UBC chairman steps down amid academic freedom probe

The university announced that John Montalbano has stepped down as chairman of UBC’s board of governors and as a board member.

It does find that the university failed to proactively protect Berdahl’s academic freedom. After interviewing 17 people, she concluded that no one person intentionally or directly tried to interfere with Berdahl’s academic freedom.

On August 24, the UBC Board of Governors on announced that they accepted a request from Montalbano to step down as the Chair for the duration of the fact finding process undertaken by former B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lynn Smith and agreed to by the university and the Faculty Association to investigate how Montalbano and / or individuals in the Sauder School of Business identified by the Faculty Association had conducted themselves.

Berdahl alleged in a follow-up entry that Montalbano had called her and threatened her funding over the “harmful” and “inaccurate” post, while her Sauder School of Business superiors had discouraged her from speaking further.

Montalbano said he felt “gratified” by the report but had turned down an offer to return to the board of governors, from which he stepped aside during the probe. Through the combined acts and omissions of Mr. Montalbano, the named individuals in the Sauder School, and others, UBC as an institution failed to meet that obligation with respect to Dr. Berdahl’s academic freedom.

Then a blog by Berdahl on August 10 stirred up more controversy as she wrote: “I believe that part of this outcome is that Arvind Gupta lost the masculinity contest among the leadership at UBC, as most women and minorities do at institutions dominated by white men”. “However, sometimes several relatively small mistakes can lead to a failure of the larger system”. But he should have reflected on whether to make the “unprecedented and unwise” call, she added.

“The report points to a serious failure on the part of the senior leadership of UBC in violating the academic freedom of Professor Berdahl, and subsequently failing to speak out in defence of her rights”, says CAUT executive director David Robinson. “The events had a significant negative impact on her”.

Montalbano’s resignation is effective immediately, and acting chairwoman Alice Laberge will stay in the role until a permanent replacement is found.

Dr. Piper says UBC will create a new program to better educate staff on the principles of academic freedom in the future.

“I am hopeful that UBC can learn from this and strengthen its commitment to, and safeguards for, academic free speech for all of its members”. She was not asked to remove her blog. “Rather, it was a question of what we did not do”.

Piper noted that Berdhal wasn’t censored, but that the university didn’t stress to her enough that she “had the right to say what she said”, and as a result, Berdahl felt isolated.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Arvind Gupta was appointed distinguished visiting professor in the University of Toronto’s computer science department for the 2015-2016 academic year.

Piper refused to answer questions about the reasons for his departure, citing privacy legislation. Piper brushed off questions about any disciplinary action, saying the university would consider it “carefully”.