Closure of lab
On November 22, 2008, Rancourt was blocked from entering his physics laboratory in the MacDonald Hall building after André Lalonde, the Dean of Science, reportedly ordered the locks to be changed. When Rancourt attempted to use his key to open the door, he found that it did not work, but heard voices coming from inside the lab. He knocked on the door and campus security officers inside opened the door just enough to allow Rancourt the opportunity to squeeze his foot in to jam it open. A team of University security guards and two Ottawa Police officers were subsequently called to the scene.(*) Rancourt kept his foot there for four hours while union and university lawyers worked out an agreement to allow Rancourt and his students to retrieve their personal belongings. Rancourt complained that the administration “just does things and doesn’t feel it needs to justify it to anyone. It just decides to do things and does it, doesn’t explain in any way, doesn’t even respond to you when you ask...” The University's Director of Communications, Andrée Dumulon, stated that “[a]ccess was prohibited because we found that there were some unauthorized individuals in the lab.” She did not specify who these individuals were; however, physics student and activist Marc Kelly was seen exiting the lab the day before. Since this incident, Rancourt remains barred from accessing his laboratory.(*)
Dismissal proceedings
On 10 December 2008, Rancourt was provided with two letters by administration officials. The first letter indicated that he was under administrative suspension and banned from campus, while the second indicated that the Dean of the Faculty of Science had recommended to the Board of Governors that Rancourt be fired. The stated reason for the University of Ottawa's actions was Rancourt's assigning of A+ grades to all students in a fourth-year physics course in the Winter 2008 term (noted earlier). Rancourt gave out the grades because the faculty would not allow him to use a pass/fail grading system, which he believes is the most effective pedagogical approach to teaching and student evaluation. Thus, to achieve a similar effect as the pass/fail system, Rancourt handed students the highest possible grade so that they could not try to do any better and thus, in his view, focus their attention on learning. Rancourt asserted that: "Socrates did not give grades...[m]y job is to educate. Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that what we've been doing with the grading system doesn't work. We are creating obedient employees, but not people who think."(*)
Rancourt has also stated that the dismissal may be related to his politics, specifically his position on the Israel-Palestine conflict.(*) As of January 2008, the dismissal process continues.
CAUT Review
In November 2008, the Canadian Association of University Teachers announced that it would establish an Independent Committee of Inquiry (ICOI) with terms of reference to: 1) “examine the series of ongoing disputes between Rancourt and the University of Ottawa”; 2) “to determine whether there were breaches or threats to academic freedom and other faculty rights”; and 3) “to make any appropriate recommendations.” The Committee consists of three professors from York University, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Rider University. The Committee does not have a fixed timeline to work with, but previous ICOI's have generally taken two years to complete their investigation and publish a final report.(*)
