Start a Letter Campaign to the Premier!

Jody Berland

As faculty members we care for the quality of education we are able to offer our students. Write to the Premier, and cc. your letter to your MPP and to OCUFA.

Sample letter:

Hon. Dalton McGuinty
Premier
Liberal Party of Ontario
Room 281 Main Legislative Building
Queen's Park Toronto
ON M7A 1A1

Dear Premier McGuinty,

As a faculty member, I’m writing to express my strong support for increased investment in our province’s universities. Despite the many successes of Reaching Higher, Ontario is still lagging behind the rest of Canada. We have the worst student-to-faculty ratio of any province. As a result, my workload has increased and the quality of the education I can offer my students is threatened. My students are unhappy with their educational experience and my colleagues are very demoralized. I want to see
that change.

Increased funding will improve the quality of my workplace – and my students’ university experience. At the same time it will provide our economy with the skilled workforce we need to
succeed.

A greater commitment to Ontario universities would mean:
* smaller classes, allowing for more effective learning;
* a higher proportion of full time tenure track professors in the classroom
* more time with individual students;
* greater support for the research conducted at Ontario’s universities, vital to our province’s economic and social well-being; and
* expanded and modernized campus facilities for my university, such as housing, libraries and laboratories

It just makes sense. In an economic downturn, increased investment in higher education will ease youth unemployment, improve the quality of education, and give young people the skills they need to help build a stronger, creative economy.

I urge you to do everything you can to make university investment an increased priority for the provincial government. Please don’t let us down. My university – and our province’s future – depend on your action now.

Yours truly,

Prof Jody Berland
14 Alcina Ave
Toronto On M6G 2E8

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