University Senators question legality of Susan Milburn’s position on U of S Board of Governors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 13, 2013. 

SASKATOON – Several University of Saskatchewan senators are questioning the legitimacy of new Board of Governors Chair Susan Milburn’s continuing membership on the Board, pointing out that the appointment of Ms. Milburn as the chair is fundamentally flawed according to University of Saskatchewan Act, 1995, c. U-6.1.

Senator Stefania Fortugno, a practising lawyer in Saskatoon, explains,

     In 2011 with Milburn's second and final term as Senate representative on the Board soon to expire, the Board requested that the Government appoint Milburn as one of its five appointees to the Board. However, the Government chose to appoint other individuals.

     There was a second option:  the Government was asked to amend the University’s governing legislation to enable Senate Representatives (Milburn) to serve a third term.  The legislation has not been amended.

     Milburn's maximum term expired June 30, 2012; she was granted an extension for the time being.   And yet on March 5th the Board made her Chair until 2016, four years beyond the maximum set out in the Act.

     Our argument is that the University is without doubt subject to the laws of Saskatchewan.

Knowing that Milburn’s term as a Senate-elected representative on the Board would officially expire on June 30, 2012, a new representative should have been elected at the April 2012 Senate meeting.  The Board, wishing to retain Milburn’s services in the interests of continuity, recommended to Senate that the position be left vacant for the interim while waiting for the government to address the issue. The motion was met with some opposition at Senate but passed with the understanding that this measure would be temporary and the position would be filled in 2013.

Because of her status as a provisional senate representative, a number of senators were surprised to find that on March 5, without Senate consultation, it was announced that Milburn had been selected to chair the Board until 2016. This means Milburn is expected to remain on the Board a full four years beyond her legally prescribed term as Senate representative, according the Act.  

Concerned senators ask: for how many years will the Senate be prevented from electing an appropriate representative to the Board?  The current situation requires that the Board of Governors and the Senate intentionally, actively and knowingly circumvent the Act. In Fortugno’s opinion, “This is not an example of good governance. This decision represents a failure to respect legal and democratic principles, including the rule of law.”

Susan Milburn’s skills and contributions to the University are not in question, say the senators. The law, as set out in the University Act must be respected.  The Senate needs to elect someone who can legitimately represent the Senate on the Board of Governors. This is an opportunity for the Board to uphold its legal integrity and to act on its  recently proclaimed commitment to transparency and good governance.

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Please see appended information package.

Media Contacts:  Mary Jean Hande                                                Sandra Finley

  U of S Senate Member at Large                            U of S Senate Member at Large

  647-458-5326, maryjeanelizabeth@gmail.com    250-248-3526, sabest1@sasktel.net           

   

Recent Closure of Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus

"The U of S recently announced the suspension of operations at the campus at Emma Lake north of Prince Albert, which has offered classes for biologists, fine arts students and others since 1935."

Read more...

Petition to Stop the Closure of the Kenderdine Campus. Sign here.

U of S Students Protest Tuition Hikes at Fall Senate Meeting

University of Saskatchewan students interrupted the fall Senate Meeting with a "mic check" voicing their opposition to tuition hikes and selling the university to the "military industrial complex, the nuclear industry or any other corporate interest." The video has since gone viral, circulating amongst networks from around the world. This is linked to repeated presentations and articles regarding the University of Saskatchewan intimate connections to the nuclear industry, namely Cameco, and now, more recently the war economy, namely Lockheed Martin.

See the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cavOfjaIi54

Lockheed Martin at University of Saskatchewan

The integration and harmonization of the American and Canadian, police and military forces is marching forward.

The integration is well advanced.

The American military, in the form of Lockheed Martin Corporation, is also moving into our Universities.  

If you have doubts, click on the PLANNING DOCUMENT  for Lockheed Martin Corporation’s funding to the University of Saskatchewan.   At the April 2012 meeting of University Senate, the Acting Dean of the Engineering College defended the collaboration.   In the past we circulated news articles about Lockheed Martin’s forays into Dalhousie University and UNB.

It is blatant twisting of the purpose of the University to serve the end of making profits for Lockheed Martin Corporation.  Read the  PLANNING DOCUMENT;  it is not difficult text.  The University will collaborate, to conduct Research to wage more effective war.  Those are the “Learning opportunities” that will be offered to our young people.  The “Collaboration Topics” will help to create an economy based on war.  The people of the Province of Saskatchewan are being robbed of their University, their ethics and the future imagined by them.

Broader context:

• There is a static page, Lockheed Martin, Census, Trial, War Economy, which is an overview.
• In the “categories” on the right-hand side of the blog, under “Peace or Violence” there is a file of related listings. If you skim thru those you see, for example,
• The Troop Exchange Agreement in 2008
• the roll-out of armoured vehicles (which are for combat zones) in cities across Canada (and the U.S.)
• the deployment of unmanned drones along the U.S.-Canadian border
• Lockheed Martin moving into Saskatoon (a series of 3 articles from the Star Phoenix), and so on.

The article, 2011-11-29 US cops now allowed to operate in Canada. Important article, Toronto Star., from the Toronto Star shows that the American police are now more or less integrated with the Canadian police – - all part of the integration of North America.  Loss of sovereignty, thanks to the quislings.

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TODAY’S ARTICLE

From “Embassy”, September 19, 2012 

http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/usagents-09-19-2012  

Check out this great event on the U of S campus!

Lessons From Quebec's Student Strike: A Forum Tuesday, October 2 at 12:30pm in CST at Room 299 - Murray (Main Library) Building - University of Sa...

The cost of higher learning: U of S tuition by the numbers - The Sheaf

thesheaf.com

Thelatest numbers from Statistics Canadaindicate that Saskatchewan’s undergraduate fees for 2012-13 ...

Dear HUES3 supporters:

 

Pasted in below (and attached) is a media release that went out this evening to over 30 media agencies around the province and across the country.  As you see, we hope to shine a bright light on the "dirty tricks" to which the Nuclear Waste Management Organization and their supporters have resorted in the bitter struggle over nuclear waste dump sites at Pinehouse and other communities in northern Saskatchewan.  The critics of this corporate campaign -- ordinary people like you and me -- are beginning to feel totally under siege.  They need OUR help.

 

Attached you will also find a letter that the HUES3 core committee emailed to Saskatchewan's Government Relations Minister Jim Reiter, urging him to conduct an investigation into the shameful electoral abuses that have happened in Pinehouse this month.  Members of the Committee for Future Generations have been bravely carrying the torch in this battle, more or less on their own, for the past year.  It is now time for us outsiders to show solidarity and come to their aid in whatever way we can.  This is definitely NOT the time for us to be sitting on our hands watching on as our brothers and sisters get beaten up by the nuclear bullies. 

 

We must each show our individual responsibility and commitment by sitting down at our keyboards and writing letters/emails of concern to Minister Reiter.  We must also copy our letters/emails to the Premier, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislature, the Leader of the Green Party, and our own Members of the Legislature to demonstrate how seriously we are taking this situation.  There is strength in numbers -- we must jam full the politicians' email inboxes, such that there is no doubt of our resolve.  Also, we should be writing letters to our local newspaper editors expressing concern, so that the word gets out.  And finally, please take time to email the members of the Committee for Future Generations at the address shown above.  They desperately need our encouragement and support.

 

Important email addresses for you to use:

 

Hon. Jim Reiter, Saskatchewan Minister of Government Relations  minister.gr@gov.sk.ca

Hon. Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan  premier@gov.sk.ca
Mr. John Nilson, Leader of the Opposition (NDP)  jnilson@mla.legassembly.sk.ca

Mr. Victor Lau, Leader of the Saskatchewan Green Party, votelau@gmail.com  

 

To search for your MLA's email address go to the online Legislative directory  http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/mlas/

 

Please take time to write your emails of concern and support as soon as possible.  And finally, please do share this email as widely as you possibly can among your personal social network, encouraging your contacts to also get involved in this letter-writing campaign.

 

In solidarity,

The HUES3 core committee