Rebuilding FNUC

The Leader-Post reports on the final recommendations from the FNUC task force:

The 32-member board of the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) should be reduced to 13 people by April 1, with far fewer chiefs and no provincial or federal government representation, says an eagerly awaited task force report on the university's future...

Other recommendations include:
- Develop a plan to promote healing within the university and to improve relationships with outside groups such as government, the media and other First Nations communities;
- Develop a strategy to make FNUC an autonomous degree-granting institution. The U of R grants degrees for FNUC;
- Improve internal audit controls;
- Have more open hiring and recruitment policies;
- Clarify the "congruence" between indigenous knowledge and academic freedom.

Most of the recommendations listed in the article seem fairly obvious, but apparently they needed to come from the task force before being acted upon. Hopefully the current stakeholders, especially those who stand to lose seats on the board under the task force's plan, will realize that it's better to have a less formal role in a successful FNUC than a seat on the board of an institution paralyzed by politics.