Two members of the McGill community were elected and re-lected to McGill’s Board of Governors (BoG) in November for terms starting on Jan. 1. Juliet Johnson, professor of political science, was elected for her first term, and Ronald Critchley, president of the McGill University Non-Academic Staff Association (MUNASA), was re-elected for a second term. They now hold positions as Academic Staff Representative and Administrative and Support Staff Representative, respectively, on the BoG. These terms are set to last three years.
The BoG is the highest governing body of the university. It meets six times a year and consists of 25 voting members. The BoG appoints Principals and other university personnel. It also consists of committees that oversee university finances, properties, and human resources.
Juliet Johnson
Juliet Johnson decided to run for Academic Staff Representative on the BoG after her colleagues from McGill’s history and political science departments pointed out that both of the Academic Staff Representatives who served on the BoG in the Fall 2012 semester came from the faculty of medicine. She replaces one of them.
“[They] asked me if I would run in order to bring a social science and humanities perspective to the Board,” she said.
Johnson explained that she was also influenced by the fact that very few women have been elected to faculty and staff positions on the BoG in the past. Currently, only eight of the 25 voting members of the BoG are women.
“These factors, combined with my recent experience as Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies) for the Faculty of Arts, as well as my academic expertise in the politics of finance, led me to believe that I might be a useful voice for the McGill community on the Board of Governors,” she said.
Johnson came to McGill from Loyola University Chicago as a professor in 2003. Her research focuses on the politics of money and banking. In the past, she has served on the McGill Senate, and is a two-time recipient of the Political Science Student’s Association Professor of the Year award.
Johnson said her election to the BoG comes at a moment when McGill is dealing with several major challenges.
“McGill currently faces significant challenges, not least [of which is] the impending appointment of a new president, the difficult budget situation, and the broader debate within Quebec over the status and missions of our province’s universities,” she said.
Ronald Critchley
Critchley was re-appointed to the BoG after running a campaign that highlighted his previous experience on the BoG and at McGill, and the importance of non-academic staff members in university governance in Quebec.
As president of MUNASA, Critchley has experience representing non-academic staff at the university. About four years ago, he helped organize both MUNASA and McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT) to appear before the National Assembly’s Committee on Culture and Education to defend the place of non-academic and academic representation in university governance, according to the personal statement he submitted to the BoG while running for re-election.
“[Our position] was fragile then, it is still. Now, we must prepare to stand by our cause at the upcoming Summit on Higher Education,” his statement reads. “With a new Quebec government, [and] with a new Principal, the stakes for us have never been higher.”
Critchley noted similar challenges the BoG will face in the upcoming months to those Johnson pointed out.
“The two most important things that I see coming up rather quickly are, number one, dealing with the government in Quebec City, and the question of funding,” he said. “The position of McGill has to be put forward in a vigorous manner.”
“The second thing, of course, is that we are moving from one principal to the next,” he continued. “The new principal will leave [his or] her mark on the school. It’s a very critical time in McGill’s history… because of under-funding.”
Critchley is also an advisor to students in the Desautels Faculty of Management, a position he has held for 13 years. Before that, he served as an admissions officer for McGill, making his total time at McGill 25 years.
He expressed that he feels the BoG is an important form of governance at McGill.
“The Board works for everybody, and that’s how it should be,” he said. “I think we are a model for other universities.”
