U of T orders ‘ impartial review’ of hiring mess
The University of Toronto is ordering an “impartial review” of a hiring fiasco that led to an international firestorm that has imperiled its own prestigious g human rights program.
“Earlier this fall, Dean Edward ww Iacobucci requested an impartial review pertaining to the recent search for a new director of the International Human Rights Program ( IHRP), a non- academic staff position within the Faculty of Law,” reads a statement Wednesday WW by Kelly Hannah- Moffat, vice- president of human resources and equity at the university.
Iacobucci, dean of the Faculty of Law, told law professors by email Wednesday: “I am concerned that there have been misconceptions and misunderstandings about the circumstances surrounding the search for the staff director of the IHRP, despite public statements by the university and me.”
Critics slammed the announcement, pointing out that participation in the review process is not mandatory, nor the review independent.
“I hope that people refuse to participate in this deeply flawed investigation, indicating that tt they will gladly participate in a truly independent investigation by a jointly agreedupon uu investigator with the a appropriate experience, rep- utation uu and stature,” said James JJ Turk, director at Ryer- son University’s Centre for Free Expression.
Lawyers, academics, rights groups gg and public intellectuals f from around the world have demanded that the university hold an independent review to unearth what may have transpired behind closed doors and led to its abrupt decision to cancel the hiring of a prominent scholar for the job of director.
Valentina Azarova was the unanimous choice of the faculty’s own hiring committee.
Asitting judge at the Tax Court of Canada and faculty donor is alleged to have expressed concerns over her academic work on Israeli settlements tt on Palestinian terri- tories, sparking fears of undue interference.
The university has denied it buckled under pressure, but not that such pressure was applied.
The Tax Court has said it would ww not be commenting. Complaints have also been made to the Canadian Judicial Council, the body that investigates vv and disciplines judges when necessary.
The entire faculty advisory board of the university has resigned in protest over the decision to not hire Azarova. One of them was on the threemember hiring committee. A second member of that hiring committee, Vincent Wong, quit from his paying job at the university.
Law school students have also been up in arms, knocking on doors to get answers on the future of the university’s flagship human rights program.
The university has retained Bonnie Patterson to serve as external eea former reviewer. president Patterson of the is Council of Ontario Universities and former president and vice- vv chancellor of Trent Uni- v versity.
She has been asked to investigate whether existing university policies and procedures dd were followed in the search for a director, including those tt relating to confidentiali- t ty obligations in search pro- cesses, the statement said.
Her report is scheduled to be completed by mid- January, which ww is after dean Iacobucci retires in December.
The university’s statement did not specify if university staff who co- operate will be offered any protection from recrimination.
“A proper investigation would be undertaken by a respected lawyer or former judge who would ww have knowledge and experience ee in proper process and a be familiar with law school practices,” Turk said.
Several people told the Star it was ww a problem that Patterson was ww appointed by the vice- president for human resources who has herself been involved in defending the dean.
“Will this inquiry examine the initial breach of confidentiality aa that led to ( alleged) ex- ternal donor influence or will it focus on the subsequent whistleblowing and go after those who ww challenged the abuse of power?” asked Samer Muscati, the previous director of the International Human Rights Program, who is now associate director at Human Rights Watch.
David Robinson, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which ww represents 70,000 aca- demic and general staff at 120 universities and colleges, said it was ww not clear if the review would ww determine the two most important aspects at issue:
á ( 1) if Azarova was offered a job, as she and the search committee claim, or not offered a job, as the dean claims; and
á ( 2) the substance of the judge’s intervention and the dean’s response.
The university has repeatedly asserted that the director is a “a non- academic staff position” — as opposed to a faculty position.
“This of course begs questions of academic freedom for a position that involves teaching, mentoring and advocacy on topics that are often divisive,” Anver Emon, professor and aa Canada Research Chair of law and history at U of T, told the Star Wednesday. “There remains a question about the academic freedom we can presume of this position, and which ww I hope the reviewer will address.”
At a faculty meeting last week, ww a recording of which was leaked to the Star, Iacobucci was asked that very question. He did not answer directly but instead said, “academic freedom was not an issue in this hire.”
Global human rights organization Amnesty International had threatened to pull out of its four- year partnership with the human hh rights program, citing “serious reputational risk” for Amnesty AA unless the university offered a “full, transparent explanation of events.”
The university’s decision to launch a review also comes on the heels of a damning letter by nine law professors to the university’s vice- president and provost, Cheryl Regehr, last week ww in which they blasted the dean for acting in a “highhanded manner in the IHRP appointment aa process.” That he could do so without fear of being called to account, they said, “is a sign of a decayed collegial environment.”