PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW

As a faculty member at the University of Saskatchewan I was utterly shocked by the firing of the executive director of the school of public health for his expressed opposition to TransformUS recommendations and his concerns about being muzzled.

I thank him for going public. Universities are grounded on open, reasoned debate and cannot fulfil their mandate while stifling discussion, including dissent. The provost defends the firing on the grounds that once decisions are made, deans and others in positions of power are to toe the party line. This he refers to as “leadership.”

Leaving aside the very important issue of academic freedom, a logical consequence of this “leadership policy” is that faculty cannot expect their deans and other senior administrators to be forthcoming with important information, nor can they expect deans to be fully honest about their own views on important matters, as they could be fired for doing so.

This makes it irrational for faculty to trust their senior administrators. This is a troubling policy that makes co-operation impossible and puts deans in an unworkable position. It also implies that we can’t know for sure whether the provost actually believes what he is saying, as he also may be forced to toe the party line.

Clearly TransformUS is not the transparent process it was advertised to be. As a philosophy professor I have great confidence in the power of reasoned debate to produce solutions to problems by exposing competing views to critical scrutiny. The philosophy department, now at risk of closure due to TransformUS, is needed now more than ever. Emer O’Hagan Saskatoon