University suspends Prof for a year.

[Gurn]

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/b-c-professor-says-one-year-suspension-over-facebook-post-violates-his-academic-freedom/ar-BB17wAur?ocid=msedgdhp

"

An organization that fights for academic freedom on Canadian university campuses is criticizing British Columbia’s Thompson Rivers University for suspending an economics professor over of a Facebook post.

Mark Mercer, president of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) and a philosophy professor at Halifax’s Saint Mary’s University, is demanding to know why TRU suspended Derek Pyne.

“Dr. Pyne’s suspension is a serious violation of his academic freedom,” said Mercer in a letter to TRU. “In addition, that Dr. Pyne may not use his office, his university email address, and other university resources will severely impede his work as a scholar. Thompson Rivers owes it to the academic community to explain why it has taken action against Dr. Pyne and why this action is not an attack on academic standards and values.”

Mercer said in an interview that he wrote the letter because he is concerned Pyne’s academic freedom was violated.

“SAFS wrote to Thompson Rivers University about the suspension of Derek Pyne because central to our group’s purpose is to explain, defend, and protect academic freedom and freedom of expression on campus,” he said. “When the board of directors believes that academic freedom might have been violated, compromised, or put at risk, SAFS writes a letter to the parties involved asking for clarification or explaining our position.”

Pyne said his suspension was over a Facebook post he made on June 10 applauding Brock University Faculty Association (BUFA) for defending academic freedom.

“Some good news for a change. Unlike Thompson Rivers University Faculty Association, it seems that some university unions are not opposed to academic freedom. One can debate some of the details of the following statement but the bottom line is that it comes out in support of academic freedom, even when it goes against the university, and the union’s, positions,” his Facebook post said.

• 'An obvious issue of academic freedom': B.C. university suspends professor for year over Facebook post
• Barbara Kay: U of A professor holds the line on free expression
• Free speech in Canada: It was bad five years ago. Do you think it's gotten better since?

The post tagged the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators and several members of Thompson Rivers University Faculty Association (TRUFA) in a comment. He predicted that TRUFA members would “go running” to Larry Phillips, the executive director of human resources at TRU, to defend them.

Phillips brought him into a human resources meeting, and he was told there was a harassment complaint against him. Pyne said the two complainants told TRU that being tagged in the post led to them losing sleep, and one of them claimed she needed time off work to recover.

He received a one-year suspension with no pay and no benefits.

Pyne said in an interview that he appreciates the support from the SAFS.

“At some point, a line has to be drawn or academic freedom will only be a right on paper,” he said.

Mercer said in the letter that Pyne’s right to criticize TRU and TRUFA is protected by academic freedom guaranteed to all professors by Article 9.6 of the TRU Collective Agreement.

Brett Fairbairn, the president of TRU, said in a letter to the SAFS that Pyne’s suspension is not about his academic freedom, but other issues arising in the workplace.

“Privacy laws prevent organizations from releasing information about a specific individual,” said Fairbairn in a letter. “As a result, we will not be releasing information specifically related to Dr. Pyne. Matters involving Dr. Pyne do not pertain to exercise of academic freedom.”

Pyne said TRUFA’s chief stewards will be filing a grievance against TRU for academic freedom violations. The TRUFA is demanding the suspension be rescinded and he be reinstated with full retroactive salary and benefits.

[Gurn]

I'd say the University will end up paying and apologizing to the Prof, given the direct contradiction of their statement

 

"

3 minutes ago, gurn said:

Privacy laws prevent organizations from releasing information about a specific individual,”

Then it continues with

4 minutes ago, gurn said:

As a result, we will not be releasing information specifically related to Dr. Pyne. Matters involving Dr. Pyne do not pertain to exercise of academic freedom.”

 

5 minutes ago, gurn said:

Matters involving Dr. Pyne do not pertain to exercise of academic freedom.”

Seems to be releasing info specifically about Dr. Pyne, doe it not?

You'd think they would get these letters proof read.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

Prof should be suspended for using facebook.  Only old farts like myself still use that.

[Down by the River]

2 minutes ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Prof should be suspended for using facebook.  Only old farts like myself still use that.

I've got some news for you about the age of a lot of profs ;). 

[Ralph.]

2 hours ago, gurn said:

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/b-c-professor-says-one-year-suspension-over-facebook-post-violates-his-academic-freedom/ar-BB17wAur?ocid=msedgdhp

"

 

The post tagged the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators and several members of Thompson Rivers University Faculty Association (TRUFA) in a comment. He predicted that TRUFA members would “go running” to Larry Phillips, the executive director of human resources at TRU, to defend them.

Phillips brought him into a human resources meeting, and he was told there was a harassment complaint against him. Pyne said the two complainants told TRU that being tagged in the post led to them losing sleep, and one of them claimed she needed time off work to recover.

He received a one-year suspension with no pay and no benefits.

 

There has to be more to this than being tagged in a social media post. If that's something that constitutes harassment in this day and age, then how soft is our society becoming?  I wish I could say I needed time from work to recover from the trauma of being tagged online somewhere.

 

**Granted that this is a quote from Pyne himself and likely isn't the whole story, I'll give the complainants the benefit of the doubt for the time being. But either way, a one-year suspension seems way overkill to me.

 

Edit: Welp, with more details coming out it indeed appears this guy does have some serious issues he should be dealing with. 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Gäz

[Where's Wellwood]

He called out his employer. What did he want? A pat on the back? Most places, if you $&!# on your employer online and tag your colleagues, your ass is fired.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

45 minutes ago, Down by the River said:

I've got some news for you about the age of a lot of profs ;). 

Yeah I guess “tenure” is a powerful shield.

[Where's Wellwood]

He even predicted his co-workers would go to HR to complain. He knew what he was doing and did it anyway.

 

Are his co-worker's symptoms over the top? Maybe. We can't say how different people deal with online criticism.

 

Pyne should have dealt with this internally and if that doesn't work, or if he'd already tried, and this issue is a deal breaker for him, then he should quit. Not complain about the obvious punishment he would receive. 

[CBH1926]

9 minutes ago, Where's Wellwood said:

He called out his employer. What did he want? A pat on the back? Most places, if you $&!# on your employer online and tag your colleagues, your ass is fired.

I looked at his original post and it does not look very egregious to me.

People say worse things about their employer and don’t get suspended for a year.

 

[Down by the River]

It sounds like what he did wasn't too bad... but also sounds like his colleagues hate him and were looking for an excuse to drag him through the mud. Maybe he did worse things behind closed doors, but going after someone when you don't have much of a case is never a good idea. 

[Where's Wellwood]

6 minutes ago, CBH1926 said:

I looked at his original post and it does not look very egregious to me.

People say worse things about their employer and don’t get suspended for a year.

 

 

It wasn't just that he said things about his employer. By tagging his co-workers and Faculty Association, he was saying it to his employer in a publicly viewable space. 

[RUPERTKBD]

1 hour ago, gurn said:

I'd say the University will end up paying and apologizing to the Prof, given the direct contradiction of their statement

 

"

Then it continues with

 

Seems to be releasing info specifically about Dr. Pyne, doe it not?

You'd think they would get these letters proof read.

I wouldn't be at all surprised....

 

In addition, there is a pretty involved grievance process and I believe the union will have a lot to say about this.

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

Seems like there might be more to this story than what’s being reported in most of the articles. It’s entirely possible that none of this really has anything to do with academic freedom.

 

“The university has publicly stated the suspension and banishment from campus was unrelated to Pyne’s research and pertained to matters it is unable to comment on due to employment and privacy law.”

 

https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/lrb-rulings-reveal-reasons-tru-says-it-suspended-professor-1.24172238
 

Many observers find the university’s “privacy law” rational a little too convenient, when it comes to their refusal to go into specifics as to why Pyne has been disciplined, however, from some of the details that have trickled out, it does seem like they had their reasons, and it may well have had little to do with the actual research Pyne was publishing.

 

“The LRB decisions of July 16, 2019 and Sept. 26, 2019, state that the university took action against Pyne due to what university brass deemed his aggressive behaviour, including allegations he put his hands around a colleague’s neck and, later, mocked the same colleague, who was feeling suicidal.”

https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/lrb-rulings-reveal-reasons-tru-says-it-suspended-professor-1.24172238
 

“in January, Pyne was summoned to a meeting with administrators and informed that faculty members, staff and students were afraid of him”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/11/26/canadian-scholar-says-hes-been-persecuted-his-research-colleagues-who-published
 

“the university again raised concerns about what it considered Pyne’s “alarming” behaviour, actions that allegedly included yelling, banging and speaking to himself in a “strange” tone of voice.”

 

“the university banned Pyne from campus in May 2018 due to what school officials deemed “aggressive and inappropriate behaviour at work.”

 

“On May 30, 2018, and June 15, 2018, while still barred from campus, Pyne received two more written warnings pertaining to “communication the employer perceived as inappropriate.”

 

“Meanwhile, according to the LRB decision, the psychiatric assessment indicated Pyne scored high in the area of paranoia, in particular concerning the feelings of persecution leading to suspiciousness and hostility in relations to others.”

https://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/news/lrb-rulings-reveal-reasons-tru-says-it-suspended-professor-1.24172238
 

But it went beyond simply publishing a paper.  Pyne went to the media and to accreditors to slam his faculty and suggest the new degree programs they were developing were low-quality – measures which might reasonably have been seen to threaten many people’s livelihoods.  I understand from people at TRU that he was not shy about individually identifying professors who he felt was guilty of publishing in the wrong journals.  In fact, Pyne was such a pain in the derrière that his own shop steward basically declined to defend him at first, and the TRU Faculty Association (TRUFA) chose never to take up the “academic freedom” mantle on Pyne’s behalf (in fact, there is quite an extraordinary paragraph towards the end of the report in which the CAUT investigators blast their own member local for insufficient vigilance on this front).  I can’t prove a direct link, but the strong impression one gets from all this is that the TRUFA didn’t like Pyne and thought his antics were annoying.  Indeed, one suspects TRUFA was in a difficult place, with substantial numbers of their own members telling them to let Pyne face the music.

http://higheredstrategy.com/toxic-colleagues-and-academic-freedom/
 

(the above link is well worth a full read)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

As for the Facebook post, and the tagged colleague who “lost sleep” and “needed time off work to recover,” you have to wonder if she was the same colleague that previously Pyne had allegedly put his hands around their neck and mocked for being suicidal.

 

It seems unlikely he’d be suspended for one year over a single Facebook post, but if it was part of a pattern, and he’d already been disciplined and warned against further harassment of that particular colleague, than I could see his actions resulting in another suspension.

Edited August 4, 2020 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME
Typo

[JM_]

I'm not sure academic freedom means you can say anything you want to about your employer. You're still bound by terms of employment. 

 

Having said that, this seems like major overkill by TRU. 

[RonMexico]

4 hours ago, RUPERTKBD said:

I wouldn't be at all surprised....

 

In addition, there is a pretty involved grievance process and I believe the union will have a lot to say about this.

Except this is from the National Post article in the links above:

 

Pyne said he is unsure about his next steps. He said appealing his suspension through his union makes little sense since it was a union executive member and steward who filed the complaint that led to his suspension.