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The incident has cast a chill through the lecture halls of one of Canada’s top universities, professors say, causing them to think twice before tackling controversial topics lest they use a word or phrase that would be taken out of context and spark another complaint.

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“If I were to continue teaching I would feel that there was somebody up on the stage with me making shorthand notes — a phantom censor,” he said. After the complaint was filed, the university said he could only continue teaching if the department chair sat in on lectures from time to time. He wouldn’t comply. Classes were cancelled and Mr. Mason was “banned,” as he puts it. He was never formally let go or asked to leave — health problems eventually had him sidelined.

Mr. Mason never disputed what was said, but the complaint didn’t divulge the context, he said.

The words “f—ing rag head,” “towel head,” “japs” and “little yellow sons of bitches,” did indeed cross his lips, he said, but he was quoting from books and articles on racism in that era.

And he admits to saying the teaching assistants (all women) should wash his car if he can’t find enough work for them to do, and that they should become “masters and mistresses” of the materials taught in his class.

When somebody accuses you of these heinous crimes, you can’t just shrug your shoulders

The self-described product of a different era said he made an exasperated joke after being appointed assistants he felt didn’t know the course content.

Still unapologetic, Mr. Mason says the case has consumed him and left an unjust black mark on an otherwise solid career, in which he never received negative feedback from students.