One week after giving a convocation speech that he admitted was borrowed largely from another academic without credit, the University of Alberta dean of medicine has stepped down.
University president Indira Samarasekera announced the move Friday morning, shortly after meeting with the university's board of governors. The former dean, obstetrician Philip Baker, will remain as a professor with the institution. Dr. Samarasekera spoke to The Globe and Mail Friday afternoon, saying the university's reputation remains intact and offering a defence of Dr. Baker's credentials.
How might this affect the institution's reputation?
I think the incident was the way it was described - it was a lapse in judgment, as he described it in his own words in his letter. We accepted it as such. These kinds of incidents are not good for one's reputation. On the other hand, because it was short-lived, we dealt with it within in a week, actually I think - to the extent anything good can come from an unfortunate incident - this will enhance our reputation for a number of reasons. ... I'm very proud of the fact we were able to do it in a week, that Dr. Baker agreed to step down, that we respected his rights to remain as a professor, because that's part of our contractual agreement with him. And I think that the public needs to understand ... that in order to terminate a professor, a very significant process is required. Given the timing, we respected the fact the issue was around his performance as a dean, and that's the moral authority question. I think that in terms of reputation, I think that we've done everything in the most appropriate way. And so the public and other institutions and individuals who look at us should take comfort in it. We didn't act arbitrarily. We didn't react, we didn't act arbitrarily, we weren't draconian in our reaction or response. We acted in a carefully considered, measured ways that I think was, as was pointed out, in the best interest of all parties. I'm hoping that will reflect well on the institution.
The speech was Friday evening. When did you find out, and why wait for an announcement?
I found out Sunday morning. I was stunned. I didn't have any evidence to make my own judgment, so I had to reserve judgment. I respected the fact Dr. Baker himself brought it to our attention. I respected the fact he was willing to write an apology, which he did in a few hours. Then I had to move on to the issue of what should be an appropriate response from an institutional standpoint. The media commentary from everywhere was quite intense, and yet I decided that we'd take the time to look at all the options, and consider what steps to take. That's why it took us two to three days, of intense discussion with a variety of people in the institution, including our very fine legal counsel, our external legal counsel and Dr. Baker's legal counsel. And then we had to involve the provost, and he was in Germany so I had to get him back.
An investigation is ongoing, so this is isn't over?
Universities preserve their integrity by respecting their own processes. Our processes are very clear. I, as president, have to ensure those processes continue. I think they have to continue now in a different realm.
Is there a cost to this, such as severance?
No, nothing. There is no cost at this point. In fact, he reverts to his professor salary, so in the short term there are some savings there.
What message does this send to students?
I think the message it sends to students and academics is that we take allegations of plagiarism very seriously. At the same time, we also take our responsibility to examine them very seriously. And that whether it's a student or an academic or a senior leader, we expect them as members of the academy - where our currency is about what sort of things are true; pursuit of truth is our currency. When there's any threat to that value, we take it very seriously. Therefore we expect every student, every academic and every administrator to rise to the highest standards that are out there. We believe we hold ourselves as senior administrators and academics to a higher standard than our students. Because ultimately, we should be leading by example. And so that I think is the message that's resonating loud and clear, and I think that is the message that I heard loud and clear from people who wrote to us - that we needed to react and respond to demonstrate we believed in academic integrity, even the allegation of it [not being upheld]
Aside from the complex dismissal process, why keep him on as a professor?
Dr. Baker has a very significant academic reputation, built over decades, peer-reviewed and so on. That's on the basis of which we hired him. That has not been dismantled, or disappeared. This is quite separate from his reputation as a scholar. ... That [scholarly reputation]is why we recruited him ... how he finds his ability to contribute is a whole other question. But, we would not in any way want to suggest that the academic reputation that he held is in any way [in question] You know, that reputation as a scholar is quite separate. I wanted to make that clear. It's very separate from what happened.
It seems like you left a door open to further review of his professorship. Could his tenure one day be at risk?
I think to prejudge the process would almost prejudge the outcome. We have to look carefully at the evidence. We have to look at the circumstances under which it took place. It was a speech. There was no personal gain to him from what he did. This was not like a paper that was deliberately, if you will, plagiarism was conducted for the purpose of long-term gain, reputationally. If anything, he put his reputation at risk by a lapse in judgment. So, I think we have to take that whole circumstance into account. What happened? Why did he do it? None of this really been thoroughly probed. I think we have to respect that process and hope that what we uncover would lead us to a resolution that's fair. That's all I'll say. I'm confident at the end of it, we'll put this one to bed.
This interview has been edited and condensed.