Sheridan College Worker Fired After Criticizing Anti-Racism Training

A file photo of one of Sheridan College's three campuses, this one in Mississauga, Ontario. (Maestroso Simplo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

A student athletics coordinator at Sheridan College publicized the Toronto-area school’s anti-racism training, parts of which he “found objectionable,” according to a recently published labour arbitrator’s report.

The arbitrator, Gail Misra, found that Tom Hipsz had breached the trust of his employer, had breached his “duty of loyalty.” She upheld the college’s 2021 decision to dismiss him. Her decision was issued Dec. 13 and first reported upon by the National Post on Jan. 4.

Hipsz—who is also a former CFL player and former candidate for Ontario’s New Blue Party—outlined his objections in the course of the arbitrator’s investigation.

Dividing Staff by Skin Colour

One equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI) initiative he spoke against was the division of the staff “into either a White caucus or a People of Colour caucus for their discussions,” Misra said.

“While Mr. Hipsz went to the White caucus, he testified that he didn’t like thinking that way,“ Misra said. ”[He] deeply felt that the training was creating divisions in his workplace by dividing staff into White and People of Colour.”

The report continued: “He objected to a chart that in his view suggested that if one was White and Catholic, one was privileged.”

Hipsz told Misra that his parents fled Poland after World War II, as communism took hold. They came to Canada to start a new life. “As such, for him, to be labelled as an imperialist or colonialist was extremely offensive,” Misra said in her report.

He also took issue with the “white privilege” aspects of the training because, he said, he had lived in rural Kentucky and saw poverty there among all races.

Hipsz has a bi-racial daughter whose mother is black. Misra said he is “protective of” his daughter “and it was apparent he loves [her] very much.”

The Epoch Times asked Sheridan College if it had any comment to make on Hipsz’s criticisms of the staff training. The college did not reply as of publication.

Media Leak

The training was launched on Aug. 24, 2020, to be completed within 30 days. Hipsz completed it. Mid-course, he had a brief talk with his direct manager about it, according to the report, but did not pursue the issue further within the college.

He told Misra that taking his concerns to the Centre for Equality and Inclusion at the college would be like “asking the fox to guard the henhouse.” Hipsz leaked several slides from the training to Rebel News. Misra’s report described the content of some of the slides.

One was titled “Why Whiteness?” It said “White privilege is a result of colonialism and White supremacy.” Another was titled “Where do I have Privilege or Marginality?” and it listed “types of oppression, like sexism, racism, heterosexism,” and more. It listed who is in the dominant or privileged group for each category and who is in the oppressed or marginalized group. “White People” were listed in the privileged group for racism.

Misra said that Hipsz might have been justified in going to the media if the college had committed a crime or an act of “serious negligence or wrongdoing.” But, she said, the anti-racism training did not constitute such.

“He knew that the College, based in the Greater Toronto Area, and specifically in Brampton, served an ethnically and racially diverse population of staff and students,” she said. Sensitivity training would help staff “understand the concepts of conscious and unconscious bias, how one’s level of privilege may affect one’s place in the social order, and how one may try to recognize and address biases and prejudices in order to have a more inclusive workplace and student environment.”

Fired Instead of Punished

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) represented Hipsz. It asked that instead of dismissing Hipsz, the college suspend him for three days and give him a one-on-one training “to better explain to him how the Human Rights Code operates to protect the most marginalized,” Misra’s report said.

Misra said Hipsz “loved his work and had been dedicated to helping students find their way and to succeed at the College.” Hipsz advised and assisted varsity athletes, including teaching a course to help them succeed academically.

Misra found, however, that Hipsz’s leak to the media was an instance of “serious misconduct” and warranted dismissal. She called it “a significant breach of an employee’s duty of loyalty and fidelity to their employer by leaking information to the media for the express purpose of besmirching the reputation of the employer.”

Hipsz had also been told by the college in September 2020 that his social media activity was inappropriate.

The report lists Hipsz’s tweets that the college highlighted as problematic. They include “crude pictures” of a U.S. Democratic representative; a retweet of a conservative media pundit making fun of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s COVID-19 predictions; a retweet of a conservative television host saying hydroxychloroquine—the controversial drug used by some to treat COVID-19—could save lives; and negative comments about Melinda Gates and Michelle Obama.