Carleton hosted a panel to introduce Scholars At Risk (SAR), an international network dedicated to promoting academic freedom, on March 4.
The panel conversation, called “Je Suis Scholar,” brought two scholars supported by the SAR network to speak about their experiences fighting to express their ideas in the face of oppression.
“Scholars at Risk is about a gesture of solidarity among scholars around the world,” said Nathalie Des Rosiers, dean of common law at the University of Ottawa, before introducing featured speakers Farai Gonzo and Bakyt Beshimov.
Gonzo, a journalist born in Zimbabwe, worked alongside agencies like UNICEF and CIDA to improve living conditions for those in rural and remote areas of her nation.
She fled to Canada in 2007 after she was interrogated and tortured by the government for openly discussing politically charged issues on her current affairs radio program.
Gonzo said now, “I am somebody on a path to getting my life back. And all of this has been possible through the network.”
She is currently teaching at Centennial College.
Beshimov was an opposition leader in the Kyrgyzstan parliament who spoke out against its oppressive political regimes.
Since threats and assassination attempts forced him to leave the country, he has acted as a visiting scholar at MIT and Harvard and is now an adjunct professor at Northeastern University.
Carleton and the University of Ottawa joined SAR in the 2014-15 school year.
Led by the Carleton University Academic Staff Association and a SAR committee with members from both universities, the plan is to co-host a scholar like Gonzo or Beshimov for a year placement in 2015.
According to Melanie Adrian, assistant professor in the department of law at Carleton and chair of the joint SAR committee, the two Ottawa universities have collaborated enthusiastically.
“It’s so nice to work with people who are responsive. It’s a spirit of collegiality between Ottawa and Carleton. It’s just been a true pleasure,” Adrian said.
Adrian was taught by an Iranian scholar at risk and said she has seen firsthand the importance of such a network.
“If you curtail the right of someone to think, critically and freely, then what kind of society do we have?”
