UPEI issues apology, releases two women who accused former school president of sexual harassment from NDAs

The University of Prince Edward Island has released two women who accused the former school president of sexual harassment from non-disclosure agreements, and issued a public apology Thursday.

Wendy Carroll and Erin Casey brought forward allegations of sexual harassment against former university president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz to the provincial human rights commission, and in 2013 were offered settlements from the school, signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

“For its part, the university has now provided Erin and Wendy with permanent release from their NDAs. The university will not prevent them from having their voices heard and from sharing their stories,” said Shannon MacDonald, chair of the UPEI board of governors, in a statement Thursday.

MacDonald said she has listened to Carroll and Casey talk about their journey over the past 10 years.

“We deeply regret the impact that the university’s response had on their personal and professional lives. We are sorry,” reads the statement.

In a joint statement from Carroll and Casey, shared by the university, the two thanked board chair MacDonald for “coming to the table in the spirit of restoration and reconciliation.”

“After 11 years of silence, we feel heard,” they said in the statement.

“Our goal has always been, and remains, to ensure that what happened to us never happens to anyone else… We’ve reclaimed our voices.”

The apology follows the release of the University of Prince Edward Island Review, which was commissioned shortly after Abd-El-Aziz announced his retirement in late 2021. He had been on administrative leave since then, collecting payment from the university under the terms of his contract, until the report was released in June.

Abd-El-Aziz’s name is mentioned only three times in the partially redacted 96-page report conducted by Toronto-based law firm Rubin Thomlinson. The review concludes the school has a toxic culture of bullying, harassment and racism.

The report does not, however, contain any findings regarding the allegations of misconduct against the former president.

The university says allegations were contained in a secondary component of the report not released to the public.

“It’s to protect, predominantly protect, the complainant and any witnesses that participated in the report,” Pat Sinnott said on June 15 when the report was released. He had been the chair of the UPEI Board of Governors since 2015 and resigned the week after the report was released.

The report references the two 2013 complaints, and noted that while those complainants were willing to participate in the review, they were unable to under the conditions of their NDAs.

Much of the document instead deals with the higher-level culture of the university, as the authors describe it:

“What we heard during our review was troubling. While the information we gathered about participants' experiences did have some positive elements, an overwhelming number of survey participants made comments to the effect that UPEI has a toxic and/or bullying environment. In addition, the environment was described as one in which there are frequent racist, sexist, ableist and heteronormative behaviours.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Jack Morse.

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