Trinity Western resolves human rights complaint
LANGLEY, BC—A harassment complaint filed with the province's human rights tribunal against Trinity Western University (TWU) president Neil Snider has been settled.
His accuser, a former employee of the university, agreed to withdraw her complaint after receiving an apology from Snider and a commitment from the university to improve its policies and procedures in handling such cases.
"We are very glad that it's resolved," says TWU executive vice-president Guy Saffold. "It's discouraging that we had a member of the community who felt hurt. It's discouraging that the university and the president would be thought of as having done something that was wrong."
The complaint was filed in mid-October, just five weeks after Snider announced publicly that he planned to retire in June 2006 after 32 years as president.
In an open letter informing the TWU community of the complaint, board of governors chair Allan Hedberg said Snider was accused of "[intruding] on the complainant's personal life in an unwanted manner through phone calls, personal comments and invitations to social events.
"There are also allegations of physical contact that the complainant says were unwanted but none of which—on any other grounds—would violate the university's standards of personal conduct."
Hedberg said the university had also been named in the complaint, allegedly because when the woman "raised these concerns with university harassment officers, effective action was not taken to intervene.
"To ensure the board responds to this matter with complete integrity," he added, Snider had immediately decided of his own volition to take a leave of absence.
Within two weeks, the matter was resolved.
In a statement announcing the settlement, the university said it "has agreed to make certain changes to its policies and procedures to address the issues identified in the complaint and will be conducting a further internal review to determine whether further changes are necessary."
Saffold declined to elaborate. "We really can't expand on what's been agreed that we would say," he says.
And despite the settlement, it is not known when Snider will be back in the office.
Marlie, Snider's wife of 45 years, passed away in June after a lengthy battle with cancer. Saffold says Snider is "still working on just recovering" from his loss.
"This has been quite a difficult year for him. He's retiring and he's lost his wife and he had a complaint like this. That's a lot of life transition all in one short period of time."
Snider has served as TWU's president since 1974.
Since then, the campus has grown from being a small Christian college with 340 students into a fully accredited liberals arts university with 3,500 students.
Brian Stiller, president of Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto, calls Snider a "trailblazer" and "one of a kind" for having pioneered the growth of Christian higher education in Canada.
"The renaissance of [Canadian] evangelicals engaging in the broader culture," Stiller told ChristianWeek, "is in part due to the rise of Trinity Western University—and that rise happened under the leadership of Neil Snider."
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