VOTE DECIDES NO VOTE
One-ballot difference troubles Timmons
For University of Regina president Vianne Timmons, the fact there won’t be a non-confidence vote in her abilities is of cold comfort.
Just one ballot separated “yes” from “no” at Friday’s special university council meeting, called for members to decide whether or not a vote of non-confidence in both Timmons and vicepresident academic Tom Chase would go ahead — a vote on a vote, as it were.
Ironically, there was also one spoiled ballot in the mix, which came down to 134 in support of the motion and 135 against.
It was clear Timmons felt no sense of victory about the fact there will not be a non-confidence vote.
Speaking with a hushed audience after reading out the results, Timmons said she was “deeply, deeply troubled.”
“I am not joyful today,” she told members of council.
“To me, this is a very sad day for the University of Regina. I am not proud to be president of a divided campus.”
Following the meeting, Timmons told reporters she had “some work to do to bring the campus together.”
As for whether she would have preferred a vote to put the issue to rest, Timmons couldn’t say, but she did say she would prefer faculty members were “drawn together.”
That won’t be easy for Timmons, as evidenced by the close vote as well as the fact voices at the meeting — from both faculty and students — were as passionate in their support of Timmons as they were in their dissent.
Coupled with government funding pressures and questions around spending decisions in different faculties, Timmons acknowledged the campus is facing a tough time.
But, she added, she is committed to working things out, and said she would have a town-hall meeting within a month.
“I have a list of all of (council’s) concerns ... around transparency and what they want to see, and I want to get a clear idea exactly what they’re looking for,” she said.
“If they want a line-byline budget, we’ll produce it, and it will be up to them to analyze that.”
Associate English professor Susan Johnston organized the petition that resulted in Friday’s meeting.
In her presentation to council, she brandished the university’s 1992-93 weighty tome of a budget, then held aloft what is currently available on the university’s website regarding spending — a markedly shorter document.
And that is what Johnston said it comes down to — transparency. That, and a “series of things that have been happening over a period of years.”
In the same breath, Johnston said she was “sorry it came to this.”
“It’s unusual that you get a movement toward nonconfidence coming from a variety of different sources and from a variety of different concerns,” she said.
“In many ways, I’m also very sorry it’s not resolved.”
About an hour after the vote’s results were read to the meeting, U of R board of governors chair Lee Elliott released a statement reiterating his support of Timmons and Chase.
“While council has made a decision not to proceed with such a vote, the university’s board of governors recognizes, as does the president, how imperative it is for senior administration to address the concerns held by our campus community,” he wrote.
“The board remains confident in the president and senior administration’s ability to work constructively with members of the entire university in support of our shared academic mission.”