Harassment policy protects university, not victims, says UPEI prof

The policy for dealing with complaints of harassment and sexual harassment at the University of Prince Edward Island is set up to protect the institution rather than victims, and allows for toxicity in the workplace to proceed unchecked, according to one professor calling for change.

Psychology professor Colleen MacQuarrie says confidentiality requirements built into UPEI's Fair Treatment Policy protect "the interests of the institution and the interests of people who've been accused of harassing." 

She said by requiring complainants not speak publicly about harassment cases, the university is able to maintain "the facade that everything is actually fine and it prohibits us from knowing who should be held accountable" for toxicity in the workplace.

There have been public complaints in the past week regarding a toxic work environment at UPEI under former president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz, who announced his sudden retirement Tuesday.

The university's board of governors said Wednesday it was invoking the Fair Treatment Policy in response to an allegation of workplace misconduct against the former president, which the board said was filed Monday.

Like a 'shiny car'

MacQuarrie said she has supported numerous colleagues and students in filing their own complaints under the policy, and recently filed a complaint as a third party on behalf of a student who wasn't comfortable coming forward on their own.

She said requiring confidentiality "stands in contradiction to what victims of harassment actually need."

It's like that shiny car that you might get into, that the wheels are actually held on by elastic bands. It looks good until you try to use it. And then the wheels fall off.- Colleen MacQuarrie

Meanwhile, she said a lack of disclosure and accountability allows serial workplace bullies to continue that behaviour with other victims, while the university ignores issues of chronic, institutionalized bullying that have forced some employees to leave.

"On the surface, it looks like [the policy] is there to protect the victims, but ultimately it's like that shiny car that you might get into, that the wheels are actually held on by elastic bands.

"It looks good until you try to use it. And then the wheels fall off."

'They've got control'

Former UPEI athletic director Chris Huggan, fired without cause in 2020, said another problem with the policy for dealing with harassment at UPEI is that the entire process is overseen by the university's president.

He said all avenues for staff to come forward with complaints, including the board of governor's human resources committee, was under the direction of either Abd-El-Aziz or senior staff loyal to him, which made it next to impossible to move forward with complaints regarding those specific people.

"Every path you try to follow, they've got control. And those who challenge it are no longer there."

Could new law help?

MacQuarrie expressed some hope that a new law limiting the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases where allegations have been raised of harassment or discrimination might improve the situation at UPEI under the Fair Treatment Policy.

But the law's sponsor, Green MLA Lynne Lund, said the new restrictions won't apply to university policy when they come into effect in May.

However, she said the issues that prompted her to bring forward the legislation, the first of its kind in Canada, apply equally in the resolution of harassment and sexual harassment complaints on campus.

"I absolutely think it's critical that people are able to tell their stories," said Lund.

She said it's up to P.E.I.'s minister of education to regulate the parameters for how post-secondary institutions investigate those cases.

Problems are systemic not individual

Meanwhile, MacQuarrie said UPEI's Fair Treatment Policy will be of limited use in the university's investigation of allegations of workplace misconduct against Abd-El-Aziz because he has now left. That puts him out of reach of any sanctions that could be imposed under the policy.  

But she hopes his departure doesn't lead the university to conclude any workplace issues associated with that complaint have been addressed.

"People think that harassment resides within individuals, and that is the case probably in just a small percentage" of instances, MacQuarrie said.

"I think it's a shortcoming of these kinds of policies in particular, where they don't look at the systemic issues underlying the environment that we work in, and how difficult it is to work in some of these hierarchies."