Mac investigating employee barred from teaching for misconduct
Andrew Campbell is on leave from his position
McMaster University is investigating an employee involved with its student residences following allegations he was previously stripped of his teaching licence for misconduct that included “sexualized and abusive language toward students.”
Andrew Campbell, listed on the university’s website as “currently on leave” from his role as Residence Life training and development co-ordinator as part of the west Hamilton institution’s Housing and Conference Services department.
“This employee has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation,” spokesperson Wade Hemsworth said in an email.
The university didn’t respond to Spectator questions about when he was hired, what the university was aware of when they hired him and how closely he worked with students.
“Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our students and we follow all employment laws in our hiring practices,” Hemsworth wrote.
According to its webpage, Residence Life employees aim to help students “be as happy, healthy, and successful as possible during first year.”
Campbell was among 28 Ontario teachers whose certificates were revoked in 2020 following a new law mandating that any educator disciplined for sexually abusive conduct or child pornography receive a lifetime ban from teaching.
An Ontario College of Teachers discipline committee found Campbell repeatedly engaged in inappropriate conduct, including using “sexualized and abusive language toward students,” selecting teaching materials that weren’t age appropriate and physical abuse while teaching at two Brantford schools between 2005 and 2008. Allegations included “calling out the word ‘penis’ several times” when approached by students in the schoolyard, demonstrating the “sprinkler effect of urination,” telling students a student who was absent was having “his testicles or penis cut off,” and showing sexualized commercials in class, the panel found.
He had been given warnings, suspensions and counselling, and was at one point transferred to another school, the decision reads.
Campbell pleaded guilty, and was given a two-month suspension and ordered anger management counselling on June 30, 2014. Years later, following a retroactive look at cases, he was permanently barred from teaching on Dec. 8, 2020.
A LinkedIn page and blog with the name Andrew Campbell identify the user as an educator and former teacher with Grand Erie and Toronto public school boards. The blog also specifies he lives in Hamilton.
Campbell didn’t respond to Spectator request for comment on Wednesday.