the early consideration of Beckles’ contract renewal but also presided over a process that deviated from established procedures.
The report was done by a controversial committee that Beckles established to investigate the circumstances of his contract renewal. Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica did not support the extension.
The UWI (University of West Indies) said it is deeply concerned about the leak and that the university’s internal systems will be reviewed to prevent future disclosure of confidential information.
The report was submitted to Beckles’ office on March 17 under strict security protocols, according to a UWI statement issued this morning.
Beckles has not seen the report because he’s travelling and neither have members of the executive team. He instructed that the document be quarantined until his return to office.
The statement said Beckles: “expressed his disappointment and disgust at the reprehensible leak of a confidential document. He indicated that chair of the independent HR Review Committee, Milton Samuda, and he, had both gone to great lengths to preserve the integrity and confidentiality of the reporting process.
“He (Beckles) assured many principal stakeholders of the university that the report, contrary to speculative media stories, was intended to give advice to management on how to strengthen industrial relations procedures.”
There have been claims of a rift between Beckles and Bermudez, with senior officials at UWI believing a controversial governance report commissioned by the chancellor was aimed at blocking Beckles’ reappointment as vice chancellor.
Other officials have said even if there were deviations in the renewal, it was not proper for Beckles to investigate his own case and that the committee’s work was tantamount to a subordinate probing his boss.
Beckles was reappointed last April for a second six-year term as vice chancellor.
The committee said the matter should have been dealt with from 2020 and when the issue was put on draft agendas for university council meetings that year, the chancellor instructed that it be removed.
The university council is the UWI’s highest decision-making body and it is chaired by the chancellor.
