Students don’t tend to care a whole lot when university presidents retire or move on. But they got angry when the NSCAD Board of Governors (BOG) abruptly fired president Dr. Aoife Mac Namara, widely considered the first NSCAD president to take the occurrence of systemic racism at the school seriously.
There’s a double standard in Nova Scotia society, one that allows a man found guilty of domestic abuse to resume his job as Liberal spokesperson, yet that punishes one bad tweet with the loss of what must have been a major source of income for a female freelance journalist.
PSA: Friends of NSCAD is hosting a rally to #FireTheNSCADBoard and #ReinstateAoife! This action will be held in protest of NSCAD’s Board of Governors whose irresponsible leadership and lack of oversight have steered the University into further uncertainty during an unprecedented global pandemic.
Neither alumnae, students, faculty or staff think firing popular NSCAD president Aoife Mac Namara was the right thing to do. However, members of the NSCAD Board of Directors, corporate types mostly, with no real connection to the arts community, fired her anyways, for reasons they never divulged.
The following letter to the editor, about the firing of NSCAD president Aoife Mac Namara by its board of directors, was published in the Chronicle Herald on Friday July 31, and then, after mere hours, abruptly taken down again.
Claire and Jack Bennet reflect on the legacy of Jim Bennet, their grandfather and co-host of Singalong Jubilee, a wildly popular tv show in the sixties and early seventies. “First, and most simply, we learned that making music and singing are fun. It provides an escape into a joyous community of musicians united with one goal in mind: to sing, to enjoy music.”
A new poem by Angela Bowden. It’s very good. You should read it.
On Tuesday July 21, join us for a day of action to fire the NSCAD Board and reinstate Aoife!
Press release issued by the NS Arts Educators Society: “The Board of Governors’ decision to remove President Aoiffe Mac Namara from her duties at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design appears to deny her efforts to lead the University through systemic anti-racism changes. We believe this jeopardizes the future of the University’s reputation as a world leader in fine arts education,”
Media release: Through a secure online platform and with a secret ballot available from July 6-8, full and part time faculty, librarians and technicians at NSCAD University powerfully expressed their lack of confidence in the Board of Governors with 95.6% of members voting and 96.3% of those voting NO CONFIDENCE in the Board.