UVIC PROF CAUGHT GROWING WEED IS STILL FIGHTING

A University of Victoria professor who was convicted of growing
marijuana is waiting to hear if she can keep her job.

On Friday, January 7, on the twelth floor of the Harbour Towers Hotel,
the arbitration hearing on the fate of Professor Jean Veevers wrapped
up late in the afternoon.

However, no decision was reached on whether the tenured professor will
ever stand behind a podium at UVic again.

Veevers has been suspended with pay since January 1999, after UVic
President David Strong reviewed evidence from her 1998 Supreme Court
case that pointed to her involving a student in illegal activities.

The Sociology teacher fought Strong's recommendation that she be
dismissed and invoked the arbitration process outlined in the
university's tenure document.

Veevers' lawyer, Mel Hunt, told Canadian University Press last year
that Strong's accusation wouldn't stand.

"With respect to [Veevers's] involvement with the student, this is not
just cause for her dismissal as it had nothing to do with her normal
duties as a professor," said Hunt.

Although Hunt now refuses to comment on the Veevers's case, he says he
still stands by last year's comments.

Veevers pleaded guilty to drug charges on October 26, 1998, and is
currently serving a conditional sentence in her home for one year.

Bruce Kilpatrick, director of UVic Communications, said there won't be
a decision for several months.

"The decision will come well before the deadline of June 30," said
Kilpatrick.

Thomas Cleary, president of UVic's Faculty Association, also expects a
decision in the near future.

"Everything has been done according to what the tenure document says,"
he said.

If the panel decides there is no just cause for dismissal, Veevers
will return to the university. If the panel decides against Veevers
the case will go before the University's Board of Governors.

According to University regulations, the arbitration panel is chosen
by the president of the Faculty Association and the university
president. The two panellists then choose a third independent member
to chair the panel.

The panel consists of University of British Columbia professors
Herbert Mclean and James McIntyre, as well as Vancouver labour affairs
lawyer Heather Lang, who is the acting chair.

The hearings - held last August and between January 5-7, 2000 - stem
from a December 11, 1998 recommendation from UVic president Strong to
the Board of Governors.

Strong said Veevers should be dismissed on the grounds that she
offered to pay the tuition of a UVic student in exchange for help
with illegal activities.

The RCMP raided Veevers's home on April 18, 1997, seizing 8.6
kilograms of marijuana and 122 marijuana plants.

Veevers pleaded guilty to charges of cultivating marijuana and
possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. She was given
a $15,000 fine, 60 hours of community work and a yearlong conditional
sentence.

Veevers will continue to be suspended from teaching with pay until a
final decision is reached.