The sociology instructor who replaced Hassan Diab for remainder of the summer course he was teaching told the students registered in the class that they will be discussing the controversy surrounding Diab as part of the class discussion.

Some students enrolled in the first-year sociology class that Diab has been teaching since mid-July said they are not happy that he has been replaced

"They knew who he was when they hired him. What’s the point of changing it because the media found out?" said one student in class on July 30, the first scheduled class since Diab’s July 28 dismissal.

Diab started teaching the class after the instructor who was originally scheduled to teach, George Pollard, became ill one week into the summer course which started the first week of July.

"Three weeks of class, three profs and I need this courses to graduate," said another student on July 30 when the new instructor arrived.

On July 30, Karen March, a sociology professor at Carleton took over as the class instructor.

March said she took over because it became "difficult to have him in this class," but that she was "not coerced" into teaching the class.

Many students in the class said they were unaware of Diab’s charges while he was their teacher.

One student said he only found out on July 28 about Diab’s charges when a friend texted him during class and said "Your prof is on the front page of the [Ottawa] Citizen."

"I’m more concerned about the course," said history major Kevin Bazil during a break, when asked if he was concerned about the controversy surrounding Diab.

The lecture included a discussion of "social problems" using Diab’s dismissal as a platform to discuss theoretical approaches to power and bureaucracy.

March also addressed the concerns of the class, many of which were about the changing expectations of material to be covered.

However, one student said: "I am also worried about professor Diab."

When asked how she felt after the first class and the issues students had raised, March said: "I think the students are rightly concerned."

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"They are in some ways the innocents here," she said.

Her major concern she said is the students.
 

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