Susy Ricciardelli <susy.ricciardelli@mcgi_

"eleanor.wachtel@cbc.ca" "Johanne Bilodeau, Ms."
<johanne.bilodeau@mcgill.ca>
Objet Re: A note to the Board

Franca

On Mar 21. 2017. at 6: 10 PM, Ken Whyte wrote:

 

 

From: Andrew Potter <andrew2.potter@mcqill.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2017 5:45 PM

Subject: A note to the Board
To: <alex.'ohnston cbc.ca>, Suzanne Fortier
<tan a.chamberot cbc.ca> 
3* Susan Aberman
Karin Lornsen Ms <karin. ornsen mc Andrew Potter

 

  
   
   
 
 
 
 

 

 

Jennifer Watts

Andrew William Staples, Mr. Adriana

Goreta Ms. <adriana. oreta mc Antonia Maioni Prof. <antonia.maioni mc 
Ken Wh te
Susy Ricciardelli 

Johanne Bilodeau, Ms. <iohanne.bilodeau@mcqill.ca>

 

To the members of the Board of Trustees:

As some of you will have seen by now, I wrote a piece yesterday for Maclean?s magazine
making an argument about the relationship between the recent snowstorm crisis in Montreal
and levels of social solidarity in the province. The article has generated a great deal of negative
feedback here in Quebec, most of it directed at me personally but much has inevitably been
directed at McGill and the Institute.

The piece is ill-considered in many ways, from the poor use of anecdotes to excessively
negative rhetorical ?ourishes that add nothing to the argument. But probably the most
signi?cant is that it?s simply not the sort of piece I should be writing in my capacity as Director.
Links to the piece and my Facebook posts are appended to this note.

I can?t begin to tell all of you how much I regret even considering writing the article. I won?t try to
explain or justify it, except to say that after eight months in the job, it is clear that sometimes I

still think too much like a journalist and not enough like the representative of an academic
institution.

I will also add, in the most strenuous manner, that the column was not motivated by any
modicum of bad feeling or ill will towards this province or its people. My wife and children were
all born here, and we intend to make the rest of our lives here, because we can?t imagine living
anywhere else in Canada. Montreal is home.

The Maclean's piece cannot be taken down, but I have written a post on Facebook, in both
of?cial languages, retracting the unsupportable aspects of the column and apologizing for the
hurt caused. The university has also put out a short statement and a few tweets distancing
itself from my comments.

I would like to apologize to the members of the Administration and the members of the Board,
collectively and individually. Being Director of the MISC is an enormous privilege and
responsibility, the dream job of a lifetime, and I am extremely sorry for having let all of you and
the Institute down.

If anyone would like to speak to me privately about this, I would welcome a call or a meeting. If
anyone can suggest any further steps I can take to make this right, for MISC and for McGill, I?m
all ears.

Sincerely,

Andrew Potter

514 398-3380 iw)

Here's the original article:

malaise/

 

How a snowstorm exposed Quebec's real proble
malaise - Macleans.ca

   



The issues that led to the shutdown of a Montreal highway that left drive
beyond mere political dysfunction

retraction in French and English: