Demystifying Academic Freedom Dr. Marc Spooner and Stephen Hurley

Dr. Clea Schmidt is Professor of Education at the University of Manitoba, where her research interests include diversity in the teaching force and the international mobility of educators and students from equity-seeking groups.

Dr. Schmidt also serves on the Working Group on Academic Freedom at the Centre for Free Expression, Metropolitan University (Toronto).

She is particularly interested in critically examining the intersection of academic freedom and university initiatives and policies such as respectful workplaces; trigger warnings; and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).

Visit Dr. Schmidt's faculty page: https://umanitoba.ca/education/clea-schmidt

Dr. Momin Rahman is a professor in the department of Sociology at Trent University. Dr. Rahman is also former co-chair of CAUT's National Committee on Equity.

In this episode, we talk about the impact, challenges and opportunities associated with bringing an equity lens to the conversation and work of academic freedom.

For more information about Dr. Rahman's work: https://www.trentu.ca/sociology/faculty-research

For the latest from Dr. Marc Spooner: https://theconversation.com/criticisms-of-academic-freedom-miss-the-mark-and-risk-the-integrity-of-scholarship-189035

Ana Isla is Professor Emerita. Department of Sociology and the Centre for Women's and Gender Studies at Brock University.

Dr. June Corman (Brock University) currently teaches graduate-level courses in research methods and research design, but has also taught undergraduate courses in women and work, family, and social inequality.

Today, Drs. Isla and Corman tell a powerful story academic freedom related to a volunteer opportunity that was being offered through Brock University and that raised concerns, first among students who participated and, subsequently, among faculty members, including Drs. Isla and Corman.

We continue our initial explorations of academic freedom in the Canadian context with University of Regina professor Dr. Shannon Dea. Shannon is currently the Dean of Arts at U of R, and in addition to a background in philosophy, has written regularly on the topic of academic freedom.

In this episode, we talk about the difference between academic freedom and some of the more familiar conversations about free speech. We also talk about academic freedom in the service of the wider purpose of the University "to seek truth and advance understanding".

A rich conversation.

Connect with Shannon Dea on Twitter: @ShannonDea1
Connect with Marc Spooner on Twitter: @drmarcspooner

Dr. James Turk is Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Toronto Metropolitan University and Director of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Centre for Free Expression. From 1998 to June 2014, he served as Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers.

James brings a combination of experience, insight and passion to our introductory episode to the podcast.

Learn more about Dr. James Turk: https://cfe.ryerson.ca/people/james-l-turk
Follow James on Twitter: @jameslturk

Dr. Nancy Olivieri is Professor, Pediatrics, Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Marc Spooner is Professor in Educational Psychology at the University of Regina.

In this conversation, Dr. Olivieri's uses her story of struggle to fulfill her academic duty to properly inform clinical trial participants of her concerns around some of the research evidence as the context for a wider conversation about academic freedom.

As we'll hear, both Marc Spooner and Nancy Olivieri point to the guarantee of academic freedom on the part of university researchers and scholars as an important pillar in our democracy.

Follow Dr. Olivieri on Twitter: @DrNancyOlivieri
Follow Dr. Marc Spooner on Twitter: @DrMarcSpooner