The first University of Guelph senate meeting of 2023 will be missing a familiar face as associate professor Daniel Gillis has resigned as a senator.
An associate professor and statistician in the School of Computer Science at the U of G, Gillis served on the senate, chaired the senate honours and awards committee and was a member of the senate planning and priorities committee.
“Resigning from senate was not an easy decision, and one that I spent months agonizing over. Prior to the last year, senate was something I quite enjoyed. I served on numerous senate subcommittees, including in the role of vice-chair or chair. Regardless, it became necessary for me to walk away to protect myself,” said Gillis in a Feb. 1 blog post titled The Importance of Safety.
Following a senate meeting in the autumn during which Gillis presented findings, he believes his integrity was thrown into question when another senator questioned the “alleged” data he presented.
His presentation questioned the school's return to campus plan and included research Gillis had done that contradicted the message the school was sending about what students wanted.
Gillis said the questions from the other senator at that meeting were not to enhance scientific understanding, rather seemed to come from a place questioning his credibility.
"Shortly after this, another senator – in fact, the chair of a senate subcommittee – credentialed both me and my colleague, Dr. Shoshanah Jacobs – again, in full view of senate – questioning our expertise in pedagogy. Just to be clear, both Dr. Jacobs and I have received numerous awards for our teaching and pedagogical innovations – including being identified as outstanding university instructors by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations," reads the blog post by Gillis.
"This was an unprofessional question and comment intended to undermine the findings I presented.
“The goal of the senate is to put forward the academic goals of the university, but if we are not listening to voices and we are stifling voices in the way they were then we're not actually achieving what senate is supposed to be doing,” said Gillis in a phone interview. “I got to the point where I do not believe that my voice, and I represent faculty, students and staff from the college of engineering and physical sciences, I don't believe my voice was being heard and the behaviour that was allowed to occur just showed me that it didn't matter.”
Gillis said the senate is supposed to be inclusive and welcoming of ideas to enhance the university where disagreements on topics can happen.
Other senate members have also expressed their concerns with the way the U of G has handled the return to campus.
https://twitter.com/TRyanGregory/status/1428875514731708416
“The way I saw it, was that my difference in voice, my challenges, my questioning of what the administration was saying, it didn't fit with their narrative so things were allowed to happen at the senate in an un-collegiate manner and I don't see any point to continue at this point in time to a system that pretends it is listening - at least that’s how I feel it is - it’s pretending to listen,” said Gillis.
According to the U of G senate website, as of Jan. 24, there were 13 vacant positions on the senate.
A statement provided by the U of G communications department on the matter said: "the university appreciates Dan Gillis' service and contributions to senate. We also respect and value his expertise as a professor and researcher and view him as valuable member of our community. There are rules of conduct for senate meetings to ensure an inclusive and collegial environment where members can have truthful and respectful discussions and the university is committed to upholding those rules."
