UoM: L’UMASU dénonce les détracteurs

Alors que le débat fait rage avec la prise de position de la Student Union et du personnel non-enseignant, à l’exception de la Technical Staff Union (UTU), pour recruter un Mauricien et non un étranger à la tête de l’institution tertiare, la Université of Mauritius Academic Staff Union (UMASU) déplore cette attitude « aberrante » et dit ne pas comprendre cette logique. L’UMASU, dans une correspondance, déplore l’attitude du Pro Vice Chancellor, le Pr Jugessur, qui « ne peut dire s’il est totalement satisfait avec la décision. » C’est le Pr Neil Garrod, d’origine britannique, qui, jeudi 31 mai, a été désigné après un appel à candidatures international. Il n’a pas encore confirmé s’il accepte le poste ou pas mais, aux dernières nouvelles, il aurait demandé quelques clarifications. L’UMASU promet, cependant, de collaborer pleinement avec le futur vice-chancellier, que ce soit le Pr Neil Garrod ou le Pr Ramesh Rughooputh, pourvu que les offres se fassent sur la base de la méritocratie et dans le respect de la liste retenue. Voici l’intégralité de leur lettre.
« The appointment of a new VC is unfortunately making headlines in the press for all the wrong reasons. UMASU views with much concern the way matters are being portrayed and wishes to highlight the following to set the record straight.
The new appointment followed the same procedure as for all previous Vice Chancellors and, to our knowledge, the best candidate has been offered the post. Appointment at the University is based on MERIT and under no circumstance should we deviate from this practice. In fact, any request for deviation from this practice is NONSENSE and IRRESPONSIBLE. We fail to understand how a few students and some non-academic staff are preaching DISCRIMINATION on the basis of nationality. This is totally unacceptable, all the more so, in a globalized, higher educational context where we want to make the UoM have the reputation of an international knowledge hub. Do these people realize the harm they are doing to the image of the University on the international scene, when we want to encourage foreign students to study here, and when staff movement can only enrich us? These students are the first ones who would wish to have the opportunity to study and to work overseas, but they would deny others the right to work here.
According to these students therefore, Mauritian realities are that
(1) the best candidate should Not get the job.  
(2) the selected candidate should be amenable to the play of lobbies in Mauritius, which a foreigner would have difficulty in grasping, and even more in accepting.
This sort of attitude speaks volumes on the mindset of some of today’s youth, so courted these days in certain quarters.
We expected the University authorities to assume their responsibilities and to call to order the students and non-academic staff concerned (some are even members of the University Council) for going against the provisions of the University Statutes which clearly state that the University will not discriminate on the basis of nationality. However, we were shocked to read from press articles that non-other than Professor Jugessur himself saying ‘I can’t say if I am satisfied with the decision…’, ‘I had to comply with the majority decision…’ Such statements coming from the very person, who chaired both the VC Appointments Committee and the Council which endorsed the recommendation, are very revealing. Here we are, with a Chairman, who instead of defending a decision taken under his own chairmanship, is publicly admitting that he does not agree with the committees he chaired… ‘Pas moi sa, li sa’. Any self-respecting individual would have already resigned.
We have seen the same scenario with the Morgan Restructuring Plan, where the Chairman started dissociating himself from the plan after it was approved by Council in August and ratified in October 2011. Both committees chaired by him! We should ask ourselves why does the Chairman, each time, feel the need to publicly dissociate himself from the decisions taken by the committees he chaired? This has left the University where it is now, with yet another Committee appointed to try to bring piecemeal and consequently inconsistent changes to an already approved restructuring plan, again in the name of the Chairman’s vision of Mauritian realities, whatever those are!
Mention is also made in some of the press articles that the non-academic staff union is against the appointment of the new VC. This is false: the technical staff union (UTU) fully share our view that the most meritorious person should be appointed.
Concerning this small group of students’ stand, we truly fail to understand their motivation. In which University in the world do students decide on the appointment of the Vice Chancellor? Is it the mob that rules or the Council that decides? Professor Jugessur is apparently happy to entertain such requests from students.
On a final note, we wish to clarify to one and all that, as true professionals, UMASU is ready to collaborate fully with whomever eventually takes up the position of Vice Chancellor, be it Professor Neil Garrod or Professor Ramesh Rughooputh, provided that the offers are made in respect of meritocracy and according to the order of the list drawn up. »
UMASU Executive Committee