The management of Laval University disagrees with the rules imposed by Ottawa which forced it to exclude white men from certain calls for applications for prestigious research positions and assures that it is “claiming” a change in the rules from from the federal.
• Read also: Controversial call for applications: a professor files a complaint against Université Laval
• Read also: bad white men
• Read also: With local accomplices, Ottawa imposes racism
Students who have recently denounced the situation in the public square, however, consider that the administration could be more proactive in this regard.
Vice-rector François Gélineau, who is notably responsible for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies, clarified the institution’s position following a meeting with these students on Monday at the end of afternoon.
Mr. Gélineau claims to make the “same observation” as the representatives of six science student associations who recently wrote to the Canada Research Chairs Program to denounce the exclusion of white men from calls for applications because of the targets imposed on universities in terms of representation, an “unhealthy and reductive” approach according to them.
For his part, the vice-rector specified that when Laval University “has the choice”, recruitment is based on the criteria of “excellence”. It is only “with equal competence” that an under-represented group is privileged.
For five years, 97% of hires have been made on this basis while only 12 positions have been filled during “reserved competitions” under the federal program, added Mr. Gélineau.
Last year, calls for applications from Université Laval for Canada Research Chairs (CRC) raised controversy, since only applications from women, Aboriginal peoples, people with disabilities and those belonging to to visible minorities could be retained in order to increase the representativeness of these groups, the document stated.
The university explained that these criteria had been put in place to comply with federal requirements, which set targets to be achieved for each university institution in terms of representativeness.
Targets to modify
The vice-rector assures that he is in constant discussions with Ottawa so that these targets are modified to better reflect the reality of Quebec, where the share of the population with an immigrant background is lower than in other Canadian cities.
“We have exchanges with the various levels of government so that we recognize our reality and adapt the measures,” indicated Mr. Gélineau.
For their part, students François Plamondon and Louis-Joseph Brouillard came out “very satisfied” with their meeting with management, pleasantly surprised to find that UL management does not endorse the quotas imposed by Ottawa.
They are under no illusions, however, and have little hope that real change will occur. “We don’t have quite the same definition of ‘holding on’,” dropped Mr. Brouillard.
The students would have liked Laval University to challenge more vigorously the rules imposed by the federal government in the public arena by taking a “clear position”.