VICTORIA – While pressure builds on the UBC Governors to fire Chair John Montalbano for the sudden departure respected academic Arvind Gupta, NDP charged this week that Gupta’s departure shows the UBC Board of Governors, a group dominated by B.C. Liberal government appointees, is operating in chaos, secrecy and conflict and putting the school’s reputation at risk.
In September of 2014, shortly after Arvind Gupta began a five-year term as the new president of UBC, B.C. Liberal Premier Christy Clark said his appointment “is a great moment for UBC and for post-secondary education in British Columbia.”
Just one year into that term, following a UBC Board of Governors meeting, Gupta departed under mysterious and controversial circumstances.
“Since Dr. Gupta’s mysterious parting of ways with UBC, the Board of Governors has attempted to meet clandestinely and silence faculty, letting the situation deteriorate into secrecy, conflict and chaos,” said New Democrat advanced education spokesperson Kathy Corrigan.
“While our institutions should be protecting academic freedom, the board has done the opposite, censuring faculty who speak out, forcing the faculty association to issue a vote of non-confidence in the board.
“This sort of chaos isn’t good for students, isn’t good for faculty, isn’t good for investment, and reflects very poorly on the B.C. Liberal government who appointed the board. The reputation of a leading institution is at stake.
NDP said many of the B.C. Liberal government appointed board members have very close ties to the B.C. Liberal party.
Corrigan said the only thing that will bring back stability and confidence is transparency, and a full accounting of what happened.
Instead, the board brought on yet another Liberal insider Judy Kirk, a former executive director of the B.C. Liberal caucus, to attempt to clean up the optic mess,.
The turmoil at the University of B.C. edged up again Wednesday, as two faculty associations put pressure on the chair of the board of governors to step aside, raising questions about whether the imbroglio that has gripped the school for almost two weeks has caused a lasting reputational hit, reported Globe and Mail newspaper.
In the latest development, the Canadian Association of University Teachers released a statement Wednesday calling on chair Montalbano to step aside while the university investigates allegations he infringed a professor’s academic freedom when he called her to discuss a blog post she had written that was critical of the surprise departure of president Dr. Gupta, who had been in his job for barely a year.
With faculty members and the university administration now at loggerheads, and national organizations involved, the larger question is what it will all mean in the long-term for UBC.
“If it ends quickly, it’s a tempest in a teapot,” said Alex Usher, the president of Higher Education Strategy Associates, a Toronto-based consulting firm that provides strategic advice and research for postsecondary institutions, reported Globe and Mail.
The longer it goes on, the more attention it gets and the more potential public damage it does.
