\u201cThis is very liberating for us,\u201d Carroll told CBC News in one of the first instances of the women speaking publicly about their experience. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a long time and a very difficult process.\u201d<\/p>\n
WATCH | Women released from former UPEI president’s NDAs that silenced them for more than a decade:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767855670_313_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Women released from former UPEI president’s NDAs that silenced them for more than a decade<\/p>\n
Two former UPEI staff members who lodged complaints of sexual harassment against the university\u2019s 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\u2019s Cody MacKay reports. <\/p>\n
Casey said it\u2019s hard to describe the feeling of freedom of being able to talk about what she went through.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been in silence for 12 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can imagine what it would be like to be carrying someone else\u2019s secret for that long, and then to be allowed to talk about it and move forward\u2026. I mean, it\u2019s a combination of exhilarating and scary and weird.\u201d<\/p>\n
The women made sexual harassment complaints against Abd-El-Aziz in 2012. <\/p>\n
In June 2013, they reached a settlement and signed non-disclosure agreements that included themselves, UPEI and the former president.<\/p>\n
![\"Picture](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767855670_46_default.jpg\")
Former UPEI president Alaa Abd-El-Aziz resigned suddenly in December 2021, citing health reasons. (Nicole Williams\/CBC)<\/p>\n
UPEI released Caroll and Casey from their NDAs in 2023 \u2014 but the former president, who resigned in 2021, did not. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe came to understand the importance of obtaining a full release \u2014 both for Erin and Wendy\u2019s healing and for the process of reconciliation \u2014 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n “We then became committed to helping them to achieve full release and regain their voices.\u201d<\/p>\n The two women were fully released from their agreements on Dec. 29. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was time, it was the right thing to do,\u201d MacDonald told CBC News on Wednesday. \u201cWhen you mean it, you can demonstrate your\u2026 empathy and that you are sorry for things that have happened and that you do believe in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnd by addressing the past, you can prepare for and move into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking forward<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not interested in talking about the details of what occurred that led to us having an NDA,\u201d Casey said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t think that\u2019s the important part of the conversation. The important conversation is what happened afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n The women both said one of their priorities is stopping the misuse of non-disclosure agreements.<\/p>\n \u201cNDAs 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.”<\/p>\n Caroll added that the pair will work to dispel misconceptions about such agreements being a benefit to victims. <\/p>\n \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, the UPEI Faculty Association applauded the school for its efforts to free Carroll and Casey from their NDAs. <\/p>\n But the association added that it remains concerned \u201cwith 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.”<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n \u2018The next evolution\u2019<\/p>\n UPEI is in the midst of completing a five-year action plan that was informed by a third-party review released in 2023. <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767855671_876_default.jpg\")
‘By addressing the past, you can prepare for and move into the future,’ says Shannon MacDonald, chair of UPEI\u2019s board of governors. (Zoom)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767855671_82_default.jpg\")
‘We\u2019ve 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)<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767855671_107_default.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n