{"id":200471,"date":"2019-02-02T01:42:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T06:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=200471"},"modified":"2019-02-02T05:12:50","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T10:12:50","slug":"dalhousies-interim-president-stirs-controversy-with-book-on-campus-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/02\/02\/dalhousies-interim-president-stirs-controversy-with-book-on-campus-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"Dalhousie’s interim president stirs controversy with book on campus dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FILE: Dalhousie University at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Photo<\/a>: S Kaya\/Flickr<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HALIFAX \u2014 Dalhousie University’s interim president has written a new book on campus debate and dissent \u2014 and it has provoked both at the Halifax school, with some students calling for his dismissal.<\/p>\n

Peter MacKinnon, former president of the University of Saskatchewan, took over the helm of Dalhousie in January as it searches for a new top administrator.<\/p>\n

But his appointment has proven controversial, after a group of students protested at his welcome reception, issuing a strong rebuke against his recent book, \u201cUniversity Commons Divided: Exploring Debate and Dissent on Campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students say the book expresses \u201cracist perspectives\u201d and \u201coppressive rhetoric\u201d on topics such as blackface, and have issued a list of demands \u2014 including his immediate removal as interim president.<\/p>\n

The controversy appears to have roiled the university, which marked its bicentennial last year with forums and workshops related to the theme Year of Belonging.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe university has made repeated claims that it’s committed to diversity, equity and inclusion \u2014 and then it hires this extremely divisive figure,\u201d says Letitia Meynell, an associate professor of philosophy at Dalhousie.<\/p>\n

In an interview, MacKinnon says the impetus for writing the book was a sense that public conversations on difficult issues have become more severe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they’re becoming more rhetorical, I think they’re becoming more emotive, and I think they’re becoming more inclined to denunciation than illumination,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The 71-year-old officer of the Order of Canada \u2014 short-listed for the Supreme Court of Canada in 2006 \u2014 says freedom of expression is a fundamental university value.<\/p>\n

But MacKinnon says he’s concerned that issues of high sensitivity are increasingly met with \u201critualistic denunciation\u201d on campuses, rather than respectful discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incumbent upon universities to model what debate means, and I think part of that is being open and being engaged on contentious issues and avoiding highly rhetorical and denunciatory responses,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

However, Hayley Zacks, a fourth-year student studying at Dalhousie, says MacKinnon only appears to value freedom of expression and open debate when it supports his own views.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn’t like dissent when it’s not in his favour, he calls that uncivilized and divisive,\u201d Zacks says.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Meynell \u2014 who’s cross-appointed with Dal’s Gender and Women’s Studies department \u2014 took issue with MacKinnon’s position that universities have strayed from a commons in which civility is valued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a kind of nostalgia for a time when white men were massively privileged and had control of the university debate,\u201d she says. \u201cHe’s basically saying Make Campuses Great Again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his book, MacKinnon discusses contentious topics like blackface Halloween costumes, Dalhousie’s dentistry faculty scandal, Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations, and University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson’s views on gender pronouns.<\/p>\n

MacKinnon acknowledges that some of the issues explored in his book have \u201ctouched a nerve\u201d and caused distress.<\/p>\n

In a report to the university’s senate this week, he addressed some of the concerns, saying that while some of the issues are discussed in depth in his book, others are mentioned for \u201cillustrative purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The passage in MacKinnon’s book that appears to have garnered the greatest backlash refers to costume parties involving white students in blackface.<\/p>\n

The incidents sparked outrage on campuses, but MacKinnon suggests in his book that there was \u201ca lack of proportion in the responses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese were Halloween parties, not cultural misappropriations, Nazi mimicry, or manifestations of disapproval of other peoples,\u201d he wrote. \u201cSo describing them risks diminishing real problems of intolerance, discrimination, and racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added later in the chapter that the reaction to the incidents involved \u201cnarrow interpretations of Halloween costumes and overreaction to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacKinnon told the senate he stands by the discussion of these topics in his book, but he says some have interpreted his comments as condoning blackface.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not condone blackface,\u201d he told the senate. \u201cI regret any interpretation to the contrary, and the distress it has caused.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacKinnon has also offered to meet with concerned students, and says he’s \u201cwilling to engage in conversation on difficult issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

But some students and faculty aren’t backing down from their criticism of the interim leader, and the process undertaken to hire him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s trying to backtrack. But to me his book still perpetuates blackface and gives words and excuses to students that do blackface,\u201d says Zacks. \u201cThat’s a really dangerous narrative … he’s excusing behaviour that’s incredibly harmful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew Sears, an associate professor at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton who is outspoken on social justice issues nationwide, called MacKinnon’s book \u201cwildly out of touch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many acts of casual or overt racism are we just simply going dismiss as a joke or, ‘Don’t be so sensitive,\u201d’ he said. \u201cAs someone who has never faced that kind of discrimination based on colour or ethnicity, I don’t think you get to tell people to settle down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sears added: \u201cIf you have a group of students at Dalhousie who are already inclined to make fun of these equity-seeking groups, this will be a shot in the arm for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lianne Xiao, president of the student union at King’s College, a small liberal arts university within the Dalhousie campus, says MacKinnon’s book \u201cis harmful and racist and fuels negative stereotypes on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Xiao says his comments to the senate, and an email sent to students on the topic, have not alleviated concerns.<\/p>\n

Despite vocal opponents to MacKinnon’s interim tenure, others at Dalhousie have welcomed his arrival.<\/p>\n

Reagan Seidler, a second year student at Dal’s Schulich School of Law, says MacKinnon is \u201carguably the most well-respected university leader in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former student president at one of the University of Saskatchewan’s colleges during MacKinnon’s tenure, he says it’s difficult to witness his legacy reduced to one passage in his book.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne reason Peter was so celebrated in Saskatoon is for his leadership on behalf of racialized students, particularly Indigenous students. He has a real track record the protesters surely know nothing about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seidler added: \u201cWe’ve asked him to put off retirement for a temporary job across the country at a school in constant turmoil. He’s here because he cares.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacKinnon, originally from P.E.I. but who now calls Canmore, Alta., home, says he hopes to contribute to the university during his time \u2014 currently expected to be six months, though an extension is possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to sustain the incredible momentum of this university,\u201d he said, adding that he hopes to work closely with the school’s agricultural campus in Truro and continue to build on the university’s strength in the ocean sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an exciting university. I certainly don’t want to move across the country simply to be a place holder.\u201d<\/p>\n

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HALIFAX \u2014 Dalhousie University’s interim president has written a new book on campus debate and dissent \u2014 and it has …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":200474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-brett-bundale","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}