Lessons for the rest of us
It was bound to be highly critical and condemnatory. An independent report this week into the now infamous Facebook group of male dental students at Dalhousie University in Halifax details exactly how the university permitted a culture of “sexism, misogyny, homophobia and racism.”
That’s a sobering picture for the university. But the more troubling part is that Dalhousie’s culture is far from isolated. “The reality at Dal is not different than any other institution,” University of Ottawa law professor Constance Backhouse, head of the team that compiled the report, noted this week.
In fact, the report should be required reading not only for university administrators, but for managers in businesses and other institutions.
The report provides new details about the Facebook debacle that make it even more disturbing than when it first came to light last December. That’s when one male student from the group — ironically called the “Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen” — alerted a female student to a posting that asked “Who would you like to hate f---?” Another told members that a penis was a “tool used to wean and convert lesbians and virgins into useful, productive members of society.”
After enduring six months of critical news reports over the postings and the university’s followup, Dalhousie president Richard Florizone accepted the100-page report’s findings when they were released on Monday. He said he hopes to implement most of the 39 recommendations within two years.
Still, Florizone did not commit to fulfilling one of the most important recommendations: establishing an ombudsperson’s office similar to those that operate at many other universities. That’s a mistake. An independent ombudsperson might have ensured that students complaining about harassment or sexism were not ostracized, and that the culture of sexism in the dental faculty was drawn to the attention of the university and acted on much earlier. It might even have prevented the Facebook postings from happening in the first place.
Among some of the report’s other recommendations that are well worth adopting: Improving the university’s complaint system. Taking active steps “to identify and obtain information about potential or actual problems.”
Collaborating with other dental schools, professional licensing boards, and professional associations across Canada to address equity and sexual misconduct within the profession.
Ensuring that when the university adopts a restorative justice program, as it did with the Facebook group and some of the targeted female students, those who choose not to participate are provided with alternative courses of redress.
Indeed, one of the most distressing findings of Backhouse’s group deals with how the student who initiated the complaint about the Facebook group was treated by Dalhousie’s administration. She and other female students who did not participate in the university’s recommended restorative justice program “said they had felt silenced and discouraged.” And the student who first complained said the final restorative justice report made her feel “almost like a villain.”
The university, in short, ostracized the victims. It should reflect on that, and then get down to hiring an ombudsperson.
Dalhousie permitted a culture of “sexism, misogyny, homophobia and racism,” but it’s hardly unique