Category Archives: Board of Governors

Standing up to bullies

Canadians everywhere will take a stand against bullying by participating in Pink Shirt Day today (Feb. 24). UBC scholars are helping us define and recognize Bullying. Although they are mostly focused on how to “bully-proof” our children, this unique form of … Continue reading

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Arvind Gupta was never given a chance: A personal account

This post was published by the Vancouver Sun. My first reaction to the resignation of UBC president Arvind Gupta was relief – Arvind’s nightmare was finally over. He could go back to what he does best: work to make this … Continue reading

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Dean Marc Parlange weighs in on president Gupta’s “resignation”

In a letter to the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC, Dean Marc Parlange made some of his views known as to “the complex — and confidential — resignation decision of former President Arvind Gupta,” while throwing his support behind Chancellor … Continue reading

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The students join the faculty in requesting a judicial review of the UBC Board of Governors

In a major reversal of past positions vis-a-vis president Gupta’s departure from UBC, the Student Society of UBC-Vancouver issued a public statement expressing disappointment in the process followed by the Board of Governors as revealed by the recent leaks. The AMS urges “the … Continue reading

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The UBC Board of Governors is operating in the “shadows”

This is according to a scathing letter sent today by the Executive of the UBC Faculty Association to thousands of its members. It is becoming clear that the replacement of John Montalbano by Stuart Belkin as Chair of the Board … Continue reading

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Spring cleaning has started early at UBC

It was historic, it was rowdy, and it was fun. It has been a while since UBC has seen a couple of hundred of its faculty screaming their heads off, protesting the Board of Governors meeting, and demanding UBC management and Board accountability. … Continue reading

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Together we can make UBC transparent and accountable

UBC faculty, staff and students will gather on Tuesday, February 2 at 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM at the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, 6163 University Boulevard. They will protest the upcoming UBC Board of Governors Meeting, and will publicly demand that the Board of … Continue reading

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A few wise words from the UBC Faculty Association to the presidential search committee

By Mark MacLean, President, on behalf of the Executive Committee Dear Search Committee, Thank you for meeting with us on January 12. We welcomed the opportunity to communicate some of our concerns about, and hopes for, this presidential search process. We … Continue reading

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Searching for a president after disappearing another: The UBC conundrum

By Professor Leah Keshet In August of 2015, the UBC Faculty Association (UBCFA) sent some strongly worded letters to the administration and the Board of Governors, seeking open and full disclosure of the causes for termination of Professor Arvind Gupta’s … Continue reading

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Jennifer Berdahl and Margot Young for the presidential search committee

“This leaves me asking whether, as a faculty member, I am a “serf”—one of the humble toiling masses—whose opinion is unimportant, or who is deemed too primitive to engage in an informed dialogue about the course of the university’s future.” … Continue reading

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Artificial Intelligence uncovers how Gupta and Montalbano became blood brothers

In view of the sudden resignation of UBC’s president and the limited but informative statements provided by the Chair of the Board, a colleague decided to perform a computer-assisted reconstruction of the events that led to the resignation. She fed … Continue reading

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UBC, WTF?

Originally posted on Whiteboard Workout:
If there’s a lesson to be learned from the recent events at UBC, it’s that silence can say more than words, whether you’re withholding information or telling someone else to keep quiet. That probably sounds…

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PR consultants, the “UBC side” and the rest of us

CBC Radio Early Edition host Rick Cluff introduced me at the beginning of the segment as someone who has been teaching at UBC for 38 years. Yet at the very end of my interview, he announced that “tomorrow, we will … Continue reading

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UBC faculty to the Premier of BC: Help us out of this crisis

Two new types of allegations came out regarding John Montalbano, since I wrote 2 weeks ago the open letter asking him to resign from the UBC Board of Governors. One deals with his role in potentially compromising the academic freedom of one of … Continue reading

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What if dissent was manufactured?

Many colleagues wrote after last week’s post, that they had never heard of rumours of a “Deans’ rebellion”. Actually, I had started wondering about this when I learned that a few of the deans are as shocked and upset by … Continue reading

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The cataclysmic effect of masculinity contests on the ivory tower

In a full-court press carefully engineered yesterday by damage control experts at the PR firm Kirk & Co, the chair of the UBC Board of Governors, John Montalbano, used two lines of defense in his effort to justify his unwise … Continue reading

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Prominent UBC Professor and FRSC, James Zidek, calls on Montalbano to resign

This is a comment directed to Mr. John Montalbano regarding the announced resignation of Professor Arvind Gupta from the Presidency of UBC. In my 49 years at UBC in various professorial and administrative positions, I have never seen a situation as badly … Continue reading

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An open letter to Angela Redish, interim UBC president, by Mark Mac Lean

Dear Dr. Redish, The Faculty Association at the University of British Columbia strongly supports and acknowledges the University’s commitment to academic freedom. We particularly support and agree with your unqualified commitment set out in the Statement from UBC on Academic … Continue reading

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Unclear on the Concept: the UBC Board of Governors, by Elizabeth Hodgson

The UBC Board of Governors has spoken out in the last 24 hours on its two related controversies which have made the national news. As a UBC faculty member, I am deeply distressed by the UBC Board’s apparent choices in … Continue reading

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Open letter to Martha Piper, by UBC Professor Leah Keshet

Dear Dr. Piper, A recent email from you, which is still in my inbox, closes with the UBC motto “Tuum est”. My understanding is that this means “It is yours,” as in UBC belongs to us (the faculty, the students, the staff, and yes, even the administration). At … Continue reading

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