responses cannot be made public, even when progress is certainly being made."

Concordia spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr told CBC News on Monday the university wouldn't be giving interviews at this time.

She also couldn't confirm if any professors had been suspended or shifted out of teaching positions.

"For confidentiality and privacy reasons, we can't comment on any specific matter regarding our faculty members or staff," Barr said.

Award-winning author Heather O'Neill told CBC News she was sexually harassed by a Concordia creative writing professor in the 1990s. (CBC News)

'Everybody knows'

Award-winning Montreal novelist Heather O'Neill was a student in Concordia's creative writing program in the 1990s.

O'Neill told CBC News on Tuesday that Spry's allegations painted an accurate picture of the climate in the program at that time.

"He did encapsulate the pervasiveness of what's beenhappening at Concordia and how acceptable it is within the creative writing program," O'Neill said.

"Everybody knows. Everybody who attends there is aware of this culture," she said.

O'Neill said it's unfortunate that it took allegations from a man to get the university to respond.

'It was so inappropriate'

O'Neill said she herself was harassed during her time at Concordia by a professor in his 50s who approached her about publishing some of her poetry.

"It became a sort of year-long process of rejecting his sexual advances. The entire editorial process was just riddled with him trying to sleep with me," she said.

"It was so inappropriate, and it made me feel so much doubt about the entire process of publishing that book," she said.

O'Neill said she never reported the harassment.

"It just wasn't done