Frances Widdowson and the Fight for Academic Freedom

The Tomas Hudlický Memorial Lecture for Academic Freedom

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By

James Pew

For the benefit of new subscribers, a brief introduction to professor Frances Widdowson follows, along with a short discussion of the last few years of analysis I have been publishing in these pages concerning her wrongful termination from Mount Royal University, her academic work (indigenous issues), and her advocacy work regarding academic freedom.

When I first met professor Widdowson, and began writing about her situation – which I call Situation Widdowson – it was just before her wrongful termination from Mount Royal University on December 20, 2021. The writing began soon after. The first of it was three big essays that discussed her work around the larger context of Canadian indigenous issues. The first in that three part series, Postcolonial Theory and Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, was published in February 2022.

Up until that point I had primarily been writing about wokeism in Canadian schools – including things like anti-racism, Gender ideology, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). However, I was, and still am, an avid reader of Barbara Kay’s National Post Columns, which had introduced me to another side of indigenous issues I had not been aware of. Then, Tom Flanagan’s book First Nations? Second Thoughts, and then Ronald Niezen’s Truth and Indignation: Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Indian Residential Schools found their way into my hands. A short time after that, a controversial professor out West who was pissing off the woke activists appeared on my radar: Enter Professor Frances Widdowson.

In early 2022, I had really wanted to write about indigenous issues, and professor Widdowson provided me with literally the best excuse possible! Clearly I don’t shy away from contentious issues or controversial figures. In fact, I am attracted to them. I have been writing about Professor Widdowson ever since – just type her name in the search function and you'll find a ton of articles dealing with many, but not even close to all, of the different facets and controversies that are the world of Professor Widdowson. And for more expansive details, go to Professor Widdowson’s website: The Woke Academy.

To pick one example off the top of my head, Frances Widdowson takes Lethbridge University. Below is a photo from the event which memorializes the shenanigans perfectly.

The piece also includes a video showing professor Widdowson entering the facility, making her way to the atrium, while being screamed at by indigenous activists.

From the article:

“After Dr. Widdowson, her supporters, and those who came to listen to her talk entered the Atrium it was clear that the mob of activists were not going to allow Dr. Widdowson to speak. Even though the activist mob could have chosen to boycott the event, so they wouldn’t be ‘harmed’ by Dr. Widdowson’s speech, they decided instead to infringe on the rights of students who wanted to hear what Dr. Widdowson had to say.”

This is just it. The activists have gone too far. What happened at Lethbridge was not an isolated incident. In dozens of ways activists are decimating the concept of academic freedom and therefore negating the legitimacy of the academic institutions who allow them to do it. Professor Widdowson is one of the few, and easily the most effective professors who has taken a bold, unapologetic, principled stance in defending the enlightened values which traditionally allowed for academic freedom in our institutions of higher learning.

It is an enormous failure on my part that I have not offered analysis on many of the highly consequential events and situations that Professor Widdowson has bravely engaged in. I have tried. I have covered a lot. However, Professor Widdowson has been prolific, and my Woke Watch Canada resources have not allowed me to grapple with the entirety of what she has done. Although, never say never, I still hope to go back and cover some of the things I have yet to write about.

For today, my aim is to fill in the gap concerning coverage of Professor Widdowson. But also, a remarkable thing happened, and I wanted to bring it to the attention of readers. An extraordinary talk, given by Professor Widdowson under extraordinary circumstances, occurred recently in the Niagara Region of Ontario, at Brock University.

From the description section of the Youtube video of the event (video embedded below):

“On October 29, 2024, Frances Widdowson, after being invited by Brock University professors Kevin Gosine, Tamari Kitossa, and Ron Thomson, gave the Tomas Hudlický Memorial Lecture for Academic Freedom. The talk was entitled ‘The 'Grave Error' at Kamloops: How Does it Relate to Academic Freedom?’ There were introductions by Kevin Gosine and Ron Thomson, and a Q an A was held in the second hour.”

The use of “Grave Error” in the title of Professor Widdowson’s talk refers, of course, to the book Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us and the Truth about Residential Schools – a book published in December of 2023, which regular readers of WWC know both Professor Widdowson and myself contributed chapters to. With that house-keeping done, allow me to turn the reader's attention to the late Tomas Hudlický, and to the significance of a memorial lecture on academic freedom in his name.

Here is an excerpt from an editor's note in a August of 2020 article published by the National Association of Scholars:

“Professor Tomáš Hudlický of Brock University is one of the most accomplished chemists in the subfield of organic synthesis. His essay, ‘Organic Synthesis—Where now?’ is thirty years old. A reflection on the current state of affairs was published by the German chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie. In it, Hudlický expresses reservations about preferential hiring on the basis of race and sex in his field, among other allegedly controversial views. Upon public outcry (mostly on Twitter), the journal removed Hudlický's article, suspended the two editors who reviewed it, and investigated the two referees. Brock University's Provost and Vice-President Academic Greg Finn also issued a statement, condemning Professor Hudlický's statements and thereby permanently damaging his professional reputation.”

On May 10, 2022 Professor Hudlický passed away from a heart attack. In opening remarks at the Tomas Hudlický Memorial Lecture on Academic Freedom, professor Ron Thomson explained the anguish that professor Hudlický had been in due to the university’s failure to defend his academic freedom. Professor Thomson tells the audience about three people who spoke at professor Hudlický's celebration of life who all “attributed Tomas’ death to the stress that Brock University put him under.”

Brock University professor Tomas Hudlicky. Photo by Brock University

Professor Hudlický criticized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and paid the ultimate price for doing so. What an awful and tragic outcome. Professor Thomson speaks about his friend Tomas who he used to visit and share conversation over drinks on the deck in the professor’s backyard. They would discuss professor Hudlický’s case concerning the fallout for his DEI criticism, and overtime Professor Thomson could see the toll the ordeal was taking on professor Hudlický.

For me, this brought up the memory of Richard Bilkszto, a former much-beloved principal at the Toronto District School Board. I wrote about him in July of 2023 in a piece called The tragedy of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. After much anguish due to the humiliation he endured during a DEI session where he was called a white supremacist in front of over two hundred colleagues, and no one defended him, he tragically took his own life.

Richard and I used to speak regularly on the phone (sometimes Zoom). I first met him that way during the COVID era. I never met him in person. But I liked him. He helped me develop articles for Woke Watch Canada and would routinely call me up to suggest things I should write about. He was an open book when it came to his experiences as a principal. In confidence, he shared with me the details of his case long before he went public with them, before he started fighting back earnestly. Like Professor Thomson who could see the toll taken on his friend Tomas, Richard made it clear in his tone of voice and with every word he said just how devastating his experience with the DEI crowd had been. It was a terrible and unfair situation made worse by the failure of his colleagues to come to his defense.

It is worth pointing out that after Richard’s death, and after I published my article about him, professor Widdowson was one of the few people who reached out to me. She knew what Richard went through, she was going through something similar herself. But sadly, some of us are more sensitive and less equipped to handle these heartless DEI activists.

I don’t love being reminded of Richard. I still feel awful about the whole situation. And I'm still angry about it. I also feel angry about what happened to professor Tomas Hudlický. In both cases, it was the same evil that destroyed these good men. I don’t need anymore of these painful reminders of why I engage with these issues. I know this work is important, and for the honour and justice of men like Tomas Hudlický and Richard Bilkszto, I will continue relentlessly in this fight.

Returning to Professor Widdowson. There is no one who has taken up the baton concerning the fight for academic freedom, in a manner that honours the memory of Tomas Hudlický, better than professor Widdowson. These words I do not type lightly. This is profound stuff with many consequential implications concerning the future functioning of our liberal democracy. In addition, the memory of men like Tomas and Richard must be restored. For justice to occur, the institutions responsible for destroying them must admit their wrong doing, apologize, and take steps to ensure these things don’t happen again. DEI must DIE! I believe Professor Widdowson’s efforts with respect to academic freedom are getting us closer to the day when justice for the very real victims of DEI will come.

At the risk of leaving out important details – because it is so hard to summarize Situation Widdowson, or Widdowson World, however one wishes to think of it – but in a nutshell, these days at least, what Professor Widdowson does is travel around to places to stir shit up! In the best way possible that is. In the most professional and academic way possible that is. But yes, not always, but often, in the places professor Widdowson visits, shit hits the proverbial fan. To be clear, like the cases of the Quesnel Debacle, or the name change issue in Powell River, it is not Professor Widdowson who is ever hitting anything, fans or otherwise. It is always, without exception, the outrageous behaviours of the activists involved – both student and teacher activists. It is they, among others who populate the administrative offices of universities and city halls, who pose a grave threat to academic freedom and freedom of speech, and it is they who are responsible for dragging everyone into the muck.

I digress. The focus of this post is supposed to be that remarkable thing mentioned near the top: the talk that professor Widdowson gave at Brock University, the Tomas Hudlický Memorial Lecture for Academic Freedom. For those not previously initiated into Situation Widdowson, you may not fully appreciate the significance of her giving an uninterrupted talk to what seemed like a respectful listening audience (who at the end engaged in a functional Q&A session). The remarkable thing in all of this is not only the substance of Professor Widdowson’s lecture, and the moving and important opening remarks by professor Thomson, but simply that the spoiled brat activist students and their illiberal teachers, and the non-student ANTIFA, BLM, and Trans-Rights activists, were nowhere to be found. Or, if they were, they did not disrupt the proceedings. That is a big win for professor Widdowson. Her dedication and perseverance on these matters is paying off.

The reason for the success of the lecture, as it appeared to me, had much to do with professor Thomson’s opening remarks concerning Tomas Hudlický. The seriousness of the injustice that professor Hudlický was subject to seemed to set the tone. In an email exchange with professor Widdowson, I asked for what she thought led to the unusually smooth proceedings. In her response, professor Widdowson detailed a variety of reasons. The lecture “was possible because a number of factors came together, the most significant being that Brock had gone through a few controversies and has been slapped hard for its failure to protect academic freedom and freedom of expression in the past (the Tomas Hudlicky affair…).” But also, “the other significant factor was that a number of professors are very supportive of academic freedom, especially Tamari Kitossa, Kevin Gosine, and Ron Thomson, and they fought hard for me to be able to speak. A final factor is that the union is one of the better ones in Canada, and is more supportive of academic freedom and freedom of expression than most.”

Way to go professor’s Kitossa, Gosine and Thomson!

Professor Widdowson’s lecture is critical. Renegade anti-woke MRU student Kathy Drake called it “the most important talk in Canada right now.” I agree. With just shy of 50,000 views it appears to be making a splash. I can hear the activists firing up their fans as I type.

Watch the lecture below. And below that is another video of Professor Widdowson doing Spectrum Street Epistemology. This is her back up plan when one of her talks gets cancelled (which they often do). In those unfortunate cases, she takes her academic freedom message to the streets, or to the common areas on university campuses. You can’t shut her down.

The Tomas Hudlický Memorial Lecture for Academic Freedom:

Spectrum Street Epistemology at the University of Regina:

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Thanks for reading. For more from this author, read Part One, Part Two and Part Three of Deprogramming from Leftism for Anglo Canadians.

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