Professor says changes needed at FNUC

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One of First Nations University of Canada's (FNUC) most respected academic leaders has launched a petition to overhaul the beleaguered university's governance structure.

At a June 28 press conference at the campus, Dr. Blair Stonechild said the current setup for the FNUC board of governors has aggravated the current political and administrative crisis at the university.

At the press conference, Stonechild, who heads the university's Indigenous studies department, said the board's meddling in university affairs has left the university's future in peril.

"Because of the board of governors' intrusion in February 2005, the documentation necessary to cover the (university's) projected funding shortfall of $3 million could not be submitted, and negotiations for $6 million in new funding had to be abandoned," he said. The university is now in such a financial mess that its payroll may bounce at the end of June, if not July 15, the following payday, he said.

The university's boards of governors' members have come under fire since Feb. 17, when Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) Vice-chief Morley Watson, who is also the chairman of the FNUC board of governors, suspended and removed three senior university staff-administrative vice-president Dr. Wes Stevenson, director of finance Kim Sinclair, and director of international programming Leonzo Barrenno. Stevenson has since been fired, while Sinclair has been cleared and has returned to her job. Barrenno's fate has yet to be determined, and is now the subject of one of 13 grievances filed by the university faculty's union to the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board.

The university's reputation in world-wide academic circles has also taken a beating in the wake of the board's actions of Feb. 17, Stonechild added, because the board-more specifically the 19 chiefs who are the only ones allowed to vote on board decisions -have taken away operational control of the university. When Stevenson, Sinclair and Barrenno were suspended, the people who were appointed to their positions were close associates of the FSIN executive and had no experience running a university, he claimed. As well, they reported not to the university president, but to the university board chairman, taking away the university president's ability to run the university as he saw fit, the professor continued.

"Hirings on the basis of political or family connections have begun at the management level ... damaging the reputation and viability of First Nations University," Stonechild said at the press conference.

The university faces bankruptcy and the probable removal of its academic credentials by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, which would render students' degrees worthless compared to graduates of other universities, he continued, but the board is more interested in pursuing claims of corruption allegedly perpetrated by Stevenson.

While Wes Stevenson is alleged to have profited by unusual financial transactions to the tune of about $5,000, Blair Stonechild said, the board of governors has spent about $500,000 in accountants' and lawyers' fees on the investigation. "For every $100 they spend, they identify one dollar that has been allegedly misplaced."

Stonechild proposes a radically different board of governors' structure for the university. He suggested a 12-person board, comprised of representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, the FSIN, an FSIN Senator, three faculty representatives (one each from the Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert campuses), two student representatives (one each from the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan) and one representative each from the provincial and federal governments. Under Stonechild's proposal, the board would elect its own chairman.

FNUC is currently governed under the SIFC Governance Act (a name that remains from FNUC's previous incarnation as the Saskatchewan Indian Federated Colleg) which was set for third and final reading during the last FSIN legislative assembly in North Battleford in early June.

The legislation calls for a 30-member board, of which 19 are chiefs of FSIN member bands. The rest are composed of representatives from the federal government, the provincial government, the universities of Saskatchewan and Regina, and student council presidents from the Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert campuses. Under the SIFC Act, only chiefs are allowed to vote on university issues, and the first vice chief of the FSIN, who has the education portfolio, is the board chairman.

In comparison, the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, whose enrollments, employee numbers, and budgets are far larger than FNUC, make do with a 12-person board of governors.

As well, the professor continued, chiefs may be unfamiliar with many university issues, or may be too busy with other duties to do a good job in handling the university's affairs. This is why the FSIN should instead appoint its representatives to the university from the business or academic Aboriginal community, he said.

Reducing the board's size could also be considered a cost-cutting measure for the financially beleaguered university, said Stonechild.

"The Board of Governors' budget to cover the expenses of the 19 political appointees is $335,000. This averages out to almost $17,500 per employee," he said. "The forensic auditor has not been asked to review board expenditures over the past years. We request that this area be added to the forensic auditor's investigation."

Stonechild's petition also requests that funding agencies, such as the federal and provincial governments, make reforms to the university's board of governors a requirement for future university funding.

In a surprise move, one of the university board of governors' members said that the faculty and employees have some valid concerns.

"When it (the corruption charges) was brought to ou attention, there was no dispute that there were issues that needed to be looked into," said Gary Laplante, an appointee from the Battlefords Tribal Council who attended the press conference.

"In hindsight, we somewhat erred in the governance process ... Having said that, we have made concerted efforts to address that."