Reasonable Restrictions

Of the 42 academics permanently employed in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of Carleton University, some thirty of that number co-signed an 'opinion article' published in the Ottawa Citizen to express their displeasure at the revocation of the temporary summer teaching assignment arranged for Dr. Hassan Diab. This man is not on the staff of Carleton University; he taught at University of Ottawa and occasionally at Carleton.

He was engaged to teach a summer Sociology 101 course for several weeks, but the contract was cut short by the university administrators, perhaps sensitive to the outrage over the matter expressed by B'nai B'rith, and by individuals who expressed disbelief that a university would engage the services of a man whom France has identified as a prime suspect in the 1980 Paris bombing of a synagogue that killed five people.

French authorities are convinced they have sufficient evidence against this man, to have them request extradition from the Government of Canada so that they may proceed with criminal court action against Hassan Diab. Under such circumstances it is reasonable that Mr. Diab's opportunities to teach in a university setting be suspended until such time as he is cleared by a court of law of the charges brought against him.

A casual university lecturer's right to resume normal vocational activity is no greater than that of an elected politician against whom (far lesser) criminal charges are brought, to persuade him to stand down from office until his name has been cleared. The charges brought against Mr. Diab are about as extreme as they can get; that he is a terrorist, a mass murderer who conspired to murder innocent civilians.

The opinion article collectively signed by members of the Carleton faculty claims that reasonable restrictions should be placed on those accused of violent crimes; well in this instance it is more than reasonable that restrictions against Mr. Diab teaching at a publicly-funded institute of higher learning be imposed until his name is cleared.

The co-authors of this article state their opinion that "Diab is a widely published scholar, and an accomplished teacher. He has lectured effectively for years in our universities without incident." This is generally well known. It is also generally well known that charges, with some substance in evidence, have been levied against the man, precluding him from full investiture of normal proceedings.

Simply that he is identified as an intellectual and a teacher does not indemnify him from having been responsible for violent actions in the past. Doctors, lawyers and engineers are key players within al-Qaeda. Hitler was a charismatic elected politician, an artist, an author, and someone attuned to social advances for the good of society - German society. Saddam Hussein was a charming man and a murderous monster of the highest order.

The co-authors of the article deride the attitude expressed by Jewish advocacy groups, that Mr. Diab presents as a threat to "the safety and security of the community". It is their intervention, they claim that led to the university administration "succumbing to political pressure". Canadians deserve to know that their institutes of higher education do not consider themselves a higher justice than the laws of the land.

We do not take justice in progress as lightly as do the leftist-delusional academics who will go to any lengths to protect one of their own, regardless of any compelling case in law that argues that one who has been charged as has Mr. Diab has no place in Canadian academia, unless and until the case releases him from blame and responsibility through a duly constituted trial.

The general public has no reason - unlike the faculty co-signers, and their union - to be contemptuous of due process of the law and justice done. Inclusive of that of other democracies. Violence and terror and bloodshed are assaults against humanity wherever and however they occur. They diminish us all. With certain clear exceptions.