Carleton prof criticized for baking drone strike cakes

More than 840 people have signed a petition calling for Carleton University to denounce the tweets and actions of professor Stephanie Carvin, who posted pictures online of cakes she made depicting drone strikes on terrorists.

Petition organizers from the Ottawa BIPOC Network say the photos, first posted anonymously to Lawfare, a national security blog, in 2013, dehumanize people of colour in the war on terror.

Carvin, an assistant professor of international relations at Carleton’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), claimed credit for baking the cakes in a series of now-deleted tweets posted on Sept. 2.

“Years ago, while working in national security, I baked a cake for a friend’s birthday,” read one tweet that received at least 1,000 responses before being deleted. “That person was a Middle East analysts [sic]. So naturally, I made him an Al-Awlaki being droned cake.”

Anwar al-Awlaki was an American-born al-Qaeda terrorist killed in a 2011 drone strike by the United States. The strike drew criticism and legal challenges because of Al-Awlaki’s status as a U.S. citizen.

Carvin’s al-Awlaki cake was criticized as “notorious” and “tasteless” by Rolling Stone in 2013.

Carvin—referred to as the “Baker of Hard National Security Choices” on Lawfare—baked at least two other national security-themed pastries, including a series of fondant figures and a “Zero Dark Thirtieth Birthday Cake.” The latter depicted the killing of Osama bin Laden and is named after a 2012 film.

After deleting the thread, Carvin apologized “for causing hurt.” She eventually deleted her account entirely.

“Where I failed is not understanding the context that putting something extremely grim on something typically associated with celebration would be seen the way that it was,” Carvin said in an interview with the Charlatan. “That was a failing on my part … I’m deeply sorry about that.”

“What I’ve been trying to do … is trying to reflect on what I did and what I said, and why people were hurt by that,” Carvin said.

Carvin said she regularly bakes cakes for friends and events, and did not mean for the drone cakes to be an endorsement of the U.S. drone program.

Carvin also defended her opinions on weaponizing drones. In 2012, Carvin published an article arguing that there was not a decisive answer on whether targeted killings were effective in counter-terrorism. She also co-wrote a 2014 book on how to reconcile security and liberty with modern technology.

Carvin has worked as an unpaid consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense and as a national security analyst to the Canadian government.

In a JustSecurity.org article, University of Florida professor Maryam Jamshidi wrote that the cakes highlight “the almost inevitable dehumanization of those being killed and their powerlessness to confront their attackers, either on the battlefield or in a court of law.”

“Carvin’s cakes are an important testament to the troubling realities of the U.S. government’s targeted killing program,” Jamshidi wrote. “[They] give an unobstructed window into the national security establishment.”

The Ottawa BIPOC Network started the petition two weeks ago, calling for the university and NPSIA to denounce Carvin’s actions and invest in anti-racism resources and training.

“We are not calling on any punitive measures against Stephanie Carvin,” one petition organizer said in an interview. “We’re also not calling Stephanie Carvin racist. We’re not calling her tweets racist. We’re not calling NPSIA racist.”

“We’re simply talking about an environment that is being created through Stephanie Carvin’s tweets, and that NPSIA and Carleton have not spoken out against them,” the organizer said.

The Ottawa BIPOC Network aims to provide a professional support group and community building for people of colour.

The petition organizers, who are alumni of NPSIA, were granted anonymity to avoid the negative professional impacts of speaking out.

“We just want NPSIA to be clear on its values and we want students … to feel safe, to feel heard, to feel represented,” one organizer said.

The organizers said they sent a signed letter to NPSIA and Carleton leaders, including university president Benoit-Antoine Bacon, but were told the matter had been dealt with and that the university, due to privacy laws, could not comment on its actions.

Stephen Saideman, the Paterson Chair in International Affairs, defended Carvin in a tweet which is still up on his account.

 

As is all of your amazing baking.

Proud to have you as a colleague and glad that you will be using your newly tenured self to right wrongs, speak truths, and bake awesome cakes.

— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) September 3, 2020

“Proud to have you as a colleague and glad that you will be using your newly tenured self to right wrongs, speak truths, and bake awesome cakes,” Saideman wrote.

Carleton professor Philippe Lagassé also defended Carvin on Twitter, writing, “This is why tenure exists.” The tweet has since been deleted.

In response to Lagassé, Carvin tweeted, “RIGHT?! CAN’T GET RID OF ME FOR MORALLY QUESTIONABLE BAKED GOODS NOW, CARLETON.”

Saideman said in an interview that he “had not seen all the particular cakes she made” and that having the university denounce Carvin’s actions would go too far.

“You don’t need to denounce somebody who’s already apologized,” Saideman said. “I think it goes too far … to expect the university to denounce its professors for the speech they utter.”

Carvin said that some of her tweets in response to other users—such as her tweet stating, “I am sorry I hurt your feelings by making a cake.”—were sent before she realized why her tweets were wrong.

“She’s not focusing on the harm done,” one petition organizer said. “She’s not focusing on the very real risks and threats to safety and well-being that people who look like me and look like the fondant images on those cakes face everyday.”

Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who first published classified NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden, criticized Carvin on Twitter.

 

There’s something extremely wrong with you. Your soul is rotted.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 3, 2020

“There’s something extremely wrong with you,” Greenwald wrote. “Your soul is rotted.”

The university said in a statement to the Charlatan that it had “reviewed and addressed” Carvin’s actions, but would not comment publicly due to privacy laws.