By Michael Scoular (The Cascade) – Email
A forum originally intended to elicit ideas about what UFV’s next president should look like, according to a nine-item questionnaire, broke out into a debate about the merits, construction, and process of the search for candidates.
Led by Barry Delaney, the chair of the Board of Governors, and Liana Thompson, the director of continuing education, the meeting in Abbotsford was the first chance for many faculty, staff members and administrators to ask questions about the process. Brent Cameron and Craig Hemer, both from Boyden Global Executive Search, the firm organizing the process, were also present to answer questions.
Delaney opened the forum by attempting to close off topics of discussion not stated on the questionnaire.
“[The Board of Governors] made the decision of the composition of the search committee, that’s not up for debate,” he said. “We’ve made a decision on how the process will unfold — the Board has decided. That’s not up for discussion.”
However, after some early comments on theoretical candidates and their potential values (indigenizing the academy, entrepreneurial spirit, gender and racial diversity, fundraising), the discussion swung in the direction of those two topics: the process, which will not disclose candidate names to the public, and the committee composition, which was decided in private by the Board.
“We feel that it is a good process,” Delaney said. “We have good representation from all the stakeholder groups on the committee.”
In his reading of a lengthy, prepared speech, Sean Parkinson, the president of the faculty-staff association (FSA) pointed out that no members of the Fraser Valley community are on the committee. The composition of members was also questioned — faculty, staff, and students combined on the committee do not make up a majority. And Don Miskiman, a faculty member in the school of business, questioned how the FSA was not part of the selection process for faculty or staff members, while the Student Union Society (SUS) was for two student positions, one of which is the incoming SUS president.
“We see them as completely different,” Delaney said.
The two Boyden representatives then stepped in to explain the reasoning behind the search process, describing it as a hybrid of an open process, where shortlisted candidates meet with the community and people they would work with, and a closed process, where the decision is made in private. Cameron said that, based on Boyden’s experience with presidential searches, open forums tend to be “overwhelmingly unhelpful” due to the broad range of responses, and that, when candidates know it is an open process, they sometimes choose to withdraw their application.
“What we’ve found is we haven’t lost anybody in the hybrid,” he said. In this format, “stakeholder” groups will be allowed to meet with candidates in one-hour meetings where they will have the opportunity to ask questions. Cameron estimated that there would be six to eight groups at UFV, including administration, the FSA, and the alumni association, but added that the exact groups and the number of members from each group would be up to the committee to decide.
Hemer pointed out that the usual rules of applicants and interviews for a job do not necessarily apply for a high-ranking position like president, which is part of why the process will not be open.
“Very good candidates will evaluate this university as much as you’re going to evaluate them,” he said. “It’s not simply supplicants, these are not just applicants — ‘Please take me’ — they have options. Good candidates have options.”
Discussion of a future president, rather than the current process, then resumed, with multiple faculty members pointing out the areas in which UFV is currently lacking.
“I am desperately excited that we will find someone wanting to make a difference, that I’m excited about being an ambassador to this institution,” said Martha Dow, the department head for social, cultural, and media studies. “I haven’t seen that kind of leadership here in a while. A good leader surrounds themselves with people that will administer and will manage. A leader is a leader, that’s why I haven’t met many in my lifetime. It’s something special. I’m hopeful.”
Stephen Piper, a faculty member who teaches sociology and in Latin American studies, added to the comments of multiple speakers before him who were frustrated with UFV’s direction.
“I’m glad that the issue of morale was raised, because frankly, I’ve never seen worse morale at a university previously in my life than we have here right now,” he said. “I think that reflects the administration over the past 10 years, which has been increasingly closed and increasingly secretive, things being imposed, things being decided behind closed doors. I think we need someone who will be open … [and] someone with serious ideas, someone who will not be carried away once again by the flavour of the month for three years before we change course again and go off in another direction. I’ve seen too much of that here.”
Hilary Turner, the English department head, stressed the importance of a president who is able to keep communication open with the provincial government.
“I would like to see a president who is an advocate on our behalf towards government,” she said.
“I think we have a rather woeful record of compliance with government, and I think a great deal could be done to have more of a voice at Victoria.”
Commenting after the end of the forum, Cameron said that, based on Boyden’s experience with other universities, the issues seen were not, from his point of view, out of the ordinary.
“We have yet to sit [through] one of these where everyone’s doing great,” he said. “There’s angst in all the places like this that have gone through an evolution. Everybody goes through this and they’re not easy. You have a very smart, vocal, and engaged community that wants to be involved in everything. Every place has this. This is fine.”
An online survey with the questionnaire given out at the forum will be left open for the rest of the month. The first meeting of the presidential search committee’s 13 members is scheduled for later in April.
