Hard-of-hearing MUN student ends mediation with university
"I feel like we wasted two months," says father Bill Sears
William Sears has decided to end his three-month mediation with Memorial University and his former history professor Ranee Panjabi—mediation sparked by Panjabi's refused to wear an FM transmitter in September to accommodate Sears' hearing difficulties.
- MUN prof refuses to wear device for hearing disabled student, cites religious reasons
- MUN prof Ranee Panjabi explains why she wouldn't teach hard-of-hearing student William Sears
The Newfoundland and Labrador Human Rights Commission suggested mediation after Sears filed a human rights complaint against Memorial University of Newfoundland.
He said that after trying to work with both MUN and Panjabi to resolve the issue, he met with his lawyer on Dec. 14 and decided to end the process.
"I didn't feel like that mediation was going anywhere where I would be satisfied with the outcome," he said.
Sears does want the human rights investigation to continue to run its course, however.
"I feel like that only by going through the full human rights process I can be satisfied," he said.
"To me, so far, nothing has really changed. This could happen [again] tomorrow."
Weren't getting answers
Sears' father, Bill, said that students and professors should have the freedom to express their religious beliefs, but that it should not interfere with doing their job.
He said mediation meetings were frequently rescheduled or cancelled and that he and his son never received answers to their questions.
"What we were looking for was an answer to whether or not religion can be used as an excuse for not accommodating a student, and we weren't getting that answer," said the father.
Bill Sears said that if they had their time back, they would not have pursued the mediation at all.
"I feel like we wasted two months," he said.
The elder Sears said they now just want to get through the human rights process and get a final ruling from the commission.