Last update - 00:00 23/12/2006
Holocaust denial forum participant slams Canadian college
By AP
A Canadian professor who has faced criticism from his university and colleagues for attending an Iranian conference that cast doubt on the Holocaust lashed out against the school for failing to defend his academic freedom.
Shiraz Dossa, a political science professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, raised the ire of the university after presenting a paper at the conference earlier this month.
Dossa, who has insisted he is not a Holocaust denier, used the forum to talk about how the Holocaust plays into the so-called war on terror.
In a statement e-mailed to other faculty members Friday - his first public comments since returning from Iran - Dossa said the conference was relevant to his ongoing work.
"The conference was unfortunately tainted by the presence of a small number of Holocaust deniers, but I feel it is a mistake to boycott any academic conference because of the presence of participants whose views one finds repugnant," the statement said.
"It is more appropriate to participate and confront and challenge repugnant views directly.... The hallmark of a truly great university is that it will protect its academic staff from attempts to silence them or to suppress their work."
Added Dossa: "I would like to express my disappointment in my university for its failure to defend my academic freedom."
Dossa, a Canadian citizen who was born in Uganda, has Iranian roots on one side of his family. Iran paid his expenses to attend the conference.
The university was quick to distance itself from Dossa and the conference, and has cast doubts on the tenured professor's future. President Sean Riley released a statement expressing his "shock and regret" before Dossa had even returned to Canada.
On Friday, Dossa met with the school's vice-president for the second time to discuss what happened.
Riley would not speculate about what, if anything, the university would do with Dossa, but said no decisions would be made until after the holidays.
He noted that guests at the conference included a list of controversial figures. Among them were Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, from the United States, and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who addressed the event and predicted Israel will one day be "wiped out."
Dossa has also faced criticism from his fellow professors, 105 of whom have signed a public letter stating they are "profoundly embarrassed" by Dossa's trip to Iran.
Michael Steinitz, a physics professor who helped spearhead the letter, said Dossa exercised poor judgment by attending the conference, which reflects poorly on the entire school.
"He lent our credibility to something that is morally reprehensible," Steinitz.