CALGARY — Dr. Frances Widdowson appeared before the Alberta Labour Relations Board on Friday as it heard arguments over whether an arbitrator acted reasonably in refusing to reinstate her after finding her 2021 dismissal from Mount Royal University (MRU) was disproportionate.The appeal comes after the 2024 arbitration decision that stemmed from ten grievances related to Widdowson’s termination by MRU on Dec. 20, 2021.Arbitrator David Phillip Jones had previously found that the Board of Governors of Mount Royal University lacked just cause to dismiss Widdowson — a tenured associate professor who taught at the university for 13 years — but ordered monetary compensation rather than reinstatement.The dispute before the labour board now centres on whether the decision not to reinstate Widdowson was reasonable.The case arose from a months-long dispute on X in which Widdowson and several colleagues exchanged harassment and bullying complaints in what was referred to in the decision as a “Twitter war.”MRU terminated Widdowson for violating its harassment policy and code of conduct, filing a complaint deemed frivolous, and contributing to a toxic work environment..WATCH: Protestors at UBC force Dallas Brodie, Frances Widdowson off campus.During arbitration, a preliminary ruling narrowed the case to those three grounds, excluding 12 additional allegations cited by the university.In the final decision, the arbitrator found the conduct justified discipline but ruled dismissal was disproportionate.The decision also found that all of the social-media conduct relied upon by MRU occurred before Widdowson received a two-week unpaid suspension in May 2021, which was later reduced to a letter of reprimand.The arbitrator found no evidence of further misconduct after that point.Despite those findings, the arbitrator concluded the relationship between Widdowson and MRU was irreparably broken and declined to reinstate her.The Mount Royal Faculty Association (MFRA) is challenging that conclusion, arguing the arbitrator failed to explain how the evidence supported a finding that reinstatement was unworkable.The MRFA points to the de Havilland factors — a Canadian labour-law test often used by labour boards — noting that no witnesses testified they would refuse to work with Widdowson.The association is now asking the labour board to set aside the remedy portion of the decision and send the matter back, preferably to a different arbitrator, as Widdowson wishes to resume working at MRU..Ahead of the hearing, Widdowson posted a video to her YouTube channel describing the appeal as “probably the most important academic freedom case that has happened in many years.”“It's very, very important that this appeal is known by as many people as possible,” Widdowson said.“If I'm not reinstated at Mount Royal University, then it means that professors are not protected by academic freedom anymore. You are not able to discuss ideas that are upsetting to certain activist elements in universities.”She also addressed the Alberta government, saying there needs to be a public inquiry into universities to “figure out what has gone wrong and how we can restore our universities to academic spaces once more.”The university urged the board to uphold Jones’ decision, arguing the case is not about academic freedom but about harassing conduct and extensive post-termination behaviour that, in its view, made reinstatement untenable.MRU also emphasized that the harassment findings themselves were not appealed and remain foundational to the ruling issued by the arbitrator, and argued Jones was entitled to consider post-termination conduct from Widdowson when assessing remedy.The university cited multiple social media posts and documents it said were related to that decision.The labour board must now decide whether the remedy falls within a reasonable range of outcomes or whether the reinstatement and compensation issues should be reconsidered.A decision is expected within 90 days.
