University of Calgary conflict report a vindication: departed academic
A professor who left the University of Calgary over how the school handled a corporate-funded sustainability institute says he sees his concerned echoed in a report that found major problems with the centre.
“What the report describes is factually accurate,” said Joe Arvai, who now teaches at the University of Michigan. “In that regard, it feels like a bit of a vindication of what I had said.”
The head of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which did the investigation, said problems with the university’s plans to create the Enbridge Centre for Corporate Sustainability should be a warning for institutions across Canada.
On Wednesday, the association released a document that said the university president was in a conflict of interest, since she took part in planning the centre while holding a paid position on one of the Calgary-based energy company’s boards. The investigation also found the project was poorly administered and subject to influence by its donor.