Academic freedom at University of Calgary questioned over Enbridge involvement

Oil companies have been donating to the University of Calgary for many years, but allegations arose Monday that the university’s relationship with Enbridge has gone too far.

The allegations stem from a $2.2-million donation the Calgary-based company made to the university three years ago.

The money was to be used to create the Enbridge Centre for Corporate Sustainability at the Haskayne School of Business.

But after the gift was received, several professors raised questions concerning corporate influence, and whether administrators at the University of Calgary did enough to protect academic freedom.

“I think there was a large enough sequence of mistakes at the University of Calgary that I think we need some kind of public inquiry,” said David Keith, a former U of C professor, who is now teaching at Harvard.

“Not with the idea of finding scapegoats – and trying to pin down exactly who did what and when – but with the idea of trying to recommend how the process is improved in the future,” said Keith.

U of C President Elizabeth Cannon is a director of Enbridge Income Fund Holdings, which she has made public.

“Certainly we’ve learned from that, but again where we are now, some of the impacts it’s had in terms of changes to our agreements and how we do thing, I am very comfortable that some of those concerns have been raised,” she added.

The president of the university’s faculty association says these allegations of corporate influence raise a bigger issue.

“It should be made very clear when these contracts  are signed; and these contracts should be made transparent – they should not be hidden somewhere,” said Sandra Hoenle.

“That is one of the issues we have at the university that is systemic. It’s not just the situation that there is a lot of secrecy and lack of transparency. And that is inappropriate,” said Hoenle.

In a statement, Enbridge denied allegations it attempted to influence the centre’s operations.

The company said “we firmly believe the responsibility for maintaining academic integrity lies with the university and its academic staff.”

According to the U of C, no academics filed formal complaints about their freedom being impacted.