Are Canadian universities failing to protect students?

Brandon University, MB

In the news: April 2016

Any student who reported a sexual assault to school administration was required to sign a “behavioural contract” that forbid them from talking about the attack and prevented them from talking to any person involved in the incident. Tom Brophy, the university’s associate vice-president of student services, told the CBC the contract was meant “to protect students." Days after the media reported the story, Brandon president Gervan Fearon announced that the school would no longer use the behavioural contracts, calling their use “inappropriate.” Recently, the CBC requested information from the school’s task force on sexual violence, which met 12 times in the 2015-16 school year. It was told the group kept no minutes or agenda from those meetings, and a report from the task force on sexual misconduct was heavily redacted before being given to the CBC.

Brock University, St. Catharines, ON

In the news: April 2016


The CBC reported that when a student met with Brock president Jack Lightstone to discuss a complaint that a professor had groped and kissed her in 2014, she says she was told that she could receive compensation if she handled the complaint “informally.” (An informal procedure would leave no paper trail or record on the teacher’s file.) The university denies that the president “did anything untoward”; two Brock employees who were present at the meeting do not remember compensation being offered, while a third says it was. When the student’s complaint against the teacher was investigated by a lawyer hired by Brock, it was concluded that the case be closed due to “lack of evidence.” Weeks later, a similar investigation into another student’s complaint against the professor came up with a different conclusion: that this allegation was founded. The professor denies both accounts.

University of Victoria, B.C.

In the news: March 2016

In November, a student reported a sexual assault to the school immediately following an alleged attack. According to the Globe and Mail, UVic hired an external investigator who found that the student had not been sexually assaulted because she had not said the word “no.” When she requested a copy of the investigator’s report, the university gave it to her along with a letter that warned her to not speak about its results: “failure to maintain confidentiality may result in the university pursuing disciplinary actions with its applicable policies.” Two more students, who work in residences, claim they’ve also been pressured to stay silent about campus sexual assaults. The executive director of student services at the university, which does not have a sexual assault policy, says the school does not “put any barriers around students where they can’t tell their story.”

Western University, London, ON

In the news: March 2016

Stanley Dobrowolski was employed at Western as a university psychologist from 1985 to 1994, during which time a number of students complained about his behaviour and two female staff members resigned over his continued employment. After leaving the university, he worked in a private practice in London, where female patients complained about unnecessary sexual touching, which led to a criminal trial. Dobrowolski was convicted of 16 counts of sexual assault, one count of breaking a court order involving 12 women and one count of voyeurism involving nine women in 2014. Western, which adopted a policy on sexual violence that same year, says it did not know about Dobrowolski’s actions. Maclean’s reported that the university didn’t apologize to the former students until March of this year, weeks after one of them filed a lawsuit against the school for abuse she says she experienced during her time there.

York University, Toronto, ON

In the news: February 2016

After an alleged assault in January 2015, PhD student Mandi Gray refused to return to her classes, saying the school did not taking her sexual assault claim seriously. After a 10-day suspension, the alleged attacker, fellow student Mustafa Ururyar, was able to resume attending classes. Gray, who filed a human rights’ complaint against York, also says the university’s protocol for dealing with sexual assaults is unclear: She says that none of the 14 faculty and staff members she spoke to for guidance could give her answers about measures in place at the school. York has not commented on Gray’s accusations but the vice provost of students, Janet Morrison, told the CBC, "We treat each incidence individually because each survivor's lived experience is unique and needs to be attended to in a way that puts that survivor at the centre of our decision making." Ururyar was charged by police, and the case went to court in February and is currently adjourned until May.

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.

In the news: November 2015

Six women filed harassment or sexual assault complaints against history PhD student Dmitry Mordvinov. It took the university more than a year and a half to act, eventually expelling him. One woman, who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Mordvinov in May 2014, says the university ignored her complaint because the alleged assault took place off campus. Another complainant, Glynnis Kirchmeier, told the CBC a university conflict manager told her to keep quiet to prevent others from become fearful. When history students presented a petition for action against Mordvinov to department head Tina Loo, they say they were told the petition was “politically inflammatory and was endangering to the department” and that it would be shut down. Loo says that the characterization that she wanted to keep students from speaking publicly is incorrect. Mordvinov is appealing his expulsion, and Kirchmeier has filed a human rights’ complaint against UBC.

McGill University, Montreal, QC

In the news: September 2015

A student who says she was sexually assaulted after the NeuroAnatomy Grad Ball in the winter of 2015 was told the school could not do anything with her complaint since it took place outside a “McGill context.” The school has no sexual assault policy, although students have been working on one since 2013. Administration withdrew support of the latest version of the policy, which was backed by eight student associations, in March. The dean of students, André Costopoulous, said the policy had “some ways” to go and said it will be a slow process. “I think our Charter of Student Rights took something like 10 years to put together,” he told the Montreal Gazette.

This piece was updated with a response from Carleton University on May 6.

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