More details have emerged about why Thompson Rivers University suspended one of its teachers in July of 2018.
Dr. Derek Pyne went to the B.C. Labor Relations Board alleging that he had not fairly been represented by the TRU Faculty Association after being suspended in the summer of 2018.
Pyne’s suspension came more than a year after he published research about the use of “predatory journals” by professors, with a focus on his faculty, the School of Business of Economics, where he claims more than half of the department has published in predatory journals to advance their careers.
TRU staff have maintained that Pyne’s suspension was unrelated to his research, with administration saying they support academic rights and freedoms.
“What’s been described to me are matters that I would say resemble what might come up in any place of employment and not matters of academic freedom,” TRU president Brett Fairbairn told media in December of 2018 shortly after starting in his position, which was as concerns were circling about Pyne’s suspension.
According to the LRB ruling that is now public, TRU says it began raising concerns about Pyne’s behaviour in 2015.
Staff at TRU allege that in 2015, Pyne put his hands around the neck of colleague, and later mocked that same colleague for feeling suicidal.
It says Pyne was given a verbal warning after that incident, in July of 2015, and 11 months later it says he was given a written warning for alleged “disruptive, threatening, disrespectful, inappropriate, unprofessional, aggressive and intimidating behavior” towards other colleagues.
Pyne was on sabbatical for much of 2016 and 2017, according to the LRB ruling. In January 2018, when back on campus, the university alleged “alarming” behaviour from Pyne, like yelling, banging and speaking to himself in a “strange” tone of voice.
The ruling says that TRU staff forced Pyne to work from home in May of 2018 for continued “aggressive and inappropriate behavior.” It says Pyne underwent a psychological assessment in July of 2018, where he scored high in showing paranoia behaviour.
After a threat assessment in the fall, Pyne was allowed to return to campus in December of 2018.
Pyne had filed a complaint with the Canadian Association of University Teachers in August of 2018 for the grounds of his suspension.
He has maintained his treatment by TRU staff is related to his work on predatory journals and the involvement of members of his faculty.
“There is no real dispute that the complainant disciplinary record began to develop around the same time as he started his research,” LRB associate chair Jennifer Glougie says in her ruling. “The complainant believes he is being retaliated against for publishing research that is unflattering to the employer and, therefore, amounts to a breach of his academic freedoms. The union, on other hand, see’s the employer’s concern as being about the complainant’s behaviour, not his research.”
Glougie says “I accept that, in the union’s view, the complainant opened himself up to discipline in terms of how he behaved towards his colleagues and how he communicated the conclusions he reached about their integrity.”
Pyne tells NL News he was suspended for a second time by TRU as of July 16, for one year, which he alleges is because of a Facebook post calling out TRUFA. University staff did not speak specifically to the suspension, citing employee privacy rules, but did tell NL News “it is unlikely the university would suspend an employee for a single social media post.”
