An investigation into the suspension of Dr. Derek Pyne by Thompson Rivers University (TRU) has found that the actions by university administration breached his academic freedom.
Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) Executive Director David Robinson says TRU appears to suffer an ‘institutional weakness when it comes to understanding academic freedom.’
But he says that’s not all.
“They didn’t want to participate in the process,” he said. “We did have at least one administrator come and talk to us, but by and large, the senior administration of the university argued that we had no jurisdiction and they weren’t going to participate.”
The investigation looked into actions taken in July 2018 when TRU suspended Dr. Pyne and banned him from campus for his research into the use of predatory journals by administrators and academics at the university, as well as for publicly criticizing both the University and the TRU School of Business and Economics.
“Our investigation finds that the TRU Administration’s approach in managing workplace complaints against Dr. Pyne failed to properly consider his academic freedom as it applies to his criticisms of the School of Business and Economics, its administrators and its faculty,” Robinson added.
He says the right of academics to criticize their university is a ‘widely recognized feature of academic freedom.’
“That’s a safeguard for institutional and educational quality,” Robinson said. “Academics have to have the right to criticize academic decisions or the quality of the institution in their view in order to preserve the educational quality for students, the research quality for the public and so on. So this is a fundamental component of what academic freedom is.”
The CAUT has made a number of recommendations, including the removal of constraints put on Dr. Pyne as a condition of his continued employment at TRU when he returned to work in Jan. 2019.
“Part of when Dr. Pyne was allowed back onto campus, there were conditions placed on attending meetings, on things that he was not allowed to say, his criticisms of the institution and his particular program, and the committee found that that resulted in a restriction on what’s known as ‘Intramural Academic Freedom,” explained Robinson.
The investigation committee was chaired by Dr. Mark Mac Lean, a Professor of Mathematics at UBC and Carla Graebner, a Librarian for Data Services and Government Information at Simon Fraser University.
Meanwhile, the President of Thompson Rivers University says the university has its own internal processes when it comes to academic freedom for faculty members.
Speaking on NL Newsday, Brett Fairbairn says he’s only interested in hearing what university faculty think about academic freedom.
“Academic freedom is protected in our norms and our values, it’s protected by our faculty and its protected by our collective agreement,” he said.
“And CAUT has no standing in our internal processes. Our institution, our unions have access to information they do not, and that’s the biggest reason not to participate in an outside investigation of that kind.”
Fairbairn says TRU won’t necessarily look at the recommendations from CAUT, saying that will also be a conversation with faculty.
“Academic freedom does depend on all faculty members exercising it responsibly and with regard for the rights of others, and that’s language that we use in our collective agreement,” Fairbairn noted.
“So if any faculty member has a complaint about how the university has treated them, we have processes for that to go forward.”
You can read the full report here.