On this page, links to 18 “Episodes” are provided that document why professor Frances Widdowson was fired. It will be shown, in detail, how university policies were weaponized to try to prevent Dr. Widdowson from criticizing “woke” initiatives that she believed were totalitarian in nature and destructive to the academic mission of Mount Royal University. The links are provided in “B. Episodes” after “A. MRU Frances Widdowson Firing Overview”.
A. MRU Frances Widdowson Firing Overview
A copy of MRU President Tim Rahilly’s termination letter to Frances Widdowson can be read below:
The termination letter provides three “reasons” for why Widdowson was “dismissed…for just, sufficient, and reasonable cause…”. As was discussed in the article “All Eyes on the Arbitration of the #FrancesWiddowsonCase”, Widdowson was fired for the following transgressions:
Transgression 1. is discussed in Episode 9: Misgendering Fatigue in White Supremacy Culture and documented in the materials provided.
The details pertaining to Transgression 2. are discussed in Episode 12 and documented in the materials provided.
Transgression 3. is discussed in Episode 1 and documented in the materials provided, as well as in this location.
Transgression 4. is briefly discussed here. Additional materials cannot be provided until the arbitration decision is obtained.
From June 2022-January 2023, Widdowson posed 10 questions about her firing. She then wrote 10 paragraph answers and nine essays in Minding the Campus in response to these questions.
The “MRU Frances Widdowson Firing” playlist is available on Frances Widdowson’s YouTube Channel. Most of the information available below is also discussed in the videos.
There are also a number of recordings on Frances Widdowson’s Soundcloud. The two most shocking are the final disciplinary meeting with Acting Provost Elizabeth Evans and Widdowson’s account of her terrrorization by MRU administrators the evening she was fired, which ended up with her calling 9-1-1. With respect to the former, Provost Evans tried to get Widdowson to “accept responsibility” and “show remorse” for violating a rule that she did not know existed. A transcript of this meeting is also available here.
A concise overview of the #FrancesWiddowsonCase has been written by Peter Shawn Taylor in C2C Journal.
Taylor explains that MRU President Tim Rahilly’s December 20, 2021 termination letter provided 12 “examples” of how professor Frances Widdowson’s employment relationship with the university was perceived to have become “irreparably damaged”. Below are the #1-#2 and #5-#12 “examples” given (#3-#4 are provided in Episode 4).
Lindsay Shepherd also has written a clear account of the #FrancesWiddowsonCase.
B. Episodes
Links to eighteen Episodes are provided below. These episodes either concern particular allegations that were made, pertain to circumstances that resulted in complaints being filed, or are related to the firing of Frances Widdowson and its aftermath.
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In addition to all the #1-8 “examples” documented above in the various Episodes, Widdowson was fired because, according to President Tim Rahilly’s termination letter, she was found to have “harmed the reputation of Mount Royal University” (#9). Even worse, Widdowson failed to “take responsibility for [her] conduct” (#10), did not “appreciate the seriousness of [her] actions” (#11), and “indicated that [she had] no remorse for [her] conduct” (#12).
