As Saint Mary’s University fought a costly, public legal battle to play in a 2017 football game, the University of Halifax hired a high-profile public relations firm for advice on how the institution could improve. its public image.
The dispute over the eligibility of a player took place in the courts of Nova Scotia and Ontario, and included a Remembrance Day hearing on whether the Atlantic Championship game known as the Loney Bowl would go ahead, resulting in to legal bills that nearly reached $ 500,000 for the university.
CBC News obtained documents in a request for access to information that took the university nearly four years to fully respond to. Records reveal details of the frustration felt by officials and the university’s public relations approach, which included closing the doors of a team practice to prevent the media from talking to players and coaches.
“We need to keep the doors closed,” Margaret Murphy, the university’s associate vice president of foreign affairs, wrote in an email on Nov. 13, 2017 to several school officials.
“I will go down and manage the media. We will let the media take pictures of the team from a distance. I will still be the only one interviewing the media.
Football fans at a match on November 14, 2017 in Wolfville, NS, are showing a poster addressed to Archelaus Jack. (Colleen Jones / CBC)
“Coaches and players need to focus on the game and we want to keep the comments on what we agreed on yesterday.”
CBC applied for bills and records in 2018 related to Archelaus Jack, who was preparing for the Saint Mary’s Huskies in the 2017 season. Saskatchewan Roughriders internship in 2016.
The issue of eligibility caused Atlantic University Sports (AUS) to cancel the Loney Bowl game between Saint Mary’s and Acadia University just days before it was held. Saint Mary’s brought AUS to court and a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge later ruled that the game should go ahead. It was played on November 14, 2017 and the Huskies lost 45-38 in overtime.
In 2018, the university initially provided CBC News with legal bills related to the case, but did not provide any of the other requested records. CBC appealed to the province’s information and privacy commissioner, and the university began publishing records last fall, some 1,000 pages of which were written. Since then, officials have published more and more previously written material.
In an interview with CBC News, Murphy described the process of accessing information as “a learning experience.” The file contained three different information officers from the university, the latest being a university lawyer.
Murphy said the lawyer had a greater understanding of what should be provided by law. She hopes that this will mean that the university will publish more documents on future requests for access to information.
Margaret Murphy led the University of Saint Mary’s communications efforts during the Archelaus Jack affair, which included ordering the doors of the football field to be closed in a practice to prevent the media from questioning coaches and players. (CBC)
When the eligibility dispute first became known on November 3, 2017, university officials and one of the outside attorneys working on his behalf weighed in on how to respond to a request for comment from a CTV.
Officials agreed to a 30-word statement saying the university had been diligent in its response and that there was no problem.
“The less you say the better”
McInnes Cooper’s attorney, Robert Belliveau, who helped represent the university, said in an email to several of its officials that “the less you say, the better.”
The documents show frustration within the Santa Maria community.
“I’m very tired of this,” wrote Karen Oldfield, then chair of the university’s board of governors, in an email on Nov. 13, 2017 to the school’s president and one of the lawyers. who worked at the university. in the name.
“I think we should make the full attack.”
In a November 17, 2017 report, three days after the Loney Bowl, National Public Relations recommended that Saint Mary interrupt media interviews about the case and only provide e-mail statements.
Karen Oldfield, who is the president and CEO of Nova Scotia Health, was the chair of the board of governors of Saint Mary’s at the time of the Jack case. He thought the university “should make the full attack.” (Health of Nova Scotia)
National also suggested that Saint Mary’s rebuild its profile by continuing with “key stories” for university president Robert Summerby-Murray until the 2017 and 2018 holidays, which involved “more interaction with students and the campus, moments of celebration, etc. “
“Think of a good backdrop, create videos of it ‘in conversation’ with others. Use more active and stronger / proud language in social media posts to show leadership and influence.”
The report noted that the Jack case “resulted in a narrative that suggests that SMU has not acted with integrity or in accordance with its own core values, or core AUS values.”
Saint Mary’s spent $ 2,067.75 on the National report.
Later, the company also helped review the statements in Saint Mary’s media.
The eligibility dispute focused on the language that implies how long former CFL players have to wait before playing at the college level.
The 2017-18 rules stated that former CFL players on a roster after August 15 of a given year had to wait a year before they could prepare for a college team.
Santa Maria interpreted the one-year waiting time as an academic year, not a calendar year.
How the legal battle began
The legal battle began in private, but then went public.
Saint Mary’s reached an agreement on October 27, 2017 with U Sports, the governing body of Canada’s college sports, that there were no outstanding player eligibility issues.
According to Ontario court documents, the deal came after Saint Mary’s threatened U Sports with a lawsuit. In exchange for the university not taking legal action, U Sports agreed not to investigate the eligibility issue, according to a written decision by Ontario Superior Court Judge Todd Archibald after Saint Mary’s took U Sports to court. comply with the agreement.
Documents obtained by CBC show that although the legal battle took place in private, U Sports told Saint Mary’s on November 2, 2017 that regardless of how the Jack case was resolved, it would change its policies “to reflect explicitly and unequivocally the position of our national office and members, which is that student-athletes in these circumstances should not be eligible to compete in the U Sports competition until they have been seated for 365 days from the date of participation of the CFL “. This is what the guidelines say now.
The university was afraid of “serious damage to reputation”
Saint Mary’s court documents show that the university was concerned about the “serious damage to the reputation” of the university. They heard alumni and administrative officials “express great concern about the effect of these events on fundraising, alumni relations, and the recruitment of college students in the future.”
The legal battle moved to Nova Scotia after athletic directors from four Atlantic University Sport (AUS) schools filed a complaint with the AUS Judicial Committee on November 1, 2017, regarding the eligibility of Jack. The issue was made public in a few days.
Joe Taplin, who at the time was the head coach of the football team, was not happy about it.
“It simply came to our notice then [sic] mainly through jealousy we collaborate on our backs to degrade our school, ”he wrote in an email on November 16, 2017 to several school officials.
Saint Mary’s spent $ 475,973.49 on legal bills in Ontario and Nova Scotia in the case. For the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscal years of the university, the university received $ 36.25 million and $ 37.8 million, respectively, from the province, according to figures provided by Saint Mary’s.
This led to the conviction of Tim Houston in 2019, who was the official opposition leader in Nova Scotia at the time and is now Prime Minister.
“And it’s important to us that we are a province that offers higher education to a number of students, but at the same time, the money that taxpayers invest is for the education of the people,” he said at the time.
How much other parties spent on legal fees
Other institutions have accumulated legal bills as part of court fights:
- Acadia University: $ 26,254.48.
- Atlantic University Sport: $ 44,000.
- U Sports: “Much more” than $ 100,000, plus a “significant” amount of unpaid legal services, said Graham Brown, president and CEO of U Sports.
On March 2, 2018, SMU president Summerby-Murray wrote in an email to Mike Mahon, president of Lethbridge University and chairman of the U Sports board, that the university only proceeded. to a lawsuit after U Sports “breached our mutual agreement” and “undermined a collegially negotiated agreement.”
“That said, I am committed to ensuring that Saint Mary’s improves its internal processes for compliance with U Sports standards in the future.”
Murphy said the university has revised its procedures for player eligibility. He cited the hiring of athletics and recreation director Scott Gray in late 2017, as well as a detailed daily follow-up on eligibility issues for current and hired students, and conducting education presentations for eligibility.
“It certainly gives us a firm foundation in eligibility and this is one of the big improvements that have been made in the future,” he told CBC.
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