McGill students fed up with lack of action on sexual violence complaints

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mcgill-students-fed-up-with-lack-of-action-on-sexual-violence-complaints Montreal Gazette Michelle Lalonde, Montreal Gazette Apr 4, 2018 The Students Society of McGill University is calling on the university administration to launch a third-party investigation into what they call the “mismanagement” of sexual violence allegations against professors in the school’s faculty of arts. In an open letter sent to McGill principal Suzanne Fortier and other members of the administration Wednesday, the SSMU executive claims that “professors who are known by students to be abusive” continue to teach and supervise students. The letter does not name any professors or give details about specific complaints, but it suggests that at least five professors in the following departments or programs — history, philosophy, political science, psychology and World Islamic and Middle Eastern studies — have been the subject of chronic complaints of misconduct by students to the faculty of arts administration. The letter, signed by six members of the SSMU executive as well as about 400 individual students, 12 student groups and 15 different student associations at the university, claims that “student representatives over this past year have brought up these concerns multiple times to many different members of administration” to no avail. “It was clear that the majority of the administration who were met with knew which professors students are concerned about. And despite our expressing anxiety over the safety and well-being of a particular student in one case — no action was taken,” the letter says. The students are asking the university to have an outside party investigate how the office of the dean of arts has handled informal and formal complaints against faculty members over the past five years. They want the investigator to interview students, guaranteeing their anonymity, and to deliver and make public a report with recommendations to the administration by June of this year. That is a tight timeline, but the students say McGill has been dragging its feet on this issue. “We are tired of sitting and discussing the same problems in different rooms, seeing little to no movement while our members continue to be hurt and exploited by faculty who abuse their power,” the letter states. In an interview with the Montreal Gazette Wednesday afternoon, SSMU vice-president (External Affairs) Connor Spencer said the letter focuses on the faculty of arts not because it is the only faculty with problems, but because of several “famous, long-standing cases” of abusive professors. “Year after year, students pass along warnings to each other about the predatory behaviours of these profs, and even though we as student representatives have brought up concerns in meetings with McGill administration … and even though the members of the administration that we’ve met with very clearly know which professors we are talking about in these complaints, year after year, no action has been taken. They cite the lack of formal complaints.” But she said the complaints process is a big part of the problem. The university senate approved a new sexual violence policy in December 2016, but students have criticized it as insufficient. “We are hoping with this open letter to change the culture of understanding and show (the administration) they need to investigate when there are serious problems that compromise the safety and well being of students … whether or not there are official complaints.” Spencer said the problem is partly that McGill’s policy on sexual violence is not a stand-alone policy with clear procedures for students to follow to file a complaint of misconduct against a professor. “You have to consult at least six documents full of policy jargon after you’ve just experienced a trauma, and you are not really sure about wanting to do this, anyway. That would discourage anyone from coming forward.” The letter asks that the investigator look at whether misconduct complaints against faculty members are presented to the committees that examine candidates for tenure, and whether tenure status “can be reassessed following formal complaints against a faculty member.” Spencer said the SSMU is not asking that tenured professors be dismissed simply because one formal complaint is filed. “Right now, if a prof has tenure, they are untouchable. Some of the profs (who are the subjects of repeated complaints) have tenure and some don’t. For the ones who do have tenure, why would anyone bring a complaint forward? … It’s not about, one complaint, therefore fire them, but we need to explore what a procedure for processing complaints against a tenured prof looks like.” The students accuse the administration of prioritizing the legal liability and reputation of the institution above student safety. “In light of what happened at Concordia this year (the university issued explicit guidelines on consensual romantic or sexual professor-student relationships), as well as recent society movements to hold people in powerful positions accountable for their abuses, we ask that the university take a proactive rather than a reactive stance on these issues and launch an investigation,” the letter says. The university responded Wednesday afternoon with a written statement by Louis Arseneault, vice-principal (Communications and External Relations). “McGill University has put in place staff, resources, policies and opportunities for individuals and groups to come forward with their concerns and complaints. These are matters we take very seriously. Every report or complaint of sexual misconduct, abuse of authority through sexual misconduct or ‘predatory behaviour’ that contains sufficiently detailed facts is investigated. If there are findings of sexual misconduct of any kind, appropriate measures are taken, following due process. “Because of Quebec law concerning privacy, the University cannot disclose when it is conducting investigations, nor reveal any results. Thus, the fact that results are not disclosed is not evidence that investigations did not occur or that they were faulty.” mlalonde@postmedia.com