Media leaks, protecting the president and transparency roadblocks were on McMaster staffers’ minds when grappling with sexual assault investigation communication, emails show
Internal emails obtained by The Hamilton Spectator shed light on the behind-the-scenes communications as McMaster University was dealing with a crisis involving allegations of sexual violence in one of its departments.
The emails show, for example, that McMaster timed the release of a report into this department so that it would come out after a board meeting to prevent members from cross-examining" the university's president.
At the same time, senior staff spoke of a regular sense of nausea that we all experience in connection with this case."
The university was also conscious of leaks to the media, getting ahead of newspaper stories and perceptions it was not being transparent, the emails show.
The 472 pages of emails, obtained by The Spectator through a freedom-of-information request, show the university carefully considered the content and timing of external and internal updates regarding its investigation into the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour (PNB). The external updates were shared on the university's Daily News website between July 2020 and February 2021.
McMaster president David Farrar launched the investigation - also called a climate review" - in July 2020 after the university received serious allegations" relating to sexual violence, discrimination and harassment involving people connected to the PNB department. A professor in the department, Scott Watter, had been arrested a month earlier and charged with sexual assault and sexual assault causing bodily harm. The allegations involve a female student, who shared her story with The Spectator. Watter's case is slated to go to trial in August.
We won't be providing any additional comments to the communications you have received," said McMaster spokesperson Wade Hemsworth in an email last week in response to questions about the documents The Spectator obtained.
For more than a year, The Spectator has been reporting on the allegations against Watter, the PNB climate review, and McMaster's handling of campus sexual violence. Intertwined in these stories are issues of taxpayer money, legal challenges, a university's reputation and survivors who are outspoken about the university's failings.
These internal communications indicate the university was juggling very sensitive legal and personal issues, treading carefully as it communicated with those affected by the allegations and with the broader public. It was aware of the media spotlight.
Protecting the president from cross-examining"
In early December, the university was gearing up to release a long-awaited update on the findings from the months-long climate review conducted by an external law firm, Rubin Thomlinson LLP.
But the proposed timing of the release - seemingly during an important meeting the president would be attending - was proving to be problematic.
It strikes me as a bit odd for the message to be sent while the audit committee meeting is still in progress - I'd rather avoid giving members the chance to read it during the meeting and start cross-examining David (Farrar)," wrote Esme Davies, senior adviser and legal counsel for McMaster's president, in an email to Andrea Farquhar, assistant vice-president, communications and public affairs, on Dec. 2, 2020. (W)ould be far preferable, I think, if he can frame the issues and response and then leave them to read the DN (Daily News) story and summary at their leisure."
Davies asked if the communications team could roll back the timing of the release to Senate and Board" until noon.
The audit committee meeting was scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to noon on Dec. 3, according to McMaster's website.
The documents don't include a response from Farquhar. On Dec. 3, some time after noon, McMaster posted the release on its Daily News website.
Getting ahead of media stories and a mysterious message"
In February 2021, the university was planning to release more information about investigations into seven people - four faculty members, two staffers and one grad student. The investigations involved potential breaches of the university's sexual violence policy and/or the discrimination and harassment policy. Some of the investigations were complete and the university was planning to make that public.
But they were running into challenges.
On Thursday, Feb. 11, Farquhar was trying to finalize communications going out to those within the PNB department the next day.
I was not aware that these communications were being planned and have no capacity to review today," wrote Maureen MacDonald, dean of the faculty of science, in an email to Farquhar. Please advise on your expected timing but know that I would much prefer we send something like this next week."
Farquhar's response - which is partially redacted - said the university wanted to be prepared in anticipation that the meetings being held this week with the various parties will not remain confidential to those individuals."
She also referenced Spectator stories which the university appeared to think were pending.
Is it better to provide an update before the Spec stories are ready?" Farquhar asked. If we get questions from media on the status of the investigations we can't give incorrect information which could force us to scramble to release communications through the proper internal channels. This could also put us in a situation where the paper will claim they forced us to release the information ...
If the Spec stories on the complainants run and we release after it generates another news cycle."
The Spectator is not sure which stories Farquhar was referring to. The newspaper had been investigating McMaster's handling of sexual violence and the issues within PNB but no stories about complainants were published until March and May.
Something else appeared to be affecting timing - a message" from someone inside the department.
On Feb. 11, Davies emailed Farrar, Farquhar and Susan Tighe, McMaster's provost and vice-president academic, about a message" someone planned to issue to his faculty colleagues" the next day. The message was relevant" to communications McMaster was working on, she wrote.
Davies asked Farrar and Tighe to review draft internal and external communications and let us know if anything causes you serious indigestion (beyond the regular sense of nausea that we all experience in connection with this case, that is)."
It was almost one year ago that I received the first phone call about this case," Farrar responded to Davies. The university started investigating Watter in February 2020. Not been a great year," Farrar wrote.
In an email to Farquhar on Feb. 12, Anne Marie Owens, the university's then-executive adviser for strategic communications - who is now the editor of the Toronto Star, owned by the same company that owns The Hamilton Spectator - suggested sending the Daily News update directly to key local markets, including Spec."
We shouldn't wait for them to find it," Owens wrote.
The university emailed The Spec that afternoon with a link to the then-posted release.
Respondent raises identification concerns
In August 2020, the university was grappling with another potential crisis: a person who appears to be one of the seven the university was investigating raised concerns about being identified.
She said the department is very small - 40 students - and that people would immediately know it is her, and then procedural fairness is compromised because her identity is revealed," wrote Pilar Michaud, a director with the university's Equity and Inclusion Office, in an email to Farquhar, Davies and others at McMaster on Aug. 6.
The communication" appears to be a news release issued Aug. 6 stating that as part of the university's ongoing investigation into the PNB department, a graduate student had been suspended and barred from campus.
It seems the respondent was worried about being identified as a student."
I do not understand why we wouldn't say a (redacted)," Farquhar said in response.
We have three groups the policies apply to - faculty, students and staff," she said. We have already shown we will say when it is a faculty member. That leaves it being either a staff position - which again is a limited number of people and would probably be what most would assume which would be an unfair burden to staff - or a (redacted)."
Farquhar said all of our efforts have been geared toward the principle of transparency" and withholding this information is harmful for credibility with both our internal and external audiences."
The university ultimately did call the person a graduate student" in the release.
Leaving out the library connection
In another case, the university intentionally left details out of a release.
On Sept. 22, Farquhar emailed Owens about a release they were drafting regarding two staff members now under investigation for possible violations of the university's sexual violence policy. One staff member formerly worked in the PNB department but now works in another area of the university.
I do wonder about not including where the first person currently works," Farquhar wrote. While the current department has no connection to the case, does it leave it too vague? It will be a noticeable absence and will need to be explained within the unit in some way and it doesn't seem in keeping with the transparency we are trying to make sure we maintain."
No response from Owens is included in the documents.
On Sept. 29, Farquhar emailed Owens to say: the lean is to not naming the second department but this will probably still have a bit of discussion."
She also emailed MacDonald, Michaud and others that day referencing a discussion about whether to include the library or not."
The staff member in question appears to be Christopher McAllister, McMaster's associate director of library computing and campus classroom technologies. Hamilton police arrested McAllister in March 2021 and charged him with one count of sexual assault relating to an alleged incident involving a McMaster student in 2010.
The Sept. 30 release did not include mention of the library.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com