Human rights complaint filed against controversial University of Lethbridge professor

A University of Lethbridge professor says the university is taking him to the Alberta Human Rights Commission over comments Jewish groups have called anti-Semitic.

Anthony Hall was suspended without pay in October following comments he made in online articles and videos suggesting there was a Zionist connection to the 9/11 attacks and that the events of the Holocaust should be up for debate.

Hall — who has taught Native American studies, liberal education and globalization over his 26 years at the university — says last week he received a letter from university president Michael Mahon dated Dec. 19 informing him of the complaint.

In the letter, which Hall provided to The Canadian Press, Mahon writes that a review has suggested the professor has engaged in a series of actions that could contravene the Alberta Human Rights Act.

In the letter, Mahon says Hall’s pay has been reinstated because the complaints process could stretch on for a long time.

The university released a statement to Global News, saying after the suspension, it began an external assessment of his social media and other activities “to determine if a complaint to the Alberta Human Rights Commission would be warranted and justifiable.” The assessment was completed in December 2016.

After reviewing the findings of the assessment, the board of governors decided to proceed with a complaint based on Hall’s statements, saying they could be considered “hateful, contemptuous and discriminatory.”

The university said Hall remains suspended.

“However, given our understanding of the potential length of time that this process could take, we do believe that continuing to withhold Dr. Hall’s pay would be punitive and therefore inappropriate.”

Watch below from September 2016: The University of Lethbridge says they are actively engaged with an issues regarding one of their professors that stems from claims of the alleged spread of conspiracy theories and anti-Zionist propaganda. Global’s Matt Battochio explains.

2:02 University of Lethbridge ‘actively engaged’ in alleged anti-Zionist post by professor

Hall, who has been defended by the university’s faculty association and the Canadian Association of University Teachers, says the university’s complaint is a way for administration to get around the faculty’s collective agreement.

With files from Global’s Yasmin Jaswal and Quinn Campbell