ICYMI: Controversial Calgary professor sues University of Lethbridge for nixing guest lecture yyc
The planned lecture was to cover how “woke-ism” in post-secondary institutions threatens academic freedom, but it was cancelled amid backlash and a reprisal of Widdowson’s views by students and faculty. She said her experience at U of L is a “textbook case” of the topic she planned to speak about.
“Instead of encouraging faculty and students to engage with my ideas in order to reach a better understanding of totalitarian identity politics’ impact on the academy, the University of Lethbridge created an ‘unsafe space’ for critical thinking and open inquiry.
Widdowson has been criticized for her assertion that there were benefits to the residential school system and her rejection of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s conclusion that the school system was genocidal. She made headlines for public comments in 2021 that the Black Lives Matter movement “destroyed” MRU.U of L was initially set to allow the lecture to go ahead but backlash forced an about-face from school officials, who cancelled her speech two days before she was to deliver it.
Despite the cancellation, Widdowson went to the university and spoke in the school’s atrium on Feb. 1. On social media at the time, she said, “You will have to haul me away by security to stop me.” Hundreds had gathered to protest her presence, causing Widdowson to find another place in the university to conduct her lecture, but she was still drowned out by protesters, according to the JCCF. The talk was eventually moved online.
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