President of Conestoga College facing calls to resign over recent statements

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Conestoga College President John Tibbits.

He was first embroiled in a war of words with Sault College President David Orazietti in which Tibbits used a derogatory term to describe Orazietti.

Then at an event last week, he implied that some international students are purposely choosing to live in overcrowded situations as a way to save money.

This did not sit well with the unions representing college employees.

OPSEU Local 237 President Leopold Koff and Local 238 President Vikki Poirier jointly penned a letter to the Conestoga Board of Governors.

In the letter, they expressed their concerns over the comments and said the Board of Governors needs to uphold the employee code of conduct. The letter called for Tibbits to step down.

“I can tell you that if one of our employees had said something like that, I would be heading into meetings.” said Poirier. “It doesn’t go with the values, especially our code of conduct.”

However, the letter has not yet received a response from either the Board of Governors or Tibbits.

“It sounds like the Board isn’t prepared to do anything more,” said Koff. “This is where Vikki and I perhaps make an overture to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities to suggest perhaps there should be a second review from an impartial level.”

The letter did offer the President an olive branch of sorts.

The unions said because of Tibbits’ 35-plus years of commitment and dedication to the college, retirement could be a fair way for the board to proceed.