McGill professors back students’ call for probe into sexual misconduct
A group of McGill University professors is calling on the school’s administration to launch an external investigation into how the university handles sexual-misconduct allegations.
They sent a letter, signed by 148 professors and faculty members, to the university administration Monday.
On April 4, the Students Society of McGill University called on the university administration to launch a third-party investigation into what they call the “mismanagement” of sexual-misconduct allegations against professors in the school’s Faculty of Arts. The SSMU executive claims “professors who are known by students to be abusive” continue to teach and supervise students.
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 during 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.
In their letter, the professors said they backed the SSMU’s call for an investigation and they also called on the university administration to publicly acknowledge the fact that the issue affects the entire McGill community and the university’s public reputation.
“As teachers, we have a commitment to upholding a learning environment where students feel safe, supported and able to challenge themselves. It would be in violation of this duty for us not to add our voices to those of the students,” the letter reads. “We believe that sexual relationships between students and faculty who are in a position to influence their academic and professional progress should be banned.”
Hundreds of students walked out of classes at McGill and Concordia University Wednesday to protest against what they called the mismanagement of sexual-misconduct allegations at the two universities.