User:Blackchainz100/Racism controversies at the University of Ottawa

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There was an incident that occurred in the middle of June 2020 where a black male student at the University was carded and arrested for two hours on a campus street. This student was later identified to be Jamal Boyce who was at the time the vice-president of the student association of his program, who also graduated with a 9.0 GPA.

It was reported that Jamal Boyce was skateboarding on campus which is a very common activity that students of different races usually participated in. In addition, Jamal was skateboarding when he was stopped by the campus security staff who demanded he provided his identification. He told the guards that he did not have his wallet on him, and that they followed him as he walked away and eventually grabbed and arrested him. It was very rare to see students get in trouble for skateboarding as stated by many students at the University. There were about 30 people gathered around the scene who witnessed this incident and voiced their frustrations as it appeared to them that Jamal Boyce was being detained for doing nothing outrageous. A couple of witnesses from the crowd could be seen questioning the security guard as to why Jamal was being held against his will while other students of different races were skating around, and past the same location.

More than a dozen student groups including the University Of Ottawa Students' Union wrote an open letter that stated that the University's response to the carding incident on campus had not been ambitious and did not go far enough to combat systemic racism. Various professor and librarians also voiced their support for the demands of the student groups. These various professors and librarians were expecting the university to implement the students' comprehensive demands for apologies, policy review, training, consultation, accountability and transparency as to further protect students' rights.

An incident occurred during the month of September in 2020. Racist slurs were used during an online class. Classes were all offered virtually at this time due to the campus being shut down. Campus was shut down due to the worrisome rising numbers of covid-19 cases.

Dean Adam Dodek of the faculty of law sent an email to students addressing the growing number of complaints about disruptive behaviours during online breakout sessions, when students in a virtual classroom have to subdivide into separate video conference rooms. This disruption was caused by the use of racial slurs by students or a student who was or were in these subdivided video conference rooms.

The incident was reported to have occurred without a professor present. Neither Dodek nor the university provided further details about what was specifically said and whether the student who used the racial slur was identified or punished. Dodek stated that the academia, including the University's law school has had a long history of systemic discriminatory practices which have to be urgently addressed.

There was an incident during the month of October in 2020 where part-time University of Ottawa professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval was suspended after she said the actual N-word during one of her lectures. A student from this same lecture who was present at class filed a complaint to the University of Ottawa President Jacques Frémont, demanding the situation to be assessed promptly and have adequate measures be put in place. This complaint was supported by other students who were also present during this lecture the incident occurred. In addition, the complaint was supported by numerous students from different faculties in the school as the news of the incident made its way to the headlines.

In the same month of this incident, 34 professors at the University signed a letter in support of the part-time professor. This caused an outrage at the University as many students condemned the letter. The letter stated in defense for the part-time professor that it was important the university continued to abolish all forms of systemic racism but also ensuring that the transmission of knowledge and academic freedom is still protected. The students Union called the letter "appalling". The students union voiced its frustration claiming that these are the same professors who have responded very swiftly in defense of their colleague but are often silent when asked to voice their support for BIPOC students.

The University of Ottawa released a statement saying Lieutenant-Duval had apologized for using the term in class and was going to have a public meeting with the students to discuss the use of the term. The school also offered students an opportunity to continue the class with a different instructor. The University of Ottawa President did not ban the use of the N-word, but said both the professor's right to freedom of expression and the students' right to dignity must coexist.