Letter to BoG from Steve Furino

To:Dorothee Retterath, Chair, Board of Governors
David Perrin, President
Myroslaw Tataryn, Dean
David Seljak, President, St. Jerome's Faculty Association
Ted McGee, Faculty Representative, Board of Governors
Conrad Hewitt, Chair of College Council

It has now been relayed to me several times that my resignation from St. Jerome's University is being described as a "transfer" with career advancement as the intent. I wish to make it absolutely clear that I resigned in utter frustration with the direction St. Jerome's has taken. In particular, I believed that the actions of the President, combined with his unwillingness to work collegially and his inability to accept criticism, would cause lasting damage to the university. My move to the University of Waterloo involved a loss of rank (Associate Professor to Lecturer) and a loss of sabbatical (due to begin Jan. 1, 2009). However, I considered the actions of the President to be so grave, that I had no choice but to resign my position.

When I handed in my resignation, the Dean asked if I had anything to say. I stated that "my position had been made clear in writing" referring to the various related documents and emails that had been circulated. For the sake of clarity and honesty, I would ask that my departure from St. Jerome's be described as a resignation, not as a transfer or career advancement.

Steven Furino
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
Faculty of Mathematics
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON, Canada