Ethics Professor Breaks Down in Tears as She Delivers Final ‘Lesson’ on Vaccine Mandates Before Being Placed on Leave

An ethics professor in Canada gave what could be her final lesson at the university she has been employed at for the past 20 years. The lesson was regarding vaccine mandates. The professor’s employer has implemented mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, which she believes is unethical.

Dr. Julie Ponesse is an ethics professor at Ontario’s Huron University College, which is affiliated with Western University. Ponesse, who holds a Ph.D. in ethics, delivered an emotional message about vaccine mandates in a video that has since gone viral.

“Today, I’m going to teach you a short lesson on a universally accepted ethics of coercing people into medical procedures,” Ponesse said into the camera. “I’ll be the example.”

“My employer has just mandated that I must get a vaccine for COVID-19,” the professor said. “If I want to keep working at my job as a professor, I have to take this vaccine.”

“Here’s my conundrum. My school employs me to be an authority on the subject of ethics. I hold a Ph.D. in ethics and ancient philosophy and I’m here to tell you, it’s ethically wrong to coerce someone to take a vaccine,” she said. “If it happens to you, you don’t have to do it. If you don’t want a COVID vaccine, don’t take one. End of discussion. It’s your own business.”

“But that’s not the approach of the University of Western Ontario, which has suddenly required that I be vaccinated immediately, or not report for work,” she continued.

“I am facing imminent dismissal after 20 years on the job,” Ponesse said for not wanting to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The professor explained that she is not an anti-vaxxer, and that she has had “plenty of vaccines in my life.”

Ponesse noted she doesn’t work in a “high-risk environment.”

“I’m a teacher. I’m a university professor. My job is to teach how to think critically; to ask questions that might expose a false argument,” she stated.

Ponesse questioned the effectiveness of the vaccines, “Nobody is promising that I won’t get COVID, or transmit COVID if I get the vaccine.”

“I’m entitled to make choices about what does and what does not enter my body regardless of my reasons,” she said.

“This is my first and potentially my last lesson of the year,” Ponesse said as her voice cracked after getting emotional. “In the spirit of Socrates, who was executed for asking questions, this lesson will consist of only one question.”

The professor asked her students, “When a person has done the same job to the satisfaction of her employer for 20 years, is it right, or is it wrong to suddenly demand that they submit to an unnecessary medical procedure in order to keep their job?”

“The employee is not allowed to ask questions,” the professor said. “She may only submit to the procedure or be fired. To my first-year students, is this right or is this wrong?”

Ponesse ended the video as she broke down into tears, and put her face in her hands.

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