Roger Martin, dean of Rotman School of Management.Ashley Hutcheson
Apologies are flying at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management after "embarrassing" events at a recent graduation party.
Rotman is considered one of the top business schools in Canada and the event, called Grad Ball, is held every spring to celebrate MBA graduates. This year's ball was last Friday and it was attended by about 300 students, faculty, staff and spouses.
The party is organized by students and it typically includes an open bar and roast-like presentations, where students poke fun at professors and the school.
Sources say some students swore, appeared drunk and made rude comments during skits about the "Top 5 reasons to attend Rotman." Some attendees were also offended by the introductory remarks of Rick Powers, an associate dean who is executive director of the MBA program.
This week Roger Martin, the school's dean, sent a sharply worded e-mail to faculty, students and staff saying he was "saddened and embarrassed" by the event.
"In particular, the words uttered suggested an attitude towards women and sexuality that was offensive and demeaning. There is no excuse for this behaviour. It is not a case of 'boys being boys,' youthful exuberance or mere drunkenness," Mr. Martin wrote.
He added that he was "disappointed with the opening remarks of associate dean Rick Powers. I think that the innuendo behind Rick's remarks caused discomfort and didn't set the right tone for the evening."
Mr. Powers promptly issued an apology.
"Although I did not intend to offend anyone or to set an inappropriate tone, clearly I did and for that I am truly sorry and disappointed in myself," he wrote in a e-mail to students, faculty and staff.
"It is critical to our reputation and to the community that we want to build that we treat everyone with respect and that our actions do not make anyone feel uncomfortable. Beyond the reputational issues this is something that I believe in personally which is why I feel so badly that I have let you down."
One more apology came from Rachel Megitt, an MBA student who is president of the Graduate Business Council that organized the party.
"We are sorry to say that the evening took an embarrassing and offensive turn," Ms. Megitt said in an e-mail sent school-wide. "It was our hope that by giving tables the opportunity to generate "Top 5 Lists" that they would be an entertaining interlude throughout the evening, unfortunately, some people took things too far and for that we are truly apologetic."
In an interview, Mr. Martin said he wasn't at the Grad Ball but he heard several complaints about it the following Monday.
"I did feel that there's a need for an apology and there's a need just to make sure when we have events we don't have people crossing lines," he said.
He did not provide details about Mr. Powers' comments but he said they were not racist or sexist. Sources say Mr. Powers made a brief reference to a pair of students forming a relationship during a study trip abroad.
The comments "just had the possibility for sort of double entendre," Mr. Martin said. "If you read them in one way you'd say 'No.' If you read them the other way you'd say 'Oh yeah there is something implied there' … In the end it's just not a good thing to leave open the possibility that those meanings would be extracted."
Mr. Martin said Mr. Powers, who declined comment, will not face any sanctions. He added that he plans to develop a framework for student-run events.
"We have to make sure that there are expectations set so that there isn't anybody offended," he said. "We have to be leaderly and the school needs to set a framework in which people can be their best. It is pretty clear to me here that we don't have a framework in place for Rotman events that ensures that people will be their best."
In an interview, Ms. Megitt declined to go into specifics about the event. "I really just think it was the general roast atmosphere. Unfortunately some people took things a little bit too far," she said.
She added that she received "a lot of feedback" from people who found some comments during the party offensive.
"As a result I felt that, as the voice of the student body, that we as students needed to take ownership and responsibility for our actions," she said. "It has posed some really interesting questions for us to answer."