Shiraz Dossa is under fire for having attended a conference in Iran. The conference hosted many notable Holocaust deniers. Dossa, a professor of political science at St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is lashing out against his critics, saying his academic freedom is under attack.Shiraz Dossa has just returned from the conference in Iran:
A Nova Scotia professor who has faced criticism from his university and colleagues for attending an Iranian conference that cast doubt on the Holocaust lashed out against the school Friday for failing to defend his academic freedom.
Shiraz Dossa, a political science professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, raised the ire of the university after presenting a paper at the conference earlier this month.
Dossa, who has insisted he's not a Holocaust denier, used the forum to talk about how the Holocaust plays into the so-called war on terror.
[G]uests at the conference included a list of controversial figures. Among them were Ku Klux Klan figure David Duke and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who addressed the event and predicted Israel will one day be "wiped out."
Just what sort of professor is Shiraz Dossa? Here are his scores at Rate My Professor, each score out of a maximum of 5:
Average Helpfulness: 2.7
Average Easiness: 2.0
Average Clairty: 3.2
Overall Quality: 3.0
I find these scores interesting. With 66 ratings, he runs right up the middle. That suggests he's an average professor, or that some students thing he is great, and some loathe him. Looking at the comments supports the notion that Dossa is a polarizing presence:
Dossa was my favourite professor at StFX. He challenges students to think critically and question the messages coming from the popular media. Keeping that in mind, I am certain that he was unaware of the nature of the conference in Iran. I hope that staff and students from StFX will know the difference and support him.
The University should take strict action on Dr. Dossa for attending the conferance and not informing the universuty of the content of the conferance. I do not like him as a teacher!!! All we do is watch the daily show and listen to him trash talk George Bush. His style of teaching is****!!! HE IS NOT A GOOD PROFESSOR AT ALL . Dont take the class.
How much would you bet that the first comment comes from a student who likes The Daily Show.
More comments:
This guy is an anti-American anti-semitic misogynist. Unless you're a left wing moonbat like him, you're doomed in his class. St. FX is starting to become just like a lot of other Canadian schools - intolerant of any view other than the CBC-approved left.
interesting, funny, we watched a lot of daily show with John Stewart. He's a hard maker though.
Dossa is very smart but he really is worthless as a prof and I think he would admit that; we were supposed to study Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and the like but instead we watched the Daily Show and listened to him rail against all his various hatreds. Funny how he lives and collects a generous salary in the part of the world he ridicules for a living.
Good prof overall. First year class didn't really suit him though as most people in there didn't seem to care about the topics. Interesting books. On tests always refer back to Chomsky in your answers.
I dislike Dossa as a teacher and possibly as a person. He is based [ed. biased?], unorganized, not clear, and damn annoying. He makes his students unconfortable, and it is near impossible to achieve a high grade in that class unless the students nose is lodged way up Dossa's ass. STAY AWAY
DO NOT take this class. "Dr" Dossa (he's very proud of his Ph.D) rants all day about George Bush. He does not teach you ANYTHING. I still do not know anything about political science. The exams and paper topics are ridiculous. There is no text book, etc. He marks SUPER hard. This was just an absoulutely awful experience. DON'T DO IT!
Horrible prof. Rants about his hatred of George Bush instead of teaching the course...i still currently don't know what political science is. Hard to understand sometimes too, and is a veryyy hard marker..KEEP AWAY!
MR DOSSA, YEA "MR" is the worst prof in the in st f x history. he deducts marks for not referring to him as "dr". who cares if your a doctor? just teach us political science, its your job. doesnt care much about teaching the subject except to the students he plays favorites to.
He's such a bad prof, he's a hate mongerger, and only teaches what he sees in the news. His rantings become tired and are vague, have nothing to do with anything and always end up about how every problem in the world is at the fault of the American People. Awful person, awful prof.
horrible prof, basically teaches from the newspaper, nothing of value. Very hard maker, tests on things not even covered in class. DO NOT take his class.
Very Interesting class, but if you dont agree with what he says he will make you look like an ass. He seems to be into brainwashing people with his anti-americanism, but its funny. Very hard marker tho and i wouldnt reccomend it first year!
Dossa is my hero, hands down.
Interesting lectures - stay on his good side and you'll do okay. If you try and help yourself (study, etc.), he'll give you a lot of help during office hours, etc.
As Chomsky would say this man is an ass. His entire lecture should have a foot note telling you where this bull **** came from.Now I the Vaga-thugs as much as the next guy but he is WAY overboard and seems to have a general dislike for all women, not cool
Rips off Nom[sic] Chompsky's work daily - not the genius students think he is.
If you're from the states don't even think about taking him
Note that criticisms come from students who liked him. These comments go back two years, so don't think the reaction is driven by the recent controversy.
I find it odd that the students who liked him used terms like "hero". Like they see him not as a professor, but as the leader in a war.
So we have a professor who uses a comedy program on television in lieu of textbooks, who is alleged to dislike women, who is alleged to reward sycophants and to punish those he perceives to have slighted his honour, who is alleged to be unfair and biased in his grading, who is alleged to skirt plagiarism (or at least of being unimaginative) -- sounds like he would have had reason to be concerned about his position.
He might not lose tenure over these issues, but there are ways to punish poorly ranked professors.
Then the Holocaust conference in Iran comes up. Dossa flies over, presents his paper to fellow anti-American idealogues, and now basks in the controversy.
Better yet, he can claim that any attempt to punish him is an act of revenge for having attended the conference and an attack on academic freedom, instead of being motivated by a long list of criticisms going back over two years. In those terms, some people would rather not make an issue of it.
Really rather clever, when you think about it.
