Management tries to bribe away malfeasance investigation
UPDATED May 17, 2006: On June 16, 2003 each member of the Trent University board of governors (BoG) was given a document of some 300 pages entitled;
Re: Management Malfeasance in Information Technology & Human Resources, Non Union Employee Rights, Whistleblowing, the Absence of Mechanisms at Trent to Deal with these Matters (mechanisms that are in Existence at Most Other Universities), and Suggested Remedies.
The document requested an independent investigation into the allegations it presented. To this date (May 17, 2006) the board of governors has refused to conduct said independent investigation.
We have it on good authority that BoG chair Reid Morden has instructed BoG members to essentially ignore their feduciary and oversight responsibilities by characterising the documentation as unworthy of the attention of the board! In his email to board members on June 19, 2003 Morden outright dismisses the documentation in this manner;
The material covers a wide range of issues, but essentially is designed to involve the Board in the case of a employee (the author) seeking redress against his dismissal in March 2003. I do not believe this is a proper role for the BoG.
We believe that the documentation was sufficient in and of itself to justify an independant investigation into the allegations it contained. Further, we believe the board has knowingly acted irresponsibly by refusing to conduct said investigation, particularly in the face of the evidence contained in the June 16, 2003 report. We do not know exactly why the board has acted in this fashion, but on the surface it appears to be in an effort to assure that the allegations and documentation of management malfeasance do not surface.
The documentation must be of some importance to Trent's management and board because they have subsequently attempted to have the documentation destroyed in return for monetay payment to the author by framing an "agreement" that said, in part;
[The author], the Union and the University each agree that they will forthwith destroy all copies, whether paper, electronic or in any other form, of [the author's] June 16, 2003 document of some 41 pages and 43 tabs (the "Document") and agree that the Document, shall not be referred to or relied on in the future for any purpose whatsoever.
Trent's written offer to pay the author to destroy the documentation has been placed in a password protected area until such time as OurTrent may publish it without fear of additional threats of litigation resulting from whistleblowing.
See related articles
Filed under: Freedom of Information and Governance and Human Resources and Whistleblowing by Editor.
