UBC chancellor Lindsay Gordon sends message to alumni about academic freedom controversy

UBC has made lots of headlines since the mysterious departure of Arvind Gupta as president.

The latest development saw John Montalbano temporarily resign as chair of the UBC board of governors while an independent investigation looks into allegations that he and Sauder School of Business officials violated the academic freedom of a professor who blogged about Gupta's resignation.

Today (August 26), UBC alumni received a message in their inboxes from UBC chancellor Lindsay Gordon, who sits on the board of governors and is a former president and CEO of HSBC Bank Canada:

Dear fellow UBC alumni:

Given recent events at UBC that have been reported in the media, I am pleased to advise that UBC and the Faculty Association have agreed to a process to review the academic freedom concerns raised by the Faculty Association. The fact finding process will be led by the Honourable Lynn Smith, Q.C.

Concurrently, the Board of Governors accepted a request from its Chair, John Montalbano, that the Board ask the Vice-Chair, Alice Laberge, to assume the duties of Acting Chair for the duration of the fact finding process. Mr. Montalbano intends to fully participate in the process that will be undertaken by the Honourable Lynn Smith, Q.C. and wants to ensure the integrity of the process is not hindered by his performing the duties of Chair. Mr. Montalbano will remain on the Board of Governors.

Yours sincerely,

Lindsay Gordon
Chancellor
The University of British Columbia 

The UBC Faculty Association and Canadian Association of University Teachers, but not the Alma Mater Society, had called for Montalbano to step down.

Montalbano previously vowed to stay on as chair and denied that he infringed upon the academic freedom of Jennifer Berdahl, the Montalbano professor of leadership studies in gender and diversity at the Sauder School of Business.

Launched in 2011, UBC's Start an Evolution campaign, which aims to raise $1.5 billion and increase alumni involvement, ends in just over 35 days.