SINCE 1944
VOLUME 80 ISSUE 8
February 3, 2025
3
Climate Crossroads: Trump’s Return Ignites Environmental Policy Firestorm
7
5
Situationships on Valentine’s Day
8
News:
1
Student run since 1944
BU Dance Team hosts 10 successful fundraiser at the Gait How to Get Involved on 12 Campus: Connect with Nature and Sustainability
Catwalk for a cause: The BU Charity Fashion Show is back! What are tariffs? Bishop’s professors explain
Photo courtesy of Emily Crunican
Investigation reveals new details on sociology professor’s slur controversy
By Jillian French - News Editor & Irma Susset Editor-in-Chief
Content warning — mentions of racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and slurs
A
n investigation by The Campus has revealed new details about a Bishop’s sociology professor whose winter 2025 classes were reassigned after a CTV story alleged she said a homophobic slur multiple times in a sociology class in fall 2024. Upon meeting with students and faculty, The Campus discovered more about the context of Gosselin’s use of the slur, a student’s formal complaint, and how the university plans to make the complaint processes more accessible to students.
@thebishopscampus
On January 15, an email was sent out to the student body on behalf of Principal Sébastien Lebel-Grenier citing “a recent media article relating to inappropriate language in a classroom.” The email followed a CTV article published January 13, in which Cheryl Gosselin, a professor in the Bishop’s sociology department, is alleged to have used the f-slur in a first-year class and making offensive comments in another course she taught. Homophobic slurs in the classroom Several students raised concerns about Gosselin’s alleged repeated use of the homophobic slur during a first-year Gender and Sociology course (SOC129) in the fall of 2024. Allister Coursol, first year sociology student, described how the slur was first used in the context of a class about gender-based bullying on November 12, 2024, where Gosselin
Layout design by Melanie Toppa
referred to an article about disproportionate bullying targeting feminine boys. Coursol told The Campus that Gosselin used the slur when quoting the article, but then “kept asking questions, like ‘what does this mean, f-g”. They noted how uncomfortable it made the class: “She kept saying it, and no one was answering.” Mia Deuter, first year modern languages student, shared the article Gosselin quoted, Joel Mittleman’s “Homophobic Bullying as Gender Policing: Population-Based Evidence,” published in 2022 in the journal Gender & Society. The particular section details the way young bullies “would never harass someone for being ‘gay,’ but only for being ‘a f-g.’” According to the students, Gosselin used the slur when quoting the text – the slur is uncensored in Mittleman’s article – but kept repeating it as she attempted to prompt further discussion. continues on page 2
thebucampus.ca