Bambi is very thankful and honoured to have been invited by CUPE 3912 to write an article on academic freedom in its latest newsletter (https://cupe3912.ca/documents/the-instructor/). Of note, her article was authored/in press prior to the settlement of her arbitration process.
From this union’s website, you can read that “CUPE 3912 is Nova Scotia’s largest university union, proudly representing 3000+ precarious academic workers in 4 bargaining units at Dalhousie University (Dal), Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), and Saint Mary’s University (SMU)” (https://cupe3912.ca/about/).
Bambi (or Rima Azar)’s article appears in the April 2022 edition of the Instructor‘s newsletter of CUPE 3912 on pages 2, 3, and 4: https://newsletter.cupe3912.ca/2022-04–CUPE3912_Newsletter.pdf
As a reminder, both the About Page of Bambi’s Afkar’s blog and Dr. Rima Azar personal website (https://rimaazar.ca/) include the following words about the settlement of her arbitration process:
Thank you for your heart-warming support
Merci du fond du cœur pour votre soutien chaleureux
ENGLISH (Le français suit…!)
Hello everyone:
Many thanks, from the bottom of my heart, for your heart-warming continuous support over the past 14 months.
It is your generosity that contributed to making the resolution of my arbitration process possible in the form of a confidential settlement.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my great lawyer, Max, for his outstanding legal counsel throughout my journey.
Below you can find the official statement for the settlement, as released in emails by the university and the union.
Thanks again,
Rima Azar, PhD [or Bambi on her blog]
“Mount Allison University, the Mount Allison Faculty Association and Professor Rima Azar (the “Parties”) are announcing today that all matters in dispute between them have been resolved.
The University received student complaints and took these complaints seriously pursuant to the Policy on Workplace Harassment and the Anti-Racism Policy. The Parties agree that these processes are important and complaints of this nature from our students need to be taken seriously.
Where all parties have agreed that fostering a respectful and inclusive learning environment – one which also recognizes academic freedom – is of the utmost importance, we consider all outstanding issues in dispute resolved, and no further commentary will be offered.”
FRANÇAIS
Bonjour tout le monde:
Un grand merci, du fond du cœur, pour votre soutien continu et chaleureux au cours des 14 derniers mois.
C’est votre générosité qui a contribué à rendre possible la résolution de mon processus d’arbitrage sous la forme d’un règlement confidentiel.
Enfin et surtout, je tiens à remercier mon excellent avocat, Me Max, pour ses conseils juridiques exceptionnels tout au long de mon parcours.
Vous trouverez ci-dessous le communiqué officiel du règlement tel que publié par courriel par l’université et le syndicat.
Merci encore,
Rima Azar, PhD [ou Bambi sur son blog]
“Mount Allison University, the Mount Allison Faculty Association and Professor Rima Azar (the “Parties”) are announcing today that all matters in dispute between them have been resolved.
The University received student complaints and took these complaints seriously pursuant to the Policy on Workplace Harassment and the Anti-Racism Policy. The Parties agree that these processes are important and complaints of this nature from our students need to be taken seriously.
Where all parties have agreed that fostering a respectful and inclusive learning environment – one which also recognizes academic freedom – is of the utmost importance, we consider all outstanding issues in dispute resolved, and no further commentary will be offered.”
Happy that Bambi got a chance to say all this in public before the agreement and that the newsletter published it.
Bambi thanks you Fred.
Happy that an agreement could be found
Many thanks/Danke Achim from Bambi.