VANCOUVER – The University of British Columbia must consider rescinding the non-disclosure agreement it signed with former president Arvind Gupta and release more information about his sudden departure last month, says a letter signed by the executive committee of the university’s faculty association to the school’s Board of Governors.
UBC has been under internal and external scrutiny since Dr. Gupta’s resignation was announced on the afternoon of Aug. 7. The reasons for the departure have not been publicly released, reported Globe and Mail newspaper.
Media reports have identified conflicts between members of the administration and Dr. Gupta, his relative lack of senior university experience and issues between the Board and the former president as playing key roles.
“Given the … incessant stream of rumour and innuendo that continues to swirl around the University, we do not believe that the maintenance of a mutually agreed to non-disclosure agreement around Professor Gupta’s resignation is in the best interests of the University, of Professor Gupta, or of the public,” the letter states.
The statement goes on to specifically ask the Board to approach the former president to renegotiate how much each party is able to say about what why the computer science professor served only one year of his five-year term as the university’s leader.
Hired after a 14-year stint at the helm of Mitacs, a research and entrepreneurship non-profit, Dr. Gupta had been expected to bring innovation and possibly closer links between faculty, the community and industry. Instead, while he won over many professors across the two campuses, he appeared to have alienated senior administrators.
In the wake of his departure, a separate controversy has arisen from allegations that the chair of the Board of Governors infringed on the academic freedom of a business professor at the Sauder School of Business. The university has struck a separate inquiry to tackle that issue.
Tuesday was also the first day in office for interim president Martha Piper, who served as president for almost a decade starting in 1997. While the search for a new president begins, Dr. Piper will lead UBC in celebrating its centenary.
