A former student politician at Concordia University’s largest faculty association has filed a complaint with the Quebec human rights commission against two male colleagues who she alleges made frequent and openly sexist and racist remarks about and to her.
The human rights complaint comes after the student had a complaint dismissed by Concordia’s Office of Rights and Responsibilities regarding a degrading Facebook conversation about her between the two men, who were also elected executives.
As a past elected executive for Concordia’s Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA), “Mei-Ling,” who is using a pseudonym to shield herself from further cyber bullying, said she stumbled upon the Facebook conversation left open on a computer in ASFA’s office.
Mei-Ling, who is part Chinese and part Italian, said she was shocked by the conversation, but said it only confirmed to her the prejudiced mindset she assumed the two men had.
In the conversation, one man wrote, “Dude, we HAVE to fuck her,” and “if she doesn’t suck our dicks, impeached.”
The men also called her a “chink slave,” “internet troll,” and “horny slut.”
“I tried so hard after that to think if it was something I did,” Mei-Ling said. “I blamed myself for a really long time.”
ASFA, which represents 15,000 undergraduate arts and science students at Concordia, did not return requests for an interview.
The day after Mei-Ling had finished her mandate, she spoke to the dean of students, Andrew Woodall. Mei-Ling said he expressed shock over screenshots of the conversation and, with her still in his office, called Louise Schiller, the director of the Office of Rights and Responsibilities.
“She told him there was nothing the university could do because these conversations were private,” Mei-Ling said.
The two men made racist and sexist remarks in front of her, Mei-Ling said.
“They would make openly sexist and racist remarks about other people which made me incredibly uncomfortable,” she said. “I came to learn that some of the things they said were about me.”
The two men would often role play conversations that occurred between them and Mei-Ling but with sexualized twists, she said.
She said she reached a point where she avoided the ASFA office during the day, and at times had her parents accompany her to the office.
Mei-Ling told other female members of the executive about the harassment, who then told her to not care.
“They’d say, ‘What I’d do is just joke about it and then it just kind of goes away,’” she said.
The Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), a Montreal-based civil rights organization, filed the human rights complaint on her behalf.
“Other women have been subject to all kinds of sexist slurs and other discriminatory attitudes,” said Fo Niemi, CRARR’s executive director. “She’s not the only one to be exposed to a poisoned environment.”
Anaïs Van Vliet, an administrative co-ordinator at Concordia’s Centre of Gender Advocacy, said they are now asking for mandatory training on harassment and discrimination for all student leaders.
Concordia president Alan Shepard released a statement April 1 that said he was troubled by the allegations of sexist and racist behaviour and that an upcoming review of Concordia’s sexual assault policy “will provide recommendations on simplifying the process for reporting and combatting such behaviour.”
Shepard has since reached out to Mei-Ling, but she said she hoped for more in his statement.
“It didn’t specify what action he’d be taking . . . or an explanation why the system failed,” she said.
Mei-Ling said she has received messages of support from other women and people at Concordia.
“There’s one quote that has really kept me strong throughout the year,” she said. “’Don’t let anyone make you feel inferior without your consent.’”
