According to Camosun College’s recently released 2015/16 financial statements, the college spent $232,404 on ex-president Kathryn Laurin’s severance pay during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. $163,834 of this was on salary, $15,601 on benefits, $16,939 on pension, and $36,030 on vacation payout. Laurin’s pay ended on February 29, 2016.
Laurin was fired in June of 2014, shortly after having her five-year contract renewed; she claimed at the time that her contract termination was completely unjustified. As part of her termination, Laurin was to receive financial compensation.
After Laurin’s contract termination, Camosun College hired interim president Peter Lockie and new president Sherri Bell.
The decision to terminate Laurin’s contract was made by the Camosun College Board of Governors, who are appointed by the provincial government (the board also has elected student, faculty, and support staff representatives).
Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) external executive Rachael Grant says that the CCSS wants to have the college board explain why Laurin was fired in the first place (Laurin did not respond to a request to comment for this story).
“Where we would like to hear an explanation is from the Board of Governors, the body that made that decision,” says Grant.
But Camosun College Board of Governors chair Russ Lazaruk declined to be interviewed for this story, saying via email, “I cannot comment as this is a personnel matter.”
Camosun College chief financial officer Deborah Huelscher says that the college would rather have put that money elsewhere, but acknowledges that they need to stick to the terms of the contract.
“We would prefer to invest those kinds of dollars in our students,” says Huelscher, adding that “there’s a contract and we have to honour the contract.”
In Nexus stories published at the time, there was speculation that Laurin had her contract terminated because of her criticism of the provincial government cutting ESL funding. CCSS executive director Michel Turcotte says that if the college board had issues with Laurin, for whatever reason, they shouldn’t have renewed her contract so soon before firing her.
“The fact that she was receiving money for so long [after her dismissal] would tend to support the argument that the reasons for her departure were not substantive,” he says. “The reason she was terminated, we would have to assume in that case, was more to do with an approach to governance, perhaps, or something less tangible. Arguably, they shouldn’t have renewed the contract if that was an issue.”
Grant says that the amount of money that Laurin is getting is “reasonable and necessary given her treatment.” Camosun students have concern about this much money being spent on something they don’t know the reasons behind, though. First-year Science student Rain Smith says that the circumstances surrounding Laurin’s pay don’t justify it as a reasonable expenditure.
“No reason for dismissal and having to pay out two separate presidents kind of seems like an unnecessary addition to the Camosun budget,” says Smith.
Second-year Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology student Monica Alvaro Fuss says that information about why Laurin was dismissed needs to be given.
“I don’t think it’s right to dismiss a person on the grounds of nothing,” she says.
First-year Nursing student Michaela Roberts says that Laurin, who is now working as Victoria Symphony Society CEO/executive director, is entitled to her compensation. However, like Turcotte, Roberts is unclear about why things were handled in this manner.
“I don’t understand why they did that,” says Roberts. “It’s just a waste of money at the end of the day.”