Commonwealth_ The University of Alberta reinstated a law professor who was suspended after an online post where she remarked on the death of American conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. A week after the announcement of their non-disciplinary leave on September 14, Professor Florence Ashley returned to work.
Earlier, the university defended itself by suspending the professor due to public safety concerns, pending an investigation. Authorities later said the test was administered and found there was no imminent danger related to the incident. The group would not comment on whether it closely followed the social media activity of the professor or the threats it got while it was under investigation.
Ashley, a professor at a university and a they/them pronouns speaker, had for weeks after Kirk’s death been tweeting on social media, denouncing his political legacy. Ashley’s tweets contradicted the act of introducing Kirk in a friendly manner at his death. While some of Ashley’s tweets trended on social media, they contended that they were hiding under the umbrella of academic freedom and were neither violent nor hateful.
Academicians and academically engaged pundits are deeply troubled by the university’s decision to place Ashley on leave without inviting them to participate in the review. The suspension is troubling to fellow academics, as they feel that it would be used as a precedent to silence free speech and academic debate, particularly if it involves criticizing sacrosanct political bullies. Ashley also feared that the interim suspension would harm their professional reputation and give the impression that their comments were under institutional censorship and not open to public debate.
The incident reflects a broader wave of reactions throughout Canada following the death of Charlie Kirk. Kirk, a prominent American conservative activist, elicited praises and criticisms following his death. A number of Canada’s public schools and institutions of learning witnessed tensions following social media reactions to the incident.
A week before Ashley’s suspension, the University of Toronto suspended a political science and religion professor for what the university called disturbing reactions to Kirk’s killing. After a staff member mentioned Kirk in a social media post, authorities charged a man with threatening an Ottawa region high school. At a Scarborough, Toronto, suburb, the principal of one confirmed that a teacher was suspended temporarily after she presented pupils with a grisly video related to the U.S. tragedy.
The wave of response to Kirk’s assassination included nationwide vigils in most Canadian cities, which served as a show of public respect and sparked debate over his legacy. The University of Alberta’s case demonstrates the swift translation of online reactions to politically significant events into institutional responses, even across international borders.
Although the university review later determined there had been no immediate danger, the incident raised some questions regarding the balance at Canadian universities between academic freedom and free speech principles and safety concerns. For Ashley, and for much of the academic community, however, the incident acknowledges a desire for transparent processes when universities respond to public controversy.
The reinstatement marks the end of one chapter in a national scandal, but the larger controversy over academic free speech and university accountability in the face of politically volatile subjects is bound to continue raging at Canada’s universities.
