Disciplining Dissent: The Curbing of Free Expression in Academia and The Media will be the focus of a national conference CAUT is co-hosting Nov. 1-3 at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa.
Speakers include Globe and Mail columnists Michael Valpy and Paul Knox; University of Victoria writing professor Lynne van Luven, former editor with the Lethbridge Herald and the Edmonton Journal; CBC radio producer and journalist Bob Carty; Carleton University journalism professor Catherine McKercher, former reporter with the Ottawa Citizen, Canadian Press and the Kingston Whig-Standard; Pat O'Neill, president-elect, Canadian Psychological Association and past chair of CAUT's Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee; Gillian Steward, writer, journalist and former managing editor of the Calgary Herald; Stephen Kimber, writer, editor, broadcaster and director of the school of journalism at King's College, Halifax; Jon Thompson, chair of the Olivieri committee of inquiry and former chair of CAUT's Academic Freedom & Tenure Committee; Mike Gasher, Concordia University journalism professor and former reporter and copy editor for the Vancouver Province; Simon Fraser communications professor Bob Hackett, co-director of NewsWatch Canada; Ian Boyko, national chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students; E. Ann Clark of the University of Guelph; Robert Jensen, freelance journalist and associate professor of journalism, University of Texas at Austin; and Frances Russell, freelance journalist and former columnist with the Winnipeg Free Press.
Conference speakers and participants will address a variety of factors that are compromising academic freedom and journalistic independence and threatening the ability of journalists and academics to serve the public interest. They will look at strategies that can be adopted to reclaim the integrity and independence of intellectual work today.
The conference is being cosponsored by Canada's largest union of media workers, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
The conference will begin at noon on Friday, Nov. 1 and conclude at noon on Sunday, Nov. 3. There is an early registration fee of $325 for those who register by Oct. 1. The registration fee for students is $50. Registration includes all conference materials, dinner on Friday and lunch on Saturday, as well as refreshment breaks. Registration forms are available at www.caut.ca/english/events/disciplining/default.asp.