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No, this letter is the one to make them listen to reason

Re: “Paging Doctor Cornett” | Commentary | October 8

You can always tell when an institution is in the wrong. It clams up and refuses to face public scrutiny. Unacceptable acts such as the unexplained dismissal of extraordinary educators such as Norman Cornett are the type of acts that require an institution to hide. Apparently, the opinions of his colleagues and students, who have nothing but high praise for Cornett, matter little to McGill University. Its leaders know better. That being the case, I would kindly request that they impart this profound knowledge to a curious public who cannot understand why professors who inspire – and I rarely use the word – their students are fired and not promoted. Conversely, does this mean that McGill rewards mediocre or uninspiring teachers? Or so they simply want obedient staff members who will do things the way they’ve always done them because, well, that’s the way things have always been done? For a university that unceasingly prides itself as being a world-class institution, that would be a very odd policy.

Then again, it’s hard to know what McGill’s enlightened leaders are thinking. They are apparently above the codes of conduct to which they hold their own staff and students. Shame on McGill for this world-class embarrassment.

Darren Ell
Montreal