Western University’s Official Student Newspaper | Since 1906
Western has removed the name of a late former professor accused of racism and white supremacy, Kenneth Hilborn, from six scholarships after receiving permission from the Ontario Court of Justice in August 2023.
Hilborn, who taught history and international relations for 36 years at Western University, donated $1 million as an estate gift after he died in 2013, which was used to establish four undergraduate and two graduate scholarships — named after Hilborn — by the history department in 2016.
In 2019, the CBC reported criticism from scholars that Hilborn had defended apartheid and white-minority rule in South Africa, as well as opposed feminism, LGBTQ2+ rights and student activism in his research.
In 2022, Western sought approval from the Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee to change the names and terms of six awards funded by Hilborn’s bequest and the court agreed in August 2023.
“These changes were requested based on concerns about the harmful impact of his published work,” the university told the Gazette in a statement.
According to the university, three of the six original scholarships have been cancelled, with relevant portions of the bequest used to establish a new Equity and Diversity Graduate Student Recruitment Award in History. The remaining three have been renamed the Doctoral Completion Award in History, Graduate Internship in Public History, and Undergraduate and Graduate Student Award for Research and Conference Travel in History.
After the renaming, the descriptions of the awards will continue to acknowledge Hilborn as the donor, explain his teaching career at Western and acknowledge the harmful impact of his work and actions.
The three remaining awards have been made available to Western students beginning in the 2023-24 academic year.
Your comment has been submitted.
Reported
There was a problem reporting this.
Log In
Post a comment as Guest
Four months after the launch of the green bin program that brought a new collection schedule to the city and will allow residents to recycle organic materials like food scraps, how are Western students and landlords handling the change?
Western graduate TA union is on its 12th day of strike after talks with the university broke off on Sunday, claiming the clawback language in the new contract is a lingering issue.
The annual EarthFest will be held in downtown London on Saturday featuring Western students among exhibitors and performances celebrating “active hope” for climate change.
Western’s graduate TA union went on strike Thursday, with picket lines set up in the morning as the first day of the final exam period kicked off. While substitute proctors were in place, some professors were unaware, expressed disappointment and said grading would be delayed.
Western’s graduate student teaching assistant union PSAC 610 will begin strike on Thursday after negotiations broke down between the university and the union.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: