Petition for Dalhousie President’s resignation gains over 1,000 signatures

Over 1,000 people signed a petition calling for Dalhousie University President Kim Brooks to resign following the university’s lockout of its faculty. 

Emily Sklar, an oceanography graduate student at Dalhousie, created the petition on Sept. 11 because she was angry about university administration’s handling of the faculty lockout.

“I was just so mad at the disrespect towards the faculty,” says Sklar. “The university owes its reputation for academic excellence and research to the faculty, and they’re not recognizing that.

“At a certain point, you realize you should just be the one trying to do something about it instead of waiting for someone else.”

Dalhousie’s board of governors locked out nearly 1,000 members of its faculty on Aug. 20 after failing to reach a new collective agreement. 

Most fall classes, scheduled to begin on Sept. 2, were suspended for the duration of the lockout. Classes impacted by the disruption resumed on Sept. 23 after the university’s board and faculty reached an agreement on Sept. 17.

Despite reaching an agreement, Brooks and the university administration continue to face backlash in the labour disruption’s aftermath. 

Sklar says the petition expresses faculty and students’ growing frustration. Outrage compounded after the university announced it would not be reducing tuition costs, despite students losing three weeks of class. 

“[Kim Brooks] has done a terrible job representing the university,” says Sklar. “I really don’t think that she is the right person for the job.”

The Dalhousie Gazette’s multiple requests for comment from the university went unanswered prior to publication.

Some signatories left comments on the online petition. 

“Bullying tactics are not effective leadership, and you’ve done irreparable damage to the school’s reputation. It’s time to step down, Dr. Brooks,” one Dal alum wrote.

Other comments referred to Brooks as “insufferable.” One stated, “It’s time to lock Kim Brooks out.”

Not all students supported the petition’s call to action. First-year engineering student Yostena Tedla chose not to sign it. 

“I feel like she’s a woman with power,” Tedla says. “She can dodge the bullets that are coming her way. That whole situation was horrible, especially for students and professors. If she has the ability to acknowledge her wrongs and change her ways, then I think we should give her the chance to prove herself.”

Qi Li, a first-year medical sciences student, criticized the university’s decision to use students as a “pressure factor” by initiating the lockout at the end of August.

He understands the calls for resignation, but doesn’t know how much of a change it would make at the university.

“If you bring in someone new, and it turns out that the new person’s like she is, that’s not much better,” he says.

Sklar’s petition continues to gain signatures while drawing attention to the lingering impacts of the dispute.

She says that while Brooks is not solely responsible for the lockout, emails to students about labour negotiations — described by Sklar as “disingenuous and dishonest” — were signed by her. 

“Because this was such a huge mess, someone’s head has to roll,” she says. “Because [Brooks] chose to be the face of it, it should be hers.”