Dear Colleagues,
We are reaching out to you regarding serious safety concerns that underscore significant failures by the University’s senior Administration to take appropriate and timely action to ensure safe working conditions for UTFA members.
In order to protect the safety and privacy of all members involved in the serious security incident, UTFA will not be sharing the details. We can share that we grew concerned for the safety of UTFA members and the safety of the broader U of T community, following reports of threatening behaviour by a U of T student that included, but wasn’t limited to, repeated verbal threats and acts of physical intimidation. Individual faculty members, and later UTFA leadership, raised the alarm directly with the senior Administration, but the Administration failed to take reasonable steps to protect UTFA members' safety or to properly advise faculty or the broader University community of the existence of a safety threat.
We are concerned that this was not an isolated failure. As a result, UTFA has been seeking answers from senior administrators as to why student threats are not being dealt with appropriately under the University’s Code of Student Conduct or the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The Administration’s current handling of serious and credible threats from students, directed at faculty and other members of the university community, is creating an unsafe campus environment for our members and all community members. This is simply and unequivocally unacceptable. UTFA is challenging the Administration on several grounds for failing to take adequate measures to protect faculty members' health and safety in response to student threats. UTFA will continue to keep members apprised of our efforts.
In aid of these efforts, UTFA is asking members to contact UTFA Advice advice@utfa.org if they have experienced incidents of violence, threats of violence (direct or implied), physical intimidation, and/or verbal intimidation from students (or anyone) that were not dealt with appropriately by the Administration. Member information will be kept confidential.
Further, if you have concerns–at any time–about how the University Administration is handling a safety issue, UTFA is available to provide confidential advice and support. You may contact advice@utfa.org for assistance.
Sincerely,
Terezia Zorić
UTFA President
Jun Nogami
UTFA President-elect