Quebec must adopt a law to supervise academic freedom in the college network, after it was applied “with variable geometry” in the Dawson and Vanier colleges, believe investigators from the Ministry of Higher Education. They also denounce the presence of prayer rooms and student associations with controversial positions in these two campuses, where tensions have emerged in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In response to the publication of this vast report on Friday, the vice-president of the National Federation of Teachers and Teachers of Quebec, Yves de Repentigny, recalled that his organization had already argued in 2022 for the enlargement of the Acting Acting Act in university environment with the college network, without success. “But a law on academic freedom is to protect academic freedom and not to limit it,” continues Mr. de Repentigny, who says he fears that Quebec uses this report to justify interference of the State in the “autonomy” of teachers and “the content of the courses” at the CEGEP.
“This investigation report raises very worrying facts,” said Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry, by press release. “As a government, we cannot tolerate that our campuses become the theater of divisions,” added the elected official, who intends to analyze this report “with rigor”. “If you have to go further to supervise or correct certain practices, we will not hesitate to do so. »»
The document is “worrying” and “shows that Pascale Déry was right,” said Prime Minister François Legault during a press briefing in Victoriaville on Friday. “You can count on us to make sure to protect secularism”, especially in the CEGEPs, he added.
A tense climate
It was last November that Pascale Déry sparked an investigation to shed light on complaints which reported, according to Quebec, a deterioration of the climate in the English -speaking colleges Dawson and Vanier.
After meeting dozens of people in the last months in these two establishments, the ministry’s investigators have made a report of more than 70 pages identifying all of their observations, which relate in particular to the practices of certain student associations present in these CEGEPs.
Thus, since the fall of 2023, a student association of the Dawson college has been selling Keffiehs every Wednesday, that is to say white and black scarves which have become in recent decades a symbol of the Palestinian resistance. “For students who do not share the convictions of the clubs” which sell this garment, “Keffieh has an explicit political dimension which is a source of tensions”, indicates the report.
A Palestinian student association of Vanier college sells stickers where the slogan is written ” Long live the intifada “, A practice that” caused student complaints to the establishment, “adds the document. Its authors thus recommend a better supervision of student associations in the college network, in particular in order to “give the levers necessary for establishments to intervene adequately in problematic situations”.
Freedom of expression
The report also reports complaints made in connection with symposiums and conferences held in the Vanier college, note the investigators. These events, they write, “have aroused, in recent years, very lively, even militant debates, within the professor and student community”.
“This results in a toxic climate little conducive to learning expected from an educational activity inscribed in a course or a program,” adds the report. The latter thus recommends a revision of the criteria used to select the speakers invited by this college.
The investigators also looked at the holding of language courses, in these two colleges, which have been the subject of complaints since they approach the history and culture of the Palestinian people. Last fall, an intervention by the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, who challenged the content of these courses, had raised a wave of criticism in the union environment. Several saw it as a conflict of interest because of his former role as directors in the Israeli and Jewish Affairs Center, a Zionist organization for the rights of the Jews.
“You can’t tell students: you are going to be in a big one safe space Who never confronts your personal opinions, ”says Yves de Repentigny, who defends the right of teachers of the college network to tackle controversial themes in their courses.
Investigators recommend for their part in Quebec to adopt a law in order to supervise the freedom of teaching, expression and research in the college network, freedom which would currently be applied “with variable geometry” in the network, which has repercussions on the content of certain courses.
“In this context, teachers live conflicts, frustrations, even threats that sometimes hinder the quality of educational services, are a source of demotivation and generate complaints for which establishments are not equipped. It follows from the discomforts experienced both between the members of the faculty and by the management of studies, ”adds the report.
Religious accommodation
Investigators also note that the teachers of these two colleagues tend not to give exams on the days of Muslim and Jewish religious festivals. “Students who absent for an unofficially recognized religious holiday in the school calendar are not penalized, if they inform their teachers from the first week of lessons,” notes the report.
The latter also reports on the presence of prayer rooms in these two CEGEPs, while recalling that other establishments also allocate premises for this purpose, this practice not being illegal in the college network.
However, “the assignment of a room to a particular religious confession is considered a privilege, can be seen as proselytism and is discriminatory in the face of students belonging to other religious denominations. On the other hand, in a public college and in a secular society, we must question the relevance of a prayer room, particularly in the current socio -political context, “write the authors of the report.
Joints by The duty, The Dawson and Vanier colleges both said they wanted to take the time to analyze this report before commenting on it. “We take the time today to read the report carefully before pronouncing ourselves early next week,” said Dawson College Director Diane Gauvin.
