Camosun College might have an important lesson for us in a decision about human rights, but instead we have a fog of inadequate information.
Three nursing students successfully appealed a failing mark in one of their courses. Following the college’s regular appeal process, they went to the instructor, then the department head, then the dean. The appeal was denied at every stage.
They then went to the vice-president, education, John Boraas, who granted their appeal based on legal advice that the college would lose if the students took their case to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. Boraas allowed them to move ahead in the course, and assigned them an extra three hours of tutorials a week. They are now doing well.
What course did they fail? What were the human-rights issues? We don’t know. The college cites privacy issues in refusing to give details.
If the college has been ignoring the rights of its students, that is something the public and prospective students should know. If nursing students are being passed with an insufficient grasp of important material, that is something everyone — potential patients, above all — should know.
Certainly, students must be treated fairly. But when those students take their licensing exams, and especially when they care for patients, almost every question has a right and a wrong answer.
The lack of information undermines Camosun’s reputation for treating its students justly and its reputation for properly educating those students for their chosen professions.
