At a federal court hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 30, the Canadian Federation of Students argued that the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council was wrong to dismiss an alleged case of research misconduct.
In 2004, Chris Radziminski, a former U of T grad student, complained to CFS that the university had plagiarized sections of his master’s thesis on the use of chlorine dioxide for purifying water, and that his conclusions had been manipulated. U of T and Erco Worldwide, an international chlorine dioxide supplier, had joined forces to test the chemical on the water system in Wiarton, a small Ontario town. Wiarton’s town council only found out about the experiment after residents complained of foul-tasting water. Over 40 per cent of respondents to a town-wide survey saw a difference in the water, but U of T’s findings, deeming the experiment a success, did not mention these findings.
“A favourable outcome would be if the court decided that there was a need for NSERC to in fact respond to CFS’s request for an inquiry. Ideally, we would like to see that an investigation at the University of Toronto take place in due process,” said Angela Regnier, the former national deputy chairperson of the CFS.
