[Fdu] Fw: Faculty Letter calling on UofT Provost to avert TA strike

[Peter Fitting]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jens Hanssen 
To: Jens Hanssen 
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 5:22 PM
Subject: Faculty Letter calling on UofT Provost to avert TA strike


 

Dear colleagues, 

 

I thank the many of you who have already signed the public letter to the provost on the online petition site. I have now been in touch with the editor at The Varsity who is interested in running it. In order to do this I have decided to send them our signed letter as a word document. The online site is not very user-friendly (or I am technologically impaired!) and there was no easy way to fill in our departmental affiliations. Moreover, we have now reached the 50 signatory mark at which the petition was set. So I am resending our letter with your signatures in the attached document. Please, verify that your departmental affiliation is there and is correct. To correct affiliations or add names, e-mail me at jens.hanssen at utoronto.ca 

 

I am hoping that more colleagues will send me their names/affiliations to add to the letter. I would love to match or, indeed, exceed the 148 faculty signatures of January 2000. This was the last time TAs went on strike at UofT, and it got them the deal they are defending today. I paste that letter, which was also published in The Varsity, below for your perusal and inspiration. There are many names on that historic list that have signed ours. Please, pass it along to colleagues old and new who have not signed! The Varsity's deadline is probably this Sunday noonish. So I will send them what I have got by then.

 

Best wishes,

 

Jens

 

 

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT PRICHARD
>> 
>> Dear Dr. Prichard,
>> 
>> It is with a deepening sense of dismay that we, the undersigned
>> faculty at the University of Toronto, have watched the handling
>> of the labour dispute with striking teaching assistants. We feel
>> the administration's refusal to address seriously the question of
>> student fees and funding has brought the dispute to a point where
>> the integrity and quality of our academic programs are seriously
>> threatened. We are extremely concerned about the immediate and
>> future impact of the administration's evident disregard for
>> collegial relations and for the work performed by teaching
>> assistants and faculty. We also worry about the effects of the
>> strike/lockout on applications to and enrolment in our programs,
>> and on faculty recruitment.
>> 
>> Our frustrations have been aggravated by the administration's
>> recent plans to implement course restructuring. We wholeheartedly
>> agree with the University of Toronto Faculty Association
>> (UTFA) that course restructuring is a violation of our academic
>> freedom. In addition, we have the following concerns:
>> 
>> 1. course restructuring seriously devalues the quality of
>> education by forcing us to implement inadequate standards of
>> testing and evaluation;
>> 
>> 2. course restructuring takes away the work of our colleagues,
>> the teaching assistants, even after the strike is concluded;
>> 
>> 3. course restructuring threatens collegial relationships with
>> our teaching assistants;
>> 
>> 4. course restructuring cannot be implemented without overwork by
>> professors or recourse to scab labour.
>> 
>> Quite simply, it is unworthy of a world-class university such as
>> this one claims to be.
>> 
>> As members of this university community, we call on you and the
>> senior administration to:
>> 
>> 1. withdraw the plan for course restructuring now;
>> 
>> 2. bargain in good faith with CUPE 3902 and CUPE 3907 and come to
>> a just and fair settlement in a timely fashion;
>> 
>> 3. immediately address concerns by both undergraduate and
>> graduate students for serious tuition relief and financial aid.
>> The teaching assistants said it best, "Let's be fair, the money's
>> there."
>> 
>> Sincerely yours,
>> 
>> Stephen Anderson, OISE/UT
>> Ed Andrew, Political Science
>> Eileen Antone, TYP
>> Rick Asals, English
>> Fabienne Baider, French
>> Chantal Bertrand-Jennings, French
>> Parth Bhatt, French
>> Kathy Bickmore, OISE/UT
>> David Blostein, English
>> Michal Bodemann, Sociology 
>> Lennox Borel, OISE/UT
>> Daniel Brooks, Zoology
>> Anne-Marie Brousseau, French
>> James Robert Brown, Philosophy
>> Barbara Burnaby, OISE/UT
>> Joseph Carens, Political Science
>> Fred Case, French
>> Eric Cazdyn, East Asian Studies
>> David Coburn, Public Health Sciences
>> Rebecca Comay, Philosophy
>> David Corson, OISE/UT
>> Gary Coupland, Anthropology
>> Hilary Cunningham, Anthropology
>> Judy Curtis, French
>> Amrita Daniere, Geography
>> Vivian Darroch-Lozowski, OISE/UT
>> Chandler Davis, Mathematics
>> John Davis, OISE/UT
>> Kari Dehli, OISE/UT
>> George Sefa Dei, OISE/UT
>> Julian Dent, History
>> Miriam Diamond, Geography
>> Ronald De Sousa, Philosophy
>> Paul Downes, English
>> Deborah Esch, English
>> Dickson Eyoh, Political Science
>> Graham Falconer, French
>> Eric Fawcett, Physics
>> Peter Fitting, French
>> Maureen Fitzgerald, TYP
>> Laara Fitznor, OISE/UT 
>> Rose Baaba Folson, OISE/UT
>> Lynd Forguson, Philosophy
>> Bonnie Fox, Sociology
>> Ursula Franklin, University Professor 
>> David Galbraith, English
>> L. Terrell Gardner, Mathematics
>> Rosemary Gartner, Criminology
>> Elise Gillon, French
>> Tara Goldstein, OISE/UT
>> Danny Goldstick, Philosophy
>> Tom Goodenough, OISE/UT
>> Kanishka Goonewardena, Geography
>> James Graff, Philosophy
>> Allan Greer, History
>> Budd Hall, OISE/UT
>> William Harvey, Philosophy
>> Amir Hassanpour, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
>> Rod Heimpel, French
>> John Hunter, English
>> Franca Iacovetta, History
>> Jim Ingles, Banting and Best
>> Eric James, French
>> Alana Johns, Linguistics
>> Ivan Kalmar, Anthropology
>> Brent Kilbourn, OISE/UT
>> Mark Kingwell, Philosophy
>> Lynda Lange, Philosophy
>> June Larkin, Women's Studies and Gender Studies
>> Ellen Larsen, Zoology
>> Alan Latta, German
>> Marti Latta, Anthropology
>> Richard Lee, Anthropology 
>> Helen Lenskyj, OISE/UT
>> David W. Livingstone, OISE/UT
>> David McDougall, DOE
>> Ian McDougall, DOE
>> Bonnie McElhinny, Anthropology
>> Margaret McGeachy, English
>> Sara McKitrick, OISE/UT
>> Deborah McLennan, Zoology
>> Randall McLeod, English
>> Elizabeth Macdonald, Geography
>> Robert MacKay, Sociology
>> Jamie-Lynn Magnusson, OISE/UT
>> Linzi Manicom, Women's Studies and Gender Studies
>> Diane Massam, Linguistics
>> Tom Mathien, TYP
>> Jack Miller, OISE/UT
>> Angela Miles, OISE/UT
>> Kiran Mirchandani, OISE/UT
>> Shahrzad Mojab, OISE/UT
>> Cecilia Morgan, OISE/UT
>> Kathryn Morgan, Philosophy
>> Robert Morgan, OISE/UT
>> Naomi Morgenstern, English
>> Amy Mullin, Philosophy
>> Roxana Ng, OISE/UT
>> Emmanuel Nikiema, French
>> Mary Nyquist, English
>> C.Paul Olson, OISE/UT
>> Andrew Oliver, French
>> Edmund O'Sullivan, OISE/UT
>> Julian Patrick,               English
>> Bob Phillips, OISE/UT
>> Ruth Roach Pierson, OISE/UT
>> Margaret Procter, Co-ordinator, Writing Support
>> Jack Quarter, OISE/UT
>> David Raby, History
>> Ian Radforth, History
>> Katharine Rankin, Geography
>> Dennis Raphael, Public Health      Sciences
>> Sherene Razack, OISE/UT
>> Raymond Reiter, Computer      Science
>> Keren Rice, Linguistics
>> Yves Roberge, French
>> Kathleen Rockhill, OISE/UT
>> Richard Roman, Sociology
>> Jeff Rose, adjunct faculty
>> Helen Rosenthal, Mathematics  
>> Peter Rosenthal, Mathematics 
>> Sue Ruddick, Geography
>> Janet Salaff, Sociology
>> Marg Schneider, OISE/UT
>> Peter Seary, English
>> Ben Shek, French
>> Philip Siller, adjunct faculty
>> Edward Silva, Sociology
>> Ron Silvers, OISE/UT
>> Roger Simon, OISE/UT
>> Gavin Smith, Anthropology 
>> Jean-Claude Susini, French
>> Nicholas Terpstra, History
>> David Townsend, English
>> Robert Tully, Philosophy
>> Alasdair Urquhart, Philosophy
>> John Valleau, Chemistry
>> Mariana Valverde, Criminology
>> Sue Varmuza, Zoology
>> Claudine Vercollier, French
>> Lynne Viola, History
>> Joe Vise, Physics
>> Joel Weiss, OISE/UT
>> Barry Wellman, Sociology
>> Gordon Wells, OISE/UT
>> Cynthia Wright, Women's Studies and Gender Studies
>> John Zilcosky, German> 
>> 

 

 
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