A timeline in the scandal involving the dentistry school at Dalhousie University

HALIFAX – A timeline of some of the key events in Dalhousie University’s handling of misogynistic comments posted on Facebook by some male dentistry students:

Dec. 8: An unnamed student shows an offensive screenshot from Facebook to two Dalhousie officials.

Dec. 12: The student tells the school her complaint includes allegations of harassment and bullying over time and she wants a formal complaint process as she provides the school with 54 screenshots from the Facebook group. Thirteen male posters and 10 female students are identified.

Dec. 15: Many of the screenshots are published in the media. The dentistry faculty postpones exams for students in the class until January.

Dec. 17: University president Richard Florizone announces that a number of the women targeted in the Facebook posts have chosen to pursue restorative justice and the process is underway.

Dec. 19: About 200 people march to demand the expulsion of the dentistry students accused of making the Facebook postings.

Dec. 21: Four faculty members outside the dentistry school file a complaint requesting an investigation and suspension of the Facebook posters under the student code of conduct.

Dec. 22: The school’s dental clinic temporarily closes until Jan. 12 because of the controversy.

Jan. 5: Dalhousie announces 13 students have had their clinic privileges suspended.

Jan. 9: The 13 students who were allegedly members of the Facebook group are no longer allowed to attend classes with the rest of their classmates and Florizone announces an independent investigation will look at the environment, training and policies at the dentistry school.

Jan. 11: Dalhousie rejects the complaint made by the four professors under the student code of conduct.

Jan. 12: Some members of the university’s senate want the Facebook comments investigated outside the faculty of dentistry instead of by its academic standards committee.

Jan. 19: Student Ryan Millet identifies himself as a whistleblower in the case as his lawyer accuses the school of treating him unfairly on the eve of a disciplinary hearing.

Jan. 21: A lawyer for Millet says the school suspended the student largely because he clicked the “Like” button on one suggestive photograph on Facebook, arguing that amounts to guilt by association.

March 2: Twelve male dentistry students who participated in the Facebook group express their remorse in an open letter and six of the women who were targets of the posts say they don’t agree with a university decision to segregate the men from their classmates and keep them out of clinical practice.

March 6: The law firm representing Millet says he is the last student allowed to return to clinical practice.

March 15: Millet says he will participate in a remediation process required by the academic standards committee, which will permit him to graduate.

May 22: Report on the restorative justice process says it found a culture of unprofessionalism in the dentistry faculty.

June 29: A panel led by a professor from the University of Ottawa says it heard several accounts of sexism, misogyny, homophobia and racism at the dentistry school as it makes 39 recommendations.

(Source: Report of the Task Force on Misogyny, Sexism and Homophobia in Dalhousie University Faculty of Dentistry, The Canadian Press)