U of T emails contradict dean’s stand

Emails suggest Valentina Azarova was offered a job at the U of T’s law school.

The fallout of bombshell accusations that University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law gave in to external pressure on a key hiring continues to grow, after a new email from the dean raises fresh contradictions and questions.

On Thursday, the Star reported on allegations that the law school rescinded a job offer to respected scholar Valentina Azarova after a sitting judge — and major donor to the faculty — expressed concerns over her academic work on Israeli settlements on Palestinian territories.

The job was for the position of director of the law faculty’s prestigious International Human Rights Program (IHRP). Azarova, who is based in Germany, declined to speak to the Star. The Star attempted to contact the judge’s court Friday but did not get a response.

The university told the Star Friday it was standing by the Dean’s email to staff.

“The hiring process for the IHRP director, which is a managerial staff position — not a faculty one — was confidential, and the university is continuing to do its best to maintain confidentiality, notwithstanding insinuations and the selective disclosure of information, including emails that have been published out of context,” said Kelly Hannah-Moffat, vice-president of human resources and equity.

The entire faculty advisory board has resigned over the hiring decision and, on Thursday, a member of the hiring committee quit his job at U of T.

Official complaints have been filed with the Canadian Judicial Council, which has the authority to investigate and discipline judicial misconduct if necessary.

After the story broke Thursday, Dean Edward Iacobucci sent an email, obtained by the Star, to all the law professors at 6:34 p.m: “Let me say at the outset that assertions that outside influence affected the outcome of that search are untrue and objectionable,” he wrote.

“University leadership and I would never allow outside pressure to be a factor in a hiring decision.”

But he did not mention if an outside judge attempted to influence the decision. Nor did the university in its response to the Star’s specific questions on this.

Queen’s University law professor Leslie Green sought precise clarification in his complaint to the judicial council: Did a judge know who were the shortlisted candidates? And if so, how? Did a judge speak with the dean or others in the faculty about the merits of any candidate? Did a judge attempt to influence the outcome?

“These are not complicated questions,” he told the Star.

The university said while “exploratory discussions occurred with one candidate,” it backed the assertion by Iacobucci in his email that, “No offer of employment was made because of legal constraints on cross-border hiring that meant that a candidate could not meet the Faculty’s timing needs.”

However, this statement contradicts internal emails between the three hiring committee members that show they unanimously backed Azarova as the best candidate. Vincent Wong, who was on that committee, shared the emails with the Star.

One email from assistant dean Alexis Archbold on Aug. 21 to Audrey Macklin and Wong says in part: “Spoke to the UT employment lawyers today and they confirmed that we can hire Valentina as an independent contractor and roll her into the permanent position when she has her permit in hand. Valentina is happy with this.”

As for the faculty’s timing needs, another email from Archbold to Macklin and Wong on Aug. 20 says, “In a nutshell, we are hoping to work out a way for Valentina to start work for us before she has a Cdn work permit in hand … Valentina is willing to start working remotely immediately. She plans to move to Canada by December.”

In his resignation letter, Wong said, “The director search process has not been handled with objectivity, fairness, and transparency. The withdrawal of Valentina’s offer raises serious concerns about the abuse of process, improper external influence, and academic freedom … If I am to be completely honest, I feel like trust has been irrevocably broken.”

Wong told the Star on Thursday that “Everything was sunshine and rainbows … and suddenly it was, we’re going to revoke. If the main issue was, she couldn’t come in time — we’re all working remotely anyway.”

Samer Muscati, IHRP’s most recent permanent director, told the Star it was not as if someone without those crossborder constraints could have begun teaching right away. The semester started Sept. 8 and “we never offer the clinic course mid-semester,” he said.

The next session for anyone to start teaching was in January. While working remotely, Azarova could have worked on developing the curriculum, done outreach with students and worked on partnerships for the legal clinic, Muscati said.

Uof T law professor Mohammad Fadel blasted the dean’s email as “self-serving” in a note to colleagues Friday.

“Given that the search committee was authorized from the beginning to consider international candidates, and that the Dean knew that the top two candidates on the short-list were non-Canadians, it is hard to believe that we were suddenly blindsided by immigration law at the last second,” he wrote.

Iacobucci said in the email to law professors that, “Even the most basic of the conjectures that are circulating in public, that an offer was made and rescinded, is false.”

However, an email, seen by the Star, from assistant dean Archbold to Macklin and Wong on Sunday Aug. 9 said: “I have a meeting booked with Robyn tomorrow to discuss our offer to Valentina. I plan to get in touch with Valentina first thing Tuesday morning.”

Sources tell the Star the university made an oral offer to Azarova on Aug. 11, which she accepted.

Muscati says whether or not an offer was made is immaterial. “Even if no offer was made yet, it would still be unacceptable to have a judge intervene in the process. This is the scandal.”