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<font size="2"><font face="Tahoma">[statement from York University
Faculty Association] <br>
<br>
</font></font>
<div class="moz-forward-container"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><font
size="2" face="Tahoma"><b><font face="Arial" color="#990000">Is
York University really running as usual?</font></b>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">We're in Week 4 of the strike
by <a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" href="https://3903.cupe.ca"
moz-do-not-send="true">CUPE 3903</a>, the union
representing contract
faculty and graduate student employees at York University.
YUFA members are concerned
that this will be an even longer strike, especially in the
wake of public
statements by the University administration that they do
not intend to be
flexible at the table. The administration insists that 55%
of classes are
running, but there are strong indications that a majority
of classes has been
suspended and that others are continuing without the
participation of Teaching
Assistants or graders (see <a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/employer-data-on-course-cancellations-during-the-cupe-3903-strike/"
moz-do-not-send="true">here</a>).
The administration has engaged in particularly aggressive
public relations to
polish its public image during this difficult time. In
addition to misleading
the public, the administration, for the first time in any
labour disruption at
York, has tried to usurp the power of Senate and
pre-emptively announced there
will be no general suspension of classes, as was the case
in some previous
labour disputes. In two striking new developments, the
administration has
requested a forced ratification vote from the Ministry of
Labour, and the
Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has issued <a
onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://ccla.org/cclanewsite/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018-03-27-Letter-to-President-R-Lenton-York-U.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true">a letter of
concern</a> to President Rhonda Lenton and <a
onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://ccla.org/yorku-protesters-survey/"
moz-do-not-send="true">a questionnaire</a> for
students, picketers, and other members of the York
community regarding
surveillance by a private security firm.</font></div>
<div><b><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></b></div>
<div><b><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#990000">Misleading
communications</font></b></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">A recent <a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://ocufa.on.ca/blog-posts/an-open-letter-to-york-university/"
moz-do-not-send="true">open letter
from the Ontario Confederation of Faculty Associations</a> (OCUFA)
notes
that York's administration has engaged in misleading
communications during the
strike. The administration maintains (incorrectly) that
they are not seeking
concessions from CUPE 3903. They have alleged that 55% of
classes are running
normally, when less than half of the courses are
continuing. The Keele campus
is largely empty and Glendon College is even more so. They
have also alleged
(incorrectly) that CUPE refused to drop any of its major
demands during
negotiations, and refused to seriously bargain. They have
charged (incorrectly)
that the Administration cannot afford to make serious
offers in regards to
CUPE's demands for conversions for contract faculty and
summer funding for
graduate students, while evidence shows ample funds in its
budget surplus and
contingency funds, and aggrieved students have begun to
circulate exposés of extravagant
personal spending being charged to university budgets. The
administration has
also misled the community by providing incorrect analysis
of Senate's power
during an academic disruption, and it has failed to
provide accurate, timely
information to students about which courses are open and
which suspended.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">YUFA is very concerned with
this hard-line approach to
contract negotiations and to communication in general. We
are <a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/yufa-serves-notice-to-bargain-2/"
moz-do-not-send="true">now entering
bargaining</a> to renegotiate our own collective
agreement, and the
tactics used against CUPE 3903, including delayed
bargaining, intense public
relations, a forced ratification vote, and heightened,
possibly illegal
security measures, may well be employed against other
campus unions such as
YUFA and the <a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://yusapuy.ca" moz-do-not-send="true">York
University Staff Association</a> (YUSA). In addition,
the constant dissemination of aggressive administration
messaging, combined with the chaos surrounding the
academic term and its
remediation, has become extremely stressful and divisive
for members of the
university community and particularly injurious to our
students, according to
their reports.</font></div>
<div><b><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></b></div>
<div><b><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#990000">Closed
Senate meetings, tight security, and unnecessary
force</font></b></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">On March 22, faculty, CUPE
3903, and student Senate
representatives were blocked from entering the Senate
Chamber to participate in
a scheduled meeting of Senate, creating a tense situation.
These events were
captured on video (see <a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.facebook.com/yufayorku/posts/1828300060548316"
moz-do-not-send="true">here</a>),
showing a member of the senior administration holding the
door against people
attempting to enter the Senate chamber. One graduate
student Senator was held
in a choke-hold by a security officer when he tried to
enter Chamber.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">According to Senate rules,
meetings are open to members of
the community. Despite the intense interest in the Senate
meetings on March 8
and 22, non-Senators were asked to congregate in an
overflow room, and on March
22, some of the people temporarily blocked from entry were
members of Senate.
It is worth noting that Senate meetings during some
earlier strikes were moved
to larger venues as Senate leadership acknowledged that
many members of the
community who were not Senators might wish to attend when
issues related to the
strike were being discussed. In those cases, there were no
scuffles with
security or violent incidents as a result of excluding
people from the Chamber.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">These events were followed by
an occupation of the Senate
Chamber by undergraduate students, hoping to persuade
administration to bargain
fairly and end the strike. The group is also circulating <a
onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.change.org/p/students-for-cupe-3903-tuition-refund-for-york-students"
moz-do-not-send="true">a petition</a> that demands a
tuition refund, stating that "We don't believe that
universities should be run as a business. But if they are
going to run it as a
business, we are going to demand a refund." The
administration has
contracted a private security firm whose guards have
surrounded Senate and is
closely monitoring students and visitors coming and going.
These security
guards are also watching and filming CUPE members on the
picket line. Staff in
Kaneff Tower are subject to a daily lockdown of the
building and are monitored
by the private security force. The Canadian Civil
Liberties Association (CCLA)
has issued <a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://ccla.org/cclanewsite/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/2018-03-27-Letter-to-President-R-Lenton-York-U.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true">an open
letter</a> to President Rhonda Lenton expressing its
concern about these
developments and is asking for input <a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://ccla.org/yorku-protesters-survey/"
moz-do-not-send="true">in a questionnaire</a> from
all members of the York community. The occupation of the
Senate Chamber by
"Students for CUPE 3903" continues, although media have
been banned
from entering the 9th floor of the Ross Building.</font></div>
<div><b><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></b></div>
<div><b><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#990000">Governance
crisis: Senate's authority threatened</font></b></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">As reported last week, a
motion submitted to Senate at the
start of the strike to suspend all classes was blocked by
Senate Executive on
procedural grounds. A challenge to this ruling was closely
defeated in Senate
during the March 8 meeting in a controversial vote
conducted without due regard
for rules of order. In the agenda package and during the
meeting, Senate
Executive stated that "Decisions regarding the business
and affairs of the
University are vested in the Board [of Governors] even
where they may have an
impact on academic policy." Furthermore, they added,
Senate "policy
does not give express authority to Senate or Senate
Executive to take the
action of cancelling all classes at the commencement of a
disruption."
However, this was Senate's undisputed role in past
strikes, and the statement
about jurisdiction combined with the blocking of a vote in
Senate raised alarms
among many Senators. In denying the Senate's power to
decide on course
cancellations on the basis of academic integrity during
labour disruptions, the
administration described labour disruptions as equivalent
to weather
disruptions, which like other "business matters" are under
the
purview of the Board of Governors.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">In the following Senate
meeting, on March 22, <a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/senate-motion-on-senate-authority/"
moz-do-not-send="true">a motion</a> was presented that
proposed that Senate, the body at the University with
governance authority over academic matters, affirm its
authority to suspend
classes on academic grounds during a labour dispute. This
motion passed by a
65% margin, following a debate that featured strong
support from faculty and
students. Senior administrators presented arguments about
the limits of
Senate's authority. The Chair of Senate mentioned a letter
from the Chair of
the Board of Governors to the Senate Executive that laid
out a case for imposing
new limits on Senate's authority. The Chair of Senate has
not made the letter
available to Senators, and requests have been sent to the
Senate Executive and
University Counsel to disclose its contents to members of
Senate. This is
necessary if all members of Senate are to be given the
opportunity to
participate in any debate about university governance. It
is also necessary if
the administration is to be in compliance with the YUFA <a
onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/YUFA-Collective-Agreement-2015-18.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true">Collective
Agreement</a> (including Article 17.02) that protects
members'
participation rights within the university's governance
process.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">There appears to be a
shifting definition of the powers of a
representative academic Senate and a self-appointed Board
of Governors, with
the Board moving to limit the powers given to Senate under
the <a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="http://secretariat.info.yorku.ca/governance-documents/york-university-act-1965/"
moz-do-not-send="true"><i>York
University Act</i></a> of 1965. This governance
crisis is occurring in the
wake of members' approval of YUFA's bargaining positions
in its February
membership meeting, which aim to reform the operation of
the Board of Governors
and to restore a more democratic and socially diverse
Board composition.</font></div>
<div><b><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></b></div>
<div><b><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#990000">Individual
decisions by faculty members about courses</font></b></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">In the absence of course
suspensions declared by Senate,
Senate reiterated the policy that any suspension of
classes should be
determined by individual faculty members using their own
professional judgments
guided by considerations of academic integrity. This
policy of assigning
academic responsibility to individual faculty has,
unfortunately, in a number
of cases, been contradicted by the University's ensuing
actions. YUFA has been
made aware of cases in which the Deans/Principal required
teaching status forms
from individual faculty members and then proceeded to
reject or challenge the
submissions. Departments and faculties that resolved to
suspend classes have
been ignored. YUFA has already issued advice on this
matter in previous
advisories (see <a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/faq-regarding-a-possible-labour-disruption-by-cupe-3903/"
moz-do-not-send="true">here</a>,
<a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/yufa-response-to-deans-letters-about-suspending-classes/"
moz-do-not-send="true">here</a>,
<a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/yufa-responds-to-senate-exec-decision-not-to-suspend-classes/"
moz-do-not-send="true">here</a>,
and <a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/yufa-memo-on-cupe-3903-strike-day-2/"
moz-do-not-send="true">here</a>).
A future discussion of this application of the concept of
academic integrity
may be warranted, for a majority of York students have
evidently determined to
suspend their own attendance as they wait for this impasse
to be resolved.</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Read this post <a
onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank"
href="https://www.yufa.ca/is-york-university-really-running-as-usual/"
moz-do-not-send="true">online</a>.</font></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><br>
</span></div>
<div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">A
shortened version of this post appeared as a media release
on Canada News Wire. Read the release</span><font size="2"><span
style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/is-york-university-really-running-as-usual-678104003.html"
style="font-family: Arial;" moz-do-not-send="true">here</a><span
style="font-family: Arial;">.</span></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">-- </font>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div><b><span lang="EN-GB"><font face="Arial"
color="#990000">York University Faculty
Association</font></span></b></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#000000"><span
class="gmail-m_733788923495816174gmail-m_8726433317212779916gmail-m_5305562085407032335gmail-m_779029188283014331m_-4186752875782871472gmail-m_542983444869093540m_-8017174502343804178gmail-m_7239303914312630291m_-3245999189591083421gmail-m_-3242213644485517024m-7121753509537212568m4638814002562807759m-4014810215703547802gmail-m-1595431820599002313m-8806647890311165995m4635006005574409332gmail-m-5966808215958722293gmail-m-903036832671472715m5321438080387160679gmail-m2065248458863516397gmail-m-90476627679"><span
lang="EN-GB">YUFA</span></span><span
lang="EN-GB"> is the professional association and
certified bargaining agent for approximately 1,500
faculty, librarians and archivists, and
post-doctoral visitors at York University.</span></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial" color="#000000"><br>
</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">t. <a onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);" target="_blank"
x_onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="tel:416-736-5236" moz-do-not-send="true">416-736-5236</a> | <a
onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="mailto:yufa@yorku.ca" moz-do-not-send="true">Email</a> | <a
onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
href="http://www.yufa.ca/" moz-do-not-send="true"><span
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<a onclick="return checkLinkHref(this.href);"
target="_blank" x_onclick="return
checkLinkHref(this.href);"
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class="gmail-il">Facebook</span></span></a> |
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