The day after the University of Windsor announced the appointment of an interim president, the union that represents the faculty is raising concerns.
A release from the Faculty Association of the University of Windsor criticizes the decision to appoint Dr. Douglas Kneale saying, "yesterday's announcement came as a shock."
Kneale is being installed almost 15 months after Dr. Alan Wildeman announced his departure from the university after a decade on the job. Wildeman said he would stay in the position until June 2018 while the university's board of governors found a replacement. Kneale will take over once Wildeman leaves.
WUFA President Jeff Noonan says their concerns do not lie with the person appointed but with the process up to this point and transparency around the decision to appoint someone on an interim basis in the role.
"There's been no communication back and forth, we understand that there has to be confidentiality involved," says Noonan. "But we've got no information about... the applicant pool -- was there only a shortlist of one? If that's the case, why?"
The University Board of Governors says it identified one candidate who turned down the position for personal reasons.
WUFA President Jeff Noonan says this raises questions about the pool of applicants for the job and why there were no other possible candidates identified.
"With all this good energy around the university what was the applicant pool? If we are almost a year into a search process which involved a consultant and everything else, if we're a year into that and we don't have a president, was there a problem with the applicant pool," asks Noonan.
The Board of Governors sent out communication on March 1 stating that the preferred candidate declined the offer and there was not enough time to identify a new candidate by the June deadline.
"Even though there are a number of presidential searches happening provincially and nationally, the opportunity at Windsor is highly attractive, and the board has advised the search committee to renew its efforts in the coming academic year, and is grateful to the committee’s members for their continuing dedication to the task. The search committee remains committed to identifying the candidate who best fits the position profile," says John Coleman, director of public affairs.
Noonan says that does not explain why no other candidates were identified in the original search.
"The issue is that clearly something clearly didn't go right and we want to know why and we want to know why this decision was taken now," says Noonan.
The association says it will consult with its members about a collective response to Monday's announcement.