In 2019, a Coptic Christian named Rafael Zaki was expelled from medical school at the University of Manitoba after making provocative anti-abortion statements online. Ever since then, Zaki has been in a protracted legal battle with the University.

Zaki’s case against the University was heard in court last week for a second time. The first time around, the court reversed Zaki’s expulsion for procedural fairness reasons. Then the University expelled him again and he went back to court. ARPA followed last week’s hearing.

Who is Rafael Zaki?

Rafael Zaki is the child of immigrant parents, parents who suffered religious persecution in their home country, Egypt. They immigrated to Canada so their children would have an opportunity for a better life.

Zaki and his family are Coptic Orthodox, a faith that recognizes the sanctity of life.

Zaki did well academically in high school and university. In 2018, Zaki was admitted to the Max Rady College of Medicine at the University of Manitoba in August 2018.

But Zaki was expelled for unprofessional conduct after making multiple social media posts in February 2019, including a provocative 27-page pro-life essay. His essay contained controversial language and arguments, comparing abortion with other human rights violations such as genocide and slavery.

The University supposedly received multiple complaints from students and faculty, saying Zaki’s posts were disturbing and damaging to the learning environment. The University agreed, characterizing Zaki’s posts as misogynistic, violent, and offensive. Ultimately, the University concluded that Zaki’s conduct violated their professionalism standards.

Initially, Zaki was asked to apologize and undergo a remediation process, but Zaki’s apologies were deemed insufficient. Eventually, the school’s Progress Committee voted to expel him in August 2019 for failing to meet professionalism standards.

Zaki’s First Appeal and Court Hearing

Zaki appealed the Progress Committee decision to the Local Discipline Committee and then up to the University Discipline Committee in July 2020. He lost in both instances. Zaki then applied to court for judicial review of the University Discipline Committee’s decision.

In August 2021, the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench sided with Zaki and quashed the University Discipline Committee decision. The Court found that there was a reasonable apprehension of bias in the disciplinary process. A faculty member had played multiple roles in the investigation and discipline process. The Court also found that the discipline committee failed to consider Zaki’s Charter rights, specifically freedom of expression and religion.

The Court sent the case back to the University to reconsider with an unbiased panel on the discipline committee. The new panel conducted a fresh review of the evidence and expelled Zaki again, who had been re-enrolled in classes for some time already by that point. 

The committee acknowledged that Zaki’s Charter rights were engaged but ruled that his expulsion was reasonable anyway. The panel reasoned that medical students are required to meet professionalism standards, and Zaki’s conduct—specifically his social media posts and inability to complete “remediation” to their satisfaction demonstrated Zaki’s lack of understanding of these responsibilities.

The Status of Zaki’s Case

Zaki appealed the Committee’s decision to the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench once again. The hearing took place last week, on March 26 and 27.

In court, Zaki’s lawyer, Lia Milousis, argued that the Committee was biased once again. She emphasized that the University repeatedly shifted their position on what Zaki needed to do to avoid expulsion. For example, Zaki had written multiple apologies because the University implied that doing so would mitigate the consequences. But the University rejected his apologies since they did not recant his core pro-life beliefs, which is what the University staff actually wanted.

Zaki’s lawyer also argued that the University selectively quoted from his essay to make him sound more controversial. Zaki’s factum (written submissions to court) also noted that the Chair of the new discipline panel had a close professional relationship with the Dean. But the Dean was involved in the initial expulsion decision and testified at the second discipline hearing, creating another conflict of interest.

Zaki also argued that the University violated his Charter rights to freedom of expression and religion in a disproportionate way by, in effect, expelling him for not recanting his beliefs.

Zaki hopes the Court will overturn his expulsion soon. If he succeeds, the Court is likely to remit the matter back to the Committee for reconsideration yet again, but it is also open to the Court to find that the University could not reasonably expel him on these facts.

Why Zaki’s Case Matters

Zaki’s case underscores the immense power universities hold over students’ academic and professional futures. It shows how professionalism standards can be abused for ideological and political purposes.

Zaki’s case also raises important questions about protecting freedom of expression and religion in public universities and in regulated professions.