College boards need to do the right thing

RE: Mohawk College salary controversy

Thanks to The Spectator for the investigative work regarding the CEO salary quagmire at Mohawk College.

A value stated in the college’s Mission Statement: We are accountable; we act with integrity, transparency, and base our decisions on evidence.

The college’s rationalizations of the two salaries involved in this scenario can go on endlessly. However, for many potential future donors it appears the two boards have damaged their organizations’ reputations by cooperating to circumvent the province’s compensation freeze. Furthermore one must wonder how, after just a short time on the job, their CEO with apparently no previous experience in education or fundraising is receiving a salary that will likely exceed the maximum allowable when the province approves salary ranges this fall.

Forget hanging this on “independent legal advice” as it’s about doing the right thing. Does the college not have a “risk management process” that aids in ensuring decisions are made after full consideration of all potential risks, including reputational? After all, examples of other organizations locally and provincially which have been similarly embarrassed are well known. Bob King, Ancaster