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These pressures have given rise to questionable journals in which academics can more quickly publish their articles for a fee. Such publications threaten the credibility of academic research and waste taxpayers’ money by attracting grants for research that may have little or no value.

All of this brings us to the case of Derek Pyne, a tenured economics professor at Thompson Rivers University, who took it upon himself to expose such deceptive journals and their use by some faculty at his own institution. His peer-reviewed paper on the subject has earned him worldwide attention, notably from The New York Times and The Economist.

It also drew the ire of the university administration, the human resources department and faculty members. He was recently suspended without pay and banned from the university’s Kamloops campus for what university officials called his use of “defamatory language and accusations.”

TRU won’t comment on the situation since it says it’s legally bound to protect the privacy of its employees but asserts that it’s committed to academic freedom and the independent research activities of its faculty.

But the university’s action in the absence of due process seems at odds with that commitment. Taxpayers, who fund universities and colleges, have a right to know what is being protected.

TRU is ultimately accountable to the government and, notwithstanding certain restrictions in the University Act, Minister of Advanced Education Melanie Mark shouldn’t hesitate to ask the administration for an explanation.

And, looking farther out, academia might consider a better institutional model for the 21st century than publish or perish.

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