David Gilmour, a professor at the University of Toronto, recently said he doesn’t like to teach works by writers to whom he can’t relate. He said that restricts him to white, heterosexual males.
This mentality is unacceptable in a university setting. The idea that a school would allow people to only teach ideas within their comfort zone is baffling. In any other context—for example, someone teaching American history decided they wanted to skip the civil rights movement because they couldn’t relate to it—academics would be ridiculed and rejected.
And yet for some reason, Gilmour’s comments went largely dismissed by the university and even by the professor himself.
How can he possibly expect to teach a course on literature when he leaves out every other voice but the one he already possesses? Students go to university to expand their horizons, not to confine them.
The University of Toronto needs to take a stronger stance on Gilmour’s teaching methods. At the very least, he should be put on probation and his curriculum monitored until he can learn to respect the value of different voices.
Gilmour’s approach to learning is sexist and homophobic. This is not the attitude we should be teaching. We should challenge students to push their boundaries, not cater to them. We should look at the experiences of women, the queer community, and people of colour—the experiences of everyone—and acknowledge that what they have to say matters.
