The
Silhouette McMASTER UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2013 VOL. 84 NO. 8
HOMECOMING GAME PRIMER
B2
BAD FOR
STUDENT POLITICS
MSU cuts ties with MAPS
BUSINESS McMaster University is suspending five professors in the DeGroote School of Business. Take a look inside the faculty feud.
SRA votes to end agreement with part-time student association
MAPS, A3
PAGE A10 WAR WITH DOUBLE STANDARDS
Building Photos | YOSEIF HADDAD
Come next fall, full-time students may not have to pay an extra fee if they switch to part-time status in the summer. On Sept. 29, the Student Representative Assembly voted to nullify a 27-year agreement between the McMaster Students Union (MSU) and the McMaster Association of Part-Time Students (MAPS). The end of the agreement suggests summer MAPS fees will no longer be collected from students who have already paid fees to the MSU. The decision would be imposed in 2014/15, barring any disagreement from the University’s board of governors. MAPS would have its budget of roughly $500,000, funded entirely by student fees, slashed by about 50 per cent. Prior to the SRA vote, full-time students who took a part-time course load during the summer had to pay $7 per unit to MAPS despite paying an MSU fee covering a full 12 months. MSU president David Campbell told the SRA at the Sept. 29 meeting that they had a “moral obligation to act” to end the duplication of fees. At the end of the discussion period, the SRA voted to end the agreement 26-0 with three abstentions. “The MSU did not like one provision in an agreement so it threw the baby out with the bathwater. Frankly we don’t know what they want now,” said interim MAPS director Kyle Johansen. Johansen was hired in July to pick up the pieces of the MAPS spending scandal that had former director Sam Minniti fired. Regardless of the outcome, Johansen said, “MAPS has no intention of abandoning parttime students. We will continue to advocate for all part-time students.” At the SRA meeting, the atmosphere was tense as Johansen hurriedly read off a statement on why the agreement should not be dissolved. Johansen wanted the matter to be discussed in November rather than be decided last night. “A year ago, a unilateral decision to end this agreement might have been acceptable to the university community. I don’t think that’s the case today,” Johansen said. He said the new MAPS board was more willing and capable to discuss the issue but needed more time.
Graphic | ANDREW TEREFENKO
Anqi Shen Online Editor
Anqi Shen Online Editor Five professors in the DeGroote School of Business have been handed “lengthy suspensions without pay” by the University after a tribunal found that their misconduct resulted in a “poisonous and hostile work environment.” In 2011, two complaints of harassment were filed by and against faculty in McMaster’s business school. An anti-discrimination tribunal set up to address the complaints recently released its 26-page public report. The report summarizes the tribunal’s findings after two years of proceedings, 2,694 documents and 65 witness testimonies. In the first complaint, five faculty members filed a harassment complaint against a senior administrator and McMaster University. In the second complaint, seven faculty members and one staff alleged that six faculty members, including four who filed the first complaint, harassed them. One counter-complaint was filed against one of the initiators of the
second complaint. A tribunal, made up of three tenured McMaster professors, was commissioned to hear the complaints. They found that several professors committed “serious and multiple” acts of misconduct. “The most egregious misconduct involved the unlawful and self-serving interference with tenure and promotion,” according to the public report. “Permanent removal was a remedy seriously considered for some of the individuals. In the end, it was not determined to be necessary,” the tribunal stated. They found the University allowed some delays and certain decisions by a “non-party senior administrator” also contributed to workplace hostility. The tribunal recommended that three professors should have “lengthy suspensions without pay, benefits, privileges or access to the University’s premises.” It was recommended that two other professors also be suspended, but for a shorter period of time. One other individual will receive a written reprimand. The identities of the
HOMECOMING SAUCE
suspended and sanctioned professors have not been disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement. The tribunal did not specify how long the suspensions should last. McMaster president Patrick Deane issued a statement calling the “complexity and number” of the complaints “unprecedented” at the University. Deane stated that he “fully accepts the Tribunal’s findings” and has “already begun the process of implementing the recommended sanctions and other remedies.” Following the release of the tribunal’s report, three business classes were cancelled this week. McMaster spokesperson Andrea Farquhar said the department is working to ensure all classes are up and running again by next week. “[The School of Business] has been successful in finding a number of well-qualified instructors,” Farquhar said, to temporarily take over from the suspended professors. “It will certainly be a priority for us to minimize impact on students,” she said.
INDIVIDUAL SANCTIONS •Lengthy suspensions without pay, benefits, privileges or access to the University’s premises for 3 respondents •Reduced yet still lengthy suspensions (same conditions as above), for 2 other respondents •Formal written reprimand and mark on discipline record for 5 years for 1 respondent •Mandatory sensitivity training for above respondents •Immediate removal from positions of authority that could affect conditions of employment for faculty; prohibited from holding any such position for a minimum of 5 years
Source: Board-Senate Hearing Panel’s Public Tribunal Report
FIVE PROFESSORS, A6
GTA V FOR ANDY
PAGE B7
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PAGE B3 MARAUDERS BOTTOM OUT