A Canadian university professor is criticizing a university for hiring a company to operate a controversial anonymous whistleblowing hotline that he fears will be abused by students who complain about things they disagree with, according to a report.
Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, announced earlier this year that it was establishing an “anonymous reporting hotline” for members of the school community to report suspected inappropriate activities, such as non-compliance with university policies. , reported the Canadian media True North.
Philosophy professor Mark Mercer said he worries that the hotline will affect “the culture of the institution” and worries that students will liberally define “unacceptable” behavior as anything they disagree with.
“I think the effect of the university promoting this is to make us seem like we’re not a collegial place,” he told the outlet. “We are not a place where, when people disagree, they have critical discussions with each other or ignore each other.
“Now we go to an authority as a way to resolve these things,” Mercer added.
Professor Mark Mercer, President of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, foller.me/mark-mercer A sign for the new St. Mary’s University anonymous hotline. TNC News St. Mary’s University is a mid-sized university in Halifax, Nova Scotia. TNC News
The university defended the hotline as a system that “provides a mechanism for members of the university to disclose concerns confidentially and/or anonymously.”
“The Safe Disclosure Policy applies to all Saint Mary’s employees, students, volunteers, contractors and vendors, and works in conjunction with our other codes and policies of conduct, such as Research Policies, Student Code of Conduct Policy , the Sexual Violence Policy and Harassment Policy and others,” St. Mary’s told True North in a statement.
The Post has contacted St. Mary’s University 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 impose sanctions, so that people are afraid to say or do things that the powers consider cause discomfort.”
Mercer also criticized the “cash-strapped” university for hiring elite accounting firm Grant Thornton to manage the hotline system while faculty are forced to make cuts due to a lack of funding.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn