The University of Ottawa wants to know who’s behind a widely circulated email that alleges one of its professors is a prostitute. The university’s concern, say administrators, is not whether or not the rumours are true, but the invasion of privacy. The email was sent anonymously through a Yahoo account over the university’s network.
Attached to the email were graphic photos of a woman, whom the anonymous sender claimed is a sex worker with the Montreal escort agency French Kiss Society, as well as a newly hired faculty member at U of O. According to the Ottawa Citizen, the university has confirmed that it recently hired a woman of the same name mentioned in the email. Beyond that, the school is not discussing the matter.
“That email was by an anonymous source,” U of O’s communication director Andrée Dumulon told the Citizen. “At this time, we have no evidence that the sender of the emails is a member of the university community,” Dumulon added. “We will not comment further.”
The prof named in the emails is a part-time instructor at the university’s criminology department. The Citizen reported the senior administrators had received copies of the email.
The Canadian Association of University Teachers agreed with U of O’s stance. “What a faculty member does in their personal life is irrelevant,” CAUT communications officer Kerry Pither told The Varsity. University hiring should only consider a faculty member’s teaching ability, Pither said, adding that even if the allegations are true, prostitution is not illegal in Canada.
