On Sept. 1, Jerry Tomberlin, Carleton University’s former provost and vice-president (academic), formally assumed the role of interim president and vice-chancellor.
His promotion comes months after Meg Lonergan, a contract instructor and picket line lead during the CUPE 4600 strike, first alleged he harassed them—a complaint which has yet to be investigated.
CUPE 4600 filed a Unit 2 grievance on behalf of Lonergan with the Office of the Deputy Provost on April 21, documents and emails obtained by the Charlatan show.
Since then, Lonergan said they haven’t “heard anything from the university about the harassment complaint.”
“They’re required by law and by Carleton policy to investigate claims of harassment,” they added. “The radio silence is pretty concerning.”
Employers are mandated to ensure “an investigation is conducted into incidents and complaints of workplace harassment” under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
“The University will investigate and deal with all reports of workplace harassment in a fair and timely manner, respecting the confidentiality of all persons involved as much as possible,” Carleton’s Workplace Harassment Prevention policy also states. “The results of the investigation and corrective action will be communicated to the worker(s) involved as required by law.”
The Charlatan asked the university to comment on why it opted not to investigate Tomberlin for harassment ahead of his promotion and whether Lonergan’s case reflects standard human resources practice at Carleton. The university was also asked whether it plans to undertake an investigation of Lonergan’s claims in the near future.
“Carleton is committed to ensuring a healthy, safe and respectful workplace environment,” the university responded over email. “Complaints of harassment are taken seriously and dealt with in accordance with university policy, as applicable. Carleton is unable to comment on labour and employment matters due to privacy law.”
Since filing the complaint five months ago, Lonergan said, they have not received an email from the university’s human resources department acknowledging receipt of their complaint.
“I’m having to consider whether or not I’m going to file a complaint under human rights with the province,” they said. “[That would be] a huge effort on my part and a bad look on the school. So that’s been really disappointing, because really, what I wanted was an acknowledgement of what happened.”
Carleton publicly announced Tomberlin would be serving as interim president on July 20, following the departure of former president Benoit-Antoine Bacon.
The university—and the former provost himself—faced public criticism from a number of students and faculty members for controversial action during the recent CUPE 4600 strike, including wage clawbacks, the use of private security and a revised grading policy.
CUPE 4600 represents all teaching assistants, internally-funded research assistants and contract instructors at Carleton. The labour dispute saw nearly 3,000 education workers take strike action during the winter 2023 semester.
‘Real disservice to the Carleton community’
“I think a lot of people backed off on asking [Tomberlin] to resign over his behaviour during the strike because he was set to retire,” Lonergan said. “I think it was a real disservice to the Carleton community to then basically promote him.”
In a July interview, CUPE 4600 president Noreen Cauley-Le Fevre declined to comment on specific cases but said “a number of grievances” are still considered active.
“This particular member is not the only one who felt targeted for being an active union member and for being a vocal presence on the picket line,” she said. “So many of our members have felt targeted for the actions they took during the strike.”
A July 31 university communications email obtained by the Charlatan said an advisory committee for the president and vice-chancellor search will begin its work in September and finish in June 2024.
Lonergan said they aren’t “too upset” about the prospective timeline, given CUPE 2424’s collective agreement expired in July, requiring a return to the bargaining table. CUPE 2424 represents more than 1,000 support staff at the university.
“Their capacity […] to do that search for the new president is probably diminished,” Lonergan said. “I’d rather they take their time and find a good fit.”
Featured image by Cassandra Bellefeuille. With files from Faith Greco.
