Tension at the Professional Conservatory of Mallorca over the election process for the directorship after the death of a candidate

PalmThe selection process for the directorship of the Professional Conservatory of Music and Dance of Mallorca has been called into question following the sudden death in April of tenor Antoni Aragón, the center's interim director and a candidate for the position, amid calls for the suspension of the competition, allegations of potential conflicts of interest, and criticism of the procedure's impartiality.

According to the educational community, “at the same time that the selection process for the new director of the Professional Conservatory of Music and Dance of Mallorca began, the renowned tenor Antoni Aragón passed away from an unexpected but fatal heart attack”. Aragón —had submitted his candidacy with his team for the direction of the center”.

The text assures that “a very large majority of teachers, as well as representatives of families and the educational community, expressed the desire and convenience of suspending the selection process and postponing it until the following academic year in order to recover from the great shock that this event has caused throughout the musical community, respect the mourning, and allow the candidacy to be redone”.

Extraordinary Senate

Likewise, it indicates that “the teaching staff, meeting in assembly, requested —with the support of much more than a third of its members, as established by the regulations for its convocation— the convocation of an extraordinary faculty meeting with a single item on the agenda: the request to postpone the process”. However, according to the statement, “the Conservatory's education inspector, who will be the president of the selection committee, informed the current acting management —with a lack of sufficient distance from the facts under controversy— not to proceed with this convocation, arguing that it is not the faculty meeting's competence to make this request”.

In relation to the candidacies, the text points out that “in the framework of this selection process, four projects were submitted, three of which are composed of the same group of people, all members of former management teams, who exchange positions according to the candidacy, and have shown no interest in suspending the process”. It also maintains that “the fourth project has been disqualified from the competition following the tragic death of its visible head last Thursday, April 2nd” and that “the refusal to postpone the selection process leaves all members of Antoni Aragón's candidacy defenseless”.

Finally, the statement concludes that “the inspector's decision, the peculiarity of the candidacies, and the unprecedented legal situation objectively compromise the required impartiality, generate a conflict of interest situation, and affect the credibility and validity of the procedure”.

Furthermore, it warns that “the impact of this situation causes a deterioration of the center's internal climate and creates distrust in the selection process, as it does not guarantee fairness and, furthermore, violates the moral and legal duty of abstention established in current regulations, in addition to the principles of equality, merit, capacity, and objectivity that must govern access to public functions”.