The Emperor Has No Clothes

The Governance Committee has finally published its long-awaited report. We are disappointed. For an organization that prides itself on being “cutting edge”, the College falls far short in being able to make any such claim with this report. Instead of seizing the opportunity to demonstrate imaginative leadership and daring vision for the UWC Movement, the Governance Committee proposes to settle for clarifying and maintaining the status quo. At a time when the College is promoting “Transformation 2005”, this is hardly the transformation we want for the College. At age 30, the College seems increasingly conservative and cautious, mirroring what often happens as people get older. We wonder what Lester B. Pearson would think of his bold experiment known as Pearson College.

To be sure, the Governance Committee has accepted the need for many changes that various members of CPR have espoused for last three years. But these recommended changes are merely good practices that should have been adopted 30 years ago. For example, of course, patrons should know that they have the duty to elect trustees. Of course, the Board should avoid conflicts of interest. Of course, there should be a membership directory to encourage communication among patrons. Of course, Board members should know what is expected of them. Of course, the by-laws should be altered to include feminine as well as masculine pronouns. Thirty years ago, these and other recommendations in the report might have been transformational, but today, such recommendations might permit the College only to catch up with everyone else.

The report refers to the principles of good governance: inclusion, transparency, accountability and openness. But the report contains no bold actions that reflect those principles. What kind of bold actions are missing from the report? The most significant is the failure to embrace the whole Pearson College community and welcome all interested and eligible persons into the Corporation. Instead, the Governance Committee makes a variety of proposals that pay lip service to inclusion. For example, there is a proposal to allow non-members of the Corporation to participate in working groups for specific initiatives. The report then goes on to state firmly that interested persons who meet the membership criteria need not apply for Corporation membership. In other words, ”We don’t want you except on our terms.” What are those terms? Sometimes our silence is wanted. Sometimes we are wanted as window dressing. Always our money is wanted. But we are never wanted as equal partners.

The Governance Committee denies membership in the Corporation to the majority of the Pearson College community members. In doing so, it denies full participation in governance; only Corporation members have the power to elect trustees and only patrons can claim legitimate representation at the Board. This is insulting and unacceptable to the Pearson College community, especially the hundreds of community members who give their time, their talents and their money to the College. Members of the Pearson College community have a deep and abiding affection for the College and want only the best for the school. They are the future of Pearson College; without them, the College cannot survive. We wonder what the Governance Committee fears. We wonder if the Board truly appreciates the extent to which it alienates members of the Pearson College community, leaving them with only one source of power (withholding money) at a time when the College’s fiscal needs are greater than ever.

The shortfalls of the report would be forgivable if the situation were not so urgent. After the debacle of the past three years, there are graduates who candidly say that they do not bother to open College correspondence before deleting it or throwing hard copy into the recycling bin. Other graduates say they do not trust College communications any more. And no wonder: nobody from the College or the Board ever apologizes. The College’s and the Board’s attitude seem to be that they are always right. Nonsense. Nobody is perfect. People make mistakes and hurt people, sometimes intentionally and sometimes inadvertently. The Board owes apologies for tolerating a management team found guilty of coercion and for bullying or sanctioning the bullying of the many departed employees, many students, many graduates and even patrons. A willingness to apologize is a sign of maturity, not weakness. That the Board does not recognize the need to apologize is extraordinary and a remarkably poor example for the Pearson College community. It is the failure to apologize that hurts the community.

In containing not one apology, and in denying Pearson College community members full and equal partnership in governance through Corporation membership, the Governance Report has deprived the College its lifeline. The College is indeed undergoing a transformation. But instead of renewing and invigorating the College, the transformation is stifling the College and preventing it from reaching its true potential. We watch in dismay.

On behalf of CPR for PC,

Heather Milliken, Year 1
Carly Evans, Year 2
Sarah Blackwell, Year 3
Todd Van Vliet, Year 5
Nico Bethel, Year 6

If you wish, you may copy/paste this text (excluding names) and submit it as your response to the Governance Committee's Report. The report and the feedback form are available at the following URL: http://www.pearsoncollege.ca/govern.htm