School reappoints unpopular business dean, CAUT calls it a “dark day”
McMaster University has renewed the term of their Dean of Business Paul Bates despite an overwhelming rejection of his leadership by faculty.
During the re-appointment process, members of the business faculty voted overwhelmingly against renewing Bates for a second term. Reliable sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the university only discussed the matter in closed session meetings, tell me 36 faculty members voted against reappointing the Dean with only six voting in favour.
In a letter published in the local newspaper, the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, James Turk, called the decision by the university a “dark day for the university.”
Turk states that Bates should be resigning due to the lack of confidence that his faculty has in his ability to lead them. He calls the decision to ignore faculty opinion a “troubling message to faculty at McMaster and to the broader university world — the views of the McMaster faculty are not relevant in deciding whom the board appoints to senior administrative positions”