With her recent public remarks, Selina Robinson revealed both abysmal ignorance and a racist conception of an oppressed people
Writing about this series of interlocked scandals, so much has happened so rapidly to shift the point of gravity that it’s like juggling several balls while roller-skating. I’ll take it in order, without knowing as I begin what the situation will be by the time I end.
First, there was a rally on October 28 in downtown Vancouver, at the north side of the Vancouver Art Gallery. It was packed with hundreds of people, perhaps over a thousand, of all ages, some carrying signs, many wearing keffiyehs. Among the speakers was a young woman, Natalie Knight, an instructor at Vancouver’s Langara College, who referred to the October 7 Hamas raid as “amazing… brilliant.” A similar view was expressed by retired American military analyst Scott Ritter, who called the attack the “most successful military raid of this century.” Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh quoted an Israeli official’s admiration for the “dazzling ingenuity” of the Hamas tunnel system. On November 3, Knight defended her remarks at another rally.
But not everyone tolerates such words. The Jewish Federation of Vancouver (mislabeled by some news media as “the Jewish community”) promptly complained to Knight’s employer, insisting she be fired. The college subsequently suspended her with pay pending an investigation by its own Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression Advisory Committee.
Who is Natalie Knight? Originally American and of Indigenous background, she holds a doctorate from Simon Fraser University (her work won SFU’s Convocation Medal in 2019, with high praise from her professors). She sits on the editorial board of two local literary journals, one of them the well-known Capilano Review, and participates in left and community organizations. Her advisor praised her “community activism and institutional service,” and Knight herself as “one of the most accomplished scholars I have ever taught… one who will make an enormous contribution to public debates and urgent social issues.” And indeed she has, though not in the way her advisor probably imagined. Knight was hired by Langara College in Vancouver to teach English.
During the approximately three months of the investigation, various individuals and organizations wrote letters on Knight’s behalf, supporting freedom of speech and of political opinion. The same SFU professor who directed Knight’s graduate work, lauding her character and future, refused to write on her behalf, opining that she should apologize for those two words. SFU distanced itself from Knight, claiming she had no connection with the university except for that pesky medal. Langara’s investigation concluded that Knight had contravened no college rules, had not endangered anyone with her comments or incited anyone to violence; she was then reinstated. She announced the reinstatement to a congratulatory crowd at a rally on January 23 that began at the SkyTrain station near Langara, then proceeded to the campus. All’s well that ends well, apparently.
The following day, Knight was fired. The three-month investigation was ignored, the exoneration overturned. Why? Because a minister of the provincial NDP government intervened, meeting with Langara administrators to demand that Knight be fired. This was Selina Robinson, provincial minister of post-secondary education and future skills, who had contacted the Langara College administration to that effect.
But who is Robinson, and why would a provincial minister meddle in a college case that had been duly investigated and resolved? (more...)
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