As Quest University faces a lawsuit from a former president of the school, a new presidential candidate has been announced.
The candidate, George Iwama, previously a professor at the University of B.C., and who also served as president of the University of Northern B.C., is no stranger to the school – he was hired to be Quest’s chancellor in April.
The announcement that Iwama may be the latest president comes just days after former president Peter Englert filed a lawsuit against the university.
Englert is suing the school for breach of contract. This legal dispute is the latest development between him and the school.
In May, university representatives said Englert was no longer working at the school. No reason was given for his abrupt departure.
In a notice of civil claim filed on Aug. 2 in the Vancouver court registry, Englert alleges that the university did not compensate him as agreed in an employment contract.
Englert, who is the plaintiff in this case, also alleges in the claim that Quest “without cause purported to terminate the plaintiff’s employment.”
“In breach of the contract of employment, the defendant has failed to provide to the plaintiff notice in writing terminating his employment without cause and failed to pay to the plaintiff his severance entitlement due pursuant to the terms of the contract of employment,” the claim says.
The claim also adds that Englert has applied for permanent residency in Canada, but since he’s no longer employed at the university, he no longer satisfies the criteria to obtain permanent resident status.
Englert believes this will force him to return to the United States.
He is seeking damages for breach of contract of employment and damages related to the cost of relocating to the United States, among other things.
His claim states that he had an annual salary of $300,000 and a housing allowance of $2,500 per month. As an alternative to the housing allowance, he was allowed to move to a rent-free condo at the Four Winds complex in Squamish.
A key part of the dispute involves the circumstances surrounding his dismissal.
According to Englert’s claim, if there was no cause given, Quest could terminate him under two conditions. If the school wanted to dismiss him between Aug. 1, 2015 and July 31, 2017, the claim says Quest should have given him 24 months notice in writing. If the school wanted to terminate him after Aug. 1, 2017, Englert says Quest should have given him 12 months notice in writing.
Englert’s claim says that as an alternative, Quest could end his employment at any time without cause by notifying him in writing of his termination and paying him an amount equal to the remuneration – including salary and benefits – that he would have received during whichever notice period was applicable at the time of termination.
However, none of that happened, the lawsuit alleges.
The notice of claim says that on May 7, Quest told Englert that his employment was terminated, effective immediately, and that he would be given a record of employment.
“Thereafter, the defendant, in breach of the contract of employment, refused to allow the plaintiff to perform his duties as president and CEO and has failed to pay to the plaintiff his salary and provide to the plaintiff employment benefits,” the claim alleges.
Quest declined to comment on Englert’s lawsuit.
“Quest University Canada can’t comment on any pending litigation,” wrote James Martin, spokesperson for Quest, in an email. “Quest will be responding in full to these claims and is confident that they will be properly dealt with by the court process.”
The Chief tried to contact Englert via his legal counsel but was unable to do so, as his lawyers were on vacation.
Englert’s departure is not the only thing being examined.
Iwama’s past spending – which is unrelated to Englert’s case – has raised questions.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation released documents in 2014 showing that when Iwama served as the president of the University of Northern B.C., he had $126,131 in expenses between April 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013. Iwama also spent an additional $99,472 more from April 1, 2013 to Dec. 31, 2013, according to the documents released by the federation.
At the time, the federation also ranked Iwama as the second-most expensed post-secondary school president out of a total of 25 post-secondary schools in B.C. that were examined and ranked in the federation’s report. The president of the University of B.C. was ranked first.
Quest University declined to comment on Iwama’s past expenses.
In a story published online by 250 News in Prince George on December 2014, the matter was discussed with UNBC’s vice of president of external relations, Rob Van Adrichem.
Adrichem said the high expenses were in part a consequence of the university’s location. UNBC has satellite campuses throughout the north and the president was also expected to attend meetings in Vancouver and Victoria, he said. Iwama also travelled to Asia, Greenland, Iceland and Russia.
On two occasions, expenses were covered by research grants Iwama had, Van Adrichem said.
250 News also said questions were raised because costs for his wife, Marilyn Iwama, were expensed. Van Adrichem, however, called Marilyn a strong ambassador for the university, the city and the region. He also pointed out that the chair of the board of governors approved Marilyn’s expenses before trips were taken.
Nicole Zanesco and Vrindy Spencer, who are respectively student and alumna representatives of Quest University’s candidate evaluation committee, did address the matter in a joint email statement circulated to Quest students early this week.
The statement says: “In regards to expensive travel costs, George was travelling from Prince George to the Arctic as part of the University of the Arctic program. He was also travelling around the world in order to advocate for his institution, something that Quest presidents are also expected to do and have done in the past.”
“We addressed all of the concerns raised by our research and were highly impressed by his responses,” the statement said.
In the second sentence of this article, it originally stated that George Iwama is likely to be Quest's next president. Instead, it now says that he is the presidential candidate.
