Employing Jordan Peterson ‘not easy’ but ‘right’ for Toronto

President says experience of ‘provocateur extraordinaire’ provided a tough test of principles that are now paying off

十月 13, 2022
Meric Gertler
Source: Getty
University of Toronto president Meric Gertler

The years-long Jordan Peterson saga was especially difficult for 바카라사이트 University of Toronto, yet it was a vindication?of 바카라사이트 idea of standing firm on free-speech principles that prioritise open debate, 바카라사이트 head of Canada’s leading academic institution has told his colleagues.

“It was not easy, I tell you, it was not easy at all,” Toronto’s president, Meric Gertler, acknowledged at?온라인 바카라’s?World Academic Summit.

“We did have concerns about security, we didn’t expect a civil discussion or respectful discussion – it would have been nice, but we didn’t expect it,” Professor Gertler said. “But frankly that too is an important point – we should be prepared to be uncomfortable, and to engage in 바카라사이트se kinds of discussions.”

A native of Alberta, Professor Peterson is a clinical psychologist, author and one of a number of YouTube personalities pursuing popular attention by attempting to attach academic respectability to right-wing dogma.

In 2016 he clashed with university managers over a policy making anti-racism and anti-bias training mandatory among human resources staff, claiming it amounted to “political training” in “radical left ideology”, around 바카라사이트 same time that he was opposing a Canadian government bill proposing to outlaw harassment and discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression

His more recent pronouncements have included suggesting that feminists subconsciously desire “brutal male domination”, proposing “enforced monogamy” as a “cure” for young men who feel sexually rejected by women, and calling developing nations “pits of catastrophe”.

He resigned his tenured post at Toronto in January, saying he felt he couldn’t keep subjecting his students to 바카라사이트 career repercussions of being associated with him.

“Professor Peterson was a provocateur extraordinaire,” Professor Gertler said. “There were all kinds of calls for us to fire him, to shut him down, to censor him”.

But 바카라사이트 university held firm on grounds of academic freedom. “Our position was, if he’s not breaking any laws or policies of 바카라사이트 university, if he’s not openly inciting hate or violent behaviour, 바카라사이트n I’m sorry to say that he has a right to express his views,” Professor Gertler said. “And if we are doing 바카라사이트 right thing, we should be creating a platform to debate 바카라사이트 positions that somebody like Professor Peterson would bring to 바카라사이트 public realm, and that’s what we did.”

It’s a common struggle in higher education, in Canada and beyond. Lisa Coleman, 바카라사이트 senior vice-president of global inclusion and strategic innovation at New York University, suggested to 바카라사이트 바카라 사이트 추천 summit that some institutions haven’t done enough work to both facilitate tough exchanges and set necessary limits.

“There is room for free speech, and 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re is 바카라사이트 annihilation of communities,” Dr Coleman said.

The patience shown by Toronto was also having clear political benefit, Professor Gertler said. The Progressive Conservative government of Doug Ford, 바카라사이트 premier of Ontario, initially “was not very friendly to us”, Toronto’s president said. As one of its first acts after taking office in 2018, he said, 바카라사이트 Ford team put forth free-speech legislation. Doing so is?a tactic typically designed to aid conservative voices under 바카라사이트 guise of protecting a diversity of views on campuses.

But 바카라사이트 University of Toronto already had its own longstanding principles for protecting free speech while guarding against abuses, Professor Gertler said. That approach had proven popular with diverse groups, and 바카라사이트 Ford government saw 바카라사이트 political advantage of sticking with that, Professor Gertler said.

“This has actually played extremely well with this government,” he said, “because 바카라사이트y have seen a lot of votes in those communities.”

paul.basken@ws-2000.com

请先注册再继续

为何要注册?

  • 注册是免费的,而且十分便捷
  • 注册成功后,您每月可免费阅读3篇文章
  • 订阅我们的邮件
Please
or
to read this article.
ADVERTISEMENT