MLAs seek answers from UPEI officials on cost of Rubin Thomlinson report findings

Senior administrators from the University of Prince Edward Island appeared before the province's education committee Tuesday to talk about the findings in the Rubin Thomlinson report.

That document, released in a redacted form in June, outlined evidence of what it called a toxic workplace culture at the university, especially during the term of former president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz.

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On Tuesday, MLAs were looking for accountability from the university regarding its response to harassment complaints and the use of non-disclosure agreements for a variety of reasons — as well as how much the university spent on legal costs related to those agreements. 

UPEI's acting president and vice-chancellor Greg Keefe and Sue Connolly, the university's interim vice-president of people and culture, appeared before the committee. 

"The report makes it clear that the university and members of the university community did not live up to the values of the university, of UPEI, particularly those values of accountability and integrity, and inclusion, equity and reconciliation," Keefe said. 

He added that UPEI has now severed all ties with Abd-El-Aziz and placed its vice-president of administration and finance on leave. The chair of the board of governors has also resigned.

"These actions were the first steps in acknowledging the seriousness of the situation," he said.  

Keefe said it's been a "traumatic" time for people at the university for a number of reasons including the COVID-19 pandemic, the impacts of post-tropical storm Fiona a year ago, the faculty labour dispute this past spring, and then the release of the Rubin Thomlinson report. 

Keefe said the Charlottetown-based university now has "a new investigative process when there are allegations involving senior administrators." He said there have been other related changes, which include:

• Separating the roles of privacy and equity, diversion and inclusion as recommended in the report. 
• Moving the sexual violence prevention office to a more visible location on campus and increasing its staffing
• Revitalizing a human resources department that was subject to "austerity measures over the last decade" that restricted its ability to be anything other than "transactional."
• Developing "a culture of listening on campus," including two town hall gatherings as well as smaller group sessions.

Keefe also pointed out that a number of board of governors vacancies are being filled with an eye to increased diversity, more employee counselling is being offered, and a number of action plans are being developed.

The cost of silence

MLAs at Tuesday's meeting were particularly focused on a question that has never been answered: How much did UPEI spend over the years on 29 non-disclosure agreements and settlements, at least two of them related to sexual harassment claims?

The Green Party's Karla Bernard put it bluntly, asking what had been spent "to protect the perpetrators" in the cases covered by NDAs. 

"I am not sure I have data on what the costs were associated with NDAs," Keefe said, going on to add that he was "resistant with respect to the word perpetrators" because sexual harassment allegations were involved in two of the 29 cases. Many of the others dealt with employment contracts, Connolly said.  

Liberal MLA Robert Henderson wanted to know how much the university has spent on counselling for staff and students who experienced discrimination or harassment in the years covered by the Rubin Thomlinson report, asking if Keefe could "give any sense of how much money that is." 

"I have a sense for it … but I don't have a number and I guess that's something we could in broad strokes look at," Keefe replied. 

Green MLA Peter Bevan-Baker asked whether UPEI kept paying Alaa after his resignation in late 2021, following a fresh allegation of sexual harassment. 

"The university has contractual obligations... and so until the investigation was complete, we maintained our contractual obligations to the president," Keefe said.

"Once the report was complete, we were then in a position to completely sever our relationship with him."

That took 16 to 18 months, Keefe noted. He said privacy legislation prevented him from saying how much money was involved.

On another topic, Keefe said there is no sign that corporate or alumni donors have cut back on their gifts to UPEI during "a very, very difficult time for the university," adding that some alumni events this summer had record attendance.

As for Keefe's mention of a process for complaints involving senior administrators, Bernard pointed out that such investigations still end up in front of university managers and their lawyer, and thus are not truly independent.

"There's nothing untoward here," Keefe said in response. "The university is making services available to members of the community, [and] we're trying to provide a pathway here that is unique to senior management."