The Board of Governors (BoG) will be heading to its first off-campus retreat in Cornwall, Ont. to collaborate with NAV Canada, one of the university’s newest partners, on the weekend of Oct. 23-25.
“Every year the Board holds a retreat to afford members the opportunity to learn about different aspects of the university and to reflect on important issues pertaining to higher education,” said university secretary Julie Caldwell in an email.
Caldwell said the retreat will enable the BoG to meet with members of the Cornwall community and to collaborate with NAV Canada.
The university announced two weeks ago in a press release it would be partnering with the company to “work toward establishing an Aerospace Centre of Excellence in Cornwall, Ont. that would offer a variety of pioneering programs to students.”
The retreat is funded through the BoG’s budget and, on average, about two-thirds of BoG members attend the annual retreats, Caldwell said.
Root Gorelick, a faculty member of the BoG, said he “has not and will not go to the Board retreats.”
“I think it’s a good idea. I think it’s a nice idea that the Board gets together and gets to chat with one another,” he said. “I also think that from what I’ve heard in the past is it’s largely just a dog and pony show.”
Gorelick, who is also a biology professor at Carleton, said from his understanding, a lot of the discussion at the retreats has to do with the university atmosphere.
“If you’re external to the university, then it’s important to get a feel for that,” Gorelick said. “I mean I sit in this office five days a week, so I have a flavour for the way the university is, so it’s not something that I need.”
According to Caldwell, attendance at the retreat is not mandatory and Gorelick said he has never been pressured into attending one.
“I politic enough—I don’t need to go politic there,” Gorelick said.
The retreat is a closed event to which students and media are not invited to attend. Gorelick said although he doesn’t know why the retreat is a closed event, closed events can sometimes be beneficial.
“It’s actually good that sometimes people can talk freely. Here they have an extended period where they can talk freely—that’s okay occasionally, especially if there are no ramifications,” he said.
