Complementing an academic’s freedom to dissent is the maximal removal of impediments to her pursuit of hypotheses and matters of fact about the stuff that furnishes the universe and of the universe itself. This stuff undergirds the core investigations of… Read More ›
academic freedom
CELEBRATION AND INCITEMENT
Amnesty International has always been notoriously silent about Israeli apartheid, because, understandably enough, it doesn’t want to alienate its sizeable Jewish donor base. It ignores a relatively few injustices so it can attract the resources to fight far more. Well,… Read More ›
NOTES ON THE EFFECTS OF WOKEISM ON THE ACADEMY
I’ve been asked to serve sometime next month on a panel discussion on the effects of wokeism on the academy. In no particular order of importance, here’s what I’m likely to say: One element of wokeism is (what Jonathan Haidt… Read More ›
THE MANDATORY EDI LETTER (Repost from Feb 13, 2022)
What I’ve been discovering is that the woke-ness one espouses in public, and the opinion of it one holds in private, are often two very different things. Why is this? Others may not put it as eloquently as did my… Read More ›
SIX TAKEAWAYS FROM THE WIDDOWSON AFFAIR
If you’ve read my penultimate entry, you’ll know that last week I invited Frances Widdowson to Lethbridge, as the first post-Covid “Guest of Dishonour” at our Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner series on Saturday, then to give two guest lectures,… Read More ›
THE WIDDOWSON AFFAIR
As many Canadians will know – but I’m not sure the story has hit the international wires – I invited a certain Dr. Frances Widdowson to give a talk at the University of Lethbridge on February 1st, on a topic… Read More ›
THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSITY
For most of human history – and in most parts of the world to this day – there were institutions that work like this: We tell people – priests or commissars – what to tell others, who are then sent… Read More ›
Guest Post. EDI Concepts: Research Excellence (Updated August 25, 2023)
This post is an annotated bibliography. But rather than list citations in alphabetical order, I’ve organised them under subheadings comprised of research questions. As such, I provide a possible framework for a research project. An alphabetised non-annotated bibliography corresponding to… Read More ›
Guest Post. Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Why would I lie on my mandatory diversity pledge?
Universities Canada principles on equity, diversity and inclusion, October 26, 2017 “Universities Canada make an explicit public commitment to seven principles [on equity, diversity, and inclusion],” available here. (accessed 11 February 2022) “A Guide to Preparing Your Diversity Statement,” Algonquin… Read More ›
SAFE SPACES (Repost, 26/02/2020)
I’m not sure that academia attracts heresy. Rather I suspect it’s tenure that generates it. In fact since we’re all, by definition, catholic, without the threat of hell – or in our case unemployment – we’d probably all think unclean… Read More ›
Paulosophical Vimplications 