In 2000, he moved to the University of Toronto where he took up the post of Professor of English and Medieval Studies.[13] In 2001, he became the associate director of the Centre for Medieval Studies and an Associate of Trinity College, Toronto.[9][13] He became a fellow of Trinity college in 2003,[9] and Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies in 2004.[13] He was appointed the 14th Provost of Trinity College, University of Toronto in 2007.[8]
In 2021, Al Jazeera Investigates published their findings following a two-year investigation of Orchard's 'personal reputation as a sexual predator' and alleged alcohol abuse in the context of his work supervising graduate students at Cambridge University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Oxford.[2] The I-Unit investigation found that Orchard had a history of allegedly sexually harassing and initiating inappropriate sexual relationships with female PhD students, and intimidating and bullying students and colleagues from his time teaching at the University of Cambridge in the 1990s.[14] According to the article, Orchard and his lawyers dispute I-Unit's findings.
Following up on Orchard's time at the University of Toronto from 2007 to 2013, the Toronto Star published their findings that the university had received at least two formal complaints against him regarding sexual advances and inappropriate touching during his time as Provost and Vice-Chancellor at Trinity College, Toronto. Their report alleged that the victims faced repercussions whereas Orchard himself did not.[1]
In October 2021, the University of Toronto committed to removing Orchard's portrait from Trinity College in response to his alleged pattern of sexual harassment.[15]
At Oxford, while reporting that none of the allegations reported by Al Jazeera pertained to Pembroke College students and that the college had received no complaints concerning Orchard's conduct, Pembroke College announced that Orchard had voluntarily withdrawn from the college's governing body and that "for the foreseeable future he will not attend College for social or academic functions".[16] Orchard's teaching duties, however, were managed by the English Faculty; its board announced that, by mutual agreement, Orchard was not at that time teaching undergraduate or master's level students, and that individual discussions regarding the supervision of research students were taking place.[16][17] In January 2022, the Toronto Star reported that "in the next few weeks, [Oxford University] will meet students and faculties where concerns have been raised and 'explore areas where improvements can be made'."[18]
Following a petition to the Oxford-based journal Notes and Queries to remove Orchard from its editorial board, his name was removed from the masthead on 30 November 2021.[18] He was also removed from the editorial board of the journal Anglo-Saxon England by Cambridge University Press.[19]
Honours
Orchard was awarded the Pilkington Prize for excellence in teaching from the University of Cambridge in 1998.[8] In 2012, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC).[20] On 16 July 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).[21] In 2019 he delivered the British Academy's Sir Israel Gollancz Memorial Lecture.[22]
Reception
In 2004, Hugh Magennis described A Critical Companion to Beowulf as 'something of a masterclass in the reading of Beowulf'.[23] Josephine Bloomfield thought that the book would 'be important to Beowulf study for years to come, and a stimulus to healthy interchange and argument for even longer'.[24] In 2004 Elaine Treharne described the same work as 'brilliant, comprehensive and inspiring'.[25] Reviewing the same work, Daniel Anlezark characterised Orchard as 'one of the outstanding Beowulf scholars of the moment'.[26]
—— (2004). A critical companion to Beowulf. Cambridge: Brewer. ISBN0859917665.
—— (2021). The Old English and Anglo-Latin Riddle Tradition. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Vol. 69. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN978-0674055339.
—— (2021). A Commentary on "The Old English and Anglo-Latin Riddle Tradition". Supplements to the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks. ISBN978-0884024774.
^Andy Orchard (trans.), The Elder Edda: Myths, Gods and Heroes from the Viking World (Penguin, 2013); Andy Orchard, 'In Praise of Women: St Hilda Rules', Trinity Alumni Magazine (Winter 2011), 2.
^ abOlivia Bowden, "U of T students and faculty accused him of sexual misconduct for years. So how did Andy Orchard keep getting promoted?", The Star (9 January 2022).
