New UPEI plan a first step, but more action wanted now

There is now a clearer picture of what the University of Prince Edward Island intends to do to address the scathing Rubin Thomlinson Report, released in 2023, which contains allegations of a toxic culture, sexual assault, and secrecy and obstruction by university leadership.

Late Wednesday the university released a preliminary draft of the UPEI Action Plan, a five-year plan meant to address the accusations in the report.

“Very specific steps within it. It’s a plan that will lead to an auditable process moving forward,” said Greg Keefe, interim president for UPEI. “It commits the university to action.”

Keefe said consultations include input from more than 350 campus members, two town hall meetings, and 16 of what he calls listening sessions, all totalling more than 650 hours of work and 250 recommended actions.

He said this will be a second look for many, who can add more comments or clarity so their issues are addressed by the plan.

“It’s extremely comprehensive, but we want to ensure that others have the opportunity to weigh in,” said Keefe. “Give their opinions of whether there are substantive gaps here.”

He said the cost of implementing the plan isn’t know yet, but they have already created seven new positions to help meet the goals.

The UPEI Faculty Association says it’s happy to see a plan, but people facing the kind of issues outlined in the Rubin Thomlinson Report need help now, and there are things the university could do immediately to improve the situation.

“We’ve been saying, you know, ‘We need to deal with things now, as well as in the future,’” said Margot Rejskind, executive director of the Faculty Association. “They have repeatedly declined to do that, so it does bring into question how much of this will actually become action, and I think that that’s a big question for us right now.”

Community consultation on the 95-page document is open until Jan. 17.

Once this round of consultation is finished, the university has promised to update the report. The completed plan is expected to be released by the end of March.

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