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“I’m pretty much the only one who isn’t handcuffed by these sets of rules,” he said.

The Carleton University Academic Staff Association, which has about 850 members, supports Gorelick. Grievance chair Pum van Veldhoven says anyone can attend open sessions of the board and follow the discussions.

“It’s outrageous. They were denying his right to do his job.”

Van Veldhoven added that Gorelick was declared ineligible for the board during a closed session. “We are asking for open elections, not closed elections.”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers is doing a survey of common practices on all university boards of governors in Canada. So far, Robinson said, it has found no other university board that imposes so much control on its members.

“Universities are not like a corporate board. There are no trade secrets. Clearly, there are incidences where the board has to go in camera — land purchases or personnel matters, say — but this has over-reached in the interpretation of confidentiality,” he said.

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“Some on the board come from a position of cabinet solidarity. It might be legitimate in a corporate setting, but not in a university. I think it’s entirely inappropriate to have this kind of cone-of-silence gag order.”

The association is contemplating a imposing a “censure” of Carleton, and may bring up the issue at a meeting in November. This rarely-used sanction would discourage academics from seeking jobs, speaking or holding conferences at Carleton. The last censure was imposed on First Nations University of Canada in 2008 over staff firings and resignations.

“It is essentially an academic boycott,” said Robinson.

Gorelick isn’t sure what his next step will be. He said he has exhausted all his appeals, but will remain active. “The university still needs to do better. I can still be proactive about making it better.”