RAAS Report
RAAS REPORT
Friday, April 30, 2021
PRESIDENT’S UPDATE
We are at the end of another term during this pandemic. We know that this term has been extremely difficult for students. I want to acknowledge how difficult it has been for everyone. I am so appreciative to be among colleagues who work tirelessly to support students, ensure the integrity of our programs, disseminate critical new knowledge, and contribute to building a better institution and system of post-secondary education. You do all this while supporting family and friends through this very difficult moment in time. I am grateful to have such wonderful colleagues.
Sadly, the end of this term brings with it the end of jobs for 110 faculty members, and an unknown number of staff, at Laurentian University. The cuts to post-secondary education, coupled with the undermining of collegial governance, resulted in Laurentian being the first university in history to use a bankruptcy process meant for private companies to restructure (CCAA). Thank you to all the RAAS members who have added their voice in protest, from signing petitions to joining our local MPP Laura Mae Lindo in Facebook Live discussions (most recently, Dr. Kathy Hogarth).
TODAY you can stand in solidarity with colleagues against the cuts at Laurentian by joining the RALLY ON WHEELS. Please see the reminder email I sent yesterday to join the in-person rally in your area or join the online event. You can also share a message on social media using #IWillDefendPublicEducation. It is important that all workers join to fight attacks on public post-secondary education.
This past week I attended the three-day CAUT Council. CAUT passed a motion calling for the resignation of particular Laurentian administrators, members of the Board, and the Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano. CAUT also passed a rare motion to censure the University of Toronto. Censure was based on the Administration’s failure to resolve concerns regarding academic freedom stemming from a hiring scandal in the Faculty of Law. Censure means that CAUT association members are asked to refuse to engage in events at UofT and not to apply for positions at UofT until they address the issue. For more on this issue, see https://www.caut.ca/latest/2021/04/caut-council-imposes-rare-censure-against-university-toronto-over-azarova-hiring
The RAAS Executive plans to hold one more membership meeting before the summer months. Please tentatively hold Thursday, June 24th from 1-3pm. We are fortunate that CAUT President, Brenda Austin-Smith, has offered to join our next meeting to discuss many of the challenges in the sector. We still need to confirm our meeting time with her before we make a definite plan. We will send an Outlook invitation as soon as we can.
Hoping you all get a break before the next term begins.
Kristina Llewellyn
RAAS President
BRASS TACKS AND RAAS FAQs
Q: What is the duty of fair representation (DFR) in the grievance process?
RAAS owes a duty of fair representation (DFR) to Members, described in the Ontario Labour Relations Act as follows:
74. A trade union or council of trade unions, so long as it continues to be entitled to represent employees in a bargaining unit, shall not act in a manner that is arbitrary, discriminatory or in bad faith in the representation of any of the employees in the unit, whether or not members of the trade union or of any constituent union of the council of trade unions, as the case may be.
This a procedural right, not a right to a particular outcome. If the outcome of a grievance process is not what the complainant would have preferred, this does not necessarily mean RAAS has breached its duty of fair representation. RAAS represents the interests of the bargaining unit as a whole. Sometimes the best interests of the Membership override the best interests of individual Members.
The grievance process can be anything from an informal inquiry to a formal matter that progresses to a Meeting with the Administration (Step 1a), to review by an ad hoc Dispute Resolution Committee (Step 1b), to Arbitration (Step 2) and in extremely rare cases, judicial review (Step 3).
Please visit the RAAS website for further details.
Jason Blokhuis
RAAS Grievance Officer
SATIRE
ALANIS MORISETTE’S IRONIC REVISED FOR EXASPERATED PARENTS
Julie Vick, Lindsay Hameroff, and Andrew Knott, McSweeney’s (April 20, 2021)
A young dad, feels 98
Won the lottery, blew it on childcare that day
It’s a French fry in your Chardonnay
It’s a fresh diaper grabbed two seconds too late
And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?
It’s like rain on your park playdate
It’s a free kids meal when you’ve already paid
It’s the sleep advice that you just didn’t take
And who would’ve thought, it figures…
NOT SATIRE
University Finances – Questions for Faculty Associations to Ask [report attached]
OCUFA (March 26, 2021)
With Laurentian University under creditor protection, university practices for managing their finances are under scrutiny.
For OCUFA member faculty associations, there are four principal questions about university governance and university finances:
· Are Boards of Governors, or their equivalent bodies, exercising due diligence?
· Are Boards and university administrations providing full disclosure?
· Are there any indications the university’s financial position is at risk?
· Are university administrations undertaking transactions or engaging in practices that put the university’s finances at risk?
For additional reference, CAUT has also published a legal advisory on the fiduciary duties of university board members.
BOARD UPDATE
On April 28th, the Board of Governors approved a budget for the new fiscal year, which starts on May 1, 2021. We are ending the current fiscal year with a loss of revenue of $5.5 million and a deficit of over $1 million.
On a happier note, motions to approve the recommendation that Christina Parker and Craig Fortier be promoted to the rank of Associate Professor (with tenure) were unanimously carried. Congratulations, Christina and Craig!
Wendy's second and final term as President will come to an end next summer. The Board approved a motion to strike a Presidential Search Committee at its May meeting and a motion to begin the process of selecting a search firm. The Nine-Member Search Committee will include four Board members not employed by Renison; two regular faculty members, onestaff person, one member of the MDG, and one student.
Matthew Kieswetter (Diocese of Huron) will be stepping down and Peter Ringrose (Governance Committee Chair) will reach the end of his final term at the end of this year. Nominations for new Board members will open in August.
Please reach out to either or both of your Board reps for further details.
Edwin Ng and Jason Blokhuis
Faculty Board Representatives
FAUW COUNCIL UPDATE
FAUW held its annual general meeting on April 16, 2021. The president, Dan Brown, presented his report, and the treasurer, Brent Matheson, presented the budget for 2021-2022. There was a more open discussion of issues of interest to the membership, including planning for the Fall term, which is mostly happening at the faculty/departmental level at the moment. The members also passed a motion of support for the Laurentian University Faculty Association. The statement can be found here:
More details about the AGM can be found on the FAUW blog:
Meg Gibson
Renison Representative
FAUW LECTURERS COMMITTEE UPDATE
[For Aga’s full report, please see the attached PDF file – ed.]
1. Lecturers’ Town Hall
On March 30, 2021, the FAUW Lecturers Committee hosted a virtual Town Hall for all UW Lecturers. The meeting was well attended (75 attendees including the LC members and invited guests). The LC chair, Su-Yin Tan, presented some key information about lecturers at UW, whose number almost doubled since 2009 and who currently constitute a little over 18% of all faculty appointments. The chair gave an overview of the main goals of the LC and activities the committee has been engaged in to achieve these goals.
2. Teaching-stream/teaching-track professoriate at some universities in Ontario
Kate Lawson, Associate Professor, English Language and Literature, asked the LC for feedback on her two blog posts on the teaching-stream/teaching-track faculty at The University of Toronto and McMaster’s University. The LC chair compiled the comments from LC members and shared them with Kate before the two blogs were published on the FAUW blog website.
3. UW lecturers’ involvement in research and other scholarship activities
Currently, the LC is focusing on research and other scholarship activities in which UW lecturers are involved. To collect the data on this topic, the LC task group has had two separate meetings with lecturers with an explicit research component in their workload and with lecturers without such a component but actively engaged in other forms of scholarship.
Aga Wolczuk
REN Representative
CAUT NEWS
RAAS is a member of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), a nation-wide association of our peers.
CAUT Condemns Job Losses at Laurentian University
Lisa Keller, CAUT (April 12, 2021)
Today’s layoffs could have been avoided and will undermine Laurentian University’s chances of recovery, charges the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). At least 80 members of Laurentian University Faculty Association (LUFA) are said to have received termination notices today. “These job cuts stem from the closed-door mediation process among creditors triggered after Laurentian was granted insolvency protection. Staff, students and the community of Sudbury are paying the price for poor administration and government inaction,” says CAUT President Brenda Austin-Smith.
OCUFA NEWS
RAAS is a member of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA), a province-wide association of our peers.
Opinion: Universities are dying while businesses are being bailed out by government
Reuben Roth, Sudbury.com (April 26, 2021)
Laurentian University professor Dr. Reuben Roth says not only does Ontario need to overhaul how it funds universities, but the CCAA process needs to be reformed or scrapped entirely for all the destruction it has caused to working people.
Laurentian University's restructuring trumps collective agreement
CBC News (April 26, 2021)
Christine Sansolone is a professor in the department of Modern Languages until May 15 — when she loses her job and the department is discontinued.
Indigenous Studies courses won’t be taught by the University of Sudbury profs who developed them
Jenny Lamothe, Sudbury.com (April 27, 2021)
Former University of Sudbury Indigenous Studies professor Will Morin said he’s angry Laurentian University has not hired faculty members from the Indigenous Studies discipline to teach six courses formerly offered by the University of Sudbury. After Laurentian announced earlier this month it’s terminating the federation agreement with the three federated universities operating on Laurentian’s campus, the University of Sudbury announced it would not be offering any classes this spring. That included its Indigenous Studies courses.
Applications to Ontario universities rise for Fall 2021
Joe Pavia, CBC News (April 27, 2021)
Applications to Ontario universities, for fall 2021, have risen by tens of thousands over the previous one-year period, according to preliminary figures. From April 2020 to April 2021, the total number of applications is 701,853, according to the Ontario University Application Centre (OUAC) in Guelph. There's a noticeable increase in the number of applications by people not coming right out of high school, by 20,000, double the number in 2012.
Liberal MP’s bill aims to keep turmoil at Laurentian University from happening at other schools
Kristin Rushowy, Toronto Star (April 18, 2021) [may require subscription]
Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre plans to introduce the bill just a week after news of massive cuts at Laurentian, including the loss of 110 faculty positions and 69 programs. “I’m going to add post-secondary institutions to the exemptions for institutions that cannot avail themselves of CCAA protection. It’s as simple as that,” Lefebvre said, referring to the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, which allows for court protection during financial restructuring. “What has happened here at Laurentian University cannot be repeated anywhere else across the country,” he said.
Recommendation expected in May on Canada Christian College application
Nicole Brockbank, CBC News (April 19, 2021)
The independent board reviewing Canada Christian College's applications to call itself a university and offer new degree programs expects to make a recommendation to the Ontario government on the controversial request next month. The province first faced a backlash about the applications last fall when new COVID-19 recovery legislation appeared to transform the private religious college — run by a social conservative ally of Premier Doug Ford — into a university before an independent review of the school's applications was complete.
FAUW NEWS
RAAS has a service agreement with the Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo (FAUW), a campus-wide association of our peers
FAUW Board Election Results
Laura Macdonald, FAUW Blog (April 18, 2021)
The results are in! Thank you to the 18 candidates who put their names forward for nomination this year. FAUW is grateful for your willingness to serve, and for your participation in a democratic process that strengthens the Association. Thank you also to the 44% of voting members who voted in the at-large election and 64% of Lecturer voting members who voted for the Lecturer seat!
We’d like to congratulate the following Members who have been elected to the FAUW Board of Directors:
Trevor Charles
Frankie Condon
Mary Hardy
Su-Yin Tan (Lecturer seat)
Vershawn Young
If you’d like to get to know your new Board members, you can read their candidate profiles, which are still available on the FAUW website.
May 19: Countering anti-Black racism in universities
Laura Mae Lindo, MPP for Kitchener Centre, is a respected activist and educator who holds both a Masters and PhD in Education. On May 19, Lindo will talk with FAUW members about what faculty can do to counter anti-Black racism in the university. Get the details and meeting link.