A Camosun College faculty member has been suspended after a student complaint that is regarding an incident that happened on a trip to the Philippines, according to a Times Colonist article.
Camosun vice president of student experience Joan Yates says there is an objective third party outside of Camosun investigating the matter.
“The college did receive a student complaint and we took it seriously,” she says. “We’re underway now with an investigation into that. But because we’re in the middle of an investigation, we’re restrained. And that is really very much to protect everybody in it; both their privacy and the confidentiality of what they want to discuss with the investigation.”
Yates says the outside party, which she could not disclose the name of, investigating the situation is there to ensure a fair and non-biased investigation for all parties.
“It’s an external party that we bring in to do this, and we do that specifically to make sure that there’s absolutely no bias,” she says, “no knowledge of the individuals or the situation. It’s a private group that does this work for other organizations including post-secondary.”
Yates did not comment when asked about the nature of the complaint, or who was suspended.
“I can’t comment at all because we’re under investigation,” she says. “That is the reason.”
Camosun College had a Philippines Field School in 2016. The Camosun website lists Stephen Bishop as the instructor for the field school; Bishop could not be reached for comment. The link to the Philippines Field School 2016 on Camosun’s website had been removed as of November 25.
Camosun associate chair of Nursing Joan Humphries would not comment for this story.
More on this story as it develops.