(The From The Publisher column below was originally published in Amandala no. 1787 of Sunday, August 3, 2003)
I think it’s time we get this matter straight. Angel Cal will not be president of the University of Belize again until I am out as chairman of the board of trustees. It’s nothing personal. We reached a point at UB where we had to get ready for financial reality, and Dr. Cal didn’t want to do it my way. It was he, or I.
Before we go any further, let me say this. This man is a world class scholar, and I have a ton of respect for him in his field. More than that, I like him.
Dr. Cal was the president of the University College of Belize when the amalgamation process to convert five tertiary level institutions (including UCB) into UB, began in late 1999. UCB was the leading tertiary institution, prestige wise, of the five, and Dr. Cal was clearly the leading candidate to become the first UB president in August of 2000.
The names of other candidates came up, but Angel Cal had my complete support. In fact, those who were inside the UCB Council, which became the UB Interim Board, know that I “covered” for Dr. Cal on more than one occasion. In other words, there were times I took the flak as chairman when there was blame which properly accrued to him as president. I covered for Dr. Cal because I’m used to all these public attacks, and he needed time, I thought, to grow into the job.
From the time the amalgamation process succeeded in August 2000, the Government of Belize began to cut the subsidies for the university. This became a pattern. I was a hands-off chairman except when there was crisis, whereupon I would become the target in the UDP newspaper. Between August 2000 and December 2002, to make the point, Dr. Angel Cal ran the University of Belize.
All that while, until just a month or two before Dr. Cal went on sabbatical in December of 2002, what the university had was an Interim Board, essentially the same group of people who had been the UCB Council. This Interim Board included some faculty and administration members from the five member institutions. The real board, according to the UB Act passed in the House of Representatives, was to include representatives of the Ministry of Tourism, the National Council of Education, the Council of Churches, Civil Society/NGO’s, the UB faculty and staff, the UB alumni, the UB students, the Ministries of Agriculture, Education, and Health, the Association of Tertiary Level Institutions of Belize (ATLIB), and so on – a total of 15 board members.
Two years passed after amalgamation and still, the Minister of Education, Hon. Cordel Hyde, left the Interim Board in place. I guess after a while Dr. Cal began to believe that a real board would never be appointed, and/or that Cordel was trying to protect his father.
Things began to change early in 2002. I asked accountant Cedric Flowers to come in and help us see how we could move UB from basically a government department, to a business corporation. Cedric spent ten months giving of his expensive expertise pro bono, which is to say, for free, and Dr. Cal did not cooperate. He was used to running things his way, and he was not going to change for a chairman he may have perceived as weak and feeling his way.
Suddenly, the new board, the real UB board was appointed. I was re-elected chairman unanimously. I am wondering if Dr. Cal ever realized that it was not the backing of Cordel Hyde which was electing me, but the firm endorsement of the Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa.
For sure Dr. Cal knew of all the people who didn’t like me. Jesuits don’t like me. Gays don’t like me. UDP don’t like me. Whites don’t like me. Browns don’t like me. The oligarchy don’t like me. Even the UB faculty and staff spent a long time not liking me. Yeah, everybody knows all the people who don’t like me. But nobody knows the people who support me, because my people don’t do a whole lot of talking.
Anyway, if we had been doing at UB what Cedric Flowers was saying from early in 2002, the 18 percent budget cut earlier this year would not have jerked up UB as it did. We saw this coming and tried to prepare for the jolt. Cal refused to change, and so he had to return to his real area of expertise.
Right now the university is battling for its life, and I would not have wanted to discuss this matter in public. But I can no longer afford to have Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis undermined by the few pro-Cal elements of UB who are dreaming of his return. Before they dream of that, they should first plot to remove I. It’s simple. Cal ain’t coming back until I leave. Straight like that.
Nothing personal, to repeat. Angel’s the only Belizean who knows Maya history at the Ph.D. level. Dr. Angel Cal needs to be treasured and cherished in his studies. He is a big time Belizean natural resource.
But that’s separate from running UB. I hope he and I can become the friends we used to be. If not, we had some good times together. Sometimes we all have to move on. In the words of “Earth, Wind and Fire,” that’s the way of the world.