- The preliminary (and only) report, titled "Report of the
Climate Committee to the Department of Political Science" (March 23, 1993)
contains 7 pages of recommendations, an appendix of 18 student letters of
complaint and a statement from the Political Science Students Women's Caucus.
The report is archived at the University of Victoria McPherson Library.
- The events have been outlined in a number of articles: the
"Chilly Climate Issue" of The Emily (publication of UVic Women's Centre)
Summer, 1993 which contains 12 pages of articles by various women, some
anonymous; "UVic's. Administrative Magic: Making Harassment - Disappear,"
Margaret Laurence Chair in Women's Studies Prairie Region Women's Studies
Newsletter, January 1994, p. 7.; Ellen Travis, "The Backlash on Campus,"
Herizons Fall 1994; Cheryl Harrison, "Speaking out" , against the backlash
at UVic," Kinesis June: 1994, p.17;Kim Bolan, "Suspension more harassment, UVic
professor claims," Vancouver Sun March 13, 1995, p.B8.
- The faculty then consisted of 8 tenured men, 3 untenured
women and one untenured male. All the men were white; one recently hired woman
was of colour. The Committee to Make the Department More Supportive to Women
was composed of three undergraduate students, two graduate students and one
untenured professor, all white women. The retaliation and discrediting of us
was based on sex rather than race.
- They refer to themselves in this manner, which we have
abbreviated to EMTF: "The eight male tenured faculty of the Department of
Political Science took grave exception to the allegations of sexism, racism and
sexual harassment in the report, which they regarded as accusations against
them personally," Terry Morley, Jeremy Wilson Warren Magnusson, Rob Walker,
Plaintiffs, Statement of Claim: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Defendant,
April 15, 1994. Supreme Court of British Columbia, Victoria Registry No. 94
1413, po3.
- The text of the letter of April 8, 1993 from Rob Walker,
Warren Magnusson, Jeremy Wilson, Terry Morley, Colin Bennett, Norman Ruff, Bob
Bedeski and Ron Cheffins is reproduced on pp.40-41 of the Berger/Bilson report
(Beth Bi1son and Thomas Berger, Report of the Review Committee into the
Political Science Department prepared for the president of the University
of Victoria, January 21, 1994). Addressed to Dr. Somer Brodribb, the letter
threatened legal action against her and, as the external review agrees, the
students of the Chilly Climate Committee as well. However, until the
Berger/Bilson review "found" that the threat of legal action had been made it
was occasionally hotly denied by the EMTF: "Rob Walker, one of the signatories
of the letter, insists there was never any intention to start a lawsuit," in
"UVic Committees investigate Chilly Climate," Focus on Women September
1993, p.5.
- Fear of being sued after being named in the four male
faculty's suit against the CBC led Constance Backhouse to dis-invite members of
the CCC from contributing to a book on Chilly climates (The Chilly Collective,
Breaking Anonymity: The Chilly Climate / or Women Faculty, 1995).
- Denise Helm, "Harassment cases evident throughout
UVic-Advisor, Equity Office swamped [with] complaints," Times Colonist,
April 24, 1993, p.C8.
- Sheila Devine, interviewed by Patty Pitts, "Humour Helps in
Serious Fight Against Sexual Harassment, A Profile of UVic's Barb Wittington
and Sheila Devine," Focus on Women November 1992, pp.44-49.
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