Dear OCADFA members,

On Sunday June 28^th, the NSCAD Board of Governors announced they fired the University’s President, Dr. Aoife Mac Namara after one year in office.  The Faculty Union of Nova Scotia College of Art & Design (FUNSCAD) was not consulted about this and are outraged at the lack of process, collegiality and consultation.  Mac Namara was in the midst of implementing sweeping changes to address systemic racism.  Mac Namara’s abrupt dismissal, presented by the board as a ‘personnel’ issue, is more akin to managerial styles found in corporate boardrooms than in academic institutions.  The process must be protested and the Board of Governors held to account.  Universities are not corporations. We can’t allow campuses to be run like them.

The Friends of NSCAD, an ad hoc group of faculty, staff students, alumni and concerned citizens have initiated a petition: ‘Fire the NSCAD Board of Governors & Reinstate President Dr. Aoife Mac Namara’.

OCADFA will be issuing a formal statement in the coming days. For now, we ask you to consider signing the petition.

In solidarity,

Min Sook