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Chakma controversy shows systemic discrepancies >> pg. 3
WESTERN UNIVERSITY • CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
THURSDAY, APRIL 02, 2015
VOLUME 108, ISSUE 97
Chakma refunds ‘double payment’ PRESIDENT RETURNS $440K FORMER JUDGE WILL REVIEW CONTRACT MPP INTRODUCING BILL TO PROHIBIT SIMILAR DEALS Mike Laine • GAZETTE
Hamza Tariq NEWS EDITOR @HamzaAtGazette
Western University President Amit Chakma is returning $440,000 he received for not taking a year of administrative leave after sustained public backlash to the “double payment.” In a letter to the University community sent yesterday evening, Chakma said he was voluntarily refunding the money and will also not exercise his right to another cash payout at the end of his second term. “As a demonstration of my commitment to Western and to address the concerns that many have expressed, I have decided voluntarily to refund the in lieu payment to the University,” he said. Chakma’s compensation last year, which was double his usual
AMIT CHAKMA
Taylor Lasota • GAZETTE
annual salary, made him the fourth highest paid public sector employee in Ontario. His salary has been frozen at $440,000 since his first year at Western in 2009 and remains frozen for the duration of his second term, ending in 2019. Chakma added that in hindsight, he should have carried over his yearlong administrative leave to the end of second term. Western’s board of governors simultaneously announced they have appointed former Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Stephen Goudge to review presidential compensation at the University. “I am confident that Justice Goudge will complete a full and fair examination and I will whole heartedly cooperate. I look forward to his findings and intend to abide by his recommendations,” Chakma said. The board of governors acknowledged the significant attention that the disclosure of president’s salary has garnered. “In this time of fiscal uncertainty and restraint in the post-secondary education sector, Western’s board of governors is highly sensitive to the concerns expressed by members of the Western community and the wider public,” Chirag Shah, chair of the board, said. Chakma’s substantial salary had caused outrage across London and the province. A petition started on Monday garnered 5,500 signatures from students, faculty, alumni and community members calling for a non-confidence vote of both Chakma and Shah. A number of
Western professors were vocal in their opposition to the president’s salary. “I’m not surprised, it’s very clear the that the board of governors and president Chakma were forced to acknowledge the fact that they exercised an egregious lack of judgement in signing this contract for president Chakma,” Eric Lohman, a lecturer in the faculty of information and media studies, said. “I mean they were made clearly aware that contracts like that don’t exist in the public sector at any of the other major universities in Canada.” Alison Hearn, president of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association, said while Chakma’s initiative was a positive step, the problem is more deeply rooted. “It’s nice that he is giving the money back but it’s never been about the money per se but what the money represents. There just seems to be a whole skewed set of values and a skewed set of priorities about where money should be spent on campus,” she said. Western students also expressed their disappointment in the president’s salary and a graduate student camped outside Chakma’s office in protest on Wednesday morning. Tyler Turek, a fifth-year PhD student, said it was absurd that Chakma made twice his salary while food bank use amongst students is on the rise. “I’m not trying to make a massive statement, I just want to protest the double pay that our president has received at the same time that
students, graduate students and sessional faculty are getting fewer and fewer opportunities and benefits,” he said. The issue was brought to Queen’s Park this week, where London-West MPP Peggy Sattler asked the premier several times to prohibit similar deals at other universities. After hearing the news of Chakma returning his double pay, Sattler said the issue was wider than just his compensation package. “For me, this was not an issue about Dr. Chakma or about Western University,” Sattler said. “It was an issue about the systemic problem within the sector that university boards of governors feel that they have carte blanche to negotiate these kinds of compensation packages for university presidents.” Sattler said she will be introducing a private members bill today to “prohibit” this type of deal being negotiated in the future. “The university gets half of its revenue from the province but a big chunk of their revenues comes from students’ tuition feeds,” Sattler said. “And so for the board of governors to be using that funding — those public dollars and those revenues from student tuition — and negotiating this kind of compensation package is just totally unacceptable at a time when budgets are being cut, when university students in Ontario are paying the highest fees in Canada and we have more students using food banks than ever before. This is not acceptable.” • With files from Iain Boekhoff, Olivia Zollino, Katie Lear and Amy O’Kruk
A
SA DEMONSTRATION OF MY COMMITMENT TO WESTERN AND TO ADDRESS THE CONCERNS THAT MANY HAVE EXPRESSED, I HAVE DECIDED VOLUNTARILY TO REFUND THE IN LIEU PAYMENT TO THE UNIVERSITY.
AMIT CHAKMA
WESTERN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT
I
T’S VERY CLEAR THAT THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND PRESIDENT CHAKMA WERE FORCED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE FACT THAT THEY EXERCISED AN EGREGIOUS LACK OF JUDGMENT IN SIGNING THIS CONTRACT FOR PRESIDENT CHAKMA.
ERIC LOHMAN
I
FIMS LECTURER
T’S NICE THAT HE IS GIVING BACK THE MONEY BACK BUT IT’S NEVER BEEN ABOUT THE MONEY PER SE BUT WHAT THE MONEY REPRESENTS.
ALISON HEARN
FACULTY ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT