A group of 11 professors fired as part of mass layoffs and program cuts brought about by Laurentian University’s restructuring is calling for a public inquiry to look into what has happened at the university.
The Terminated Faculty Committee said it “wants to ensure that we achieve clarity on how this process was allowed to happen at a public university in the first place.”
The group is demanding a public inquiry immediately after the release of the Ontario Auditor General’s full report on Laurentian University, which is expected to be released late this month.
A public inquiry is needed “in order to determine what happened at Laurentian University, and who was responsible,” said the Terminated Faculty Commitee.
The fired professors are making this demand as Laurentian University cleared the latest hurdle Oct. 5 to finally being able to exit creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (or CCAA).
The group has a number of questions it wants answered, including why a public university was able to use the CCAA process in the first place and why the federal and provincial governments allowed this.
They also want to know what is meant by the “retirement” of outgoing Laurentian president Robert Haché and vice-president, academic Marie-Joseé Berger, who are departing as part of the terms of Laurentian’s debt plan.
They also want to know why a third senior administrator, registrar Serge Demers, is still employed by Laurentian.
“While we welcome the departure of administrators Haché and Berger from LU, we’d like to know whether they will be receiving pensions or ‘golden parachutes?’” said the professors.
“Will they also receive 14-24 per cent of their payouts? A public inquiry should also examine the decisions made by the Board that led up to the CCAA. While two of the senior administrators responsible for this debacle are leaving, the third, Serge Demers, continues at LU.
“He was complicit in the destruction of the university and the decimation of the faculty complement. He no longer has the trust of the remaining faculty, and he has to go.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is the associate content editor at Village Media's Sudbury.com. She also covers education and the arts scene.