Concordia philosophy students rally against sexual harassment, demand transparency

Philosophy students rally against sexual violence Students at Concordia University's philosophy department held a rally against sexual violence.

Students at Concordia University's philosophy department and their allies gathered on Tuesday for a rally against sexual harassment and violence to mark International Working Women's Day.

The rally at the Norman Bethune statue near the university occurred in the wake of a campaign by teachers' assistants who did not want to work for a professor accused of sexual harassment.

"We heard about this professor who was accused of sexual harassment several times by previous students," said master's student Nelson Graves.

The allegations led to a student filing a Human Rights Commission complaint against the professor in 2018 after initially alleging harassment in 2008.

"She brought the complaint later on because it ended up being that she had to leave Concordia because she didn't really feel safe and she had to transfer," said Graves.

A 2018 release from the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR) states, "She was bounced around within the university. Each department gave excuses about why it could not help her."

The student filed a complaint with Concordia's ombudsperson in 2015, CRARR notes, but never received a response.

"Further discouraged and frustrated, she gave up," the release reads.

Graves said last semester, the student union issued a work ban against the professor in question. He is not named in the complaint.

"Before classes had even begun, I was informed by older students to stick away from the professor who has outstanding sexual harassment allegations, for my own safety," said master's student Mya Walmsley. "The university management needs to hear that these issues cannot be swept under the rug."

The rally's organizers say philosophy students garnered over 250 signatures on a petition calling for "a transparent student, survivor and staff-led accountability process" last year.

Graves says the rally is a way to demand transparency.

"A lot of these allegations, you hear about them, and then the university takes the case and then you don't really hear anything about it," he said. "They either just pay people off and try to get it off their back or they find ways to sweep it all under the rug."

Graves says the rally was supported from other departments at Concordia with students telling similar stories of harassment.

"We've really gotten a lot of support because a lot of them have similar stories," he said. "I've heard similar stories."