N.S. professor who attended holocaust denial conference slams university

N.S. professor who attended holocaust denial conference slams university
James Keller, Canadian Press
Published: Monday, December 25, 2006

HALIFAX (CP) - A Nova Scotia professor who has faced criticism from his university and colleagues for attending an Iranian conference that cast doubt on the Holocaust lashed out against the school Friday for failing to defend his academic freedom.

Shiraz Dossa, a political science professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., raised the ire of the university after presenting a paper at the conference earlier this month.

Dossa, who has insisted he's not a Holocaust denier, used the forum to talk about how the Holocaust plays into the so-called war on terror.

In a statement e-mailed to other faculty members Friday - his first public comments since returning from Iran - Dossa said the conference was relevant to his ongoing work.

"The conference was unfortunately tainted by the presence of a small number of Holocaust deniers, but I feel it is a mistake to boycott any academic conference because of the presence of participants whose views one finds repugnant," the statement said.

"It is more appropriate to participate and confront and challenge repugnant views directly. . . . The hallmark of a truly great university is that it will protect its academic staff from attempts to silence them or to suppress their work."

Added Dossa: "I would like to express my disappointment in my university for its failure to defend my academic freedom."

The university was quick to distance itself from Dossa and the conference, and has cast doubts on the tenured professor's future. President Sean Riley released a statement expressing his "shock and regret" before Dossa had even returned to Canada.

On Friday, Dossa met with the school's vice-president academic for the second time to discuss what happened.

Later in the afternoon, Riley continued to condemn the conference.

"We are not challenging the freedom of faculty members at our university or other universities to have free inquiry," Riley said in an interview from Antigonish.

"It's still quite understandable and highly appropriate to take a firm stand of disassociating (the university) with a conference that had elements that are repugnant."

Riley wouldn't speculate about what, if anything, the university would do with Dossa, but said no decisions would be made until after the holidays.

He noted that guests at the conference included a list of controversial figures. Among them were Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who addressed the event and predicted Israel will one day be "wiped out."

Dossa has also faced criticism from his fellow professors, 105 of whom have signed a public letter stating they are "profoundly embarrassed" by Dossa's trip to Iran.

Michael Steinitz, a physics professor who helped spearhead the letter, said Dossa exercised poor judgment by attending the conference, which reflects poorly on the entire school.