Former Tertiary Education Minister, Fazal Karim said yesterday that Minister of Education Anthony Garcia breached the expected confidentiality of the University of the West Indies Council by rematurely announcing the new Chancellor for the University of the West Indies (UWI).
On Thursday during the post-Cabinet news conference, Garcia announced the new Chancellor to be local businessman Robert Bermudez.
UWI, in an immediate response said it was “surprised” by Garcia’s statement as a decision on the new chancellor is yet to be finalised.
Speaking with the T&T Guardian yesterday, Karim said that he believes that the T&T Government may have pre-empted the announcement to prevent any other nominees in that position by going public.
“Garcia has prejudiced the decision making process of the Chancellor and has brought the entire screening committee into disrepute,” Karim said.
“This has also brought into question the integrity of Garcia since the University Council’s confidentiality and that of the screening committee has been broken. It is clear that it will bring into question Garcia’s trustworthiness at Council meetings and other meetings of the University where important decisions are confidentially taken, such as the University’s Finance and General Purpose Committee Meeting,” he added.
Karim explained that Garcia may be a Council member but not an authorised spokesperson and has embarrassed the incoming Chancellor, the T&T Government and by extension, the entire region.
“Garcia would have attended several meetings of UWI at various levels over the last 20 months and therefore should have acquainted himself properly with the rules the regulations and the protocols required in the functioning of a University, and in particular UWI,’ Karim said.
He said that he believed that this action would strain the relationship between the government of T&T and the UWI, “which is evident by the fact that UWI was so quick to respond to the announcement made by Garcia.”
The new Chancellor will be finalised on Thursday.
The University’s administration has dismissed any speculation the appointment of a chancellor is political in any way.
“The university administration wishes to take this opportunity to indicate that chancellors are appointed in accordance with the university’s Statute 4 which clearly states, ‘The chancellor shall be appointed by the University Council’,” the UWI’s release stated.
UWI said over the past few months it has been working with a specially appointed Search Committee to identify an appropriate successor to Professor Sir George Alleyne.
It added, “The matter of the appointment of the university’s new chancellor is an item on the agenda for the upcoming annual business meeting of the University Council set to take place on Thursday (April 27) in Barbados. It is at this meeting that a final decision will be made on who will be the new UWI chancellor.”
The Education Ministry, however, sought to explain the process, which was used to arrive at this decision.
In a release, the ministry said that on September 7, 2016, the University Council established a Search Committee to commence the process for the appointment of a new Chancellor after Alleyne had signaled his imminent retirement.
A Chancellor holds the office for a period of seven years and may be reappointed for a second seven-year term by the Council.
Alleyne was first appointed in 2003 and was reappointed for a second term on October 1, 2010. He is to vacate office on July 31 this year.
The Search Committee was chaired by Vice Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles and comprised one representative from the following governments: Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and T&T.
The committee also comprised two representatives of other contributing countries; five representatives of the Senate; one representative of the Post Graduate Students’ Association; one representative of the Guild of Students; One representative of WIGUT and one Alumni representative.
At the first meeting, which was held on September 7 2016, members of the Search Committee were asked to submit their nominations by October 2016.
The following process would have been used: There would be an examination of the credentials of the persons nominated; Every effort would be made to arrive at a consensus and the recommendations would be discussed with the Prime Ministers of the region at their Caucus meeting.
A follow up meeting was held in January 2017 and a final meeting last month, March, to examine the inputs from the Prime Ministers.
“The committee was of the view that there needed to be a paradigm shift away from a Chancellor whose background was strictly in academics. It was felt that since the Caribbean economies are on the decline, the University needed a Chancellor who in addition to academia also possesses business acumen,” the released stated.
Following this procedure, the chairman reported to the Committee at its meeting on April 7, 2017 that all Heads of Governments were in agreement with the recommendation to select the nominee of the T&T Government, Robert Bermudez to be the next UWI chancellor.
To be appointed to the office of Chancellor one must be:
• A national of the Commonwealth Caribbean.
• A person of distinction in academic, professional or other worthy field of endeavour.
• A person of high regional and international standing, capable of reflecting and promoting the aims and objectives of the University at the highest level.
• A person with knowledge of, and interest in, University affairs.
• A person able to command the respect and co-operation of the University community.
