Upcoming summer review for U of R President
“The issue with the review, for some, arises due to the process being generally closed off to the student body. The review is also not publicly advertised to students.”
Author: Kristian Ferguson | News Editor
President Timmons is up for a third term, but have students been made properly aware? By the University of Regina
Timmons up for third five-year term
The University of Regina President Vianne Timmons has already served most of her two terms, but this summer, her presidency is being discussed for another term. The Board of Governors is holding a review this summer in order to determine if Timmons should be given a third, five-year term as the head of the University.
The University website clearly outlines that the process for this decision is internal, stating that “The Board recruits, appoints and reviews the President, and also appoints the Vice-Presidents and the University Secretary.”
While the URSU President is a member of the Board of Governors, this process appears to be otherwise closed off to the general student body. This is not the first time that Timmons’ presidency has been up for talks in recent years. In 2015, her contract was extended for one additional year into 2018. The Carillon reported on this in our November 12, 2015 issue.
The issue with the review, for some, arises due to the process being generally closed off to the student body. The review is also not publicly advertised to students. However, the faculty is made aware of the review. Similarly, the review takes place in the summer where, even if the process was more open, fewer students are at the University.
We were able to talk with a student about the process not including the direct student body or at least being publicly available.
Engineering student Marlon Rivas said, “Its always nice to have the University get involved with students, as it is our university too. In the same regard there are a lot of things that go on behind the scenes that we don’t fully understand. It’s not so much students being a direct part of the hiring process, but that this info is publicly and readily available. I was completely unaware of the review up until just now.”
There are some concerns about the transparency of the review process. As it stands currently, there does not appear to be any changes in regard to the public availability of the review process or movement towards a time period in which students are more available to participate, comment or generally be involved in the review process.
Hey Carillon community, let’s start the discussion! Do you think the student body should have a more vital role in choosing the President?