Laurier faculty fight back in media against program prioritization

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The Wilfrid Laurier Faculty Association (WLUFA) has taken its fight against program prioritization public in the Waterloo Record. A January 2, 2015 article outlines growing faculty resistance to the Laurier admin’s prioritization process, called the “Internal Program and Resource Management” process, or IPRM.

The majority of faculty councils have voted against the IPRM report, which calls for cuts or closings for 19 programs. The liberal arts council and human and social sciences council at Laurier Brantford voted unanimously to oppose the report.

WLUFA has been steady in its opposition to what it views as a flawed process. It voted to oppose the process last year, and a survey of its members following the release of the IPRM report indicated 85 per cent of its members had a negative view of the document.

Quoted in the Record article, WLUFA President Rob Kristofferson, said:

“We advised [the Laurier Board of Governors] that the faculty councils representing a majority of faculty members at the university had passed motions against the IPRM. And that we had done a survey with a very, very healthy response rate that had clearly showed that the faculty councils representing a majority of faculty were against the process. And we urged them to return the academic decision making to the University senate, which is its rightful place.”

Kristofferson added:

“The whole process has I think been very destructive to morale. In fact, in my 20 years of teaching at a university, I have never seen a process so thoroughly upset people and so thoroughly affect morale.” 

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