Rachel Marsden

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Rachel Marsden (born 1974) is a Canadian media personality and political commentator, known for her outspoken conservative positions. She is currently a columnist for the Toronto Sun whose columns periodically appear in U.S. publications.

Contents 1 Education and media career 2 Politics 3 Sexual harrassment controversy 4 External links 5 Notes and sources

Education and media career

Marsden attended Simon Fraser University, where she graduated in 1997 with a degree in biology and a minor in French. She returned to SFU in 1998 and enrolled in a post-baccalaureate program in criminology.^[1] Subsequently, Marsden received a diploma in broadcast journalism from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (2000)^[2] and attended a program for conservative journalists offered at the National Journalism Center (2003)^[3].

Beginning in 2003, Marsden hosted a weekly political interview show at CITR, the University of British Columbia campus radio station. Guests included Stockwell Day and Ann Coulter.^[4] The style of the show attracted the attention of CBC Television's The Fifth Estate, where Marsden was included on "Sticks and Stones," a documentary on the increasing political polarization in the media of the United States.^[5]

In recent years, Marsden has been a guest on The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, where she has offered a Canadian point of view, and on CNBC's Dennis Miller program.^[6] For two months in the summer of 2005, she had a twice-weekly column in the National Post. Soon after, she began a regular column in the Toronto Sun. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Post, Ottawa Sun, Washington Times, David Horowitz's Front Page Magazine, United Press International, as well as the online newspapers Canada Free Press, NewsMax.com, and PoliticalUSA.

Opinion of her among Canadian conservatives is divided, but she is one of the few Canadian pundits to have exposure in American neo-conservative publications and TV.

Politics

Marsden was once a member of the Young Liberals.^[1] By the time she had entered the public stage as a pundit, however, she was a conservative.

For a time in 2003-2004, Marsden worked in the constituency office of Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal, under the name "Elle Henderson." She was, at the time, facing criminal charges for allegedly stalking Vancouver radio personality Michael Morgan, and Conservative party officials had objected to her hiring in December, 2003. ^[7] (She would later plead guilty and receive a conditional discharge.)^[8] When the Vancouver Sun discovered her true identity and contacted Grewal, Marsden's contract was terminated. Grewal explained that the timing of the termination was a coincidence and that Marsden had completed the work for which she was hired.^[9] Marsden blamed Conservative party objections to her on several newspaper columns she had written that were critical of party leader Stephen Harper.^[7]

In November 2005, a regional Conservative organizer approached Marsden to run as the party's candidate in the 2006 election against federal New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton in the downtown Toronto riding of Toronto-Danforth, but Marsden declined the opportunity.^[10]

Sexual harrassment controversy

While a student at Simon Fraser University in 1995, Marsden accused swim coach Liam Donnelly of a date rape.^[11]

Marsden and Donnelly laid complaints against each another with the SFU harassment office in 1995. On the advice of his lawyer, however, Donnelly withdrew his own complaint and refused to attend the university sexual harassment tribunal's hearing. The panel found him guilty in October, 1996, and he was fired on May 23, 1997.^[12] Marsden received $12,000 in compensation.^[13]

Donnelly appealed the ruling and went public with his side of the story, denying any romantic relationship with Marsden and asserting that she had in fact been harassing him. After a lengthy investigation, SFU reversed its decision, rehired Donnelly, and paid his legal fees of $60,000.^[14] SFU also radically revised its policies for dealing with harassment complaints, reopening and reversing eleven prior cases.^[15] University president John Stubbs first took medical leave and then resigned in the wake of the scandal.^{[16] [17]}

External links

• Rachel Marsden's official web site
• an early curriculum vitae from her website
• Audio interview with THECOMMENTARY.CA: Sunday, 31 October 2004

Notes and sources

1. ^ ^a b "Who is Rachel Marsden?" a prior version of Rachel Marsden's web site, archived at webarchive.org
2. ^ Robin Brunet, "Then & now: BC Business magazine celebrates 30 years in publishing and looks back to ask: whatever happened to whats'isname and whats'ername," B.C. Business Magazine, November, 2002, v.30, pg 62 (CBCA-ACC-NO: 5510096)
3. ^ National Journalism Center listing of recent alums
4. ^ Rachel Marsden. Politics with an Edge!. Rachelmarsden.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-19.
5. ^ The Fifth Estate. "Sticks and Stones", CBC News. Retrieved on 2006-10-19.
6. ^ Rachel Marsden's IMDB profile
7. ^ ^a b Peter O’Neil, "Marsden says she’s paying for her anti-Harper views." Vancouver Sun, Monday, May 10, 2004
8. ^ You've got (threatening) mail!. Canoe (January 31, 2005).
9. ^ Peter O’Neil, “BC Tory MP ends his work contract with Rachel Marsden.” Vancouver Sun, May 8, 2004, p. A3.
10. ^ Glen McGregor. "Tories woo convicted stalker to run against NDP's Layton", Ottawa Citizen, November 26, 2005, p. A5.
11. ^ M. Jimenez, “SFU swim coach fired in sex-harassment case.” Vancouver Sun, May 27, 1997, A1.
12. ^ Marina Jiminez, "SFU defends firing swim coach," Vancouver Sun, June 6, 1997, pg. B1.
13. ^ "Independent arbitration board established to review controversial Donnelly dismissal", SFU News, June 19, 1997.
14. ^ Robert Matas, "University improves payout to coach SFU decision among several reversals after review of harassment investigations." The Globe and Mail, 2 May 1998, p. A5.
15. ^ "A difficult search for a delicate balance," Maclean’s v. 110, no. 26, July 1, 1997, p. 102.
16. ^ Ian Bailey, "Simon Fraser president quits over handling of sex cases," Canadian Press Newswire, December 12, 1997
17. ^ "Embattled SFU president asks for medical leave," Canadian Press Newswire, July 29, 1997

Persondata
NAME	Marsden, Rachel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Canadian media personality and political commentator
DATE OF BIRTH	December 2, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH