On Wednesday, December 29th, 2021, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada proudly announced the appointment of 135 individuals to the Order of Canada including, Dr. Andrew Paul MacDonald. Recently retired after 34 years in the Music Department at Bishop’s University, MacDonald is celebrated for his contributions to contemporary Canadian classical, jazz, and electronic music, as an educator, composer, and performer.

Several of Dr. MacDonald’s compositions have been performed and premiered by the Bishop’s University Singers over the years, namely The Frozen Brook (1993), SATB a capella, World premiere in 1994 (Director Nancy Rahn, Bandeen Hall) and Hodie Christus Natus Est, op. 92, SATB and Brass Quintet, World premiere in 2018 (Director Fannie Gaudette, Centennial Theatre).

ORDER OF CANADA

Since its creation in 1967—Canada’s centennial year—more than 7 000 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order. The contributions of these trailblazers are varied, yet they have all enriched the lives of others and made a difference to this country. Their grit and passion inspire us, teach us, and show us the way forward. They exemplify the Order’s motto: DESIDERANTES MELIOREM PATRIAM (“They desire a better country”). ⁠

Read more about Dr. Andrew Paul MacDonald’s musical journey and future projects

Media coverage pertaining to Order of Canada Appointment:

The Sherbrooke Record

CBC Montreal – All in a Weekend

La Tribune

Dear Bishop’s Community,

As the Principal and Dr. Linden-Andersen indicate in their message of January 10th, classes for the winter 2022 semester will resume on Wednesday, January 12 with most classes being delivered remotely.

As we indicated in our message of January 5, 2022, some courses will begin in person on January 12^th.  The updated list of exempted courses is provided below. Continue reading below for more information on the plan for January 17^th and beyond.

LIST OF EXCEPTIONS- COURSES THAT MAY START IN-PERSON AS OF JANUARY 12th. (additions are LISTED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LIST, one course reverting to online is highlighted in BOLD)

REMINDER: Students are encouraged to check their BU email account on a regular basis and the course Moodle site for updates (e.g. some science labs and other courses may begin in-person in Week 2). Instructors may provide important details specific to their course by email and/or on the Moodle site.

Additions:

FIN 218 Digital Imaging for the Artist I

BMG322 Change Management

The following courses will offer hybrid options as of January 12^th:

DRA 161 (Intro to costume design)

MTH 300 (Musical production 1)

WHAT HAPPENS AS OF JANUARY 17^th?

• All classes that were planned to be in-person on the winter 2022 timetable will be delivered in-person at the time scheduled and in the assigned classroom.
• All classes scheduled to be delivered online on the winter 2022 timetable will continue to be delivered online. Synchronous courses will continue at the time scheduled in the current timetable.

Therefore, students who have registered for in-person classes must be prepared to return to Lennoxville for these in-person classes beyond January 17.

Please note that students should not expect hybrid sections of in-person classes.

Future updates

As we wrote in our last message, unpredictability is the new reality so we need to be supportive of each other as we face these challenges. Of course, we have learned that the best laid plans are subject to change.

Be well. BU.

Miles Turnbull

Vice-Principal Academic & Research

Claire Grogan

Associate Vice-Principal Academic

Dear Bishop’s Community,

Happy New Year! May 2022 be safe, healthy and rewarding for us all!

This message is a follow-up to the one sent out on December 31 and serves as a reminder about the way we will begin the Winter 2022 semester. As promised, this message includes a list of courses granted an exemption and may begin on or near January 12^th IN-PERSON.

Of course, like the pandemic, this list is subject to change.

Students are encouraged to check their BU email account on a regular basis and the course Moodle site for updates (e.g. some science labs and other courses may begin in-person in Week 2). Instructors may provide important details specific to their course by email and/or on the Moodle site.

The following classes will be offered IN-PERSON:

The following courses will offer hybrid options as of January 12^th:

DRA 161 (Intro to costume design)

MTH 300 (Musical production 1)

NB- These in-person classes will be offered at the times scheduled and in the classrooms posted in the current timetable (online Timetable (4070).rdl (ubishops.ca).

Other details to remember:

1. All classes previously scheduled to be delivered online will continue to be delivered online. Synchronous courses will continue at the time scheduled in the current timetable.

All classes and hybrid ‘sections’ of courses that are currently scheduled to meet in person will begin online at the scheduled time and will continue online until at least January 17, 2022 (we apologize for any confusion created by inadvertently referring to January 24^th in an earlier message).

1. The University plans to revert to offering as much in-person instruction as possible once it is allowed by Public Health. Therefore, students who have registered for in-person classes must be prepared to return to Lennoxville for these in-person classes beyond January 17.

1. Students should not expect hybrid sections of in-person classes to be offered if the course returns to in-person delivery.

Future updates

The University commits to communicating regularly with the community as the COVID situation evolves.

A return to further in-person academic activities will be announced to the community at least one week in advance.

Unfortunately, significant uncertainty still remains as we commence the Winter semester. We recognize that such uncertainty is difficult, and may cause extra work, anxiety, and stress for staff, faculty, and students.

At this moment, unpredictability is the new reality so we need to be supportive of each other as we face these challenges.

Be well. BU.

Miles Turnbull

Vice-Principal Academic & Research

Claire Grogan

Associate Vice-Principal Academic

Dear parents and alumni,

Some parents and alumni have written to me to express their concerns about reports of sexual aggression at Bishop’s and have asked about what we have done and what we will do to address this situation.

It takes a lot of courage for survivors to share their stories. We are listening carefully to them, and we will continue to support them.

It has been very painful to hear from some students that there are times when they do not feel safe on campus and do not feel supported by the University.

Any form of sexual aggression on our campus and in our community is unacceptable and we are working to eradicate it.

Our legal and moral obligation is to ensure a study and work environment free from any form of violence or harassment.

There must be zero tolerance for violence and harassment at Bishop’s.

We are privileged to have our Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Stine Linden-Andersen, leading the University’s efforts to improve how we address sexual aggression at Bishop’s. Dr. Linden-Andersen, earned a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and has instituted a pro-active, survivor-centred, and prevention-based approach. For five years, she has demonstrated principled and considered leadership engaging students, faculty, and staff in developing and implementing important new measures at the University. I am grateful to her and have the greatest confidence in her and the changes she continues to bring forth.

However, I have also heard the clear message from our students that we need to do more, and as Principal at Bishop’s, I am accountable for ensuring that we do.

Statements of support and expressions of good intent matter, but the actions of our administration and of our community will be what matter most.

Each of us has the responsibility of being an active bystander equipped and ready to intervene to prevent sexual aggression.

As a University, we rely on several strategies to combat and address the consequences of sexual violence.

First, we aim to educate ourselves and the community. For the last several years, the University has offered several educational activities concerning sexual violence. Notably, ‘Active Bystander Intervention’ training and the ‘Can I Kiss You?’ consent presentation are mandatory for all first-year students during their first week on campus. The online training module ‘It Takes All of Us’ is mandatory for students, faculty and staff. This program strives to increase awareness of sexual violence in order to help shift campus culture to one of respect and consent, and to create a community free of sexual violence.

Second, we have instituted concrete actions intended to prevent sexual violence. Our Security team is trained in responding to sexual violence on campus and is present day and night seven days a week. We continue to work closely with them to ensure any survivors who disclose acts of sexual aggression are accompanied and guided to the supports available to them.

We also work closely with our local police to help keep our community safe. On nights featuring big events, the Student Services team and student peer supporters install safety tents on and off campus as safe places to reach out immediately for support. The SafeWalk program, which provides accompaniment in walking across the campus and in town, and the lighting installed on the bike path are among the other sexual violence prevention tools.

Third, we support the survivors. The University’s full-time Sexual Aggression Response Coordinator works closely with the other counselors to provide support. The University also has processes for survivors of sexual violence to report these criminal acts in a safe environment designed to protect survivors’ privacy.

There are three levels of reporting of sexual violence:

1. A confidential disclosure, which can result in immediate implementation of accommodations ranging from academic supports to no-contact orders or temporary removal of the alleged aggressor from campus;
2. A formal complaint process to request an investigation, which can result in sanctions up to and including expulsion of an aggressor;
3. A complaint to the police which can result in criminal proceedings.

We inform survivors of their options and accompany and support them along whichever avenue they choose.

We have organized two Town Hall meetings to discuss concrete actions and proposals for improvements of existing policies and practices. The first was held on Tuesday, November 9 and the second was held on Wednesday, November 24. In addition, a group of students presented their concerns to the Board of Governors. The presentation to the Board was followed by a meeting of those students, the executive of the Sexual Culture Committee, the President of the Students’ Representative Council, the Dean of Student Affairs and myself.

A number of concrete actions have been implemented in response to these meetings:

1. An independent investigator has been appointed to receive information about the statements on the bridge and to review how they have been handled;
2. The Board of Governors has established a Committee of board members, students, faculty and staff to review and make recommendations concerning:
   1. the independent investigator’s report;
   2. our policies, practices and procedures intended to prevent sexual violence; and
   3. our policies, practices and procedures in receiving disclosures of sexual aggression, support for survivors and sanctioning of aggressors.

The Board committee, which will be chaired by the Vice-Chair of the Board, Cathy McLean ’82, will report to the Board at each meeting and its final report will be shared with the community.

3. Revisions to our Policy for the Prevention Sexual Violence, which have been developed over the last year, will be presented for approval at the Board meeting in December.

We will continue to inform the community about how we are working to eradicate sexual aggression in a forthright and transparent way.

Our work will require determined leadership from the University administration, faculty, staff, and students.

I am convinced that we have the capacity to make Bishop’s a safer place if we work together with urgency, determination, and respect.

Sincerely,

Michael Goldbloom, C.M.
Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Dear Bishop’s Community,

This week, some students from the School of Education are leading a protest over the University’s recent decision to dismiss a professor. For ethical reasons and out of respect for confidentiality, the University does not discuss matters related to any individual member of faculty or staff.

In any situation where a conflict may arise, there are robust processes in place to protect employees and the University Community. These steps are clearly outlined in collective agreements between the University and its employees, which have been negotiated and agreed upon.

As provided for in the collective agreement, the faculty member has requested that the matter be referred to arbitration, which is the appropriate forum for these issues to be addressed.

As stated last week, we remain committed and accountable for maintaining a healthy and collegial environment free of discrimination for all members of the Bishop’s community.

Sincerely,

Miles Turnbull
Vice-Principal Academic & Research

Claire Grogan
Associate Vice-Principal Academic

Dear Bishop’s Community,

It has been anguishing to hear that students at Bishop’s feel unsafe on the campus and unsupported by the University.

Any form of sexual aggression on our campus and in our community is unacceptable and we must work to eradicate it. There must be zero tolerance for violence and harassment at Bishop’s.

It took a lot of courage for each survivor to share their story. We are listening and we will continue to support you.

Our legal and moral obligation is to ensure a study and work environment free from any form of violence or harassment.

Under the survivor-centred leadership of our Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Stine Linden-Andersen, and the determined engagement of students, faculty and staff, the University has implemented several measures to address sexual aggression at Bishop’s.

However, I have heard the clear message from our students that we need to do more, and as Principal I am accountable for ensuring that we do.

Statements of support and expressions of good intent matter, but the actions of our administration and of our community will be what matter most.

Each of us has the responsibility of being an active bystander equipped and ready to intervene to prevent sexual aggression, and we will support everyone who does so.

We are committed to providing support to anyone who makes a disclosure and to investigating fully every complaint of sexual violence made to us.

We will always support survivors on their path towards justice.

Survivors can contact the Dean of Student Affairs, the Sexual Aggression Response Coordinator, Dominique Pelletier or the resource they are most comfortable with. To ensure that due process will be followed, please consult the resources and pathways offered by the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs and on our website: https://www.ubishops.ca/future-current-students/student-campus-life/student-services/health-wellness/sexual-assault/. These resources will be continually updated as we respond to the needs of our community.

As promised, Me Danielle Gauthier, a senior member of the Quebec Bar, a Bishop’s graduate with law degrees from the Université de Sherbrooke (LL.L.) and Harvard University (LL.M.), has been engaged as an independent external investigator into the declarations on the bridge made by survivors. A survivor, or anyone who wishes to share information about these disclosures, may contact Me Gauthier confidentially via email at daniellegauthier@lavery.ca.

I would like to express my appreciation to the young women who came to last Friday’s Board of Governors meeting for bravely telling their stories and expressing their commitment to identify and implement the necessary changes. Stine and I will be meeting with them and members of the Sexual Culture Committee later this week.

Stine and I will hold the next Town Hall on Wednesday, November 24th in Cleghorn and on Teams at 11:30 a.m.

There is much to do, and we will continue to do everything we can to eliminate sexual violence and harassment on campus.

I am confident that if we work together with urgency, courage and respect, we will make the changes necessary to ensure that Bishop’s is a safe community for everyone.

Michael Goldbloom, C.M.
Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Dear Bishop’s Community,

Recently, there have been public statements made regarding Bishop’s University’s decision to terminate the appointment of one of its professors. For reasons of confidentiality, the University does not comment on employment matters concerning any individual member of staff or faculty.

However, in the light of certain public assertions, it is important to state that the University has a legal and moral obligation to the entire Bishop’s Community to provide a safe, healthy and respectful work environment free of bullying, intimidation and psychological harassment.

We must not, and will not, abide any member of the Community undermining the health and security of others through their words or deeds.

We remain committed and accountable for maintaining a healthy and collegial environment for all members of the Bishop’s community.

Sincerely,

Miles Turnbull
Vice-Principal Academic & Research

Claire Grogan
Associate Vice-Principal Academic

Dear Community,

Thank you for speaking out and letting your voices be heard. It has been a difficult time in our community mostly so for survivors.

The town hall on Tuesday was an important step in the ongoing fight against sexual violence in our community. Many strong, angry, hurt and scared voices were heard and we discussed several concrete actions as well as substantial proposals for change. I have included a brief bullet summary below.

It was clear that action must be taken, so let me get started on that right away. We have engaged the external investigator; we will communicate contact information for them shortly.

I have scheduled the next town hall for Wednesday, November 24th at 11:30 in Cleghorn and on Teams Live.

I scheduled it during the Gaiter block to make sure many of you can attend. At the next town hall, I will again answer questions and provide updates and I will be asking attendees to participate in brainstorming and reviews and update to current procedures. At this Town Hall I will also answer the online questions that were not able to be addressed on Tuesday.

Other immediate action items (I will update on progress on these at the next town hall):

1. Meet with University of Sherbrooke to understand how they apply their policy (I have included a link to our policy below)
2. Get date set for updated lights on campus
3. Pass the mandatory annual prevention training for students at Senate (staff and faculty are already obliged to do annual training)
4. Re-establish Safe Walk
5. Examine drug test kits for the Gait
6. Explore the possibility of a flashlight lending library

We discussed a wide variety of other important issues and concerns at the town hall including the following:

• Sexual violence reporting software
• More immediate process for removing aggressors
• Parity among male and female groups of student athletes
• Surveillance in residences

These important topics will be discussed at the next town hall meeting as well.

We are looking for volunteers to receive training to be able to provide Active Bystander Intervention Training. If you are interested in this important work, please reply to this email as a sign of interest.

Take back the night is organized by the Sexual Culture Committee and will take place next Thursday starting at 7:00 PM at Optimist Field.

BU Policy on the Prevention of Sexual Violence (PDF)

Sincerely,

Stine Linden-Andersen, Ph.D.
Chair of Bishop’s University COVID-19 Task Force
Dean of Student Affairs
Associate Professor of Psychology
Clinical Psychologist

Dear members of the Bishop’s community,

I regret to inform you that an act of archaeological vandalism has taken place on a campus site of significance to the Abenaki Nation.

We do not know who is responsible for this, but we have been informed that similar actions have occurred recently elsewhere in the province.

Bishop’s University will not authorise any archeological dig on its property without the prior consent of the Abenaki Nation.

We have been working closely with representatives from the Ndakina Office of the Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki and the Government of Quebec to secure the protection of the site. The Ndakina Office has issued a press statement related to this discovery.

Vandalism, unauthorized digging and climate change can all result in the desecration and destruction of Indigenous sites, and we hope that this sad event can serve as a stark reminder of our responsibility to act as good stewards of the land on which we gather.

Let us reflect on the words of Odanak Chief Rick O’Bomsawin: “Our link to our ancestors is an essential element of the healing and reconciliation process between our nations. We hope this will help us realize that we still have a lot of work to do.”

We have asked the members of our Security team to be on alert and ask that you advise them if you should see anyone conducting any digging that you consider suspicious.

Michael Goldbloom, C.M.
Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Dear Members of the Bishop’s Community,

I have listened to the strong reaction to recent public declarations about survivors of acts of sexual violence in our community. I understand and share the anger against sexual violence in all forms, within our campus community or anywhere in a just society.

As an institution, we work to educate and prevent these terrible acts and to promote a culture in which we all believe and stand with survivors. We have processes for survivors of sexual violence to report these illegal acts in a safe environment designed to protect survivors’ privacy that we are constantly working to improve. We seek to do everything in our power to help ensure we offer the right support resources to all survivors of sexual aggression. That is why we are taking an additional step in launching an independent external investigation into last week’s declarations.

This investigation’s priority will be supporting the survivor’s quest for justice. A specialized investigator will be named shortly, and we will share ways of reaching out and communicating with the investigator.

We encourage the survivors who wrote the messages on the bridge to contact the investigator and provide all relevant facts and information to help them get justice they want and deserve.

I know there are many angry voices out there and I look forward to the opportunity to answer your questions in the Town Hall tomorrow at 3:00 PM. I have moved the Town Hall to The Gait to accommodate larger participation. You can also participate online using this link.

As you know, we offer mandatory consent and bystander training for all incoming students as well as offer annual mandatory training for all faculty and staff. The online training It Takes All of Us is available for all in Moodle. Security is present 24/7 and trained in responding to sexual violence on campus. We also work closely with our local police to help keep our community safe. On big events nights, the student service team and the peer supporters offer safety tents on and off campus as a safe place to reach out immediately if something were to happen. We have much more work to do to eliminate sexual violence and rape culture in our community and I look forward to hearing ideas and proposals.

We will keep you updated with other projects in progress as they materialize,

It takes all of us to combat sexual violence,

Sincerely,

Stine Lindén-Andersen
Dean of Student Affairs