What's in a name?

Controversy arises once again over the naming process of academic units

VERONICA CARR STAFF

What’s in a name? This is an important question, especially after the Jan. 30 Board of Governors meeting at the University of Manitoba. The board passed a new policy that will regulate the naming of academic units at the university, specifically when they are being named after certain individuals.

According to the policy, any person may be honoured by having an academic unit named after them under the circumstances that they have or are benefiting the university by contributions that include funding,teaching, research, scholarships, services or creative work.

The policy also includes the fact that an academic unit shall not be named after a commercial entity and that the Board of Governors has the ultimate authority on the approval and the termination of the named academic unit.

Rachel Gotthilf, UMSU vicepresident (external) and member of the Board of Governors had expressed a concern at the meeting that a lot of students felt out of the process of the naming of certain buildings at the U of M. She brought up the 2005 renaming of the Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources.

In February 2005, the U of M named the faculty in honour of Riddell, a U of M graduate, entrepreneur, and exploration geologist, after he donated $10-million.

Because Riddell earned his money in the oil industry, some students were skeptical about the choice the administration. Further concerns that the decision was made behind closed doors led to formation of a protest group called UMWatch.

“A lot of students really felt left out of the process when the decision was made to change the name of the faculty and I would hope that the committee would be open to hold a public meeting of some kind to have students, faculty and staff of that unit discuss the proposed name because it may be a sensitive issue or [spark] some disagreement,” said Gotthilf.

It was explained that in order to respect the individuals that are being considered for such an honour, like the use of their name for a building or faculty, the meetings are held in closed session. However, it was added that despite being closed session, students aren’t left out of the process because they have student representatives on the board.

Emöke Szathmáry, president and vice-chancellor of the U of M, also added her comments on the issue. “There may be some individuals who may be ideologically motivated who find exception to the honor we wanted to bestow, but there is nothing in the record of Clayton H. Riddell that would suggest that he personally or his company carried out unethical practices, but when there are objections of this kind raised you can automatically sully a person’s character.”

Formal policy reviews will be conducted every 10 years. The next scheduled review date for this policy is January 30, 2017.

There was no previous policy or procedure for naming (or renaming) academic units.