by Lexey Burns, Editor-in-Chief

The cuts made by Laurentian in the CCAA process have become finalized as of April 30th, 2021. 

Desks have been emptied, offices cleared out. 

This is not how any of them pictured ending their career at Laurentian.

But the administration is not giving these grieving faculty and staff any sympathy, especially Marie Josée Berger, Vice President and Provost of Laurentian.

It started with a post on Save Our Sudbury Facebook page saying that Berger “made the announcement [of the termination of the midwifery program] and left the meeting, providing NO details in answer to my questions.”

Dr. Brett Buchanan, a full professor for the School of the Environment, shared his letter from Berger congratulating him on his “title of Emeritus Professor as of May 1st, 2021.” 

“45 and Professor Emeritus. I guess that’s something, right?”

“It gives them ‘great pleasure’ to confer this title on me, after they have terminated me. ‘Congratulations!’ The letter reads as if I’ve signed up for some premium package. Not just the starter package. No. The special one, with all the bells and whistles,” Buchanan said. 

The letter also includes some “perks” offered with the title of Emeritus Professor, like “Free parking” and “Free business cards upon request.”

Did professors not have free parking to begin with? What kind of employer makes their employees pay to park at the place they work at? 

If that wasn’t a red flag, I don’t know what is. 

Buchanan said in an email to Lambda, “There has been a great deal of confusion about the Adjunct/Emeritus applications for those who were terminated (myself) and those who retired (the few who elected retirement before the terminations).” 

“I’m a Full Professor, but I’m still relatively young and mid-career, so I had applied for Adjunct. ‘Emeritus’ status, historically, is reserved for distinguished professors who have retired at ‘retirement age,’ after a long career.”

Buchanan said it was “even quite funny, all bitterness aside” to be a Professor Emeritus at 45 years of age, and joked that it “might even be a record!” 

He said that another one of his colleagues, Robin Craig, had mentioned that her partner, who is similar in age to Buchanan “received the same letter of ‘congratulations’ but with the added ‘happy retirement’ (which is simply disgraceful).”

“I think what is most egregious about the letter is the complete lack of care,” he said. 

Buchanan said that the letter he received was “uniform” from HR “and no one could be bothered to make the small edits required to remove the celebratory mood of the letter.”

“This indifference is what hurts the most.”

Buchanan is now on research leave until June 30th and is “excited to be an Environmental Humanities Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh” virtually due to the pandemic. 

Albrecht Schulte-Hostedde said in a tweet, “who has decided to treat terminated faculty like this? It’s sociopathic.”

UofOWatch, a blog “devoted to the transparency at the University of Ottawa,” published an article in 2011 titled “Marie Josée Berger most ruthless administrator at U of O, student union says.” In the article, it says that “Berger is well deserving of the [Iron Fist] Award.”

UofOWatch says the Iron Fist award is “awarded to the University of Ottawa Administrator having caught Student Appeal Officers’ attention for being most ruthless and/or unjust while showing little or no respect for students.”

The blog points out multiple different occasions where “Berger [subjected to] harsh unjustified discipline and dismissals against several academic staff members of the Faculty of Education.”

Dr. Steven Noble, a former Schooling and Society professor at the University of Ottawa confirmed that he was “a replacement professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education from 2008-2010 before being questionably ‘let go’” despite having very high student evaluations throughout his tenure. 

Dr. Aven McMaster, an Ancient studies professor at Thorneloe University, said that “On late Friday afternoon we were told at Thorneloe that we could keep our email & access to D2L etc. until Friday the 7th. Just so that we can submit our final grades, of course. That’s all we’re here for.”

It’s hard to see all of these people who’ve worked so hard and put their heart and soul into not only their work but into students. 

Some of the terminated professors have been the kindest people on campus, and the administration is treating them like they are a living Wikipedia page. Berger and the rest of the administration do not understand the talent, dedication, and passion that Laurentian lost on April 30th.