The university says its search to replace Arvind Gupta – whose sudden resignation last summer shocked the university – is on schedule.Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail
Despite internal strife over governance issues, the University of British Columbia remains on track to select a new president in a few months, with the list of contenders soon to be narrowed to five.
Philip Steenkamp, vice-president of external relations at UBC, said in an interview on Wednesday that the search to replace Arvind Gupta – whose sudden resignation last summer shocked the university – should be completed by June.
"It's down to a long list of 16 candidates, and the search committee will be meeting in the second week of April to narrow that down to a short list … of around five people," he said. "Then they will be setting up interviews … by the end of April, early May, and by all reports they are on track to name a new president by the end of June."
But while the presidential search might be on schedule, it is not without controversy, with some saying a vote of non-confidence in the board on Tuesday by the UBC Faculty Association has brought the whole process into question.
Mr. Steenkamp said the presidential search committee is separate from the board and has members from across the university community.
"I do think the presidential search committee can continue. It's got broad representation and it's been mandated by the bodies who have responsibility for the governance of the university, which includes elected faculty members," he said.
The board has been under attack by the faculty association since details of Dr. Gupta's resignation emerged in documents that the administration accidentally released in January. Those documents showed Dr. Gupta, who had been brought in to revitalize the university, resigned only 13 months into his mandate because of a growing rift with the board.
Kalina Christoff, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, said the non-confidence vote against the board reflects on the presidential search committee.
"Obviously, for a lot of those people who don't have confidence in the board of governors, that translates into a lack of confidence in the presidential search committee too," said Dr. Christoff, one of the faculty members who brought the non-confidence motion forward.
She said that to rebuild an atmosphere of trust, the search committee and the board should demonstrate that they have taken stock of how things unravelled with Dr. Gupta.
"They need to do just a simple analysis … of what went wrong with President Gupta's hiring and with his resignation," she said. "What's not being done currently is that there is no attempt to learn from our previous actions … and there's absolutely no confidence right now that the same mistakes will not be repeated."
Dr. Christoff said a lot more openness around the governance process is also needed.
"Some faculty don't think it's our role to prescribe specific steps to the board … but what most people are very clear about is that there's just not sufficient transparency for a public university," she said.
Mark Mac Lean, president of the faculty association, said the non-confidence motion – which passed by a vote of 800 to 494 (out of 3,357 eligible voters) – was a clear censure of the board, and he is hopeful it will lead to some changes in the governance model.
"We're looking for the board to effectively take a critical look at itself," he said. "The faculty and others on campus have deep concerns about the way the board operates. We'd like to see the board make some actual changes to both its philosophy and its operations, to open up more of its business to the public."
Dr. MacLean said the board also "needs some expert help to look at its operations, its rules and its approach to governance."
The board includes three faculty members who are elected. But Dr. MacLean said the non-confidence motion is not directed at any individuals.
Mr. Steenkamp said the board will meet on April 14 with representatives of the faculty association, and with other student, employee and alumni groups.
"My understanding is that that will be an opportunity for representatives of those groups to raise any concerns they have around governance," he said. "The board then will obviously consider all of the issues that have been raised and I would anticipate at the June board meeting that it would report back on any actions that it would be taking."
Mr. Steenkamp said the board has already indicated to him that it intends to be more open in its deliberations.