‘Ottawa’ uOttawa Gets Failing Grade in Research Chair Diversity
A University of Ottawa professor is urging alumni and the federal government to stop giving money to the school until it does a better job meeting targets for promoting women, minorities, the disabled and indigenous researchers into the prestigious Canada Research Chairs program.
uOttawa has failed to meet any of its diversity targets in any of the four designated groups, and has, in fact, been sliding backwards, said law professor Amir Attaran. Of the top 15 research universities, Queen’s and UBC fared best, meeting three of the four categories, according to a Globe and Mail report. Meanwhile uOttawa and the University of Calgary were alone in reporting they missed all four targets.
“Let’s be clear. This is not just distasteful. It’s illegal and I have every intention of doing the litigation necessary to fix it,” said Attaran, who filed a grievance against the university when his own Canada Research Chair position was not renewed last year.