BURST
Kwantlen Polytechnic University is dealing with the unexplained absence of its new president for the past several weeks.
A note to teachers from the Surrey-based school’s faculty association earlier this month said Bruce Choy, who took over in September, 2025, has cancelled scheduled meetings and his official installation as president has been postponed.
Kwantlen Faculty Association president Mark Diotte said the university community “has received no formal communication regarding his multi-week absence or of any appointment of an acting president.”
Kwantlen spokesman David Connop Price said the chair of the KPU board of governors, Erin Barnes, sent the following message to employees on Monday: “The board of governors of Kwantlen Polytechnic University has appointed Diane Purvey as acting president of KPU for an indeterminate time frame while Bruce Choy is on leave, also for an undetermined time and which is confidential in nature.
“Purvey acted in the capacity of president previously prior to Choy joining KPU and the board has every confidence in her ability to lead during this period.”
Purvey is the provost and vice-president, academic, at Kwantlen.
Diotte said the annual budget was passed by the board of governors in January, two months ahead of usual, and Choy wasn’t at the meeting.
“At that meeting, we understand that vice-president Diane Purvey was referred to as interim university president,” said Diotte.
Asked on Wednesday whether Purvey was in charge, Diotte said faculty got no formal confirmation before Monday’s statement.
Asked if the president was on paid or unpaid leave, KPU would only say he is “being compensated in line with the terms of his contract.”
Asked what his salary was, KPU replied: “His salary will become public next year through the statement of financial information report and public sector executive compensation disclosure statement.”
Diane Walsh, vice-president of grievances for the faculty association, confirmed a “vacuum” of information from Kwantlen senior management.
“I can tell you straight up that we have not been informed of the reasons for the new president’s absence,” Walsh told Postmedia. “We were only informed very recently it was a leave at all, and that Diane Purvey had been appointed interim president at the beginning of January.”
Walsh said all this is happening “in a vacuum of information about administration and with a lack of clarity around responsibility and accountability.”
“We have very little information about the KPU president or a complaint,” said Diotte in a message to Postmedia. “However, we do have concerns about the effective operation of the university . For example, we have observed irregularities with the passing of the KPU budget.
“It is the same administrators responsible for managing the university based on the liability of overreliance on international student enrolment who are now running the place.”
Diotte claimed “there is a pattern of inaccurate financial and enrolment projections and so forth.”
A faculty meeting is scheduled for March 3 to “discuss non-confidence in our senior administration,” said Diotte.
This is all a continuation of concerns about how Kwantlen has operated since the federal government reduced the number of international students allowed into Canada.
Choy was hired in June after a survey found that two-thirds of Kwantlen’s faculty supported a vote of non-confidence in the administration under longtime president Alan Davis. Educators cited a lack of transparency and communication, autocratic and disrespectful leadership and mismanagement, and poor planning around international enrolment.
The university announced faculty layoffs in 2025 while failing to trim an administration that was perceived by many as bloated.
Before coming to Kwantlen, Choy was an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto and chairperson of the George Brown College of Applied Arts and Technology’s board of governors. His appointment was announced last June and he started in the role in early September.
In an interview with Darpan Magazine published earlier this month, Choy acknowledged revenue declines from the loss of international students.
“We have already started a realignment of our administrative functions to empower our revenue-generating operations, while we continue to prudently manage expenses.”
He said he hopes to strengthen KPU as “a centre of lifelong learning,” offering locals an opportunity to upgrade their skills and make mid-career upgrades.