Faculty calls president's pension 'obscene'

The outgoing University of Calgary's president's $4.5-million pension is "obscene," says the faculty association in an open letter to the board of governors.

Harvey Weingarten's controversial pension package, recently reviewed by Alberta Auditor General Fred Dunn, was the subject of a letter Wednesday from association president Anne Stalker.

The faculty association is calling for an independent and public forensic audit of the university's finances, as well as a change to the university's budget committee membership, which the faculty association says is secretive and dominated by the administration.

In an interview with CBC News, Stalker said the faculty is looking for leadership from the board of governors.

"They need to recognize that the university is in a very bad state. Contracts are not being renewed, people are being walked off the campus. There is not enough money for pens and papers in some faculties," she said.

The chairman of the board of governors,Jack Perraton, declined an interview request, but acknowledged receiving Stalker's letter in a written statement.

It did not directly address the faculty association's recommendations.

"As always, the University of Calgary board of governors remains committed to engaging in constructive, open and transparent discussion with the faculty association and all employee groups at the university," Perraton wrote.

Campus staff losing their jobs

In the summer, Weingarten warned that as many as 200 jobs would be cut in an attempt to reduce an estimated $14-million budget shortfall.

In her openletter, Stalker writes that the compensation to Weingarten is "obscene" at a time when support and management staff are being laid off.

"Long-serving members of staff are being escorted off campus and their benefits cut off immediately. The inconsistency in the treatment of these people, many of whom have given service far longer than the president and who have shown far more loyalty to the institution, compared with the treatment of the president is appalling."

Academic staff contracts haven't been renewed and academic vacancies aren't being filled, she writes.

"The quality of education will begin to suffer as those in the classroom are stretched thinner both to provide more teaching to more students, while covering the services previous provided by the fired support staff."

'Handshake deal'

According to the auditor Dunn, Weingarten's pension was part of a "handshake deal" with a former board of governor's chair in 2001. It didn't end up in a signed contract until 2008. Prior to moving to Calgary, Weingarten was a vice-president at McMaster University.

The university's financial services department didn't even know about the multimillion-dollar pension package until Weingarten, who is in his early 50s, announced his retirement in February.

Stalker disputes Dunn's conclusion that Weingarten's pension amount wasn't inappropriate. In the letter, Stalker writes that a president's compensation should reflect the fact that he works in a public institution.

"The University of Calgary was paying to increase the president's pension from McMaster to an amount that reflected his salary as president at the University of Calgary. This has nothing to do with 'pension' and everything to do with additional under-the-counter benefits dressed up to look like 'pension,' " she wrote.