Open Letter to Chair of the LBPC Board

Dear Diana,

Thank you for inviting me to meet with you while you were in New York recently. I declined because I thought it would serve no useful purpose. Members of the Pearson community – which include trustees, alumni, faculty, staff, students, host families and patrons – have raised many critical issues, none of which, in my opinion, have been adequately addressed. The Board appears to have no motivation to address these issues even though it has a fiduciary responsibility for the well-being of students, psychologically, physically, academically and spiritually.

Students learn by example. What I find most sad and most discouraging is what Pearson College students are being taught through the examples of the Director’s boorish behavior and the Board’s apparent indifference. The Board continues to support the Director whose behavior is completely contrary to the mission and ideals of Pearson College. One of the aims of Pearson, stated on the website, is to promote active citizenship.

To provide an education, in the total sense, which will produce involved, active, educated citizens, whose attitudes of understanding and service will be a force against bigotry and hatred between peoples.

Yet whenever students or other members of the Pearson community try to be active, involved citizens in the Pearson community and to address some of the many injustices perpetrated on members of the community, they are rebuked in the harshest way, almost as if they were outsiders. There are many examples of both poor behavior by the Director and the Board’s inaction in dealing with or acknowledging the issues brought to them which continue to split the Pearson Community. These are a few such examples:

- Many students have neither confidence nor trust in the nurse. Though professional ethics would seem to bind the nurse to maintain patients’ confidentiality in spite of being married to the Director, there have been occasions on which she has shared such information with the Director, which he has then used against the students. Many students now forego medical attention or seek medical care off campus for fear that their health issues may be made public or may otherwise have a negative effect on their time at Pearson. This is a dangerous situation that threatens student health and well-being.

- There are at least a dozen refugee students on campus, but the College has not taken any steps to develop procedures, train staff or otherwise provide support for these young people who may be suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.

- The contract of Augustin Rusekampunzi, a teacher and Pearson graduate who was a refugee student from Rwanda, was not renewed despite the fact that he received positive teaching evaluations (ranging from very good to excellent) from every Director who evaluated his teaching and service record (Tony Macoun, Jim McClellan, Peter Bavinton and Stuart Walker in conjunction with Marks McAvity) over a tenure of 11 years. In addition, the College administration has added insult to injury by allowing the perception to persist that Ruse or Mark Bannar-Martin may have been the teacher accused of sexual harassment by three former students. Ironically and appallingly, the person who these three students actually did accuse of sexual harassment is returning to campus to teach even though the RCMP believed there was cause to investigate the allegations and remains open to investigating any new evidence, and even though one of the College’s primary fiduciary responsibilities is the safety and well-being of its students.

- Rude and abrasive behavior by the Director is driving away host families who used to house and feed students during vacations. These costs must be now borne by the College, e.g., housing students in hotels during project week. In addition, host families are a source of refuge and comfort in the absence of students’ families. The bonds that form between host families and students are nurturing and caring and often turn out to be life-long relationships. As host families become fewer in number, students will be deprived of the kind of local community interaction which makes their experience at Pearson richer. This interaction also serves as a way to connect the campus with its neighbors in a positive manner.

- No teachers agreed to participate as speakers in seminars on conflict resolution last year, presumably because they were intimidated by the threat of being fired by the Director.

- The College overruled a UWC selection committee to grant a scholarship on a preferential basis. The College committee awarded the scholarship to an Anglesey (Wales) student over the objection of the U.K. selection committee, thus giving the appearance of favoritism toward the recipient. The process also seemed to have included considerable arm-twisting and bullying directed at members of the U.K. selection committee by the Director, which is unacceptable behavior.

Instead of resolving the issues, the Board has ignored them for the most part. The Board continues to blame past difficulties on a few malcontent alumni. Now the Board ignores what the students said publicly to you and Mary Bruce, a Pearson trustee, in late March 2005; it wrongly blames a few disgruntled faculty members for the students’ expression of deep concern and sadness. Leaders who blame others for their mistakes do not create psychologically healthy environments.

You must surely be fully aware of these and other incidents that have led to the current feelings of alienation and disenfranchisement that exist among the alumni of Pearson College. The lack of transparent resolution of these issues has made many people conclude that Pearson is not the kind of institution they care to support.

In conclusion, until these issues and other outstanding issues, both past and current, are transparently resolved or begin to be resolved, there can be no rapprochement between Pearson alumni and the Pearson College administration and Board.

There is a serious need for the Board to reach out to all members of the Pearson College community. Amends must be made before any type of healing or reconciliation can occur. I believe that a meeting between us would be productive only if we discussed how to move forward once the Board has acted to resolve all of the serious and outstanding issues.

Sincerely,
Carly Evans
Pearson College Patron, Former Trustee (resigned September 2002)
Pearson College Student, Year 2 (1975-77)

Cc: Pearson College Board of Trustees
Barb Roberts
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