Researcher Russel Ogden was told in 2006 by Kwantlen officials not to attend at an assisted suicide.
Criminologist Russel Ogden has been told by the administration at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, B.C., that he must stop his research on suicide and assisted suicide, despite the fact that his research has been approved by the university’s Research Ethics Board.
In December 2006, Kwantlen directed Ogden not to engage “in any illegal activity, including attending at an assisted death,” backing this directive up months later with two legal opinions.
Ogden complained to Kwantlen’s faculty association, who in turn approached CAUT after internal remedies failed. Intervention by CAUT to resolve the issue informally also failed. In June 2008, CAUT appointed an ad hoc investigatory committee to review the situation.
The committee has been asked to examine the circumstances of the prohibition on Ogden’s research that was approved by Kwantlen’s Research Ethics Board in July 2005, and to determine whether the actions of Kwantlen officials constitute a violation of Ogden’s academic freedom.
The committee has also been asked to consider the broader issue of the relationship between academic freedom and the law.
Members of the committee are Kevin Haggerty, an associate professor of criminology and sociology at the University of Alberta, John McLaren, University of Victoria professor emeritus of law and Lorraine Weir, a professor of English at the University of British Columbia and a member of CAUT’s Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee.
This is not the first time Ogden’s suicide research has met opposition from academic administrators who fear their institutions could wind up in trouble.
Five years ago Ogden was awarded more than $140,000 in damages after it was determined that Exeter University in the U.K. had reneged on its agreement to protect the identities of his study participants.
Ogden’s latest difficulties coincided with a major debate about assisted suicide in neighbouring Washington state. Former Democratic governor Booth Gardner, who has Parkinson’s disease, has led a campaign for a November ballot initiative on physician-assisted suicide.
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Related Articles:
CAUT Bulletin June 1998 “
When Research Ethics & the Law Conflict,” October 1998 “
Consultation Underway at Simon Fraser Following Coroner’s Inquest,” November 1998 “
Charting the Way for Research Ethics,” and November 2003 “
Exeter Pays Canadian Prof $140K Damages.”