University dismisses administrator in reaction to anti-racism demands

The axe has fallen on a senior member of administration at the University of Windsor as president Robert Gordon and school leadership struggle to deal with deep-rooted frustration and anger among some students, staff and faculty around systemic racism.

Gordon announced in a letter Tuesday to the campus community that the university was parting ways with Ryan Flannagan, its associate vice-president of student experience for the past four years.

“We are writing to announce that effective today, Ryan Flannagan will be leaving his role,” Gordon wrote. “The University of Windsor is focused on charting the path forward with our students, faculty, staff and the wider Windsor community. In doing so the University is committed to rebuilding trust and make the necessary changes to become safer, more inclusive and more equitable.”

Reached by phone Wednesday, Flannagan declined to comment on the matter.

“I'm doing OK,” he said. “I have no comment.”

John Coleman, the university's director of public affairs and communication, said Flannagan “has been asked to leave his role in order to support the university's efforts to rebuild trust and make the meaningful changes necessary to be safer, more inclusive and more equitable.”

Flannagan became a lightning rod of controversy for his lead role in the discipline of Jordan Afolabi, a Black law student involved in a physical dispute with a white student on campus in February 2019.

Charges brought by both campus police and Windsor police against Afolabi were eventually dropped.

Support for Afolabi and anger at the sanctions and restrictions placed on him by Flannagan have continued for more than a year.

An advocacy group of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) students and faculty members known as Researchers, Academics & Advocates of Color for Equity in Solidarity (RAACES) sent a list of “non-negotiable” demands to Gordon Friday that included firing Flannagan.

“As BIPOC students and faculty members of Researchers, Academics & Advocates of Color for Equity in Solidarity (RAACES), we are writing you to express our grave concerns at the ineptitude of the University of Windsor administration in dealing with the anti-black racism and other forms of racism on campus,” the RAACES letter stated.

The letter was also sent to address the alleged racist comments by members of the Delta Chi Fraternity's Windsor chapter that came to light last week.

“We're ecstatic,” said RAACES member and associate English professor Richard Douglass-chin at the news of Flannagan's departure. “This is something we've been working on for quite some time. This guy was problematic, very problematic at least since February 2019.”

Natalie Delia Deckard, an associate professor of criminology and fellow RAACES member, described Flannagan's dismissal as a good sign, but warned it's only a start to the institutional changes that need to take place.

“These are structural problems,” Deckard said. “Change in and of itself is insufficient.”

Flannagan's replacement, she noted, sits in a “leadership position” that should be used for “a better future structurally and systematically.”

Among a list of 10 demands, the letter also called upon Gordon, who started at the school in the fall of 2019, to offer a public apology to Afolabi.

“We're still waiting on a lot of the other demands,” Douglass-chin said.

Herman Dayal, the president of the University of Windsor Students' Alliance, said the trust between the Office of Student Experience under Flannagan and the student community had been “severely broken.”

“Over the past year or so, there remained serious concern as to Ryan's ability to handle complex student issues in non-academic misconduct, especially for students of different races and backgrounds,” Dayal wrote in an email to The Star.

“Since the office plays a pivotal role in student life and ensuring our diverse community feels safe and welcomed, this led to trust being severely broken between the Office of Student Experience and the student community. ”

Dayal noted the demand for change by students and the broader university community had been “echoed loudly, so I believe that this was a decision made in the best interests of everyone and I'm looking forward to what a new chapter in the Student Experience office will entail.”

This is something we've been working on for quite some time. This guy was problematic, very problematic at least since February 2019.