Former McGill grad student from Egypt wins grievance against professor

MONTREAL – Amr El-Orabi has been back in Egypt since last November, when he left Canada after receiving an alleged death threat from his supervising professor. An investigation by McGill University’s grievance committee recently ruled in his favour. But the details of the decision and any possible sanctions against the professor are confidential.

“I did move on with my life but I still have the feeling that this person ruined what I was looking for,” said El-Orabi, who is pleased with the grievance’s outcome but hoped for financial compensation.

The 28-year-old had worked and saved up money for several years in his native Cairo to afford the $10,000 it cost him to come to Canada. He hasn’t ruled out filing a civil lawsuit to get his money back.

When Global News first disclosed the story in April, it sparked outrage and even a protest on campus. 

“We were really shocked that this happened and that the first time we heard about it was through the news,” said Suncica Avlijas, vice-president of the AGSEM (McGill’s teaching assistants’ union).

Had El-Orabi filed a grievance through the union instead of with the university, he may have been able to recuperate lost wages. But the 90-day deadline has passed.

“I really wish we had been aware of this and actually we’re looking into changing our own policies as a union to try to encourage students to come and talk to us, especially if they are members as Amr was,” said Avlijas.

According to recent statistics published by McGill University, the number of overall harassment complaints has dropped in the past few years, from 43 in 2010-2011, to 24 in 2011-2012.

But the reality according to the union is that very few graduate students are willing to come forward since they fear it could jeopardize their future careers. Teaching assistants are especially vulnerable since their job is at stake.

McGill’s strict confidentiality clauses make it impossible to track the exact number of complaints against any particular professor.

“At McGill what happens is even if several complaints are made against a prof, people don’t know about it,” deplored Avlijas, while underlining that comparable institutions like the University of Toronto have a much more transparent harassment policy.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims has offered legal advice to El-Orabi since his story first went public. The organization’s human rights coordinator is calling on Universities to do more to inform international students of their rights.

“They’re coming to a new country, they’re spending a lot of money to be here, they’re vulnerable, they don’t have families and the university really is their support system, so we hope this case will open the eyes of administrators to make some students know what to do should they face this type of situation,” said Amira Elghawaby.

El-Orabi insists he has some fond memories of his time in Canada and still keeps in touch with the friends he made during his eight months in Montreal. And while he will always feel cheated by his experience at McGill, the 28-year-old is trying to focus on the future. He recently graduated from the Egyptian Aviation Academy and is now awaiting his licence to become a flight inspector.

“I feel really bad about what happened to me over there but you know I’m trying to keep myself busy with what I’m doing right now and focusing on looking to the future rather than looking to the past.”