Prominent Toronto lawyer to look into alleged UPEI workplace misconduct

UPEI announced that Janice Rubin, a Toronto lawyer specializing in workplace harassment investigations, will look into allegations against former university president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz.

The news came in an email distributed to the university community Monday morning.

Abd-El-Aziz announced his retirement from the university on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the UPEI board of governors said it had learned about allegations of workplace misconduct the day before Abd-El-Aziz stepped down.

Rubin has previously worked for the CBC investigating accusations against former radio host Jian Gomeshi. She has also performed investigations at the Ottawa police department and the University of Kings College in Halifax.

UPEI has also asked Rubin for a systemic review of its workplace policies and practices, including those concerning harassment and discrimination. That review will include recommendations on the use of non-disclosure agreements.

Mike Arfken, president of the UPEI Faculty Association, has called on the university to make the findings of the third party review public.

"Part of this investigation is talking about the secrecy that surrounds these things, and I think if people are asking for transparency now and in the future, I think a good place to start would be with this investigation," said Arfken.

Truth needs to be told, says alum

"I hope the truth comes out," said Anne Mazer, who graduated from UPEI in 1977.

As an alumnus, Mazer wrote to the UPEI board of governors in 2015, as it was considering the first of three contract extensions with Abd-El-Aziz.

She argued at the time the former president's contract should not have been renewed because the university had acknowledged it had reached settlement agreements with two people who had come forward with allegations of sexual harassment against the president.

At the time, in 2013, the Charlottetown Guardian reported those complaints had stemmed from "inappropriate comments."

CBC has since learned those settlements included non-disclosure agreements.

Mazer said she and others who wrote to the board in 2015 felt they were ignored at the time.

She said she hopes the current investigation will lead to "some admissions on somebody's part that this happened. I hope that the women [who came forward] can be, I don't know, healed by this."

AVC dean to be interim president

The university also announced that Dr. Gregory Keefe, dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College, would act as interim president.

Keefe has been dean of AVC since 2015, and a faculty member for more than 25 years.

Details of the search process for a full-time replacement will be released in the new year.