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<p>Following the President's Remarks in today's Senate meeting,
I delivered the following personal statement.</p>
<p>Ricardo<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><b>Statement to Senate - Senator Ricardo Grinspun</b><b><br>
</b></p>
<p>President Lenton, I rise today to ask that either you commit
to making a meaningfully improved offer to CUPE 3903 in order
to end the strike immediately or, failing that, offer your
resignation, since you will have failed the academic mandate
of this institution. Your letting down of the community of
faculty, staff, students and their families will be beyond
repair, unless we settle this strike now. If you are not able
to take the necessary steps, it is time for you to step down
and allow us to move on with the fundamental work of our
university: To advance knowledge and scholarly work through a
vibrant community of students and faculty – working together –
for the betterment of our minds, lives and society. <br>
</p>
<p>The managerial and leadership approach that defines your
administration is unsustainable and detrimental to the common
good that characterizes a healthy university. Your
uncompromising and unnecessarily aggressive approach displayed
throughout the CUPE 3903 strike is profoundly inimical to the
university as a public trust and the values espoused in our
mission statement, such as collegial governance and academic
freedom. The hardball approach to both governance and labour
relations contradicts York’s publicly stated espousal of
social justice, and the social justice-engaged research that
defines so much of our university. Unfortunately, your actions
confirm the concerns expressed by the 900 full time faculty
who responded to the YUFA poll in November 2016, of whom only
11% supported your candidacy to be President of York. <br>
</p>
<p>The university is paying a very heavy price for your
appointment. Your intransigent actions during the labour
dispute, and the complete disregard of the impact on York’s
academic reputation, speak clear. The community feels shocked
and helpless in the face of your categorical refusal to
bargain, your reckless brinkmanship, regardless of the cost
for students, academic standing and our reputation. While
pursuing a scorched earth approach to labour negotiations in
the hope of crippling the union representing graduate students
and contract faculty at York, you have hurt the lives of tens
of thousands of students and brought disarray to our
university. <br>
</p>
<p>Because of your refusal to bargain and your disdain for
York’s students, the winter semester is threatened, and you
have eroded academic integrity beyond recognition by proposed
accommodations on a broad scale. Now your administration has
announced the imminent cancellation of summer semesters. This
announcement once again usurps the authority of Senate and
Senate Executive to make decisions on class suspension due to
a labour disruption. The Senate Executive Committee, on which
you sit, has managed remediation in full deference to this
administrative approach. It has created chaos and dysfunction
within York, intensified the anxiety and stress of students,
faculty and staff, and undermined the faith of the public in
our university. <br>
</p>
<p>No amount of money poured into public relations or private
security can obscure this reality. You now wear this reality.
<br>
</p>
<p>President Lenton, speaking on behalf of thousands of faculty,
staff and students, please know your actions so far do not
have our confidence. Unless you move to settle this strike, we
call for your resignation. <br>
<br>
</p>
-<br>
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