Secret agreements, generous payoffs, mysterious resignations, gag orders and cover-ups. These are some of the allegations facing Canada’s universities and colleges in the wake of a series of scandals.

As Canada’s public universities and colleges continue their transformation into hybrid organizations dependent on both public and private financial support, it is increasingly urgent that we recognize and confront the resulting contradictions.

Provincial access to information (or freedom of information) legislation requires that documents in a public institution’s “custody or control” must be provided if requested, subject to specific exemptions and limitations.

In 2004, as a second year medical student at the University of Toronto, Navindra Persaud blew the whistle on questionable content in a mandatory course in pain management given by the university.

In the majority of the 4,400 uni­ver­sities and colleges in the US, it’s illegal to carry a concealed weapon. But pressure from an extreme pro-gun movement is changing the landscape. Laws in nine states now force public colleges and universities to allow guns into their campus buildings.

Protests and outcry spread throughout the University of Hong Kong last month after the university’s governing council vetoed former law dean Johannes Chan Man-mun’s candidacy as pro-vice-chancellor.

The University of Calgary is facing criticism over its ties with energy giant Enbridge. A CBC investigation has uncovered concerns that Enbridge may have interfered in the university’s Centre for Corporate Sustainability after the company provided a donation.

University and college officials say they are pinching pennies on everything from hiring to the use of copying machines because they’re strapped for cash.