LOUD CALL FOR ACTION
Student groups call for universities to acknowledge problem with procedures
McGill and Concordia students gathered in front of McGill’s administration building on Wednesday to protest against what they call mismanagement by school officials of sexual misconduct allegations against professors. René Bruemmer reports.
Chanting “we will not be silenced” and “this will not blow over,” more than 700 students and professors walked out of class and gathered on the McGill campus Wednesday to protest against what they call the mismanagement of sexual misconduct allegations against professors at both Concordia and McGill universities.
“Can everyone here who has been warned or heard of an abusive professor during their time here please raise their hand,” Connor Spencer of the McGill student union asked the crowd. Nearly everyone did. “That,” she said, “is why we are here today.”
Students from Concordia and McGill demonstrated outside McGill’s administration building, turning at one point to wave to the administrators housed within.
Both institutions have been roiled in recent weeks by accusations that years of sexual misconduct perpetrated by professors or teaching assistants have been ignored by school administrators and that students’ complaints were not followed up.
Students at Concordia claimed they sent a letter in 2015 to the chair of the English Department complaining of a “toxic atmosphere” in the Creative Writing program. Many students reported avoiding classes taught by certain professors at both universities because of fears stoked by stories of sexual harassment or predation.
Last week, the Students Society of McGill University (SSMU) sent an open letter to school administrators alleging abuse by professors in the Faculty of Arts who are still teaching and supervising students, despite years of complaints. The letter had been signed by more than 2,000 students and 85 student groups as of Wednesday morning, Spencer said, but the union has yet to hear a response from administrators. Organizers implored students to join the walkout in large numbers to demonstrate it’s an issue that affects students in all departments.
On Wednesday, the SSMU said that if the McGill administration does not acknowledge there is a problem with the existing policies and procedures and commit to launching an external investigation into the office of the Dean of Arts, it would issue a report to Quebec’s Ministry of Education asking it to intervene.
Concordia’s student union wants student voices heard in the university’s reform movement, and for the recommendations from their Our Turn Report to be included in the school’s Public Policy Against Sexual Violence.
“Concordia has allowed for open secrets to persist and fester for too long,” said Asma Mushtaq, academic and advocacy co-ordinator for the Concordia Student Union (CSU). “The system is broken.”
The union is calling for the university to acknowledge the extent of the issue and to reform its method of handling complaints.
At Concordia, the university issued guidelines on romantic or sexual professor-student relationships in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct.
McGill responded last week with a written statement saying it has staff and resources in place for individuals and groups to air their complaints, and that appropriate measures are taken.
“Because of Quebec law concerning privacy, the university cannot disclose when it is conducting investigations nor reveal any results,” wrote Louise Arseneault, vice-principal (Communications and External Relations). “Thus, the fact that results are not disclosed is not evidence that investigations did not occur or that they were faulty.”
The response did little to placate McGill arts students Anoushka Bhari and Sabrina Gill, who bore signs reading “Time’s Up” and “No More Secrets,” and said the issue is especially dangerous for first-year students who might not know professors’ reputations. They were encouraged to attend Wednesday by one of the political science teachers who had warned students about sexual assault at the university, they said.
“There are professors and (teaching assistants) who are known to seduce students, and it just makes people very uncomfortable to pursue their studies or attend office hours, as they should,” Gill said.
“It’s gotten to the point where students are looking up their professors to decide whether or not to take a course. And in some cases they decide they can’t.”
Students are looking up their professors to decide whether or not to take a course. And in some cases they decide they can’t.