Two camps on turfing of TRU president

Some people will tell you they aren’t at all surprised at this afternoon’s announcement that Dr. Kathleen Scherf has been released as president of Thompson Rivers University after only a year on the job.

She was too colourful, too raw, they say, for the conservative environment of TRU’s bureacracy.

Nevertheless, the turfing of a university president is no small matter, and shock waves are rippling through the university, as well as the community at large.

Scherf was considered a breath of fresh air when she was hired to replace the highly competent, staid, reliable Roger Barnsley, the man who guided the institution to full university status. She’s different, to say the least — vivacious, energetic, funny, a little irreverent. She had a reputation of acting quickly once she decided a thing needed doing.

Kamloops was divided into two camps: those who thought she was the greatest thing to hit the TRU campus in its history; and those who figured her days were numbered from the start. That pretty much explains some of the reaction on the street.

Whether any details of the reasoning for the TRU board’s decision become public remains to be seen — the normal process is for personnel matters to be absolutely off limits for reasons both of fairness and legality. All we know is that something clearly wasn’t working.

It’s a blow for the university, which has experienced a mixed bag of significant successes and unfortunate blips the past year or so. Having to begin a search for a new president/vice chancellor isn’t something anyone wanted.