Dear Editor,
Senior Lecturer Bernard’s letter in yesterday’s SN `I will not be silent if there is a continued public campaign elevating the interests of Prof. Griffith over that of the university’ is scary. Honestly, I hope what he wrote does represent what is wrong with the University of Guyana (UG). If it is not, Mr. Bernard has done a disservice to academia, my alumni. He will not say what is wrong with Vice Chancellor Professor Ivelaw Griffith’s leadership but specifically directs the public where in the social media sphere…hint, hint ‘dirt’ can be found on the Professor.
Then he says the Vice Chancellor (VC) was in “possession of information from the Council that he ought not to have,” but isn’t the VC a member of the Council? When I was on campus the VC was a Member of the Council. I double-checked before writing and was told the VC sits on the Council, that has not changed.
Mr. Bernard sounds perturbed by Mr. Pat Dial’s lobbying for the VC to return. Lobbying for positions is a norm in academia and anywhere where people need the votes or support of others. In the VC’s case it is not abnormal. This is organisational culture. I think with Prof Griffith having spent so many years in the United States he will replicate the practice he knows.
A VC’s job is not the regular public servant job. You have to vie for it. I was advised by a credible source, Mr. Bernard’s choice for VC was Prof Rory Fraser not Prof Griffith. Since Mr. Bernard made no secret about it, in the corporate world it would be called lobbying.
Support for VC Griffith in social media is not abnormal. Mr. Bernard shouldn’t be surprised or offended. This is the Infor-mation Age, for heaven’s sake. Social media is the new hangout spot; the medium to vent, to influence things and to make things happen. Its value has not eluded businesses, organisations, politicians, government etc.
As my departed grandmother used to say, “even the devil has friends.” This is not to say Prof Griffith is a devil but to make the point of the inconsequential reference by Mr. Bernard. It is weird Mr. Bernard seems disquieted by the support Prof Griffith is getting in his ‘social media circle’ but at the same time he wants us to utilise the same social media to feast on ‘dirt’ about Prof Griffith. Are we serious? Is this the new level of academia, the quality now attracted and retained at U.G.?
I have no dog in this fight. The bone (UG) the dogs are fighting over played a great role in making me who I am. The more I read from these lecturers the more I’m concerned about my alma mater. I wonder if they are ready for prime time, a 21st century society or university.
Somehow I get the eerie feeling Mr. Bernard is hinting about impropriety and or illegality (borrowing the phrases from Dr. Melissa Ifill and Dr. Jewel Thomas’ letter) relating to the VC’s term. I am not going to pay attention to his inelegant tactic but would like to have the audits done. The unions should still push for this. Sometimes I get the impression they don’t know what type of audit they want and don’t understand what the audits can entail. It is neither here nor there for me. What I am interested in is proof.
The lecturers have a theory. Let the evidence support or debunk the theory. The same lecturers taught me to wait for the findings before pronouncing. This past student is a little skeptical those who taught me are practising what they taught. Don’t know if they still teach it. I promise myself to remain open-minded as evidence and events unfold in the quest for a factual account about what is happening at UG.
On a leap of faith, I think there is widespread agreement with Mr. Bernard that “If there is genuine care for the UG and the nation of Guyana, then we must do what will benefit them.” I thank Mr. Pat Dial for his Sunday’s article on Professor Griffith’s term in office and what he was able to achieve. I read Dr. Thomas’s and Dr. Ifill’s letter and Mr. Lincoln Lewis’ response. All are helping to answer some pertinent questions. Keep it flowing guys, some alumni have their own ‘social media’ hang at weekends and ever so often at these hangs UG is high on the agenda.
Yours faithfully,
Dennis Paul
