Prof intends to stay at Brock ‘for many years to come’
Professor denies sexual harassment charges against him: arbitrator report
A controversial Brock University history professor disciplined in 2016 for sexually harassing a student, and who denied the allegations against him, says the news media published “misleading and sensational” stories about him and that he intends to “remain working at the university for many years to come,” The Standard has learned.
An arbitrator ultimately found that David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye could return to the classroom, and says the embattled professor repeatedly denied he sexually harassed a female graduate student and blasted Brock’s administration for not defending him in the press.
“Professor Schimmelpenninck (van der Oye) stated that the university had failed in its obligation to protect him and that it had not made appropriate efforts to correct any inaccuracies in the facts reported by the media,” says a report from the arbitrator, which has been obtained by The Standard.
The report also shows that Brock University initially suspended
Schimmelpenninck van der Oye without pay from March 2016 to June 2016 after an internal investigation found he had harassed the student in October 2014.
The university also placed Schimmelpenninck van der Oye on an extended leave of absence followed by a sabbatical which meant he was not eligible to return to work until the 2018 fall semester.
As his reinstatement approached, university administration, responding to concerns about Schimmelpenninck van der Oye raised by the campus community “and possible public scrutiny of his return to the classroom,” sought to impose further conditions on his return.
In a November 2016 letter to Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Carol Merriam, dean of humanities, said the professor’s public statements “strongly suggest you do not appreciate the gravity of your behaviour.”
Merriam said Schimmelpenninck van der Oye had to maintain membership and participation in a recovery program for alcoholism and refrain from drinking whether on or off duty.
Schimmelpenninck van der Oye grieved the letter with the faculty union and the proposed conditions were withdrawn, the report says.
In May 2018, the university asked Schimmelpenninck van der Oye if he would be open to discussing his retirement, but he refused.
The next month the university informed Schimmelpenninck van der Oye that his class for the fall term had been cancelled, and a possible winter semester class was under review.
The Brock University Faculty Union fought on Schimmelpenninck van der Oye’s behalf, saying the university was trying to covertly discipline him twice for the same the issue — something the collective agreement between faculty and the university does not permit.
The issue ended up before a provincial arbitrator, who ruled on Dec. 14 that Schimmelpenninck van der Oye had the right to return to work. The university scheduled a single class for this semester, but last week that class was cancelled.
The university has declined to explain why his class was cancelled, saying only that it is a personnel issue.
After news of Schimmelpenninck van der Oye’s class made headlines last week, he sent a short statement to The Standard saying he regretted his past actions.
“I regret my past behaviour, and if I could undo it, and the harm I caused, I absolutely would,” he wrote. “I had a drinking problem for a very long time. I have gotten help for my alcoholism and stopped drinking completely.”
However, Schimmelpenninck van der Oye’s statement did not mention the sexual harassment case.
In the arbitrator’s report, he denies the allegations levelled by the student who said she was kissed and groped by the professor.