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Professors union raps CMU over academic freedom

By: Nick Martin

Posted: 11/25/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Canada's national professors union has officially placed Canadian Mennonite University on a list of universities that have a faith test for hiring.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) also has harsh words for the University of Winnipeg, which it alleges has not protected academic freedom in joint programs at Menno Simons College.

And CAUT warned both the U of W and the University of Manitoba that it is developing policies on joint programs between public and private universities, and it expects the two universities to protect academic freedom in joint programs with CMU.

"We're not censuring them (CMU)," said CAUT executive director Jim Turk. "All we're saying is, the public and academics should know this is one of the realities of the institution."

"There are certain fairly universal standards for universities," which include academics being unfettered in their search for universal truths, said Turk.

"If you say you can't teach here unless you have certain beliefs," then academic freedom is lacking, he said.

CMU vice-president academic Earl Davey said his school "is deeply committed to academic freedom -- this is foundational to our understanding of the nature of universities," Davey said.

"CMU faculty are PhD graduates from major universities in Canada, the U.S. and Europe" who conduct research and publish in academic journals by the same standards as professors in public universities, he said. "These aren't people that somehow come from a different academic tradition."

If CAUT wants to worry about academic freedom, Davey said, it should examine the politicization of science, and government and business pressure on university research.

CMU is writing a rebuttal to be posted on the CAUT website, Davey said.

"The majority of religious universities do not impose a faith test," Turk said, pointing to St. Francis Xavier University, St. Thomas University, and colleges such as St. John's and St. Paul's at U of M as examples.

CMU is the third school that CAUT has placed on a so-called faith test list, following two Christian universities, B.C.'s Trinity Western University, and Crandall University in Moncton, N.B.

The extensive CAUT report says that several professors at U of W began raising concerns in 2004 about academic freedom in the conflict resolution and international development programs at Menno Simons College. MSC is part of CMU, but is based on the U of W's downtown campus, and draws heavily on U of W students for its enrolment.

CAUT says that U of W president Lloyd Axworthy reached agreement with CMU president Gerald Gerbrandt in 2007 to cover Menno Simons.

But CAUT says that the deal only specifies that most Menno Simons College teaching staff will be Christians. Non-Christian professors must still learn Mennonite teachings and traditions, and the policy leaves room for their removal if CMU believes they are undermining Mennonite beliefs in non-defined ways, CAUT says.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 25, 2010 B5

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