And I may or may not do that here... maybe I'll just say I've moved from desperate to cheerful for a fair while which is a nice switch. A couple of women who were at Human Body Project events in Victoria talked about the experience as being liberating in a joyful sense. To which, I thought, no it isn't (I mean not for me). But in ways it would take me to long to explain, their appearance and energy and expression, as well as many others', has helped me move into a more liberated way of being. I want to say how grateful I am to all the beautiful people I met or spent time with in Calgary, Edmonton, and Victoria. The reverberations continue.
I will continue with Barb's testimony (previous blog post) soon.
What I want to focus on today is really up for me right now and has really shaken me and is very painful. In July, before I left Lethbridge, the longtime, recently retired vice-president of Lethbridge College, where I work, was arrested and charged with possessing, accessing and distributing child pornography. The examples reported were described as pre-teen hard core and the reported ages of the children involved ranged from 2-11 years old.
Though apparently an email from the president went around (my office mates and I, all casual instructors, don't remember receiving one) and, though the arrest was reported in the news, which I don't follow, I never heard a word about it until this past weekend.
As an aside, a comparative example: when an instructor was fired several years ago for having affairs with a few students, all of whom were over 18 (I believe they were all even over 21; I'm pretty sure there were only four of them and that no grades were involved) it was a topic of conversation and I got a steady stream of emails about issues relating to his indiscretions. (By the way, the currently charged ex-VP was LC's pointman to basically vilify the instructor who challenged the firing and is back teaching at LC.)
Of course, I was very disturbed and shocked by the allegations against the VP. But it wasn't until today when I finally had time to google the news reports ("Richard Buis charges" will do it) that I really became upset.
The news reports in early July quoted Tracy Edwards, LC college president, as saying:
"The college is deeply concerned about these charges; we participated in the confidential police investigation in the spring. We became involved because Rick is alleged to have kept some of the illegal material on his college laptop computer.
The news reports in early July quoted Tracy Edwards, LC college president, as saying:
"The college is deeply concerned about these charges; we participated in the confidential police investigation in the spring. We became involved because Rick is alleged to have kept some of the illegal material on his college laptop computer.
Members of the Senior Leadership Team are reviewing the situation and we do not believe there has been any activity that has put our staff, students or the reputation of the College at risk. The college has clear policies related to illegal or inappropriate use of college property, including computer equipment. It is not practical, nor do we believe it is appropriate, to closely monitor all college computer use. Our approach is to investigate when there is cause for concern. That being said, our computer and Internet use policies are in the process of being reviewed and updated.
I am sorry to report this disturbing and regrettable news. Lethbridge College is no different from other institutions in that we are made up of human beings who have issues in their personal lives. At times like this we need to rely on our values of trust and respect to guide our actions, and remind ourselves of the importance of maintaining a safe, positive, collaborative and sustaining environment for all students, staff and faculty members."
This statement really threw me. I cannot get past sexual abuse of real 2-11 year-old children being equated with "issues in our personal lives" or "regrettable news" or college computer security issues. How do we not mention the 2-11-year-olds that we all read about and get back to a safe, trusting, positive, collaborative environment? That's when I felt like I had been kicked in the guts. To me, saying nothing would have been better than this crafted response.
I emailed the president to ask her if I could talk to her in person about my very strong reaction to it. I didn't actually wait to check for her reply (which was pretty dismissive when I did read it) because I was sobbing in my office and decided to take that pain to hers.
What I ask myself is how bad does it have to get before the reaction goes from corporate to human? If Tracy Edwards is the corporate face of Lethbridge College--which, really, is her job and every other college president's job--who is the human face?
I was not calm in Tracy Edwards's office. I told her I was there because, from my perspective, Rick was an elder in our community who had betrayed all of us. And the community needed healing.
She reminded me that he no longer works at the college (he resigned in April, after being at the college for more than 20 years, with accolades from her accompanying his resignation as I recall) and that he is innocent until proven guilty (his court date is on Thursday). She also basically said the leadership team thought it best to move on because the damage is done.
This is the part I find most disturbing: she said I am the only person who has come forward to complain about the college's response, which, she felt indicated that there is no need for a different approach.
It must have been horrible for her to find out about this guy she has been working with for many years. And I appreciate that knowing what to do must have been a very tough call. But I can't agree with her--except for the incredible fact that I am the only one who has said anything!
This is not something that should be moved on from. Even if he is not guilty, I would have said the college community needs to grieve the very real feeling of deep betrayal and the possible horror of sexual abuse of small children by a supposedly trusted and respected leader of the institution. (I will not hear the argument that users don't actually abuse children in pornography--these are real children.) If, as we are constantly notified at-all-news-is-good-news LC, we are a community, shouldn't we actually be one? I believe the grief of this must be addressed as a community and those 2-11-year-old children must be honoured.
I also wonder about stuff like how to continue working there and who is the human face of any institution and the broken trusts that litter our landscape...
I am sorry to report this disturbing and regrettable news. Lethbridge College is no different from other institutions in that we are made up of human beings who have issues in their personal lives. At times like this we need to rely on our values of trust and respect to guide our actions, and remind ourselves of the importance of maintaining a safe, positive, collaborative and sustaining environment for all students, staff and faculty members."
This statement really threw me. I cannot get past sexual abuse of real 2-11 year-old children being equated with "issues in our personal lives" or "regrettable news" or college computer security issues. How do we not mention the 2-11-year-olds that we all read about and get back to a safe, trusting, positive, collaborative environment? That's when I felt like I had been kicked in the guts. To me, saying nothing would have been better than this crafted response.
I emailed the president to ask her if I could talk to her in person about my very strong reaction to it. I didn't actually wait to check for her reply (which was pretty dismissive when I did read it) because I was sobbing in my office and decided to take that pain to hers.
What I ask myself is how bad does it have to get before the reaction goes from corporate to human? If Tracy Edwards is the corporate face of Lethbridge College--which, really, is her job and every other college president's job--who is the human face?
I was not calm in Tracy Edwards's office. I told her I was there because, from my perspective, Rick was an elder in our community who had betrayed all of us. And the community needed healing.
She reminded me that he no longer works at the college (he resigned in April, after being at the college for more than 20 years, with accolades from her accompanying his resignation as I recall) and that he is innocent until proven guilty (his court date is on Thursday). She also basically said the leadership team thought it best to move on because the damage is done.
This is the part I find most disturbing: she said I am the only person who has come forward to complain about the college's response, which, she felt indicated that there is no need for a different approach.
It must have been horrible for her to find out about this guy she has been working with for many years. And I appreciate that knowing what to do must have been a very tough call. But I can't agree with her--except for the incredible fact that I am the only one who has said anything!
This is not something that should be moved on from. Even if he is not guilty, I would have said the college community needs to grieve the very real feeling of deep betrayal and the possible horror of sexual abuse of small children by a supposedly trusted and respected leader of the institution. (I will not hear the argument that users don't actually abuse children in pornography--these are real children.) If, as we are constantly notified at-all-news-is-good-news LC, we are a community, shouldn't we actually be one? I believe the grief of this must be addressed as a community and those 2-11-year-old children must be honoured.
I also wonder about stuff like how to continue working there and who is the human face of any institution and the broken trusts that litter our landscape...
No comments:
Post a Comment