Concordia University executives will be meeting with two retired professors who very publicly decided to stop donating to the university.
Earlier in July, Judith and Jack Kornblatt wrote an open letter to university students and alumni explaining that despite donating thousands of dollars to the school over the past four decades, they no longer felt proud of the school.
"There was a time when we thought of this university in glowing terms. Students were here to learn; faculty were here to teach; administrators and staff were here to smooth the interface between the students and the teachers. All the pieces of the complex puzzle fit together nicely. The puzzle has been disrupted,” wrote the Kornblatts.
The letter also criticized consecutive administrations for 'squandering' money on salaries and perks.
As a result, outgoing university president Frederick Lowy said he hopes to meet with the Kornblatts about their decision, saying Concordia's financial record is actually quite sound.
"We have one of the lowest accumulated debts of any of Quebec's universities, and although there have been expenditures that can be questioned, the fact is that our record is very good in this area," said Lowy.
Lowy wraps up his term as interim president this month.
Alan Shepard begins a five-year term on August 1, 2012.
The school's two previous presidents did not finish their terms.
Claude Lajeunesse left two years into his contract, while Judith Woodsworth departed in December 2011, halfway through her five-year mandate.
The exact reasons for their departures have never been made clear.
