Frank Magazine Issue 578.pdf - Besthostingplanever.com

POOR DR.
ISLAM’S
WORKPLACE,
HOMELIFE
& TUMMY
TROUBLES
BY MARY I. TAHLWOES
DALHOUSIE SPOKESTHINGY CHARLES
CROSBY TELLS ME ENGINEERING PROF
RAFIQUL ISLAM REMAINS ON THE UNI’S
PAYROLL, BUT WILL NOT COMMENT ON HIS
CURRENT EMPLOYMENT STATUS, DEEMING
THE MATTER “A PERSONNEL ISSUE.”
According to a recent N.S. Supreme Court
divorce suit between the celebrated academic
— he once told me “I am the most published
petroleum engineer in the history of mankind,”
(Frank 445) — and his estranged wife Serperi
Sevgur, Judge Douglas Campbell noted that
Dr. Islam “is presently on a paid leave of absence
at the insistence of his employer for
circumstances that have not been fully explained
to the court.”
According to Judge Campbell’s December
1 decision, Dr. Islam’s Dal absence is the subject
of a grievance which was “initially pursued
on his behalf by the (Dal) Faculty Association
but an indication was given that (the
DFA) no longer intends to take part. It is unclear
how much longer the process will take
and what the outcome will be ... [But the court
is assured] that discipline generally and job
termination specifically are not among the
possibilities.”
Unfortunately, I can not shed any light on
this bizarre situation, as I was unable to reach
Dr. Islam, who was Dal’s first Killam Chair in
Oil & Gas, and the DFA grievance committee
chairperson Carrie Dawson, the English and
Canadian Studies prof, did not return my message.
Sadly, the job front is not the only area where
Dr. Islam is facing challenges these days.
Judge Campbell noted that the alienated couple
must sell their Dartmouth house, which
he values at $350,000, since their “finances
are out of control.” For Campbell, $31,000
credit card debts, $17,000 car loan and a
$46,000 mortgage apparently constitute “out
of control.”
Court papers indicate that Rafiqul and
Serperi, who separated over two years ago
but still live in the matrimonial home together
with their two young sons (“There have been
various tensions arising from this arrangement,”
Campbell wrote), subsist almost entirely
off Dr. Islam’s $150,000-per Dal salary.
Eating into this income are private school
costs ($1,300 a month), car payments ($1,200
monthly) and a diet heavy on organically
grown food, “Some of which has to be imported
at great cost,” which the judge pegs at
$2,500 monthly, or $30,000 a year.
It all adds up to a significant shortfall which
Judge Campbell hopes can be erased by a
Dr. Islam
LAST POST AT FAIRVIEW
sale of the matrimonial home.
As chronicled previously by my organ, relations
between Dr. Islam and Dal rarely resembled
a honeymoon period. The rift apparently
widened a few years back, when Dal hung civil
engineering dept. head Dr. Islam out to dry
by refusing to defend him in a civil lawsuit over
a disputed contract, brought against both the
uni and Dr. Islam by former employee Qamar
Malik (Frank 429), who long since left the
province for the sunny Tar Sands of Alberta.
I distinctly recall Dr. Islam, in his quiet voice
and always polite manner, telling me that he
found Dal’s legal abandonment of him “heartbreaking.”
And the Bangladesh-born academic
then added philosophically, “But so
what? I’m not going to be bitter by it.”
Does Frank Know?
atlanticfrank@eastlink.ca
BY MAJOR U.P. HEAVAL
NEW FAIRVIEW LEGION PRESIDENT NEIL LANDRY DID NOT WISH
TO DISCUSS HIS PREDECESSOR PETER HANSON, WHEN I REACHED
HIM AT THE HILLCREST STREET BRANCH THE OTHER AFTERNOON.
Neil did confirm that he assumed command of Legion 142 since Peter’s
abrupt exit, which I believe occurred on January 15. Unfortunatley
our brief conversation ended before I could ask Neil to comment on an
unsubstantiated report that the outgoing president isn’t expected to visit
legion property again until 2011.
I was unable to contact Peter, whose Fairview reign I am told lasted
about a year, or as some schadenfreude fanatics are now putting it, about
Peter Hanson
a year too long.
The Fairview legion received its charter in January 1952, and now has a membership over
700.
Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command prezzie Steve Wessel did not return my message.
FEBRUARY 16, 2010 ATLANTIC CANADA FRANK 5