Root Gorelick, one of the two faculty representatives on the university’s Board of Governors (BoG), was deemed ineligible to run for another three-year term after the university said he made personal modifications to his application.
Steven Reid, a Carleton media relations officer, said in an email that Gorelick was initially able to run for another term but the modifications made him ineligible.
“Professor Gorelick chose to deliberately modify the text of the application form and stated his express refusal to sign and comply with the Board’s Code of Conduct,” Reid said.
Gorelick has previously been in conflict with the Board over changes to its bylaws, which limit the public’s access to Board meetings and forbid him from blogging about the open sessions.
Reid said all members of the Board, including community at large members, students staff and faculty have signed the new code of conduct. Ian Lee, who sought nomination for the second faculty seat on the BoG, completed the application form for the position without making any amendments to the paperwork, according to Reid.
On July 8, the Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA) filed a grievance on Gorelick’s behalf in response to him not being allowed to run for another term. CUASA president Patrice Smith said in an email that the BoG Executive Committee denied Gorelick’s right under the collective agreement to participate in the governance of the university.
“Never in our history have we had to file a grievance to protect the rights of the bargaining unit members who expressed interest in the two faculty seats,” she said.
Smith said she hopes the outcome of CUASA’s grievance will be positive and will allow Gorelick the right to run in a fair and transparent election for a seat on the BoG.
“All interested faculty candidates should have the opportunity to run for election to the BOG and faculty should have the opportunity to vote for their preferred candidate,” she said.
Gorelick said he is thankful CUASA filed a grievance on his behalf.
He said is unsure whether he will be allowed into any future open sessions of the Board due to the Campus Safety officers who are routinely stationed outside the meeting room. Gorelick added that he wants to see changes to the current code of conduct.
“In addition to having the code of conduct rescinded, I want the new bylaws rescinded. They were passed in a way that violated the [B]oard’s existing bylaws in several ways,” he said in an email. “I simply want students and faculty to pay attention to the [B]oard.”
But Reid said he disagrees that the changes to bylaws in question were passed improperly.
“The Board of Governors has always been and remains committed to openness and transparency in university governance. Open and fulsome discussion of matters is the norm at Carleton and the Board,” he said.
As for Gorelick’s future with the Board, he said he is unsure if he will continue to write about its open sessions on his blog.
“As the new CUASA communications officer, I may have more freedom to write,” Gorelick said. “I also will not have to worry about threats of being thrown off of the board for blogging, as occurred regularly for the past two years.”
