Readers of the CAUT Bulletin over the past decade will be familiar with the case of former Brock University employee Mary Warner.

Mrs. Warner, a secretary in the history department at Brock for 15 years, gave evidence to the university's sexual harassment committee against a male faculty member. Mrs. Warner was subjected to harassment and subsequently fired in August 1986.

She won a libel claim against former Brock president Alan Earp in April 1992. An appeal against that decision failed.

Mrs. Warner also commenced an Ontario human rights action in May 1993, which ran for 23 days of hearings before a six-month postponement. The board president, a female law professor, resigned in February 1994, after her impartiality was challenged for holding a private conversation with Michele Paludi, an expert witness on sexual harassment.

The university's lawyers unsuccessfully sought rulings by the Ontario Court of Justice (Divisional Court) to quash the Ontario Human Rights Commission decision to request the appointment of a new board of inquiry. An attempt to obtain an order to stay the proceedings forever also failed.

An appeal by the university seeking to resolve an ongoing dispute over how Brock could have a new board of inquiry set aside as an abuse of process, was pending in summer when the university's lawyers and the Human Rights Commission reached a negotiated settlement with Mrs. Warner and her lawyers, hours before the anticipated court appearance.

A front page story on June 12 in the St. Catharine's Standard announced a settlement, indicating that "Mrs. Warner was offered reinstatement but she declined." The terms of the settlement remain confidential to the parties. A university spokesman, Grant Dobson, Executive Director of the Office of External Relations, commented "how eager Brock was to achieve an amicable outcome."

Faculty and staff at Brock, individuals, and faculty and staff associations, at most educational institutions in every province of Canada recognized the significance of Mrs. Warner's fight for reinstatement and justice, generously donating more than $40,000 to help pay her legal bills and expenses, which by now have reached over $200,000. Mrs. Warner, unemployed since 1986, is deeply grateful for the sustained support she has received from members of the academic community and the public across the country in her eleven-year struggle to achieve justice.

Professor Bruce Feldthusen (Law, University of Western Ontario) acted as Mrs. Warner's lawyer from 1993 until the end. He will donate a portion of his fee to establish the Mary Warner Prize in Human Rights at Western. The prize will be awarded to a student enrolled in the human rights course and selected by students in the class as best exemplifying Mrs. Warner's commitment to the anti discrimination ideals of human rights law in Canada.