Carleton will renegotiate its donor agreement with Calgary businessman Clayton Riddell because it does not “reflect Carleton’s policies and procedures” for budget management and staff selection, according to a statement released July 12 by the university.
A steering committee that would advise curriculum, faculty hiring, selection of an executive director, and budget approval currently has “unprecedented” donor involvement, said James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT).
The committee would also approve which students receive scholarships and bursaries. Giving a donor this responsibility “violates the fundamental integrity of a university,” Turk said.
Riddell authorized the university to release the details of the donor agreement in a letter to Carleton president Roseann Runte dated June 25.
The university will “rework the provisions in collaboration with the donor,” according to a university statement.
“We view these partnerships as essential to providing great programs and innovative new ways of preparing our students for stellar careers. But there is a difference between participation and decision-making and it’s an important distinction,” the statement said.
Riddell told the Ottawa Citizen he was not contacted about the university’s intentions to renegotiate the agreement before it was announced.
“Many donors, including myself and my family, generally prefer to remain in the background when providing support to worthwhile endeavours…Nonetheless, if the University must choose between allowing our family privacy to be somewhat infringed and allowing others to create mistrust in the Graduate Program in Political Management where none should exist, my advice would be to err on the side of transparency, which is why I authorize release of the donor agreement in whole or in summary form if you wish to do so,” Riddell’s letter said.
The CAUT expressed concern with paragraph 14 of the agreement. The clause says a five-person Program Steering committee would be established with two members representing the Riddell Family Charitable Foundation (RFCF) and two members representing the university.
The chair would be selected mutually by Riddell’s foundation and the university.
“The public’s trust in universities depends on its viewpoints not being beholden to anybody. As soon as you involve a donor, a political party, or special interest group in curriculum, you change the fundamental aspect of the university,” Turk said.
Government financial backing has not increased proportionately to the number of full time students, making cash-strapped universities more likely to turn to wealthy donors, Turk said.
The planned review of the program in its fifth year should be conducted through traditional peer review instead of by RFCF, and sections 7 and 8 which outline contingent funding based on the review should be amended, Turk added.
“We are not critical of Clayton Riddell, we are critical of the university,” Turk said, which is “doing the right thing by proposing to change the agreement.”
