College

U Sask. senators wants board chair to resign

Is seat on uranium company’s board a conflict of interest?

University of Saskatchewan senators want the chair of the Board of Governors to resign because she is also a board member for uranium producer Cameco Corp., reports the StarPhoenix. The handful of senators argue that Nancy Hopkins has a conflict of interest in selecting a new president.

Rumblings began earlier this year when university senator and lawyer Stefania Fortungo suggested that the university’s increasing focus on nuclear research was the result of Hopkins’ influence. “Any time that the University of Saskatchewan enlarges the role of the nuclear sciences on campus… the share prices of Cameco Corporation correspondingly increase,” she wrote in a letter.

Hopkins called the conflict of interest allegations “absurd” and said that the nuclear research centre was the provincial government’s idea, not hers.

President Peter MacKinnon said the calls for Hopkins resignation are “without any grounds at all.”