Academics say such action is almost unheard of in Canadian universities, but some feel it may be part be part of a overall trend.
Bill Bruneau, past president of the Canadian Associaiton of University Teachers, says politicians and the public have become increasingly critical of the job security that university professors enjoy.
"More than anything else, right now it's this pressure on the part of the public sector to move away from the traditional commitment to free research and teaching and move toward a corporate model," he says.
"That seems to be the real cause here, and an isolated case, although it may be interesting, shouldn't cause us to ignore the larger things that are going on here."
The fired professor, Valery Venda, is grieving his dismissal. Neither he nor the university administration would comment.
However, the student union says engineering students have complained about Venda's teaching for years.
