Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 18, 2003 Union Chastises Simon Fraser U. for Withdrawing Appointment of Technology Critic By BROCK READ
Administrators at Simon Fraser University unfairly restricted David Noble's academic freedom when they rejected a proposal to hire the professor, known for his harsh criticisms of distance education, according to a report issued by the Canadian Association of University Teachers.
In January 2001, a Simon Fraser faculty search committee nominated Mr. Noble, a history professor at York University, to fill a humanities chair. But university officials nixed the suggestion, and Mr. Noble argued that he was blacklisted for his outspokenness against the integration of technology into academe.
In a strongly-worded report issued earlier this month, the association's committee on academic freedom and tenure agreed with Mr. Noble. The committee chastised Simon Fraser for trying to quash Mr. Noble's right to criticize the institution, and for failing to follow its own policy for reviewing appointment proposals.
Simon Fraser administrators "imposed unreasonable requirements that concerned [Mr. Noble's] style of engaging with academics and institutions he criticized," wrote the authors of the report. They recommended that the university review some of its appointment policies and offer the position -- which remains unfilled -- to Mr. Noble.
The results of the inquiry were initially released only to Mr. Noble and representatives of Simon Fraser, who were reviewing the recommendations with the teachers' union. But Simon Fraser broke off the discussions when Mr. Noble decided to sue the university and the report was leaked to the media.
"It was rather unfortunate the way this happened," said David Robinson, the associate executive director of the teachers' organization.
"The university disagrees with the findings of the report," said Kathryn Aberle, Simon Fraser's director of media and public relations. Ms. Aberle said she could not comment further because of the pending legal action. But she pointed to an independent review commissioned in 2001 by Simon Fraser that found the university's appointments process to be working properly.
Mr. Noble could not be reached for comment. In a statement appended to the report, he called the findings "an important contribution to the cause of academic freedom in Canada as an illustration of how the commercialization of universities compromises academic integrity."
"We hope when the administration reads the report, they see there are some procedural problems that could be easily remedied," said Mr. Robinson. "And we hope that administrators at other institutions hear about this and re-evaluate their own policies."
CAUT Report on Noble: http://www.caut.ca/english/issues/acadfreedom/Noble-Report.pdf
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