Lawyer tapped to take over Memorial presidential search
The Newfoundland and Labrador government has recruited a well-known St. John's lawyer to head the board of regents at Memorial University and take over a controversial search for its next president.
Bob Simmonds, a criminal defence lawyer, was also the law partner of Finance Minister Jerome Kennedy, who was elected to the legislature last fall. Simmonds worked on Kennedy's campaign.
"His dedication to and enthusiasm for this great institution will provide invaluable leadership as we continue to work with Memorial University, which plays such a vital role in the social and economic life of our province," Education Minister Joan Burke said in a statement.
Ross Klein, the president of Memorial University's Faculty Association, said he hopes the appointment of Simmonds will mean a fresh start for the presidential search process, which has strained relations between the government and the university community.
Memorial's search for a new president attracted national headlines — and accusations of political interference — this summer when Burke said she had personally rejected the two finalists in the presidential search.
The revelation made Burke a target of academic groups, and a laughingstock for pundits, particularly after the government provided different explanations for the sequence of events that led to the search process being derailed.
Government approval is needed after the board of regents' search committee selects a final candidate, but the involvement has usually been seen as symbolic.
Burke has said no one should expect her to rubberstamp any decision.
The university's search process all but shut down this summer, with the board of regents calling on the government to revise legislation governing the institution so that government ministers will have no role whatsoever in future searches.
Burke met finalists for the previous search last winter, with a list of questions on issues like the governance of Memorial's Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook. The government is insisting that Grenfell become an independent university, albeit with a common board of regents. The university has rejected the plan as unwieldy.
Burke met with the candidates in the stead of Premier Danny Williams, who said outgoing board of regents chair Gil Dalton asked him to make a sales pitch to prospective candidates. That sales pitch somehow turned into an informal job interview. The questions were obtained by the Opposition Liberals, through provincial Access to Information legislation.
In addition to naming Simmonds to the board, Burke also announced new members of the board, including Sheila Ashton, the widow of former Grenfell College principal John Ashton, who died of cancer earlier this year. Also named were St. John's Board of Trade president Donna Stone, businessman Jerry Byrne, and Gilbert Bennett, a vice-president of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.