James Moore is the wrong man to be UNBC's chancellor.
Overnight Monday, the online petition asking the UNBC board of governors to find someone else other than James Moore to become the university's chancellor next May crossed 1,000. By Tuesday afternoon, it was approaching 1,500.
The chancellor is the honorary head of the university, the king or queen, if you will. UNBC's written description of the chancellor description describes two roles - conferring degrees and to attend, host or speak at a number of events during the year in "an essential ambassadorial role" to support the university. The description devotes a paragraph to the attributes of a chancellor. It calls for "a distinguished person with an exemplary record of demonstrated excellence" and "an individual whose reputation, relationships and experience help advance the University."
Unfortunately, the petition swerves into politics, targeting either Moore's specific words and actions during his 15 years as an MP and federal cabinet minister or the choices made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In other words, apparently Moore can't be chancellor because he was part of a government that muzzled scientists, that didn't take action on climate change and didn't order a federal inquiry and murdered aboriginal women.
Those are reasons to disagree with Moore's politics, certainly, but they are not compelling reasons to justify reneging on his appointment as chancellor.
Moore's politics aren't all bad, of course. That's why the petition makes no mention of his vote in the House of Commons in support of same-sex marriage, in defiance of both his party and many of his Port Moody constituents. Moore explored the matter in detail in The Marriage Dialogue, his 2011 master's thesis in political studies from the University of Saskatchewan.
Instead, the faculty, alumni and students opposed to Moore's appointment should have stuck with the basics.
Moore isn't qualified for the job.
Compared to the five men and women who have been chancellor before him, Moore is a weak candidate with a thin resume. He does not have the connections to the region, to the university, to academia or the education, experience and accolades of Iona Campagnolo, George Pedersen, Peter Bentley, Alex Michalos and the current chancellor John MacDonald, whose term ends in May.
The current and previous chancellors:
- MacDonald - born and raised in Prince Rupert, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Order of Canada.
- Michalos - professor emeritus, UNBC, national and international awards for research excellence, PhD, University of Chicago, honorary doctorate from Thompson Rivers University.
- Bentley - president and CEO of Canfor, Order of Canada, honorary doctorate from UBC.
- Pedersen - PhD, University of Chicago, president of Simon Fraser University, UBC, University of Western Ontario and interim UNBC president, Order of Canada.
- Campagnolo - before being named chancellor: Order of Canada, federal cabinet minister, first female president of the Liberal Party of Canada; since her time as chancellor: first female lieutenant-governor of B.C., seven honorary doctorates from universities across Canada, including UNBC.
The only attribute that Moore brings to the table that his predecessors do not is he is a UNBC graduate. Not only is that not enough of a distinction, there is a case to be made that Moore isn't even the top of the UNBC alumni class. The list of alumnus and alumna of the year, as chosen by the alumni association, does include Moore (2007) but Cathy Ulrich, the president and CEO of Northern Health, won the same award two years later.
Furthermore, the timing and the context of Moore's appointment is terrible. It's too soon after his departure as an MP and too soon after the demise of the Harper Conservatives. It's also too soon after the faculty strike this past spring to appoint a non-academic and someone without any kind of doctorate, earned or honorary, as chancellor.
In other words, it's bad politics, by the UNBC alumni association for recommending him, by UNBC's board of governors for appointing him and by Moore himself, for accepting the appointment.
There are more qualified and deserving candidates to be UNBC's chancellor at this time.
