A McMaster University professor wants to teach Omar Khadr and has written to the university’s president, asking that he hold a spot for Khadr to demonstrate Canadian universities’ role “in fostering justice and affirming peace.”
The school, however, would not comment on the letter, instead saying the school has an “open application process” and that it’s not their practice to hold spots for anyone.
‘It strikes me that an extraordinary way to move forward would be to make this offer to him.’- Dr. David L. Clark, McMaster University
“He has, in effect, served his sentence, he’s out on bail and I think what matters now is moving forward,” Dr. David L. Clark, a tenured professor in the school’s English and cultural studies program told CBC News. Clark would welcome him in his first year class. “It strikes me that an extraordinary way to move forward would be to make this offer to him.”
The letter was written by Clark to McMaster president Patrick Deane. It asked that the Hamilton university hold a spot for Khadr, who pleaded guilty to war crimes in 2010, a move he later said he only did to get out of Guantanamo Bay and be returned to Canada.
Prompted by Khadr’s first public comments since he was granted bail last week, in which he renounced violent extremism and says that he will prove that he’s a good person to the Canadian public, Clark said offering a seat to Kahdr would publicly answer the question if universities stand for peace.
“It strikes me that an exemplary way in which we might answer that question strongly in the positive is publicly to offer or to hold open a spot for Mr. Khadr in our first year undergraduate class,” writes Clark. He said he would work around Khadr’s bail conditions, teaching him on one one or remotely if necessary.
Offering Mr. Omar Khadr a space in McMaster University’s first year class?To: Dr. Patrick Deane, President and…
Posted by David L. Clark on Friday, May 8, 2015
Khadr’s lawyer, Dennis Edney, did not immediately return an email asking for comment.
McMaster University spokesperson Gord Arbeau said it’s not their practice to hold seats, and that there is an “open application process” to enter the school’s undergraduate class. He said McMaster president Patrick Deane will reply to the “personal” request by Clark in due time, but at this time, “it’s a bit of a hypothetical” situation.
Clark, however, told CBC News he wrote the letter because he sees this as an “opportunity” for the university to promote peace and social justice.
“I think that Mr. Kahdr deserves to be welcomed, I think he’s endured an enormous amount, I think whatever everyone feels about what happened on that battlefield, all those years ago in Afghanistan, I think by any measure he’s suffered a great deal,” Clark said.
“And now that he’s been repatriated to country, and he is after all a citizen of Canada, and granted bail, I think it’s important Canadians certainly do everything possible to welcome him. I also feel that public universities in Canada, have an important role to play in fostering justice and affirming peace. And it strikes me that this is a unique and important opportunity to do just that kind of good work.”
He is sympathetic of Khadr, saying he has felt that way since he heard a speech by a former counsel for Khadr, Rebecca Snyder, “From whom I heard all sorts of stories about his brutal incarceration in that prison complex.”
Clark also pointed towards previous comments by Deane, a former classmate from Western University in the 1980s, on the university’s role in social justice.
“(Deane) has said public and on several occasions how important it is for the universities to be involved in social justice and affirming peace, and his inaugural lecture (at McMaster) several years ago, he told a rapt audience about his experiences as a young man in Apartheid South Africa where he learned the importance that universities and university administrators and scholars can play in affirming social justice and peace. He’s precisely the person therefore to whom I can appeal or any of us can appeal to welcome Mr. Khadr to McMaster.”
Clark said he’s received support from his colleagues, but has yet to hear back from Deane and McMaster administration.
“My colleagues have been quite supportive, people on the ground have been quite supportive,” Clark said.
