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To Members of the McGill Law Students' Association,
The LSA Executive Council met yesterday in response to a widely circulated screenshot of an email between the McGill University administration and a current LSA member. The email response was intended for the Dean of Law but included the student in the email chain in error. The LSA asks that this student's name be removed from the screenshot if it is reproduced to reduce the chance of retribution to this student.
In this email, Professor Christopher Manfredi, Provost and Vice-President (Academic) of McGill University, asks the Dean whether McGill law students know how to read. He later states that he is, “worried about the people we’re sending out into the legal profession”. The email states that the administration has met with the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL) twenty-two times and that this should be interpreted as good faith negotiation on the part of the university rather than an intentional effort to cause delay.
The Law Students Association would like to inform Professor Manfredi that we do know how to read. Further, our membership is reading into the implications of your conduct. Students have read that senior McGill administrators speak unprofessionally about students amongst themselves. They have read evidence of a culture in which it is acceptable for a McGill Vice-President to email the Dean of a faculty to disparage his students. Most importantly, this behaviour reads as a representation of the anti-labour employment culture at McGill that our professors must contend with.
The Law Students Association demands the immediate public apology and reprimand of Provost and Vice-President Manfredi. His disrespectful conduct towards a student, now widely shared, taints the university’s reputation. This conduct represents a dismissive attitude on the part of the university in the face of dissent from students and professors alike.
The Law Students Association stands in solidarity with the AMPL and supports their striking efforts. We will continue to prioritize student interests as the situation develops. We demand that the McGill administration negotiate in good faith with the AMPL who have demonstrated the highest level of professional conduct to their students throughout the negotiation process. We expect the McGill administration to match their level of conduct immediately.
Signed,
The McGill Law Students Association Executive Council
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