SASKATOON—A University of Saskatchewan professor who was fired for speaking out about budget cuts is being offered back tenure, but not his job as the head of the School of Public Health.

Senior leaders at the Saskatoon-based school say Robert Buckingham's termination has been reconsidered and reversed.

“Academic freedom and tenure are sacrosanct at the University of Saskatchewan,” university president Ilene Busch-Vishniac said in a news release Thursday.

“This case, however, is not about academic freedom. Dr. Buckingham was removed from his executive director position for acting contrary to the expectations of his leadership role.”

Busch-Vishniac said the debate over Buckingham's treatment is confusing his role as head of the School of Public Health with the academic freedom associated with a tenured faculty member. She said Buckingham is “not only permitted but encouraged to have opinions that might disagree with those developed by top administrators.”

“However, once a decision is made at the institutional level, all senior leaders must publicly conform to that decision or resign their leadership role.”

Buckingham was escorted from campus by police Wednesday after writing a letter to the government and Opposition New Democrats about an overhaul at the university.

The school released a plan last month that includes cutting jobs, reorganizing the administration and dissolving some programs to try to save about $25 million. The cuts are part of a bigger goal to address a projected $44.5-million deficit in the school's operating budget by 2016.

The plan calls for the School of Public Health to be rolled into the College of Medicine, but Buckingham worries that could jeopardize the school's recently earned international accreditation.

Buckingham said in his letter that Busch-Vishniac told senior leaders not to publicly disagree with the planned overhaul or their 'tenure would be short.' He said that never in 40 years of academic life has he seen faculty being told that they could not speak out or debate issues.

The university's decision to reinstate Buckingham came shortly after Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said he wanted an urgent meeting between the province and the university board.

Wall said he spoke with the board and its chairman, but did not insist on Buckingham being reinstated.

“No, again, there's the principle of the independence of the university,” Wall said Thursday at the legislature in Regina.

“I think that it's fair to say that deep concerns (were) expressed. The university was hearing, as we all were, from right across the country, significantly in Saskatoon from students, from faculty.”

Wall said the province still wants to talk to the board about whether the firing broke the University of Saskatchewan Act.

“The concern . . . is even with this decision today, what about the policies that are required to be followed as spelled out in the act? These are not just notional ideas in some sort of an agreement. There are some legislative requirements on the part of the university for these things.”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers, the national voice for 68,000 academic and general staff at more than 120 universities and colleges, called the firing “an inexcusable embarrassment to the traditions and history of the University of Saskatchewan and an embarrassment to post-secondary education across Canada.”

“Open discussion and debate is at the heart of the university,” association director James Turk wrote in a statement.

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“Firing a dean and tenured full professor because he publicly disagreed with your plans for the university is an intolerable attack on academic freedom and proper university governance.”

Turk suggested Busch-Vishniac should publicly apologize to Buckingham for “her ill-considered and heavy-handed response to proper discussion and debate.”

“That is the only remedy that has the possibility of restoring the reputation of an excellent university that you have so badly damaged.”