Been fired from more jobs than anyone I know, this is the first time on Twitter.
Haven’t heard yet if it’s because I’ve been a Zionist, an anti-semite, or a transphobe.
Nearly two months later, Ekman says he’s never been told what got him abruptly removed from the unpaid position at the Prince George university.
But he maintains that it shouldn’t have been accusations of racism.
“What made the statement that the minister made so difficult was that she called me a racist and did so in writing, without quantifying that in any regard,” Ekman said in a recent interview. “If you throw this stuff around, especially in cases where no reasonable person would see that it fits, it really loses its power.”
Two weeks later, university president Daniel Weeks, who joined UNBC in July 2014, announced he would take an immediate and indefinite medical leave. His announcement came one week after faculty introduced a non-confidence motion against him.
The following month, Weeks officially resigned as president. Days later, UNBC faculty passed the non-confidence vote against its former president.
Payne, the university’s vice-president of research, was appointed interim president. Since then, he has met every other week with the faculty association’s president and vice-president, in addition to meeting regularly with campus unions.
He said he puts relationships at the top of the four pillars he sees as the university’s foundation, followed by vision, reputation and financial sustainability.