Photo Credit: @MehmetEfe_Caman (via Twitter)
On Feb 4, 2022, Dr. Caman announced via Twitter that his term contract, which expires at the end of April 2022, would likely not be renewed.
Human Rights Advocate, Father, Husband, Academic, and beloved Political Science Professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador– Dr. Mehmet Efe Caman is known for his congeniality and passion for teaching and scholarly work.
Changing lives, igniting passions, and impacting students one by one, Dr. Caman teaches lessons on freedom, authoritarianization, human rights, and Turkish politics through the lens of comparative politics & international politics contexts with insight that can only be gained through personal experience.
There has been an ongoing government purge in Turkey is criminalizing and jailing public servants and academics. Initially invited to Memorial for research due to this purge, Dr. Caman has been teaching at MUNL since 2015.
Although in Canada at the time, Dr. Caman became blacklisted and isolated as the Turkish government began cancelling passports owned by academics and their families, including his.
Memorial supported him and his family at the time by advocating for his visa and nominating him for permanent residency, which he later received. However, despite teaching at the university for six years and being partially funded by Scholar Rescue, his employment remains contractual and precarious.
Larger Issue at Hand
Since Dr. Caman’s announcement, students and faculty have released letters and formed a petition asking the Dean to reconsider Dr. Caman’s contract as Visiting Assistant Professor.
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Ailsa Craig told The Muse that they are “committed to the success of our programs, our students, and our faculty and my office is currently in the midst of our usual annual discussions with all departments on their teaching plans for the coming year”.
“These discussions pay particular attention to how we can best ensure that we continue to provide rigorous, interesting programs that are responsive to student need and interests and attentive to the resource realities of the Faculty. At this point, we are still in that process”.
They also noted this decision has not been finalized and stated “I’m not certain there is an article to pursue at this point” upon requesting a statement in response to Political Science staffing cuts.
However, Dr. Caman claims his employment situation does not look promising.
“MUN is ‘lucky’ to have you”
In 2020, President Vianne Timmons interviewed Dr. Caman.
She stated, “His story of exile from Turkey and finding a new home in this province touched her heart, and she could see right away why his students love him so much.”
The interview gave Dr. Caman a great impression of President Timmons; he described her as genuine, interested, and wanting to help.
President Timmons also told Dr. Caman “Memorial is lucky to have [him]”, which gave the impression that change would occur.
Dr. Caman has since claimed this feels like an empty phrase given his current situation.
“MUNL is my academic home, and I thought the University realized this as I am a unique case. A more stable job position would profile MUNL in an entirely different category — longer-term perspectives for persecuted academics”. (Dr. Mehmet Efe Caman).
Political Science Society Speaks Out
Nicholas Hillier, President of the Political Science Society, states, “If MUNL is lucky to have Dr. Caman, how can you have him without a contract.”
Nicholas also claims, “We don’t have a university administration who has their priorities straight, we have a university administration who has no priorities at all” as MUNL blames budget cuts for the decision to let go Dr. Caman; yet the administration simultaneously opens a $325 million Core Science Facility and imposes tuition increases.
Marketing the persecuted?
In a letter issued MUNL’s Political Science Graduate Studies Society, Memorial has been accused of highlighting Dr. Caman for the purpose of branding and promotion.
“It is not acceptable to highlight Dr. Caman’s journey to MUNL for the purpose of branding and promotion, while failing to invest in measures to end the pressure of precarious employment imposed upon him by the University administration.”
MUNL Political Science Graduate Studies Society
Dr. Caman notes that his lack of job security has caused a lot of missed opportunities and activities with students.
Many students and alumni have spoken out about the matter. One stated: “Instead of using $50,000 to renovate the president’s office, Memorial University could help someone who has influenced the lives of countless students” (@Curtis Knee on Twitter).
MUNL’s Communications Manager, David Sorenson, defended the video. He claimed President Vianne Timmons’s video was “part of a series in her first year as president while learning about the university. The interview was posted on the University’s YouTube page. It has not been used in any marketing or communications campaign beyond this, so I’m not sure how Memorial is using this video for branding or promotion”.
Political Science Society President Nicholas Hillier states “the administration needs to put their money where mouth is” because “we cant have a situation where our brightest and our best are being declined”.
Valuable teachings
Dr. Mehmet Efe Caman has been publicly recognized for the value of his teaching through a recent interview with NTV’s Ben Cleary; also a former student of Dr. Caman.
Many MUN students and alumni have also spoken out about the positive impacts of Dr. Caman’s teachings.
Dr. Caman responded to his supportive students via twitter:
He has also stated “even if I don’t get a job at MUN anymore, and do something completely different, the reaction from students is the highlight. My job is about students”.
How to help
Persecuted and still facing adversities, the Department of Political Science is calling individuals to stand up in support of Dr. Caman’s case, as MUNL needs to step up and protect its qualified, loved, and valuable Academic – Dr. Mehmet Efe Caman.
As Memorial University’s Administration fails to securely host their only at-risk scholar, MUNL’s Political Science Society is encouraging the following:
Dr. Caman’s daughter, Aylin Caman, wrote their story of persecution from her perspective. Support the Caman’s by reading A Distant Memory – Home.
Click here if you wish to sign the petition in support of Dr. Caman.