Minister Jacobs stonewalls AUIS-request for meeting
GREAT BAY – Attempts by the American University of Integrated Sciences (AUIS) to settle their differences with Minister Silveria Jacobs (Education; see photo) have been stonewalled by the ministry it appears from correspondence of the university’s president Renu Agnihotri with the minister.
Monday a week ago, Agnihotri sent an email to Minister Jacobs asking for her to meet with AUIS-CEO Milo Pinckney. “Mr. Pinckney intends to start that meeting by shaking your hand and he sincerely hopes that amends can be made reciprocally and that you ministry and AUIS can work together towards a bright future of the medical education on St. Maarten,” this email states.
But one week later, there still was no reaction from Minister Jacobs and that inspired Agnihotri to send her another email yesterday in which she notes that Pinckney had been waiting on the island in vain for a week and that the purpose of his intended meeting was “to reach a resolution of the unfortunate and untenable situation that has arisen between AUIS and the ministry of education in the light of the inability of your office to make a name change (USESOM to AUIS) on our current and valid charter agreement in a timely manner.”
Agnihotri notes that “the difficulty of this seemingly small and scheduled change” has caused “a severe loss of trust within the institutions; business leadership in the integrity of government St. Maarten’s promise(s) to major foreign products such as ours.”
“Your silence communicates a lack of interest and the accountability required by the ministry of education to reach a workable agreement that would protect the careers of over 200 AUIS medical students; and thus also ensure that a viable and rapidly expanding US business remains on the island.”
Agnihotri adds that she is “alarmed by your office’s blatant lack of accountability and its callous approach to education.” Furthermore, the AUIS-President adds: “Your continued failure to responsibly address our concerns communicates a desire to terminate government St. Maarten’s agreement with AUIS and to not allow the institution to remain on the island; with a willful lack of interest in the economic impact on the people of St. Maarten who will be directly affected by your actions.”
A week before this letter, Agnihotri revisited the dispute with the ministry in an email that contained the request for a meeting between Minister Jacobs and Milo Pickney.
The university asks the minister again to change the name on the existing charter agreement from USESOM to AUIS. But instead, the ministry has sent the university a new charter agreement that contains different conditions. “We seek nothing more than have the government honor its current commitment just as we have honored ours,” Agnihotri wrote.
“We felt we had no other option than to engage media attention since your office has not responded to our repeated request to discuss the charter agreement without entertaining a new draft agreement,” the email states. “All efforts to engage in productive dialog have been met with unjustified obstruction.”
Agnihotri criticized the minister for her attempt to discredit the school saying it is not accredited. “That is not becoming of a minister.” Agnihotri points out that the university is seeking accreditation – a process that could take several years to complete.
The AUIS-President notes that she has been requesting a meeting with Minister Jacobs since August 2016. “Before this matter further escalates we wish to meet with you, rather than continue the dialogue in the newspapers,” Agnihotri concludes her email.
But after the continued silence from the minister, AUIs made the correspondence available to this newspaper.
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