After an ad hoc meeting debating the dismissal of accused terrorist Hassan Diab, Carleton University’s department of sociology and anthropology issued a four-point resolution condemning the actions of the school’s administration and ordering the reinstatement of the sociology professor, according to department chair Peter Gose.
The department also has grave concerns about the administration’s potential violation of the union agreement and school regulations, Gose said.
“I understand the kind of pressure they feel, we felt it too,” Gose said. “But it is for the tough times [that] we have procedures, rules, laws and collective agreements.”
Diab was arrested in November 2008 for alleged involvement in a1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue. He was appointed to teach the SOCI 1002 summer course after the previous instructor took ill.
When media reports came out last week stating that Diab was teaching at Carleton, organizations such as Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith raised concerns about the safety of the school and community at large.
Carleton terminated the professor on July 28, announcing he would be replaced “in the interest of providing students with a stable, productive academic environment.”
Gose said he and John Osborne, the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, correctly followed procedure when hiring Diab and took necessary precautions, including soliciting legal opinions and meeting with senior administration officials.
“The important thing is that when the appointment went forward it went forward with many more people being consulted than would be the case,” Gose said, “precisely because Diab has been in the news.”
Gose said that Diab’s dismissal circumvented and violated school practices and rules, which in his opinion were of special significance due to the explosive and controversial elements of the situation.
While B’nai Brith has criticized the school for permitting Diab to teach, saying he is a threat to the community, Gose said the question of potential risk posed by Diab was one for the courts, which was answered during Diab’s bail hearing in March by the presiding judge.
Under his bail conditions, Diab was granted permission to leave the house with a court-appointed surety to teach.
“Thankfully it’s not up to me who is and who isn’t a threat to public safety, it’s the judge’s,” Gose said, “and one of the questions that had to be resolved in the bail hearing in March was whether Diab was a threat to the public.”
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion; I have one, the university president has one and certainly B’nai Brith have another. But who gets to make the decision if someone gets to go out on bail and is employable? It’s the judge,” Gose said. “And the judge determined he was not a threat to public safety.”