversies at the University of Ottawa (the lecturer Verushka Lieutenant-Duval and the use in class of the word in n, and the professor Amir Attaran having accused Quebecers of being racist in a vigorous exchange broadcast on Twitter) had already set the table, even if he only designated one establishment: he defended the right of faculty members to discuss, to teach and to carry out research on any subject, whatever it is, and this, whatever the identity of the teacher. He reminded the establishment of its essential duty of defense of its professors, particularly in the exercise of academic freedom.
If the Cloutier commission coldly concludes that there is a need for a law in Quebec to define the mission of the university and academic freedom, and to frame the obligations of institutions in terms of protecting the beneficiaries of this freedom, it is because has seen that, in absolute terms, without a legislative framework, it is the fear of controversies that will continue to prevail, as we have seen recently. For supporters of university autonomy, established in principle almost sacred within the circle of rectors, the very concept of regulating freedom by law is nonsense. In theory, they are absolutely right; but they failed the test of reality and failed to firmly defend the founding principles of the university. We must take note of this.
One of the greatest lessons of this report revolves around what we could call a return to the sources: by revisiting the origins of the university and by plunging again with multiple references into the founding Quebec text that is the report Parent, the members of the Cloutier commission give universities an important lesson by reminding them that they must not submit either to the detestable dictates of clientelism or to the main fashionable social trends, however powerful the current may be.
If Quebec chooses the legislative path to give university institutions a common column and the same procedure to follow, it too will have to be diligent in the implementation of this law, so that it does not in turn become a facade.