Carleton is being criticized after giving the Canadian Press a redacted version of its $15 million donor agreement with Calgary multi-billionaire Clayton Riddell for a political science graduate program backed by Reform Party leader Preston Manning.
The donation is the largest program gift in Carleton’s history, helping establish a school that existed only as an idea for years, according to a document created by the administration.
The graduate program will “improve the quality and effectiveness of democratic governance in Canada,” the document said.
The university initially refused to provide the Canadian Press with the donor agreement until it was ordered by the information commissioner’s office to do so.
They issued a redacted agreement with blacked out sections including “naming considerations” and “administration” which involve securing government approvals, and funding commitments.
The sections were blacked out to protect Riddell’s privacy and confidential information, said Beth Gorham, Carleton’s manager of public affairs.
“If we decided to go ahead and disclose confidential and personal information, I don’t think the donor would be very happy,” Gorham said.
The information may become available at some point if the privacy commission decides the administration must release more information, but it is “routine” for administration to protecting the private and confidential information of donors, Gorham said.
The graduate program is the first of its kind in Canada and is expected to provide the groundwork for young adults to enter politics, according to Gorham.
The program took its first students in September 2011 and these students are now doing 10 weeks of wide ranging internship placements — from the Prime Minister’s Office and Democracy Watch to polling firms and working with New Democratic Party MPs, Gorham said.
The administration released a document outlining the intentions of the program, and addressed public concerns about political spin in program curriculum.
A committee report delivered in 2009 cited in the document said, “The proposed program had to be avowedly trans-partisan,” and that the objective of the Clayton Riddell graduate program is to “prepare its graduates for productive employment in leadership, management, and administrative support positions with elected officials, political parties and NGOs.”
The degree proposes methods for young people to have “a rigorous professional formation so that they will be sought after by different political parties and organizations, and go on to leadership and senior roles in the various corridors of political contest in Canada.”
Carleton administration said it has studied the ethical implications and provisioned committees and reviews to ensure course material will be presented without partisanship.
“Under no circumstances will we build a program that takes on any specific political colouration,” the administration’s document said.
The three adjunct professors who will teach the program have yet to be chosen, according to the document.
