TRU releases less redacted report on harassment investigation

Thompson Rivers University has changed its tune on transparency with the public. A year after publishing a heavily redacted version of a workplace investigation that cost more than $1 million, the university is now releasing a near-full version of the 500-page report. "It is clear that TRU’s prior release of the extensively redacted report was insufficient to answer suspicions created by the allegations or to generate the trust in governance processes required to operate a public institution effectively in the public interest," a news release from the university issued today, March 25, read. READ MORE: Fired TRU vice-president files lawsuit; reveals misconduct allegations https://infotel.ca/newsitem/fired-tru-vice-president-files-lawsuit-reveals-misconduct-allegations/it98035 The report released in 2023 did not name the two executives who were under investigation. More than 400 pages of that report were completely redacted. Former and current faculty members complained in 2021 of sexual, racial, ageist and "personal" harassment from two university executives. None of those complaints were substantiated against Matt Milovick, one of the two university executives who were investigated. Ten of 33 complaints against Larry Phillips, the former head of human resources, were substantiated. He was fired in December 2021, nearly a year after the investigation started. In January 2023, university board chair Marilyn McLean said they followed BC privacy law and, because it was a workplace investigation, a more fulsome report could not be released. The university now says that lack of transparency made it "difficult to engage in community discourse about these events and pathways forward." "TRU believes these issues can be mitigated if the full report and findings are on the public record," the news release read. It is "now clearly in the public interest that the university cease withholding the full report." The full report can be found online here. https://www.tru.ca/__shared/assets/investigation-report-03-2024.pdf To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry mailto:llandry@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .