It's sad that the system is working and it seems that every year more people blindly accept conversative lifestyles instead of ethical, and logical values.
Professor Rancourt is perceived as undesirable by the administration of University of Ottawa for his stances on institutional dictatorship, and for being an outspoken critic of the War Crimes committed by the State of Israel. This shameful hypocrisy in a country that prides itself for being a champion of freedom.
The respect and the protection of the fundamental rights is the bases for a healthy civilized country. Without all of it, there is the tyranny. So it became inevitable and necessary the fight for their protection every day and by everyone who has a conscience. Because the worst thing is having known, but having done nothing, letting the situation be worst and then regretting:
I condemn the actions taken by the Dean of the Faculty of Science as well as Mr.Patry against Professor Denis Rancourt as these are undemocratic and moreover unlawful. In fact, Professor Rancourt, has been exemplary in his commitment to teaching and to students. He should be acknowledged for his dedication and for his contributions to the University rather than threatened.
As a University of Ottawa graduate I would like to say that it is not sufficient to teach students only about the core knowledge of one field of study. In order to train students as responsible professionals and full members of our society, students must also be informed about related social justice issues, ethics, and their roles in our society. A University cannot be deemed successful when its graduates do not comprehend our society's power structure and do not know how to participate in shaping our society. I support the work which Professor Rancourt has been doing to really educate science students and others about key issues and to develop their independent thinking skills. The University of Ottawa administration must stop punishing and silencing Professor Rancourt. Instead, they should heed the students' calls for more courses which really inform and empower our students and future leaders.
This is unacceptable. I will not let the issue out of my sight, and am really looking forward for the President, VP-Academic, and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa to be disciplined and for the course to be reinstated.
Resignation seems like a lot to ask, but this is getting pretty ridiculous. If this particular professor did not have such staying power he would have been trampled a long time ago. The university should consider itself lucky to have a professor so dedicated to freedom of expression, and not try to punish that!
What reason could there be for this action but to appease financial contributors who don't like what Prof Rancourt is teaching. This is why free speech is law and why institutions need to uphold these laws rather than breach them like U of Ottawa administration has done.
I strongly support Prof. Rancourt's right to teach the first year courses. At both and most universities he students quickly become sedated and incapable of identifying ethical issused in all of the disciplines.
U of O is a typical university: a whore beholden to corporate and Zionist interests. Dr. Rancourt is one of the few intelligent and brave voices in this period of capitalist hegemony to stand up for common sense, and the common people.
There seems to be a growing trend toward witch hunting of left-leaning intelectuals on North American campuses, as the recent cases of Ward Churchill, Normam Finkelstein and Denis Rancourt demonstrate. I find this extremely worrisome in an era where new creative institutional analyses and techniques for challenging the world order are much needed. Theses professors' work, and others', is crucial and enlightening, and must be allowed to exist.
One of the reasons that I chose the University of Ottawa for my upcoming (Sept 2007) Bachelor of Education was because of the community involvement of professors like Denis Rancourt. Civic engagement is an important part of the university's mandate. It's a tragedy and a crime when one of the few professors that takes this mandate seriously is reprimanded, harassed and prevented from setting a positive example for other professors. Either the university should allow Denis Rancourt to continue his exemplary teaching of the courses he's developed or change its mandate to make sure students are aware that the administration is only genuinely interested in being a credentials factory.
Why is it that some individuals involved in the sciences unflinchingly take a stand on an important political issue; yet, individuals involved in political science fail to act on the very field they study?! Everything is politics!
I find the UofO's actions deplorable. The university is ignoring modern students' desire to learn about the more controversial aspects of society, if they wish.
Mr. Major and Mr. LalondeAs past President of CUPE local5500 and a current delegate to the ODLC and member of the International Solidarity Committee of the Labour Council I am requesting that you enable D. Rancourt to facilitate his activism course as he has in the past. This course is one of the last vestiges of freedom of expression left and Universities are the guardians of free speech and thought in our communities.With the convergence of the media and the repression of unions and activists by the corporate forces Dr. Rancourt is a shinning light which you have unjustly attempted to extinguish. Please retract your actions and let freedom shine.
My friend from Ottawa asked me to sign this. I don't know enough about the issue, but it seems like the professor could be reinstated without the harsh penalty of others resigning. Maybe the others could sign something saying that they will honor the vision statement now and henceforth and make a public appology.
I participated in Dr. Rancourt's SCI 1101 class in the fall of 2006, and found it to be an invaluable experience. I find the university's actions to contradict the students' general experience of the class, and the reassignment of Dr. Rancourt to contradict the academic freedom essential to a healthy, educational institution.
A blatant shame. University of Ottawa officials need more accountability. Denis Rancourt is doing the University and incredible service with the Activism Course and is reprimanded for it, it makes me ashamed I have a degree in Science from the UofO.
In a world crumbling under the excesses of a few individuals, while many others are born without clean water and food, we all agree that things have to change soon. An Agora full of fresh blood and ideas, like the activism classes, could be a good way to start searching for a path to the future, before there is none...
If the University of Ottawa really is committed to the values of Academic Freedom and Critical Thought, as it claims it is, then clearly the actions of the President, VP-Academic, and Dean of the Faculty of Science of the University of Ottawa belie that commitment, and they should indeed resign; and Professor Denis Rancourt should be unconditionally reinstated in his capacity to teach all three first-year courses that he has developed. Failing this, the University of Ottawa clearly and contemptibly renounces its commitment to the highest rights of the liberated human spirit, namely, the freedom to think, speak, and impart one's most heartfelt convictions.
I was very pleasantly shocked when I first discovered the Ottawa Cinema Politica, the Friday evening subset of the Science in Society course. My opinion of U of O increased tremendously. Rather than canceling this course, you should be using it to demonstrate that U of O is a world leading university.
President Patry is violating academic freedom of his own faculty while censuring British academics for proposing to boycott Israeli universities on the grounds of academic freedom! He forgets that Palestinian academics surviving Israeli occupation have their freedoms as well as human rights infringed daily. He is an embarassing paragon of contradiction and should stop interfering in his faculty's teaching and stop making absurd pronouncements on the very freedoms he violates.
I support Prof Rancourt 's academic freedom. I find it refreshing and inspiring that a teacher is willing to stand up for what is most important and not simply go along to get along. Patry, do the right thing. Do you run a place of learning or a factory?
It reminds me of studying medicine in Canada as compared to Cuba.
In Canada it is very much focused on the 'medical science'; we also have the financial means to expose the sudents to the lates hi tech in meds.
In Cuba this is not possible. however the students are intensely trained in observing, and listening to the patient. It is a more holistic approach with a very positive outcome.
I compare Mr. Rancourt's course with this above example.
The fact that the administration of this institution of higher learning have not found some way to mediate/arbitrate this situation indicates that a.)the 2010 Mission statement is lip service only, a mere marketing ploy; and b.) that such innovative courses and teaching styles upset the private funders of this institution hense the stonewalling of Dr. Rancourt.
I am appalled at the practices of the Administration of the University of Ottawa! Professors such as Dr. Rancourt should be commended and not punished for the creation and teaching of a course such as the Science and Society SCI 1101 course!
