Retired Professor Turns Down Honour

(Sackville, NB) — Dr. Charles H. Scobie, a retired and distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Allison, has refused to accept an appointment as Professor Emeritus recently made by the Board of Regents. He was to have been honoured at the upcoming May 10 Convocation at Mount Allison University.

Dr. Scobie, is protesting the action of the Administration and the Board of Regents at Mount Allison who took the unprecedented step of refusing to grant Professor Michael Thorpe the honorary title of Professor Emeritus, despite the Senate twice recommending it. Professor Thorpe, who retired from Mount Allison in 1997 after 23 years, has attributed the Board of Regents’ opposition to his very public criticisms of President Ian Newbould’s administration. Eighty past and current members of the university faculty signed a petition last spring in support of Professor Thorpe. The Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers have launched an investigation of the matter.

George De Benedetti, President of the Mount Allison Faculty Association, says “Dr. Scobie is a man of honour and integrity, and his actions in support of academic freedom are applauded by the faculty at Mount Allison. Many faculty members will join Dr. Scobie in not attending convocation.”

Dr. Scobie, who has the deepest respect of the faculty, is a former head of the Religious Studies Department, a former Dean of Arts, and a former member of the Board of Regents at Mount Allison. Prior to his retirement at Mount Allison in 1998, he received the Tucker Prize for outstanding teaching.

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For more information contact:

Prof. George De Benedetti, President
Mount Allison Faculty Association
P.O. Box 6314, Sackville NB, E4L 1G6
(506) 364-2289
(506) 536-2396 (Home)
FAX (506) 364-2288
[email protected]
http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/MAFA