The Cloutier Commission report published on Tuesday recommends that the government adopt a law on academic freedom, allowing, among other things, the formation of a committee to hear disputes concerning this issue. Created in the wake of controversies in classrooms such as the mention of the “word beginning with the letter n”, the commission believes that “all ideas and all subjects” can be debated at the university.
Chaired by Alexandre Cloutier, Vice-Rector for Partnerships, International and Indigenous Affairs at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, the Independent Scientific and Technical Commission on the Recognition of Academic Freedom in Universities issued five recommendations and five opinions in its final report. The first recommendation is to pass a law on academic freedom to define the concept, in addition to “specifying the obligations” to which people who benefit from this freedom are bound.
This law should also define the mission of the university which consists of “the production and transmission of knowledge through activities of research, creation, teaching and services to the community”, we read in the report. Autonomy and academic freedom should be seen as “essential conditions for the accomplishment” of this mission.
Last spring, the work of this committee began in the wake of debates concerning, among other things, the use of the “word beginning with the letter n” in classrooms. In the fall of 2020, University of Ottawa professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval was suspended after a student filed a complaint against her for quoting the word while explaining a theoretical concept in her visual arts class. .
Thus, the Cloutier commission recommends that each university adopt a policy on academic freedom “distinct from any other policy of the institution”, allowing the formation of a committee on the issue. An annual report should be sent to the Minister to reflect the nature and number of disputes handled by the committee.
Allow the “confrontation of ideas”
Among the five opinions on academic freedom, the Commission maintains that “classrooms cannot be considered” safe spaces “(safe spaces), in particular when this concept is defined by the existence and maintenance of an environment free from any confrontation of ideas or questioning ”. Warnings made before presenting content that could be traumatic [trigger warning] come under “pedagogical choices” and therefore cannot be imposed on teachers, reads the report.
According to the report, universities should update their rules regarding the use of digital media, in order to prevent and punish “cyberbullying against members of the university community”. “Institutions should defend and protect academic freedom against all pressures that seek to limit its exercise or scope, whether from inside or outside” universities, write the members of the Commission. They also believe that senior management should “show a certain reserve when speaking on behalf of the establishment on societal issues that are still the subject of debate”.
When the commission was created in March, Higher Education Minister Danielle McCann said she was concerned about teachers’ self-censorship. Last September, Press revealed the results of a questionnaire submitted to the Cloutier Commission, according to which 60% of professors said they had censored themselves for five years by avoiding certain words. Among the respondents, 35% claimed to have practiced self-censorship while avoiding certain subjects. In February, Prime Minister François Legault said he wanted to send a strong signal for freedom of education, by favoring the drafting of a government statement rather than a law.
With Hugo Pilon-Larose