The continuing speculation around the sudden departure of Judith Woodsworth from her post as president of Concordia University has left many students asking questions.
On Dec. 22, Woodsworth announced her resignation for “personal reasons.” She was only two years into her five-year term, and this is the second time in three years Concordia has seen a president leave abruptly.
Students are left wondering about the nature of her departure while media outlets like the CBC and the Concordian report that Woodsworth may have actually been fired.
This raises more eyebrows as many learned that Woodsworth’s severance amounted to $700,000, according to the CBC, which is a high price tag. When a university spends that amount of money without a full explanation of the details surrounding the reasons for the cost, it causes damage to the school’s reputation and confusion among students.
While the university is maintaining Woodsworth left for personal reasons, they should be providing more explanation. It is important for the administration to be as clear and transparent as they can be, especially when it comes to important and crucial issues like the president of a university leaving without warning.
The inconsistent hiring and firing practices of Concordia’s Board of Governors makes the administration look inept at running a university.
Many questions are getting raised, and students have the right to clear and direct answers. Continuing to ignore the requests of students for an explanation is bad for Concordia’s reputation and for student-administration relations.
At the very least, the administration should address the claims Woodsworth was, in fact, fired, rather than simply reiterating that she left for “personal reasons.”