Scandal over sexually explicit Facebook posts continues
One of the 13 Dalhousie Dentistry students (DDS) implicated in the recent scandal concerning sexually explicit Facebook postings has come forward, breaking the media silence in an interview with the Chronicle Herald.
Ryan Millet appeared with his lawyer, Bruce Macintosh, in an unedited video, talking about his role in the group and his opinion on the matter.
Millet says the group was created “during the first week in school” in 2011. Millet admits the posts were “foolish,” and describes the vote on which classmates to have hate-sex with as “extreme inappropriateness and disturbing in nature.” Millet also says some of the men were “very upset, disturbed by the post. We felt like the guys who posted it would come to their senses within minutes.”
“That post upset me quite a bit,” said Millet.
Millet is the first of the 13 men to have his name released to the public, and is currently the only student not participating in the university’s Restorative Justice program – which includes the DDS and their victims – to bring about community healing.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) obtained a letter written by some of the victims involved, and the women who authored the letter said that the Dalhousie University administration was silencing their views. The letter also demands that the school deal with the formal complaint filed by the women, using the Student Code of Conduct to determine if the women were deprived of a safe and discrimination-free learning environment.
The school’s position states that the online comments were “deeply offensive, degrading to women, and unacceptable,” but they stand firm in not releasing the names involved, saying that they have an obligation to protect the privacy of students involved.
Students returned to classes in the winter semester, but the dentistry graduate students were ordered to study elsewhere to ensure a safe learning environment for the victims. The DDS were also stripped of their clinical privileges at the school dental clinic. The Vice President of Student Affairs released a statement saying that the students would be evaluated on “professionalism” for re-admission.
The school’s response sparked mixed feelings from students. Some have said that the DDS should be able to finish school, while others have demanded their expulsion. On Jan. 5, hundreds of protestors rallied and demanded that the students be expelled and that more be done to address sexism on campus.
The scandal was brought public after the CBC received screenshots of the now infamous Facebook group, which consisted of the 13 DDS joking about having hate-sex with fellow students. One joke consisted of which women they would “chloroform,” and another involved a comment on a photo of a student in a bikini, which read, “Bang until the stress is gone or unconscious (girl).”
Police released a statement in mid-January explaining their decision to not launch a criminal investigation after reviewing the material provided by Dalhousie University.