Former UBC Okanagan student feels free after winning discrimination ruling in sexual assault case

Stephanie Hale says she is feeling free for the first time in a decade after her life was derailed by a sexual assault in a dorm room at the University of B.C.’s Okanagan campus.

After the assault, she says she also struggled with the university’s internal non-academic misconduct reporting process and eventually filed a sex and disability discrimination complaint with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

Late last month, the tribunal ordered UBC Okanagan to pay Hale $50,000 in compensation for injury to her dignity, feelings, self-respect, and the way it handled her allegation of sexual assault by another student. She was also awarded nearly $15,000 in lost wages and expenses.

“I really feel like I can move forward from this,” Hale said Saturday.