UPEI settles sexual harassment complaints

UPEI has reached a settlement with two university employees after sexual harassment allegations were made against the university president.

A university spokesperson has confirmed that earlier this year two employees filed sexual harassment complaints with the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission. The employees alleged UPEI president Alaa Abd-el-Aziz had made inappropriate comments.

Abd-el-Aziz has been university president since 2010, and stayed on the job over the course of the investigation. Neither the Human Rights Commission nor the university would give any specifics about the complaints.

"The matters before the Human Rights Commission have been concluded and in respect of the confidentiality of all parties involved, we will not be commenting further," said UPEI board of governors chair Tom Cullen.

The university did say, however, that it reached a settlement through mediation. That means the human rights commission is no longer involved in this case and won't speak to it for privacy reasons of all the parties involved.

The settlement does not necessarily mean the complaints were found to have merit.

As part of the settlement, the university can't say what, if any, costs or conditions were involved.