Emergency meeting Monday
The University of Saskatchewan’s board of governors has called an emergency meeting this long weekend to discuss the institution’s controversial firing and rehiring of outspoken professor Robert Buckingham.
The meeting will be held at 8 p.m. on holiday Monday. Board chair Susan Milburn, who has been quiet throughout a week of controversy, declined to speak with media about what will be on the agenda.
The U of S has been the brunt of international criticism since Wednesday, when Buckingham, a tenured professor and now-former chair of the university’s school of public health, was fired and escorted off campus by security after he sent a letter to the government and Opposition criticizing the institution’s controversial TransformUS cost-cutting plan.
On Thursday, university president Ilene Busch-Vishniac partially reversed the stance, saying the administration “blundered” when it stripped Buckingham of his tenure. Busch-Vishniac publicly apologized to Buckingham and invited him to return as a professor if he chooses.
Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris, who asked Milburn to call the meeting in light of the “unfortunate, unprecedented and inexplicable events,” said he hopes members discuss how the university can repair its damaged reputation and determine whether administration broke the University of Saskatchewan Act, which dictates how the institution is to be governed and outlines the university’s commitment to academic freedom.
When asked whether the university’s actions warranted a leadership review, Norris said “everything’s on the agenda.”
Jim Miller, a U of S history professor and Canada Research Chair, has written to Milburn imploring her to “terminate” Busch-Vishniac and Provost Brett Fairbairn for their “egregious” actions.
He said booting the administrative members would be “a first step” in restoring the university’s tattered reputation.
“It certainly wouldn’t do it by itself, but it would clear the decks to let someone who has a more consultative and collegial style come in and provide leadership,” Miller said.
He was adamant the board needs to dismiss the president and provost with cause and deny them severance pay.
“It would be an outrage, it would upset everyone all over again, if they discovered that the president was simply asked to resign and walked away with a huge severance payment,” Miller said. “It would continue to inflict more harm on the university and undermine the public’s confidence in the institution.”
Miller added that the board needs to take a serious look at TransformUS, which he said has been “contaminated” and “discredited” by Buckingham’s claims that it was agreed upon only after staff were coerced and intimidated.
“The whole business of TransformUS is undermined and it should not be proceeded with in the near future,” Miller said.
The university board of governors is made up of 11 members — including Busch-Vishniac, one student and one faculty member — who oversee the university’s management, administration and handling of financial affairs.
Board meetings are not typically open to the public, and Busch-Vishniac told reporters Thursday she does not imagine this one will be.
Norris said he will attend at least part of the meeting.
“From where I sit I have a number of questions,” he said. “I’m very concerned about issues of precedence, and I’m not alone.”
He said he’s heard from donors, alumni, faculty and researchers in the last few days who are very concerned about how the university administration has handled the Buckingham affair.