Investigation: Thompson Rivers U Violated Professor's Academic Freedom

Following an investigation into Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, the Canadian Association of University Professors concluded that institution violated a professor’s academic freedom in suspending him -- and that it appears to have a weak understanding of the concept of academic freedom, according to the CBC. Last year, Derek Pyne, the associate professor of economics, told Inside Higher Ed that Thompson Rivers suspended him after he used his fellow professors as his data set for research on who publishes in predatory publications and why. He said he didn’t mean to embarrass anyone, but he found that the majority of his School of Business and Economics colleagues had published in low-quality, open-access journals that charge authors fees, and they were often rewarded professionally for doing so. CBC reported that Pyne is now back on campus. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the university.