By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer
Content warning: mentions of sexual violence, misogyny, the death penalty, homophobia, and transphobia.
SFU has recently come under fire for its alleged decision to hire Gleb Glebov as a sessional instructor for the 2025 summer term. He is not currently on the summer calendar, where he was allegedly slated to teach EDUC 313. Taryn Lees, a student in the teacher education program, told The Peak that she noticed the instructor had been changed when she checked goSFU. Glebov was previously fired from Fraser International College (FIC), an affiliate of SFU located on the Burnaby campus, for a series of YouTube videos he posted. CBC reported he claimed rape allegations were made up justifications for abortion, advocated the death penalty for those “who have abortions and the doctors that perform them,” characterized both homosexuality and transgender identities as “garbage,” claimed all non-Christian gods to be “the antichrist or satan,” and more.
In November 2019, Glebov was a math instructor at FIC when the school received an anonymous tip regarding his videos. In the following weeks, after a meeting with FIC’s director and an investigation into the content of his recordings, he was fired. Glebov’s videos, which the director described as containing “potentially hate speech,” violated FIC’s “professional code of conduct for teachers” as well as the school’s “conflict of interest policy.”
He alleged religious discrimination over the decision, claiming that “the videos were made in the context of a sermon.” In response, “FIC argued that, no matter how deeply Glebov believed in the things he said, he needed to prove [that] his freedom to practice his religion would be compromised if he couldn’t post these statements on YouTube.”
“Given that students in the program are expected to demonstrate program goals which include ‘an openness to worldviews’ and ‘celebrating diversity,’ it is unacceptable that they should pay to be educated by an instructor who so clearly violates them.” — Taryn Lees, petition starter, teacher education program student
Glebov brought his complaint to the BC Human Rights Tribunal, which ruled against him in January 2024 by finding he “failed to demonstrate a genuine religious belief requiring him to publicly share his views.” Glebov also left Capilano University in February 2024, with the university telling the Capilano Courier he was no longer “associated” with the institution. It is unclear if Glebov was fired from Capilano University.
A student petition against SFU’s alleged decision to hire Glebov began circulating in March, with over 450 supporters. EDUC 313 “is one of few options that teacher education students in the secondary stream can take to satisfy a graduation requirement,” Lees, who started the petition, wrote. “Given that students in the program are expected to demonstrate program goals which include ‘an openness to worldviews’ and ‘celebrating diversity,’ it is unacceptable that they should pay to be educated by an instructor who so clearly violates them.
“The integrity of the program and the safety of teacher education students — particularly women and 2SLGBTQIA+ students — is in jeopardy so long as Gleb Glebov remains a sessional instructor for our program,” the petition continued.
The Peak reached out to SFU Glebov’s employment status, who provided the following statement: “We take all allegations that contravene our values of inclusivity and belonging seriously, as well as our commitment to foster a safe work space. Due to privacy obligations, we cannot comment on specific employment matters for any employee, past or present.” SFU could not confirm whether Glebov had already taught at SFU in 2023. The Peak reached out to Glebov as well, but did not hear back by press time.
