In light of recent media coverage on the topic of free speech in universities, I decided to organize a panel discussion to explore and analyze this issue. The discussion lasted about an hour and was followed by questions. I hope the conversation that was started here will continue at other places.

The panel consisted of:

1) Erin Crandall, Dept. of Politics, Acadia University
2) Diane Holmberg, Dept. of Psychology, Acadia University (moderator)
3) Mark Mercer, Dept. of Philosophy, Saint Mary's University
4) Stephen Perrott, Dept. of Psychology, Mount Saint Vincent University
5) Marc Ramsay, Dept. of Philosophy, Acadia University

On September 27, 2017, I gave a talk at Acadia University on the topic of free speech. Below is an outline that covers the scope of this talk:

1) Reasons for Supporting Free Speech
2) Addressing Hate Speech
3) Examples of Suppression of Free Speech in England, the US, & Canada
4) Contributing Factors
5) Evergreen State College
6) Potential Solutions: Addressing Hate & Taking Action

The section on Examples of Suppression of Hate Speech includes examples from both the extreme right and extreme left of the political spectrum, although I place more emphasis on the extreme left (especially in Canada). The ultimate goal of this talk was to bridge the political divides on campuses in Canada and help Acadia University go back to being an institution that values free enquiry. Instead, I ended up being dismissed on August 31, 2018, for questioning the university's decision to commit itself to a political ideology (in this case, social justice).

This talk was originally hosted by The Athenaeum (Acadia's student-run independent newspaper: theath.ca), supported by the Acadia Student Union (theasu.ca), and livestreamed by Axe Radio (axeradio.ca). However, after the talk, the three groups distanced themselves from me. In fact, Sid Kondapooram (editor in chief at the Athenaeum) and Grace Hamilton-Burge (president of the Acadia Students’ Union) were complainants against me in the MacKay Report (one of the two reports that Acadia University used as a pretext to dismiss me for exercising my rights to academic freedom and dissent).

I am grateful to Terry Aulenbach for recording and putting together this video.

On Friday, June 22, 2018, I gave a talk at the ideacity conference in Toronto. In this 10-minute talk, I reviewed the key problems related to free speech and institutional transparency in universities, and provided potential solutions for the general public to discuss.

On May 4, 2019, I delivered a public lecture at the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) conference that I had titled “Canadian Labour Law: A Threat to Academic Freedom”.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, academics in Canada failed to heed the warning that I delivered—most likely because the vast majority of academics are more interested in satisfying their egos than in searching for truth.

This video features a talk that I gave on September 23, 2019, at the Halifax Central Library in which I criticized safe space culture in Canadian universities. In particular, I was critical of faculty associations (unions) for their role in suppressing voices of dissent. How did the mess that our society is in come about, what are the potential consequences, and are there solutions? To find out more, please watch my video.

I used to present this slide [Insert link to slide here] when I taught Introductory Psychology 1 at Acadia University (September 2006 to August 2018).

I have noticed that some of my customers purchase supplements to help them sleep. Unfortunately, the supplements are a band-aid solution because they don’t address the underlying causes of sleep conditions. When I taught Introductory Psychology 1 at Acadia University, I used to review the best practices for sleep, which are known as “sleep hygiene”. This link will direct you to the slide that I used to deliver on this topic.

During my last semester at Acadia University (January to April 2018), I had an opportunity to teach Introductory Psychology 2, which I had last taught in January to April 2006. Because it has been a long time since I had covered the topic of Stress and Health, I approached the topic from a different angle and this approach turned out to be quite effective. This folder contains a handout of the slides that I used for this topic and audio recordings of the four classes that I delivered on stress and health.