Concordia fined $2 million

Concordia University is being penalized by Quebec's Education Ministry for excessive spending on severance packages for top administrators.

In a letter dated yesterday to the chair of Concordia's Board of Directors and obtained by CJAD News, Education Minister Line Beauchamp says she is fining Concordia $2 million, that'll come out of the school's funding.

According to the minister, the university spent just over $3 million in packages for six administrators who were fired in 2009 and 2010. The information was made public late last week by the school's administration, which also announced it would hire outside auditors to review the packages. 

The education minister's letter says the school was warned a year ago, and the straw that apparently broke the camel's back was the recent hiring of former president Judith Woodsworth as a teacher after she was dismissed.

Upon leaving, Woodsworth received a package totaling $703,000.

In the letter, Beauchamp says that over a year ago, she told Concordia she was concerned about the way the university was managing top administrators and that the excessive sums of money spent on their departures was feeding citizens' concerns about the judicious use of public funds by universities.

The minister cites the Woodsworth example and describes some of Concordia's management decisions as inappropriate.

Student union president Lex Gill says it's too little, too late.

"I think the government has stepped in too late on this issue. We know that the issue of mismanagement at Quebec's universities is absolutely out of control and it's systemic," Gill says.

"This is an absurdity, it's ridiculous," Robert Sonin, president of the Graduate Students Association, tells CJAD News.

 "The government is punishing the school for the choices of a few people."

Lucie Lequin, head of the faculty association, agrees.

"We have paid for that already and we will pay again because of the punishment."

Concordia would only say they received the minister's letter and is reviewing it so they can't comment for now.

Beauchamp issued a press release later in the afternoon saying that she told the university many times about her concerns regarding the series of departures and the impact on its budget. She says Concordia has shown a lack of rigour and has to face the consequences.

Beauchamp goes on to say that she's sending a message to other university officials: that sound management is synonymous with transparency and efficiency and that she expects universities to be administered efficiently and rigourously.

University president and vice-chancellor Frederick Lowy issued a statement late Friday evening saying "we understand and share her concerns. For that reason, on March 5, the Board unanimously adopted a resolution mandating a review of human resources processes for senior management. The review, to be conducted by an external audit firm under the auspices of the Board’s Audit Committee, will examine the processes and practices that were used in recent years with respect to senior management personnel who departed before the end of their contracts or with whom the university wished to end its contractual obligations.

"We will not hesitate to implement any changes resulting from this review that improve our human resources practices for senior management.", add Lowy.

"I would like to assure our community that Concordia is committed to prudent fiscal management and fully supports the external review of our human resources processes for senior management", says Lowy.

Flickr photo by Steve Drolet