Rocci Luppicini – What you must know about uOttawa Prof. Rocci Luppicini (Part 1)
Supervisor Bullying Update #6 (Sep 25, 2021): I wrote a letter to the University of Ottawa President Jacques Frémont on Sep 1, 2021, urging him to conduct an internal investigation of my supervisor bullying case and for policy reforms.
Read the letter to uOttawa President Jacques Frémont about how to easily implement policy reforms to prevent supervisor bullying of university students: Letter to uOttawa President Jacques Frémont.
You may also be interested in 1st Annual University of Ottawa Supervisor Bullying ESG Business Risk Assessment Briefing and How to end supervisor bullying at uOttawa.
In a terse email reply on Sep 3, 2021, the president’s office said it has forwarded my letter to the University of Ottawa’s Human Rights Office “which has the mandate” to “address such complaints.”
Supervisor Bullying Update #5 (July 7, 2021): I wrote to Professor Liam Peyton on July 4, 2021 – I wrote him making a final plea for support (please see my reconciliatory offer, “Update #3” and “Update #4”), and I received no answer. The reconciliatory offer was extended for a full week, beginning on Canada Day 2021.
I offered to end discussing my grievance in public: remove references to it anywhere (“pull the plug”) if they gave me support letters to pursue my life-long academic research career, what I have worked so hard for, for so long.
Recall/note, I know University of Ottawa Professor Liam Peyton as my instructor for a compulsory graduate course (EBC8102 S – Doctoral Seminar II in E-Business in Winter 2016) that I took in the PhD in DTI uOttawa Program (2015 – 2019) and he was on my PhD thesis advisory committee and on my PhD thesis evaluation committee.
Recall, my former supervisor at the University of Ottawa Professor Rocci Luppicini cut me off from any support abruptly after being his graduate student in (1) the MA in Communication Program, Department of Communication, Faculty of Arts (2012 – 2015), (2) the PhD in DTI uOttawa Program at uOttawa engineering, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (2015 – 2019), and (3) a postdoctoral fellowship at uOttawa’s Department of Communication in 2020.
In fact, Professor Rocci Luppicini left me sharing with him successive drafts of my Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellowship application through January-February 2021 just to “really give it to me,” i.e., make the pain stronger by wasting my time, because, as I would discover, he had by then decided to cut me off (I did in fact submit the Mitacs CSPF application but Professor Rocci Luppicini never submitted a reference letter, thus my application was not accepted).
Importantly, by doing this he deprived me of the opportunity of a tenure-track professorship in the Department of Communication, Faculty of Arts, as my postdoctoral fellowship application package shows: Individual Development Plan and Appendices and Tables.
Recall, the office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts told me on June 17, 2021, that my avenues to do something about this severe abuse case was the University’s Human Rights Office and the Ethics Office. But those outlets do not address my concerns, namely, collaboration on authorship of my PhD thesis work, and more importantly, support letters (what a sword to hold against the vulnerable students!).
Incredibly, for me at least, the Dean’s office did not ask to see the evidence of my former supervisor’s long-standing abuse against me, when he has virtually flouted every major provision of “the University of Ottawa Administration and Governance Policy 110 – Policy on Treatment of Graduate Students on Non-Academic and Non-Employment Issues”.
So why did Professor Liam Peyton, who was second in position to help after my former supervisor by virtue of how closely I have worked with him during my PhD journey, choose to ignore my pleas/my reconciliatory efforts?
Recall, University of Ottawa Professor Andre Vellino (André Vellino), who was third in line (in position) to help me, refused to help me when I asked him for support and advised me on June 24, 2021, not talk about this issue in public and to just get over it. And before him I was advised by another Professor in the DTI uOttawa program on May 6, 2021, likewise, not talk about my grievances in public (the latter Professor has not taught me any classes, we were discussing something else but he took the opportunity to advise me not to talk in public).
Well, I can’t think of a single good reason as to why my Canada Day 2021 reconciliatory offer was ignored by Professor Liam Peyton, and generally why professors Liam Peyton and Andre Vellino will not help me, but to “punish me” or to teach me some kind of lesson for refusing to cover up about what my former supervisor Professor Rocci Luppicini has done.
This situation is outrageous. Even elected politicians are subject to daily ridicule in the media.
Let’s distill this down to what is happening in the system.
Tyranny.
Tyranny, at least in the sense of a student or a graduate researcher is supposed to live in constant terror that their academic career hangs in the balance, at the mercy of a whim by a supervising university professor; subject to ruin at any time and there is not a thing they can do about it if it happens.
This is the message these professors (the system) send to the world when they bundle up against me–for no wrong doing whatsoever on my part, I should add.
A simple and fast solution to avoid this abuse of power happening in the future to other graduate students and postdoctoral researchers is to reform Policy 110, to extend its provisions to university alumni for up to 10 years.
There are other suggestions I have made in my original post.
My dear fellow Canadians, it is time you took sides.
How can you help?
I am composing a letter to the University of Ottawa President and Vice-Chancellor Jacques Fremont President (I think I will skip writing to the Dean of uOttawa’s Faculty of Engineering which hosts the DTI uOttawa program).
Stay tuned for an update on my letter to the University President asking for an internal investigation of my case and for policy reform – and for how/why a small policy reform (especially to Policy 110) can go a long way toward making the system more efficient and fair.
You should do it for Canada, not for me.
I can defend myself.
But if we want to see real positive change for the Canada we love, I will need your help.
Peace.
Supervisor Bullying Update #4 (July 5, 2021): My peace offering is not open ended. 24 hours more and I will resume 1) escalating the matter (through the proper channels first, and then through contacting politicians, the media, through videos, podcasts, etc.), and 2) writing my story, my public memoirs. At my own pace. I am not speaking from a position of weakness. My resolve cannot be broken. I know my rights. And I know how to tell my story in a responsible and ethical way (especially, stick to the facts and what I can prove, and don’t involve people or mention names of people unless it’s absolutely necessary and they are directly involved in my arrested professional development).
Supervisor Bullying Update #3 (July 1, 2021): There is a tremendous responsibility on one’s shoulder when such an issue is brought to the public arena. I only wanted some justice and what other PhD graduates get for granted. I am very grateful that one professor has agreed to offer me support. I feel compelled to do my best to resolve my dilemma as soon as possible. I am hoping one other former professor of mine would be kind enough to agree to help me as well –and I will pull the plug on this issue without hesitation. If another former professor of mine would be kind enough to help I would be very grateful to them. Reforming the University policy governing the disputes (and they do happen) between professors and graduate students/postdoc researchers is a worthwhile goal, but I could pursue it in private especially if a university professor or executive chair is willing to support it. Happy Canada Day.
Supervisor Bullying Update #2 (June 28, 2021): I have written to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts on June, 10, 2021, concerning my grievance, the ongoing, ruthless assault on my academic/research career by University of Ottawa faculty members, and proposing a way out. I am afraid it’s all bad news.
The email exchanges are below.
Clarifying comments:
1) The gist of the reply I received from the Dean’s office on June 17, 2021, is that I have no rights, because I am not a current student (there is a 5-day window for a student to file a complaint, but realistically any professor can manipulate the situation should the situation arise simply by backing down momentarily, tactically).
2) With respect to obtaining reference letters, the reply I received suggested I approach former professors who taught me in the PhD in DTI Program as an alternative (since my supervisor in the MA, the PhD, and the postdoc programs at the University of Ottawa, Professor Rocci Luppicini, has arbitrarily cut me off).
I did so as follows:
Firstly, I asked Professor Liam Peyton twice for support with no reply (How I know Professor Liam Peyton), via email on May 20, 2021, and a follow up phone call/message on May 25, 2021, and via another email on June 22, 2021.
Secondly, I asked Professor Andre Vellino for support via email on June 22, 2021. Professor Andre Vellino replied saying he does not want to be associated with this issue (How I know Professor Andre Vellino) and that I should not talk about this issue in public for my own good.
Professors Liam Peyton and Andre Vellino were both on my PhD thesis evaluation committee.
3) The reply from the office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts (of June 17, 2021) suggested I take my case to the University of Ottawa’s Human Rights Office (HRO). Sure. I might do this. But it does not address my concerns/needs (support letters, validation of my scholarship through collaboration on publications, and making this abuse scenario less likely in the future through policy reform. If this is about Professor Rocci Luppicini’s salary, this point is irrelevant to me). It seems to me, I would just be another statistic. This will hardly help me in any way.
4) It saddens me to have to “spill the beans”, to profess the names of these professors publicly but I have no choice. They are fighting me in my livelihood for no wrong doing on my part whatsoever.
My primary concern now is that what happened to me never happens to anyone again (a graduate student or a postdoc researcher at the University of Ottawa) by laying bare the facts.
Next step: Contacting the Dean of uOttawa’s Faculty of Engineering and the President of the University of Ottawa to launch an internal investigation on the appropriateness/propriety of what happened to me, and to exhort them to consider changing the current rules, especially amendment of “the University of Ottawa Administration and Governance Policy 110 – Policy on Treatment of Graduate Students on Non-Academic and Non-Employment Issues” to include grievances by university alumni when the nature of the grievance pertains to serious breach of ethical conduct and/or human rights.
Supervisor Bullying Update #1 (May 31, 2021): I have had secured support for fall 2021 application to a postdoc position with a supervising professor at Canada’s preeminent higher education institution, the University of Toronto (IHPST), since Feb. (2021).
But after emailing Professor Liam Peyton who has taught me in the DTI program (on May 20, 2021) and a follow-up phone call/message (on May 25, 2021) asking him for help with reference letters for the application, I was denied reference letters and even the courtesy of receiving a reply to my request for reference letters.
Prior to this, I was advised by a third professor in the same program via email on May 6, 2021, that it is for my own good to take down the public note about my “negative experience” with Professor Rocci Luppicini because it would hamper my job search activities.
I just want reference letters to pursue my life-long career aspirations. That’s all. That is all, just a piece of paper stating the facts. Why am I being humiliated like this, getting insults after injury?
Does this seem fair or morally acceptable or defensible to you in any way?
The University of Ottawa has wasted away 10 of my best years in life for the hubris/greed/envy of a supervising professor. But I am not the only one. There is a lack of accountability and transparency as to how a professor decides when to write reference letters. It is now, evidently, capricious: I don’t see any code of ethics governing or regulating reference letters.
It can happen on a whim.
That’s right, on a whim, and the student will still pay.
It is time to change a culture prone to excesses and hubris. Remember, power corrupts. Absolutely.
I hope this message, this case, resonates with the media, politicians, and the broad public and it becomes a catalyst for affecting global social change in higher education.
Canada has an opportunity to show global leadership on this front.
Higher education reform is a great opportunity for Canada to attract international talent/students who know they are less likely to be bullied or harassed or exploited or humiliated by a professor or a supervisor than anywhere else in the world.
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The ugly truth about uOttawa Prof. Liam Peyton
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What you must know about uOttawa Prof. Rocci Luppicini
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