There is no doubt a mistake was made by the Board of Governors when they agreed to award double pay to President Amit Chakma. It was also a mistake to accept this payment, as Dr. Chakma admitted in an emotional speech during last Friday’s senate meeting.
The discussion has now moved on to how the campus community will respond to this situation.
We seem to be entrenched in a culture of intolerance to error; we read each week of a call for resignation of a leader in government or business. The unfortunate truth is humans make mistakes and, until we are governed by thinking machines (see Schwarzenegger et al.), our leaders will make errors.
The ability to admit to mistakes, and then take action to prevent recurrence, is an essential component of leadership. If we create a culture of blame and vindication, we prevent leaders from admitting mistakes, which delays the process of implementing constructive change.
The current situation has ignited a storm of controversy that involves numerous pre-existing concerns, mostly related to the cumulative negative impact of budget reductions and the lack of stakeholder input during decision making. Friday’s special Senate meeting will be one of the most important in years.
Dr. Chakma has admitted to a serious error in judgment and asked for our help in moving forward with a more engaged leadership style. I hope we, as a community, will avoid rash decisions and take advantage of this opportunity to work toward constructive solutions.
David Holdsworth
Surgery and Medical Biophysics professor