Why, Why, Why? The Importance Of Reasons In Post-secondary Administrative Decision Making

The right for an affected party to receive reasons explaining an administrative decision is a well-established rule of procedural fairness. The result in a recent case before the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, Andres v University of Lethbridge, 2021 ABQB 551, highlights the importance of adhering to this rule in post-secondary administrative decision making.

In Andres, the court reviewed a decision of the University of Lethbridge's School of Graduate Studies Executive Committee (the "Committee") to require a graduate student to withdraw from their program of study (the "Final Decision"). Upon judicial review of the Final Decision, the court ultimately decided to send the matter back to the Committee for reconsideration. Why? In short, because the reasons the Committee gave for the Final Decision were deficient.