The government was urged yesterday to launch a full-scale inquiry into the crisis-torn College of the Bahamas – and seek the resignation of its council chairman, businessman Franklyn Wilson.
The call came from senior academic Felix Bethel, who said it was time to declare “enough is enough” and rebuild the college from the foundations up.
“Government and parliament must examine what is going on in this institution,” he told The Tribune. “We have to open it up to public scrutiny.”
He also said COB should put all ambitions of becoming a university “on the backburner” and concentrate on team-building for the foreseeable future.
“We have a diaspora of highly-qualified Bahamians who don’t want to come home,” he said, “Something has told them that this (COB) is not the place to be at this time. There is a tremendous amount of repair work to be done.”
Mr Bethel’s comments came as COB was again locked in crisis, this time over the council’s attempt to promote Canadian Janyne Hodder as a candidate for the presidency.
Yesterday, students went on strike and staged a protest march to parliament in a bid to block the move and insist on a proper recruitment procedure.
The rumpus follows months of rumbling discontent since the resignation of self-confessed plagiarist Dr Rodney Smith as president last summer.
When Ms Hodder – a viceprincipal at Canada’s prestigious McGill University – was introduced as a presidential candidate this week, faculty walked out of the college auditorium in protest, creating embarrassing scenes.
Mr Bethel, a controversial figure on the COB campus who was the only person to call publicly for Dr Smith’s resignation last year, said yesterday that the college could not continue in this way.
“Mr Wilson has been caught out again. He just can’t help himself,” he said. “It was very embarrassed for Janyne. I think Mr Wilson was pumping her up a bit too much.”
He said Mr Wilson, despite his qualities, had brought a business ethos to COB which was inappropriate and needed to resign.
The push for university status, he said, was causing a lot of problems. It needed to be set aside while government conducted a full inquiry into COB, going all the way back to the appointment of Dr Leon Higgs as president in 1998.
Mr Bethel said the latest crisis was “the last straw” and “reveals the hollowness at the core of COB.”
Mr Bethel denied that the Hodder fiasco had arisen, “We feel as if we don’t have support. The council doesn’t want to listen to us – they are against us.
“As a result, we are speaking out against it. We want our voices to be heard and this is the way it has to be done,” he said.
Quinton Lightbourne, COBUS president, apologised for his statement at a meeting last Thursday in which he referred to the Union of ‘tertiary Educators of the Bahamas (UTEB) as “unprofessional”.
After “in depth investigations”, he said he found that students agreed with UTEB in that both parties wanted their voices to be heard.
“Now we must make this right to show that our message is clear,” he said. “We have to make a stand as youth leaders. We must act now for the betterment of our College of the Bahamas.
“Sir Lynden Oscar Pinding once said that demonstrations are necessary for changes. We are expecting that changes happen for the betterment of the college and indeed our nation.” he said.
Keenan Johnson, a second-year student, said he fully supported the actions of COBUS.
“The students and the teachers should have known about the third presidential candidate, then she would have had a warmer welcome. Do things in the right way and then you will have a better outcome,” he said.
Shaundra Curtis, a COBUS member and senator for the school of technology, said she felt it was unequal treatment on behalf of both the board and Ms Hodder.
“It was unfair for her to be brought into the running for presidency without the knowledge of the faculty and student body,” she said.
“If we had not been deceived, we would have been more supportive of the whole thing.”
President of the Union of Tertiary Education of the Bahamas, Jennifer Isaacs=Dotson, said she fully supported the students’ demonstration.
“I am proud that the three major stakeholders – the students, the staff and the faculty – have all combined together for one common effort,” she said.
“I see true togetherness. I am proud that we are all able to stand together for one common cause which is that there must be a process and procedure when selecting a president.
“It must be’ open for all to see so that there, can be no question about the selection.”
The students marched around the college grounds before parading in their cars up Nassau Street, on to Meeting Street, down Blue Hill Road and finally into Rawson Square, Bay Street.
At Rawson Square students waved banners bearing messages like “We need answers” and “Tell The Truth”.
Minister of Education Alfred Sears responded to the students in Rawson Square saying that after reading the newspaper that morning, he spoke to the COBUS president out of concern.
He further explained that, after ﾠtheir talk, he asked the permanent secretary to call the chairman of ﾠCOB, Franklyn Wilson, so that he could have an idea of how the situation had “deteriorated”.
“I want to see how we can move forward he said.
In response to Mr Sears’ remarks, the students suggested there be a change in the college council.
“The same way they had a shuffle in the cabinet, they need to have a shuffle in the council,” shouted a student.
Students told the minister that they are willing to co-operate and reminded him that they are the leaders of tomorrow.
They thanked the minister for listening to them and assured him they will await the outcome.
From Rawson Square, the students paraded to Arawak Homes, the private business premises of college chairman Franklyn Wilson, where they stood in front of the establishment shouting for Mr Wilson to come outside.
However, Mr Wilson was not in the building.
“This day has been a complete success,” said Mr Lightbourne. “Our goal was achieved, as we showed that students have a voice and, if we are not taken seriously, we will express ourselves and make sure that our voices are heard.
“Even though he isn’t here, we know that our presence was felt,” said the COBUS president.”
Mr Lightbourne said the next step is to send a letter to Mr Wilson addressing student concerns and telling him how students feel the procedures should be in cases, similar to the election of the pres~ ident.
Mr Wilson was not available for comment up to press time.
Source: The Tribune
