HALIFAX -- The last dentistry student to return to Dalhousie University in Halifax following a suspension over an inappropriate Facebook group says he will complete his ordered remediation process.
In a statement issued through his lawyer on Sunday, Ryan Millet said he has decided to take part in remediation sessions as required by an academic standards class committee.
"I am willingly engaging in the remediation training sessions with an open mind to further my education in this subject," Millet said.
Millet's lawyer, Bruce MacIntosh, issued a statement earlier this month to say that his client will be permitted to graduate only once he finishes remediation to the satisfaction of the standards committee.
Dalhousie suspended 13 fourth-year male students about two months ago for being members of a Facebook page that contained sexually violent content about female classmates.
"I tried to address issues within the group, however imperfectly. I did so both before and after the controversial Facebook entries became public," Millet said in his statement.
"The Committee has concluded that I had a proactive duty to report and subsequently disassociate myself from the Facebook Group, which I did do, but not in the timetable they desired."
Millet said his defence to the committee has been unsuccessful and that it's now more important to move on with his career, as well as support his wife and three young children, by completing his degree.
Millet's lawyers issued a statement earlier this month that said a restorative justice program taken by the other 12 men in his class was made available to him if he admitted to unprofessionalism, but he was not invited to continue to participate after refusing to acknowledge his guilt.
Jennifer Llewellyn, an advisor to Dalhousie's restorative justice program, said this is not the case.
"No one has been asked to leave and everyone has been invited and continues to be invited to take part in the restorative justice program at Dalhousie. The only requirement of all the participants is that they agree to be truthful about what they did," Llewellyn said.
"Guilt is not a requirement within the restorative process."