PEIThe union that represents academic staff at UPEI says its members are happy the university has backed down from a legal challenge over releasing more details of a scathing report into allegations of workplace misconduct.Grievance stemmed from findings of Rubin Thomlinson review Brittany Spencer · CBC News · Posted: Nov 26, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 4 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.UPEI Faculty Association pleased to see university back down from legal challengeThere is a resolution in a years-long dispute between UPEI and the university’s faculty association. The university has dropped a legal challenge, and released more information from a third-party review into issues on campus. But the union that represents academic staff says there are still a lot of concerns. CBC’s Laura Meader reports. The union that represents academic staff at UPEI says its members are happy the university has backed down from a legal challenge over releasing more details of a scathing report into allegations of workplace misconduct.The faculty association said it reached a settlement with the university earlier this month over a grievance it filed back in 2023 claiming UPEI violated the association’s collective agreement by failing to take steps to ensure the health and safety of its members. According to the association, part of the settlement involved the university admitting it violated the collective agreement — something the union said is “tremendously important.”“This is really [the university] saying, ‘No we violated the law, we violated the collective agreement,’” said Margot Rejskind, executive director of the UPEI Faculty Association. She said UPEI’s declaration will give the union more strength when filing grievances in the future because it proves the university is aware of instances of workplace harassment, failures to investigate past complaints and how it needs to improve moving forward.Grievance originally filed in 2023The faculty association initially filed the grievance back in July 2023, after the university released a redacted copy of a third-party review looking into allegations of workplace misconduct at UPEI. That report, completed by the firm Rubin Thomlinson, concluded the university “failed to create a safe, respectful, and positive environment for working and learning for all members of its community” and described “dire” problems on campus that it said “should raise alarm bells and spark urgent action.”The firm was hired after former UPEI president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz resigned in December 2021, citing health reasons. The resignation came after fresh allegations of misconduct were brought forward against him. He had been the subject of two previous complaints years earlier.In an email sent to faculty members on Nov. 20, the association said UPEI was ordered to provide the association with a less-redacted copy of the Rubin Thomlinson report as part of the arbitration process. According to the email, UPEI filed to appeal the order through a judicial review by the Supreme Court of P.E.I.’The question of why they would have fought so hard and spent so many resources to keep these things from being released, I think is a serious question,’ says UPEI Faculty Association executive director Margot Rejskind. (Laura Meader/CBC)Rejskind told CBC News this week that the settlement involved UPEI abandoning its petition for the judicial review and publishing an updated version of the report, which was made available on the university’s website in September.“The university decided, after fighting us for two years… they had decided in fact that they would settle,” said Rejskind.‘It’s embarrassing’The latest version of the report includes comments from staff members about the workplace culture at UPEI. “Human Resources policies are not there to help those who are being bullied, but to smooth and shush over situations to have everyone go back to work,” reads one of the formerly redacted comments. Another stated: “UPEI and the Board of Governors of UPEI are primarily interested in protecting… their reputations and not the safety and wellbeing of community members.” Rejskind said the less-redacted version of the report begs more questions. “It’s embarrassing to UPEI, it’s embarrassing to HR, it’s embarrassing to the board of governors, sure. But the whole report was embarrassing to all of those groups, so why would these things have been redacted to begin with?” she said.Rejskind said she understands the need to protect sensitive, private information in the report, but doesn’t understand why UPEI fought so hard and spent so much money in legal fees to keep the formerly redacted comments from the public.CBC News requested an interview with UPEI, but no one was made available. Instead, a spokesperson referred CBC to a news release posted to its website Sept. 16. “UPEI acknowledges that, during the time period examined in the Rubin Thomlinson report, UPEI failed to create a safe, respectful, and positive environment for working and learning for all members of the community, violating UPEI’s collective agreement with the Faculty Association, as well as the P.E.I. Occupational Health and Safety Act,” the release states.� It goes on to say the university has “been clear in its commitment to change” and is continuing its work to implement the recommendations put forward in the Rubin Thomlinson report.As part of that work, UPEI created a department of equity, diversity, inclusion and human rights (EDIHR). ‘Almost like they were going backwards’But the EDIHR department’s former director, Sobia Ali-Faisal, said she was fired without notice — and she’s worried that UPEI is headed in the wrong direction. Sobia Ali-Faisal, former director of the department of equity, diversity, inclusion and human rights says she has seen the excitement from the university to make changes disappear from the community. (Zoom)”In the last few months that I was there, things were feeling less and less like they were going in the right direction. It’s almost like they were going backwards,” she said.”That excitement that was there in the initial days of, ‘Okay, UPEI is really interested in creating change,’ I have seen that disappear in community.”In an emailed statement, the university said a recent audit confirms it is on track with its six-year action plan to implement the recommendations in the Rubin Thomlinson report, and that its EDIHR office now has eight staff members.“The work completed in the early stages of our Action Plan, including the revision of policies and changes to leadership, has established a strong foundation for change,” the statement reads. “Building a culture of trust grounded in transparency, accountability and meaningful action is the university’s utmost priority… We are building momentum as we continue our work.”ABOUT THE AUTHORBrittany Spencer is a multi-platform reporter and producer with CBC Prince Edward Island. She’s covered politics, health care and the justice system. She’s a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s journalism program and joined CBC in 2017. You can reach her at brittany.spencer@cbc.caWith files from Laura Meader
Faculty reaches settlement with UPEI over workplace misconduct report
