On Professor Ayesha Chaudhry's Resignation from the UBC Board of Governors
Canada Research Chair and Professor Ayesha Chaudhry has resigned from the University of British Columbia's Board of Governors.
I imagine the decision to resign from the UBC Board of Governors was a long and difficult one for Prof. Chaudhry. She ran as a faculty representative to bring academic values and accountability to the Board and was widely elected and supported by her colleagues.
If Prof. Chaudhry’s experience was anything like mine on the UBC Presidential Search Committee, she quickly realized how alienating it is to be one of only three faculty members on a 21-person corporate-controlled Board. It was likely even worse for Chaudhry as a woman of color. Combining this with the Board's shenanigans that are designed to manipulate information and process to achieve desired decisions and minimize academic voices, a sense of helpless futility can set in.
These shenanigans include strategic seating arrangements, sudden breaks during meetings when conversation veers from the desired direction, hand-written notes from the secretary to speaking members, hundreds of pages of documents sent the night before a meeting, private tête-à-têtes arranged between a powerful board member and a junior or more vulnerable one, portals for community input vetted before sharing, and planning op-eds to promote preferred perspectives. These are a few of many tricks employed to sideline unpopular voices, mostly academic ones.
When I resigned from the UBC Presidential Search Committee after countless hours of time and effort, I'd come to realize the level of contempt on the Board for faculty and the futility & personal cost to me of staying. I had no energy left for a big statement.
I am grateful to Prof. Chaudhry for her service, effort, and courage. I wish her the best of luck with her research into how historically white and heteronormative institutions can become places in which people from different backgrounds are heard and valued.
If Prof. Chaudhry’s experience was anything like mine on the UBC Presidential Search Committee, she quickly realized how alienating it is to be one of only three faculty members on a 21-person corporate-controlled Board. It was likely even worse for Chaudhry as a woman of color. Combining this with the Board's shenanigans that are designed to manipulate information and process to achieve desired decisions and minimize academic voices, a sense of helpless futility can set in.
These shenanigans include strategic seating arrangements, sudden breaks during meetings when conversation veers from the desired direction, hand-written notes from the secretary to speaking members, hundreds of pages of documents sent the night before a meeting, private tête-à-têtes arranged between a powerful board member and a junior or more vulnerable one, portals for community input vetted before sharing, and planning op-eds to promote preferred perspectives. These are a few of many tricks employed to sideline unpopular voices, mostly academic ones.
When I resigned from the UBC Presidential Search Committee after countless hours of time and effort, I'd come to realize the level of contempt on the Board for faculty and the futility & personal cost to me of staying. I had no energy left for a big statement.
I am grateful to Prof. Chaudhry for her service, effort, and courage. I wish her the best of luck with her research into how historically white and heteronormative institutions can become places in which people from different backgrounds are heard and valued.
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