The University of Alberta's embattled dean of medicine has resigned from his position as department head, one week after giving a convocation speech students said too closely mirrored that of a fellow academic.
Dr. Philip Baker is not leaving the institution. He will stay on as a professor, after a four-month leave of absence.
The university provost, Carl Amrhein, met with Dr. Baker Thursday afternoon and recommended he resign, president Indira Samarasekera said. Dr. Baker agreed, submitting his notice Friday.
"Recognizing it was in the best interest of all parties involved, Dr. Baker resigned as dean," she said, calling it a "very serious step." The resignation was prompted more by an outcry that made his position untenable than the speech itself. An investigation into whether he plagiarized is still ongoing, and Dr. Samarasekera didn't deny that it could lead to further job action against Dr. Baker.
"I think with anything like this, one lets the process unfold," she said when asked if Dr. Baker could lose his tenure.
Dr. Baker gave the speech to graduating students last Friday. It appeared to borrow large passages and phrases from Atul Gawande, an American surgeon and journalist. Dr. Gawande first gave the speech to Stanford students last year, and its text is posted online. Dr. Baker didn't credit the American, students said.
Dr. Baker apologized two days later, saying he was inspired by Dr. Gawande and suffered a "lapse in judgment" in not properly crediting him.
Dr. Samarasekera said the university spent the week consulting its lawyers and Dr. Baker's legal team, and called the resolution beneficial for both sides. It moved quickly for such a large institution, she said.
One university staffer said it unfolded at "warp speed."
"We're always concerned about the reputation of the University of Alberta. Any event like this has an effect on the reputation," Dr. Samarasekera said. "But let me assure you that what I think I'm most pleased about is the reputation of the university is determined largely by how it handles crisis. We are a big and complex institution and I'm very proud of the way this has been managed – quickly, fairly, expeditiously."
She declined to comment on whether she thought he plagiarized the speech; she said in her own experience, academics typically are more stringent on sourcing material when writing a peer-reviewed academic article, as compared to a speech.
"Yes, absolutely, a peer-reviewed journal publication is a very different thing from a speech in terms of the standards used to produce it," she said. "That's all I can say at this point."
The school has received "hundreds and hundreds" of comments on the case, she added. Many demanded the university condemn the speech in the interest of academic integrity.
"People have been waiting to see how we deal with this," said Mr. Amrhein, the provost, echoing the president's belief that crisis management is as important to a university's reputation as the crisis itself. The ordeal forced Mr. Amrhein to fly back from Germany several days earlier than first planned to meet with Dr. Baker.
"I don't think there will be a long-term impact [on its reputation and staff recruitment]" the provost said.
Dr. Baker, an obstetrician recruited from Britain, joined the university in 2009. He hasn't responded to interview requests this week and the university hasn't made him available.
In a written statement released by the school, he said he didn't intend to distract from the achievements of his graduating class.
"My hope is that the university and the faculty will be able to put this unfortunate incident behind them, and that this will bring closure for the university, the Faculty and my family," he said in the statement.
The medical school's vice-dean, Verna Yiu, will step in as interim dean. An international search will now begin for a new dean, and is estimated to take up to a year.