By Lillie Coussée, Jasmine Makar and Jerry Zhang
Pamela Sugiman was removed as the Dean of The Faculty of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) on July 31, The Eyeopener has learned from an open letter. The termination came two weeks before her expected return from a mid-term administrative leave.
Sugiman, who was in her second five-year term as Dean, had a meeting with Provost and Vice-President Academic Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano on July 31, where she was given notice of her immediate termination.
Due to personal circumstances, Sugiman took a compassionate leave in November 2023 followed by a mid-term administrative leave, she confirmed in an interview with The Eye. She was set to return on Aug. 14, 2024 to finish her remaining two and half years as Dean.
Sugiman suggested a meeting with Iannacito-Provenzano herself earlier that month to discuss her expected return. She said she went into this meeting without any knowledge of what was to come and claimed to have received no communication from TMU that would suggest she would be removed from her position.
“I was in complete disbelief,” the former dean said. “I really thought we were just going to catch up.”
The next day, on Aug. 1, Iannacito-Provenzano sent an email to the entire faculty of arts informing them that Sugiman would not be returning as dean.
The email was obtained by The Eye and reads “Pam Sugiman will not be returning to her role as Dean of The Faculty of Arts…on behalf of the university, I want to thank Pam Sugiman for her dedication, service and leadership as Dean.”
Jacqui Gingras, a sociology professor at TMU in The Faculty of Arts, said the email was “vague” and left many faculty members assuming Sugiman made the choice to step down due to personal reasons.
“In no way did the Provost’s email clarify that it was not her decision to step away,” she said.
Gingras said she was “shocked, surprised and devastated” to learn of Sugiman’s removal from her role. She believes “there is no legitimate reason for her dismissal and this is not how collegial governance happens at a university.”
“This is a direct undermining of what we cherish at the university in terms of collegial governance,” she said.
Due to confidentiality, Sugiman was not able to say why she was removed from her position.
Normally, a dean serves a five-year term and is selected by a committee of representatives from the administration and faculty.
Anne-Marie Singh, a criminology professor at TMU was on the committee for the renewal of Sugiman’s second-term in 2021. She said if there had been any concern about Sugiman at that time, she would not have made any recommendations for her renewal as dean.
“Nothing was communicated to us as the committee,” she said. “There had been no indication that anything was wrong or amiss with her deanship [and] leadership.”
An open letter demanding Sugiman’s reinstatement was sent to TMU administration on Aug. 13. The letter has over 180 signatures as of Aug. 21, mainly from TMU faculty but also from TMU-affiliated community members outside the university.
Alan Sears, a sociology professor at TMU, drafted the letter with help from other faculty members. Having worked with Sugiman for over 10 years, he said the motive behind the open letter was to show TMU’s upper administration that many people are “concerned this is an unprecedented kind of action.”
“There had been no indication that anything was wrong or amiss with her deanship [and] leadership.”
Sears has been teaching at TMU full-time since 1988. He said in all his years of teaching, he’s never heard of a dean being removed in the way Sugiman was—not only at TMU but at other universities as well.
“I’m very worried that when [someone is] removed like this, it’s a statement that the administration wants to charge ahead with their agenda without trying to work carefully with people from below,” he said. “I’m concerned there will be kind of a chill that will result from this and people will feel a little less free to express their views.”
The university declined to comment on the circumstances under which Sugiman was unable to complete her term.
In an emailed statement sent to The Eye on Aug. 16, the university stated this is a “human resources matter involving individual employees” and therefore will be “addressed as confidential matters.”
Nicole Neverson, an associate professor in sociology, said Sugiman was a “champion” of equity. She added that Sugiman brought many changes in her time as Dean and “infused equity” into every decision.
“I think while we might not know all of the details, it’s hard to sit here and tell you that none of that [equity work] had anything to do with this decision,” said Neverson.
Singh also emphasized the quality and quantity of Sugiman’s equity work and said she created positive growth to push for more equity and diversity within The Faculty of Arts.
“Under Sugiman’s leadership, the number of Black, Indigenous and racialized hires has increased exponentially,” she said. She worries this will “all come to a screeching halt” without Sugiman as Dean.
Many faculty members have expressed this is a decision “they cannot accept” according to Neverson. She said she’s questioning the university’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion because of these actions.
“Those words are all over the brochures, all over the website, all over the speeches that certain admin like to give and that’s okay, but it’s another thing to actually walk the walk of those words,” she said.
Sugiman said she ultimately wants to be reinstated as Dean. She expressed she has certain goals she wants to achieve for faculty as well as the democratization of campus and decolonization of course work and said there is still “a lot of work that needed to be done.”
“I wanted to make sure that these changes became institutionalized,” she said.
Sugiman, who is a racialized women herself, said she fears racialized or Indigenous individuals will see what happened to her and become discouraged from assuming a leadership role.
She said this “would be a real loss to the university.”
According to the email sent by Iannacito-Provenzano to The Faculty of Arts, she will be starting “the search process to identify a new dean in the next few months and will keep faculty and staff up to date.”
Sugiman said she informed TMU she is being represented by an employment lawyer but could not specify what her next steps will be.
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