Task force created after university hit by scandals
Team suspended over allegations
OTTAWA — The University of Ottawa is establishing a task force to address “respect and equality” following twin scandals that have reverberated through the school’s community.
University president Allan Rock and chancellor Michaëlle Jean announced the task force Thursday — marking the university’s first major step since it suspended its men’s hockey program after allegations of a gang sexual assault and four student leaders resigned in an unrelated controversy.
“Both incidents raise troubling questions about attitude and behaviour,” Rock told a news conference. “Both call out for a response from a university community that aspires to be a place of respectful behaviour and reasoned dialogue.”
On Monday, the university announced it had suspended its men’s hockey program following “allegations of serious misconduct.” Thunder Bay police are investigating a third-party complaint alleging sexual assault by multiple members of the team. No charges have been laid.
Sources say the alleged victim, a student at Lakehead University, knew at least one of the members of the hockey team who is alleged to have been involved.
Also, last weekend, four male student leaders resigned their positions after a Facebook conversation, in which sexually violent comments were made about the student federation’s female president, was made public.
Rock said the allegations against the hockey team and the “disturbing” online conversation pointed to a need for a broader conversation.
“We have to ask how well we send the message that all forms of sexualized violence are unacceptable and profoundly repugnant to our core values and beliefs.”
They were the university president’s first public remarks since the hockey program’s suspension was announced Monday.
Jean spoke of the need for a collective approach to deal with what she called a brutal reminder of “the pervasiveness of misogyny.”
The former governor general said the attitudes demonstrated in the Facebook conversation point to “a continuum of violence that extends from locker-room talk where abuse may be spoken in jest to actual physical violation.”
She also said it’s even more troubling that such words are minimized. “They are accepted and even glorified. These attitudes are definitely a threat to us all. We think the disease needs to be curbed, then cured.”
The task force will consist of faculty, staff, students and outside experts and will be asked to submit recommendations to Rock this fall on ways to promote respectful behaviour on campus, particularly toward women.