Jim Beatty
Vancouver Sun Legislature Bureau
Wednesday, July 30, 1997
Pages B1 & B2
The provincial government is going ahead with legislation creating the Technical University of B.C. despite plans by teachers for an international boycott of the facility, which they say will not guarantee academic freedom or be properly governed.
Legislation creating the university, known as Bill 30, was given third reading in the legislature this week.
Education Minister Paul Ramsey defended the new university Tuesday, saying he isn't worried about the "misguided" boycott threat.
The governance structure will be different than at traditional universities, but academics will not be subject to political interference, he said.
"We're protecting faculty at this institution, as we do at all institutions, from political interference in what is researched or taught," Ramsey said in an interview Tuesday.
But the Canadian Association of University Teachers says Tech B.C. will not have an academic senate, meaning its board of governors will have extraordinary powers to establish or scrap certain programs without being required to provide fair treatment for employees.
The association, along with the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C., is discouraging anyone from taking a job at the university which is tentatively planned for Surrey.
The groups are planning a high-profile advertising campaign and are contacting academics across North America and Europe.
"We promised them a boycott and we're going to give them a boycott," said Robert Clift, executive director of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C. "This is not a university as it is internationally understood."
The school will be effectively run by its board of governors - mainly government appointees - and will not allow faculty or students a substantive role in the creation, operation and design of programs or research projects, he said.
"[Faculty] are not going to have the freedom to pursue research of their own design," he said, saying programs and research projects will be driven by business interests.
But Ramsey defended the university, saying students, faculty and other employees will play a role in research issues.
Special legislation was necessary for Tech B.C., he said, because of the university's unique partnership with business. Other universities are governed by the University Act.
The school, which is expected to open its doors in September1999, will offer courses in such subjects as information technology and management studies. Its location is uncertain, although it was originally planned to locate it in the outskirts of Surrey.
Despite the boycott, the province could still hire new graduates and professors who are either unemployed or disgruntled, said Bill Bruneau, president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers.
"There are hungry people out there," he said. But if the boycott is successful, "able and well established people with good references wouldn't want to come."
The Canadian Association of University Teachers represents 25,000 professors, librarians and other academic staff across Canada. The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C. represents 3,500 professors and academic professionals in the province.