Wycliffe Smith about university woes: “We relied on promises from ministers”

PHILIPSBURG – “Is the university open or not? And did the Minister of Education offer a rescue budget, yes or no?’ those were two of the pertinent questions NA-MP Rodolphe Samuel asked during a second meeting of the central committee with the board of the university of St. Martin. Samuel will however have to wait for his answers because Valerie Giterson-Pantophlet, president of the USM-board, asked for a continuation of the meeting at a later date so that she is more prepared to answer additional questions members of Parliament asked on Tuesday morning.

On November 28, the Central Committee met for the first time with the USM-board to discuss the institutions financial predicaments. On Tuesday, the board came back with answers to questions members of Parliament posed during that earlier meeting.

Answering a question from MP Ardwell Irion, vice-treasurer Vasco Daal confirmed that “throwing money at the situation is not the solution.” What the USM needs, Daal said, is structural funding based on a law on tertiary education.”

That theme – the elusive law on tertiary education came back in several answers. Currently the government funds USM through the subsidy ordinance with 850,000 guilders per year.

Giterson-Pantophlet pointed out that other countries in the Kingdom – meaning Aruba and Curacao – fund their universities based on a law on tertiary education.

Board member Marcellia Henry said in answer to a question from MP Chanel Brownbill (USp) that the financial struggles of the USM began long before Hurricane Irma hit the island on September 6. “The university sought external sourcing for funding,” she said. “But after Irma, private sponsors said that they could no longer continue and that financing the university is a responsibility of the government. We hope that the law on tertiary education will offer structural funding.”

Henry was herself also subject of a question by UP-MP Tamara Leonard. Vice-President Wycliffe Smith explained that Henry, a former USM-student, offered her services to the board back in 2012, and that she had been duly accepted as a board member in November of that year. “She is not a representative of the government.” he emphasized. “The government representative on the board is Olga Mussington.”

Smith confirmed that Minister of Education Silveria Jacobs had asked Henry to resign from the USM-board, citing a conflict of interest with her position as a civil servant. But Henry is currently still a board member.

SCELL, the university’s business branch that flourished under the directorship of Dr. Natasha Gittens, is currently not operational Smith said. “After Irma all contracts were canceled. The market SCELL serviced has changed. Income from SCELL-programs covered the shortfall in revenue for the university programs.”

When Gittens left SCELL, she took the accredited programs with her and started her own company, a branch of Training Professionals International Firm (TPI). “We have to protect USM against people leaving, so we need to amend the contract for the SCELL-director in a way that prohibits the use of USM-data to start their own business.” Smith said.

Answering a question from UP-MP Tamara Leonard about what went wrong at the university, Smith said that the board did not push the law on tertiary education enough. “The lack of that law caused our financial problems. We did not take a hard stance on structural funding either. We relied on promises from ministers – and earlier from the Executive Council – and just hoped that those promises would be put in place. We also could have done more about fundraising.”

Smith confirmed that the USM had been approached by someone who offered increased programs at no additional cost. That party was “a businessman, originally from Guyana who currently lives in the United States.” But Smith said that this proposal was ‘too good to be true” and that the board did not pursue discussions with the Minister of Education about it.

Smith said that Minister Jacobs has now agreed to a rescue budget for the last term of the year – a commitment of 750,000 guilders. “We are happy that the minister has found the money for the rescue budget for one semester,” Smith said.

But DP-MP Perry Geerlings was not convinced: “This is a caretaker government that is supposed to handle current affairs only. I am worried about the feasibility of this commitment. Where is that money coming from. That would be a question for the minister.”

Geerlings also observed that there is a lack of communication between the minister and USM and a lack of cooperation from the ministry. “If the USM is so important, then why is there no structural funding and such a lack of cooperation?”

Photo captions: Valerie Giterson-Pantophlet, President of the USM-board, and Marcellia Henry, USM board members. Photo screenshots sxmparliament.org.