Suspended Champlain College director requests reinstatement following harassment allegations

Nearly two months after Champlain Regional College's board of governors placed Nancy Beattie on paid leave, the director of the constituent college for Champlain College Lennoxville has asked to be immediately reinstated.

In a letter signed by Beattie and addressed to the board of governors, Beattie argues that her suspension was "inefficient" and unnecessary to protect the interests of the college. She also says that the college prevented her from defending her reputation.

The letter was among two sent to CBC anonymously and dated Jan. 29 and Feb. 8. Chairman of the board Matthew Mazur confirmed the board received the letters but he declined to comment on them.

Beattie's suspension followed CBC's investigation into ongoing hearings at Quebec's labour tribunal.

During those hearings, several current and former managers at the college said Beattie had fostered a toxic work environment and unfairly favoured her husband, who was managing the finances of the Lennoxville CEGEP. Some testified that the situation caused staff physical and mental health problems.

According to a letter that was sent to the Lennoxville campus's governing board in the fall and obtained by CBC, the Education Ministry has launched an investigation into the management and finances at Champlain College Lennoxville and the regional college as a whole.

Beattie 'floored' during meeting

In Dec. 2023, the teacher's union, the Syndicat de l'Enseignement du Collège Champlain Lennoxville, filed a motion of non-confidence against the director. In response, the board held a special meeting one month later, where it voted to suspend Beattie with pay.

Two weeks later, Beattie wrote to the board about her "utter disbelief" at having been suspended.

She said she should have been told in advance that the board might discuss the possibility.

Beattie believed the board had intended to prepare a response to the union to "articulate support" for her management, as well as respond to the "patently unfair and partial media coverage."

She said she had prepared a 20- to 25-minute presentation but had been given only 10 minutes to speak and wrote that she was in a state of disbelief when she was then excluded from the in-camera meeting.

"I was floored," Beattie wrote.

Nancy Beattie argues the college didn't allow her to defend her reputation. (Charles Contant/CBC)

Suspension unfounded, Beattie writes

Mazur, reading the resolution on Jan. 10, stated that media coverage, the teachers' union's resolution, as well as the ongoing case before the labour tribunal were factors in the board's decision to suspend Beattie. He said she would be on a paid leave of absence until the board received the "conclusions of the different investigations."

In her letter, Beattie disagreed with every argument, and said the union's motion of non-confidence should not have been considered in the decision about whether to suspend her.

She wrote that the college has "done nothing" to counter the effects of the allegations.

"With all due respect, not one of these reasons support the conclusion that my suspension as director was a necessary measure to protect the interests of the college," wrote Beattie.

She pointed out that the psychological harassment complaint that triggered the labour tribunal hearings date back to February 2021, "effectively old news," as she described it.

She said it's "very hard to comprehend" why this case was being used as grounds for suspension.

An external investigation had already cleared her of those allegations, she said, while also requesting repeatedly to receive a copy of that investigation. Beattie's letter does not clarify whether she has seen the contents of that report.

Beattie wrote that employees were forbidden to speak to the media — a directive she says she "loyally heeded to my own detriment."

Beattie has declined our request for comment.

Beattie's request rejected

In a second letter dated Feb. 8, Beattie wrote that the board turned down her request to be reinstated and told her that it is not "the board's role to judge the merits of the allegations."

The CBC has not seen the board's written response.

In her letter, Beattie said the college's treatment of her suspension and her husband's November 2023 transfer — from the Lennoxville campus to the Champlain Regional College office — was "very difficult to witness and be subjected to."

The interim director general of Champlain Regional College, Yves Rainville, has not replied to a request for comment. Champlain Lennoxville's teachers union declined CBC's request for comment.