Happy New Year! As 2013 gets underway, OCUFA will be busy representing professors and academic librarians as we work to build a high quality and accessible university sector in Ontario. Key initiatives include:
- Launching a new campaign, “We Teach Ontario”, on January 22, 2013. This new initiative promotes the important connection between teaching and research at Ontario’s universities through feature videos, faculty student and community stories, and social media.
- Working with the new Premier. On January 25, 2012, the Ontario Liberal Party will elect a new leader who will replace Dalton McGuinty as Premier of Ontario. Whoever the successful candidate is, we will ensure that he or she understands the faculty perspective on university funding, quality, pensions, and compensation restraint. We have already met with several leadership hopefuls, including Kathleen Wynne.
- Preparing for a provincial election. It is widely expected that there will be an election in Ontario in 2013. OCUFA will be taking the faculty perspective to candidates, as well as providing analysis and commentary and the parties’ platforms.
- Pushing back against the government’s austerity and compensation restraint agenda. Austerity is not the way forward for Ontario- it hurts economic growth, and it hurts Ontario families. We will be taking this message to politicians and civil servants through campaigns, direct lobbying, and events (such as our Academia in the Age of Austerity conference, scheduled for Jan. 10th and 11th, 2013). A key focus for OCUFA will be preventing the government of Ontario from introducing compensation restraint legislation and attacking the collective bargaining rights of professors and academic librarians.
- Releasing new polling data. Through January and February, OCUFA will be releasing the result of our most recent poll concerning public attitudes towards austerity and university reform. The poll will be released regionally, accompanied by local town halls on austerity issues. Stay tuned for more information on events in your community.
All in, it promises to be an eventful year for Ontario’s politics and universities. Through it all, OCUFA Report will be providing the latest news and analysis on all of the developments that matter to professors and academic librarians.