Tag: sexual misconduct

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News

Complaints filed against two creative writing professors

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

Jon Paul Fiorentino and David McGimpsey named in third-party probe after sexual misconduct allegations

A labour lawyer hired by Concordia University to conduct a third-party investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct in the school’s creative writing program has received complaints against two Concordia part-time instructors, according to CBC News.

Jon Paul Fiorentino and David McGimpsey were both named by investigator Catherine Maheu as being the subjects of complaints. According to CBC News, Maheu was hired by the university earlier this year to probe allegations of widespread sexual misconduct and abuse of power in Concordia’s creative writing program. Her name had not yet been made public by the university.

CBC News obtained an audio recording in which Maheu outlines her role in the investigation. “What you need to understand is that what I am doing is complaint-driven,” she said in the recording, “which means that there are complaints that were filed against Dr. McGimpsey and Professor—or Mr.—Fiorentino.”

Although Fiorentino and McGimpsey were originally scheduled to teach this semester, their classes have been reassigned while the allegations against them are being investigated. Concordia president Alan Shepard told The Concordian on Feb. 15 that professors are not allowed to teach while they’re under investigation.

The complaints come after a wave of blog posts, articles, tweets and Facebook posts were written in January criticizing the culture in Concordia’s creative writing program and the broader Canadian literary community. Current and former students have criticized the university for not acting sooner on allegations of sexual misconduct.

In 2014, Concordia graduate Emma Healey published a personal essay in which she discussed an abusive relationship she had with one of her professors. Similar claims of sexual misconduct were also brought directly to the chair of the English department in February 2015, when six students wrote a formal complaint detailing the program’s toxic culture.

In January, former Concordia creative writing student Mike Spry created a blog called “Canlit Accountable” in which he recounted how Concordia students who wished to make a name for themselves in the Canadian literary scene were exploited by their professors. In the wake of his piece, current and former Concordia students have denounced abuses of power in the creative writing program and demanded the university address the issue of student-staff relationships.

The university responded by commissioning an independent investigator to look into the complaints against professors and announced a climate review to assess the culture of Concordia’s English department. Additionally, the university is putting together a task force to consult with members of the community and review Concordia’s current sexual misconduct policies.

On Feb. 28, Joyland, an online magazine that publishes short stories, announced on Facebook that it would be removing Fiorentino’s work from its website and would consider doing the same for McGimpsey.

“As writers, as women, as survivors, reading about the culture at Concordia has been heart-wrenching,” the post read. “But Joyland is a writing community, not an institution, and our strength is that we can listen to each other and change.”

Concordia refused to comment on the investigation into Fiorentino and McGimpsey.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU wants student input on policy changes

CSU’s student congress to gather information about potential sexual misconduct policy changes

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) will be hosting a student congress on Feb. 28 to collect ideas for policy changes to improve the way sexual misconduct on campus is dealt with. This comes after the university announced it would be creating a Sexual Violence and Misconduct Task Force in response to several sexual misconduct allegations made against professors in the English department.

The purpose of the congress is to gather information directly from students. Leyla Sutherland, the CSU’s student life coordinator, said her goal is to “present some implementable policy changes at congress” so students can voice their opinions and the CSU can adapt their proposal accordingly. “Then, [we’ll] sit back down with the administration and say, ‘Not only do we want to see these changes, but the student body at large does too,’” Sutherland said.

On Feb. 2, Concordia’s provost and vice-president of academic affairs, Graham Carr, announced the university would allow the CSU to select the undergraduate students who would be part of the task force. This complied with only one of several requests made by the student union at a press conference on Feb. 1 to address concerns about the task force member selection process. Since then, Sutherland said interactions between the union and the university have been “tense.”

The CSU learned on Feb. 7 that Concordia would not be handing over any task force member applications submitted to the university by students before the CSU was given nomination responsibility. Without those applications, the CSU fears students who wanted to have their voices heard would miss out on the opportunity.

Initially, Concordia University spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr told The Concordian the applications could not be handed over to the CSU due to security and confidentiality issues, because “some of the information in the applications is sensitive.” Nonetheless, on Feb. 12, the university provided the CSU with the names of the students, but not the applications, of those who had applied so the union could consider them for nomination.

Veronika Rydzewski, the CSU’s internal affairs coordinator and a member of the task force appointment committee, estimates they have received about 10 to 15 applications from students so far. She said the committee receives a few applications every day, and applications will continue to be accepted until Feb. 16. According to Rydzewski, the CSU will announce their nominees for the task force on Feb. 22.

According to Sutherland, the university told the CSU they did not want a student on the selection committee with “politics to represent.” Although the CSU could nominate someone involved in student politics, Sutherland said that is not a priority. However, she admitted that “having a person on the committee with some familiarity with the structures of the university and the CSU” would be beneficial to the process. Among the student union’s concerns with Concordia’s initial decision to select the undergraduate task force members was that the university could potentially pick students who “wouldn’t question the structures already in place,” Sutherland said.

When deciding what values should guide the congress, the CSU consulted the national action plan put together by the student initiative Our Turn and released in October 2017. This plan offers recommendations for policy changes and specific actions that universities can use as a guide to prevent and deal with sexual violence on campus. According to Sutherland, the CSU attempted to bring these recommendations to the school’s attention back in November, with little luck.

“Unfortunately, the administration didn’t meet with us for several months. They kept rescheduling our meeting, and by the time they met with us, it was after the allegations had come out,” she said, adding that the meeting only lasted about 30 minutes, and the recommendations didn’t seem to be a high priority for the university. “We will continue to advocate for a lot of the changes that are proposed within the Our Turn plan,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland said she believes the difference between the congress and the task force comes down to approaching the issue with “a different lens.” The congress will be more of an open-floor discussion, Sutherland said, where there will be no restrictions on who can provide input or ideas.

“In the same way that the task force was struck in response to the allegations, […] this congress is in response to what is going on,” Sutherland said. “But it’s not a case of checking a box. It’s to open a wider discussion that could lead to a number of different policy changes and actions.”

In terms of specific policy changes that will come from the task force, Barr said “it is too early to determine how the task force will function or how their findings will be implemented.” The university has stated the task force will release their findings sometime this spring.

According to Sutherland, the CSU’s ideal outcome for the congress would be to allow students who are interested in getting involved the chance to connect. “What we want to talk about at congress would be, not only what we want to see in the next few weeks and months, but what we want to see in the next few years,” Sutherland said.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

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Concordia Student Union News

CSU handed task force recruitment

Concordia’s decision fulfills only one of the union’s requests for more transparency

The Concordia Student Union (CSU) will take over the process of recruiting undergraduate students for the new university task force on sexual misconduct and sexual violence, announced Graham Carr, the university’s provost and vice-president of academic affairs, on Feb. 2.

This decision comes one day after the student union held a press conference outlining their opposition to multiple procedures regarding the nomination process for the two undergraduate spots available on the task force.

The controversy began on Jan. 26, when Concordia president Alan Shepard released a statement outlining steps the university would be taking in the wake of allegations of sexual violence and misconduct against multiple faculty members in the creative writing program.

One of the steps was the creation of a task force that would review current policies and processes, as well as Bill 151, a piece of Quebec legislation requiring universities to take certain steps to address and prevent sexual violence.

It was later announced that four students (two graduate and two undergraduate) would be appointed to the task force. Despite claiming the university was looking for “a diverse group from across the university,” the call for applications specified that undergraduate applicants must have completed at least 30 credits and be in “good academic standing.”

On Feb. 1, the CSU held a press conference in their office on the seventh floor of the Hall building. During the conference, CSU student life coordinator Leyla Sutherland read from the union’s press release, claiming the task force procedures violated Quebec law by recruiting undergraduate students without the CSU’s involvement. She cited the “Act respecting the accreditation and financing of students’ associations,” a piece of provincial legislation that specifies student associations, such as the CSU, “may, alone, appoint students who […] are called upon to sit or participate as student representatives on various councils, committees or other bodies in the institution.”

“Beyond the cited legal concerns, this indifference in proper student representation shown by the university goes against both the spirit and letter of Bill 151,” said Sutherland. “It is imperative for students, and only students, to have a say as to who represents them.”

The press release also outlined a number of requests, including doubling the number of undergraduate students on the task force and ensuring representation from all faculties. Another request also asked that the requirement of good academic standing be removed.

Sophia Sahrane, the research and education coordinator for the student advocacy organization Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ), also spoke out against the task force’s academic requirements at the press conference.

“[The academic requirements] demonstrate a deep lack of both understanding and compassion for the reality of living through the trauma of sexual assault and having to become a survivor,” Sahrane said. “How do you maintain a good academic standing when you have just been sexually assaulted? When you have had your agency taken away from you […] when your abuser is your professor?”

Also present at the press conference was Caitlin Salvino, the chair of the Our Turn committee, a student-led initiative aimed at ending campus sexual violence. Salvino claimed it is not uncommon for universities to exclude student unions and the students they represent when addressing sexual violence.

“Students and student unions across the country have been locked out of task forces, committees and being able to advocate for policies that are actually survivor-centric,” Salvino said.

On Feb. 2, another email related to the task force was circulated to all students. In this email, Carr wrote that the university had decided to allow the CSU to oversee the recruitment process of undergraduate task force members. The same day, university spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr told The Concordian the university would accede to the CSU executive request “because [its] overriding goal is to finalize, as soon as possible, the membership of the task force so it can begin to work.”

Sutherland pointed out that, while the university’s quick response to co-operate is a positive sign, the university has not met the union’s additional demands.

“We are very glad that the university is handing this process over to us as we have been requesting,” Sutherland said. “It is absolutely essential that student representatives be chosen by students and not by the administration, which presents a clear conflict of interest […] We will continue to advocate for four undergraduate students and the removal of the good academic standing criteria.”

 

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News

President addresses sexual misconduct investigation

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Alan Shepard denies reading 2015 letter detailing allegations, discusses new guidelines

Concordia president Alan Shepard shed light on the current investigation into the highly publicized allegations of sexual misconduct against multiple instructors in the creative writing program and reflected on what steps the university will take to address the issue of sexual violence on campus, in an interview with The Concordian on Jan. 25.

Shepard confirmed that a number of former students submitted a letter to the chair of the English department in 2015 detailing the allegations made by Emma Healey in her essay “Stories Like Passwords,” which was published on the website The Hairpin. The letter also described what the signatories felt was a hostile environment. However, Shepard insisted he didn’t read the letter in 2015 because the dean did not disclose its contents to the president’s office after the signatories requested confidentiality.

“As I understand it, [the English department] immediately referred it to the dean in the Faculty of Arts and Science, and there were meetings and discussions about their experiences,” Shepard said. “We take confidentiality super seriously, so the letter was not transmitted up the line to the provost or to my office.”

Shepard also discussed the university’s conflict of interest policy, and whether the policy will be amended to prohibit faculty-student relationships.

Currently, Concordia’s conflict of interest policy guidelines cover a range of circumstances, such as working alongside immediate relatives and situations that may lead to “real or perceived” preferential treatment, but does not explicitly mention romantic relationships. Shepard said that, while American universities are able to ban faculty-student relationships under a federal law called Title IX, the laws in Canada are different.

In Quebec, a piece of legislation called Bill 151 does require certain steps be taken to address sexual violence on campus, including requiring schools to “include a code of conduct specifying guidelines for […] sexual relationships […] between students and persons having an influence over their academic progress.” However, Concordia’s legal team concluded that “an outright ban would be unlikely to withstand legal challenge,” according to Shepard.

Shepard also claimed the university had been working on a new set of conflict of interest guidelines before the allegations gained national attention in early January. The university’s new guidelines will require employees, but not students, to report any faculty-student relationships to their supervisors, and the couples would be unable to simultaneously engage in a romantic and professional relationship.

Despite the fact that the university will not be prohibiting romantic relationships between faculty and students, Shepard said he personally does not believe such relationships are appropriate.

“In my view, such relationships really can’t be equal relationships because you have a power differential,” he said. “So we’re strongly discouraging it, but we think that is as far as the law will allow us to go.”

As for progress on the investigation, Shepard said it is still in its early stages, and a number of students, graduates and staff members are being interviewed. He added that, for legal reasons, the university would be unable to publicize the conclusions of the investigation or any potential disciplinary action taken against employees. “As much as we might want to, we can’t,” Shepard said.

The university has also announced plans to create a task force on sexual misconduct and sexual violence to review current policies and address the requirements of Bill 151. The university is currently looking for a mix of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as staff and external members to join the task force. This task force will be in addition to the deputy provost’s investigation into the university’s environment.

“It’s not like on courtroom TV where everything is wrapped up in 49 minutes plus commercials,” Shepard said. “It’s actually a serious process, so it’s not super slow, but it’s not super fast.”

Shepard added that one of the university’s priorities is developing strategies, including better training and stricter conditions of employment, to prevent future cases of harassment and misconduct.

“It’s one thing to punish people after it’s happened,” he said. “It’s way better to minimize the opportunities for this kind of conduct. A fair bit of this can be stopped before it gets started.”

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Categories
Opinions

If Concordia classroom walls could talk

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

Women have spoken about this “open secret” before

I recently had a conversation in which my friend declared his surprise that sexual misconduct, the same thing that sparked the Hollywood mega-scandal, occurred in the microcosm of our university. I did not understand this reaction any more than I did when I opened an email from Concordia president Alan Shepard last week. In the email, Shepard stated how “disturbed” he was by the allegations of sexual misconduct made against faculty members.

As news story after news story breaks, I find myself increasingly suspicious of the surprised  reactions coming from the heads of host institutions. The way individual cases are framed as “scandals” undermines the severity of the issue of sexual misconduct as a whole, relegating it to isolated incidents committed by bad people, rather than a chronic, social malady. This culture that perpetuates sexual misconduct was created and functions based on the very behaviour now denounced as “scandalous.” If we can agree that women have been systematically oppressed throughout history, then why are cases of sexual misconduct often viewed as one-time, “scandalous” occurrences?

It should be no “open secret” that women have always faced varying shades of sexual misconduct across all professions and within all social institutions. The teacher-student dynamic offers an extra level of vulnerability; I can’t help but feel like I’ve fallen into a terrible trap every time I receive an unsolicited sexual or otherwise inappropriate comment from a teacher who is too friendly for the wrong reasons.

I know too many of my peers have found themselves in these situations and worse. We often carry into the classroom the same anxiety, the same enduring mentality of self-preservation we feel when walking alone at night.

To deny knowledge of these allegations proves only greater faults in the university’s administration. Women have long been trying to speak out about what has only now become a front-page scandal. For Concordia’s president to say he will “respond effectively when it does happen” and yet only respond when a male former student retrospectively declares remorse for having witnessed it—this only reinforces a system that effectively silences or ignores women when they try to speak up about their experiences.

A thorough investigation is a place to start, however overdue it may be, because merely being “shocked” and “disturbed” is not nearly enough to change an institution and the toxic culture that pervades it.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

 

Categories
Opinions

If Concordia classroom walls could talk

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

Women have spoken about this “open secret” before

I recently had a conversation in which my friend declared his surprise that sexual misconduct, the same thing that sparked the Hollywood mega-scandal, occurred in the microcosm of our university. I did not understand this reaction any more than I did when I opened an email from Concordia president Alan Shepard last week. In the email, Shepard stated how “disturbed” he was by the allegations of sexual misconduct made against faculty members.

As news story after news story breaks, I find myself increasingly suspicious of the surprised reactions coming from the heads of host institutions. The way individual cases are framed as “scandals” undermines the severity of the issue of sexual misconduct as a whole, relegating it to isolated incidents committed by bad people, rather than a chronic, social malady. This culture that perpetuates sexual misconduct was created and functions based on the very behaviour now denounced as “scandalous.” If we can agree that women have been systematically oppressed throughout history, then why are cases of sexual misconduct often viewed as one-time, “scandalous” occurrences?

It should be no “open secret” that women have always faced varying shades of sexual misconduct across all professions and within all social institutions. The teacher-student dynamic offers an extra level of vulnerability; I can’t help but feel like I’ve fallen into a terrible trap every time I receive an unsolicited sexual or otherwise inappropriate comment from a teacher who is too friendly for the wrong reasons.

I know too many of my peers have found themselves in these situations and worse. We often carry into the classroom the same anxiety, the same enduring mentality of self-preservation we feel when walking alone at night.
To deny knowledge of these allegations proves only greater faults in the university’s administration. Women have long been trying to speak out about what has only now become a front-page scandal. For Concordia’s president to say he will “respond effectively when it does happen” and yet only respond when a male former student retrospectively declares remorse for having witnessed it—this only reinforces a system that effectively silences or ignores women when they try to speak up about their experiences.

A thorough investigation is a place to start, however overdue it may be, because merely being “shocked” and “disturbed” is not nearly enough to change an institution and the toxic culture that pervades it.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

Categories
News

Sexual misconduct discussion dominates senate meeting

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

Concordia senate also approves four new graduate programs in chemical engineering

Student leaders expressed their displeasure with the university at Concordia’s senate meeting on Jan. 19 over what they see as a lack of transparency and action in dealing with recent allegations of sexual misconduct.

At the meeting, Concordia president Alan Shepard apologized to students on behalf of the university and announced that Concordia is in the process of hiring an independent investigator to look into claims of sexual misconduct in the school’s creative writing program and in other programs. Concordia will also be commissioning a third party to perform a “climate review” to look into the culture of the school’s English department—which has been widely criticized by students since former Concordia student Mike Spry published a blog post earlier this month. Spry’s essay denounced what he called “a culture of impropriety and abuse” in Concordia’s English department and the wider Canadian literature community.

Student leaders, including ASFA president Jonathan Roy, CSU councillors Ali Sherra and Mikaela Clark-Gardner, and student advocacy centre coordinator Stephen Brown, questioned Shepard and proposed new ways for the university to address the issue of sexual misconduct and students’ lack of trust in the university’s ability to deal with these allegations. One of the ideas proposed was the introduction of written incident reports to be filled out by a professor or an administrator if they are approached by a student with a complaint.

Administrators also announced that a university-wide policy on romantic relations between students and faculty would be released in the coming days. Shepard stressed that the focus of the university’s staff and faculty is to help students achieve their academic goals. “We are not here to date them,” he added firmly. Shepard also noted that an outright ban on student-faculty relationships would probably not withstand a legal challenge. The school is instead considering a policy where these relationships must be reported to the dean’s office and reviewed to ensure there is no conflict of interest.

According to Shepard, the university is in the process of finalizing a contract with an independent investigator to look into misconduct allegations, but the person’s name will not be made public. The third-party that will conduct the “climate review” has not been hired yet, but Shepard said that person will be expected to interview students and faculty members over the next four months and file a formal report with the university in May.

Four new graduate programs

The Senate approved a request on Friday from the department of chemical and materials engineering to create four new graduate programs. Beginning in September 2018, the department will offer graduate certificate and graduate diploma programs, as well as a master’s degree in applied science and a PhD program in chemical engineering.

The chair of the department, Alex De Visscher, said the programs are intended to be modular, meaning that graduate students can work their way through the courses at their own pace, accumulating first a diploma, then a certificate, then a master’s, and finally a PhD, if they want. He added that the department’s intention is to eventually offer some of these programs online.

According to De Visscher, the department—established in November 2016—is in the process of planning a full undergraduate program in chemical engineering.

Graphic Alexa Hawksworth

Categories
News

A crisis in Concordia University’s creative writing department

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

What we know (and what we don’t) about the university’s “open secret”

The Concordia English department has come under fire after claims of sexual misconduct and abuse of power surfaced last week. Professors in the creative writing program have been accused of fostering a toxic, abusive and misogynistic environment for female students.

A scandal unfolds

After a blog post featuring these allegations was published by Concordia alumnus Mike Spry on Monday, Jan. 8, the university was criticized for allowing sexual misconduct at the hands of professors to go on for so many years.

Spry stated that, throughout his studies at Concordia, he witnessed “the normalization of sexualization of students by professors.” He noted that romantic or sexual relationships between students and professors were not “unusual or even prohibited” at the university.

The “open secret”

On Jan. 11, just days after Spry’s blog post was published, Julie McIsaac published her own essay, titled “And Then a Man Said It.” As a former Concordia creative writing student and ex-girlfriend of Spry’s, she wrote that Spry “not only permitted the culture of toxic masculinity that he rightly calls out, but he also helped to breed it.” McIsaac claimed Spry “was much more than a bystander” and was, in fact, “an active player who belittled and harassed women writers.” She also wrote that he was a man who she “knew to be deeply sexist.”

Former Concordia student Emma Healey also experienced sexual misconduct first-hand during her time in the creative writing program. In 2014, she published a personal essay, titled “Stories Like Passwords,” in which she discussed an abusive relationship she had with one of her professors.

Similar claims of sexual misconduct were also brought directly to the chair of the English department in February 2015 when six students wrote a formal complaint detailing the program’s toxic culture.

Healey’s traumatic experience in the creative writing program is far from the first within the English department. Former students Stephen Henighan and Heather O’Neill told the Toronto Star that the toxic culture within the creative writing program was prevalent when they attended Concordia in the mid-80s and late 90s, respectively. O’Neill said she was continuously sexually harassed by the late Robert Allen, a former Concordia professor and department chair.

Investigations begin

On Monday, Jan. 8, after Spry’s essay garnered significant attention, Concordia president Alan Shepard released an official statement in which he claimed he only became aware of the allegations that afternoon. In the statement, Shepard wrote the “allegations are serious, and will be treated seriously,” but admitted the university’s response to the issue is a “work in progress.”

Shepard also held a press conference on Wednesday, Jan. 10, where he announced that an investigation into the allegations had been launched, along with a “university-wide assessment” of Concordia’s environment.

On Friday, deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy, dean of students Andrew Woodall, English department chair Andre Furlani and Kate Sterns, the coordinator of the creative writing program, held an open meeting to update students on the situation and respond to questions. At the meeting, Ostiguy said the university was in the process of investigating the claims and drafting a policy on student-staff relations.

The student body speaks

Concordia’s Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) released a statement on Jan. 9, calling on the university to “fully investigate all allegations and put [the] students’ safety first.” The statement also encouraged students to reach out to the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC) and the Office of Rights and Responsibilities “if they have ever experienced or witnessed cases of sexual assault and/or harassment.”

A day later, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) stated that they were “extremely disappointed to have learned about the allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct” within the English department. They said they believe the survivors and “it is important that the university, the administration and the named individuals and departments be held accountable.”

Timeline: A history of allegations and inaction

1982

Robert Allen begins teaching in the English department at Concordia.

1984-86

Stephen Henighan, now a writer and Guelph University professor, studies under Allen at Concordia. Allen’s marriage ends and he begins preying on students, Henighan told the Toronto Star.

Late 1980s, early 1990s

Younger male teachers follow in Allen’s footsteps, and a culture of sexual abuse in the creative writing program is born, according to Henighan, who taught at Concordia during these years.

Late 1990s

Sexual harassment and abuse of power is “pervasive” in the department, Heather O’Neill, a Montreal author who was a Concordia student at the time, told the Globe and Mail last week. According to O’Neill, she was repeatedly sexually harassed by Robert Allen, including several “attempts to get [her] to sleep with him.”

November 2006

Robert Allen dies. The Montreal-based Véhicule Press publishes an obituary describing Allen as having had “a lasting influence on hundreds students over the years.” The English department plans a celebration to honour Allen.

Nov. 11, 2013

The Sexual Assault Resource Centre is created to support victims of sexual assault in the Concordia community.

Oct. 6, 2014

Canadian writer and former Concordia student Emma Healey publishes an essay on the website The Hairpin in which she makes allegations of sexual misconduct against a creative writing professor.

Oct. 17, 2014

Emma Healey and her essay are highlighted in a Globe and Mail article, titled “The danger of being a woman in the Canadian literary world.”

February 2015

Rudrapriya Rathore and five other Concordia students send a letter to the chair of the English department describing the creative writing program’s culture as “toxic” for women. The signatories meet with a human resources employee, but their complaint goes nowhere.

August 2015

Deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy chairs the Sexual Assault Policy Review Working Group, which reviews the university’s sexual assault policies and makes recommendations.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin

Categories
News

Two professors’ courses reassigned: CASE

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Q&A held by Concordia faculty with students in wake of allegations

The Concordia Association for Students in English (CASE) circulated a document at a meeting on Jan. 12 announcing that two professors had their courses reassigned pending an investigation and their books had been taken out of the English department’s display in the Webster Library.

Four faculty members met with a small group of English students during the meeting in the library building to answer questions and discuss actions being taken by the university in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct made against a few professors in Concordia’s creative writing program.

Kate Sterns, the creative writing program coordinator, and English department chair Andre Furlani were present at the meeting alongside Lisa Ostiguy, the university’s deputy provost, and dean of students Andrew Woodall. All four representatives encouraged the students to reach out to someone at the university if they’d had a negative experience with a professor.

“Where we have a complaint, we pursue it,” Furlani said. “The problem is that people don’t feel they can approach various members of the department.”

The representatives stressed that the university has dealt effectively with sexual assault complaints in the past, but the outcomes of those cases cannot be shared with the public due to confidentiality agreements.

“Among the people I’ve been talking to, there’s a distrust of the university,” said one student during the meeting.

Furlani said those who shared stories on social media under the CanLitAccountable hashtag—the title of a blog created by former student Mike Spry to describe allegations of misconduct—have been contacted by the university and all allegations are being investigated by an independent party.

According to Ostiguy, the university is also in the process of drafting a policy on student-staff relations.

Feature photo by Alex Hutchins

Categories
News

Concordia announces plan of action following sexual misconduct allegations

Photo by Alex Hutchins

President Alan Shepard confident in university environment: “The department is safe”

“I feel confident with the environment we have at the university and that the department is safe,” said Concordia president Alan Shepard after announcing the launch of an assessment of the university’s current environment on Jan. 10.

Following allegations of sexual misconduct by professors in Concordia University’s creative writing program, Shepard said he was “profoundly sorry.”

“We take this stuff very seriously, very seriously,” he said.

Concordia president Alan Shepard responded to recent allegations at a press conference on Jan. 10, stating that the university is not “trying to sweep everything under a rug.” Photo by Étienne Lajoie

Shepard announced on Wednesday that the university will be launching an investigation into the allegations posted online by Concordia alumnus Mike Spry on Jan. 8. The investigation was one of three specific actions Shepard outlined during the press conference and in a press release sent to students. The release, written by Shepard himself, reads that the university will also be “meeting this week with students, faculty and staff in the creative writing program to listen, support and chart a path forward.”

The university’s third initiative is an assessment of the “current environment” at Concordia, which will be coordinated by deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy. Ostiguy previously chaired the Sexual Assault Policy Review Working Group, which reviewed the university’s sexual assault policies and made recommendations in August 2015.
“These are complicated matters, and we have to proceed with care. People’s lives are affected by these experiences, and people who are facing allegations also deserve due process,” Shepard said. “We take the allegations seriously. It’s not a case of us trying to sweep everything under a rug.”
Shepard invited students to consult the university’s Office of Rights and Responsibilities and the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC).

When asked if the university had decided whether to suspend any professors, Shepard said “all investigations are confidential by law and by our policy.” He did not comment when asked if any professors accused of misconduct might still be employed by the university.

“One of the misconceptions I think about our university is that we get complaints about faculty members and we ignore the complaints. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Shepard said.

In 2014, Concordia alumna Emma Healey published an essay on the website The Hairpin making allegations of sexual misconduct against a Concordia creative writing professor. When asked about the university’s lack of response to previous allegations against professors from the program, Shepard said “I acted on Monday afternoon because I heard about it on Monday afternoon.”

Several former students have stated on social media that the creative writing department’s “toxic culture”—as Spry referred to it—has been an open secret dating back 20 years. According to Shepard, “it was not an open secret” to him. “I did my best to pay attention,” he added. “I deeply regret. This is not okay. This not acceptable.”

Feature photo by Alex Hutchins

Categories
News

Concordia English professors accused of sexual misconduct

Photo by Alex Hutchins

Former Concordia student publishes essay denouncing department’s “toxic” climate

Mike Spry, a graduate of Concordia’s creative writing program, published a lengthy essay on Jan. 8 criticizing the university’s English department for fostering a toxic, misogynistic climate.

The essay, titled “No Names, Only Monsters: Toxic Masculinity, Concordia and CanLit,” was published as the sole post on a blog called CanLit Accountable. The author detailed specific allegations of sexual misconduct and corroborates a 2014 essay by writer and Concordia alumna Emma Healey.

In the essay, Spry criticized the Canadian literary industry as a whole, describing it as “a community of misogyny, toxic masculinity and privilege” that perpetuates “cronyism, bullying, abuse, sexual harassment and sexual assault.” He also described specific examples of students being subjected to misogyny and sexual misconduct at the hands of professors within Concordia’s creative writing program.

Spry claimed that, as a student, he witnessed “the normalization of sexualization of students by professors” and that romantic or sexual relationships between students and professors were not “unusual or even prohibited” at Concordia. Although his essay did not name any staff members, Spry alleged that a Concordia professor and “internationally celebrated writer” rented a hotel room during a Montreal literary festival in order to “entertain young writers.”

Spry also described another male Concordia professor who he claimed manipulated students by buying drinks for them “using the pretext of wanting to discuss their craft.” He claimed this professor would promise students mentorship and publishing opportunities if they accepted his advances, and he would “denigrate them and their writing” if they rejected him.

Many of Spry’s accusations support Toronto writer Emma Healey’s October 2014 essay, “Stories Like Passwords,” which was published on The Hairpin, a general-interest website aimed at women. In her essay, Healey alleged she was in a toxic, unhealthy relationship with one of her creative writing professors during her first year as a Concordia student. Healey wrote she was 19 when the relationship began, while the professor was 34. According to Healey, “while the relationship was consensual, much of what happened within its borders was not.”

She claimed many sexual encounters with the professor occurred while she was “blackout drunk.” Healey also described a violent encounter with the man after they had broken up. In his essay, Spry admitted he was a friend of the professor, was aware of the man’s relationship with Healey—as well as with other students—and initially supported him after Healey’s essay was published. According to Spry, this professor is still employed at Concordia.

In addition to being published on a digital platform, Healey’s essay was discussed in a Globe and Mail article four years ago. On Jan. 8, Concordia president Alan Shepard released an official statement in which he claimed he only became aware of the allegations that afternoon. In the statement, Shepard said “the allegations are serious, and will be taken seriously,” but admitted the university’s response to the issue of sexual misconduct is a “work in progress.” The statement did not name any individual staff members or list any specific disciplinary measures or policy changes the university is planning to implement.

The university has yet to release a public statement or implement disciplinary measures in response to Healey’s allegations or similar claims made by other women.

Concordia’s Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) released a statement on Jan. 9 calling on the university to “fully investigate all allegations and put [the] students’ safety first.” The statement also encouraged students to reach out to the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC) and the Office of Rights and Responsibilities “if they have ever experienced or witnessed cases of sexual assault and/or harassment.”

Photo by Alex Hutchins

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