Sirus Kashefi, the student who went on a 25-day hunger strike last spring to protest the defence of his PhD thesis, recently quit his second hunger strike due to health and family concerns.
Kashefi held out his belt to show the approximate 10 kilograms he lost during his last hunger strike.
“I started my hunger strike in September to defend my second PhD thesis at Osgoode Hall Law School,” says Kashefi. “I was on my first hunger strike from March 12 to April 6, 2015.”
Kashefi alleges his thesis, “Legal Anarchism: Does Existence Need to be Regulated by the State?” was met with unprecedented censorship and red tape on behalf of Osgoode.
Professor Allan C. Hutchinson, Kashefi’s former PhD supervisor, vetoed the thesis, determining it “unexaminable” with the style and tone of the piece not being “suitable” for a doctoral thesis.
Moreover, the thesis, wrote Hutchinson, “contains personal attacks on individuals and berates Osgoode in a vicious way.”
Kashefi, who spent six years writing his thesis, argues this is an infringement on his basic human right to freedom of expression. He has since appealed for the examination of the thesis.
Dayna N. Scott, graduate program director, Osgoode Hall Law School, asked Kashefi on December 18, 2014 to remove extraneous material, which was not central to his thesis, additionally asking him to reduce the length by approximately 200 pages.
According to Kashefi, Scott would be his new supervisor should York accept his appeal.
“The Osgoode graduate program director is engaged in ongoing discussions with this student as part of the Faculty of Graduate Studies appeals procedures for dealing with the student’s petition,” says Virginia Corner, communications manager, Osgoode.
“We feel it is not appropriate to comment until that process is resolved, but we wish the community to be aware that we are committed to finding a resolution that is satisfactory to all concerned.”
Kashefi says the hunger strikes have been tough. “The students passed by, they didn’t care. The student organizations, they did not even look at me.”
Kashefi sent emails requesting assistance from the Graduate Students Association and CUPE 3903.
“It was terrible,” he says. “Even one day, I slept here in Vari Hall. No person came to me.”
Kashefi, who holds a PhD degree from Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris, as well as two master’s degrees from Panthéon-Sorbonne and the University of Tehran, says he’s not only highly qualified, but one-of-a-kind at Osgoode.
“Even after my first hunger strike, it took them (Osgoode) two weeks to reply,” he says. “They do not care. This is a corrupt and very inhumane system.”
Ryan Moore, News Editor
Photo by Michael Zusev, Photo Editor
