MPP questions if UWindsor board of governors is 'handicap from doing its job'

Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie says the University of Windsor Board of Governors contravened provincial legislation when it did not allow a member's motion to be debated at the board level.

That motion, put forward by provincial appointee Daniel Ableser, sought to pause and re-evaluate the agreements that led to the end of a two month pro-Palestinian encampment on campus.

Those agreements were made between University of Windsor administration and members of the Liberation Zone as well as the University of Windsor Students' Alliance (UWSA).

A short statement by the university said that "a legal review has determined that the subject matter of the motion is outside the Board of Governors' authority, and therefore, the motion will not be brought forward to the Board."

The board meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

But Dowie said the legislation is "pretty clear cut" that they do have the authority to allow this motion to be discussed, and they should.

"If the board is handicap from doing its job, this is something of concern to me," said Dowie. "They are there to provide good governance."

"[The motion] should reach the floor and be voted and be voted on democratically. If the board does not wish to support the motion, so be it," Dowie added.

Dowie wants board chair Helga Reidel to reconsider her decision.

The Progressive Conservative MPP said he received nearly 15,000 emails about university's agreements and the board of governors' decision — the strongest reaction he's received on any one issue as a provincial politician.

He also questions why the university has not released that legal opinion its relying on to make that decision "from a transparency perspective."

Click here to read the entire University of Windsor Act.

However, the UWSA applauds the boards decision to not entertain Ableser's motion.

"We fully anticipate there will be opposition and that opposition will be coming from loud voices that we just hope don't undermine the collective student voice," said UWSA president Ghallia Hashem. "That's what's important to us. We are here to represent the student voices."

Hashem said more than three hours was spent during the UWSA's most recent annual general meeting discussing the agreement made with the university. She said members of the Jewish Student Association were present and provided their opinions during that discussion.

Click here to read the full agreements between the University of Windsor and the UWSA as well as the Liberation Zone.

During that meeting, Hashem said the majority of students in the room voted in favour of the agreements and she's respecting the democratic process.

Meanwhile, Ableser has obtained his own legal opinion from Melvyn Solmon, a Toronto-area lawyer with nearly 50 years experience.

CBC News has obtained a copy of that document that shows the board should allow Ableser's motion to be debated.

Solmon's opinion concludes that "to prevent any discussion of the issues before the Board is unfair, unreasonable, unjustified."

Ableser said it helps support his position and hopes his motion will be permitted to be discussed among all 30 board members.

On Tuesday evening, Ableser told CBC Windsor he challenged the chair's decision not to allow his motion. The board went in camera for discussion, and the chair's decision was upheld, he said. 

'Position of the Board remains unchanged'

However, the university board of governors appears to be firm in its decision.

"The legal opinion will not be shared publicly, and the position of the Board remains unchanged," a University spokesperson told CBC News in an email on Tuesday morning.

Even though Dowie said the board of governors made an error in how they interpreted the University of Windsor Act, he said it's not "suitable" for his government to intervene.

Instead, he's urging members of the public to speak up.

"When a legitimate democratic debate on an issue that's of some public concern that's brought forward and shut down ... it certainly negates that reputation that the university had established of being a place of openess and transparency," said Dowie.