After more than a decade, two women who lodged complaints of sexual harassment against the University of Prince Edward Island’s former president can finally speak about what happened to them.
Former UPEI staff members Wendy Carroll and Erin Casey have been fully released from their non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, which had prevented them from speaking publicly about the complaints they made against Alaa Abd-El-Aziz.
“This is very liberating for us,” Carroll told CBC News in one of the first instances of the women speaking publicly about their experience.
“It has been a long time and a very difficult process.”
WATCH | Women released from former UPEI president’s NDAs that silenced them for more than a decade:
Women released from former UPEI president’s NDAs that silenced them for more than a decade
Two former UPEI staff members who lodged complaints of sexual harassment against the university’s former president more than 10 years ago are now released from their non-disclosure agreements, allowing them to speak about what happened back then. The university says this is the next step in reconciliation with past victims at the school. CBC’s Cody MacKay reports.
Casey said it’s hard to describe the feeling of freedom of being able to talk about what she went through.
“We’ve been in silence for 12 years,” she said.
“If you can imagine what it would be like to be carrying someone else’s secret for that long, and then to be allowed to talk about it and move forward…. I mean, it’s a combination of exhilarating and scary and weird.”
The women made sexual harassment complaints against Abd-El-Aziz in 2012.
In June 2013, they reached a settlement and signed non-disclosure agreements that included themselves, UPEI and the former president.
Former UPEI president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz resigned suddenly in December 2021, citing health reasons. (Nicole Williams/CBC)
UPEI released Caroll and Casey from their NDAs in 2023 — but the former president, who resigned in 2021, did not.
“We came to understand the importance of obtaining a full release — both for Erin and Wendy’s healing and for the process of reconciliation — after they read victim impact statements to the Board of Governors in November 2023,” Shannon MacDonald, chair of UPEI’s board of governors, wrote in a statement released this week.
“We then became committed to helping them to achieve full release and regain their voices.”
The two women were fully released from their agreements on Dec. 29.
‘By addressing the past, you can prepare for and move into the future,’ says Shannon MacDonald, chair of UPEI’s board of governors. (Zoom)
“It was time, it was the right thing to do,” MacDonald told CBC News on Wednesday. “When you mean it, you can demonstrate your… empathy and that you are sorry for things that have happened and that you do believe in the future.
“And by addressing the past, you can prepare for and move into the future.”
Looking forward
Carroll and Casey said their focus is on looking forward. They want to help other victims who have silenced, and further the conversation around improving institutional responses to workplace misconduct.
“We’re not interested in talking about the details of what occurred that led to us having an NDA,” Casey said. “We just don’t think that’s the important part of the conversation. The important conversation is what happened afterwards.”
The women both said one of their priorities is stopping the misuse of non-disclosure agreements.
“NDAs were never meant to be used in this way, they were designed to protect intellectual property and trade secrets,” Casey said. “They were never designed to silence victims.”
‘We’ve learned quite some time ago that there probably is never an “over,” in terms of what happened and the way things unfolded,’ says Wendy Carroll. (Zoom)
Caroll added that the pair will work to dispel misconceptions about such agreements being a benefit to victims.
“We also know that there are other women like us, other people like us, who are still locked behind these NDAs,” she said. “They need their own voices, as we need our voices.”
In a statement, the UPEI Faculty Association applauded the school for its efforts to free Carroll and Casey from their NDAs.
But the association added that it remains concerned “with the board’s refusal to indemnify other community members silenced by NDAs, including some of our members, who wish to speak openly of their experience of abuse at UPEI.”
The statement adds: “If the board is truly committed to turning the page on this difficult chapter in UPEI’s history, it will indemnify all survivors who wish to come forward to share their stories.”
‘The next evolution’
UPEI is in the midst of completing a five-year action plan that was informed by a third-party review released in 2023.
The Rubin Thomlinson report detailed a history of “toxic” behaviour at the university, “where bullying and harassment is widespread and condoned at an institutional level.”
The University of Prince Edward Island has a five-year action plan it is using to follow through on recommendations in the Rubin Thomlinson report. (Al MacCormick/CBC)
MacDonald said freeing Carroll and Casey from their NDAs is the next step in reconciliation with past victims at the school.
“What supports an environment that’s not toxic and that does… treat people fairly is an environment and a foundation of clear policies, processes on who is responsible for what, and making sure the right people are empowered to take care of things,” she said.
“The university had to kind of rebuild some of that. And they have.”
MacDonald said one of the board of governors’ top priorities for 2026 is to replace UPEI’s 20-year-old fair treatment policy.
“We have a really strong draft, and so I think we’re in a good position to move forward,” she said. “That’s why I go into 2026 hopeful that we can get into… more of a modern language around this topic.”
Both Carroll and Casey have advised on the drafting of a new harassment and discrimination policy, as well as revisions to the UPEI’s sexual violence policy, which would together replace the fair treatment policy.
“We’ve learned quite some time ago that there probably is never an ‘over,’ in terms of what happened and the way things unfolded,” Carroll said. “There’s always the next evolution and the next way that we show up in conversation.”