The following joint letter was sent to Paul Ramsey, Minister of Education, Skills and Training, on June 11, 1996.
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Confederation of University Faculty
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Canadian Association of
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June 11, 1996
Honourable Paul Ramsey
Minister of Education, Skills and Training
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, B.C.
V8V 1X4
Via Facsimile Transmission - 2 Pages - (604) 387-3200
Dear Minister Ramsey,
We wish to congratulate you on your re-election and the re-election of your government. We were pleased with the commitments made by Premier Clark during the election campaign on improving opportunities for post-secondary education for British Columbians. We were also glad to discuss these and other issues with the Premier at the breakfast meeting of May 16. We wish we could have met with you during the election, but understand that your own election fight kept you busy in Prince George.
We write on this occasion because we are deeply concerned about the proposed legislation for the new technical university to be located in Cloverdale. We chose not to raise this issue during the election campaign in favour of affordability and access issues, but this new legislation is a crucial matter in our eyes.
We understand that the technical university act has been completed and is ready for introduction into the legislature. Though we have not seen the final version of the act, we believe the fundamental flaws in the earlier drafts remain, and thus we ask that it not be introduced without some amendments.
CUFA/BC was given the opportunity to view the draft legislation earlier in the year and made extensive comments to officials in the (then) Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour. CUFA/BC expressed its serious concern that the new legislation repeated the error made, in our judgment, in the Royal Roads University Act adopted last summer, that is the lack of an effective academic governing body -- a senate. CUFA/BC and CAUT fear that the lack of an effective senate will cause a difficult birth for the new university, which would surely be unfortunate since we all want it to succeed.
Senates (and education councils in the colleges and institutes), play an important role in balancing financial and administrative interests with educational interests. There is no doubt that the technical university is a new type of institution and will provoke new ways of thinking about what we do in the universities and how we do it. Nonetheless, such new institutions do not come into existence in a vacuum, and we must strive to combine what is good about current structures with innovative ideas to improve our institutions and outcomes.
It is our experience and view that the senates serve as an important forum for institutional policy-making, and provide a structure through which faculty and students can "buy into" policy rather than having it imposed by administrative fiat. Thus, it is through senates and other means of collegial governance that academic freedom -- the freedom to teach, to research, and to comment -- are preserved. It is this type of co-operative decision-making and the attendant academic freedom which foster the creativity and innovation that the technical university, and indeed all our universities, need to be successful in the 21st century. Senates are, therefore, a key element in any system of accountability which wishes to ensure quality.
We request a meeting with you prior to the introduction of this legislation, to expand on these points and outline specific amendments enabling fair and balanced educational governance. Arrangements may be made through the CUFA/BC office.
Sincerely,
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Bruce More
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Bill Bruneau
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c: Glen Clark, Premier, Province of British Columbia
Ed Lavalle, President, College Institute Educators' Association