A lecturer at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC) who appeared in class disguised as an Aboriginal in addition to mentioning the “n word” in front of his students was ejected from his three teaching tasks until at the end of the fall semester. He will be able to resume work in January 2022, but will have to undergo training to avoid educational missteps.
Depending on what The duty Learned, the 12-year-old lecturer was suspended with pay during the internal investigation into him, which ended this week. He will be paid until the end of the session, even if his three course tasks have been transferred to another teacher.
This lecturer in the Department of Arts, Letters and Language at UQAC, Michal Pawica, will be able to resume teaching in the winter session. He pledged to correct his “behavior deemed inappropriate”.
According to our sources, university management has determined that a professor has the right to teach controversial subjects without censorship, but must maintain a climate conducive to learning and dialogue, including avoiding provoking students.
The teacher’s teaching methods caused a stir in his groups. He showed up to class disguised as a Native on the 1ster November, the day after Halloween. That day he was teaching a text on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with the First Nations.
The lecturer argued that he disguised himself to capture the attention of the students. He has also donned other types of costumes in recent weeks, including a cowboy, to illustrate his point. Michal Pawica is considered a “colorful” teacher, who uses humor and irony for educational purposes. Some students like it, some don’t.
Even if these disguises were not worn with any malicious intent, the staging was deemed inappropriate by students and by the management of UQAC. Indigenous issues have become an extremely sensitive subject in Quebec, especially since the death of Joyce Echaquan at the Joliette hospital and the discovery of mass graves near residential schools for Indigenous people in Canada.
Another delicate subject, our sources indicate that Michal Pawica mentioned in class the famous “n-word” in order to put in context and denounce the racism of Donald Trump in the United States. This hated word has been explosive since a University of Ottawa lecturer was suspended a year ago for uttering it. This incident had sparked a nationwide storm over the freedom of university education.
“Principle of equity”
According to our information, the UQAC lecturer admitted his faults and undertook to correct the situation. Joined by The duty, Michal Pawica declined our interview request. The Union of lecturers at UQAC, which accompanied Mr. Pawica throughout the investigation process, also refused to comment on the file, as did the Mouvement des associations générale students (MAGE-UQAC) and the ‘Association of Linguistics and Modern Languages Students (Ling-Lang).
For its part, UQAC refused to comment on the merits of the case for reasons of confidentiality. “We deal with all these situations according to labor standards [et] in accordance with the laws provided for this purpose and the principle of fairness, ”said Marie-Karlynn Laflamme, director of communications and public relations at UQAC.
“The accused person is quickly informed of the situation, and we are taking provisional accompanying measures, on both sides, to ensure that the situation is treated fairly,” she said.
Expected beacons
The higher education community eagerly awaits the report of the Independent Scientific and Technical Commission on the Recognition of Academic Freedom in Universities. This commission, chaired by Alexandre Cloutier, vice-rector for partnerships, international and indigenous affairs at UQAC, must produce guidelines to guarantee the freedom of teachers in this era of polarizing debates.
Without commenting on the case of the UQAC lecturer who disguised himself, the Quebec Federation of University Professors (FQPPU) considers that teachers must be able to address shocking subjects without censorship.
“We don’t want to defend the indefensible. We are aware that we must spare the susceptibilities. You have to choose the right words. But to study Louis-Ferdinand Céline, who had Nazi sympathies, or Richard Wagner, who was anti-Semitic, does not mean to apologize for it ”, nuance Jean Portuguese, president of the FQPPU (which represents 8,200 professors, but not the lecturers).
He insists that professors are protected by their administration in the event of complaints from students affected by the content of a course. We must differentiate a “clumsiness” from a “serious fault” committed by a teacher, according to him. “For example, if Éric Zemmour [candidat d’extrême droite en France] was in class in Quebec, he wouldn’t last five minutes, because no one would support him, including the FQPPU! »Affirms Jean Portuguese.
The Federation is also concerned about the economic pressures weighing on the autonomy of teachers. They want to protect themselves against pressure from donors who support research. The FQPPU is also concerned about the commodification of education, the phenomenon according to which students are seen as “customers” who must be satisfied.