A course being offered in Calgary's Mount Royal University has some students concerned about its "woke" course content. .A former MRU student contacted the Western Standard with his concerns over the curriculum that was shared with him by other students at the university calling it "bias left-wing propaganda." .The general studies course — Social Media and Social Movements taught by Prof. Michael Truscello — states the course will "examine social movements framed by social media use." .The syllabus includes 13 weeks of study topics. .The topic of study for Week nine is titled "The Rise of the Far Right/Fascist Entryism Online: Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, Joe Rogan, Alex Jones." .During that study, students are asked to review an online opinion article by Ben Burgis and Matt McManus — "Why Jordan Peterson is Always Wrong." .Week 10 — "The Great Replacement" and Other Far Right Conspiracy Theories — students are asked to watch a YouTube documentary titled Fake news, propaganda, and conspiracy theories - The fight against disinformation..The video comes with this warning: "The following content has been identified by the YouTube community as inappropriate or offensive to some audiences.".During Week 11 — "January 6th and The Ottawa Truck Convoy: Fascist Rehearsals" — students are expected to review another online article by Todd Gordon titled "Fascism is as Canadian as the Maple Leaf." .In the article, the author refers to the Freedom Convoy that descended on Ottawa in early 2022 as "the biggest protest organized by the Canadian far right since the 1930s." ."It swarmed Ottawa with reactionary exuberance, waving Nazi, Confederate, Gadsden, Red Ensign, and Maple Leaf flags, issuing threats of violence against opponents, and dreaming of recuperating a mythologized lost Canada," reads the article.."While the politics of this movement remain fluid, they’re recognizable as the politics of the far right: a continuum that includes fascists and those who occupy the space between fascists and mainstream conservatives, with a more aggressively racist, colonial, transphobic, anti-union, and anti-liberal politics than the mainstream is willing to openly endorse.".MRU defended the course curriculum and the instructor teaching it. ."Mount Royal is a place for the debate of opinions and ideologies, for free speech and the safe and respectful exchange of ideas," said MRU in a statement to the Western Standard. ."Faculty members at all universities enjoy academic freedom, a scholar's freedom to teach, conduct research and express ideas without risk of official interference or professional disadvantage. This is at the core of the academic system in Canada and around the world.".MRU said although faculty members "bring a variety of approaches to course content" and use that content to "show students various ways of examining and thinking about the world and the people and places in it," they do not tell students what to think. ."Rather, students are encouraged to critique and challenge course material," said MRU. ."As a result, over the course of their degrees students will be exposed to many viewpoints and ideas, all of which they are free to interrogate.".But in December, 2021, Frances Widdowson — an MRU professor in the Department of Economics, Justice and Policy Studies — was fired by the university for questioning "woke" ideas on her personal social media. .READ MORE: MRU professor fights back after being fired for questioning ‘woke’ ideas.According to Widdowson, MRU hired an investigator to scour her social media. A tweet she posted satirizing a cartoon about "misgendering fatigue" was used against her claiming she had violated three MRU policies and two laws, while no legal rational was provided to her for the decision..Calling her case an “egregious violation of my academic freedom and freedom of expression rights,” Widdowson said she believes “woke-ism” will have massive implications for the academy and lead to “the deterioration of the intellectual character of universities.”.Widdowson said university policies are becoming “weapons of woke-ism.” These policies “turn intellectual disagreements into matters for investigation and disciplinary action,” she said..Widdowson is taking legal action against MRU to "protect academic freedom and free speech' in universities.
