The overly protesting Drs Coates and MacLatchy (Bulletin, January 2011), in thrall to one golden rule, ignore the sage wisdom of another: when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

Instead of professing profound disappointment, the embarrassed principals should own up to abiding shame at the lingering smell that not all the perfumes of Arabia will sweeten.

Weighed, measured and found wanting by the CAUT-commissioned investigation in their commitment to academic freedom, intellectual integrity and institutional autonomy, Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier administrators have retreated into bluster on the one hand and, on the other, levelled unsubstantiated charges of bias and flawed forensic skills on the part of the independent investigator. Attacking the neutral referee is as distasteful as it is revealing.

Bulletin readers should download Len Findlay’s report, peruse the primary documentation appended, digest the evidence-based analysis and conclusions, apply the smell test to the two universities’ conduct and follow-up response, and reflect on the implications for the principles and values underpinning university life in Canada.

Ramesh Thakur
Political Science
University of Waterloo