Dear Editor,
Just a few notes on the Vice Chancellor’s letter in the April 24th issue of Stabroek News enumerating his achievements. A quick perusal of those achievements would reveal a colossal contradiction which Professor Griffith has to confront. If he doesn’t then he opens his credibility to serious questioning. For the past thirty five years every Guyanese would know that the salary earning of UG academics was way below the average in the world. Every committee over the past decades that investigated UG has recommended huge increases if UG is to compete on the world market.
Professor Griffith publicly stated that UG could only afford a three percent increase to the academics. Yet in the same breath, he cites more than a dozen new programmes. Now it is either UG salary scale has gone up tremendously so we are attracting professors and those with doctorates to work in those programmes or it is a public relation stunt. Which one? The answer is simple. The Vice Chancellor needs to do two things if he is going to keep his credibility. Publicly state the salary scales for professors and doctors. Then publish a list of the names and qualifications of the academics that will be working in those programmes.
Professor Griffith’s credibility will soar to the skies if he does that and we will see that UG is attracting talented academics to teach. There can be no valid reason for him not to state who these new lecturers are, their qualifications and which programmes they will work in. I can think of no logical, commonsensical or rational attitude of any university head not to do so. He, the university and UG win when he does so. If he cannot, then there is no reason to trust what he says about UG’s future under his leadership. I hope he does the right thing in relation to what is being asked here.
Yours faithfully,
Frederick Kissoon
