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Ibrahim’s popularity is reflected in the size of his classes. Records provided by Ibrahim and alluded to in the tenure committee’s report show that numbers in his 300-level Islamic law course far outstrip other professors’ classes.

His department “service” — a tenure criterion that counts working on conferences and committees and public outreach — is also impressive. This past January, Ibrahim was nominated for the McGill Principal’s prize for public engagement through media.

Photo by Columbia University

Tenure is awarded for “superior” (as opposed to “reasonable”) rankings in two out of three of: scholarship, pedagogy and service. The majority tenure report suggests Ibrahim’s denial devolved onto one criterion in which he allegedly fell short: the question of whether students felt free to express their views in his classes.

Which is puzzling. Rankings by students of Ibrahim’s teaching over five years, based on surveys taken at semester’s end, start strong in 2012 and get better over the years. Ibrahim’s rankings on the question of concern averaged out at 4.8, while the IIS average was 4.6. Out of 331 student rankings over the past six years, only nine said they did not feel they could express their views freely. They are all, suggestively, clustered in 2017, the last semester (as the tenure committee’s minority report noted was “suspicious”) from which student evaluations would count towards tenure.

Among the rest are such comments as: “He encourages us to think critically and is very neutral himself when it comes to controversial subjects”; “always encourages us to share our thoughts …”; “would always encourage the students to speak their opinions …”; “He would never impose his way of thinking; instead he aimed for disagreement, debate and confrontation of ideas.”; “Ideas and opinions are always welcomed in the class, as long as they are respectful”; “My fav course at McGill and the best Prof I’ve had.” Words like “the best professor I had at McGill” show up a lot.