According to information leaked from a private Governing Council meeting, ex-provost Shirley Neuman’s departure was far from amicable.
An inside source claims that Neuman had run-ins with “every single dean” in the past year, and that she was “basically canned.” The embattled provost had been previously lambasted in public by a cadre of student leaders as well as the Faculty of Physical Education and Health.
The fallout from last Friday’s resignation will have a potentially devastating effect on U of T’s future. Neuman had been preparing the university’s white papers before her departure, but the process was far from complete. The white papers were to set out U of T’s academic plans for the next eight years, if not longer, and bringing in a replacement to pick up the slack now will be very difficult.
But Neuman’s ousting wasn’t the only shockwave coursing through Simcoe Hall this week. At the same Governing Council meeting it was announced that Felix Chee, VP Business Affairs, would be leaving his post in order to become the President of the U of T Asset Management Corporation (UTAM). The U of T company was gored in the press last year after it had been revealed that its investments had lost at least $320 million in the past year. Also this week, Sheldon Levy, VP Government and Institution Affairs, officially ended his tenure, and will be taking a post at the new Ontario Institute of Technology (OIUT), bringing the number of exiting execs to three in one week.
