Sex chant sparks probe at B.C. university
Dean of commerce pulls support for orientation event
VANCOUVER The dean of commerce at the University of British Columbia has pulled his support for an annual first-year orientation event over a chant endorsing non-consensual sex.
The chant was allegedly made last week on one or more buses during frosh orientation events sponsored by the Commerce Undergraduate Society.
A similar incident at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax recently prompted the resignation of the president of the student association.
Robert Helsley, dean of the Sauder School of Business, said Monday he and Louise Cowin, vice-president of students, have launched an investigation into the incident and a fact-finding team is expected to report back by Sept. 16.
Faculty will also increase the emphasis on issues like respect, dignity and ethics in their curriculum, he said.
“These activities are completely inconsistent with our values as a school, and they’re also inconsistent with everything that I know about our student body,” said Helsley.
“This has come to be interpreted as a blanket indictment of the Sauder School of Business and its students and that is just not true.”
Frosh events are run by commerce undergraduates, but Helsley said the school has traditionally supported them by providing technical support and guidance and even writing invitations.
Helsley said the school knows some rough details about the allegations, but it wants to learn more, such as how many people were involved and how many times the chant was repeated.
While it’s too early to speculate on the results of the investigation, university policy considers a range of sanctions from warnings to expulsion, he said.
Helsley also called graffiti left on a commerce building early Monday “troubling,” but the facility has now been repaired.
A photo on the website of the Ubyssey, the student newspaper, showed an expletive denunciation of “rape culture” spray painted on the building and another scrawl saying “Sauder teaches rape.”