Berbice Campus Autonomy a damp squib

Dec 08, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
What was to have been fireworks and sparks turned out to be a damp squib. Three meetings scheduled for the Berbice Campus on the weekend 29-30th November, 2013, rejected any and all ideas of an independent University of Guyana, Berbice, or University of Berbice, Guyana. Even the patently political attempt at ideological brinksmanship, Cheddi Jagan University, did not get far. The first meeting of the staff/faculty of the campus with members of the ad hoc committee (UG Councillors and members of the Private Sector), Friday morning 29th November, 2013, fired the first shot across the bow of the autonomy campaign.
After due introductions the staff faculty was asked to respond to the demand for autonomy/independence of the campus. In a single voice, in unison, their answer was a resounding, unambiguous “NO!” What they did instead was to provide a critique of the administration of the campus over the last four years under the stewardship of Prof. Daizal Samad. The rejoinder was not without its awkward moment since most of the visitors were unaware of the deep seated sense of frustration at the campus and had come to accept what was reported in the press. As the message gradually seeped in and the staff/faculty sensed the indecision, they mounted their charge of the campus as a “one man show” initiated by the Director from the moment of his arrival.
As indication of what had been happening, they claimed that not a single meeting of the Campus Board, deemed to be the final authority at the campus, had met in four years under the Director, while the Campus Coordinating Committee (CCC) had simply become a rubber stamp under his direction. The main problem they noted was the refusal to include the staff’/faculty in the decisions and administration of the campus.
This left little room for encouragement and support while staff/faculty lost touch with their colleagues at Turkeyen. What under normal circumstances, routinely encouraged during the previous ten years, was now seen as surreptitious and under-hand. The means of control was exercised by firm institutional contact which the Director took a personal hand in directing, while ensuring that trips to Turkeyen were gradually eliminated for anyone but the Director. According to one informant, permission was refused anyone to access the overnight room at the SCR, Turkeyen, who did not have the Director’s previous consent.
The staff/faculty was, no doubt, emboldened by their colleagues from the CCC who a week earlier, 22 November, 2013, raised serious questions about the manner in which the Director was seeking to return to the campus when in fact he had publicly resigned since August 2013. At that meeting the CCC raised concerns about a story in the local press, Stabroek News, 20 November, 2013, billed as “an interview” with the previous Director of the Berbice Campus, Prof. Daizal Samad – “Prof. Samad ready to serve at Tain Campus again”.
Three issues were raised about the “interview”, presumed on considerations of due process and fairness: that once the period of application for a publicly advertised appointment to a public institution is closed everyone would be entitled to the same, even, playing field.
a)    Prof. Samad’s interview appeared, therefore, as unethical since he was using his privileged access to sections of the media to promote himself for the appointment of the Director to the Campus. This was not available to other applicants, including two lecturers from the Berbice campus.
b)    It seemed a-moral, since both Stabroek News and Dr. Samad combined to create an uneven playing field in which other contenders were excluded. Other applicants are only there, it now seems – after the interview – to provide background and seeming attention to a competitive process that is anything but fair.
c)    It looked illegal, since Dr. Samad was using his privileged access to the media to determine an outcome that was supposed to be the result of determinate deliberation behind closed doors by known publicly appointed officials.
The CCC suggested that the matter be sent to the campus Board for its deliberations. Unfortunately, while a meeting was scheduled for Wednesday 27th November, 2013, it had to be cancelled due to the exigencies of final exams at the Campus. Importantly, though the message appears not to have been lost on the staff/faculty at the Campus.
The second meeting later that afternoon with the ad hoc committee appears to have been a fait accompli. The Director appeared overwhelmed by what he was hearing from the Campus and seemed ill prepared to make his case for autonomy. Part of the problem may very well have been the presence of Dr. Rishee Thakur who served several terms as assistant Director of the Campus  and a long standing member of the faculty since its inception in 2000. Dr. Thakur confirmed what his colleagues said earlier the morning about a “one man show” and added that: a) both the Berbice Campus and the Turkeyen administration, despite continuing disagreements and debates (maybe because of them) over the years had worked out a modus vivendi in which the campus would function as a faculty of the University, supporting the original agreement at the Academic Board, 1999, when the campus was established; b) the campus lacked the professional staff and skills to mount an independent campus; c) the means, both material and human, were not present in Berbice to fund and found a University of its own;  and d) part of the Director’s complaint were of his own making since he did not encourage staff/faculty to participate in the administration of the campus, who knew and understood “Turkeyen”, and, therefore, with the means to assist in the administration of the campus. After that the Director’s case had nowhere to go. And while he made bold efforts to respond to specific questions there was nothing on offer. Indeed, one member of the Committee while congratulating the Director for one of his development plans of the Campus, had to criticise him for his failure to follow up on it. He seemed impatient, unwilling to work with what was on the ground. Most of those on the Committee were beginning to feel as if they had been on a wild goose chase. Despite all the spilled ink the case for a Berbice University, a University of Guyana, Berbice, even a Cheddi Jagan University had not been made.
By the time of the third and last meeting, Saturday morning 30th Novembre, 2013, members of the ad hoc committee had given up and not all were present for the meeting that morning. They need not worry. Neither were Berbicians. It is estimated that there were as many members of the Committee as there were members of the audience, about eight. The only question that appeared on anyone’s mind were more degree programmes for the campus. No one seemed to remember that autonomy was the major issue for the meeting.
But the issue is by no means over. Since 4th October, 2013, the campus has been functioning without a Director. The search was on for a new one. Not unexpectedly Prof. Samad has had a changed heart, withdrew his resignation and reapplied for the job, while insisting that autonomy is still on the cards.
Rishi Thakur

 

 

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