To the Editor:
Singapore has a worldwide reputation for tough justice. The standing joke is you can be sentenced to death there for chucking chewing gum on the street. Before your readers thank their lucky stars we don’t go in for extremes of that kind over here, they might want to consider the following. St. Paul may be catching up quicker than they know, judging by a financial penalty dished out recently at Portage College.
It is common knowledge by now in the entire college community that an alleged assault on a student back on Oct. 26 has apparently resulted in an instructor being permanently removed from campus. College sources have confirmed for me that the penalties for the instrctor include suspension without pay until the end of June, 2011, that is, for the rest of the academic year. The ballpark figure, so I’m told, for this penalty is $65,000, which may qualify it for the Guinness Book of Records when all the facts finally come to light.
Secondly, and just as noteworthy in its own way, there is the pattern of events that preceded the penalty. From all I have been able to piece together, it runs like this: a student alleges assault by an instructor; the RCMP investigates, but decides not to pursue the matter; the college then carries out its own investigation; afterwards, the college suspends an instructor without pay but – and it’s a big, big but – the college makes no specific reference to the assault alleged by the student, which set the ball rolling in the first place.
Where does that leave the instructor? Permanently off campus, so it would seem, and out of money and scratching around for employment with a cloud over his head until his case is determined by an arbitrator, a year or longer down the road. Tough justice, indeed.
Meantime, back on the St. Paul campus, students and staff alike must be learning fast to tiptoe carefully around one another. An allegation of physical contact, however slight, might just prove to be extremely dangerous to one’s financial health.
Bill Finn,
St. Paul
