When Carleton University students were seen recently wearing tank tops seeming to mock the campus’ campaign promoting a discrimination-free environment, school officials denounced their behaviour and promised sanctions.
Officials wouldn’t say this week how the disciplinary proceedings will work, but a review of other schools’ procedures for dealing with academic and non-academic misconduct reveals striking differences in the way campus justice plays out in Canada.
Critics say universities’ wishes to deal swiftly with bad behaviour could deprive students of due process, which is problematic when certain offences can lead to expulsion or big fines. While most misconduct involves cheating or plagiarism, schools have held disciplinary hearings into alleged sexual assaults, thefts and harassment.
On rare occasions, schools have ruled on a case even when a related police investigation is still going on.
“Non-academic codes of conduct can be particularly concerning, especially because introducing them to campus can create a two-tier system of justice,” said Jessica McCormick, national chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students.
University officials say disciplinary hearings are meant to be informal and not like a courtroom. Thresholds for finding someone guilty are lower; instead of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, universities need “clear and convincing evidence” or proof that an act was committed “on a balance of probabilities.”
Still, officials said, hearings follow principles of natural justice, meaning all parties must be given a chance to be heard and hearings must be conducted by an impartial person.
But questions about fairness persist:
—When several players on the University of Ottawa’s hockey team were hit with sexual assault allegations this year, school officials suspended the whole team. Then the university announced that it was extending the suspension into the entire 2014-2015 season after reviewing the findings of an outside investigator who was hired to look into the allegations.
Police later announced criminal charges against two of the players.
University of Ottawa President Allan Rock delivers a statement in Ottawa on Wednesday June 25, 2014., regarding the men’s varsity hockey program.
Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, who represents several of the other players, said he was deeply troubled by the fact that witnesses were approached by two different bodies — the university’s investigator and police investigators — for questioning about the same matter. Universities shouldn’t even be in the business of investigating criminal matters because they lack the expertise, he said.
Greenspon also blasted the university for refusing to release the investigator’s report. “We’re entitled to see the basis upon which the university suspended these guys,” he said.
— In April, a Federal Court judge ruled that the University of Calgary had erred in its handling of several students who were found to have committed non-academic misconduct by failing to comply with orders to shield a pro-life display that featured graphic images of aborted fetuses.
One of the students’ arguments was that the campus official who had accused them of misconduct, the associate vice-provost, was the same person in charge of their disciplinary hearing.
The judge ruled that while the official’s overlapping roles was “problematic,” universities are allowed to structure their disciplinary process however they want. The university was wrong, however, not to grant the students an appeal, the judge said.
— A former student at Montreal’s Dawson College, who was expelled after discovering a security flaw in a college computer system, told the National Post early last year that he had not received a fair hearing.
The school said it expelled Ahmed Al-Khabaz because he had made repeated, unauthorized attempts to access the college information system. Al-Khabaz said he was denied a chance to give his side of the story before a panel of faculty members voted to kick him out of the school.
Post-secondary schools typically designate certain faculty members or campus officials the role of reviewing academic and non-academic misconduct allegations. Schools encourage them to try to resolve cases informally.
When a case is more serious, or where an informal resolution cannot be reached, cases go to a formal hearing before a disciplinary panel or senior campus official.
The rights of the accused vary from school to school.
At the University of Toronto, students are “strongly encouraged” to seek legal representation. At the University of Calgary, students can bring an adviser but not a lawyer, unless they are also facing criminal charges from the same incident. UBC students who wish to have a lawyer present must ask first in writing.
When it comes to evidence disclosure, it is not uncommon for accused students at the University of Toronto to show up to an initial meeting with a dean or investigating officer without having been provided a summary of the allegations, said Karen Bellinger, a community legal clinic lawyer.
Campus spokeswoman Althea Blackburn-Evans said students are provided with “sufficient” information to be able to respond to a complaint.
Policies at other schools, such as McGill and the University of Calgary, state that students are entitled to receive a “summary of pertinent evidence” or “relevant documentation” before meeting campus officials.
The training provided to adjudicators varies. At UBC, adjudicators get trained in the principles of administrative justice, how to run hearings, and ask questions. University of Toronto adjudicators get an overview of the student code and case studies. McGill adjudicators get an overview of the student code.
At a time when many post-secondary schools have adopted campus-wide codes of conduct, the University of Ottawa is one of the few that hasn’t.
Nicole Desnoyers, vice-president of the school’s student federation, said the union is opposed because there are legal remedies off campus to deal with non-academic misconduct. “We don’t believe in academic sanctions for non-academic behaviour,” she said.
Universities should devote resources to addressing underlying causes of the misbehaviour, she said.
But officials at other schools said codes of conduct establish standards of behaviour for communities that draw students from diverse backgrounds.
“If someone is acting out in a way that affects other students, it can be addressed,” said Hubert Lai, a UBC lawyer. “It’s something that protects the community.”
Dquan@Postmedia.com
Twitter.com/dougquan
