[Fdu] Email trail reveals how Carleton University responded to Dr. Hassan Diab media storm

[Cynthia Wright]

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/email-trail-reveals-how-carleton-university-responded-to-2009-hassan-diab-media-storm


  Email trail reveals how Carleton University responded to 2009 Hassan
  Diab media storm

Joanne LauciusJOANNE LAUCIUS
More from Joanne Laucius <http://ottawacitizen.com/author/jlaucius>
Published on: January 21, 2018 | Last Updated: January 21, 2018 8:16 PM EST

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Hassan Diab in November, 2010, shortly after his dismissal.TONY 
CALDWELL/TONY CALDWELL/OTTAWA SUN

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A Freedom of Information request into the hiring and dismissal of Hassan 
Diab at Carleton University in 2009 sheds light on the chain of events 
that led to his termination in a firestorm of controversy.

Diab was a suspect in a 1980 synagogue bombing in Paris when it was 
revealed in the media that he had been hired as a contract instructor in 
sociology in the summer of 2009. He was dismissed that same day. Diab 
was extradited to France in November 2014. He was released from a French 
prison on Jan. 12 after charges were dropped and returned to Ottawa on 
Jan. 15.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) made the Freedom 
of Information request after Diab was dismissed in 2009. In Ontario, 
Freedom of Information allows members of the public to ask public-sector 
organizations for information they hold. The request uncovered emails 
among university officials over hiring Diab to cover a full-time 
professor who was ill, what to tell the public about dismissing him, and 
some discussion about how to handle communications once the media 
spotlight turned on Carleton. Most of the correspondence centred an the 
events of July 28.

Diab was arrested by the RCMP in November 2008 after he was accused in 
France of killing four people and injuring dozens more in the synagogue 
bombing. In March 2009, he was granted bailunder strict conditions that 
included electronic monitoring, a curfew, and a promise not to leave his 
home unaccompanied. He was not restricted from working.

On July 15, John Osborne, Carleton’s dean of arts and social sciences, 
emailed Stephen Green, the assistant director of human resources, noting 
that a sociology professor had taken medical leave and the department 
was scrambling to find someone to cover an introductory course and was 
proposing Diab as a replacement.

“Clearly he has the qualifications to step in and teach the course,” 
said Osborne. “Is there any legal reason to preclude him from doing so?”

In a July 16 response, Green noted that hiring Diab “could cause harm to 
the reputation of the University.” The email was cc’d to Peter Ricketts, 
the provost and vice-president. Ricketts responded: “I suspect the 
threat to the reputation of the university is small unless he were to be 
extradited while he was teaching the course — which of course would put 
us back into the same situation we are now in. The concern that this may 
happen would be another reason to find someone else if at all possible.”

The documents show Osborne signed Diab’s contract on July 16. Diab 
signed on July 21.

On July 28, this newspaper reported that Diab was toresume teaching at 
Carleton. Under his bail conditions, he wouldbe required to travel to 
and from the university with his court-appointed surety and common-law 
spouse Rania Tfaily. However, once at the university, Tfaily will not be 
required to remain with Diab. There was immediate reaction, both 
condemning the hiring and supporting Diab.

A flurry of emails among university officials tracked the course of 
events as they unfolded that day.

At 1:40 p.m., Jacques Shore, then chairman of the board of governors, 
forwarded an email he had received from Jewish Canada at 12:39 p.m. to 
Carleton’s then-president, Roseann Runte. The email included a news 
release from the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith.

“The conditions of Diab’s bail do not allow him to leave his home alone 
or to own a cell phone, but Carleton officials believe that it is fine 
for them to make him a member of their faculty?” the release said, 
quoting B’nai Brith’s Canada’s executive vice president Frank Dimant. 
“The last place in the world where this man belongs is a university 
classroom, in front of impressionable students.”

In a note to herself, Runte noted at 4:15 p.m. that the message from 
Shore was the first occurrence she could find of receiving electronic 
communication of anything from B’nai Brith.

Meanwhile, at 3:46 p.m., the director of university communications, 
Jason MacDonald, forwarded a statement on Diab’s status, which would be 
sent to the media. “In the interest of providing students with a stable, 
productive academic environment that is conducive to learning Carleton 
University announced today that a full-time faculty member, with direct 
experience teaching introductory sociology (SOCI 1002) will replace the 
current instructor, Hassan Diab, immediately. No further comment will be 
made regarding this issue.”

At 4:01, Ricketts sent a draft of the letter of termination to be sent 
to Diab. The letter said the university had found a full-time faculty 
member to take over the course and added that Diab would be compensated 
for the weeks he taught the course. (In an email dated the following 
day, Ricketts’s office said Diab would be paid $1,477 for the work he 
had done so far, but the office wanted to pay him for the total 
contract, which was $4,431.)

Meanwhile, Runte and the communications department were anticipating 
meeting the media  face-to-face. In a July 29 email to MacDonald, Runte 
discusses the possibility that media might be present at a planned 
meeting between herself and sociology professors. She asked whether it 
would be possible to invite the department to the Tory building or 
“somewhere where we could control admission,” then adds that might not 
be a good idea.

“Or we could meet the department and refuse to speak with them if media 
are present? That might be hard to enforce … I think it might not be 
good to be faced with cameras if our goal is not to comment.”

James Turk was executive director at CAUT when Diab was dismissed. Now 
director at the Centre for Free Expression at Ryerson University and an 
adjunct research professor at Carleton, Turk said the email trails 
merely clarifies what was already known about Diab’s termination.

“There was nothing that had changed about his ability to do his job. It 
was simply responding to public pressure led by B’nai Brith.”

Decisions about who teaches should be made on professional, not 
political grounds, said Turk. “The judge said it was OK for him to 
continue teaching. The university said it was OK for him to continue 
teaching. There was no suggestion of anything inappropriate. They simply 
caved to public pressure.”

In response to questions from this newspaper, Carleton said Diab’s 
employment was ended for administrative, non-disciplinary reasons and 
the university managed the dismissal the best way it could. “Diab was 
paid in full and Carleton preserved his seniority. The decision was 
based on classroom safety concerns and minimizing disruptions to 
students. CUPE 4600 launched a grievance on Diab’s behalf and there were 
five days of hearings in 2009. The grievance was dropped by the union on 
Dec, 3, 2009 and the matter was settled,” Carleton said in a statement 
on Friday.

If the same scenario with a different instructor were to happen today, 
would the university handle it differently? this newspaper asked Carleton.

“Ensuring student safety in the classroom and across campus guided 
decisions taken in 2009,” a spokesman responded. “Safety would always be 
a paramount priority in any similar circumstance.”



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