More faculty groups are joining the call for a public inquiry into Laurentian University’s insolvency.
After 22 months under creditor protection, Laurentian University finally exited insolvency restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) on Nov. 28.
The process, which Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said Laurentian never needed to enter in the first place, included mass layoffs and program cancellations, the severing of ties with federated universities operating on campus (resulting in even more layoffs and program cancellations) and a plan of arrangement that will see LU creditors receive only roughly 14 to 24 per cent of what they’re owed over the next three years.
With Laurentian being the public university in Canada to attempt to restructure its operations using a process designed as a last resort for private companies, the situation has attracted national media attention and resulted in damage to Laurentian’s reputation.
The university exits the CCAA minus both its most recent president, Robert Haché, and provost, Marie-Josée Berger, who departed earlier this fall as part of the terms of Laurentian’s plan of arrangement.
Another former Laurentian president, Dominic Giroux, is now the CEO of Sudbury’s hospital, Health Sciences North, but his actions during his time at LU were criticized by Lysyk as contributing to the university’s financial decline.
Given this situation, the Terminated Faculty Committee, a group of LU professors fired as a result of Laurentian’s restructuring, are now calling for a public inquiry.
Two more faculty groups, the Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) and the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), have now joined in this call.
Given the widespread impact of the university’s cuts and the danger that such a scenario could repeat itself elsewhere, a public inquiry will be crucial to ensure that what happened at Laurentian never happens again, said LUFA.
“The manufactured financial crisis and unnecessary cuts have been devastating,” said LUFA president Fabrice Colin, in a press release.
“However, the revelations we have learned about since those cuts were made make clear that an independent inquiry is needed and that it is needed now.”
Reports by Ontario’s Auditor General and French Language Service’s Commissioner were scathing in their findings, said the press release.
They concluded that both the university’s senior leadership and provincial government had options available to them that would have protected programs and jobs at the university, but instead they ignored their responsibilities and made choices that harmed the university and community.
The Auditor General called Laurentian’s use of creditor protection “unsuitable and damaging.”
Further, revelations contained in recently unsealed correspondence between former Laurentian President Robert Haché and former Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano raise serious questions about the motivations and manipulations that led the university to declare insolvency, file for CCAA protection, and cuts hundreds of jobs and dozens of programs.
“An independent public inquiry will allow us to shine a bright light on the dark decisions made in advance of Laurentian University publicly declaring insolvency,” said Colin. “This is a matter of significant public concern that deserves an independent investigation, during which the voices of those most deeply impacted can be heard.”
“It is clear that Laurentian’s finances were improperly manipulated and that the university’s senior administrators prioritized their own financial security at the expense of faculty, staff, and students. This outcome is simply unacceptable.”
A crisis of this magnitude requires an independent public inquiry that can hold accountable those whose choices manufactured Laurentian’s financial crisis and cuts, said LUFA.
CAUT executive director David Robinson said in a press release that “an independent public inquiry is necessary to hold those responsible for financial mismanagement to account and prevent another crisis like this from happening elsewhere.
“The Liberal government needs to take action to ensure that publicly funded universities and colleges never again exploit federal insolvency laws that are designed for the private sector. The CCAA needs to be amended,” Robinson added.
