In the wake of the release of Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk’s report on Laurentian University last month, the university’s senate has passed a resolution condemning LU’s past leadership.
With the same resolution, Laurentian’s senate also joined in the calls for a public inquiry and (if warranted) criminal investigations “into the senior administration’s ruinous mismanagement of Laurentian University from 2010 to 2021.”
The resolution specifically condemns former LU president Dominic Giroux, former interim LU president Pierre Zundel, former LU president Robert Haché, former LU vice-president, academic Marie-Josée Berger and former LU vice-presidents, administration Carol McAulay and Lorella Hayes for mismanagement of Laurentian.
It also condemns former Laurentian board of governors chair Claude Lacroix “for his misgovernment of this university.”
Haché — who was terminated “without cause” by LU earlier this fall as part of the university’s plan of arrangement under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (or CCAA) insolvency restructuring process — receives special mention in the senate resolution.
“Senate especially condemns ex-President Robert Haché for misleading Senate about the necessity for creditor protection and insolvency proceedings under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act,” the motion reads.
The resolution was brought forward by senate member David Leeson.
He said he submitted the resolution nearly a month ago, just a few days after Lysyk published her report on Laurentian. Since that time, “the other shoe has dropped,” with the unsealing of documents kept secret during Laurentian’s CCAA process.
“And what is more, after all this time, not one of the persons named in my motion has made any public reply,” he said. “Not one word of protest or denial, not one word of explanation or justification. Not one word of regret or apology.
“They are unanimous in their guilty reticence and their unrepentant silence. They stand condemned by both what they have done and now by what they have failed to do. In not speaking up, they have accepted and endorsed the auditor general's accurate and authoritative special report.”
Leeson said instead of repeating what the auditor general said in her report, he wanted to focus on what considered “the most serious charge in my entire indictment.”
He said he searched the minutes of LU’s senate, and “I have identified at least four occasions on which our former president (Haché) definitely made misleading statements about the CCAA process.”
“For an academic, honesty is a duty, not just a virtue, and a person without honesty should not even be working at a university, let alone managing one,” Leeson said.
One example he gave was that during the April 20, 2021 senate meeting, Haché said the choice that Laurentian faced on Jan. 31, 2021 was to apply for the CCAA process, “or simply close its doors.”
“This is a good example of what is called paltering, which means telling misleading truths or using truthful statements to give a misleading impression,” he said.
“As the special report of the auditor general makes clear, the reason that Laurentian University was not in a position to pay its employees for February payroll and meet its other financial obligations was because the president and the board of governors had accelerated the crisis. First, by prematurely paying off the university's line of credit with Desjardins Credit Union, and then by refusing the ministry's offer of financial support.”
Many members of Laurentian’s senate spoke up in support of Leeson’s resolution.
“Senator Leeson. I just wanted to thank you for this motion, this resolution,” said senate member Philippa Spoel.
She said she finds it very important to have a clear articulation “of our shock and the ways in which various leaders of Laurentian have acted not in good faith, and have essentially blamed faculty for the problems.
“So I find your motion empowering.”
Spoel also asked about the part of the resolution that talks about the call for a public inquiry and possible criminal investigations.
“If this resolution passes, what next steps might be to see if we can go further with that and have it actually implemented and released?” she said.
“I honestly don't know,” Leeson replied.
“In terms of criminal investigations, my brother is a sergeant in the RCMP. He informs me that the police require people to make complaints before they conduct investigations. So I honestly don't know what senate can do, besides passing a resolution and making recommendations. I just thought it was important to pass this resolution and make that recommendation. Get it on the record, and hopefully some responsible body will pick up on this.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s associate content editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.
