UNB Mathematics and Statistics professors slam the Croll and Lee Report and Lamrock's decision

Members of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics have sent the following letter to the NB Ombudsman.

Mr Bernard Richard
Ombudsman for the Province of New Brunswick
548 York Street
Fredericton
New Brunswick E3B 3R2 March 28, 2008

Dear sir:
It is now clear that the announcement of the cancellation of EFI has come as an unwelcome surprise and shock to numerous residents of this province. This response is understandable. Termination of a highly valued program such as EFI would be of concern under any circumstances, but it is especially so in the nation's only bilingual province.

As experts in the mathematical and statistical sciences at the province's largest University, we find fault with the Report of the French Second Language Commission. Firstly the data analysis in the Commission's report is incorrect; the mathematical criticisms raised in the response authored by D.J. Hamilton and M.K. Litvak are correct. Secondly, we fail to see how the far-reaching recommendations of the report follow from the analyses presented therein.

The minister's assertions justifying the decision to drop EFI are also of concern to us. These appear to stem from ideological considerations rather than from a careful scrutiny of both the type and quality of data and its analysis.

We think it is essential that policy decisions of such magnitude as the elimination of EFI be taken only after careful and repeated examination of data by experts. This is especially so if a program is being replaced by one that is untested.

Signed,

Name, Title
David Barclay, PhD Professor
Viqar Husain, PhD Professor
Colin Ingalls, PhD Associate Professor
Barry Monson, PhD Professor
Jerey Picka, PhD Associate Professor
Alyssa Sankey, PhD Instructor
Daryl Tingley, PhD Professor
Maureen Tingley, PhD Professor
James Watmough, PhD Associate Professor
David Bremner, PhD Associate Professor
Arundhati Dasgupta, PhD Associate Professor
Jack Gegenberg, PhD Professor
Tariq Hasan, PhD Associate Professor
William Knight, PhD Retired Professor
Dan Kucerovsky, PhD Professor
Renjun Ma, PhD Associate Professor
Bahram Rangipour, PhD Associate Professor
R. Don Small, PhD Professor
Vladimir Tasic, PhD Professor
Lin Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor
Hugh Thomas, PhD Associate Professor