Ontario professor, acquitted of sex assault, loses job at McMaster University

A professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., acquitted of sexual assault in 2022, has lost his job with the post secondary institution.

Scott Watter, who taught in the psychology, neuroscience and behaviour (PNB) department, has been “removed” from the university’s faculty, according to two McMaster executives.

The institution’s president David Farrar and board chair Jane Allen in a joint statement insisted that Watter “abused” his position as a faculty member and that his conduct and pattern of behavior involving multiple students was a “breach of trust.”

Farrar and Allen explained the board’s executive and governance committee decided on dismissal after receiving a recommendation from a three-member senate committee determining “there was adequate cause for his removal.”

“That committee found Dr. Watter’s conduct to be unethical, inappropriate and in some instances exploitative,” the joint statement said.

“In engaging in sexual relations with a number of students, one of whom was in a vulnerable position and relying on him for support, the Hearing Committee found that Dr. Watter abused the responsibilities and authority of his position as a faculty member.”

Watter was charged by Hamilton police in June 2020 after a woman came forward with accusations of sexual assault and sexual assault causing bodily harm.

The university would then reveal its own probe a month later after receiving more complaints and subsequent suspension of several faculty members, including Watter.

Farrar would say the internal investigation would seek to “identify any potential systemic or cultural issues” within the PNB department.

Watter, then-46-years-old, appeared in front of a justice in August 2021 and registered a not-guilty plea.

The accuser, a former student never identified due to a publication ban, took the stand in the 2022 judge-only trial and insisted she was repeatedly assaulted without consent over several months in 2017.

In December 2022, Justice Amanda Camara acquitted Watter saying the Crown failed to prove that he misused his position to persuade the student’s consent.

She also rejected the accuser’s testimony saying inconsistencies in her story never proved there wasn’t consent to sexual activity.

McMaster’s executive and governance committee revealed that Watters did object to “the process and procedures” of their “removal proceedings” in mid-May.

“The approach taken by the Hearing Committee was not procedurally fair, and resulted in a flawed conclusion based on a hearing that lacked the foundation of adequate particulars,” council for Watters said in a complaint.

The hearing committee dismissed the submission insisting there was no proof of any “procedural error.”