Calgary tenured professor critical of Black Lives Matter has been fired

The Province ^ | 01/05/2022 | Jessica Mundie

[Robwin]

A tenured professor at Mount Royal University who triggered a backlash for criticizing the Black Lives Matter movement and saying there were educational benefits to residential schools has been fired.

Frances Widdowson, an associate professor in the Calgary school’s economics, justice and policy studies department, confirmed on Wednesday that she was dismissed in December.

Widdowson said she was not surprised she was fired, but she was shocked “at how much the university has deteriorated over the last year and a half for that to happen."

“I was hoping that I was going to be able to work it out internally, but that seemed to be becoming more and more difficult,” she said in an interview.

The former professor, who had been teaching at the university since 2008, came under fire in 2020 when she said that the Black Lives Matter movement “destroyed MRU” and that she “doesn’t recognize the institution anymore” in an interview with the Western Standard. The comments resulted in a petition calling for her to be fired. It currently has more than 6,000 signatures.

[Robwin]

Academic freedom, tenure, and all that jazz. Between Covid and Black Lives Matter, Canada has gone quite mad, a madness soon to be in a country quite near you.

[Nextrush]

The graves at the residential schools drama graves yes but what happened before the deaths not totally clear much hyperbole and hype, astroturfing on a grand scale.

A 43 billion dollar deal over the “atrocities” against native peoples at the schools cut last week.

So much exaggeration to what end there is no resolution in all this.

[Bob434]

i beleive they get paid whether they get fired or keep teaching? if so she now can collect without havign to do anything- At least that was the deal one professor i knew got with the school he taught in-

[AZJeep]

Tenure was always defended by arguing that it fosters discussion. Prevents professors to be dismissed for expressing opinion! The left always defended all kind of wacky professors by pointing to tenure.
Obviously, no more! No more for professors who disagree with current leftist theories.

[hecticskeptic]

....much hyperbole and hype, astroturfing on a grand scale.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was Trudeau’s gambit going into the last election.... one could say it paid off for him.

[Nextrush]

The game in Canada politically is to hype the Social Left issues like “First Nations” to suck in voters.

For Justin Trudeau the use of issues like this is to distract from the Liberal Party’s cronyism with business interests that would drive Left leaning voters away from him and the Liberals.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Communist Canada and Communist Calgary sure have a nice Red ring to them, Don’t they?

[Dogbert41]

Won’t take much to change the red maple leaf to a hammer and sickle.

[xp38]

And what would you describe the current state of America? Academia and government?

[Angelino97]

I think tenured professors can be fired, but only for good cause, such as committing a felony crime, or an act of severe moral turpitude.

So, what was the reason for her firing? Murder? Sexual acts on a minor? Plagiarism? Saying that being white doesn't make you evil?

[Robwin]

So, what was the reason for her firing?

Felony thought crimes

[Gen.Blather]

I am against the notion of tenure. But, I suspect he’s got a case and I hope he takes them to the cleaners.

BTW, from my college days, tenured was a synonym for retired.

[LS]

I saw this coming at my own university in 2016, which is why I retired somewhat early. However, there it was almost certainly going to be homosexual activism, not race, that infested all the departments.