A prominent news story all about her 'big plans' for Red River College, and a much smaller companion piece in this morning's Winnipeg Free Press - with a vague headline and no byline - has generated the kind of attention Stephanie Forsyth would prefer to avoid, as readers look past the PR spin and towards her controversial management style and priorities.
The RRC president made clear her facility envy of local Universities, as she told a remarkably uninquisitive Nick Martin how the College wants to add lights and astroturf to athletic fields, wants an indoor soccer facility, and covets the decrepit Public Safety Building, even if the main Notre Dame campus infrastructure is "in dire need of replacement", and the Union Bank Tower project is "a little behind schedule, not unexpectedly when it's a 1903 building."
She also promised to create a new administrative position answering directly to her, apparently to be responsible to facilitate her pet project of increasing Aboriginal presence in the institution.
How any of this would help cut the 2-3 year wait lists for current courses or reduce rising course costs for students is unclear.
Trying to recast herself as a conciliator, Forsyth asked "How do we develop more of a sense of community, a campus that's welcoming to students and the public?"
Well, coming clean on her role in the illegal plan to eliminate all community programming from the campus-funded Kick-FM might be a start.
And now she may not have a choice, after Advanced Education Minister Erin Selby replied to a complaint by telling a listener to take it directly to The Board of Governors, which he did very early this morning.
The listener filed notice with Forsyth's bosses that he wants an investigation, after Madame President ignored his complaint when he caught College officials trying to cover-up the facts behind The Great Canadian Talk Show being axed.
Meanwhile, in a separate story "New president fired senior staff", the newspaper of record has finally reported on the firing of two senior RRC administrators two months after the blogosphere did, adding details to Forsyth's actions but no insight into why.
"LATE in May, Red River College president Stephanie Forsyth abruptly fired two of the colleges's (sic) six most senior employees, vice-president of finance and administration Catherine Rushton and associate vice-president of facilities and campus services Robert Olson...
Forsyth refused to discuss personnel issues, saying only, "Positioning the college for the future, I felt that was necessary."
Rushton could not be reached.
Olson, who was a senior administrator at Red River for almost 10 years, said there was no forewarning the two would be fired an hour apart on May 27."
(our stories about: Rushton leaving the College: http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/06/controversial-cathy-rushton-departs-red.html ,
the College getting caught by the Ombudsman breaching privacy laws because of Rushton, http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/08/red-river-college-breached-privacy-law.html
and Rushtons' belated apology to Mayor Sam Katz http://tgcts.blogspot.com/2011/08/cathy-rushtons-belated-apology-to.html )
The story, by "staff writer", failed to tie together the obvious clue that escaped Nick Martin, which might help explain the mystery of the cancellation of the vice-presidents' employment on short notice. With the project over-budget and behind schedule, maybe the Free Press could have asked Forsyth who at the College was responsible for those aspects of the Union Bank Tower project ?
An online comment, that referred Free Press readers to this blog - welcome to all of you especially the many from Red River College - elaborated on how one person views Forsyth's record as a role model :
Forsyth has done some pretty awful things since her arrival.
Perhaps the article should dig more about the illegal operating tactics of the Kick FM Board at the College, the current Human Rights complaint that has been filed, how Forsyth and her cronies lied to the public, shut down a major fundraiser for a not for profit agency, and now, refuse to answer any questions. Oh yes, and Stephanie is allowing her name to stand for a seat with the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors? Speak with your votes people."
Added: sample reaction from Twitter
And from a comment on the Free Press website:
kachina
If Forsythe can rationally support her behaviour, she should do so in the name of transparency and accountability. Ethical decisions are comprehensible, unethical ones are incomprehensible.
