The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE president of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas says the union is monitoring the University of The Bahamas’ accreditation process to ensure it does not undermine employment protections or previously accepted qualifications for faculty.

While UTEB is not directly involved in the university’s pursuit of accreditation, Daniel Thompson said the union is paying close attention to developments — particularly as new credentialing requirements are introduced.

He made it clear that the union supports the university’s efforts so long as they do not negatively affect existing faculty.

“As long as the credentialing process does not adversely impact our faculty who already credentialed in first coming to the university, and now that the accreditation process is introducing new credentialing requirement, a new credentialing process, our position is that that is fine as long as it doesn’t mitigate, it doesn’t reduce that which existed before,” he said.

Mr Thompson, who also serves as chair of UB’s School of Business, said faculty are actively engaged in meeting accreditation demands, including programme reviews and credentialing benchmarks. He described the process as collaborative and said faculty are working closely with administration.

“We’re not trying to create any impediment, because we consider as a pure academic process that is within the domain of the university,” he said.

His comments come as UTEB continues to question the Board of Trustees’ recent decision to appoint Dr Robert Blaine III as the university’s next president. Mr Thompson has previously expressed concern about the union’s exclusion from early stages of the search process — something he described as a departure from past precedent.

He said the union was not part of the committee that conducted initial evaluations of candidates and only became involved once a shortlist was already determined. In contrast to previous appointments, where faculty representatives played a more active role in assessing applicants, UTEB’s input this time was limited to interviews with final candidates.

Mr Thompson said the change meant the union could not carry out the same level of internal review as before. He maintained that UTEB’s involvement earlier in the process could have provided insight that might have shaped the outcome.

“This board of trustee felt that there was no need to have the union intimately involved in the search committee. They felt that we be an outsider as external stakeholder,” he said.

“We would have been in a position to scrutinise and to advise them,” he added.

Mr Thompson reiterated his view that the university is taking a risk by appointing Dr Blaine, whom he has described as having experience more aligned with planning and administration than university leadership. While he accepted that the final decision rested with the Board of Trustees, he said the lack of faculty participation left the union with little opportunity to offer guidance that might have helped avoid future problems.

“Now, any advice, anything that comes up subsequent to his appointment, we are on the outside of all. We will say we told you so, or you didn’t give us a chance to advise you previously. You made your choice and we didn’t have a chance,” he said.

Although the union has publicly supported a different candidate, Mr Thompson said UTEB remains committed to working constructively with the new president — as long as faculty rights are respected and academic standards remain protected throughout the university’s reform efforts.