In this issue...

Ontario faculty gather at Queen’s Park for OCUFA’s annual Advocacy Day

Send a message to help end the strike at UNBC

New Academic Matters articles and reader survey

Ontario faculty gather at Queen’s Park for OCUFA’s annual Advocacy Day

On November 6, faculty from across the province gathered at Queen’s Park to advocate for stronger public funding for postsecondary education, fairness for contract faculty, faculty renewal, and against Bill 124.

The annual OCUFA Advocacy Day provided an opportunity for faculty to meet with their local Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and brief them about faculty priorities for Ontario’s universities

The day started with a breakfast reception attended by numerous MPPs and their staff. The reception featured remarks from Rahul Sapra, OCUFA President; Laurie LeBlanc, Deputy Minister of Colleges and Universities; and Chris Glover, the NDP critic for colleges and universities.

During the day, faculty met with more than 35 MPPs representing all political parties, many of whom have universities in or adjacent to their ridings. This fall’s Advocacy Day provided an important opportunity for MPPs to learn about faculty priorities, including:

• protecting and expanding public funding for postsecondary education in Ontario to promote quality and accessibility;
• delivering fairness for contract faculty and committing to supporting good jobs on university campuses;
• moving away from punitive university funding models based on performance metrics and urging greater consultation with faculty about university funding frameworks; and
• respecting the right to free and fair collective bargaining and withdrawing Bill 124.

As in previous years, faculty gathered in advance to strategize and prepare for their meetings. OCUFA representatives also had a strong social media presence throughout the day, reporting on their discussions with MPPs and the issues they discussed.

Advocacy Day facilitated many important conversations. It is hoped that these conversations with MPPs will continue, not just at Queen’s Park, but also in the ridings where faculty live and work.

Send a message to help end the strike at UNBC

Faculty at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) have now been on strike for almost two weeks. The UNBC Faculty Association has been working hard to negotiate a fair deal, but the university administration continues to demand unacceptable concessions on promotion and tenure and job protections for contract faculty, as well as an experimental salary structure that would be unique to UNBC. There is no reason UNBC can’t accept the same kind of salary structure used at successful universities across Canada.

Support UNBC faculty today. Send the university administration a letter demanding they sit down and negotiate a fair contract that recognizes and respects the important contributions faculty make at the university.

New Academic Matters articles and reader survey

There is more to Academic Matters than just the print issue. In addition to our fantastic fall edition, there are new articles being added to our website every week. Check out some of them below. Also, make sure to spend a few minutes taking the Academic Matters reader survey. By completing the survey, you will be entered to win one of two Kobo Clara HD e-readers.

Textbooks could be free if universities rewarded professors for writing them
By James M. Skidmore, University of Waterloo
“Some student organizations have endorsed the social media campaign #textbookbroke to draw attention to the burdens placed on students by the high cost of learning materials. A solution to this problem exists: open educational resources. These are textbooks and other teaching materials produced by academics ...”

Universities don’t control the labour market: we shouldn’t fund them like they do
By Denise Jackson, Edith Cowan University and Ruth Bridgstock, Griffith University
“From 2020, universities will receive a certain amount of government funding based on four performance measures: student drop-out rates; participation of Indigenous, lower socioeconomic status and regional and remote students; student satisfaction with the university experience; and employment outcomes. The government finalised the funding ...”

Your opinion matters! Take the 2019 Academic Matters reader survey.
This is the last week to take the 2019 Academic Matters Readers Survey. It only takes a few minutes, and you could win 1 of 2 Kobo Clara HD e-readers.

Academic freedom is under threat around the world – here’s how to defend it
By Eva Pils, King's College London and Marina Svensson, Lund University
“Academic freedom is at the heart of successful universities. UNESCO defines it as the right “to freedom of teaching and discussion, freedom in carrying out research and disseminating and publishing results”. Academics have pointed out that it also means self-governance and security of academic ...”

Teaching truth and reconciliation in Canada: The perfect place to begin is right where a teacher stands
By Lindsay Morcom, Queen's University, Ontario and Kate Freeman, Queen's University, Ontario
“Where do we start? Our question echoes our larger work supporting and educating teacher candidates, and our personal commitments seeking to act as witnesses to the need for reconciliation in Canada. As researchers, teachers and administrators — one of whom is of Anishinaabe, German, and French ...”

When big companies fund academic research, the truth often comes last
By Lisa Bero, University of Sydney
“Over the last two decades, industry funding for medical research has increased globally, while government and non-profit funding has decreased. By 2011, industry funding, compared to public sources, accounted for two-thirds of medical research worldwide. Research funding from other industries is increasing too ...”

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