Union launches investigation into alleged academic freedom violation at TRU

KAMLOOPS – The union representing a suspended professor at Thompson Rivers University has launched an investigation to see if his academic freedom was violated.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers says in a media release the investigation will determine if professor Derek Pyne’s academic freedom was violated after he published an article in April 2017 that explored the use of so-called “predatory publishers” by faculty members and administrators in the School of Business and Economics at the Kamloops university.

Pyne published a paper saying several of the university’s administrators and faculty had been published in journals without professional credentials, according to a report in the Vancouver Sun. He was suspended by the university in July.

Pyne claims he was targeted by the administration in violation of his academic freedom.

Dr. Mark Mac Lean from the University of British Columbia will chair the investigatory committee and Carla Graebner from Simon Fraser University will also serve on the committee, the union says.

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