Spring CAUT Council Report

By Dr. Tracy Whalen, UWFA Secretary

This past week (April 22-25), I attended the 2010 Spring Council for the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) in Ottawa. This session included some of the standard fare: reports on administration and finance; annual reports from standing committees; the amendment of clauses in CAUT Policies and Issues; the presentation of awards. But one topic on the agenda—-diversity and representation on the Executive—-provoked debate and ultimately a change in CAUT by-law.

The invited speaker was Dr. Anthony Stewart, President-Elect of the Dalhousie Faculty Association and author of You Must Be a Basketball Player: Rethinking Integration in the University. He examined how we conduct ourselves institutionally, especially in terms of our own privilege, and the structural barriers that remain in postsecondary institutions. He argued that if a place looks different, people will act differently. Most generative for those attending, it seemed, was Stewart’s notion of a posse, the idea that members of underrepresented groups might travel to an institution as a group, a strategy that not only addresses the isolation experienced by those without positions of privilege, but also makes such members of the community visible and powerful en masse.

Stewart’s talk framed thematically the highlight session of Council: a proposed amendment to CAUT by-law, essentially, a change in Executive structure that is intended to allow for more diverse representation of members. This proposal passed with over 90% support from delegates, but not without some debate, mostly concerning women’s representation on this new Executive. With this amendment, the Women’s Committee in its current form has been dismantled in favour of a structure that addresses women’s voices in a context of intersectionality. To this end, the Executive has been increased (from 11 to 14 representatives), including a new Member-at-Large (Aboriginal) and Member-at-Large (Francophone) position, as well as two new Co-Chairs (one of whom must be a woman) of what will be a newly formed Diversity Council. This Diversity Council will be a Standing Committee, constituted of members from four working groups (one for women, one for racialized academic staff, another for academic staff with disabilities, and one for lesbian, gay, transgendered, bisexual and queer academic staff).

Other topics of interest arose, too. Possible university censure was one. (For more on this discussion, see the CAUT article in this issue, page 3). Delegates also heard about troubling trends in research grants and the increasing bias towards research linked to government and corporate interests. A session about outsourcing of academic work focused on companies (teaching EOL to international students) that have started to infiltrate postsecondary institutions, using the institution name in exchange for paying a share of profit to the host institution. Another report centered on copyright laws, specifically the intention of the Copyright Board of Canada to significantly increase fees for primary and secondary schools. The outcome of such initiatives (which are being contested by school boards and ministers of education) will have broader implications for postsecondary copyright laws. A discussion about privacy and Google Apps, a survey report on academic stress, and an update on First Nations University of Canada (See April CAUT Bulletin) made for an informative and productive spring Council.