Climate sceptic report raises academic freedom issues

A climate change sceptic is slamming an educational charity, known for a controversial advertising campaign on city buses that challenged the existence of God, after it produced a report questioning the legitimacy of a class he taught at Carleton University, writes Mike de Souza for Postmedia News.

The report, based on a review of internal recordings of the class, challenged 142 claims made by the instructor, Tom Harris, in the course as either inaccurate or misleading students to cast doubt on scientific evidence that human activity is responsible for global warming observed in recent decades. “If you teach that much, you're going to find mistakes here and there,” said Harris.

The report, titled “Climate change denial in the classroom”, was released by a team within an educational charity called the Centre for Inquiry Canada that attempts to investigate or debunk public claims. While the university does not currently offer the class taught by Harris from 2009 to 2011, the report has prompted a debate about academic freedom and the obligation for instructors to base teachings on an "honest search for the truth", as required under the university's collective agreement.
Full report on the Canada .com site