UBC Athletics cancelled the appearance of an influential but controversial speaker at February's annual Millennium Scholarship Breakfast, but the university president stepped in yesterday to apologize for the decision.
Santa Ono, the school's president since June, issued an apology to former 麻豆传媒映画2010 CEO John Furlong on Jan. 3, stating, "UBC made this decision in good faith, but without proper consideration of its potential impact on Mr. Furlong or his family. While this decision was made without my knowledge or that of the UBC Board of Governors, I deeply regret this error and have apologized to Mr. Furlong on behalf of UBC."
UBC Athletics removed Furlong from a scheduled appearance alongside Ono, who said he had no knowledge of the change that came a few days before Christmas.聽
鈥淲hile some take issue with Mr. Furlong, he also has a great number of supporters in the community,鈥� wrote Ono. 鈥淲hile a modern university should neither court nor shy from controversy, our decision-making should be the result of a robust deliberative process. In this case, we have no one to blame but ourselves and I will be working with the leadership team on ways to ensure we do better in the future.鈥�
That decision to remove Furlong came as a response to an open letter from聽Glynnis Kirchmeier, who on Dec. 19 argued Furlong's participation was at odds with the university's commitment to reconciliation and upholding the rights of indigenous and First Nations people.
, Kirchmeier, an alumna who has criticised the university's stance and decisions on campus assault and sexualized violence, cites sworn affidavits from Furlong's former students. She asks, "Why does UBC apparently believe the narrative of one man over the narrative of dozens others? [...] Is it because UBC has decided his accusers do not matter?"
In March 2016, Kirchmeier filed a human rights complaint over the way UBC handled reports of sexual assault.
Furlong was the subject of a 2012聽Georgia Straight聽investigation that revealed inconsistencies in his autobiography and also voiced the accusations of First Nations students who remembered him as a physically and verbally abusive teacher at a northern B.C. day school dating back to 1969. Furlong sued the newspaper and then the journalist, who in turn sued Furlong for defamation and lost. Furlong dropped his lawsuit before testimony was heard.
Furlong said the cancelled appearance at the annual athletics fundraiser caused "deep hurt and embarrassment" and he accepted the apology in a written news release. He will not be reinstated as speaker.
"I trust that UBC will commit my full speaking fee to jump start the funding efforts as I had intended to do. I wish the event every success and trust that this most disheartening, humiliating experience can be a tipping point for improvement and that there can be some lasting good achieved," Furlong wrote.
Read Ono's full statement聽.
The Millennium Scholarship Breakfast raises money for UBC Thuderbird student-athletes and will be held Feb. 28 at the Convention Centre.
