After eight months of controversy, York University has dropped plans for a joint international law program with Jim Balsillie’s think tank, having failed to convince its law professors that academic freedom would be guaranteed.
And the collapse of the deal underscores how tricky public-private partnerships with the Ivory Tower can be, even as Queen’s Park is calling on the private sector to invest more in higher learning.
York officials announced the $60 million deal was off late Monday, just hours after the faculty council of Osgoode Hall law school voted 34 to 7 against working with Balsillie’s Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) to create 10 research chairs in international law and funding for 20 PhD students. Eight members of the council abstained.
Although the program did not require the approval of York’s blue-chip law school to proceed, York officials said that without Osgoode’s blessing it would make little sense to proceed.
“We’re certainly disappointed; we had made major changes to safeguard academic freedom and integrity but it doesn’t make sense to run an international law program without the participation of one of the leading law schools in the country,” said York vice-president Patrick Monahan on Monday night.
The initiative collapsed despite York’s efforts to address concerns over CIGI’s influence. In particular, the school had agreed to remove the role of a steering committee with two CIGI representatives in the creation of short lists for hiring — something the original deal inked last summer had contained.
That was changed in the final draft agreement that went to Osgoode’s faculty council Monday. “CIGI would have had no role whatsoever over hiring,” said Monahan.
But history professor Craig Heron, who attended the heated two-hour debate, said that was not enough to overcome concerns.
Heron has been a vocal critic of the partnership and created a petition against the deal that went to York’s Senate last month.
“There were a number of sticking points that remained but it was partly that the faculty council felt aggrieved that consultations had come to a halt earlier this winter,” said Heron.
CIGI vice-president Fred Kuntz said he was “deeply disappointed that this agreement fell through; we thought we had an excellent agreement that stated in black and white that academic integrity was guaranteed, but it’s not easy to negotiate these kinds of partnerships.”
CIGI runs a Balsillie School of International Affairs with the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, and Kuntz said there are other ways of sponsoring research into international law.
“But by collaborating with a university, you get the benefit of great scholars and legal minds and the energy of graduate students. We’ll just have to find another way to pursue this kind of research.”
Concerns about the influence CIGI might have over hiring and research had prompted threats of censure from the Canadian Association of University Teachers and had caused negotiations with Osgoode throughout the winter to fall apart.
York administration had taken over the program as a university-wide initiative, but said it would not go ahead over the objections of its law school.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Louise Brown
And the collapse of the deal underscores how tricky public-private partnerships with the Ivory Tower can be, even as Queen’s Park is calling on the private sector to invest more in higher learning.
York officials announced the $60 million deal was off late Monday, just hours after the faculty council of Osgoode Hall law school voted 34 to 7 against working with Balsillie’s Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) to create 10 research chairs in international law and funding for 20 PhD students. Eight members of the council abstained.
Although the program did not require the approval of York’s blue-chip law school to proceed, York officials said that without Osgoode’s blessing it would make little sense to proceed.
“We’re certainly disappointed; we had made major changes to safeguard academic freedom and integrity but it doesn’t make sense to run an international law program without the participation of one of the leading law schools in the country,” said York vice-president Patrick Monahan on Monday night.
The initiative collapsed despite York’s efforts to address concerns over CIGI’s influence. In particular, the school had agreed to remove the role of a steering committee with two CIGI representatives in the creation of short lists for hiring — something the original deal inked last summer had contained.
That was changed in the final draft agreement that went to Osgoode’s faculty council Monday. “CIGI would have had no role whatsoever over hiring,” said Monahan.
But history professor Craig Heron, who attended the heated two-hour debate, said that was not enough to overcome concerns.
Heron has been a vocal critic of the partnership and created a petition against the deal that went to York’s Senate last month.
“There were a number of sticking points that remained but it was partly that the faculty council felt aggrieved that consultations had come to a halt earlier this winter,” said Heron.
CIGI vice-president Fred Kuntz said he was “deeply disappointed that this agreement fell through; we thought we had an excellent agreement that stated in black and white that academic integrity was guaranteed, but it’s not easy to negotiate these kinds of partnerships.”
CIGI runs a Balsillie School of International Affairs with the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, and Kuntz said there are other ways of sponsoring research into international law.
“But by collaborating with a university, you get the benefit of great scholars and legal minds and the energy of graduate students. We’ll just have to find another way to pursue this kind of research.”
Concerns about the influence CIGI might have over hiring and research had prompted threats of censure from the Canadian Association of University Teachers and had caused negotiations with Osgoode throughout the winter to fall apart.
York administration had taken over the program as a university-wide initiative, but said it would not go ahead over the objections of its law school.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Louise Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment