Two Gee-Gees hockey players found not guilty of sexual assault

The trial verdict is::: Not guilty.

The reaction of the University of Ottawa was to put out a press release defending former president Allan Rock's decision to punish the entire hockey team with indefinite suspension.

The University decided to further defame the hockey players rather than admit that Rock over-reacted in a politically motivated move to manage liability to the university's image:

The University of Ottawa will not comment on the decision rendered today by the Ontario Court of Justice in the sexual assault trial of two former Gee-Gees hockey players.

As we have stated previously, the University’s 2014 decision to suspend the men’s hockey program was based on the serious nature of allegations against team members and following the results of an independent investigation into the events in Thunder Bay that illustrated widespread misconduct unbecoming of University representatives. Today’s court ruling has no impact on that decision.

Additionally, the University has presented its statement of defense in a related class action lawsuit. Our statement speaks for itself and the University will not comment further on its substance.

Since 2014, the University of Ottawa has taken several key steps to counter sexual violence and harassment on campus, including the creation of a Task Force on Respect and Equality, along with an Action Team to implement the Task Force’s recommendations.

The University followed up on these efforts with the development and adoption in 2016 of a campus-wide policy on the prevention of sexual violence. This survivor-centric policy aims to maintain a campus culture that fosters respect for every individual in a University-wide environment that is free of harassment, discrimination and sexual violence. This policy takes into consideration how difficult it is for survivors to come forward.

Following the suspension of the hockey program, the University implemented new measures to provide student-athletes, coaches, administration and support staff in all varsity and competitive club sports with the support they need to ensure respectful and appropriate conduct. The University believes that these measures have fostered a positive environment for student-athletes and coaching staff.

The men’s varsity hockey program was relaunched in 2016 and this past season, the team made the playoffs for the second consecutive season under the leadership of Patrick Grandmaître.

LINKS TO MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT THE VERDICT:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/former-university-of-ottawa-hockey-players-not-guilty-of-sexual-assault-1.3988142

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/former-uottawa-hockey-players-found-not-guilty-of-sexual-assault

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/guillaume-donovan-david-foucher-live-1.4716283

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/06/25/former-university-of-ottawa-hockey-players-acquitted-on-sex-assault-charges.html

Denis Rancourt's letter to president Jacques Fremont of the University of Ottawa, Canada

This is about my own case of the University of Ottawa's egregious violations of my academic-freedom, civil and Charter rights, over many years. One rarely has the evidence of how far they can go.

This post is from my main blog, here: http://activistteacher.blogspot.ca/2018/02/denis-rancourts-letter-to-president.html

Former U of O Chancellor Michaelle Jean luxuriously "represents" francophone Africa

Paul Arcand (98.5 FM, Montreal) recently interviewed former Governor General of Canada and former Chancellor of the University of Ottawa (under the Allan Rock presidency) Michaelle Jean about her expenses and her role as Secrétaire générale de l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF):

Her justifications are exactly what they sound like (in French).

The interview was in response to disclosures in the Monreal popular press (LINK), and was followed by more (LINK).

Radio Canada this morning commented that her travel and living expenses are excessive, that her professional capacities are not up to the task, compared to her OIF predecessor, and that the Arcand interview illustrates these points.

Her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond recently made a National Film Board feature-length documentary film about her: HERE. Lafond defended his project to the media HERE.

A 2010 CBC profile of Jean is HERE.

Other U of O Watch blogposts that mention Michaelle Jean are HERE. Her Rock appointment at U of O was done in secrecy and had some controversy.

Allan Rock 'hopes' to become a law professor

Allan Rock's 8-year presidency at the University of Ottawa (Canada) ends this month (June 2016).

There has been some speculation about whether or not the newly elected Trudeau government would give the former federal minister and former Liberal candidate for Prime Minister a status job such as ambassador to a G8 country or Senate seat or high-level judgeship.

It appears that none of that is to pass (see below). Allan Rock is too much of a continued liability for the Liberal Party. Voters have not forgotten his three major political fiascos: the Irving ethics saga, tainted blood victim abandonment, and the gun registry costs manipulation.

Following his demotion from the Canadian ambassadorship at the UN, Rock continued to have a "shit magnet in his pocket" at the University of Ottawa where he decided that it would be a good idea for his family to start a legal marijuana enterprise in anticipation of a Trudeau legalization.

Furthermore, his actions at the U of O have led to unresolved legal cases, such as his unilateral dissolution of the entire student hockey team as part of his image management of sexual assault charges, which gave rise to a class action lawsuit against him and the school.

It is therefore not surprising that Trudeau is staying away from Rock, and is in no rush to legalize marijuana.

Yesterday, we learned in the school's alumnus magazine that:

"Rock is so deeply embedded in the University that he will not be gone for long. After a sabbatical, during which he will spend a semester at a U.S. law school, he hopes to teach in the Faculty of Law."

Therefore, in the tradition of Liberal nepotism, Rock "hopes" to be hired in the Faculty of Law where his "boss" would be dean Nathalie Des Rosiers, the dean he recently placed in that very position, after a period of allowing her to be in charge of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

One problem is that Rock does not have any graduate degree and is therefore not eligible for a tenure-track professorship position, if the rules of peer-committee selection are followed, which apply the academic standards on hiring.

Is Rock's planned "semester at a U.S. law School" intended to provided him with a "graduate degree", or experience that a peer-committee could interpret as equivalent to a graduate degree? If so, the value of a graduate law degree will have been degraded significantly.

Furthermore, how can Rock's "semester" be part of a "sabbatical" if he has not already been de facto hired as a professor, prior to any academic committee review?

I would recommend that a media organization make a freedom of information request to learn about the new agreement that the U of O (which Rock still heads) has made with Mr. Rock about his future.

Academic standards in the Faculty of Law are at stake, as is the very principle of university collegial governance.

Critical examination of Romeo Dallaire's role in Rwanda and connection to Allan Rock

Former Liberal Party of Canada heavyweight U of O president Allan Rock's previous stint was to push military interventionism, as Canada's ambassador to the UN. He then used the university to promote the "responsibility to protect" (R2P) doctrine directly to students and to the Canadian public.

Recently author/researcher Yves Engler critically exposed how R2P has been propped up by biased media coverage of former Liberal senator Romeo Dallaire's role in Rwanda:

"While two decades old, the distortion of the Rwandan tragedy continues to have political impacts today. It has given ideological cover to dictator Paul Kagame’s repeated invasions of the Congo and domestic repression. In addition, this foreign policy myth has been used to justify foreign military intervention as is the case with the current political crisis in Burundi. The myth of Dallaire in Rwanda is also cited to rationalize the Responsibility to Protect doctrine, when, in factm the true story illustrates the inevitable duplicitousness of foreign interventions."

Yves Engler, Romeo Dallaire in Rwanda: The Myth Continues, Dissident Voice, 28 December 2015.

Allan Rock will fight corruption at the University of Ottawa

U of O launches a "Canadian Centre of Excellence for Anti-Corruption"::: "Allan Rock, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ottawa, will give the opening remarks." (LINK)

In contrast, remember this? ::: "[Rock's] behaviour since the Irving affair became public has revealed him to be ethically challenged. […] it took Rock days to apologize. And he only grudgingly did so after Labour Minister Claudette Bradshaw rose in the Commons and offered an unqualified apology for accepting a ride on the Irving corporate jet three years ago. She also announced she was reimbursing the family for the flight." – Ottawa Citizen, November 8, 2003, page 1.

A short and incomplete video history of student activism at U of O...

Did you know about this YouTube channel "KrillKop"?

It has an eclectic collection of videos of past student activism against institutional logic at U of O.

Check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/user/Krillkop

Like the time Allan Rock lost his nerve with student Marc Kelly and yelled at him like a crazed university president...: HERE. (Marc had a recorder in his pocket.)

Or the time the Faculty of Science decided it needed hyper security against student walk-in inquiries...: HERE.

And many more.

Rock administration loses another access-to-information decision - Seven more Allan Rock emails ordered disclosed - IPC Order PO-3540-F

The University of Ottawa's poor record of systematically opposing access to information has been documented many times on this blog.

On October 15, 2015, the University of Ottawa lost another Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) decision (LINK to Student's-Eye View report). Seven (7) more Allan Rock emails were ordered disclosed: IPC Order PO-3540-F.

Here are excerpts from the decision:

[5] In this order, I do not uphold the university's decision to withhold the records pursuant to section 17(1) of the Act, and I order it to release the records to the appellant.

[8] The university argues that the records contain commercial information supplied to it by third parties and are exempt pursuant to the mandatory third party information exemption at section 17(1) ...

[12] The university goes on to submit that disclosure would result in such information not being provided to the university again. It submits that, at the commencement of or during the relationship between the university and a third party, high level exchanges of communications will often take place between the third party and senior executives of the university, Including the President. The university submits that it is important to these discussions that third parties be able to share information freely, and that if they learn that information which they provide may be disclosed, they may not be willing to engage in similar high-level strategic discussions. As a result, the university will be prejudiced in its ability to negotiate new projects and undertakings with third parties.

[14] The appellant submits that these records do not relate to "informational assets". He points out that the subject of record 164 is "visit to country", and the subject of record 209 is "country". ...

[25] I conclude that the university has not discharged its onus and that there is no reasonable expectation of the harm identified by the university occurring if the records are disclosed. Therefore, section 17(1) does not apply to them. ...

I order the university to disclose records 143, 164, 209, 219, 270, 271 and 272 to the appellant ... This disclosure is to take place by November 20, 2015...

Allan Rock responds to criticism of his planned avoidance of sexual assault training

Here is Allan Rock's you-got-my-attention response to THIS OPEN LETTER (LINK) from the student federation.

From: Allan Rock <arock@uottawa.ca>
Date: Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 8:50 AM
Subject: RE: Training regarding sexual violence on campus
To: Mireille Gervais <director.src@sfuo.ca>
Cc: Vice-recteur Etudes <vretudes@uottawa.ca>, Mona Nemer <mnemer@uottawa.ca>, Louis De Melo <ldemelo@uottawa.ca>, Marc Joyal <Marc.Joyal@uottawa.ca>, Diane Davidson <Diane.Davidson@uottawa.ca>, "Julien, Francois" <Julien@telfer.uottawa.ca>, Arts Dean <deanarts@uottawa.ca>, Nathalie Des Rosiers <Nathalie.Desrosiers@uottawa.ca>, Celine Levesque <Celine.Levesque@uottawa.ca>, DEDUC <deduc@uottawa.ca>, dean@genie.uottawa.ca, DEANGRAD <deangrad@uottawa.ca>, "Steve Perry (Dean, Science)" <deansci@uottawa.ca>, Marcel Merette <mmerette@uottawa.ca>, Helene Perrault <Helene.Perrault@uottawa.ca>, Jacques Bradwejn <Jacques.Bradwejn@uottawa.ca>, APUOPRES <apuopres@uottawa.ca>, "Coordonnateur.rice syndical.e Union Coordinator" <info@cupe2626.ca>, APTPUO info <info@aptpuo.ca>, PSUO President <president@psuo-ssuo.ca>, Vanessa Dorimain <vp.university@sfuo.ca>, Anne-Marie Roy <president@sfuo.ca>, Maxime Goulet-Delorme <redaction@larotonde.ca>, Nadia Drissi El-Bouzaidi <editor@thefulcrum.ca>, Ajà Besler <communications@gsaed.ca>, Caroline Andrew <candrew@uottawa.ca>, Lucie Allaire <Lucie.Allaire@uottawa.ca>, Michael Orsini <morsini@uottawa.ca>, Julien de Bellefeuille <jdebellefeuille@sfuo.ca>, Termeh Ataei <reception.src@sfuo.ca>, Jordan Alexander <advocate1@sfuo.ca>, Timothy Mott <tmott@sfuo.ca>, Cabinet du recteur - Office of the President <recteur@uottawa.ca>

Dear Mireille, 

Thank you for your message. I would also thank you and the team at the Student Rights Centre for taking the time to complete the training on sexual violence offered by CALACS and ORCC.

Your comments are certainly relevant and fair, and I would like to confirm that at the next AC/deans council meeting, on November 24, members of the University’s senior administration will receive the same two-hour training that has been offered to others on campus.  

In addition, once the new sexual violence protocol is approved, the Action Team and our Human Rights Office plan to hold an additional training session specifically on this topic for deans and members of the Administration Committee. Another training session will be held once the new policy on sexual violence is in place.

In terms of the evaluation process, the Action Team has hired an external reviewer to conduct a full evaluation of the CALACS and ORCC pilot project, which includes training sessions and counselling services on campus by the two organizations. Part of this review will involve evaluating the relevance and suitability of the training provided with a view to ensuring, in particular, that: 

·         Individuals who have completed the CALACS or ORCC training have a better understanding of the myths surrounding sexual assault and its various forms.

·         Individuals who have completed the CALACS or ORCC training have a better understanding of the notion of consent.

·         Training participants have developed the core competencies necessary to respond appropriately to a disclosure.

·         Training participants are familiar with the procedures and protocols in place at the University of Ottawa for cases of sexual assault and know where to refer members of the University community looking for support following an incident of sexual assault.

In order to complete her evaluation, the reviewer will first send a survey to all training participants. She will then conduct individual interviews and hold group discussions with members of the groups that attended the sessions in order to evaluate the skills and knowledge they acquired during the training.

I hope the information I have provided answers your questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss the matter further.

Sincerely, 

Allan 

Allan Rock Recteur et vice-chancelier | President and Vice-Chancellor Cabinet du recteur | Office of the President Université d'Ottawa | University of Ottawa Pavillon Tabaret | Tabaret Hall 550 Cumberland (212) Ottawa ON K1N 6N5 613-562-5809 | 1-888-uOttawa

Director of the Student Rights Centre is holding Allan Rock to account for his "lip service" to sexual violence recommendations

We all remember the national media celebration of Rock's strategy apparently intended to avoid taking radical (to the root) steps to address sexual violence (LINK-CBC). And we recall student groups not being convinced of Rock's authenticity in this matter (LINK1)(LINK2)(LINK3). The student view of Rock is not surprising given his first-reaction hesitance and denial (LINK).

Well now the Director of the Student Rights Centre (of the Student Federation University of Ottawa) is holding Mr. Rock to account regarding what appears to have been an elaborate media and corporate-image management device?

This is the open letter that was sent to president Rock and to some twenty or so university executives and student media:

From: Mireille Gervais <director.src@sfuo.ca>
Date: Fri, Oct 9, 2015 at 12:26 PM
Subject: Training regarding sexual violence on campus
To: [many]

Mr. Rock,

On Tuesday, October 6, 2015, the staff at the Student Rights Centre of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SRC-SFUO) attended the training organized by the U of O regarding sexual violence on campus. As you know, this training, which was delivered by the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre, was offered in an effort to implement some of the recommendations made in the Report of the Task Force on Respect and Equality: Ending Sexual Violence at the University of Ottawa (the Report). Specifically, the Report called for better leadership commitment, including mandatory training to all members of the senior administration: 

“We recommend that the University demonstrate its commitment to preventing sexual violence and promoting a culture of respect and equality by providing mandatory training to all members of the senior administration, including the deans, vice-deans and chief administrative officers of all ten faculties, on the nature and causes of, and solutions to, the issue of sexual violence, before the beginning of the 2015-2016 academic year” (section 6.2) 

The training we attended was scheduled for two hours, which in fact was not a sufficient amount of time to go through all the material that had been foreseen.

I have been informed that you, however, along with the other members of the upper administration as well as the deans, intend to receive a shortened version of this training, to last one hour, in November. 

In my opinion, this does not illustrate better leadership commitment on the part of the university administration. This is particularly worrying considering that in many cases, it is the deans themselves who have the responsibility to investigate and/or discipline alleged perpetrators of sexual violence. 

The training stresses the importance of considering power differential when discussing sexual violence. Considering that the upper administration, including the deans, hold the most power within our hierarchical structure, in my view, your training should be twice as long rather than twice as short.  

In light of this, please confirm that the upper administration, including the deans, will receive, minimally, the same training that was foreseen for the rest of the university community.

Furthermore, I am concerned that the short session that is planned will be a one-time occurrence that will not provide the necessary technical training to the deans. Sexual violence on campus is a serious and complex issue that demands ongoing discussion and education. In the interest of transparency, please provide the training plan for the upper administration beyond what might otherwise be seen as paying lip service to the recommendations made in the Report.

Finally, please inform us of the evaluation methods that will be implemented to ensure that the key concepts of the training have been understood. Considering the importance of this issue for our campus, I believe it is essential to ensure that the training has met its intended goals.

Sincerely,

Mireille Gervais
Directrice, Centre des droits étudiants
Director, Student Rights Centre

Fédération étudiante de l'Université d'Ottawa / Student Federation of the University of Ottawa
director.src@sfuo.ca
tel: 613-562-5800 X 2952
fax: 613-562-5767
UCU 101
www.rights.sfuo.ca

Yes! Rein in the U of O Rock administration MPP Peggy Sattler

MPP Peggy Sattler

Northumberlandview.ca reports (LINK):

Today, in Question Period NDP MPP for London West Peggy Sattler called on the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities to close loopholes and cap executive salaries at post-secondary institutions.

“[...] Now we are learning about a 50% salary increase for a University of Ottawa VP, over the two years since the public sector wage freeze took effect.  Allan Rock, the university president and former Liberal Cabinet Minister, is defending the increase, saying that it was ‘compliant’ with provincial law.” 

“Speaker, when it comes to post-secondary education, this government has no problem allowing tuition fees to skyrocket, no problem with poverty wages for teaching assistants and no problem replacing full-time jobs with contract staff. But it is not willing to hold the line on executive compensation.”

“Why is this government refusing to take real action to rein in the salaries of senior university administrators?” asked Sattler.

According to the Sunshine list, two executives at the University of Ottawa have seen their salaries balloon in less than two years. Sattler says students in Ontario pay the highest tuition in Canada and that the government needs to act now and draw a hard line on exorbitant salaries paid out to university executives.

“Speaker, Ontario university students pay the highest tuition fees in Canada, and have seen tuition more than triple over the past 20 years. Post-secondary students are among the fastest-growing group of food bank users, while student tuition dollars are being used to subsidize out-of-control executive salaries. The government talks about compensation frameworks, but what we need are hard caps that work.”

“When will the government close the loopholes, remove the wiggle room, and finally put a hard cap on salaries for senior university administrators?” Sattler asked.

Rock administration refuses to appoint the duly chosen director of the School of Political Studies -- It's political!

Professor Christian Rouillard

The U of O School of Political Studies academic staff is outraged by the machinations of the Rock administration in refusing to appoint the duly chosen next director of the School.

The School's top administrative members have co-signed THIS OPEN LETTER (LINK) to Allan Rock (in French, dated October 5, 2015), outlining outright machinations to avoid appointing the duly selected new director.

The said duly selected candidate (92% approval within the School) just happens to be Professor Christian Rouillard, the recent president of the professor's union (2011-2015), who has been a needed bulwark against the transgressions of the Rock administration.

The Open Letter explicitly describes a litany of moves that would make Kafka uncomfortable, and expressly identifies conflicts of interest, and breaches of procedural and natural justice.

[big mess big mess - university administration misbehaving] ... nous faisons donc appel, monsieur le recteur, à votre sens de responsabilité envers notre communauté universitaire, de justice procédurale et d’équité de traitement, de respect des processus collégiaux et de la convention collective, et vous demandons d’intervenir personnellement en appuyant la solution précédemment décrite pour mettre un terme à cette situation déplorable et inutilement conflictuelle.

Faculty association asks province to investigate raises given senior uOttawa administrators --Ottawa Citizen (media)

Faculty association asks province to investigate raises given senior uOttawa administrators (LINK)

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen 

Published on: October 6, 2015

The University of Ottawa faculty association is asking the province to investigate a $132,000 raise given to a senior university vice-president, a raise that came, the association says, while the university was required by law to keep salaries frozen.

In a letter to Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Reza Moridi, the association urges a “transparent public investigation” into the raises given to vice-president of research Dr. Mona Nemer and to Dr. Jacques Bradwejn, dean of the School of Medicine, the person who approved the raise.

Nemer’s pay jumped to $392,058 in 2014, from $259,754 in 2012 according to Ontario’s sunshine salary disclosure list, an increase of 50 per cent in two years. The association complained about the increase to the university’s board of governors this summer.

The university says $120,000 of that increase comes from four years’ worth of a $30,000 annual stipend that was paid in a lump sum to Nemer for her work as a cardiovascular scientist and is not related to work as an administrator.

“The salaries provided to our executives remain compliant with provincial law,” university president Allan Rock said in a July 13th letter to the Board of Governors. [...]

Automatic telephone receptionist's greeting at the University of Ottawa

If you called the general telephone number for the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, on December 12, 2008, this is what you heard: President Allan Rock personally asking how he can direct your call to "Canada's university".

It went viral the old-fashion way, on the telephone... so it did not last long. Just another Allan Rock gaffe it would seem.

After two mandates of Allan Rock, U of O standing continues to crash, and the false spin continues to gush -- again

Last month we learned that the U of O standing had collapsed by 66 spots (LINK), and we saw the university communications agent give blatantly false spin about the collapse (LINK).

As part of Rock not accepting responsibility for his record, the university shot back that it was in the top 200 in a separate ranking. Well, this week, that other ranking has released its 2015-2016 report... and guess what?

The U of O has dropped out of the top 200 list produced by Times Higher Education.

In response, Rock's communication front "blamed its decline in the rankings on Times Higher Education’s decision to double the number of universities it evaluated" (LINK).

It seems rather hard to swallow that on the one hand Rock has been claiming that U of O is in the top 200 universities, while on the other hand he now claims that if one considers more universities then it is not in the top 200 universities. Either the logical flaw here has escaped lawyer Rock, or Mr. Rock has intentionally been misleading the public. It's one or the other.

Furthermore, the new excuse given by Rock is not compatible with a reality in which the Times has explained "This is one of those cases where other institutions have simply improved more quickly." (LINK)

What is of even greater concern is that Rock's spin doctor has again given false spin to cover up Rock's record (LINK):

"In a statement Wednesday, the University of Ottawa noted it was still ranked eighth among universities in Canada".

Well, that is blatantly false. The Times 2015-2016 ranking, for Canadian universities, has U of O in twelfth place (LINK), behind U of T, UBC, McGill, McMaster, U of M, U of A, U of W, Western, U of C, Dalhousie, and Laval; and fifth in Ontario despite its size and being in Canada's capital.

That is twice now, in as many rankings, that the university administration has factually mislead the public in media interviews to cover up Rock's failure to increase the standing of the university. And Mr. Rock himself is personally being very silent on these reports.

Rock names U of O building after mr. nobody, without broad student consultation

Allan Rock has unilaterally named the Arts Building as "Hamelin Hall", after a former rector of the university who is a nobody in terms of scholarly or societal achievements. No one has ever heard of Marcel Hamelin.

Why should the normal growth of a university, funded by the government, such as buildings and study programs, be considered an achievement of the particular rector whose well-paid job it was to oversee the administration the said growth?

More importantly, why should such an honour be decided behind closed doors, without dominant leadership from the student body?

It seems to me that students know best who or which groups of people have most contributed to personal, cultural, and intellectual advancement in society. I don't think the principal of the school is ever that person for the majority of students. Do we celebrate the entrepreneurship of a company by honouring its accountant? Never. We give the accountant a gold watch and send him off to his comfortable retirement. We honour the inventors, founders, movers and builders, not the accountants that manage public resources.

Were are the students? Were are the staff? Why does Mr. Rock so disrespect and discount the academic community?

Allan Rock predictably sends out his director of communications rather than answer for his own record, caught making blatantly false spin

The U of O has taken a massive hit in its institutional reputation under Rock (LINK).

Rather than take responsibility and make a realistic assessment, Rock has sent out his director of communications to cry about the crash in the public media (LINK):

But some schools aren’t happy with that explanation. “We are disappointed by this change as it does not properly reflect our strengths and excellence,” said Patrick Charette, director of corporate communications for the University of Ottawa, which fell 66 spots to 284.

“Our university still ranks among the best universities in Canada and uOttawa researchers continue to excel,” Charette told Yahoo Canada News in a statement. “For four consecutive years, the University of Ottawa has been ranked among the top 200 universities worldwide by Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, for example.”

The school also ranked in the top-ten for reputation among Canadian universities according to the QS Rankings, Charette said. ...

Charette's last point is blatantly false spin. Oooops. The QS Ranking has U of O in 13th place among Canadian schools, behind the leaders (LINK):

24. McGill University
34. University of Toronto
50. University of British Columbia
96. University of Alberta
115. Université de Montréal
149. McMaster University
152. University of Waterloo
192. Western University (University of Western Ontario)
204. University of Calgary
206. Queen’s University
225. Simon Fraser University
277. Dalhousie University

U of O has, under Rock's leadership, dropped from being in the top ten Canadian schools, after almost eight years of Rock.

Furthermore, no other comparable Canadian school has fallen 66 spots. And the QS evaluators made it clear that:

... Simona Bizzozero, a spokeswoman for QS — whose annual rankings are considered among the three most influential in the world — said only about 30 per cent of the University of Ottawa’s decline was attributable to the new approach while the rest “reflects a genuine deterioration in some indicators.”

By misleading readers in this way, Rock through Charette does not give a good example coming from an institution of higher learning...

U of O crashes under Rock

U of O tumbles in world university rankings

Don Butler, Ottawa Citizen

Published on: September 15, 2015

“As a result, our ranking has changed significantly,” Charette said. “We are disappointed by this change, as it does not properly reflect our strengths and excellence.”

But Simona Bizzozero, a spokeswoman for QS — whose annual rankings are considered among the three most influential in the world — said only about 30 per cent of the University of Ottawa’s decline was attributable to the new approach while the rest “reflects a genuine deterioration in some indicators.”

President Allan Rock re-invented the school using his own people from outside rather than value the inside people, and has generally taken a confrontational approach with all the staff and student unions, rather than trying to include and work together.

The Rock approach has deeply eroded the university. A fish rots from the head down.

The last two VP-Academics have left. Professors are expected to jump onto Rock's bandwagon of globalization schemes, or be ignored. The Medical Neurology Department has been told that it could be closed by the College of Physicians. The professors' union has often noted unjustified increases in executive salaries. The school is being sued for millions because Rock dismissed the entire Gee-Gees hockey team without regard for the lives of the athletes, over criminal charges that involved two players. And when controversies have hit, Rock has systematically hidden behind someone or some committee, not hesitating to throw whoever under the bus (a VP-Academic, a coach, an entire hockey team...), and often made a point of being out of town. Now the francophone associations are calling for the creation of a real francophone university in Ontario. ...

Meanwhile Rock has a hand in a new family business of growing medical marijuana.

The damage will take some time to repair. The politician who was called "ethically challenged" by the Ottawa Citizen in 2003, before being shipped off to the UN and then landing on the steps of Tabaret Hall, moves on to greater things in 2016.

"[Rock's] behaviour since the Irving affair became public has revealed him to be ethically challenged. […] it took Rock days to apologize. And he only grudgingly did so after Labour Minister Claudette Bradshaw rose in the Commons and offered an unqualified apology for accepting a ride on the Irving corporate jet three years ago. She also announced she was reimbursing the family for the flight."
– Ottawa Citizen, November 8, 2003, page 1.

Read Allan Rock's mail to Stephane Emard-Chabot -- access to information documents made public

Student's Eye-View has published a large cache of University of Ottawa emails between president Allan Rock and his then chief-of-staff Stephane Emard-Chabot: LINK.

The university vigorously opposed transparency. The disclosure follows two Orders of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Ontario in an on-going appeal (link).

Here are snippets from the 318 pages that were ordered disclosed to date:

"I was wondering whether you might be in a position to contribute a modest sum from your 'secret fund' to our extended international human rights series."
--Roland Paris (research chair, and "Global Ethics Fellow") to Allan Rock (record 192)

In this email to Allan Rock, then VP-Academic Francois Houle is pissed at Rock for not trusting his capacity in his functions as VP-Academic:

"Allan, ce mémo détaillé (avec des CC a tous les membres du CA), tout comme celui sur le VRA international, et le fait que tu penses qu'il était important pour toi de communiquer avec Britta apres qu'elle eu décliné l'offre que je lui avait faite m'amenent a m'interroger sur ton niveau de confiance envers mes capacites a remplir le poste de vice-recteur aux études. On devrait en reparler a ton retour de vacances. Francois" (record 87)

(That provides some insight into possibly the true reason that Houle suddenly resigned using a rather unbelievable pretext -- Rock did not trust his ability further than he could throw an overweight dean. Ann Coulter fallout?)

This is how Allan Rock explains to his chief-of-staff why he wants a 10-minute meeting with the Chair of the Board of Governors:

"It is to bring him into the picture about the CAPEA project. [...] We won't commit to that of course without Board approval. But in the meantime, we are spending $585,000 in incremental costs up to September 1 to prepare plans for 5 stories instead of 3 stories. It is that expense that we are incurring as a matter of management authority, but for my own comfort I want the Board Chair to be aware. If we find the $19 million in additional financing, of course, the $585,000 will have been well spent and not a penny wasted." (record 257)

(Sounds like rubber-stamping heaven to me -- Management authority to spend more than half a million to study a project that has not been considered or approved by the Board...?)

Allan Rock: "What to do? Threats? Bribes? Empty promises (it works during elections!) ..."

Allan Rock, former Minister of Justice, president of the University of Ottawa, wants Gee-Gees student hockey players to develop high moral character (link).

In a 2011 email made an exhibit in evidence in a labour arbitration that is presently in judicial review at the Divisional Court for Ontario, Allan Rock sent this note to his then chief-of-staff Stéphane Émard-Chabot:

"What to do? Threats? Bribes? Empty promises (it works during elections!) ..."