McGill in hot water over lecturer’s views
Soroosh Shahriari, course lecturer at McGill, was the spark of a protest on Thursday after he tweeted (in Persian) “how heartwarming it will be to experience the execution of hundreds of Mojahedin leaders arrested in recent riots.” McGill is being cautious, offering “support” to its Iranian students while refusing to reprimand Shahriari.
Looking for more links on that story, I found that Le Figaro had a piece in March about French students at McGill where “1800 étudiants français vivent pleinement leur rêve américain” (!) and, surprisingly, “tout se passe en anglais.”
PatrickC 09:09 on 2022-10-07 Permalink
Interesting article from Le Figaro. But I was struck by this comment: “Les Québécois sont très positifs, très chaleureux, mais il y a un côté très artificiel et il est très dur de briser la coquille», note Amélie Gaillard, qui à la fin de ses études envisage de rentrer en France.” Artificial? I thought that’s how Québécois view the French?
Chris 09:11 on 2022-10-07 Permalink
Notably: he’s a lecturer in the Jewish studies program.
Kate 10:36 on 2022-10-07 Permalink
Shahriari is a specialist in the history of monotheistic religions, focusing on Judaism and Islam. That’s all I’ve been able to find out about him.
DeWolf 11:17 on 2022-10-07 Permalink
@PatrickC It’s the classic peach vs. coconut thing: some cultures are “peaches” with a soft exterior and hard interior, meaning that people are outwardly casual and friendly but it’s hard to really break through and become close friends with someone. In “coconut” cultures, people are more reserved, but once you make it through the shell and become friends with someone, they let their guard down and you’re very good friends indeed.
American cultures are generally considered peaches while old-world European and Asian cultures are coconuts.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/working-peach-coconut-culture-how-canadians-can-do-hebert-/