By Hymie Rubenstein ——Bio and Archives--April 22, 2025

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Four University of British Columbia professors and a recent PhD graduate student have filed a lawsuit against their university alleging official indigenous-focused land acknowledgments made by UBC along with equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) hiring requirements underpinning these acknowledgements violate UBC’s duty to “be non-sectarian and non-political in principle,” as legally codified in section 66 of the University Act.

The lawsuit, filed on April 7 at the BC Supreme Court, seeks orders demanding the university remove “assertions that UBC lands are ‘unceded’ from its website, internal guidance documents and official communications on behalf of UBC,” and “adherence to EDI values and requirements to require applicants to make EDI adherence statements [favouring indigenous candidates] as a condition of applications for faculty positions.”

These five plaintiffs – UBC philosophy professor and former Vice-Chair of UBC's Board of Governors Andrew Irvine, PhD graduate Nathan Cockram, UBC political science associate professor........

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