A student complained that they were treated unfairly through Holland College’s harassment complaint process. They alleged that Holland College unfairly imposed a no-contact agreement between them and another student, found them guilty of breaching it and imposed sanctions without giving them a chance to make representations. They also complained that Holland College did not investigate a harassment complaint that they made.
We found that Holland College did not clearly communicate its harassment policy or process to the student. However, we concluded that Holland College had the authority and reasonable grounds to issue the no-contact agreement and came to a fair decision when finding them guilty of breaching it. We also concluded that Holland College investigated the student’s harassment complaint, despite not addressing some of the student’s supplementary questions and investigative requests.
To prevent similar confusion in the future, the College agreed to tell students subject to misconduct proceedings of its decision-making process and the policy under which it is acting. The College also committed to adopting a consistent approach when considering correspondence relating to harassment complaints.
