UPEI, faculty association at stalemate over new sexual assault and discrimination policy

UPEI wants its faculty to sign on to an updated version of its sexual assault and discrimination policy, but the union that represents the school's academic staff says it wants the policies to be part of its collective agreement.

The actual content of the new policy is not the problem, said Margot Rejskind, the faculty association's executive director.

"We're actually 100 per cent in favour of these policies," she said.

Rejskind said UPEI wants to remove wording around the policies from the faculty association's collective agreement — and without that wording, she said, staff won't be able to hold the university to account.

"The policy we currently have, which is the old one, also has those processes laid out, and sometimes they don’t follow them," Rejskind said.

"What having it integrated into our collective agreement does is it means when they don’t follow the policy, we can grieve them for that.…

"That’s the part they want to give up, is the accountability piece. Which, unfortunately, that’s really really important."

The dispute comes nearly three years after a third-party report highlighted concerns about the university’s lack of transparency.  

That report, completed by the firm Rubin Thomlinson, concluded the university "failed to create a safe, respectful, and positive environment for working and learning for all members of its community" and described "dire" problems on campus that it said "should raise alarm bells and spark urgent action."

The firm was hired after former UPEI president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz resigned in December 2021, citing health reasons. His resignation came after fresh allegations of misconduct were brought forward against him. He had been the subject of two previous complaints years earlier.

In a statement to CBC News on Tuesday, UPEI said it has worked to modernize its fair treatment policy, resulting in the new harassment and discrimination policy and a companion sexual violence policy.

UPEI said this was done with the association's participation and was supported by external expertise and campus‑wide consultation.

"Although the substance of the new policies is agreed, implementation cannot proceed until the UPEIFA provides its consent," the statement reads.

"The policies are complete, compliant, and ready, and we are asking the UPEIFA to support timely implementation to help protect our students and the most vulnerable members of our community."