Oops: Burke backtracks on MUN accountability statement

A move by the Newfoundland and Labrador government to smooth over the controversy surrounding the search for Memorial University's next president backfired Tuesday, when it admitted the news release intended to smooth things over had been issued in error.

The government issued a release from both Education Minister Joan Burke and MUN's acting president, Eddy Campbell, saying that both supported principles of academic freedom and autonomy for the university.

The statement also said that Campbell agreed that the "university continues to expect to be held accountable to the provincial government" through the Board of Regents.

But within two hours of the release being issued, the government said it had been sent in error, as the university had not actually signed off on it.

The two sides have been at odds since Burke revealed in July that she personally vetoed two of the candidates for president. The disclosure sparked an uproar at the university, and brought criticism from national academic groups.

In a lingering dispute, the university's Board of Regents later revealed that Campbell — who withdrew his candidacy for the full-time appointment in early August — had been the search committee's preferred candidate, and one of the people that Burke had rejected.

The board's statement also differed from accounts provided by Burke and Premier Danny Williams. Academics argued that the government only had the right to approve or not approve the final selection process, and had violated the act governing the institution by interfering in the vetting process.

The first statement issued Tuesday quoted Campbell as saying that the government has a role in the governance of the university in its selection of 17 of the 30 members of the university's Board of Regents and "the several approval processes set out in the Memorial University Act."

A second statement said the first was issued in error.

"Also, the minister of education confirms that the statement attributed to her on university autonomy was her position as the minister of education and not attributable to the acting president of Memorial," the second statement said.

The issue of governance is controversial. In a statement issued last month, the Board of Regents said it would like the Newfoundland and Labrador legislature to revise the Memorial University Act so that the government has no role in the presidential selection process at all.