Student representative sues Thompson Rivers University

Student rep Adrian Miller claims TRU failed to accommodate disability and medical issues.

By Devan C. Tasa
[The Omega (Thompson Rivers University)]

KAMLOOPS, B.C. (CUP) — A recently elected student representative to Thompson Rivers University’s board of governors and senate is in the midst of suing TRU for 16 different claims.

“It’s difficult to determine what the claim is,” said John Hogg, the university’s lawyer, in court on Jan. 20. “He’s claimed almost every tort in the textbook.”
Adrian Miller, who was elected by students in an online election held between Dec. 8 and Dec. 22, says in legal documents filed to the court that the university failed to reasonably accommodate his disability and medical problems, the nature of which were left unspecified.

Miller’s documents go on to say that when he went to senior TRU officials to ask for help in receiving accommodation, they ignored or squelched his complaints and failed to apply university policy. The documents also say that TRU sought to make Miller miserable so he would leave the university.
The university has denied the allegations.

“[Miller] knows these allegations are false, unnecessary, scandalous, frivolous and vexatious,” stated a legal document filed in response to the lawsuit.
The university’s documents also claim that TRU properly investigated any complaints and that Miller failed to use internal processes to seek remedy to his complaints even after being told about them.

According to the legal documents filed by Miller, he is asking TRU to pay $249,999.99 in damages, write a letter of apology to him, pay for university and living expenses from September 2007 to the time his lawsuit is completed, pay for all future post-secondary education and admit him unconditionally to the faculty of law with a full scholarship in compensation for his troubles.

Miller has faced legal issues in the past. When confronted by Kamloops reporters about a previous mischief conviction, he told them it was the result of a prank done when he was on the University of Northern B.C.’s basketball team in 2007. But Kamloops This Week found out that Miller was not part of the team.

Court documents revealed that he was convicted of damaging an apartment in Prince George from which he was evicted. The documents do not mention anybody being accused besides Miller, who claimed a girlfriend did the damage. Miller was also arrested Jan. 19 on an outstanding warrant on a new breach charge, but was released a few hours later.

Despite Miller’s legal battles, Thompson Rivers University Students’ Union (TRUSU) executive director Nathan Lane said that TRUSU will treat Miller like any other duly elected student representative to the board of governors and senate.

“We [will] set up a meeting with each one of [the newly elected representatives] in the coming month to let them know that we are available as a resource and that we are happy to work with them on issues of institutional governance,” Lane said.

According to TRU’s election procedures, a student can only be barred from seeking and holding elected office if they have not paid their fees or if their studies would end before the end of the one-year term.

Miller was unavailable for comment by press time.