From November 9-13, faculty from across the province held virtual meetings with their elected Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to advocate for stronger public funding for postsecondary education, fairness for contract faculty, faculty renewal, and against the threats to academic freedom and human rights in Bill 213 and the Order in Council on the definition […]
On October 31, OCUFA held its first Board of Directors Meeting of the 2020-21 academic year. The virtual meeting focused on the numerous challenges faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying priorities for 2020-21 With most academic staff and students still working and learning from […]
TORONTO, Nov 24, 2020 — University students, faculty, and academic librarians are struggling with social isolation, stress, and a lack of institutional support according to the results of a new poll which finds that those working and studying at Ontario’s universities believe the shift to online education has negatively impacted quality. Without immediate action from universities and the Ontario government to […]
The 2020 Worldviews Lecture brought together over 180 academics, students, higher education leaders, communications professionals, and journalists from around the globe for a virtual discussion on the lecture’s theme: The myth of meritocracy . Jo Littler from City, University of London, opened the event with a historical and contemporary analysis of the ways by which meritocracy permeates social institutions, including the academy. […]
Toronto, October 28, 2020—The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) is shocked that the Ford government has abused its power and circumvented democracy and public debate to ram through provisions of Bill 168, the Combating Antisemitism Act, through an Order-In-Council , which enshrines into law the flawed International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. This law will further […]
Following the alarming news that the Ontario government is trying to discreetly pass legislation that will give the Canada Christian College and several other private institutions university status and the ability to award degrees, OCUFA sent the following letter to Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano raising concerns about the legislation and urging the […]
OCUFA’s Equity and Social Justice Committee is inviting all members of OCUFA faculty and academic librarian associations to an important online workshop on combatting anti-Black racism in higher education . Facilitated by social and racial justice advocate Paige Galette, the workshop will aim to give participants tools to combat anti-Black racism in their roles as faculty, in their associations, on campus, and beyond. Participants […]
OCUFA supports the Scholar Strike for racial justice, an end to anti-Black police violence and anti-Indigenous colonial violence which will take place on September 9-10 in Canada. While many OCUFA members are unable to legally strike during the length of their contract, we encourage faculty, academic librarians, and other staff to join the public digital […]
Rising to the challenge: Reflections on a round of pandemic bargaining By Larry Savage, Brock University “When the Brock University Faculty Association entered its most recent round of bargaining in April 2020, the Ontario government had already declared a state of emergency in response to the spread of COVID-19 and Brock University had suspended face-to-face classes…” Building an anti-racist campus means fundamentally rethinking institutional structures and practices By Siobhan Stevenson, University of Toronto “Two weeks after police […]
OCUFA has joined with other members of the Ontario Universities and Colleges Coalition (OUCC) to write to Minister of Colleges and Universities Ross Romano and raise concerns about the new and invasive proctoring technologies being employed by postsecondary institutions across Ontario. The use of these technologies has substantially increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly as […]
There is more to Academic Matters than just the print issue. New articles are being added to the Academic Matters website every week. Here are some recent articles you might find interesting: The academy’s neoliberal response to COVID-19: Why faculty should be wary and how we can push back By Honor Brabazon, St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo “The emergency shift to remote teaching that universities have made in response […]
The Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations stands in solidarity with the families, friends, communities, and activists in Canada and the United States who are demonstrating against the deaths of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and all the other Black lives that have been lost because of anti-Black racism and […]
In response to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities seeking input on the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on different sectors of Ontario society, OCUFA has submitted a detailed overview of the pandemic’s implications for faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals at the province’s universities. The policy brief is designed to provide context […]
Now is not the time for the Ontario government to move forward with its reckless plans for destabilizing performance-based funding, especially given the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing uncertainty facing Ontario’s postsecondary institutions, workers, and students. That was the message OCUFA President Rahul Sapra delivered to the Ontario government last week. In a letter to […]
