Failing to follow the news, lecturer Verushka Lieutenant-Duval says she was unaware of the n-word sensibility before mentioning it in class in September 2020. The University of Ottawa then promptly suspended without bothering to view the recording of the discussion.
“I was focused on my object of study. I don’t watch TV, I listen to the radio, but I don’t follow social media, I don’t have children, so I’m not too aware of what is happening among young people […] I am in a closed environment, in my little bubble, ”defended Ms. Lieutenant-Duval on Wednesday.
She was appearing at a public arbitration session held in the basement of an Ottawa hotel. The part-time professor, as she goes by Ontario, filed two grievances against the post-secondary institution over her suspension and the university’s comments. The six journalists present at the session on Wednesday were all French-speaking.
“I am sincere when I say that, I did not know”, she repeated, stressing that her environment, in French, “was not used to censoring certain words”.
The 45-year-old lecturer and doctoral student notably recounted her flawless academic journey, accumulating successes, until she pronounced in full, in English, a word that made some students uncomfortable. and which caused a scandal that now jeopardizes her dream of landing a real job as a university professor.
Events quickly moved from this first declamation of the word during the second course of the fall 2020 session, on the Zoom platform, on September 23, and its suspension, with pay, on October 2. In the meantime, the professor sent an apologetic email to a shocked student, and suggested having a full discussion about the use of the word in the next class on September 30.
Criticized without having provided his version
At the time of her suspension, only one formal complaint from a student had been filed, in addition to a whistleblower on Twitter by another student. The professor was criticized for saying other white professors were using the word.
This defense shocked at least six students, out of the 47 enrolled in the course, including the first two whistleblowers. They co-signed a statement to the faculty that they felt “uncomfortable” and “in danger” if Ms. Lieutenant-Duval returned to class shortly after her suspension.
Although the September 30 discussion on Zoom was recorded, the University of Ottawa never saw fit to request the video files for review until the day before the hearings began last Sunday. The recording, played during the hearing, shows a brief and polite debate of ideas on the question of the relevance of the use of the word in an academic context.
After an article in its English-language student newspaper, the University of Ottawa publicly denounced Ms. Lieutenant-Duval’s choice of words, calling it “offensive and completely unacceptable language in our classrooms and on campus”, and this, even before having obtained his version of the facts.
“I can’t believe my eyes, I feel like I’m in a nightmare, I don’t feel like I’m in Canada. […] Even today I can’t understand why they didn’t at least call me to ask me [ce qui s’est passé] “testified the professor.
Students warned
Even before the start of the session, Verushka Lieutenant-Duval had written in her lesson plan that sensitive subjects were going to be discussed, she testified on Wednesday. She had invited her students to speak out if they felt unwell, and even canceled the first session to allow her students to participate in the Black Lives Matter protest, which fell that day.
She detailed before arbitrator Michelle Flaherty and lawyers from the University of Ottawa how, in a course on the subject of gender representation in the visual arts, she wanted to explain the reappropriation of certain words, such as “queer “. She says she made the comparison with the n-word, as did a researcher whose name she asked to be withheld “because he has not yet been a victim of the culture of cancellation”.
This was the second day of oral argument in the case. On Monday, the university maintained that it had not infringed on academic freedom. Two grievances were filed by the professor. In the first, she maintains that she was condemned by the post-secondary institution prematurely, without an investigation being carried out. The second relates to comments made by the establishment and its rector, Jacques Frémont.
The objective of her steps is to obtain financial compensation for the “suffering” she has incurred, in addition to a “rectification of the facts” which would allow her to continue her career, in particular at the University of Ottawa. . According to Luc Angers, vice-president of member mobilization for the Association of Part-Time Professors of the University of Ottawa (APTPUO), grievances are of “capital importance”.
Both before the arbitration committee and in a press release in November 2020, the university maintains that Verushka Lieutenant-Duval, who is currently a lecturer at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and at the University of Sherbrooke , “was never suspended for disciplinary purposes” and that she was rather administratively suspended, with pay, for one working day.
“The University of Ottawa was able to send a press release to the student newspaper, respond to emails to students condemning the professor in question before even speaking to her. Afterwards, the university suggested that it contributed to the media storm,” denounced APTPUO lawyer Wassim Garzouzi, who represents Verushka Lieutenant-Duval.
The events surrounding the professor’s suspension — in addition to comments on social media from her colleague Amir Attaran — led to the formation in April 2021 of a committee on academic freedom at the university.
In a forty-page report filed last November, the committee declared that it was not in favor of “institutional censorship or self-censorship when it is likely to compromise the dissemination of knowledge”.
The parties should be back before the arbitrator no later than 1er december.