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Public Letter
- 1. Dear Principal Woolf and the Queen’s Senate Committee on Honorary Degrees, We, the undersigned students, Professors, and Queen’s honorary doctorate recipients strongly believe that Queen’s University should bestow Iranian human rights lawyer and political prisoner, Nasrin Sotoudeh, with an honorary doctorate at next year’s Convocation. Ms. Sotoudeh is more than deserving of this honour, for her heroism and determination embodies the struggle for human rights in Iran and the values of the Queen’s community: equality, accountability, protection of the vulnerable, responsible leadership, justice and the rule of law. Indeed, Ms. Sotoudeh’s courage and commitment to justice in the face of persistent and pervasive injustice has touched the lives of all Iranian people, especially the women, children, journalists, and religious minorities she has dedicated her life to defending. Ms. Sotoudeh began her career as one of Iran’s first female reformist journalists, writing extensively on the imperative to protect the rights of the vulnerable. As a lawyer, she continued fighting for the rights of marginalized Iranian groups, working closely with Shirin Ebadi’s Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC), the Society for the Rights of Children, and a variety of women’s rights organizations. Ms. Sotoudeh has acted as a defence attorney to countless Iranians, including members of the One Million Signatures for the Repeal of Discriminatory Laws campaign. Ms. Sotoudeh was one of the last lawyers courageous enough to defend the dissidents and activists arrested in 2009, following the Iranian election. Her bravery in defending the dissidents of the Iranian regime led to her first imprisonment in the notorious Evin Prison in 2010. While imprisoned, Ms. Sotoudeh did not relent – her spirit persisted. She repeatedly went on hunger strike protesting the injustices her, her family, and the Iranian people faced. For the better part of two months, Ms. Sotoudeh refused all food and drank only water mixed with salt and sugar. It is this unyielding spirit that earned her the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, the Geneva Institute for Democracy and Development’s Giuseppe Motta medal, and the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Each of these awards were awarded in absentia and helped secure her early release from prison in 2013. Following her release, Ms. Sotoudeh marched on. This summer, even though she realized that it would endanger her and her family’s safety, she defended the ‘Girls of Revolution Street’ who were arrested for publically removing their headscarves in defiance of the compulsory hijab dress code, and organized a sit-in to protest recent restrictions on defendants’ ability to hire independent lawyers. In the words of Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is herself one of Ms. Sotoudeh’s former clients, “Nasrin is fearless in taking on the cases that other lawyers would carefully avoid.” Her fearlessness, fueled by the duty she feels to protect and promote a just rule of law, has landed her once again in Evin Prison, where she has been since June 2018. In a letter written from her cell, Ms. Sotoudeh courageously affirms: “I realize they had arrested me for my work on human rights, the defense of women’s rights activists, and the fight against the death penalty. Still, I will not be silenced.” If Ms. Sotoudeh will not be silenced in the face of persecution and prosecution, neither shall we. Honouring Ms. Sotoudeh with an honorary doctorate is not only just and merited in and of itself, but would also be the most effective means of demonstrating our support for her and the Iranian people. And, like the honorary doctorate York University bestowed onto Nasrin in 2013, it can help secure her early release from prison. So, let’s help Nasrin Sotoudeh and the Iranian people in building a more just rule of law in Iran by awarding Ms. Sotoudeh an honorary doctorate at next year’s Convocation. Sincerely,
- 2. Faculty Members Adèle Mercier, Associate Professor of Philosophy Adrienne Davidson, Term Adjunct in Political Studies Ardi Imseis, Assistant Professor of Law Arthur Cockfield, Professor of Law Asha Varadharajan, Associate Professor of English Allen Head, Professor, RBC Fellow and Associate Head of Economics Department Alyssa King, Assistant Professor of Law Annette Burfoot, Professor and Department Head of Sociology Beverley Mullings, Associate Professor of Geography and Planning and Associate Head of Geography Undergraduate Programs Carolyn Smart, Professor of English Catherine Conaghan, Professor of Political Studies Christine Sypnowhich, Professor and Department Head of Philosophy Christopher Fanning, Associate Professor of English Cynthia Levine-Rasky, Associate Professor of Sociology David Lyon, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Surveillance Studies Centre D.L.C. Maclachlan, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy Don Stuart, Sessional Professor of Law Dorit Naaman, Associate Professor of Film and Media Eleanor MacDonald, Associate Professor of Political Studies Elliot Paul, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant, Associate Professor of Political Studies and Director of the IIGR and CORA Elizabeth Hanson, Professor of English Garry Kibbins, Associate Professor and Head of Film and Media Department Glenn Willmott, Professor of English Grant Amyot, Professor of Political Studies Heather Macfarlane, Assistant Adjunct Professor of English Huw Lloyd-Ellis, Professor and Head of Economics Department Jonathan Rose, Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Political Studies Department Joshua Karton, Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Faculty of Law, Graduate Studies and Research Katherine McKittrick, Associate Professor in Gender Studies and the Graduate Program in Cultural Studies Karen Dubinsky, Professor of Global Development Studies Kevin Banks, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Centre for Law in the Contemporary Workplace Kip Pegley, Associate Professor in the Dan School of Drama and Music Korey Pasch, Doctoral Candidate and Teaching Fellow in Department of Political Studies Laura J. Murray, Professor of English Leela Viswanathan, Associate Professor of Geography and Planning Director of SURP, MCIP and RPP Linda Mussell, Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Political Studies Lisa Guenther, Queen’s National Scholar in Political Philosophy and Cultural Prison Studies Lisa Kerr, Assistant Professor of Law Maggie Berg, Professor of English Language and Literature Margaret Moore, Professor of Political Studies and Director of the Centre of Democracy and Diversity Mark Jones, Professor of English Martin Hand, Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator of Sociology Mary-Jo Maur, Assistant Professor of Law Melissa Houghtaling, Adjunct Professor and Undergraduate Chair of Gender Studies Department Nicholas C. Bala, Professor of Law Paritosh Kumar, Professor, Undergraduate Chair, and Placement Coordinator for Global Development Studies Department Rahul Kumar, Professor of Philosophy Rebecca Hall, Assistant Professor of Global Development Studies Robert Yalden, Sigurdson Professor of Corporate Law and Finance Ruth Wehlau, Associate Adjunct Professor Samantha King, Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies and Head of Gender Studies Department Scott-Morgan Straker, Associate Professor of English Sergio Sismondo, Professor of Philosophy Sharry Aiken, Associate Professor of Law Stéfanie von Hlatky, Associate Professor of Political Studies and Research Fellow at the CIDP Stéphanie Martel, Assistant Professor of Political Studies Stephen Leighton, Professor of Philosophy Susanne Soederberg, Professor of Global Development Studies and Canada Research Chair Victoria Systsma, Assistant Professor of Sociology Wayne Cox, Associate Professor of Political Studies Honorary Doctorate Recipients Margaret Atwood, CC, O.Ont, FRSC, FRSL The Rt Hon. Beverley McLachlin, PC, CC, CSTj The Hon. Bob Rae, PC, CC, O.Ont, QC
- 3. Students Abdel-Kader, Yousif Abduljawad, Zainb Adams, Nicholas Adams, Ryanne Adams, Ryanne Aird, Ashley Alcamo, Adam Alejandro, Cassidy Ali, Hadi Ali, Isiah Allington, Sydney Amendola, Alex Anderson, Rowan Andres-Bordas, Jose Anstis, Nikky Arhen, Ben Ariss, Esmé arnott, Abigail Arora, Rikin Asbell, Jacob Ascough, Josiah Assaly, Jeremy Asselstine, Callum Baryliuk, Meghan Basset, Shaughnessy Beale, Jake Beaton, Kobe Beckett, Maeve Bennett, Haydn Bentley, Rachel Berze, Katherine Beudoin, Natasha Bin-Edward, Buse Binkley, Emily Blacklock, Yasemin Blasko, Mitchell Blumberg, Michelle Bortrem, Caroline Boston, Paige Brodigan, Natalie Brough, Savannah Brownell, Darcie Bruce, Harlee Bryan, Samantha Bundgaard, Sam Burnside-Marshall, Nichola Burrows, Tori Burton, Richard Buskermolan, Dylan Byron, Greame Cadena, Kian Cain, Noah Caldwell, Becky Carbajal, Maria Carr, Chloe Carr, Sheridan Cehic, Alic Chan, Jessie Channon, Gabriella Chapur, Estanislao Charbine, Justin Charbine, Justin Chauhan, Zaina Chen, Kelston Cheung, Carina Chick, Alexa Chow, Carolyn Ciraco, Dominic Clark, Vanessa Clarke, Delaney Cohen, Laura Cole, Avery Cole, Melissa Collings, Rachel Cooper, Jason Cormack, Ryan Counter, Kaia Crete-Woodhouse, Zacharias Crosby, Bria Cruz-Diaz, Mal Cunningham-Outinen, Patrick Cvetlcola, Marija Dantes, Adam Daridele, Stephanie Deacon-Lawr, John den Hartog, Selma Dent, Evelyn Deogan, Gursh Deogan, Gursharan Depacina, Irene Derak, Tina DeRoche, Stephanie Dewhurst, Brooke Dhugee, Gobind Diab, Natasja Dimitrov, Elizabeth Din, Sara Dinsdale, Ben Dong, Wenxin Dorland, Emma Dorland, Riley Douglas, Stephanie Downie, Noah Duffy, Lauren Dwight, Ela Dye, Connor Edmondson, Samuel Egan, Adelaide Elamuvugan, Keshina Eldin, Sasha Elson, Kyrsten Ernst, Jessica Rose Espersen-Peters, Mary Espersen-Peters, Mary Evans, Richie Falconer, Adam Farrell, Paige Ferguson, Jessica Ferreira, Tina Fillion, Maye Fobert, Sarah Foote, Nicole Forrestall, Shauna Forster, Autumn Forteau, Sabrina Fourney, Lauren Fowlie, Ryan Fox, Nicole Frampton, Johnathan Franko, Jessica Fraser, Julian Friedman, Julia Galdbraith, Caitlin Gallea, Hannah Galway, Jordan Garland, Katie Gename, Magdalena Gilbert, Maria Gilbert, Valerie Girard, Meagan Gladnov, Philipp Glover, Katie Goddard, Marie Elena Goepel, Bailey Gofordump,Anita Goldstein, Jaqueline Goldstein, Raena Gollner, Julia Golzadeh, Niusha Goodfield, Kobe Goordat, Joshua Gowdy, Katrina Grant, Sydney Grat, Lauren Gray, Emily Graziani, Brandon Green, Daniel Greene, William Gresser, Hope Grossinger, Zane Grzegorczyk, Hannah Guida, Carlie Guo Yufei Guyon, Julien Gwin, Katelyn Haba, Catherine Hagen, Brittany Haluro, Gillian Hamel, Angelique Hamilton, Rhianna Han, Brian Han, Jessie Han, Ningfu Handyside, Elle Hanna, Natalie Hannah, Allison Hanson, Olivia Harder, Rachelle Hargrave, Emily Harper-Simard, Chase Hau, Isabelle Hawryluk, Sydney Hayes, Julia Hector, Sofie Helmke, Delaney Hickey, Chloe Hicks, Taylor Ho, Tiffany Hodgson, Julia Hoehner, Jenna Holas, Kobe Holmes, Christina Holt, Emma Hopper, Brynn Hornstein, Daniel Howell, Danika Hrushevsky, Matt Huang, Akela Hultin, David Imada, Moeri Imre-Millei, Bibora Ingoldsby, Erin Inniss, Brad Inniss, Brad Intounas, Constance Irvine, Peter Jackson, Jenna Jadd, Leah Jagoe, Michael James, Abbey Jingwei, Jeremy Johnson, Mauilyn Johnson, Tabitha Jokic, Dallas Jurak, Paul Jureta, Emily Kamalathasan, Hishani Kaoud, Hania Kearney, Alana Kehyeian, Vanessa Kelly, Erika Kennedy, Aimee Kermali, Aliya Khademi, Ghazal Khanbhai, Yasmin King, Ben King, Chris Knight, Matthew Kobayashi, Hihano Kornak, Tabitha Krstovic, Angela Kube, Lauren Kucera, Ingrid Kutzner, Hannah Kwasnicki, Julia Ladner, Duncan Lambropoulos, Stephanie Lane, Alix Langston, Kendall Lansley, Josephine Laperriere, Sophie Laplante, Celina Larkin, Kathleen Larson, Claire Laurat, Grace Lauren Di Felice Lauzon, Alexandra Laver, Andrew Lawrie, Christena Lawson, Cheurlotte Lawson, Jack Lazarowich, Meg Lederman, Leeor Lee, Jacob Lee, Jaewon Leefe, Spencer Levars, Donna Levesque, Samina Levine, Alisha Levito, Mattias Levitt, Bryne Lidtke, Katherine Lieon, Valierie Lipuouitz, Alexis Lollar, Faith Loucks, Madison Lu, Eris Luis-Mangubat, Jose Luoma, Michael Luppe, Hannah Lussier, Kelsey Luttikuis, Ryan MacCulloch, Zoë Macdonald, Victoria MacKinnon, Charles Mackintosh, Dee Macrae, Kate Maddison, Charlotte Madigan, Amanda Maggs, Elliot Mahmoud, Hana Mahomy, Claire Mainwaring, Hugh Majury, Emma Malik, Mehrisa Mao, Jane Mao, Mingzhu Marcoux, Gabrielle Marin, Sophie Marischenko, Alyssa Mariz, Katie Martensson, Celia Marthens, Josh Martin, Rosalyn Martins, Emily Matharoc, Simrit Mathison, Megan McAfee, Foster McAfee, Madison McAlpine, Ariel McAuley, Adam McCarthy, Meagan McComb, Lucas McCormack, Zoe McCortney, Alex McCullough, Sam McDonald, May McFetridge, Alex Mcgovern, Kyra McGunnigle, Liam McHale, Sophie McKay, Camryn Mckay, Maddie McKenzie, Adam McKinlay, Lachlan Mcltugh, Maggie Mcmahon, Siobhan Meeson, Fiona Meikle, John Melmer, Phallon Melrose, Syndey Menszies, Maria Mentenon, Claude-Michel Menzies, Maria Miao, Rita Michel-Mentenon, Claude Mikhail, Joseph Miller, Tyler Mochulla, Rachel Mohabeer, Justine Moniz, Cassandra Morris-Smale, Emily Morrison, Reily Morrissey, Alex Mostero, Calee Müller, Portia Munaro, Eve Munro, Alastair Murray, Sarah Myers, Madison Nadarajah, Nevin Nadeau, Frank Nagamatsu, Taylor Nam, Katherine Neander, Michael Ng, Chelsea Nicholson, Ryan Nitchov, Evan Niven, Michael Noronha, Derek Nussbaum, Eric Nygren, Alex O’Brien, Carlie O’Handley, James Ochocinski, Abby Oladimeil, Joseph Oliveira, Patrice Pan, Chen Panhuyzen, Emily Parikh, Anjali Parkes, Brandon Parris, Jazzy Pascoe, Molly Pasqual, Solona Peacock, Quinn Penacchietti, Sofia Penfold, Devon Peng, Jiachen Phillips, Alexandra Pijselman, Kim Pippo, Adel Playford, Abbey Plender, Jonathan Pogue, Colin Ponetta, Matthew Power, Daniel Pridgeon, Matt Procska, Nickolas Querques, Daniel Querques, Daniel Radcliffe, Sean Ramer, Hannah Raotenbach, Thomas Rashford, Sanyu Rasp, Jennifer Rea, Alexandra Read, Copeland Régnier, Micha Rehman, Hannah Reis,lJared Renton, Sophie Richardson, Haley Rivard, Jeremy Rivera-Wong, Luis Roberts, Evan Robichaud, Elissa Robichaud, Elissa Robinson, Braedan Rogerson, Sydney Romanson, Matt Rondeau, Madeleine Rong, Iris Ross, Emily Ross, Sophia Roubotham, Sarah Rowed, Grace Rumball, Dominique Russell, Samual Saba, Natalie Sadnzadeh, Sara Sahi, Angela Salek, Olyvia Salvatore, Vanessa Sampson, D’antal Sander, Nick Sanginga, Rosine Santamaura, Nicholas Sarazin, Brady Schell, Madeline Scherer, Laura Scott, Melanie Scruby, Claire Scully, Katharine Sengupla, Kunal Shah, Tamjid Shau, Randy Shepperdson, Sarah Shi, Sarah Shin, Hanseul Shin, Nolan Shiuprasad, Julian Shmidt, Amanda Shokour, Arianna Shumiatcher, Eva Simunovic, Saskia Sinclair, Mark Sivaneshan, Sahana Sloan, Cameron Smart, Donny Smith, Andrew Smith, Jesse Soleman, Nick Somerville, Tyler Springstead, Jake Stanbra, Jaqueline Steele, Brendan Stephans, Catherine Stern, Henry Styles, Alison Su, Rachel Surette, Emilie Susanna, Chiara Sutherland, Sean Szutka, Jacob Tallmeister, Emily Tambakis, Kloé Tanaka, Sydney Taylor, Abby Terry, Liam Theodoropoulos, Andreas Thomas, Lauren Thompson, Jalisa Thomson, Yasmin Tomayk, Michelle Tomazos, Leon Towes, Lucas Troop, Megan Turnbull, Kieran Umar, Aysha Umengan, Chloe Vandenberg, Erin Varga, Cameron Vaughan, Michelle Ventura, Sabrina Veres, Taylor Verschuerer, Evie Vuong, Kelly Wagram, Kristina Wakefield, Jamie Walker, Eliza Wang, Kathy Wang, Yolin Waxman, Remi Webler, Elizabeth Welsh, Rose Westbrook, Daniel White, Courtney White, Courtney Wiener, Jeremy Wight, Lisa Wigmore, Grace Wilson, Emily Wilson, Sloane Wilson, Stephanie Win, Catherine Winters, Russell Woods, Robert Woodworth, Merissa Wrenshall, Luka Xu, Jiaqi Xu, Qianzi Yang, Browen Yang, Elaine Yang, Yuxin Yao, Cong Ye, William Yoruk, Bertug Yu, Jess Yu, Jixian Yvan, Edward Zaleska, Zaya Zeldin, Sasha Zhang, Vicky Zhang, Xinyue Ziegler, Grace