Peter Scott, the president of Athabasca University who openly defied the province’s directive to abandon the institution’s move to virtual operations, was fired by the school’s governing board on Wednesday.
The board named Alex Clark, dean of the university’s faculty of health sciences, as his successor.
Alex Clark was named the new president of Athabasca University on Wednesday. (Athabaska University)
Byron Nelson, chairman of the board, cited privacy concerns in declining to say why Scott was fired.
“Everything that happens on the board is confidential, but the university itself, the university’s board of governors is just looking forward to moving forward with an evolving vision,” Nelson said in an interview with CBC News.
“Dr. Scott has fulfilled his part in the puzzle and we are moving forward with Dr. Clark just to continue to grow the university”
Nelson said the university has not conducted a new search for Scott’s successor. Clark, then working at the University of Alberta, was a prospective candidate in the hiring process, in which Scott became the successful choice. Clark subsequently interviewed and was appointed dean of faculty months later.
Clark currently lives in Edmonton but will be moving to Athabasca. Nelson said the requirement to live in the city is written into Clark’s contract.
A public fight
Scott became president on January 4, 2022. Soon after arriving in Alberta from his previous job in Australia, he found himself at the center of a controversy over the direction of the university.
A local grassroots organization is lobbying the Alberta government, concerned about the impact a near-virtual plan would have on the city’s economy.
The government got involved last spring. Former premier Jason Kenney assured residents at City Hall that the university’s operations would remain in Athabasca. The university’s executive team has been ordered to come up with a plan that will increase the number of staff living in the city.
What followed was a protracted and sometimes public battle between Scott and Higher Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides.
Nicolaides fired board chairwoman Nancy Laird and appointed Nelson, a former Progressive Conservative leadership candidate, to fill her place. It revoked the appointment of four board members, replacing them with seven new appointments. He said the university’s refusal to submit a plan could put its operating funding at risk.
Scott released a defiant video in August, saying the university’s cancellation of the virtual plan would set him back forty years. Nicolaides said failure to submit a plan would put the university’s monthly operating funding at risk.
After months of negotiations, Nicolaides and the board finally signed a new investment management agreement in early December.
The agreement states that the university must hire 25 local employees and have half of the university’s executive team live in Athabasca within three years.
Scott’s dismissal from the board comes nearly three weeks after his wife died of cancer. She was just diagnosed in early December.
“It’s terrible,” Nelson said. “We gave him some time to deal with it before today.”
“Unfortunately, the business of the world, including the business of Athabasca University, goes on,” he said.
“It was a step we had to take. I will continue to treat Dr. Scott with all the respect he deserves, and he truly deserves respect at this time.”
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