More clarity needed on donor agreements, U of Manitoba faculty association says after grad speech controversy

The union that represents faculty at the University of Manitoba is calling on the school's administration to be transparent about agreements made with financial donors after tension between a philanthropist and the university over a valedictory speech.

"The university community has never seen those documents saying what the donors get," said University of Manitoba Faculty Association president Orvie Dingwall.

"We know that they get their name on the college or on the building, but we don't know any of those other details."

In his speech at a May 16 convocation, valedictorian Dr. Gem Newman urged his fellow medicine grads to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, sparking reaction that has included questions about free expression and how much influence donors should have over institutions.

The reaction included a letter sent by Ernest Rady to the U of M that said the speech spread "hateful lies" and disparaged Jewish people as a whole.

Rady, a U of M grad and businessman, and his family made a $30 million donation to the school in 2016 that led the U of M's medical school to be renamed the Max Rady College of Medicine, in honour of his father.

Rady's May 20 letter said as a donor, he makes "it a point not to intervene or tell an institution what it should or should not do," but that "in this instance, by remaining silent, I would be complicit."

He demanded a video of the address be removed from the U of M's YouTube page, which the university subsequently did. It later said Rady wasn't the only person to make that request.

Dingwall said the U of M's faculty strongly supports free expression and academic freedom on campus — and she said money should never get in the way of that.

She has confidence the university administration is "careful" when it comes to accepting donations.

But if any agreements are made with people making financial contributions, they should be openly disclosed, she said — something the faculty association called for even before the reaction to Newman's speech.

"We all should know exactly what's in them," she said.

In a statement to CBC News, the university said donors "do not gain influence over the operations of a faculty or the university broadly, no matter how significant their gift."

However, the school does enter agreements with donors to ensure clarity and transparency on the terms of the gift and the relationship, said Stephanie Levene, U of M's associate vice-president of donor relations.