Weekly News Roundup

UNIONS | INSTITUTIONS | GOVERNMENT

University Faculty Evaluate 2020 Election Platforms

The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA BC) released its evaluation of each of the main party’s platforms on post-secondary education for the upcoming provincial election on 24 October 2020.

BC | CUFA BC

Make it Fair for Contract Academic Staff

Fair Employment Week is CAUT’s annual campaign to raise awareness about precarious employment on campuses and support local organizing to improve the working conditions of contract academic staff.

National | CAUT | FPSE

Where They Stand: The Parties on Improving BC’s Post-secondary Schools

The parties’ platforms may not have many ideas on fixing the affordability crisis in post-secondary education. But students do, and they’re lobbying for change during this election campaign.

BC | The Tyee

It’s your responsibility to support us, grad students say to competing political parties

With the upcoming BC provincial elections, Graduate students across BC are asking for more support from the incoming government.

BC | UBYSSEY

Saskatchewan / BC Manifesto Double-Header

An analysis on BC political parties and their promises for the post-secondary sector.
 
BC | HESA

A Tale of Two Voters: Shifting dynamics tighten BC Election race in its final days

As British Columbia’s three main political parties vie to lock in the support of voters who have yet to cast ballots in one of the most unusual election campaigns in this province’s history, the latest data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute show the gap between the BC NDP and the BC Liberals narrowing slightly.

BC | Angus Reid | Projections | Polls

The Canadian post-secondary sector seems to be in a deep public funding rut. We’re in the 12^th year of flat budgets, and no political party – whether in government or opposition – seems inclined to reverse this.  What to do?

National | HESA

In a drastic escalation of the controversy surrounding a hiring decision at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, Canada’s largest academic federation is recommending a censure of the university administration unless it rectifies the situation.

National | The Spec

Labour Unrest and Burnout

Eduvation covers ongoing labour conflicts & faculty/staff burnout brought about by the pandemic in Canada’s post-secondary sector. 

National | Eduvation

CAUT will seek to intervene in Supreme Court decision to hear copyright appeals

Following this week’s announcement by the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) to hear appeals in protracted copyright litigation between York University and collective licencing agency Access Copyright, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) will seek to intervene to voice concerns of post-secondary teachers, researchers and students.

National | CAUT

Impacts of pandemic on post-secondary teachers and staff

To explore how academic staff were reacting to the crisis, CAUT surveyed its members, using crowdsourcing data collection, between May 13 and June 12, 2020. Over 4,300 academic staff participated in the survey, with representation from all provinces. As this is crowdsourced data, the findings cannot be applied to the overall post-secondary staff population in Canada. However, the results offer valuable insights on the experiences of participants.

National | CAUT

Navigating the new roadmap for additional compensation during coronavirus pandemic

After seven months of negotiations, UWOFA and the employer have agreed to a new process to address additional teaching workloads experienced by the majority of UWOFA members. The employer recognizes that faculty members are working overtime preparing to teach remotely during the coronavirus pandemic. As a remedy, the employer has agreed to provide additional compensation under certain circumstances.

ON | CAUT

Coronavirus: U Sports cancels remaining national championships in 2021 because of pandemic

No national championships in Canadian university sport will happen this season. U Sports has cancelled its 2021 national tournaments because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Men’s and women’s basketball, hockey, swimming, track and field, volleyball and wrestling are the impacted sports.

The governing body of Canadian university sport previously called off this fall’s Vanier Cup and two bowl games, as well as championships in men’s and women’s soccer, cross-country running and women’s field hockey and rugby.

National | Global News

An Open Letter to University Leadership

Julia Marcus, Stefan Baral and more than 100 other scholars call on college leaders to take a more humane approach to students during COVID-19.

International | IHE