The decision by Calgary’s Mount Royal University (MRU) to fire a tenured professor in 2021 was disproportionate to her conduct, an arbitrator has ruled.
Frances Widdowson, who often spoke out against “wokeism” and identity politics on her Woke Academy website and social media, was fired just before Christmas amid a “Twitter War”—as described by the arbitrator—between her and colleagues. She filed a grievance over her dismissal.
On the matter of discipline, Jones concluded that although Widdowson’s actions were “just cause” for discipline, her termination was “disproportionate.”
“A number of the 12 factors enumerated in the December 20, 2021 dismissal letter are inaccurate, or have not been proved in the arbitration hearing, or are not worthy to be considered in a university that values academic freedom,” Jones wrote.
Despite finding Widdowson’s termination was disproportionate, Jones said it would not be appropriate to reinstate her to her job at the university given the level of conflict between her and others at the school.
“In my judgment, this is an appropriate case in which to substitute a monetary payment rather than reinstatement with lesser penalties.”
Widdowson said she was happy with the finding in her favour, but was disappointed she was not reinstated.
“There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be reinstated,” she said during a phone interview.
“The people who don’t want me to return to MRU, I don’t work with those people.”
Widdowson said the decision is being appealed with the goal of reinstatement.
MRU told The Epoch Times in an email that the ongoing arbitration has had a wide-reaching impact on the school community.
Complaints
In September 2020, after Widdowson said in a media publication that the Black Lives Matter movement had “destroyed” the culture at MRU, a petition was started to have her fired, which garnered over 6,000 signatures.She attracted further criticism from students and university colleagues for her comments on the residential school system, including saying it doesn’t constitute genocide.
The arbitration report notes that the conflicts on Twitter, now called X, occurred in the span of a few years.
In his arbitration ruling, Jones said that Widdowson has “controversial views on a number of topics.” However, he added, “there has never been a complaint about the quality or ethics of her scholarship; she has never received performance management counselling for either her teaching or scholarship; and the University has supported and recognized her scholarly activities.”
For her part, Widdowson says the process she has been through has helped her learn the importance of remaining principled.
“If you want the process to be over, you might as well quit now, because it’s never going to be over,” she said. “I see that now with all the battles that I’ve been involved in for the last numerous years.”
She added that she is going to focus on showing people “the terrible problems that exist within our institutions.”
The MRU said it can’t comment further on the case.
“While the formal process continues, we will have no further comment,” the university said.
Widdowson had worked at MRU since 2008.
