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.

Profs sue uOttawa over executives' pay hike --Ottawa Citizen

Profs sue uOttawa over executives' pay hike

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen More from Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen

Published on: December 17, 2015 | Last Updated: December 18, 2015 10:49 AM EST

“In its application APUO alleges that these raises are illegal under the Broader Public Sector Accountability Act, which the Ontario government passed in 2010,” the association said in a news release. “This law stipulates that compensation paid to senior administrators such as Dr. Nemer and Dr. Bradwejn ‘cannot be increased’.”

The APUO represents 1,250 full-time faculty and librarians at the University of Ottawa. It’s the first time the association has taken the university to court, Dekker said. The university was served with the papers Thursday and the application is expected to be filed in court on Monday, Dekker said.

“The university insists that faculty have to prepare for cuts to programs, teaching assistants, library services and so on — students are also paying among the highest tuition fees in the country,” she said. “So we are reasonably asking why the administrators are awarding themselves massive raises while the province has made it clear that administrators are not to receive pay increases.”

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.

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.

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!) ..."

Gee-Gees hockey team has a new head coach, no players yet

At today's press conference, a nervous new head coach, Patrick Grandmaitre, said he wants to "establish a continuity of success". Too late for that.

Grandmaitre also said he wants to produce "good-character people". Hopefully these well-produced people will not later behave like Allan Rock who was willing to summarily throw an entire team under the bus, goalie, jerzees, and all.


From the media report:

The Gee-Gees hockey team dates back to 1889, some 125 years of ‘Garnet and Grey,’ mostly quality programs at this quality post-secondary institution – all of which came crashing to the ground when a couple of players were criminally charged in connection to an alleged sexual assault in Thunder Bay in February 2014.

In a classic example of over-reacting to a public scandal, the entire hockey program was shut down for the remainder of the 2013-14 season and all of 2014-15; innocent players paying the price of having university careers radically altered or prematurely ended.

A year and a half later, there is still no resolution in the criminal matter, and a class action lawsuit has been brought against the school. Stay tuned for developments.

Meanwhile, out of the ashes of this scorched earth comes the relaunch presented Wednesday: a fresh-faced new coach named Patrick Grandmaitre and a public boost from some high-profile hockey people in Jacques Martin, the former Senators head coach and Cyril Leeder, president of the Senators.

Source:
Scanlan: Gee-Gees relaunch hockey, with a boost from Martin and Leeder
Wayne Scanlan, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: July 29, 2015 | Last Updated: July 29, 2015 5:22 PM EDT

Professors' union rebukes U of O for irresponsible increases in executive salaries

Jennifer Dekker, President, APUO (professors' union)

The University of Ottawa, under the control of Allan Rock, has been exposed by its employee unions for playing an unethical "shell game" to cover up an alleged illegal and arbitrary salary increase. This is the opposite of sound public management. It is the kind of thing political parties are known for, not publicly funded service institutions.

The matter was initiated with THIS open letter, and developed as reported here:

“We don’t accept it as a valid argument,” said Jennifer Dekker, president of the APUO, which represents 1,250 employees at the university, including professors, counsellors and librarians.

“When she was originally hired as vice-president of research, one would expect that her portfolio as a researcher would have been taken into account in her terms of offer,” said Dekker. “And so to say that she’s getting an extra stipend for doing things that would normally be expected of a (vice-president of research) doesn’t make sense to us.”

The university declined requests for interviews with Nemer and the board of governors’ chair.

The Association of Part-Time Professors of the University of Ottawa, the Support Staff University of Ottawa and the Canadian Union of Public Employees local 2626 also stand behind the APUO’s position.

In a open letter published July 16, the APUO alleged that Nemer’s annual stipend was paid out in a lump sum “retroactively during a period of wage and benefit freeze” for university vice-presidents, contrary to the Strong Action for Ontario Act (Budget Measures).

“I would characterize it as a shell game,” said Dekker. “The money obviously all comes from the same source and goes to the same source.”

She said what Nemer earned last year “far exceeds” what senior university executives ought to be paid per year. And she said the extra yearly payments are troubling amid the administration’s “rhetoric” about a structural financial challenge at the university, claims the APUO disputes.

Source:

Professors' union rebukes University of Ottawa over 'redundant' pay for top exec

Adam Feibel, Ottawa Citizen

Published on: July 26, 2015 | Last Updated: July 26, 2015 6:18 PM EDT

Allan Rock is lucky to dodge this bullet, for the suspension decision was an unjust and irrational response to the known facts--National Post

FULL COMMENT
Barbara Kay, National Post
July 15, 2015

... As a case in point, you may recall that in 2014, when two players from the University of Ottawa hockey team were charged with one count of sexual assault each while partying during a trip to Thunder Bay, the whole team was suspended and the rest of their season cancelled. Twenty-four team members, who had nothing to do with the incriminating sexual incidents, are seeking a combined $6 million for damage to their reputations.

The U of Ottawa sought to have the lawsuit dismissed, but an Ontario court has just found that the suit’s claims that the school was negligent are admissible for trial, and also found the decision to suspend the hockey team was outside the university’s broad discretion to manage academic affairs.

The proposed suit would have charged U of Ottawa president Allan Rock with malfeasance in public office, but the court ruled the charge was not sustainable. Rock is lucky to dodge this bullet, for the suspension decision is down to him in the end, and it was an unjust and irrational response to the known facts surrounding the sexual incidents. ...

Use the labels below to find all related blogposts.

Alan Rock has had a long career of dodging "ethically challenged" bullets, both in parliament and on campus. See partial and not-up-to-date list HERE.

Ottawa lawyer argues that Allan Rock acted in malice and bad faith

Throw out hockey player lawsuit, University of Ottawa asks judge
Andrew Seymour, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: June 25, 2015

...

Greenspon said the players are seeking damages for Rock’s decision to go public and tar all the players with the same brush after the allegations of sexual misconduct first arose. Greenspon alleged that Rock knew at the time that only two players were allegedly involved, and that Creppin and at least four other players weren’t even at the hotel at the time of the alleged incident.

Greenspon said Rock, as a former federal justice minister, knew better than anyone the damage such serious sexual misconduct allegations could cause to the players who weren’t involved. Greenspon alleged Rock acted in malice and bad faith, and the lawsuit should be allowed to proceed to trial to allow a judge to decide whether the school and Rock were negligent.

“Mr. Rock chose to convene these national press conferences and damn these individuals when he knew they were not involved,” said Greenspon.

“He acted in a deliberate, calculated and punitive way, despite that knowledge,” alleged Greenspon. “He did that branding on young men he knew were innocent.”

Allan Rock distances himself from family’s medical marijuana business

Former minister of health uses his name to secure a government license for family business, while still university president, in view of Liberal party plan to legalize marijuana...

http://metronews.ca/news/ottawa/1373556/allan-rock-distances-himself-from-familys-medical-marijuana-business/

"Rock – whose term as president and vice-chancellor of the university ends next year – offered an explanation for why he is listed as the president and a director of the numbered company.

“The only reference to my name in this matter is related to the home I jointly own with my wife. The home was used as collateral to finance the purchase of a parcel of land for the proposed project,” he said.

“The purchased land was placed in a separate company and, as co-owner of the home, I became a director of that company, whose only purpose is to hold title to the property: that does not mean in any way that I am involved in the licence application or the proposed business.”

He says his sole focus is on his job at the university."

Possibly relevant flashback: "[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.

Year 7: Allan Rock discovers the utility of universities

On April 14, 2015, school administrator Allan Rock gave a speech at the Economic Club in Toronto (LINK).

As Mr. Rock ends his second mandate at the U of O, having supervised seven years of building-construction growth and of assimilating Franco-Ontarian culture, he has now discovered ...:

“My message here today is that if our universities are given the tools they need, and if they build stronger relationships and new partnerships with industry, they can be the centrepiece of a national strategy to overcome the performance gaps holding us back. Universities can help make Canada the most innovative country in the world”

OK, but universities are of provincial jurisdiction, a fact that Rock has tried hard to deny with all kinds of UN-inspired globalization pet projects... Otherwise, brilliant idea. Especially from a former minister of industry who was not exactly known for helping to "make Canada the most innovative country in the world".

He was more known as minister of health for arbitrarily denying reparations to victims of tainted blood, and as the guy who made Canada safer (ahumm) with a gun registry that went somewhat over budget and never impacted crime rates.

He was also known for accepting what appeared to be a bribe:

"[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.

Then, he was shipped off to the UN for a cure. Coming out, he was the perfect guy to run a university... ?

It was worth it, with this latest discovery of how to fix Canada. Thank you Mr. Rock.

Oh, and this little sound track of Mr. Rock illustrating his open-door policy by screaming at a student, for no apparent good reason: LINK.

Liberals, rah-rah-rah.

Waaaa -- Habitual dishonesty -- Turns out Allan Rock did it again -- based on the Globe & Mail article of today

With the hockey team distributed-discipline machination this time...

Remember when Allan Rock let VP-Academic Francois Houle take all the heat for a letter he instructed Houle to write to Ann Coulter (LINK)? That was something. Took him weeks to come out and admit it, after it was disclosed through access to information...

Well now the national media are reporting that Rock's "independent report" about the hockey team was (not just a disingenuous public-image maneuver as students claimed but) actually a covert preemptive tactic against anticipated lawsuits.

There you have it. Hockey team members participated in good faith in what they thought was an independent investigation, which was actually the work of Rock's hired lawyers preempting any legitimate legal action that those same hockey players might need to take to repair the damages caused by Rock.

Then that so-called "independent investigation" was used to punish the entire team but without disclosing the report to them. That's a good educational example to give: "Take that and now go and ponder why I punished you!"

The Globe & Mail reported today -- "University of Ottawa hockey team probe was part of legal strategy":

Last June, university president Allan Rock told a news conference that independent investigator Steven Gaon had delivered a report. Rock said the university fired hockey coach Real Paiement based on the finding he did not inform school officials about the Thunder Bay incident.

In a subsequent letter to The Globe and Mail, Rock said the investigation also “disclosed widespread behaviour that was disreputable and unbecoming of representatives of uOttawa and suggested an unhealthy climate surrounding the team.”

Gaon was actually hired and directed by the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright Canada, which in turn had been retained by the university.

“Norton Rose Fulbright … retained an independent investigator to probe the facts underlying the allegations, in order to be in a position to give legal advice to the university on potential legal claims arising from the men’s hockey team matter,” the firm said in a submission to Ontario’s Information Commissioner in December.

The Canadian Press lodged a complaint with the commissioner’s office after the university refused to release any part of the investigation’s findings under the province’s freedom of information law.

In May, Gaon delivered not one, but two reports – one about allegations of sexual misconduct and the other on excessive drinking. Those reports were also prepared “for use in giving legal advice,” according to university lawyer David Bolger.

The university said in a June press release that Gaon’s findings would not be published “to avoid any interference with the ongoing police investigation and out of respect for the university’s privacy obligations.”

But in its submissions to the information commissioner, the university cites as its primary concern the fact that the records are considered legal advice.

Disclaimer: The statements herein about Allan Rock's "habitual dishonesty" are not statements of fact. The said Allan Rock's dishonesty has never been proven and is solely my opinion. These are my opinions based on the cited media and blog reports, and the public knowledge reported therein.

Update::: UofOWatch documented ethical breaches of Allan Rock now number 19

U of O Watch
documented
ethical breaches
of
Allan Rock
now number
=
19
(nineteen)

"Ethically challenged" Allan Rock U of O mistake was avoidable

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
--George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905

Allan Rock began his mandate as president of the University of Ottawa in July 2008.

In the short time since his arrival at 'Canada's university', Allan Rock has

• unilaterally declared that his plan for the University of Ottawa was to "put [it] in the service of the world"
  
• fired a tenured professor who was never heard by a committee of his peers
  
• installed the regular use of trespass against professors and students
• installed the regular use of criminal charges against activist students (E.G.)
  
• personally gone after and deregistered and banned student Marc Kelly
• banned a student Israeli Apartheid Week poster (E.G.)
  
• personally attacked a student research group (OPIRG) for its principled stance on Israel
• steadfastly covered up at least two known campaigns of university covert surveillance against students and a professor
• ousted the University Secretary and installed an outsider as VP-Governance
• financially committed the university to promotion of Canada's war in Afghanistan via "Project Hero" without any community consultation
  
• increased university central administration costs by 30% (Report)
  
• increased executive salaries by 30% last year alone (Report)
  
• supervised the greatest damage to the university's reputation in the institution's history (Coulter fiasco)
• pushed through a corporate-style fiscal restraint plan using outside experts (at a cost of over $160, 000) rather than using the traditional collegial governance model (Report)
  

Could this have been predicted? And if so, what was the selection committee thinking?

For example, one member of the selection committee that gave 'Canada's university' Rock was physics professor Gary Slater. Dr. Slater is an accomplished scientist and a previous recipient of the institution's Researcher of the Year Award. One would have expected Dr. Slater to have done a little research about Mr. Rock.

Did the selection committee know that Allan Rock had overrun the gun registry budget by 50,000% (fifty thousand percent)? Or that he had paid two million dollars of tax payer money to Brian Mulroney? Or that he had left 60,000 Canadians infected with hepatitis C from tainted blood without reparation on the basis of the year they were infected?

Did Dr. Slater ask himself why Mr. Rock's once still promising political career came to an abrupt end in 2003 after which he was shuffled off to the UN to reinvent himself as a champion of human rights? (For example by changing Canada's longstanding foreign policy on Israel from abstaining on human rights resolutions for Palestine to being one of the few countries in the World that vote with the US and Israel against UN human rights resolutions for Palestine.)

If Dr. Slater posed this research question then he discovered what the media discovered in 2003: That Allan Rock is "ethically challenged" - Ottawa Citizen, November 8, 2003, page 1.

In the words of CanWest News investigative reporter Norma Greenaway:

"[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."

In 2002 when the then Ethics Counsellor Howard Wilson discovered that Minister Rock had in summer 2001 accepted a private jet stay at the Irving family salmon fishing lodge, he issued a ruling that Rock was to avoid all ministerial dealings benefiting Irving enterprises for one year. During that blackout year Rock made three significant ministerial decisions benefiting Irving Shipbuilding Inc.

On investigating the latter multimillion-dollar violations, "Wilson said it 'would have be better' if a minister other than Rock had signed the $55-million grant, but noted the signature was made by a machine on instructions from Industry officials."(Ottawa Citizen)

Rock was happy to accept the latter whitewashing that the opposition leaders called a "complete joke" but it put an end to his political and federal judgeship ambitions.

Fast forward to 2008: The media reported that the first thing Rock did as president of the University of Ottawa was to accept an Israel lobby funded trip to Israel and agree to launch an inter-university exchange program in law ("in the service of the world"). When later asked if Palestinian students would be allowed to participate in the program Rock publicly stated that he could not answer that.

These days, Rock's "service to the world" includes promoting "the responsibility to intervene" in Africa and writing an opinion editorial about stranded Nazia Quazi in Saudi Arabia. All of which he describes to attentive students on his "Rock Talk" blog which filters out critical "off topic" student comments. The blog was said to have been initiated to "help resolve the problem of one-way communication." Student leaders explain Rock's behaviour to themselves by postulating that he wants to re-enter federal politics - because they can't otherwise figure it out.

Clearly the Allan Rock U of O mistake was avoidable. Unless the selection committee was incompetent or blinded, it must have known how predictable Rock's unconstrained performance would be?

Why would any university make itself home to a failed politician who is ethically challenged, who has bungled most major dossiers to cross his desk, who appears to be in the pocket of outside interests, and who wants to spend more time out "in the world" rather than on campus?

Such an appointment is diametrically opposed to the established academic principles of responsible management of public (and student tuition) funds and of institutional independence as a safeguard for academic freedom (HERE).

We hope that this blog will help produce needed change, a break from the pattern of history.

RELATED POSTS:
All UofOWatch posts about Allan Rock