Probing U of M’s PhD controversy

Decision regarding candidate was a mistake

Let me assure you: this is not another article about Vic Toews. That story has been done to death now, and we’ve learned some things from it. 

Like, that a university should not hand out doctorates like they’re Halloween candy. When it does, it damages the reputation of not only the university’s administration, but that of the students who attend it. 

Honouring Vic Toews with a degree was as absurd as, say, awarding a PhD to a student who not only failed their PhD candidacy exam (twice), but didn’t even finish all of the coursework necessary to complete the program.

That is, of course, unless your name is John Doering, dean of graduate studies at the University of Manitoba. 

Here’s the story: In March of 2009, a PhD candidate in the department of mathematics at the U of M failed their candidacy exam for the second time.

Thus, he or she (their identity is being protected) was required to withdraw from the program. Three months later, the student appealed to Doering, claiming that (s)he suffers from exam anxiety. 

Alarm bells should have sounded then. Exam anxiety is a legitimate impairment: both the U of W and U of M offer accommodations for students who declare they suffer from it.

But the candidate in question never declared such impairment prior to their second failed PhD candidacy exam. 

Over the course of their entire academic career, not once did this student claim to suffer from exam anxiety.

Doering didn’t exactly call bullshit and send the student away with a “good luck” and a handshake.

Instead, over the protests of the mathematics department’s graduate studies committee, Doering reinstated the candidate into the PhD program, waiving the exam requirement altogether.

Just like that. 

A member of the graduate studies committee resigned, reportedly in protest of Doering’s actions. That board member was replaced in October 2009 by Gábor Lukács, a child prodigy who began university at age 12 and earned his PhD from York University before he was old enough to drink in the United States. 

Lukács believes that Doering grossly overstepped his authority in awarding a PhD without examination. So, he began going through several university channels to have Doering’s decision reversed.

Each time he was told either to go somewhere else, or assured that nothing was wrong and he should stop making such a big stink. Lukács, besides being a man of integrity, apparently has a fool-proof bullshit detector built into his genius brain.

So, in September, Lukács applied to the Court of Queen’s Bench for a judicial review of the case. He wants to obtain an injunction, which would prevent the PhD candidate from receiving their degree until they fulfill the degree requirements, and to clarify the jurisdiction of the dean of graduate studies to prevent Doering from handing out incomplete degrees in the future.

In response to Lukács’s actions, the U of M has suspended him, without pay, for three months. Clearly, he has become a dangerous man in challenging the inscrutable power of the school’s administration. It seems there is no place at the university for someone with such dedication to ethics in education.

Lukács’s future with the U of M is unclear, but he expects to be fired. He has injured the reputation of the school by making public the absurdity of its administration, and, apparently, it is easier to remove one professor than have the dean of graduate studies admit he made a foolish decision.

Perhaps the U of W should offer Lukács a position in its department of mathematics and statistics.
We could sure use the integrity boost after that whole Vic Toews debacle.

Rob Holt is a third-year student at the University of Winnipeg. He does not expect an invitation to Dean Doering’s next family barbeque.

Published in Volume 65, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 4, 2010)

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