Background is at: 2011-08-16 Revolution Canadian style? U of S Senators challenge conflicts-of-interest at the University while The Walkers challenge the Government’s corporate interests.
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Mary Jean writes:
USSWORD (University of Saskatchewan Senators WOrking to Revive Democracy) sent out a media advisory earlier this week about the Presidential Selection Search, Nancy Hopkins’ conflict-of-interest. A really good article was published today (Aug 17, 2011) on the topic.
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Note: re·cuse To disqualify or seek to disqualify from participation in a decision on grounds such as prejudice or personal involvement
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I am not sure who wrote this Comment:
Nancy Hopkins’ and Peter MacKinnon’s responses to the USSWORD claims are typical, but purposely off the mark, I believe. After all, is the chair of the Presidential Search Committee going to recuse herself everytime discussion arises about one of the 2 or 3 candidates (for next president of the University) with ties to the nuclear industry? In any event, if we are to take Hopkins’ and MacKinnon’s statements of impartiality to their logical extreme, then Richard Florizone, Grant Isaac and others must be considered at a disadvantage because the Search Committee is bound to shy away from their nominations because of the controversy that would ensue. Also, Cameco supplying uranium to the proposed University reactor is the least of our concerns. What about the tremendous influence the nuclear industry has upon research and its results at the University because of the large corporate grants and representation on the Board of Governors? . . .
Senators want board chair to step aside
By Janet French, The StarPhoenix August 17, 2011 8:39 AM
A handful of University of Saskatchewan senators are calling on the chair of the board of governors to step aside because of her ties to one of the world’s largest uranium producers.
The senators also say lawyer Nancy Hopkins’s position as a board member for Cameco Corp. puts her in a conflict of interest chairing a search committee for a new university president.
In a letter sent to the university’s secretary and board vice-chair earlier this year, environmental lawyer and senator Stefania Fortugno points to equity Hopkins has at stake that rides on Cameco’s performance. Fortugno questions whether Hopkins’s role is connected to the university’s increasing focus on nuclear research.
“Any time that the University of Saskatchewan enlarges the role of the nuclear sciences on campus, through the appointment of faculty chairs, or establishing a new $30-million nuclear research centre and allocates scarce educational resources to the same, the share prices of Cameco Corporation correspondingly increase,” the letter says.
Another elected university senator, Mary Jean Hande, says Hopkins’s role on the presidential search committee is problematic because several candidates with ties to the nuclear industry are rumoured to be in the running.
“I think it would be very difficult to maintain that public research goal and vision of the university if it was run by somebody who was working in the corporate sector as well,” Hande said. “I think it would also undermine the university as a public institution that was creating and supporting research that was independent.”
Hopkins is calling the conflict of interest allegations “absurd,” and outgoing university president Peter MacKinnon says the call for her resignation is “a request without any grounds at all.”
MacKinnon said there is no doubt in his mind that Hopkins would excuse herself from discussions and voting on any topic where she had a perceived or actual conflict.
MacKinnon says 99.9 per cent of the business before the university’s board has nothing to do with Cameco.
“She’s an enormously sophisticated governance person and has terrific judgment,” he said. Universities’ relationships with corporate donors are long-term and typically involve university staff, not board directors, he says.
Hopkins – a partner at McDougall Gauley who practises business and corporate law – said it is a public, provincial government initiative to establish a nuclear research centre at the university, and even if Cameco did – for example – supply it with uranium, the effect on the corporation’s profits would be negligible. Cameco share prices are more likely tied to the price of uranium than a public relations splash about a university donation, she adds.
“Part of the problem is, this involves the nuclear business, which is a big flashpoint for many people,” Hopkins said.
The concerned senators are drawing attention to Hopkins’s role as part of larger concerns about the increasing influence of corporations in directing university research agendas and funding choices. Corporate citizens are filling the void as government funding to post-secondary institutions across the country covers fewer university expenses.
They say an increased focus on universities as job training factories means other valuable programs in fine arts and the humanities are battling cutbacks and chronic underfunding.
They’ve started a website called the University of Saskatchewan Senators Working to Revive Democracy. Hande says they want to draw attention to the university’s call for public input until Aug. 31 in selecting a new university president.
Hopkins chairs a 12-member committee searching for a replacement for MacKinnon, who will step down on June 30, 2012.
Corporate involvement on campus is not new, Hopkins said, adding universities need to be careful about the details of their agreements to ensure academics maintain independence.
“Perhaps it would be ideal if government and student tuitions could fund the entire cost of a first-quality university education, but we haven’t seen that in a very long time,” she said. “It is unrealistic to think that we’ll ever go back to that situation.”
MacKinnon says universities must stay engaged with the communities they serve or risk becoming irrelevant.
“It is not only inevitable, but it is that reaching out that allows us to do our work well.”
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