Since when does “academic freedom” allow academic stupidity and ignorance?
The University of Waterloo’s chemistry professor, Michael Palmer, is inaccurate and wrong in labelling this current COVID-19 pandemic a “fake emergency.”
As stated in legislation in Ontario and various by-laws, as well as Public Health laws, rules, and regulations, COVID-19 is a REAL emergency by common and legal definitions.
Professor Palmer should get his head out of the ivory tower that reaches the clouds of chemistry and see that more than 120 deaths to date, in the Waterloo Region, are NOT a “fake emergency.”
Until sanctions are imposed on Professor Palmer, I will not be making any donations to UW, will dissuade anyone from attending or applying to any faculty, and will actively dissuade high fee-paying international students from applying.
I know that many people rely on Maclean’s magazine University Rankings annual edition to help select a university to which to apply, and I will write to their team to urge them to include a “stupid academic freedom” rubric in their next surveys.
