restructuring

Joy Mannette
Faculty of Education

I wish I could say that I am astounded that YUFA members are even considering teaching stream appointments. Sadly, there is little that surprises me in the market-driven, instrumentalist university. In this article I address how institutionally segregating seconded faculty from research has resulted in a de facto practice/theory split which is an ongoing feature of the work in the Faculty of Education despite discourse to the contrary.

Lykke de la Cour
Department of Social Science

As a long service CUPE member now holding a CLA position, my current employment location affords a bit of a 'borderland' view, between YUFA and CUPE, on the renewed proposals for a teaching-only stream. This proposal, like its TSA predecessor, is extremely flawed, contradictory, and illogical, and will do absolutely nothing towards improving teaching and learning conditions at the university.

OCUFA
September 2008

Whatever the reasons universities may have to establish full-time teaching-only faculty positions, and however they may propose to structure these positions, they have not been without drawbacks for faculty members and the faculty associations that represent them. For their part, faculty associations have dealt with the range of scenarios with a variety of their own strategies to contain or make the most of teaching-only appointments. In this respect, a policy on teaching-only positions will likely be a composite of positions addressing different characteristics and conditions.

Janice Newson

The purpose of teaching-only streams in full-time faculty bargaining units is to enable significant technological change. Although universities have been wired for almost two decades and university support functions are now provided mainly on-line, technological change has not had significant impact on the delivery of teaching. In order to more fully technologize teaching, administrations need teaching to be severed from research, not just de facto, but de jure, meaning, in the contractual provisions of collective agreements.

Admin3

An article from Gerald Caplan in the Globe and Mail: "Needless to say, being a billionaire buys you power and influence big time. Many accept this as a fact of life. Others find it disconcerting and even write books about it, like The Trouble With Billionaires by Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks. Among their worries, as one chapter heading says, is that “Billionaires are bad for democracy.” Among their examples are the influence that Toronto magnate Peter Munk, head of Barrick Gold, has at the University of Toronto."

David Noble

Documents just disclosed under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act show that the false description of newly-appointed FLAPS Dean Martin Singer as a "renowned scholar” originated in President Shoukri’s own office, which had closely overseen the decanel search process.

Nicola Short, Hira Singh, Justin Podur, and Ray Rogers

This discussion paper comes out of a motion passed at YUFA's 3 March Special General Meeting. It should be noted that despite the striking of this subcommittee by a SGM of YUFA, it is clear that YUFA has only belatedly come to grips with the issue of casualization as it develops bargaining positions. We hope that our discussion paper plays a role in catalyzing both the executive and the membership in taking these issues seriously.