As promised, a paragraph answer to Question 6 “Was Renae Watchman’s complaint against Frances Widdowson emboldened by university indigenization?” has been compiled. This paragraph will be written up in an essay, which will show how destructive indigenization is to an academic university’s mission. There are now only four more paragraph answers that still need to be written about the #FrancesWiddowsonCase.
In the investigation of the complaint, Watchman stated that MRU should not “make place for Dr. Widdowson’s voice” with respect to indigenization as “white people can be too fragile to learn some of the tough lessons [that indigenization presents]”.
In spite of the investigation report being heavily redacted, which prevented Widdowson from understanding “the case to meet”, the investigator made it clear that Watchman believed that academic freedom should not allow Widdowson to criticize indigenization. The investigator maintained that Watchman “resent[ed] Dr. Widdowson’s ongoing existence as an employed academic at MRU, or at least her ability to speak against Indigenization at all”.
