Monday, Feb. 07

SARAH SCHMIDT
Special to The Globe and Mail
Monday, February 7, 2000

The Ontario Human Rights Commission has found evidence that Canada's largest university shunned a world-renowned physicist on the basis of his race.

In the damning report, to be released today by complainant Kin-Yip Chun, the commission staff conclude that "traces of cronyism" and an "old-boys network" at the University of Toronto undermined Dr. Chun's chances in four separate competitions for tenure-track faculty positions from 1987 to 1992.

Such a system "effectively screens out racial minority persons," states the report. The commission staff recommend that Dr. Chun's case be referred to an independent board of inquiry. Approximately 5 per cent of cases investigated by the commission reach the board level.

David Cook, vice-provost at the University of Toronto, says he isn't persuaded the university is in the wrong. "The report alleges an old-boys network, yet the facts don't seem to be there." He says the internal investigation was a "full and fair review. It did not accept as proven there was racism involved."

Still, Mr. Cook says he welcomes the opportunity to get to the bottom of the matter.
"Getting at the truth is in everybody's best interest."

The University of Toronto has an opportunity to respond to the report. The commissioners will then decide whether to uphold the staff recommendation to send it to the board of inquiry.

"At this point, seeing the conclusion, the respondent usually seeks a settlement or the complainant withdraws," commission spokesman François Larsen said.

The University of Toronto is also defending itself against Dr. Chun's wrongful-dismissal lawsuit, currently before the courts.

In four academic competitions, Dr. Chun, a Canadian seismologist of Chinese descent who earned his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, was bypassed in favour of white males. In one competition, the commission notes that the successful candidate, "initially considered inexperienced," was appointed assistant professor in seismology a few months later over Dr. Chun, "who had served the university in this capacity for several years."

In two other competitions, the successful candidates were selected based on "potential for excellence" over Dr. Chun, the report states.

Dr. Chun, now 54, was hired in 1985 as a research associate in the U of T physics department. Over a nine-year period, he was awarded $1.4-million in research grants and more than $100,000 in overhead. Although he taught courses and acted as an adviser to graduate students, he did not receive a salary. Dr. Chun, a sole-support parent, lived off his research money.

The report notes that Dr. Chun had an international reputation as a seismologist, a strong publication record, headed a well-funded and established research program and had experience teaching graduate-level courses.

Dr. Chun was Canada's lead researcher in nuclear-test-ban treaty verification and scientific adviser to the head of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations in 1991. He delivered the keynote address at the UN disarmament conference in Geneva that year.

As of 1994, Dr. Chun's external research funding placed him in the top 20 per cent of the geophysics group and compared favourably with the rest of the U of T physics department, the report notes.

These academic contributions were made despite a "poisoned" environment brought on by at least two incidents with racial overtones, the report states. Dr. Chun was one of six racial minorities in a department of 55. No one from a racial minority had ever been appointed to a faculty position in the geophysics subdiscipline of the department.

When the university dismissed Dr. Chun in 1994 and immediately expelled him from campus, it cited his "deteriorating mental state" and "irrational behaviour." In particular, the university cited a perceived threat of suicide and violence.

The report, however, notes that an original remark was "distorted until it became alarming in tone." It states that a "poisoned work environment can cause employees to become increasingly chafed, angry and confrontational."

The commission's investigation marks the latest chapter in a six-year battle between Dr. Chun and the University of Toronto. The university has refused to back down, despite an international campaign for Dr. Chun, backed by prestigious organizations such as the Canadian Association of Physicists, the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and the Overseas Chinese Physicists Association.

The university's own internal investigation concluded that Dr. Chun was exploited during his nine years at the institution, but denied any discrimination. The administration has offered to bring Dr. Chun back as a research associate. He has called the offer insulting.

Today, Dr. Chun says he feels vindicated. "The report says there is a systemic problem. It's a lot more profound than a single person's human rights being violated." He said the report is the "tip of the iceberg."

The commission concluded that the university may have violated its own policy on academic appointments in certain hirings in the physics department. The report also states the university's internal investigation into the matter "was flawed because it focused on finding individual intent or a motive to discriminate against Dr. Chun. This approach is no longer in keeping with the prevailing substantive theory of discrimination."