A settlement has been reached between Concordia University’s Arts and Science Faculty Association (ASFA) and a former student executive of the association, eight months after she came forward with a story that her fellow executives racially and sexually harassed her.
The student, who goes by the pseudonym “Mei-Ling,” said in April that when she was an ASFA executive in 2013-14, she had been racially and sexually harassed by two men, also executives.
The settlement includes an undisclosed amount of money as compensation, an apology letter from ASFA to Mei-Ling, and the creation of an inter-university task force to help combat sexual violence and racism on Quebec campuses.
Mei-Ling, who is part Chinese and part Italian, said her experience made her avoid her own workplace as much as possible. She said she had stumbled upon a Facebook conversation between the two men who referred to her as a “chink slave.”
She said in the conversation, one man wrote, “Dude, we HAVE to fuck her,” and “if she doesn’t suck our dicks, impeached.”
Two men have since left ASFA. The association represents more than 15,000 students.
Mediation began when Mei-Ling came forward with her complaint earlier this year. A settlement was reached on Nov. 19 at a meeting between Jenna Cocullo, the newly-elected ASFA president, another ASFA executive, Mei-Ling, and her legal counsel.
Mei-Ling, with help from Montreal-based civil rights organization Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), filed a complaint in March with the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission against the ASFA and the two men allegedly involved.
Fo Niemi, executive director of CRARR, said he is satisfied with the outcome of the settlement.
Mei-Ling was exposed to what Niemi called “double hurt,” as she was targeted for her race and sex.
She has received the apology letter from ASFA and said it is heartfelt.
“It identifies all the problems that I went through and really acknowledges ASFA as having been a letdown, which it was to me as a first-year student,” she said.
Until the settlement was reached, ASFA didn’t publicly acknowledge their role in the harassment and discrimination, Mei-Ling said.
“I really trust in [ASFA’s] new leadership so I have faith. I’ve also decided to keep a less hands-on role, because I strongly believe that this really isn’t about me, Mei-Ling, as a person. It’s about a solution to a problem,” she said.
She said she will not be filing a complaint against Concordia, although she still believes “they are in the wrong.”
When Mei-Ling went to Concordia’s dean of students, Andrew Woodall, she said she was told there was nothing the school could do.
“He told me that because these were private [conversations] there was nothing to be done, and because this was so common and ubiquitous in student associations I should just try to overlook it,” she said, “[That] I should find solace in knowing that I’m not the only one.”
Cocullo said ASFA is aiming to have the task force running by May with a team comprised of students from Concordia and experts from the community.
According to a CRARR press release, the task force’s mandate will look at violence and discrimination against women and minorities within student associations and other universities.
It will also work to ensure complaints like Mei-Ling’s will be “processed thoroughly and expediently in future cases.”
Mei-Ling and CRARR are awaiting the investigation from the Human Rights Commission on the two former ASFA executives.
“Until then, I pursue my own interests and just kind of move on,” Mei-Ling said. “The fact that I’m anonymous is mostly because I don’t want this to define me. I’m not the girl who was harassed and bullied, I’m a girl who happened to be harassed and bullied, but that’s not the highlight of my life.”
