Physics Professor Denis Rancourt’s battle against his old employer, the University of Ottawa, continues at court after his 2009 dismissal.
Fired after a 30-year career, Rancourt’s case questions the issue of academic freedom versus university governance. As a professor, Rancourt assigned his whole fourth-year physics class a mark of A+ at the beginning of the term, feeling that he had the academic freedom to use teaching methods he found appropriate and efficient.
“Grades are the carrot and stick that shape obedient employees and that prepare students for the higher level indoctrinations of graduate and professional schools,” said Rancourt in an interview with rabble.ca.
His approach sparked controversy with the University, which claimed that Rancourt didn’t have the authority to defy grading policies and procedures, as the institution provided Rancourt with benefits and support.
This dismissal of academic freedom, according to Rancourt, was unjustified, leading him to file a complaint to the Ontario Labour Relations Board.
Estimated to go well into 2012, his recent trials heard U of O claim that Rancourt’s teaching methods constituted experimentation on human subjects.
Rancourt received his Masters and Doctorate degrees from the University of Toronto.
