By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
During an Oct. 27 public meeting of the Champlain CEGEP Board of Governors in Lennoxville, the Champlain Lennoxville teacher’s union made a statement concerning a recent news report outlining alleged psychological harassment and other problems at the institution, asking “what concrete actions you will take to address [them]”. Board Chair Matthew Mazur presided over the meeting, which started nearly an hour later than advertised and had around 20 members of the public in attendance, including two Higher Education Ministry investigators charged to look into the finances and management of the CEGEP as a whole.
Near the beginning of the meeting, Mazur acknowledged that follow-up questions were sent into the board by the news organization that released the article in question. A board member asked if a response to the allegations would be made during the meeting and was told it would be dealt with during the “correspondence” portion of the meeting. During the “correspondence” portion of the meeting, receipt of the questions was officially acknowledged and a commitment to circulating the follow-up questions among the board and “answering appropriately” was made, but no timeframe was given. No official response to the allegations was given.
Question period- union statement
Geneviève Dufresne-Martin, a vice-president and treasurer of the Syndicat de L’Enseignment du Collège Champlain de Lennoxville (SECCL), represented the union in reading out a statement to the board during the question period, detailed below:
On Oct. 26, a news organization published an article detailing allegations that the head of Champlain Lennoxville, Nancy Beattie, created a toxic workplace and psychologically harassed others. “Since then, there has been a steady stream of faculty members that have communicated their understandable concerns to the union executive of the… SECCL.”
“For many years now, the union has witnessed numerous problems related to the work climate and governance at Champlain College Lennoxville and has brought these to the attention of Human Resources (HR), discussed them in our regular litigation prevention meetings with the representatives of the College Administration, formally relayed our preoccupations to the interim Director General, Mr. Yves Rainville. Despite the union’s many efforts, the issues have yet to be fully addressed and resolved.”
“Unfortunately, many events over the past few years have contributed to the deterioration of the overall climate and have eroded the faculty’s trust in the College Administration. We are therefore turning to the Champlain Board of Governors to ask what concrete actions you will take to address the problems raised in the article and by our union and what timeframe you propose for the implementation of these actions.”
The article was signed by the executive members of the SECCL, the President of which is Brigitte Robert.
Mazur thanked the union for their statement and stated that the situation is “ongoing”. He assured the group that the board is actively cooperating with the investigation and the timeframe for action depends on its results. “Hopefully we find a resolution,” he said, to conclude his response.
A former member of the board in attendance then asked what the board was going to do to “ensure the longevity of the leadership of the college”, regardless of whether or not the aforementioned allegations are true.
“I want to take things in a new direction,” Mazur responded, but he does not have a concrete answer to this question right now. A future action plan will depend on the recommendations resulting from the investigation. Everything will be made public, he assured the questioner, “this is a public meeting, a public forum… everything will go out to you guys.”
Another board member emphasized that the primary objective of the board was to “ensure the longevity of the institution”.