CORPORATE AGENDA

As deplorable as is the Robert Buckingham incident, it should surprise no one given the awareness raised by several recent letters to the editor of the goings-on at the University of Saskatchewan. Our “People’s University” is being corporatized, and, accordingly, acts as a corporation when its dirty laundry is exposed.

President Ilene BuschVishniac’s “thorny reputation in terms of her tolerance of free speech” while previously provost at McMaster University as described Thursday by the National Post’s Robyn Urback gives pause for thought about the management style now ensconced at the U of S.

In spite of Buckingham’s reinstatement as professor, the heavy-handed manner in which administration dealt with him in the first place warrants an independent forensic review of university administration practices, if not a call for Busch-Vishniac’s resignation.

I’ve been an elected member of the university senate for two years, during which time I have witnessed intimidation tactics against senators who exposed flaws in TransformUS as well as perceived breaches of conflict of interest at the board of governors. As confirmed by the U of S secretary and chancellor, the board is accountable to no one but itself.

I live in northern Saskatchewan, where corporatization of municipal and band administrations is ever-increasing through partnering with exploitive extractive industries. Just as at the university, corporatization has transformed governance into rigidly topdown, hierarchical decisionmaking processes, where input by the people themselves is purposely excluded.

Let this perversion serve as a wake-up call for the public to form solidarity in exposing and stopping corporate dismantling of democracy, wherever we encounter it. Debbie Mihalicz Beauval