SECRECY DAMAGING

Re: Key facts omitted (SP, June 7). Probably the most revealing point made by former University of Saskatchewan president Peter MacKinnon about tenure issues is the link in his mind between tenure and the beleaguered university’s finances, and his justification for the board of governors to consider tenure as a financial matter rather than an academic one.

What makes this more interesting is that the board and McKinnon led the university into the current fiscal position, the details of which are uncertain because their decisions have been made out of sight of the larger university community.

The board also did not seem to have the financial situation of the university fully in mind when they let the uncertain deficit grow to the size that required instituting a further expensive process, TransformUS, to attempt to repair the damage.

According to MacKinnon, the board avoided a “multimillion-dollar” commitment by dubiously not hiring one sociology professor. Ironically, the university is spending a lot of money to correct the hiring and firing of the director of the school of public health and a president.

The board of governors possibly could have avoided these unfortunate decisions and definitely would have benefited from consulting the larger university community, including senate and academic council, about both the tenure/hiring policies, and workable approaches to the deficit.

One would think they had learned from previous errors in judgment and implemented a co-operative and transparent approach that involved university community stakeholders to deal with the issues at hand.

Alas, the board has now hired an interim president, apparently again without consultation with the other governing bodies. The insulation that leads to questionable decisions and desperate remedies continues. Ron Schriml U of S Senator, District 7 Unity