University of Saskatchewan fires professor in efforts to muzzle him

[RB]

These are folks that is supposed to be open and liberal and now forced not to have a voice....speech problems at the University of Saskatchewan

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/05/14/dean_who_challenged_university_cuts_is_stripped_of_job_tenure_and_access_to_campus.html

[bush_cheney2004]

I read this story earlier in the week....firing Prof. Buckingham actually had the opposite effect. Brilliant move by the UoS administration.

[kimmy]

I read this story earlier in the week....firing Prof. Buckingham actually had the opposite effect. Brilliant move by the UoS administration.

It sounds like the University of Saskatchewan is doing some ground-breaking field research on the Streisand Effect.

So the professor has his job back, the university's president has publicly apologized and admitted that they made a huge blunder. Her own job is probably now in jeopardy as this situation has caused serious damage to the university's reputation and to its relationship with academic staff and students. An emergency meeting Monday will determine what happens next.

-k

[cybercoma]

Reminds me of UNB faculty passing non-confidence motions against the administration these past few months. This USask issue is much larger than USask. It's indicative of the McDonaldization of higher education across the country these days.

[cybercoma]

Maybe we can get some STEM people to work on the issue.

[bush_cheney2004]

Looks like the universities run out of Arizona "basements" will get the last laugh on political opportunist Cam Broten:

Cam Broten, Saskatchewan's Official Opposition leader, said that Premier Brad Wall should be calling for a meeting with university president Illene Busch-Vishniac. He said the provincial government did not hesitate to get involved at First Nations University of Canada and the University of Regina in 2007.

The leader of the Saskatchewan NDP said this is "not some university in Arizona run out of someone's basement," but a real, reputable university whose reputation will be hurt by this.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/prof-robert-buckingham-fired-after-criticizing-saskatchewan-university-plan-1.2642637

Edited May 17, 2014 by bush_cheney2004

[overthere]

These are folks that is supposed to be open and liberal and now forced not to have a voice....speech problems at the University of Saskatchewan

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/05/14/dean_who_challenged_university_cuts_is_stripped_of_job_tenure_and_access_to_campus.html

I'm almost certain this guy used to play guitar for Cheap Trick

[Boges]

Only in a university would an employee going public with grievences be even remotely acceptable.

BTW Universities are anything but bastions of free speech.

[cybercoma]

Universities are necessarily different from other workplaces. Academics require the freedom to critique. That's their jobs.

[Boges]

I thought their job was to teach people.

[cybercoma]

University professors are researchers first. The biggest misconception is that they have the same job as high school teachers and that's just not true. They teach students by sharing their research, particularly long-term tenured professors.

[Spiderfish]

So the professor has his job back, the university's president has publicly apologized and admitted that they made a huge blunder. Her own job is probably now in jeopardy as this situation has caused serious damage to the university's reputation and to its relationship with academic staff and students. An emergency meeting Monday will determine what happens next.

-k

She was fired last night. It was inevitable.

[overthere]

The professor certainly has the right and the duty to publicly address his field of expertise, but this guy is not a Doctor of Education, Business or University Management.

He was canned for mouthing off about a provincial scheme to reduce costs at the U of S,

The firing of him as a professor was over the top.

Firing him as Dean was probably the right thing, since he is supposedly part of the management team tasked with implementing the changes. It's not a democracy, and that part of education does not require the cherished 'collaboration'.

Of course, those changes mean fewer professors overall......

[cybercoma]

You don't understand academic freedom and the role of professors in a university community at all. He was completely within his rights and in fact responsibility to criticize the administration. Should he have done so as a Dean? Probably not, but they still can't fire him over it, as you can tell by them all losing their jobs over it.