Imagine trying to produce research and share your ideas in a place where your safety is at risk. For the past two decades, the (SAR) program has been uniting at-risk academics whose safety is threatened at home with temporary research and teaching positions for academics in new countries.

In 2014, Department of Law and Legal Studies Prof. Melanie Adrian spearheaded a local Scholars at Risk (SAR) network in collaboration with the University of Ottawa to give foreign academics a unique opportunity to teach and interact with colleagues and students in safe environments. In January 2021 Prof. Adrian was appointed to the Order of Ontario, largely for her contributions to SAR.

Read more about the Scholars at Risk program to learn how international at-risk scholars are being supported at 杏吧原创 University:

Read more about Professor Melanie Adrian’s innovative and award winning work.

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Interested in human rights advocacy? Scholars at Risk? We invite you to read two recent publications on Dr. Melanie Adrian‘s research and teaching at the Department of Law and Legal Studies. Dr. Adrian teaches a fourth-year course “Academia and Activism: Seminar in Advanced Human Rights Advocacy” (LAWS 4903A).

Educating with Impact

“For Melanie Adrian, advocating for human rights is second nature. As the chair of both the Canadian section of Scholars at Risk and 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 Scholars at Risk Committee, Adrian has spent the last five years fighting for social justice and academic freedom. She believes in doing the right thing: standing up and speaking out for oppressed groups and individuals.
Now, as an Associate Professor of Law and Legal Studies at 杏吧原创 University, she hopes to instill this same mindset in her students.

That鈥檚 why, in 2018, she launched a new course called 鈥楢cademia and Activism: Seminar in Advanced Human Rights Advocacy.鈥� Through a partnership with Scholars at Risk (SAR), an international network that promotes academic freedom and protects scholars from unjust prosecution and imprisonment, the course marries theory with case studies to empower students to make a positive difference in the lives of real people.”

SAR Spotlight on Dr. Melanie Adrian

“How did you become involved with the SAR Canada Section and what is your current role?
Melanie Adrian (MA): When 杏吧原创 was thinking of establishing a SAR program, then-Provost Peter Ricketts facilitated my attendance at the Global Congress in Amsterdam. That鈥檚 where I began to hear about the national sections and started to understand what SAR was all about. I wanted to see how we could start a SAR program at 杏吧原创. After Amsterdam, we started putting together a SAR committee. We worked closely with Ottawa University and hosted our first scholars jointly with them, starting in 2015.”

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Title: Seminar in Advanced Human Rights Advocacy

Course Code: LAWS 4903A

Professor: Dr. Melanie Adrian

杏吧原创: This course asks how can one be, if at all, an academic and activist? Are these two endeavors not contradictory? Are there tensions inherent in pursuing both? Is there such a thing as 鈥榝act鈥� in the social sciences? Or is all knowledge socially constructed and historically bound? In order to examine these questions, we will consider the idea of fact through pertinent theory and relevant case studies while pursing our own advocacy program.

The course will begin with the case study of Jewher Ilham, a young Uyghur who fought to save her father from Chinese persecution due to his writing and faith. The following two classes will splice advocacy and activism and relate these to theory in the social sciences that takes up the ideas of objectivity, truth and positionality. We will learn about the idea of positionality and the importance of perspective. We will apply this knowledge to the case of Rigoberta Mench煤 and introduce the ideas of historical truth and the politics of memory. Lastly, the class will bring together these strands of investigation to apply them to the issue of academic freedom.

Importantly, this class will approach these topics through participation in a semester-long advocacy project. The class will take on the case of two scholars currently facing persecution, discrimination and/or harassment. Students will work directly on research in relation to this person鈥檚 case. We will work with an organization called Scholars at Risk (which protects and advocates for academics who have been threatened, fired, arrested, imprisoned or tortured based on their research and activism). Students will work in groups to generate reports on the history and status of at-risk individuals and contribute to advocacy on their behalf.

Please note: This class requires a commitment to show up and to actively and thoughtfully participate. We will be working on projects that have real world outcomes and have immediate effects on the lives of threatened scholars. Students will be conducting research work associated with active and ongoing human rights violations.

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Law and Legal Studies Professor Melanie Adrian has been recognized for her academic and volunteer work with a Senate 150th  Anniversary Medal as well as a Canada 150 commemorative pin.

The pin was awarded on November 22nd by MP and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna. It was presented to Ottawa Centre residents who 鈥渃arry out the Canada 150 themes of diversity and inclusion, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, youth and the environment.鈥�

The Senate 150th Anniversary Medal was presented on November 29th by Senator Vernon White. It was awarded to 鈥淐anadians who are deeply involved in their communities and whose generosity, dedication, volunteerism and hard work make their hometowns a better place to live.鈥�

鈥淚 am humbled to be included amongst this incredible group of recipients and delighted that the good work of Scholars at Risk and Be the Choice is being celebrated,鈥� said Professor Adrian.

Among her many accomplishments, Professor Adrian was instrumental in starting a chapter of the Scholars at Risk network in Ottawa in 2013 in collaboration with the University of Ottawa. 杏吧原创 and U of O have since jointly hosted three Scholars at Risk.

Professor Adrian is also one of the founders of Be the Choice (bethechoice.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to making breast cancer treatment information accessible and participatory through an interactive, fully bilingual, digital platform that enables patients and their advocates to navigate the labyrinth of clinical terms and pathways that accompany a diagnosis. The platform was launched in June of 2017 and has helped hundreds of patients.

(Professor Adrian with Minister Catherine McKenna)

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The Department of Law & Legal Studies is pleased to announce that Dr. Melanie Adrian has been awarded a  for her work with Scholars at Risk, , and for the numerous other volunteering she has done throughout her life.

Senators will award prestigious medals to Canadians who are thoroughly involved in their communities, whose generosity, dedication, volunteerism and hard work make their home towns a better place to live

A special ceremony for recipients will take place on the morning of Wednesday, November 29, 2017.

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The Scholars at Risk program and Prof. were honored in the House of Commons yesterday (on International Human Rights Day)!

Gary Anandasangaree (MP Scarborough-Rouge Park) took that opportunity to highlight the work that 杏吧原创 and the University of Ottawa are doing through the Scholars at Risk program.

and Prof. Raeesi also had an opportunity to meet Maryam Monsef, Minister of Democratic Institutions, and were able to share some ideas with her. It looks like there are some incredible supporters in the House!

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We are pleased to welcome Hossein Raeesi, who joins our Department for the Fall/Winter 2015-2016 academic year!

Mr. Raeesi, a member of the ) network, is co-hosted by 杏吧原创 University and the Univeristy of Ottawa as a visiting scholar. While at 杏吧原创, he will teach LAWS 4903A – Human Rights, Sharia Law and Islamic Legal System.

Our own , Chair of the Joint SAR Committee, :

杏吧原创 our Visiting Scholar

Mr. Raeesi practiced law in Shiraz, Iran, for 20 years. He is the founder and former head of the Human Rights Committee of the Fars Province Bar Association. He is also the founder of Neday-e Edalat (Voice of Justice) Legal Association in Shiraz. As a pro bono attorney, Raeesi has defended political prisoners, journalists, women and children who were sentenced to the death penalty.

In 2012, Raeesi relocated to Canada to escape undue detention and legal actions from the Iranian government. Since then, he has been collaborating with human rights organizations on various issues such as Sharia law, human rights, the death penalty and LGBT issues.

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杏吧原创 University and the 杏吧原创 University Academic Staff Association (CUASA), in partnership with the University of Ottawa, have officially launched the (SAR) network in Ottawa, following its kick-off event, ‘Je Suis Scholar’, which took place yesterday afternoon.

SAR is an international network of higher education institutions dedicated to protecting threatened scholars, preventing attacks on higher education communities and promoting academic freedom worldwide. 杏吧原创 and the University of Ottawa will co-host a scholar, whose appointment will be announced in the spring of 2015.

, Chair of the SAR committee at 杏吧原创 University, is interviewed about this initiative on CBC’s Ottawa Morning (air date: March 4, 2015).

To listen to the full interview, simply press ‘Play’ on the audio feature below:

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While in Amsterdam for the Scholars at Risk Global Conference (April 9-10), had the opportunity to interview the prize-winning Prof. Habib Kazdaghli.

Prof. Kazdaghli, dean of the Faculty of Letters, Arts and Humanities in Tunisia’s Manouba University, received the Scholars at Risk Network’s second Courage to Think Award. He is recognized as “.”

The global conference is a triennial event; this year’s theme, “Freedom to Think, Responsibility to Act” explores the important role that scholars and the higher education sector generally play in society (/).

Prof. Adrian’s interview and Prof. Kazdaghlia’s award made the press; details of both are available in .

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