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Of the novelist who gathered the ancillary complaints, Justice Boyd concluded: “I found (her) a biased witness, who has perceived every minor incident here through her own biased lens. I am unable to place much, if any, weight on her evidence.”

The one complaint that has garnered the most speculation online and in the media involves me slapping a graduated writer. This writer was confident, boisterous, and thrived on controversy. I liked her a great deal, as did everybody. She frequently punched me in the arm, and once put a snowball down my shirt. Once, while she was a graduate student, she was upset by a comment I made in jest and in response, she denigrated my work and slapped me in the face. I did not report this behaviour because it wasn’t necessary; I understood, as she did, the spirit of the behaviour and that no harm or disrespect was intended. After she slapped me, I continued the joke: I told her that once she graduated I was going to slap her back. It became a running joke between us, frequently referenced by her in person and publicly on social media. When she graduated several years later, I sat down beside her in full view of dozens of other people, lightly cuffed her and said, “Now we’re even.” We laughed at the time. She later posted to my Facebook page, “Besides, you bought me a $3 beer after, and that made me happy (I’m a simple woman).”

The joke was unprofessional, and I regret having conducted myself that way. More broadly, treating students as peers was a mistake. When I began teaching at the age of 25, students were my peers; I felt absurd presenting myself as an authority figure. Over time this dynamic changed, and I failed to recognize it happening. Prior to becoming Chair of the program, I corrected my behaviour, though I did so too late in my career. But I am not and have never been a violent person and this incident was not an act of violence. As Justice Boyd stated: “Given what each of them actually experienced, knew or understood about each other in this situation — namely that the slap was the culmination of their own longstanding ‘joke’ — it is difficult to conclude that the slap was an act of harassment or abuse. The matter was out of mind for the next three-and-a-half years before (she) was reminded what had occurred, and in light of the recent allegations regarding MC, reconsidered the matter and decided (in the context of allegations of choking and rape) that the slap was objectionable.”