Michael Mason had been teaching for almost half a century — 10 of those years spent at Queen’s University — when his time was abruptly cut short.

“I didn’t actually drop dead, but I might as well have,” said the 74-year-old from his home near Kingston, Ont., Friday.

It was a week before the final essays were due in his second-year history course on imperialism and neo-colonialism after the Second World War when Mr. Mason found himself “banned” from the class he had been teaching all term — a class in which he was accused of making racist and sexist statements.

My daughter said ‘Look, just let it go.’ But you can’t actually

Now, about a year after the complaints were levelled against him and six weeks since the release of a scathing report from the Canadian Association of University Teachers criticizing the university’s handling of Mr. Mason’s case, the Queen’s faculty union this week demanded the university respond to charges that they fumbled the ball and consider whether an apology is in order.

The incident has cast a chill through the lecture halls of one of Canada’s top universities, professors say, causing them to think twice before tackling controversial topics lest they use a word or phrase that would be taken out of context and spark another complaint.

“If I were to continue teaching I would feel that there was somebody up on the stage with me making shorthand notes — a phantom censor,” he said. After the complaint was filed, the university said he could only continue teaching if the department chair sat in on lectures from time to time. He wouldn’t comply. Classes were cancelled and Mr. Mason was “banned,” as he puts it. He was never formally let go or asked to leave — health problems eventually had him sidelined.

Mr. Mason never disputed what was said, but the complaint didn’t divulge the context, he said.

The words “f—ing rag head,” “towel head,” “japs” and “little yellow sons of bitches,” did indeed cross his lips, he said, but he was quoting from books and articles on racism in that era.

And he admits to saying the teaching assistants (all women) should wash his car if he can’t find enough work for them to do, and that they should become “masters and mistresses” of the materials taught in his class.

When somebody accuses you of these heinous crimes, you can’t just shrug your shoulders

The self-described product of a different era said he made an exasperated joke after being appointed assistants he felt didn’t know the course content.

Still unapologetic, Mr. Mason says the case has consumed him and left an unjust black mark on an otherwise solid career, in which he never received negative feedback from students.

“My daughter said ‘Look, just let it go.’ But you can’t actually,” he said. “After all, it’s the end of my career. I’ve spent 50 years doing this. When somebody accuses you of these heinous crimes, you can’t just shrug your shoulders. It might be easy for the provost to say ‘Well, no, go away.’ but it’s not that simple.”

It’s a matter of principle to stand his ground, he said, especially since other professors in Canada are being accused of making offensive statements when their words were taken out of context.

York University professor Cameron Johnston was forced to respond to allegations he made anti-Semitic remarks during a lecture when he said “all Jews should be sterilized” was an example of an unacceptable and dangerous opinion.

The university stood behind him.

I didn’t do it, I’m not guilty of it, they screwed up.

Mr. Mason says he feels anything but supported by the school, which did not acknowledge the context of his statements nor let him explain himself, he said.

“I didn’t do it, I’m not guilty of it, they screwed up. The administration screwed up, mishandled it. They should have done it much more openly and honestly and fairly and they didn’t. And now they’re just saying ‘go away, we’re not going to deal with it.’”

He maintains that only one teaching assistant from the faculty of gender studies made the complaint, but the university and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Local 901, which represents the TAs, say there were complaints from TAs and students.

Both the university and the TA union say the CAUT investigation, ordered by the Queen’s University Faculty Association union, was inaccurate and incomplete because it didn’t interview the complainants, students or the university, which declined to participate.

They should have done it much more openly and honestly and fairly and they didn’t

Queen’s provost Alan Harrison said the university never ordered its own investigation because the Queen’s faculty association “strongly discouraged” the university from pursuing one under the provisions in its collective agreement with the union. The school has always said CAUT has no jurisdiction to run its own investigation.

As to the broader concerns about censorship in the classroom, Mr. Harrison said “We would never seek to censor anything that anyone says so long as it’s appropriately contextualized.”

National Post
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