A Canadian college professor is slamming a university for hiring a firm to run a controversial anonymous whistleblower hotline that he fears will be abused by students complaining about things they disagree with, according to a report.
Saint Mary’s University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, announced earlier this year that it was creating an “anonymous whistleblower hotline” for members of the school community to report suspected inappropriate activity, such as violations of university policy, Canadian outlet True North reported.
Philosophy Professor Mark Mercer said he was concerned about the hotline impacting “institutional culture” and worried that students would freely define “unacceptable” behavior as anything they disagreed with.
“I think the effect of the university promoting this is to make us look like we’re not a collegial place,” he told the outlet. “We are not a place where, when people disagree, they either have critical discussions with each other or ignore each other.
“We are now going to the authorities as a way to resolve this matter,” added Mercer.
Professor Mark Mercer, President of the Association for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, foller.me/mark-mercer Poster for the University of St. John’s new anonymous hotline. Mary. TNC News St. Mary’s University is a medium-sized college in Halifax, Nova Scotia. TNC news
The university defends the hotline as a system that “provides a mechanism for university members to disclose concerns confidentially and/or anonymously.”
“The safe disclosure policy applies to all Saint Mary’s employees, students, volunteers, contractors and suppliers, and works in tandem with our other codes and policies on conduct, such as the Research Policy, Student Conduct Policy, Sexual Violence and Harassment Policy and others, said St. Mary’s to True North in a statement.
The Post has contacted the University of St. Mary for comment.
Mercer said he believes the hotline was created in response to the ideology of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI), True North reported.
“One of the goals is something like comfort on campus for people from historically marginalized groups,” he said. “And the way is to involve the authorities and level the restrictions, to make people afraid to say or do things that the authorities take to be a productive discomfort.”
Mercer also accused the college of “losing money” for hiring elite accounting firm Grant Thornton to run the hotline system while faculty were forced to make cuts due to lack of funds.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
