Major screw-ups at universities should raise questions about their research funding eligibility.

We pour billions of tax dollars into academic research. Some universities are failing to show they can manage that privilege.

There have been calls for University of Toronto president Meric Gertler's resignation, given the University's embarrassing mismanagement of an illegal encampment which lasted over 60 days. 

But as satisfying as Dr. Gertler's resignation might be for some, it won’t on its own solve a much bigger problem that the UofT encampment (and many others like it) shone a light on. Some Canadian universities have demonstrated management paralysis when faced with no-brainer decisions, and seem incapable of managing basic, foreseeable risk. These failures underscore broader questions about some Canadian academic institutions' capacity to be good stewards of public funds, which have been brewing for years, and of which the federal Liberal government has been complicit.

For example, taxpayers pour billions of dollars into Canadian universities to conduct research every year. With these funds, universities are entrusted with operating delicate and costly research equipment and recruiting expensive top research talent from around the world. In return, they're expected to maintain an environment in which discoveries that benefit the country as a whole can happen, something that requires the highest level of management excellence. That means maintaining a safe workplace, building connections with industry, disseminating that knowledge through publications and training students, and ensuring free and open pursuit and exchange of ideas can happen (a principle otherwise known as "academic freedom").

But over the last several years, some major Canadian universities have enabled failures on all of these fronts. They've structured their revenue models around international students without considering where they will live. They’ve failed to protect taxpayer-funded discoveries from falling into foreign hands, or worse, they may have helped to provide technological advances to hostile nations. Universities writ-large need to do a better job of keeping the economic benefit of taxpayer-funded research in Canada, instead of opting for a research-as-a-service model. And universities are also facing questions about whether the exorbitant cost of a Canadian university degree will translate into long-term benefits for today's graduates, at the same time that some institutions are running significant operational deficits.

In that context, the illegal encampments that some Canadian universities have hosted are a symptom of a much broader problem - failure to identify risk and manage to clear operational goals. Universities need to be able to deal with illegal encampments, harassment, violence, and those who are preventing students and faculty from the use of campus while protecting free speech. While some Canadian universities notably acted upon the imperative to afford students their right to protest while preventing them from illegally occupying their property, many did not. This broad, quasi-national failure showed that many Canadian universities are open to allowing movements that supported the prohibition of trade of academic ideas with scholars from certain countries to flourish. Some sat idly by while millions of dollars of damage were inflicted upon their taxpayer funded property. Also, and more importantly, universities that failed their encampment test enabled taxpayer-funded environments in which students and staff feel unsafe coming to work and study and have been prevented from expressing their beliefs because of their faith.

Universities have long been the site of demonstrations. But it's clear that despite this reality, the management skills of some Canadian universities seem to have atrophied to a point where they seem unwilling or unable to ensure safety and academic freedom on their campuses when protests occur. Because it will be easy for the administration of many universities to retreat into their group and think that nothing needs to change, it is incumbent upon the federal Liberals to force them to do better particularly as it relates to federal research spending - something they have been seemingly loathe to do.

The easiest way to do this is to review the eligibility requirements for the receipt of federal research funds to ensure strong university governance.

For starters, the encampment situation makes it clear that federal research funding eligibility could require universities to have clear guidelines for managing protests. Much like how municipal governments can ensure the right to free speech and to protest while simultaneously operating a permit system for parades on roads or demonstrations in parks, universities would benefit from policies that clearly outline the circumstances by which demonstrations can occur on their property. The injunction that was issued in the UofT encampment case provided a clear legal roadmap in this regard. 

Similarly, a thriving university research enterprise requires a commitment to academic freedom and independent thought. The receipt of federal research funding could accompany policies that prevent unreasonable limitations being placed on academic freedom and the suppression of divergent viewpoints.

Other eligibility guidelines should be reviewed, too, including an institution's capacity to protect intellectual property generated by taxpayer-funded research from being stolen by hostile nations. Rather than fight any of these no-brainer points, universities and their advocacy groups should be proactively presenting plans to align federal research funding eligibility criteria with these needs before asking legislators to increase their funding levels. That the federal Liberals aren’t presently demanding the same speaks volumes about their ability to fight for value for money for tax dollars spent on Canadian university research.

A multi-million dollar SSHRC study isn't needed to prove that Canada's recent university encampment crisis means the management status quo within some Canadian universities could benefit from a shake up. At the very least, Canadian taxpayers shouldn’t be kept on the hook for their failures.