Rick Mehta, a tenured psychology professor at Acadia University, is the subject of recent petition calling for his resignation.
The petition follows comments Mehta directed towards Conservative Leader, Andrew Scheer, which defended Senator Lynn Beyak, who had recently been removed from the Conservative caucus for refusing to remove “racist” letters she posted on her website.
“@AndrewScheer You claim to support free speech, yet you remove Senator Beyak from your caucus. Where is the evidence of racism? Are you saying that the Aboriginal people should have a protected statues and therefore can’t be criticized? Bad move re: race relations,” read the tweet by Mehta.
The letters on Beyak’s website were in support of her position on the residential school system, which she said was “well-intentioned,” and had positive aspects. Thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their families and were abused and mistreated at these schools.
Following the tweets, Jessica Durling, a human rights activist in Halifax, started a petition to remove Mehta from his teaching position, saying that a man with his position of power should not belittle and oppose marginalized peoples.
“The true goal of the petition was to inspire marginalized students who felt uncomfortable, unsafe in his classes. For them to know a formal complaint can make a difference, and since then, there have been formal complaints,” she said in an email.
Durling said she tried to reach out to Mehta privately, but he blocked her.
In an interview, Mehta made it clear that he did not support Beyak’s opinions, but instead he was “defending her right to post letters that she had received to her website and to post her views, whatever they happen to be.”
He said he did nothing wrong but send out a tweet supporting Beyak.
“The whole point of being in academia . . . is that what we’re supposed to have is academic freedom, which is the right to criticize various things within society . . . and that’s what I was doing,” Mehta said.
When asked if he brings his political views into the classroom, Mehta said he tries to bring in perspectives from all sides, because academia has undergone a large shift to the political left and therefore in his opinion, he does not need to bring these ideas up since students are already exposed to them in most of their classes.
“I’m trying to present views that are different from what they’re used to seeing . . . it’s mostly just to give them some other perspectives to consider, so when you go out into the real world, you can look at the world from different perspectives and try to find a more nuanced solution that will actually work for everyone,” Mehta said.
“Instead of just reinforcing your own world view and then just force that on other people who are not going to agree . . . that’s going to lead to very counterproductive discussions and ultimately, is playing a role in the polarization we’re seeing in the world these days,” he added.
Mehta explained that a number of students have reached out to him and said they are afraid to speak up in class because of their views and the backlash they might receive from other students and professors.
“We should be having these difficult conversations and try to find solutions that might work,” he said.
Scott Roberts, executive director of communications at Acadia, said in an email, that the university is aware of Mehta’s comments, but stressed that they are not reflective of Acadia’s views.
Roberts said there are processes in place that would allow them to respond if needed but he clarified saying, “it would not be appropriate at this time to speculate about what that response might be or if, indeed, there would be one.”
However, Durling said, “you can’t just target marginalized groups and call it “free speech.” He’s being paid by the university to teach classes, not to target students. Free speech is about being able to challenge authority, for the people. Not target the marginalized.”
Randal Marlin, a Carleton University professor who specializes in free speech, said in an email that what he has seen in recent free speech cases is that “there is too much readiness to apply punishment to those espousing unpopular views.”
He went on to explain that at Carleton he cannot recall any firm policy on professors remaining politically neutral, and that they are in fact allowed to run as candidates for political parties.
However, he said that it would “be a violation of teaching ethics to shape lectures and reading materials so as to give maximal support to the political party one is working for.”
“On matters of doctrine, a professor is totally free to say what they like, provided they don’t knowingly or negligently express dangerous falsehoods . . . they should also . . . follow ethical norms,” Marlin said.
As for Mehta, he said he remains mostly unfazed by the ordeal, and that it has taught him to take everything with a grain of salt.
Photo by Serena Halani
