For A+ grades, physics professor is fired

OTTAWA -- On the first day of his fourth-year physics class, University of Ottawa professor Denis Rancourt announced to his students that he had already decided their marks: Everybody was getting an A+.

It was not his job, as he explained later, to rank their skills for future employers, or train them to be "information transfer machines," regurgitating facts on demand. Released from the pressure to ace the test, they would become "scientists, not automatons," he reasoned.

But by abandoning traditional marks, Rancourt apparently sealed his own failing grade: In December, the senior physicist was suspended from teaching, locked out of his laboratory and told that the administration was recommending his dismissal and banning him from campus.

Firing a tenured professor is rare in itself, but two weeks ago the university took an even more extreme step: When Rancourt went on campus to host a regular meeting of his documentary-film society, he was led away in handcuffs by police and charged with trespassing.

With his suspension raising questions of academic freedom, the Canadian Association of University Teachers has started an independent inquiry into the matter. "Universities are to be places that not only tolerate, but welcome, vigorous debate," said executive director James Turk. "There would have to be some very serious misdeeds by Dr. Rancourt to justify this action."

A university spokesman refused to comment specifically on the trespassing incident or give reasons for the disciplinary action, saying that the decision was "very serious" and "not made lightly."

Rancourt's suspension is the most serious step in a long series of grievances and conflicts with the university dating back to 2005, when, after researching new teaching methods, he first experimented with eliminating letter grades. He also altered course curriculum with student input -- although not the approval of the university -- an approach he calls "academic squatting."

He made headlines after 10-year-old twins registered for his course with their mother -- and he supported the filing of a human-rights complaint claiming ageism when the university said they couldn't stay. His research can be equally alternative: He has called global warming, for instance, a myth. He has also been an outspoken critic of "Israeli military aggression" and is not shy about expressing those views with students.

And while the university may be keeping quiet, Rancourt has freely disseminated his side of the story: correspondence with university officials and a video of his arrest has been posted on the Internet. "I have nothing to hide," he says.

Sean Kelly, a master's student who had Rancourt as his thesis supervisor until his suspension, said: "He really pushes you to think more for yourself."

For now, Rancourt, 51, is meeting his graduate students in cafes, continuing to advise them unofficially on their thesis projects. He is still receiving his salary while awaiting a final decision from the university. The independent board of inquiry appointed by the Canadian Association of University Teachers may take many months to release a report.

But the professor is undeterred about those A-pluses: "Grades poison the educational environment," he insists. "We're training students to be obedient, and to try to read our minds, rather than being a catalyst for learning."