UWI rift deepens

Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles is investigating the ceremonial head of The University of the West Indies (UWI) Chancellor Robert Bermudez, using a committee that reports to him, as a rift between the top two leaders enters unprecedented and “dangerous” territories.

This is the latest act in the drama unfolding at the 73-year-old institution that intensified after a damning 2020 governance report commissioned by Bermudez was released, which critics believe was aimed at tarring Beckles’ stewardship.

It is not clear when the committee started its work, but the body – chaired by Jamaican lawyer and former president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, Milton Samuda – wrote to the chancellor on December 13, 2021, giving him 72 hours to answer 15 questions.

Those questions – and the committee’s remit based on the terms of reference of the so-called UWI Human Resource Management Review Committee – relate to the circumstances under which Beckles’ contract was renewed for another six years last April.

It means Beckles’ six-member committee is investigating not just Bermudez, but also the University Council, The UWI’s highest decision-making body that is chaired by the chancellor.

Beckles, as vice chancellor, is the regional university’s executive head.

At its contentious annual meeting on April 30, the council approved the renewal of Beckles’ contract despite objections from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, two of 17 contributing Caribbean nations to whom the financially struggling but global-ranked institution is ultimately accountable.

Among the questions asked were whether the chancellor requested or received any unsolicited advice from any regional government on Beckles’ contract renewal and if he had made a final recommendation.

Whether Bermudez instructed that the contract issue be removed from the council’s 2020 agenda and if the chancellor conducted an annual review of the Beckles’ performance in accordance with a 2006 decision of the council were also enquiries made of the committee.

The committee asked Bermudez if he was aware that in 2006, the council had mandated that a committee to review a vice chancellor’s performance be established in the fifth year of the contract.

It also wanted to find out from Bermudez why he departed from the procedure by establishing the committee during the sixth year and whether the committee was appointed according to university regulations.

Bermudez was also to indicate if he was aware that senior employees at the university, including administrators and academics, are notified of the status of their contracts six months before expiration and whether he reviewed Beckles’ self-assessment report and found any issues with it.

It appears that following the decision to renew Beckles’ contract, the council instructed the chancellor to meet with him to discuss his retirement after three years.

The committee asked Bermudez whether that meeting was held and to provide reasons if it did not.

CHANCELLOR WAS NOT HAPPY

Samuda, under whose signature the letter was issued, told Bermudez that the committee “appreciate[s] your understanding and kind cooperation” before telling the university’s highest-ranking official that they wanted the answers before the next meeting that was scheduled for December 17.

The chancellor was not happy and wrote letters dated December 15 to both Samuda and Beckles.

He told Samuda of his “personal concern” about the establishment of the committee and “its purported authority” even as he acknowledged the questions that he said involved matters that have been before the university council and him in his official capacity.

“I consider it proper and appropriate that I draw this letter to the attention of the members of council before I provide a response, if at all,” added the Trinidadian businessman, who took the reins as chancellor in 2017 for a seven-year term.

He is chairman of the board of directors of the Bermudez Group of Companies, a major multinational manufacturing and distribution operation that owns firms such as the Jamaica Biscuit Company, Holiday Snacks and Kiss Baking.

The chancellor opened his letter to Beckles, saying: “It has come to my attention that you have established a committee to investigate, inter alia, the circumstances of certain matters that engaged the attention of the council. I have also received a letter … requesting my written response within seventy-two hours.”

“This is a matter of grave concern and accordingly I am informing you that I am copying this letter and attaching the letter from the chairman of your purported committee to all members of the council for their consideration and such action as they may consider appropriate,” Bermudez said, ending his missive obtained by this newspaper.

It is not clear if the committee issued any questions to the council or any other university official.

‘NO COMMENT’

Samuda’s only response was “no comment” when asked by The Sunday Gleaner on Friday to address, among other things, whether he believed there were any conflict of interest in the committee’s establishment, the status of the investigations and his response to the view that the committee was established to seek the removal of Bermudez.

Questions sent by our newsroom to Beckles on Friday were acknowledged, but no answers were received up to press time. Similar questions were sent to Bermudez.

Dr Canute Thompson, one of the committee members, confirmed his status, but directed questions to Samuda, only noting that the committee was set up late last year and “we will be submitting a report in short order and it will be just outside the period that was allotted”.

He added: “I am sure that when the report is submitted and is made public, you’ll have an opportunity to explore the issues that you believe are relevant.”

Based on the terms of reference, the committee was given three months to conduct its investigation.

The full committee comprises Samuda as chairman, who is also a member of the university’s Finance and General Purpose Committee; Dr Thompson from the School of Education at the Mona campus in Jamaica; and Professor Eddy Ventose, dean of the law faculty at the Cave Hill campus in Barbados.

Other members are Ambassador Gillian Bristol, who is based at the Latin American Caribbean Centre at the UWI Regional Headquarters in Jamaica; Dr Indira Rampersad from the social sciences faculty at the Trinidad-based St Augustine campus; and Hyram Forde from the School of Business and Management at the Five Islands campus in Antigua.

According to a document that appears to set the context for the establishment of Beckles’ committee, two significant university management processes came to public attention during the 2020-2021 school year that ended in July – the governance report and the contract renewal issue – and their impact on the university’s reputation was yet to be assessed.

It said that after discussion with UWI’s executive management committee and receiving legal advice, Beckles “is of the opinion that there is a crisis within the human resource culture of the university”.

Setting up the committee, the document says, would allow Beckles “to secure all the relevant information … and to give future clarity and certainty to the management of the university”.

It said Beckles’ action, which appears without the blessing of the council, was grounded in UWI’s Statue 5 that outlines the authority of the vice chancellor, but which, in all instances, indicated that the office holder is accountable to the University Council.

The statute says the vice chancellor, among other things, “shall maintain and promote the efficiency and good order of the university for which the vice chancellor shall be responsible to the council” and that he “shall exercise general and specific supervision over the educational arrangements of the university”.

The statute does not make any definitive statement on the authority of the vice chancellor to investigate actions of the chancellor – who is appointed by the council – or the council itself.

‘DISGRACEFUL AND DANGEROUS’

Several very senior officials of UWI have expressed shock at the development.

One claimed that the situation was now a “state of war” between the two most senior leaders of the institution.

“This is a very disgraceful and dangerous turn of events. How could the vice chancellor even think, let alone make a move against the chancellor and the university council in this manner,” said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak.

The official, who sits on some of UWI’s key decision-making bodies, said he was “ashamed”.

“I have never seen anything like this. The vice chancellor who reports to the council is investigating the council and the chancellor through a committee set up by him and that reports to him? Even if there are legitimate issues, is this the best example of UWI leadership?”

Another official suggested that Caribbean governments need to intervene to “save UWI from self-destruction”, arguing that Beckles “may have a hard time convincing anyone that the committee isn’t aimed at getting rid of the chancellor”.

“I am happy this is now coming to light. The committee members ought to resign. It’s clear there is no leadership at UWI. This is a game of egos with dire consequential effects for the reputation and viability of UWI, so our political leaders who meet in February in Belize for CARICOM inter-sessional will have to do something about this,” said the executive.

For almost two years leading up to the latest issue, a fierce, racially tinged debate has raged throughout the region over Beckles’ performance as the executive head of the university.

The debate gained wings with the publication of the chancellor’s governance report in July 2020 that warned of financial ruin, slammed the university for maintaining a “dysfunctional” corporate governance structure and for not holding managers accountable.

Beckles’ supporters claim that the report was being used by the chancellor to block the contract extension, a view that has been rejected by Sir Dennis Byron, the former president of the Caribbean Court of Justice who chaired the governance committee appointed by Bermudez.

“We express the strongest displeasure at the insinuations and, in some cases, the overt personal attacks — some laced with racial invective — directed at the chancellor, and reject these unfounded allegations that he influenced our work and inquiry in any way,” he said in March 2021.

In a scathing opinion piece published by the Trinidad Express last January, Trinidadian academic Professor Selwyn Cudjoe said that from 2017 when Bermudez was appointed, he did not believe the businessman was fit for the job as chancellor.

Jamaica’s Education Minister Fayval Williams tabled the report in the Jamaican Parliament last June.

She has been unimpressed with Beckles, claiming in a Nationwide Radio interview in April that UWI “needs new leadership to take it forward, one that can focus on improving the governance structure”.

A month before the university council decided, Beckles, 66, leapt to his own defence, arguing that the discussion around governance should not be confused with leadership.

Latest available records show that for the financial year up to July 31, 2020, UWI had a deficit of approximately J$5 billion (BDS$68.3 million) – almost 20 per cent less than the previous year; income of J$66 billion (BDS$905.2 million) and a total expenditure of J$71 billion (BDS$973.5 million).

The Mona and Open campuses account for significant portions of the university’s financial problems, exacerbated by dwindling government support.

Just last month, the Barbados government rescued the Open Campus after news emerged that it was not in a position to pay December salaries.

jovan.johnson@gleanerjm.com