Quebec CEGEP professors unite their voices to urge Quebec to extend the application of the Act on academic freedom in the university environment to the college network so that they feel free to express their opinion “without fear of reprisals” from from their employer. A request that comes two years after the implementation of this law, from which university professors draw a nuanced assessment.
It was after conducting a survey of 500 professors last fall that the Federation of Collegial Education (FEC-CSQ) came to ask the government to extend the application of this provincial law to CEGEPs, learned The duty. The organization will also make a public outing to this effect on Friday, a week after its members unanimously adopted, on May 30, a statement of principle which notably underlines the importance of granting them “full freedom of “express their opinion about the establishment” and participate in “debates in public space” without fear of suffering “retaliation” from their employer.
“We want to ensure that there are no abuses” in CEGEPs, summarizes the president of the FEC-CSQ, Youri Blanchet, in an interview with Duty.
In fact, almost half (48.7%) of the teachers surveyed by the federation said they had “censored” themselves over the last five years by avoiding teaching a particular subject, “for fear of negative repercussions”.
“Teachers walk on eggshells,” illustrates Mr. Blanchet, who notes that some of them have the impression of being limited in the subjects they can address in class, with some being able to shock some of their students.
“Professors in philosophy, literature or psychology will avoid addressing issues related to critical race theories or critical gender theories because they are afraid of being clumsy and receiving complaints when they are well-intentioned and that they would like to address these issues with discernment and rigor”, deplores in this regard the professor of philosophy at the Bois-de-Boulogne college Richard Vaillancourt.
Regulating freedom of education
However, by being subject to the legislative measures resulting from Bill 32, CEGEPs would then, like universities, have to adopt a policy on freedom of teaching, in addition to forming a joint committee responsible for handling complaints received in this regard. This would make it possible to better regulate the teaching freedom of professors at the college level and thus avoid situations where it is “management which decides what can or cannot be said,” believes Mr. Vaillancourt.
The president of the Union of Professors of the Cégep de Sainte-Foy, Édith Pouliot, also notes that a “vagueness” currently persists regarding the “duty of loyalty” that teachers must respect in a college environment. “We should be able to criticize the establishment to which we belong” without feeling at risk of suffering reprisals, she argues. A situation which the application to the collegiate environment of the law sanctioned on June 7, 2022 in the National Assembly could remedy, she believes.
“We find that we would be better protected and that this would avoid excesses in the future,” adds political science professor at CEGEP Gérald-Godin Sylvain Benoît.
A nuanced assessment
Meanwhile, the president of the Quebec Federation of University Professors, Madeleine Pastinelli, provides a nuanced assessment of this law, two years after its entry into force.
“The portrait that we can draw is quite discouraging,” she says in an interview, recalling in passing Quebec’s decision to block the appointment of Professor Denise Helly to the board of directors of the National Institute of scientific research as well as that of Laval University to fire its professor Patrick Provost for his controversial comments concerning vaccination against COVID-19. In these two cases, the legislation in force was not respected, according to her.
It is also too early to draw conclusions about the establishment in universities of joint committees responsible for looking into issues of freedom of education, since they “are still new, in the process of taking ownership their roles,” continues Mme Pastinelli.
Minister Pascale Déry’s office did not comment on the matter on Thursday.
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