Bill Flanagan (academic)

Bill Flanagan
14th President of the University of Alberta
Incumbent
Assumed office July 2020
Preceded by	David H. Turpin
Personal details
Born	1960 or 1961 (age 63–64) Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Spouse	Saffron Sri
Relations	Jack Horner (uncle) Hugh Horner (uncle) Norval Horner (uncle) Doug Horner (cousin)
Alma mater	Carleton University (BA) University of Toronto (JD) University of Paris (MAS) Columbia University (LLM)
Occupation	Administrator
Profession	Lawyer, academic

William F. Flanagan (born 1960) is a Canadian academic. In March 2020, his appointment was announced as the next president of the University of Alberta, succeeding David H. Turpin in July 2020. He previously served as the dean of the faculty of law at Queen's University from to 2005 to 2019.

Flanagan was born in Edmonton, Alberta, the son of two teachers. In his teen years, he worked as a page in the Canadian House of Commons, where his maternal uncle Jack Horner was a Member of Parliament. He attended Carleton University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, then the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, earning a J.D. degree in 1985. He also earned a DEA from the University of Paris in 1986 and a master's degree in law from Columbia Law School in 1989. In 1987, he served as a law clerk for Supreme Court of Canada justice Willard Estey. He joined Queen's University's faculty of law in 1991. He taught international trade and investment, property law and corporate law, and founded the International Law Spring Program at the International Study Centre in the United Kingdom at Queen's University.

Flanagan is married to his husband Saffron Sri, who is originally from Sri Lanka.

Controversy

On May 9th, 2024, a peaceful encampment organized by The People’s University for Palestine was established on the University of Alberta main quad in solidarity with international student protests against the Israeli occupation and genocide of Palestinians.

A May 9th communication by President and Vice Chancellor Bill Flanagan reinforced the university’s commitment to freedom of expression including non-violent protest and dissent as “foundations of the university”. This memo also indicated that the university would not tolerate any violation of law or university policies such as hate speech or violence.

Student and faculty participants and witnesses of the encampment unanimously characterized the protest as unequivocally peaceful, supportive, respectful, and safe.

On May 10th, Campus Security visited the encampment and read a notice of trespass and eviction. Frank Page, head of Campus Security, announced a verbal ban of all encampment participants from the University of Alberta campus for the period of a year.

In the early morning of May 11th, while student protestors slept peacefully in their tents, the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) was deployed against the encampment at the behest of University of Alberta administrators including Bill Flanagan.

Video evidence of this morning details the brutalization of students and community members at the hand of the EPS. Students and their property were beat threateningly with batons and forced off the quad onto the adjacent public street of Saskatchewan Drive. Rubber bullets, pepper spray, and a noxious gas were wielded against the unarmed student demonstrators.

Student witnesses also reported watching EPS officers eating and drinking the encampment rations after officers had forcibly removed students from campus, and while officers barred students from returning to quad to collect their personal possessions.

Shortly after the violent dispersal of encampment-goers, Bill Flanagan released a May 11th statement citing the possibility of “serious violence” instigated by counter-protestors. He also cited the presence of “wood pallets” within 150 meters of the encampment as irrefutable proof of the protest’s danger to campus safety.

Student protestors have clarified that the pallets were intended to be used as support against possible rain. They also reported complying with campus security’s request for the pallets to be removed from the encampment on the evening of May 10th. It is worth noting that several University-sanctioned construction sites and loading docks with wooden pallets were in fact located within 150 meters of the encampment.

Significant outcry and criticism from across the University of Alberta community against Bill Flanagan’s leadership were launched as a result of these events.

The People’s University for Palestine instagram page detailed student accounts of the encampment and posted several statements refuting Bill Flanagan’s factually-inaccurate mischaracterization of the encampment that resulted in a militarized police force being deployed against peaceful student protestors.

In response to widespread backlash, Bill Flanagan released a May 12th communication acknowledging the criticism but unapologetically reiterating his flagrantly distorted misrepresentations of the People’s University of Palestine encampment, doubling down on claims of its risk to society, such as the presence of camping supplies and sewing needs in the encampment.

Calls from various student organizations for Bill Flanagan’s immediate apology and resignation remain steadfast to this day.