CAUT criticizes Carleton over alleged board “gag order”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has condemned Carleton University’s board of governors for a new policy that will reportedly ban board members from commenting publicly on the meetings they attend, a policy that applies until the end of a board member’s lifetime. The CAUT calls this policy a violation of institutional transparency and has threatened to blacklist the university if the policy remains in place. In this case, blacklisting would see the CAUT issue a public recommendation that academics refuse to take jobs or attend conferences at Carleton. Carleton has responded that it has undertaken the new policy out of “confidentiality obligations,” adding that “fulsome candid discussion and debate by Board members is to be conducted at meetings, not retrospectively following a meeting in an online or public forum.” Ottawa Citizen