THE FIRING AND THE FIRESTORM
The issue:
The University of Saskatchewan has been dealing with fallout and damage to its reputation since Robert Buckingham, executive director of the university’s School of Public Health, was fired and banned for life from campus on May 14 after he criticized an overhaul at the university known as Transform US.
The plan:
Which included job cuts and reorganizing or dissolving some programs, is now being re-evaluated. Buckingham complained that by rolling the School of Public Health into the College of Medicine, the university risked jeopardizing the college’s recently earned international accreditation.
The fallout:
Widespread outrage over Buckingham’s dismissal and the attack on academic freedom has left the university doing damage control, which included firing president Ilene Busch-Vishniac, one of the key champions of the restructuring program, this week. Students demonstrating at the university were among those calling for her to be fired as a step toward restoring the university’s reputation. Brett Fairbairn, the university’s provost and vice-president academic, who had signed Buckingham’s termination letter, resigned earlier.
What’s next:
The university’s board of governors is assessing whether it was heading in the right direction with its restructuring program and hoping new leadership will help douse the firestorm and restore confidence in the university administration.