Mount Allison President Jean Paul Boudreau says he wants substantive and meaningful change in how the university handles sexual assault.
Earlier in the week, Mount Allison University president Jean Paul Boudreau promised students an action plan to tackle their concerns. Yesterday afternoon, a couple of hours after the protest wound up, he sent out an email to students outlining the initial steps the university will take.
One of those steps had already been taken on Thursday. The website for Mount Allison’s SHARE program (the Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Education Service) is now offline, and redirects to a page saying, “Effective Nov. 12, 2020 Mount Allison has entered into an agreement with Crossroads for Women, an independent organization based in on Moncton, to provide support for survivors of sexual assault or partner violence.”
The university has also promised to hire a full time person to lead sexual violence prevention and survivor support services at the school. Currently, the SHARE coordinator is a part-time position.
Boudreau’s letter says the school will establish Sexual Violence Prevention Working Group, with student representation, and that a comprehensive third-party review of Mount Allison’s sexual violence prevention model, resources, policies, and procedures will take place.
I spoke with Dr Boudreau on Thursday afternoon to find out more.
TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited):
ERICA BUTLER:
Dr. Jean Paul Boudreau, thank you for joining us.
JEAN PAUL BOUDREAU:
My pleasure, thank you.
EB:
So, we’ve had quite a day in Sackville and at Mount Allison, with what some people are saying is one of the larger protests they’ve seen in recent years at Mount Allison. Were you able to catch any of the protest or see any of the actions happening on campus today?
JPB:
I have seen the actions happening on campus. I was not at the protest… I’ve always been with the students marching for climate change, for Black Lives Matter, for example. But today, I felt it was important for the students to have that clear voice to the campus. So I was not at the protest but I was there with them in spirit.
EB:
Now one of the things that has come up repeatedly in some of the stories and comments that have been posted online in the past week, has been issues with Mount Allison’s handling of sexual assault cases, and in particular the SHARE program. Now, I noticed that the SHARE program has been taken off the website or possibly discontinued and replaced with services from Crossroads for Women. Is that the case? Can you tell us what’s happened there?
JPB:
First of all, let me say that my first priority is with the safety and welfare of our students. And I’ve talked with the students. I’ve sat down with some of the students who brought their concerns to me and I really appreciate them coming forward. And I really appreciated them speaking today on campus. Those voices are very strong and very compelling.
Of course, some of the accounts are deeply concerning to me and to my team at the University. Sexual Violence has no place on or off campus. So let’s be really clear about that. That’s why we’re going to work with students in partnership to address the problem.
We’re at an inflection point, meaning, for me, that this is the moment of change and action for the campus to bring about healing students, for students in our community. With regards to the action plan, you see that we’ve made immediate support services available through Crossroads for Women, a very strong, external group based in Moncton, who are well recognized and very well supported in our community.
So I look forward to ensuring that support is the first point of contact for our students at Mount Allison starting today, going forward.
EB:
One of the points in the action plan that you sent out today was that there would be a new full time role. Can you tell us a bit about that? Would that person be replacing the services that Crossroads will start to provide as of today?
JPB:
Crossroads will provide service, that’s an immediate point of action that we want to give to the campus community, to our students most importantly.
Also we’re in discussion with other counselling services, including Breelove Counselling, for example, a trauma-focused service, also a very strong organization.
We want to provide the absolute best services we can give to our students here at Mount Allison University. Going forward, part of the action plan involves, as you know, the creation of a Sexual Violence Working Group, composed of our students, faculty experts, both internally and externally. And then a third party review of our sexual violence prevention services. To your point, we are increasing staff resources starting this month, including a full time position to support students with regards to sexual violence prevention. And this is going to be a transparent process that will involve our students, to restore trust and create that reconciliation process as outlined in the action plan.
So it’s premature to talk about exactly what the organizational structure will be going forward, because we want to give the Sexual Violence Working Group and third party reviewers an opportunity to explore the entire policy, procedure and ways in which we go about supporting our students. So that is why I’m committed on behalf of the university to a path forward without delay.
EB:
Many posts came from people this past week expressing that they felt Mount A was prioritizing the school’s reputation over the health and safety of some students. Do you feel that Mount Allison, as a small college, is in a difficult situation when it comes to that? Do you see it as a particularly difficult hill to climb, in terms of setting aside reputation, and building that safe campus?
JPB:
Again, first priority is the safety and welfare of our students. So that’s number one. We’re a small residential-based university. We’re very proud of our academic programs. We have a strong, well-recognized reputation in Canada and beyond. And we do really, really good work with regards to our services as well for our students. But clearly, in this case, we have fallen short. We recognize that, and we’re sorry about that. That is why we’re taking this immediate action to create action plans to support our students going forward.
I hope that the university will be reviewed with regards to our response to this matter. And that’s the reputation, going forward, that I believe will be important. How does the university respond? What are the actions? How substantive and meaningful are they?
I’m making a strong commitment here to the university community today, on behalf of my colleagues and the Board of Regents, that we are going to take a very strong, decisive plan forward, as outlined today. And that will bring about the core structural changes that are needed, that are being asked for, by our students.
EB:
We’ve seen support services services for survivors mentioned, as well as preventative measures. One of the concerns I’ve read a lot is the process for adjudicating sexual assault cases… how we determine what the repercussions of a report of sexual assault will be. Is that on the table? Do you think that the university will be changing the process by which it figures out what to do when there is a report, and what the repercussions are? In other words, do you think people will start to be expelled with reports of sexual assault?
JPB:
Well, first of all, there have been sanctions against people who’ve perpetrated these acts. Of course, confidentiality prevents us from making those details public.
But again, sexual violence is unacceptable, period. The process that we’ve outlined today will look at the entire system, from policy, to procedure, to outcomes, to sanctions, everything is on the table. That is why we’re bringing in the third party external review, to ensure that we get it right for our students. To ensure that first priority, the safety and welfare for our students. We want a strong commitment, we want a procedure, a policy that we can be proud of. Clearly, we have fallen short, and we want to make the appropriate structural changes that will bring about the changes that our students and our community deserve.
EB:
Quite a few other universities were named today in the action, many of them small east coast schools. When you communicate with others small schools, like in the Maple League, is discussion of sexual assault and how to handle it, is that one of the things that gets talked about amongst those schools?
JPB:
The first thing I would say is that sexual assault happens, unfortunately, across the the higher education system. It happens in universities, colleges, schools. It’s universal. What’s really important is that the incidents are routinely underreported.
That’s why I believe we need to create an even better reporting system that will help us move forward. Again, it’s very important to highlight the connection and partnerships with our students, community, experts, faculty. Best practices by other universities or colleges, of course, that’ll be part of the overall, overarching third party review. And we want to make sure that we create the best possible system of support, prevention services, education, and trauma survivor support for our students.
And, you know, again, as I mentioned at the outset, I hope that we will be measured against our response to this matter, and the kinds of policies and procedures support services that we put in place going forward.
EB:
It’s interesting, because Mount Allison has been compared in the past with other universities in terms of reporting, but there is no standard, is there, among universities about how to track incidents, these reports? There there seems to be no sort of standard measurement or way to track these things, among universities?
JPB:
It’s true there are a range of ways in which different institutions track. To your point, if we can come up with a model that is, I hope, a beacon of hope for other institutions… I hope Mount Allison University can be that institution that will create a new way of doing this, a better way of doing it, a way that really brings about the structural support and change that our students are asking for.
If history shows us anything, it’s that we need to move to a more fundamental shift in how we deal with the problem. And that shift will absolutely involve our students, they will be part of the solution going forward for Mount Allison University.
EB:
Will moving forward with its action plan require buy in from the Board of Regents and budgetary changes? Or will will you as the administrator just be able to move ahead with what you’ve outlined so far?
JPB:
Well, we know we represent management of the university, and we’re going to bring forward our action plan, of course, to the Board of Regents. I’ve spoken with our board, and spoken with our board chair. They’re very committed. I will be giving an update to the board next week with regards to the action plan. And I’m confident we’ll have the full support, the unwavering support of the Board of Regents with regards to this action plan.
EB:
Is there anything you wanted to add today, Dr. Boudreau?
JPB:
I would simply add that I commend the students for coming forward. This really allows us to make the necessary changes to support our students. And I look forward to working with our students, our faculty, and the outside experts to bring about that change that’s needed.
And I look forward to being part of that process. I look forward to Mount Allison being measured in the future as to how we’ve responded to this. And I hope that we can, in fact, be a beacon of hope, in terms of the broader post-secondary education sector, in how we’ve responded and how we can make a difference in providing the best possible support for our students today and going forward.
The only last thing I might mention… I would just highlight that we’re at an inflection point with this. And this is an opportunity for us to learn. This is a learning moment for the university. And I think this will bring about change and healing for our students and our community. And I look forward to leading the process. I look forward to being part of this. I look forward to hearing from our students and their voices matter. And I think if anything this past week has really shown us, is those stories are powerful. That is why we’re committing to an open, transparent process that will involve our students to help restore the trust.
EB:
All right. Well, thanks very much for your time today, Dr. Boudreau.
JPB:
My pleasure. Thank you so much for calling.
