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STATEMENT: Ontario faculty say campus safety and academic freedom must be upheld during international conflicts

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TORONTO, October 18, 2023 – University faculty and academic librarians stand against violence and hate, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and racism in all its forms on Ontario campuses. OCUFA and its member organizations also strongly support academic freedom, and the importance of universities as spaces of safety, scholarship, and civil rights.

In the wake of the tragic events of the last few weeks in Israel and Gaza, faculty and academic librarians, students, and members of the campus community have experienced harassment and threats that infringe on their safety and academic freedom. Safety and academic freedom are foundational to a university education, and OCUFA and its member organizations strongly support these tenets of a university experience.

This is why faculty and academic librarians were alarmed to hear Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities Jill Dunlop speak in the Legislature on October 17 about the events in Israel and Gaza and take the position that the Ontario government will be monitoring statements made by student and faculty groups on campus regarding these events.

This assertion represents a move against academic freedom for Ontario universities, in the name of campus safety. Hate has no place on university campuses, and processes are in place to protect students, faculty, and staff from harassment and violence. Campus safety is paramount at any time, but particularly during any period of international or domestic strife and tension. Universities are also a place for academic freedom, which allows for debate, including that which is contentious.

However, the government is using this position to threaten to impose restrictions on academic freedom, which is unacceptable. For the Minister to single out one perspective and argue that those with that perspective will be monitored and disciplined by the government is antithetical to the academic mission of our universities.

The situation in Gaza and Israel is complex and unfolding rapidly, with lasting effects for our university communities. OCUFA and its members stand with victims of violence and oppression and expresses deep condolences to those who have lost loved ones and are suffering physically and mentally following these tragic events. OCUFA and its members condemn any threats of violence, harassment, and hate against students, faculty, and all campus community members.

OCUFA calls on the Minister to ensure that all students, faculty, and staff on our campuses—regardless of their position on this and any other world conflict—are safe and free to research, teach, and express their beliefs safely. Anything less is harmful to our community and the postsecondary sector.

Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals in 31 member organizations across Ontario. It is committed to enhancing the quality of higher education in Ontario and recognizing the outstanding contributions of its members towards creating a world-class university system. For more information, please visit the OCUFA website at www.ocufa.on.ca.

For more information, contact: media@ocufa.on.ca

STATEMENT: Western University’s sudden merger announcement alarms Ontario faculty

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TORONTO, October 3, 2023 – Ontario faculty are deeply concerned about recent and sudden news that Western University will close Brescia University College and merge the institution under Western’s umbrella.

This decision was made without consultation with the Brescia Faculty Association (BFA) or the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA)—in violation of collegial governance procedures and without regard for existing collective bargaining provisions at either university. OCUFA and its 31 member organizations are alarmed by this opaque and rushed procedure, and its implications for the rights of faculty at Western, Brescia, and universities across Ontario.

Western and Brescia announced their plan to shift programs and reassign academic staff without negotiation or consultation with faculty associations or the University Senate.  The move reflects the increasing attacks on collegial governance at Ontario universities through top-down non-consultative management from corporate-style University Boards and administrations.

Public universities are not designed to be run like corporations. This announcement is a big step away from the established and functional model of collegial governance that ensures our universities are run effectively, transparently, and in line with the academic mission of an institution. This announcement undermines that structure and it is not clear how damaging the effects of the decision will be. 

The University has also sidestepped established collective bargaining processes to push this plan forward. This is not appropriate for a public university.

Any change to the structure of a university—including the proposed Brescia merger—must be conducted in full compliance with existing collective agreements for staff and faculty at all relevant institutions. This is the only fair and transparent approach to ensure that members of the campus community have their rights protected during periods of massive upheaval.

Workers in this country—including faculty—have constitutional and legal collective bargaining rights. It is imperative for all Ontario universities to engage with faculty associations in a fair, transparent, and collegial manner in accordance with those rights.

OCUFA calls on Western University to work closely and meaningfully with faculty and staff associations at Brescia and Western to ensure that any path forward will respect and align with conditions of existing collective bargaining agreements.

Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals in 31 member organizations across Ontario. It is committed to enhancing the quality of higher education in Ontario and recognizing the outstanding contributions of its members towards creating a world-class university system. For more information, please visit the OCUFA website at www.ocufa.on.ca.

For more information, contact:
Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite, Communications Lead at media@ocufa.on.ca

A new agreement at University of Toronto

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The University of Toronto Faculty Association (UTFA) has achieved a seven per cent pay increase, retroactive to July 1, 2022, for the third year of their 2020-2023 agreement. The seven per cent is in addition to the one per cent already awarded for each year of the agreement, resulting in a compounded total of 10.17 per cent for UTFA members over the three-year period. The increase also applies to the overload course rate.

Gains on workload were also achieved through revisions to the workload policy. The amount of technical and pedagogical support provided for teaching will now be considered as a relevant factor in considering workload. All academic departments are now required to prepare an Annual Workload Document and share it with members of the unit and UTFA by June 30 of each year. This addresses a longstanding concern of UTFA members around the lack of transparency for assigned workloads with respect to teaching, service, mode of delivery, class size, teaching assistant support, and course release.

These improvements were set out in an arbitration award issued by Eli Gedalof earlier this month. Following Justice Koehnen’s striking down of Bill 124 as unconstitutional, UTFA had requested that Arbitrator Gedalof consider proposals on further salary increases, in addition to outstanding workload proposals. This most recent award follows an earlier mediated settlement and subsequent arbitration award.

 

Why faculty expertise is essential to implementing university technology

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In the latest issue of Educated Solutions on the theme of technology in postsecondary education, OCUFA President Nigmendra Narain made the case for why faculty expertise must be integrated into university decision-making around technology and artificial intelligence, now and in the future.
 
“Students should expect a transformative experience in a classroom. And it’s our faculty who have the expertise to ensure that they do,” he wrote in the magazine, published by the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). “Ontario public universities can be equipped to tackle the technology of the future only with proper government investment in our universities for good academic jobs and student tuition fee support.”
 
Read the full article and the entire issue here.

Faculty and academic librarians say more can be done to improve campus safety

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OCUFA President Nigmendra Narain spoke to media about the issue of campus safety, following the tragic attack at University of Waterloo in June 2023. In several interviews, he offered recommendations for universities and the provincial government to improve safety for all members of the campus community.
 
Funding universities properly is an important part of this process.
 
“We have to face up to the fact that campus safety is an issue and [Colleges and Universities Minister Jill Dunlop] and the province have a place to play here because Ontario itself ranks last in Canada for per-capita university funding,” he said in an interview with CityNews Kitchener.
 
In the Waterloo Region Record, Narain pointed out that current investment in campus safety is inadequate to address the problem. Referring to the government’s $6 million Campus Safety Grant, he said: “On the surface this appears like a large investment, but when divided across the 23 public universities and 24 colleges in Ontario it only amounts to $127,659.57 per institution… This illustrates the sheer lack of meaningful investment the provincial government is making in campus safety and universities more generally.”
 
In interviews with the Canadian Press and CBC’s The National, Narain also highlighted the safety concerns of faculty and students studying social justice, gender, and race issues.
 
“These classes themselves have become a lightning rod in terms of hate and online extremism, in particular,” he said. “We need to have a better and broader conversation about campus safety overall, to protect the mission of the university which is to discuss, talk, collaborate, do research and give students a strong learning environment.”
 
Follow OCUFA to keep up to date on all our media appearances and read OCUFA’s statement on the Waterloo attack here.

New pension plan at Wilfrid Laurier

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As a separate process from bargaining, members of the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) and the Executive have ratified a tentative agreement that provides consent under the Pension Benefits Act to convert the Wilfrid Laurier Pension Plan to the University Pension Plan (UPP).
 
WLUFA’s primary interest in entering negotiations over conversion to the UPP was to secure greater stability and accountability for the pension plan by moving from a single employer pension plan where the employer has sole responsibility for funding the plan, to one that has shared governance and risk.
 
The tentative agreement includes provisions for a one-time offset that covers the difference in contribution rates between the Laurier Plan and the UPP. The offset will apply to all members, including contract faculty and part-time librarians, whether they are members of the Pension Plan or not. The Agreement also provides that past WLU service will count towards the UPP’s early retirement option. Administrative stipends for WLUFA members will be counted as pensionable earnings when determining benefits and contributions. The agreement also moves the Supplemental Pension Plan into the WLUFA full-time collective agreement for the first time.
 
Because Laurier has a single plan that covers all employees, other campus unions will each negotiate and vote on their own agreements regarding conversion to the UPP, a process that will likely be completed over the winter.

Ontario faculty call for transparency from government on student housing crisis consultations

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TORONTO, September 13, 2023 – Faculty and academic librarians are calling for more clarity and bold solutions from the Minister of Colleges and Universities after a recent announcement that the Ministry will host consultations on the student housing crisis this fall.

The Minister announced the start of roundtable meetings that include representatives from municipalities, private career colleges, and builders, with the aim of removing barriers to creating affordable student housing. It is unclear in the initial announcement which stakeholders in the postsecondary sector will be invited to participate in the meetings.

“It is disturbing that reporting on the government’s initial list of consultants regarding the student housing crisis does not include people who have seen its effects firsthand, including faculty and academic librarians and student groups,” said Nigmendra Narain, President of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations. “Faculty and their allies have been offering a straightforward solution to the student housing crisis, and that solution is more core funding for our postsecondary sector from the government. The government needs to listen to the real experts with real experience on this issue.”

The chronic underfunding of the postsecondary sector has forced universities to look elsewhere for revenue, including tuition fees from international students. Domestic students are also facing high student debt, and now all students are facing a housing affordability crisis.

“International students did not cause this crisis. Government neglect of our world-class public universities has caused this crisis. Reversing this trend and investing in public postsecondary education will help to solve it and help students,” said Narain.

The urgent need for sustainable, robust government funding in postsecondary education was also a key component of OCUFA’s recommendations to the government’s Blue-Ribbon Panel on postsecondary student success and financial stability earlier this year. That panel, whose report is now with the Minister, also did not include current faculty or student experts from the sector.

“If the Ford government really cares about fixing the housing crisis, it should be looking at creative solutions that require investment in our public institutions, together with faculty, staff, and students in our campus communities,” said OCUFA Executive Director Jenny Ahn. “In our Blue-Ribbon Panel submission, OCUFA warned that the Ford government’s underinvestment in our public universities would result in such a crisis. The government is walking a dangerous path, and the results will be disastrous if they continue to ignore real solutions.”

Faculty and academic librarians call on the government to fund universities adequately and sustainably, and meaningfully engage with true experts on a sustainable path forward for universities and their communities.

Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals in 31 member organizations across Ontario. It is committed to enhancing the quality of higher education in Ontario and recognizing the outstanding contributions of its members towards creating a world-class university system. For more information, please visit the OCUFA website at www.ocufa.on.ca.

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For more information, contact:
Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite, Communications Lead at media@ocufa.on.ca

A Labour Day Interview with OCUFA President Nigmendra Narain

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OCUFA’s new President Nigmendra Narain, a Lecturer in Political Science at Western University, started his two-year term in July 2023. In recognition of Labour Day, he talks about the labour issues faculty and academic librarians face today, and how we can work collaboratively to improve working conditions for all workers across our campuses and our province.

What are some labour issues that faculty and academic librarians in Ontario face today?

All faculty—whether they are full-time, tenured faculty, contract faculty, academic librarians, or other academic professionals—face burnout. We are doing a lot more with way less. We’re seeing this in terms of exploding class sizes, the increase in workload from the pandemic era that has not receded, and a lack of resources from the government and universities to improve and expand teaching and research. So overall, this means that our faculty or librarians have less time for professional growth to improve teaching and devote to research output, which is necessary as a part of the university’s academic mission as well. Faculty mental and physical health has significantly suffered from this burnout, and we haven’t seen enough funding or support to assist with these issues.

Another area of concern is the situation for contract faculty. The job of a contract faculty member is precarious and non-permanent, and many are overworked and underpaid. I have been contract faculty now for over 20 years, so I’m well aware of the problems and pitfalls of trying to navigate a career as a contract faculty member, and to build a life in the face of instability.

A further concern is cuts to resources, including some recently announced ones for libraries that came through this summer. Librarians are under tremendous strain in this regard, as cuts mean there are not enough hirings of academic librarians, and still more work to do amongst those who already stretched in their librarian positions. We need librarians at our universities because they support faculty researchers, produce academic research themselves, and preparing students for the information economy of the future. The work of librarians includes research, teaching, and supporting roles, and all these roles are growing in scope.

Thus, the aforementioned are all troubling issues that we face in our workplaces, and we’re calling on the Ontario government to invest robust, sustainable funding into public universities so that we can improve these conditions and therefore enhance student learning conditions.

Why is it important to connect the concerns of faculty to the larger movement for workers’ rights?

The concerns and the challenges we are facing as faculty are similar for workers across other fields. We have faced attacks on our collective agreements and collective bargaining Charter rights, as well as universities’ increased reliance on precarious contracts instead of permanent positions for faculty. Some faculty and academic librarians are paid well after working for many years to research, teach, and publish in their field of expertise. But many are not paid well and face a great deal of job insecurity. We are all part of the labour movement as faculty, academic librarians, and academic staff. We and our allies in the labour movement want to build a stronger and fairer Ontario. Public universities are undoubtedly centers of communities beyond teaching and learning—they have significant social and economic impacts as well. We saw this during the crisis at Laurentian University.

Faculty and academic librarians—as employees and as members of the Sudbury community—came together with labour allies in their city and beyond to get justice for the community. OCUFA understands this and knows well that by working together with allies in the labour movement, we know we can accomplish big and important changes and improvements, such as successfully challenging Bill 124 in court as an unconstitutional infringement on workers’ rights. We must continue to do this collaborative work for the future of the postsecondary sector and the future of Ontario’s workers.

 

What are you looking forward to working on as President of OCUFA?

OCUFA has grown and engaged in many areas over the last couple of years, so I hope to continue and build on our past efforts and address new challenges. We will be supporting our member associations as they mobilize on their campuses for fair and equitable collective bargaining agreements and the advancement of their labour rights. We’ll also be growing our alliances across the labour movement. It’s important for us to see ourselves as workers, and to engage visibly with the labour movement to be seen as part of the struggle for workers’ rights.

I like to point out in my own workplace that if we look at the old Roman structure of the aqueducts that have lasted nearly two millennia, those aqueducts are still standing and strong  because they’re built on bricks who don’t work on their own, but  rely on the strength and the power of leaning on every other brick. Those archways have worked together for hundreds of years to hold together, and to uphold bridges and buildings. We must see our alliances in this same way: we pull together, we lean on each other, and thus, we are strongest together. All of this is to help each other, and to improve workers’ lives, and continue to enhance the formidable and world-class public universities our faculty, academic librarians and academic staff work and fight to build every day.

In every part of our advocacy, OCUFA will be working with all sector stakeholders and allies to invest in Ontario’s postsecondary future. This means calling on the government to protect our public universities and invest in the faculty and academic librarians who make them run and generate impactful research and well-educated students.

Learning about Indigenization and Collective Bargaining with OCUFA

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In the Spring, OCUFA’s Collective Bargaining Committee hosted two sessions on the challenges and gains made in the hiring and support of Indigenous faculty. Participants heard from Jean Teillet, Senior Counsel with Pape Salter Teillet, and author of the influential 2022 report to the University of Saskatchewan on Indigenous identity fraud. Jean Teillet spoke about importance of establishing Indigenous identity verification policies and procedures to prevent the harm caused by identity fraud. Her presentation served as an important basis for the afternoon session on improvements made in support of Indigenous faculty.

Participants also learned about the importance of ensuring Indigenous faculty engagement on the bargaining team, as well as the barriers, given that some universities had either no Indigenous faculty members, or such small numbers, particularly with tenure status, and the additional service burden consistently placed on Indigenous faculty. Speaking on the 2021 collective bargaining round for the Acadia University Faculty Association (AUFA) were Chief Negotiator Anthony Pash, and Shelly Johnson—Salteaux name Mukwa Musayett—Canada Research Chair in Indigenizing Higher Education at Thompson Rivers University, who served as an adviser to AUFA. Larry Savage, Chief Negotiator for the Brock University Faculty Association (BUFA), and Spy Dénommé-Welch (Algonquin-Anishnaabe), Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Knowledge Systems, and Education at the University of Western Ontario, presented on BUFA’s 2020 round.

The panelists spoke about wins at the table made despite such challenges, including a joint committee at Acadia, which includes members of the Mi’kmaq community, AUFA, and the University Board. Some objectives of the committee are to identify priorities, and recommend changes on professional responsibilities, workload, as well as hiring and retention for Indigenous faculty. Another gain was a cluster hire of three Indigenous scholars. At Brock, BUFA was able to negotiate criteria for determining graduate or PhD equivalency for Indigenous knowledge, as well as the ability for Indigenous members to bring an elder or knowledge keeper for promotion and tenure appeals or grievance procedures, in addition to the union representative. As a result of these gains, AUFA and BUFA expressed a commitment to evaluating these achievements in terms of support for and retention of Indigenous faculty, to build on these improvements over time.

New ratified agreement: Brock University

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In early July, members of the Brock University Faculty Association (BUFA) ratified a three-year collective agreement ending June 30, 2025. With strong member engagement reflected in a historic strike mandate (97 percent in favour), members made gains on their priorities of fair and reasonable compensation, job security for limited-term faculty, equity, supports for research, scholarship, and creative activity, greater scheduling protections, and collegial governance.

On compensation, members received a 3.5 per cent increase in scale, as well as a one-time lumpsum payment of $2,000 added to their base salary in 2023, followed by three percent increases to base in each of 2024 and 2025. Each member also received 2.2 percent increases in Progress through the Ranks (PTR) payments for each year of the agreement. Stipends for Chairs/ Directors and Program Directors, as well as overload stipends, will also increase.

Retired and former limited-term members received an increase to their Health Care Spending Account of 3.5 per cent in each of the first two years, and three percent in the third year of the agreement. Members also saw an increase in their coverage for psychological services and vision care, as well as in their moving expenses allotment. The statutory domestic/sexual violence leave provision has been incorporated into the collective agreement with double the paid leave guaranteed by the Employment Standards Act. This amounts to 10 paid days, with additional paid leave possible at the discretion of Dean/University Librarian. The eligibility to take phased retirement has been expanded from members over 60 to those over 55 years.

To support research, scholarship, and creative activities, a new Internal Research Grant will allot a minimum of $160,000 in each of the 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 budget years to fund general-topic internal research grant competition(s) open to all members.

A new Teaching Intensive faculty appointment has been created, with a workload distribution of 60 per cent teaching, 20 per cent service, and 20 per cent research/scholarly/creative activities, and a normal teaching load of six half-credit courses per academic year> Ah a minimum of 18 current Limited Term Appointments (LTA) and Instructional Limited Term Appointments (ILTA) will be converted to Teaching-Intensive faculty positions, with no less than half of these conversions to take effect by July 1, 2024. The proportion of Teaching Intensive faculty appointments to full-time faculty appointments is capped, and there will also be so a concomitant year over year decrease in the proportion of LTA and ILTA faculty to tenure and tenure-track faculty. In another step toward greater job security, the maximum length of the ILTA contract has been extended from three to five years.

The agreement contains several equity gains. A framework has been created for the initiation of Targeted Hiring Programs. “Black” has been added as a distinct designated group for the purposes of Employment Equity. The University will provide the Union with the results of its EDI census planned in 2023-2024. And, in preparation for an equity audit, a joint equity audit committee will be struck.

Criteria have been established for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor for Teaching-Intensive faculty members. Letters from external referees for all faculty applying for promotion may now comment on teaching and service in addition to research and scholarly activity. Changes have also been made to permanence and promotion provisions for professional librarian members.

On workload and working conditions, a minimum of 35 half-course or equivalent teaching releases will be distributed each year to members who engage in greater than expected levels of research, unscheduled teaching, or service. The workload distribution for ILTAs has been clarified. The ability of Professional Librarian members to work off campus has been confirmed. The University has committed to a comprehensive review of current practices of course scheduling, with a view toward improvement.

In a gain for collegial governance, a new provision recognizes the importance of member consultation and participation in the selection processes to fill senior academic administrative positions. The University will engage and consult with the Union on any changes to the policy governing the appointment of the President and Vice-Presidents. On other information sharing, the Administration will now be required to provide BUFA with audited financial statements; comparison of budgeted financial results to actual; and trimester financial reports presented to the Board of Trustees.

New ratified agreement: Wilfrid Laurier University

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Members of the Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA) Full-Time faculty unit ratified a new three-year agreement that made significant gains on their priorities of workload, working conditions, and increasing compensation to make up for caps imposed by Bill 124 as well as inflation. The agreement was reached over three weeks of concentrated bargaining in May and June.

On compensation, members received a three per cent increase in salary scale, floors, and stipends for each year of the agreement, along with a 0.5 per cent Ontario System Adjustment increase in 2024 and 2025. In terms of benefits, members successfully resisted the imposition of co-payment requirements on several categories of benefits and gained eligibility for Sun Life’s extended gender affirmation coverage. Compassionate leave has been extended to death or illness of those who are “considered to be like family.” Leaves may be extended to accommodate creed-based practices and travel, with supporting documentation to be provided upon request.

To address workload, the Chair’s stipend was increased for the next three years. Course releases available for research excellence will be extended to cover instructional development and graduate supervision beyond the norm, and the pool of eligible courses expanded. The maximum limit on marking assistance has been raised from 125 to 195 hours.

Faculty complement will be increased over the life of the agreement, from the current 480 to 490. However, the suspension of the penalty on teaching by non-members during the 2020-23 agreement because of COVID-19 will be extended until June 30, 2025.

Members have retained their right over mode of course delivery. Members cannot be assigned Online or Special courses without their consent unless:

  1. There is no other work available for them in the subunit
  2. The mode of delivery for the course has been approved by the department/program-in-council, faculty-in-council, and Senate.

Full Time Members will be paid the same for teaching online courses and regular courses, on overload. Those who develop online courses will have the option to teach them the first three times the courses are offered, as part of their regular load.

Librarians have also made gains on working conditions, among them the entitlement to work partially from home on a regular basis.

A significant equity gain has been the creation of a new Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Indigenization (EDII) fund of $20,000, with $10,000 for EDI work and $10,000 for Indigenous Knowledge endeavours.

Changes were also made to hiring and tenure and promotion committee procedures, and to referral and evaluation criteria for promotion to Full Professor.

Among other changes: Merit categories have been made more flexible. “Teaching Evaluations” will be referred to as “Student Course Surveys” and no evaluation of teaching can rely exclusively or primarily on them. To address research misconduct, research data must be retained retention for seven years following the end of a project’s data collection and recording period, and the Tri-Council framework on what constitutes misconduct has been adopted. Conflict-of-interest provisions have been extended to “intimate partnerships,” not just “sexual relationships.”

OCUFA Awards of Distinction announced

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TORONTO, July 20, 2023 – The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) recognized ten members of the academic community for teaching, librarianship, journalism, scholarship, and service to their faculty associations.

“The 2022-2023 recipients of the OCUFA Awards of Distinction showcase the great innovation, advocacy, and dedication found on our public university campuses and in the higher education community,” said Nigmendra Narain, OCUFA President. “The selected recipients are actively pushing our sector forward in exciting and innovative ways in the classroom, at the bargaining table, in research, and in the media. OCUFA is pleased to celebrate their work and contributions to our universities and the postsecondary sector.”

The recipients of the OCUFA Teaching Awards are:

  • Stavroula (Roula) Andreopoulos, Teaching Stream Professor, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
  • Ali Arya, Associate Professor, School of Information Technology, Carleton University
  • Véronic Bézaire, Instructor, Department of Chemistry, Carleton University

The recipients of the OCUFA Henry Mandelbaum Graduate Fellowships for Excellence in Social Sciences, Humanities, or Arts are:

  • Mohit Dudeja (Doctoral), Education, Lakehead University
  • Aqsa Zahid (Masters), Counselling and Clinical Psychology, University of Toronto

The recipient of the OCUFA Mark Rosenfeld Fellowship in Higher Education Journalism is:

  • David Venn, Assistant Editor, Literary Review of Canada

The recipient of the OCUFA Equity and Social Justice Committee Award is:

  • Sobia Iqbal, Diversity and Equity Committee Chair, Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty Association (WLUFA)

The recipient of the OCUFA Grievance/Arbitration Award is:

  • Natasha Udell, Legal Counsel, Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa (APUO)

The recipient of the OCUFA Lorimer Collective Bargaining Award is:

  • Susan Wurtele, Chief Negotiator, Trent University Faculty Association (TUFA)

The recipient of the OCUFA Service Award is:

  • Mike Eklund, President, University of Ontario Institute of Technology Faculty Association (UOITFA)

The awards will be presented at the OCUFA Awards of Distinction event at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel on Saturday, October 28, 2023.

Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals in 31 member organizations across Ontario. It is committed to enhancing the quality of higher education in Ontario and recognizing the outstanding contributions of its members towards creating a world-class university system. For more information, please visit the OCUFA website at www.ocufa.on.ca.

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For more information, contact:
Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite, Communications Lead at media@ocufa.on.ca

Nigmendra Narain, professor at Western, succeeds to OCUFA Presidency

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TORONTO, June 30, 2023 – Nigmendra Narain, faculty member at Western University, will be the 35th President of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) starting July 1, 2023, for a two-year term.

“Ontario’s world-class, publicly funded universities offer unparalleled value to our communities, province and economy, and faculty and academic librarians are vital contributors to their success,” said Narain. “I’m very honoured to lead OCUFA and continue more than 50 years of advocacy for our public universities and the people who make them run.”

A lecturer and course coordinator in the Department of Political Science at Western, Narain has received multiple awards for teaching and service and is the former President and current Past President of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA). He is also the former Vice-President of OCUFA. His research interests include International Relations, gender politics, and security studies.

“It’s essential,” said Narain, “that public universities receive stable and robust funding, that their governance be transparent and equitable, and that university jobs are stable and of high quality. OCUFA will keep pressing the provincial government to adequately invest in our public universities to ensure that they thrive now and in the future.”

Narain thanked outgoing President Sue Wurtele for steering OCUFA with strength, dedication, purpose, and experience during times of upheaval in the education sector and public service nationwide. Wurtele’s tenure overlapped with the crisis at Laurentian University and subsequent campaign to reform corporate restructuring and bankruptcy laws at the federal level, the striking down of Bill 124 by Ontario courts, and the creation of a provincial government Blue-Ribbon Panel focused on post-secondary education success.

“Sue has been a consistent, strong voice for faculty, academic librarians, students, and university workers in the face of great hostility from the Ford government, opaque legislation, and attacks on workers’ rights,” said Narain. “I am grateful for her expertise and leadership as President, and am thrilled Sue will be staying on the OCUFA Executive as Chair of the Board. I look forward to embarking on the next phase of OCUFA’s advocacy work collectively.”

The following members will join Narain on the OCUFA Executive:

  • Vice-President, Rob Kristofferson (Wilfrid Laurier University)
  • Treasurer, Tyler Chamberlin (University of Ottawa)
  • Officer at Large, Mike Eklund (Ontario Tech University)
  • Officer at Large, Kimberly Ellis-Hale (Wilfrid Laurier University)
  • Officer at Large, Daniel Paré (University of Ottawa)
  • Past President and Board Chair, Sue Wurtele (Trent University)

Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals in 31 member organizations across Ontario. It is committed to enhancing the quality of higher education in Ontario and recognizing the outstanding contributions of its members towards creating a world-class university system. For more information, please visit the OCUFA website at www.ocufa.on.ca.

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For more information, contact:
Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite, Communications Lead at media@ocufa.on.ca

University faculty and academic librarians condemn attack at University of Waterloo

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TORONTO, June 29, 2023 — University faculty and academic librarians in Ontario were deeply disturbed to learn of the recent knife attack in a classroom at the University of Waterloo by a former student. The victims were attacked during a philosophy class focused on gender issues. A professor and two students were taken to hospital with serious injuries, and OCUFA extends sympathy and best wishes for a healing recovery for all injured parties.

“OCUFA and its members condemn all forms of campus violence. We are especially concerned that such an attack would take place during a class on issues of gender and that the attacker is believed to have been motivated by hate regarding gender expression and gender identity,” said OCUFA President Sue Wurtele.

Women, transgender, and nonbinary people experience significantly high rates of violence, threats, and hate. Faculty and academic librarians working and teaching in areas of social justice also face threats and harm for their work. The attacker’s hateful motivations, focused specifically on gender expression and gender identity, are deeply troubling.

“All faculty and academic librarians must be able to teach, research, and work without extremist threats to their safety and livelihoods,” said Wurtele. “OCUFA strongly supports this right.”

OCUFA and its members send solidarity and support to Waterloo’s students, faculty, and staff, in the aftermath of this traumatic incident. Faculty and academic librarians are committed to fostering inclusive, diverse, and safe campuses, and ensuring that those who work, live, and study at Ontario’s universities can do so without fear.

Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 professors and academic librarians in 30 faculty associations across Ontario. It is committed to enhancing the quality of higher education in Ontario and recognizing the outstanding contributions of its members towards creating a world-class university system. For more information, please visit the OCUFA website at www.ocufa.on.ca.

For more information, contact:
Manisha Aggarwal-Schifellite, Communications Lead, at communications@ocufa.on.ca

Organizing for collective strength with OCUFA

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OCUFA’s Contract Faculty Committee held a full-day workshop on May 26th full of inspiring speakers and hands-on organizing training. Keynote speaker Laura Walton, President of the CUPE Ontario School Board Council of Unions, shared how education workers engaged in the deep organizing necessary to mobilize people across Ontario in support of their bargaining demands, to crush Bill 28, and win a solid collective agreement.  

There have been some incredible success in the university and broader public sector that prove to us that when we push back together, we can win! The day’s sessions foregrounded the experiences of our colleagues who have been on the ground, organizing, bargaining, and winning improvements for contract faculty. 

The workshop consisted of multiple, hands-on sessions and participants walked away with tools for how to beat apathy, engage members, and learn about what it takes to win good jobs for contract faculty!

Organizing for Collective Strength text with photos of faculty engaging in a workshop.