Diary Sept. 29

We're on the day of the presentation at Memorial University and Memorial University has decided that I must pay four hundred dollars for security or else take my lecture off-campus. This comes as a surprise since there is a signed contract between us which does not mention the four hundred. Their Dean of Students explains that the person who offered the contract was ill-informed. She thinks that this invalidates the contract. She says she understands how I feel.

But I just don't want to discuss my feelings with her. A competent officer of the university offered the contract and I signed. The Dean argues that the University didn't realize who was coming to speak. She said the extra charge was not a sign of Islamophobia but just because it was me speaking. Lovely. Fact is that the head of the Philosophy Department did tell the Vice President about who was coming before the notices of my appearance went up, my agent specifically alerted the signing office that I was coming and was told by that officer "No my love, this is a University and there are no such things as taboos." Sounds like a principled fellow to me! In addition my agent offered an outline of the talk and was told by the same person that it was not required.

Curioser and curioser, a report reaches us tonight that Saint Mary's University Vice President Chuck Bridges reported to the Board of Governors just yesterday (28th, the day of the sudden hike in price) that Memorial was moving to raise the price of security for one Dr. March!

Now how did this Dr. Bridges know that?

Interview this morning at 10:00 AM with the CBC.

One theory is that the Universities are getting their act together to price me out of the Tour. Would that be an attack on academic freedom? Is it relevant that the two speeches at SMU and Dal went without incident? Why do I need all this expensive security when no one has ever caused any damage or harm at one of my presentations and indeed, there was no damage or harm done in February when the posters were put up and I joined the march?

Another theory is that this is shaping up as a test of academic freedom and the universities need to win. Saint Mary's has stated that it wishes to abolish tenure and that, of course, would end academic freedom. The faculty Union thinks that we at Saint Mary's are the test case for other universities in Canada. The Tour is a thorn in their side since it shows that academic freedom is still needed, hence it is reasonable to believe that tenure needed as well.

Another curious note is that Dr Dodds, President of Saint Mary's, told the Board of Governors that the charge for the use of the auditorium at Saint Mary's had been waived. I look forward to getting the check or a letter to this effect. How sceptical am I? They have my check for $ 300 plus tax and I could use it to pay for some of the security demanded by Memorial.

Now, I'll pay the extra $ 400 dollars which Memorial is now asking for - despite the written contract -but it won't work in the long run to end the presentations. The raw fact is that other universities will not be able to charge outrageous prices if in future the presentations go smoothly. I really don't think it's likely that the system will put up with pranks like this one at Memorial.





Tonight is the presentation and it continues to evolve. Full report after it's over.