Professors Testify on DEI Research Funding Criteria Before MPs

The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz

University professors voiced opposing views on federal funding based on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) criteria that have become increasingly prevalent in academia as they appeared in a House of Commons committee on Sept. 24.

Canadian academic Gad Saad, along with professor Eric Kaufmann, said that “woke” policies are harming academic integrity and depriving funding to worthy researchers, while professor Imogen Coe and assistant professor Nadia Hasan said Canada needs to include diversity criteria in allotting research funding in order to solve the pressing issues of our time and erase “systemic inequities” that they say make it harder for minorities to have their voices heard.

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In his comments and answers to MPs, Saad, a former professor of marketing at the Concordia University, said he left Canada for the United States to work as a visiting scholar at the University of Mississippi because Canadian academia has become “ultra woke” and ruled him out of opportunities due to his gender. He also said he’s seen a growth of “laughable” criteria for research grants based on identity markers that don’t have to do with merit.