By VIRAJ PERPALL, Guardian Staff Reporter

viraj@nasguard.com

More than 150 COB members of both the faculty and staff unions walked out of a general meeting yesterday. According to reports, the Council Chairman appeared to have turned a deaf ear to a request to apply the same formal application criteria to the newest applicant as had been given to the other two applicants, Drs Rhonda Chipman-Johnson and Pandora Johnson.

The walk-out occurred immediately after the chairman invited the newest presidential applicant Ms Janyne Hodder to take the stage to address them.

Allegations of breaching the criterion for the application for presidency, that faculty and staff were not a part of the application process and a lack of transparency by the college council were just a few of the grave concerns of members who refused to hear Ms Holder's comments.

The matter arose over the fact that there had not been an equal playing field for all applicants during the application process. Many felt that Ms Hodder had been given special treatment.

"When Drs Rhonda Chapman-Johnson and Pandora Johnson applied, they did not have the opportunity to be introduced to us," said Jennifer Issacs-Dotson, president of the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas.

It's not about her (Ms Hodder) as a person but we feel that the position should have been re-advertised," she said.

Members of the union stated that out of the 600 plus faculty and staff at COB, more than 90 percent stand by the decision that the matter was handled incorrectly and they have indicated that they disapprove of any future president being brought into the college under such circumstances.

Students of the college also expressed their disapproval of the matter indicating that they have no doubts about Ms Hodder's qualifications, but they feel slighted by the council's "indiscreet" actions.

"Our position is that the process has been aborted, the criterion was changed without informing the major stake-holders and we stand with the faculty and staff on the issue," said Matthew Arnett, Vice-President of COBUS.