PAYING PIPER
Interim UBC president on leadership and moving institution forward.
The University of B.C.’s new interim president, Martha Piper, sat down with the media Thursday to talk about how she will move the university forward after the abrupt departure of its last president, Arvind Gupta, just 13 months into a five-year term.
UBC is in damage-control mode because silence about why Gupta resigned has caused rampant speculation and rumours. Piper, 69, wouldn’t comment on why Gupta left, citing privacy laws and a non-disclosure agreement, but she did talk about her own experiences as president nearly a decade ago.
She says it was “very challenging,” particularly because she didn’t know anyone at UBC and had to build her own team. Navigating the role involved a steep learning curve.
“No one can tell you what it’s like,” Piper said. “When you’re at an institution like UBC, there’s a lot of public scrutiny. And as the first woman president, there was a lot of scrutiny and a lot of expectation.”
Piper took the traditional route to a university president’s office, starting at McGill as a director, then moving to the University of Alberta where she rose from dean to vice-president, research, before coming in 1997 to UBC, where she stayed as president until 2006.
Gupta was a computer scientist and the head of Mitacs — a program that fosters partnerships between universities and businesses — before becoming president, and some have speculated his lack of university administrative experience may have factored in his departure.
Piper wouldn’t say that, but she did say there is always tension at a university.
“If you raise tuition, if you change the funding structure to faculties, if you change programs, (there is always tension). That’s part of the complexity,” she said.
“It’s really how it’s managed and how you try to bring people along.”
Piper’s term runs for 10 months, until June 30, 2016, and she’s firm that date won’t be extended. She says the new president will inherit an “extraordinary team” of senior leaders, despite the fact many are in temporary roles. Her advice to the next president is to concentrate on relationships.
“The university is not the president,” Piper said. “The university is the students, the graduates, the alumni, the faculty, the staff and the public that supports it. If you honour that and remember that, that will serve you well.”
While the faculty association is urging the university to reconsider its non-disclosure agreement with Gupta so the full story behind his departure can be told, Piper said the university must uphold B.C.’s Privacy Act.
She said donors have called to congratulate her on her return and none have indicated they will withdraw support, she said.
When first approached to return to the president’s office, Piper said no. She was on vacation in Kauai when the then chairman of UBC’s board of governors, John Montalbano, called her shortly before Gupta’s departure was announced to ask her to return. Piper, a grandmother of four, wasn’t looking for work — she was serving on three nonprofit boards and three corporate boards and said she was busy enough.
“I was totally shocked,” Piper said. “But upon reflection … I realized that of all the institutions I’ve been associated with, UBC is the one I care most deeply about. … I felt that if I was going to be so honoured to be asked, I should probably serve.”
Piper has resigned from all of her board commitments, due to lack of time and to avoid any conflict of interest, she said.
There has been speculation Gupta quit or was pushed out due to a conflict with the university deans over cuts to administration. Piper said many universities are looking at administrative costs in an era of declining government funding and a challenging economy.
“Universities are going to have to be as creative and innovative as possible, both in leveraging the money they have, but also looking at efficiencies and effectiveness,” she said.
Piper disputes reports the University of Toronto has a lower ratio of administrators to faculty than UBC, saying staff categories are counted differently and UBC has more student residences and food services than UofT, which means more nonteaching staff. UBC’s own figures show the school’s administration numbers have grown from 2,903 to 3,640 since 2009. Piper said that is because of the growth of UBC Okanagan and a shift from using part-time sessional lecturers to full-time faculty.
“All of that said, we need to look at (administration numbers). It’s a fair question,” Piper said. “One of my goals is to position the university so that whoever comes in, they will have answers to some of these issues.”
Piper wouldn’t speak to whether the search committee for a new president would be given different direction, saying the board of governors is in charge. The province appoints a majority of the directors on the board, but plays no role in the selection process, Piper said.
She’s confident once students return next week, everyone at the university will move on.
“We all care deeply about students and the learning environment and the fact that we’re doing something for society as a whole — we’re really a public good in that regard,” she said. “I think everyone will get behind those activities. There’s a great sense of pride (among staff) that they work at UBC.”
“When you’re at an institution like UBC, there’s a lot of public scrutiny.
MARTHA PIPER INTERIM PRESIDENT, UBC