Sheila Reynolds
Surrey/North Delta News Leader Contributor
Wednesday, June 30, 1997
Page A3
The same story ran in the Langley Times, Saturday August 2, 1997, Page 2
under the title "Tech U taking heat: Associations pan administration plans"
The best and brightest won't be teaching at Tech B.C. if two professional associations have their way.
An international boycott of Surrey's technical university is being called for by the Canadian Association or University Teachers (CAUT) and their provincial counterpart, the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C. (CUFA).
The strategy was announced Monday, after Bill 30, which establishes Tech B.C., received third reading in the legislature.
"This institution simply isn't a university," charges CAUT president Bill Bruneau.
Bill 30 includes a governing system which is not appropriate to a university, agrees CUFA executive director Robert Clift. If the law passes unchanged, the federation and its supporters will run public ads around the world blasting Tech B.C.'s credibility and urging instructors not to accept positions at the institution.
The brouhaha has been brewing since the fall of 1995. CUFA repeatedly alerted the government of its concerns, but received no response.
The only response finally came in a July 14, 1997 letter from Education Minister Paul Ramsey, stating he was "concerned and disappointed" by the proposed boycott actions.
He said the new university will be governed differently because of its "unique mandate" and that Bill 30 is the "best option" for Tech B.C. to meet the challenges it will face.
Currently, all B.C. universities arc governed by two bodies - a board of governors and a senate.
The board, made up of people elected by university professors. students and non-academic staff, deals primarily with the business and financial issues of the institution.
The senate, comprised of professors, administrators and students, deals mainly with academic issues such as curriculum and research policies.
Bill 30 places all the responsibilities in the hands of one board of governors. Critics believe that without an academic senate, educators will not have a significant voice regarding programs and the board will have excessive power in research priorities.
"By putting all this authority in one body and not having the separation, you're really stifling the public nature of the institution," said Clift.
Surrey-Newton MLA Penny Priddy disputes that. saying faculty and student representatives, as well as business partners, will be part of the board.
"It's not something that's going to have a governance that's totally business, driving the academics and driving the teaching because they have a particular vested business interest," she said.
"However, we do need that vested interest perspective because we are talking about a technical university that is very much geared at very hi-tech training and very hi-tech jobs," she added.
CUFA believes the university will be little more than a private trade school, dictated by business interests with little concern about the greater societal concerns.
CAUT represents 25,000 university professors across Canada while CUFA represents 3,500 academic staff members in B.C.