Students reactions to the political aspirations of CapU’s chancellor
Ben Taylor // Crew Writer (he/him)
Andrei Gueco (he/him) // Illustrator
An article published last month by the Capilano Courier about Yuri Fulmer examined how the Chancellor of Capilano University is running to be the leader of the BC Conservative party. With the voting period beginning on May 9, there’s a possibility that within the next two months Fulmer could be a top candidate for Premier of B.C. In an email response to the previous article, Fulmer’s team stated that he wanted to have “a clear separation” between the role of Chancellor and his candidacy to lead the BC Conservative party. Given his name will be on students’ degrees at graduation, the Courier turned to students to hear their thoughts on the matter.
One fourth-year MOPA student responded, “Does he know who goes here? Cap is a progressive school, and this makes our progress seem hollow. It goes against CapU’s values.”
In a media release published by the CapU website upon his reappointment in 2023, then President Paul Dangerfield wrote, “he carries forward the vision, purpose and values of the University into the community.” As mentioned in the previous article, there are clear discrepancies between the proclaimed values of CapU and the BC Conservatives. For instance, the BC Conservatives advocacy for the repeal of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Act directly contrasts with CapU’s publicized commitment to “Truth and Reconciliation through the principles of Indigenization and decolonization.”
Another fourth-year MOPA student asked, “where are his priorities, the school or politics? It seems like a conflict of interest.” A first-year DOCS student also commented, “it’s a bit of a conflict of interest to run to be the leader of any political party while in this role. If I was Chancellor and I wanted to run, I would step down.” As previously mentioned, Fulmer’s campaign team stated that he “wants to have a clear separation between that role and his candidacy,” however these two students do not see that as a possibility.
In fact, a campaign video published on Fulmer’s LinkedIn account features footage of Fulmer on CapU’s campus, further blurring the line of separation between his two roles. It seems that when Fulmer needs a good backdrop for his campaign videos, having clear separation between chancellor and politician is suddenly less important.
One first-year interdisciplinary student asked, “Should that even be allowed?” The answer, according to the University Act in B.C., is no: He cannot legally hold both positions. The Chancellor is one of 15 members of the Board of Governors, and in the acts laws it specifically states in item 23: “The following persons are not eligible to be or to remain members of the board: (b) members of the Executive Council or of the Legislative Assembly.” This means that if Fulmer had actually won the seat in the legislative assembly that he ran for in 2024, he would have been legally required to be removed from the position of Chancellor immediately. In that election, Fulmer lost to BC Green MLA Jeremy Valeriote in the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding; a seat which was previously held by the BC Liberals for thirty years.
The Courier reached out to Board of Governors representatives from 2024, and the current Secretariat, to confirm if Fulmer notified or approached the board about running for public office at that time. The university confirmed that Fulmer had made the Board of Governors aware of his running, and that the university had “a plan in place for the 2024 election if he won.”
On the other hand, the laws also state, “A person may not hold the office of chancellor for more than 6 consecutive years.” Indicating that after the conclusion of the current academic year, Fulmer may not hold his office under any circumstances; meaning that his run for the leadership of the BC Conservatives will not break the laws of the University Act.
However, this whole debacle begs the question; what would that plan have looked like if Fulmer had been elected in 2024? And, should there be a policy in place requiring public facing admin to resign upon taking on high-profile political activity, like Fulmer?