New documents offer little insight on UBC president’s resignation

VANCOUVER – Hundreds of pages of documents relating to the resignation of a former University of British Columbia president have become public, but they don’t reveal why Arvind Gupta relinquished his post.

The university has released 861 pages of documents in response to a series of Access to Information requests, including meeting agendas, receipts, emails and the terms of Gupta’s resignation.

Gupta abruptly left his job in August, just one year into his five-year term, saying he would return to his academic career as a computer science professor.

Emails show UBC board of governors chair John Montalbano wanted to have a “confidential discussion, not captured on email” with Gupta just days before board members received notice about a meeting where they would discuss the president’s resignation.

An agreement dated Aug. 6, 2015, shows UBC agreed to top-up Gupta’s $446,750 salary until Jan. 31, 2016, and that he would be given a year’s leave of absence from Feb. 1, 2015 to Jan. 31, 2017, plus a $130,000 research grant.

Montalbano stepped down in October after an investigation into a professor’s claims that she was intimidated after writing a blog post suggesting Gupta lost a “masculinity contest” with the school’s leadership.