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(Tenured Radical)

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

The Course
Formerly Known
As “Physics”



Denis Rancourt, a physics professor at the University of Ottawa, wants to lecture on the world and its evil corporate masters. Recently, he took one of his physics courses and renamed it Activism Course: Understanding Power and its Contexts. He also “allowed students the latitude to decide on topics to be discussed in class.” And he “opened the course to both undergraduate and graduate students and encouraged members of the public as well as ‘campus activists and socially-minded students’ to attend.”

Instead of publicizing the revised course on the university's website, Mr. Rancourt posted a description on an independently run website called alternativevoices.ca.

The description said students in the course "may learn some science (risk analysis, nuclear technology, ozone chemistry, greenhouse effect, etc.) and see how science is often misused to maintain the status quo rather than help elucidate the situation. Mostly, though, we will try to 'understand power,' so that we have a clear picture of what progressive citizens are up against."

Mr. Rancourt has defended his actions by saying curriculum changes are normal and professors rarely restrict themselves to what is contained in official course descriptions.

But his colleagues say the course was revised so drastically it no longer had anything to do with physics.


One of his students, on Rate My Professors, agrees, complaining that Rancourt “spent three full (90 minute) classes abling [babbling? rambling? UD doesn’t speak Canadian] about his world philosophy.” A lot of his colleagues are pissed, too, and although they let him finish out the semester, they’ve asked him to stop the bait and switch. He has written angry letters to administrators and filed lawsuits.