THE AUFA PRESIDENT COMMUNICATES
At a duly constituted meeting of
AUFA in January, a motion came from the floor to organize a “day of protest” on
April 2, 2009 against the administration's and Board's refusal to respond in any
meaningful way to the threat of CAUT censure. The purpose of this event is
twofold: to lobby the administration to engage in discussion with CAUT to avoid
censure, and to express our profound concern over an apparent disregard for the
basic principles of just cause and due process and for the right of employees –
with or without a capital E – to conduct their personal lives as they wish.
The administration has had
numerous opportunities to inform CAUT's investigations into the termination of
Dr. Colin Wightman and to dissuade CAUT from carrying out censure, but it has
refused every one of them. The administration's most substantive response to
CAUT to date is a threat from its lawyer to sue CAUT should censure be imposed.
I will not reiterate the circumstances
leading up to Dr. Wightman's termination; those wishing to acquaint themselves
with the case or refresh their memories may consult the report of the CAUT ad
hoc investigatory committee, which is available at http://www.caut.ca/uploads/WightmanReport.pdf. However, I thought
it might be helpful to provide an overview of the events that have occurred
since Dr. Wightman's dismissal.
September 10, 2007
Dr. Colin Wightman, a tenured
full Professor of Computer Science at Acadia since 2006, is fired by
Vice-President (Academic), Dr. Tom Herman. AUFA immediately files for
arbitration and the administration insists that the arbitration board first
rule on the question of “arbitrability”: whether AUFA has the right to
represent Dr. Wightman, who as an academic administrator was not a member of
the bargaining unit at the time of his dismissal.
December 12, 2007
AUFA loses its arbitration case
for the right to represent an academic administrator who also holds a faculty
appointment, leaving every other academic administrator with such an
appointment vulnerable to being fired at the whim of the Board and without the
right to grievance and arbitration.
February 26, 2008
AUFA and the administration sign
a Memorandum of Understanding stating that all current and future academic
administrators with faculty appointments during the term of the 12th Collective
Agreement (in other words, all of them except Dr. Wightman):
a) retain those appointments
within the bargaining unit;
b) may not be dismissed from
those appointments without following the procedures of Article 14;
and
c) have recourse to AUFA
representation and to grievance and arbitration regarding their rights
under Article 14.
The administration signs this
MOU on the condition that AUFA not appeal the arbitration decision.
March 28, 2008
CAUT informs Dr. Tom Herman that
it has established an ad hoc investigatory committee to look into Dr.
Wightman's termination and expresses the hope that members of the
administration will be willing to meet with the committee so that it can get “a
full and fair understanding of the facts.”
April 23, 2008
Members of the CAUT ad hoc
committee ask to meet with Dr. Tom Herman so that they can “carry out a full
and fair review,” report in a “balanced, impartial matter,” and “represent the
Acadia view of this matter accurately.” Dr. Herman declines, stating that he
has already explained to CAUT Executive Director Jim Turk by telephone that he
is “unable to discuss the matter with CAUT while there continues to be
litigation in the courts between Dr. Wightman and Acadia University.” To AUFA's
knowledge, there was no
litigation in the courts on this matter until July.
May 28, 2008
Jim Turk advises Dr. Herman of the
tentative conclusions of the ad hoc committee's report and offers him another
opportunity to provide information to the committee. Dr. Herman declines.
June 20, 2008
Jim Turk provides Ron Smith,
Chair of the Board of Governors, and Dr. Herman an advance copy of the ad hoc
committee's report and asks again to meet, informing them that the report will
be held in confidence until a meeting can occur. Jim Turk also asks Dr.
Wightman to delay filing his intended lawsuit in order to allow the parties to
discuss a possible settlement. Dr. Wightman agrees to delay filing his
Statement of Claim until July 3. Dr. Herman again declines to discuss the
matter.
July 7, 2008
Dr. Wightman files his Statement
of Claim.
July 11, 2008
CAUT publishes its report and
writes to all members of the Board of Governors informing them of this and
again inviting the administration to discuss the matter. CAUT receives no
reply.
September 28, 2008
Jim Turk informs Dr. Herman that
the CAUT Executive has voted unanimously to bring a motion to CAUT Council to
censure the Board and administration of Acadia University unless the situation
is suitably resolved. Mr. Turk extends yet another invitation to Dr. Herman to
enter into discussion with CAUT.
October 28, 2008
Dr. Herman again declines CAUT's
invitation to discuss the situation, and complains that the ad hoc committee
drew its conclusions “having heard only one side of the facts.”
November 4, 2008
Jim Turk writes again to Dr.
Herman, reiterating CAUT's intention to begin the censure process “while
remaining hopeful that the University will reconsider its position and
negotiate an appropriate settlement” to the situation.
November 13, 2008
Eric Durnford replies to Jim
Turk's letter, echoing Dr. Herman's complaints that CAUT has considered only
one side of the story, and assuring CAUT that it “will be held legally
responsible for any negative consequences to the University's reputation and
the welfare of its students.”
November 29, 2008
CAUT Council votes without
dissent to impose censure on the Board and administration of Acadia University
at its April meeting if no suitable resolution is within sight.
Since then, the administration
has persisted in its refusal to discuss the matter with CAUT, although they have
lately indicated that discussion would be possible after Eric Durnford files
the Statement of Defence. This should have happened within twenty days of Dr.
Wightman's filing his Statement of Claim on July 7, 2008. It has not yet
happened at the time that I write (February 5, 2009), but we are
under the impression that it
will be filed well before the scheduled day of protest. CAUT Council will vote
on the motion to impose censure during its April 23-26 meeting.
The prospect of CAUT censure is
of grievous concern to AUFA. I am sure members are well aware of the general
consequences of censure as stated on the CAUT website
(http://www.caut.ca/pages.asp?page=309&lang=1) and repeated in at least two
other issues of this newsletter. We may not all, however, be aware of the specific
and immediate consequences it would have for Acadia University.
Members of the academic community at Acadia and elsewhere will be asked to
respect the censure, and individuals will exercise great latitude in how they
choose to do so. Academics at other
institutions may uphold censure by:
● refusing to act as
external reviewers for programs under review or accreditation (indeed, at least
one external reviewer has already offered to withdraw from a review that is
currently in process, even before Acadia is officially censured)
● refusing to write letters
of recommendation or to act as references for students applying to Acadia's
graduate programs and for faculty members considering applying for positions at
Acadia, and even actively discouraging students and faculty from applying to
Acadia at all
● refusing to act as
external examiners for Master's theses
● refusing to act as
external referees for tri-council grant applications
At Acadia, several members have
already inquired about cancelling conferences that are to occur just before the
April censure vote; many more have informed me of conferences that will be
cancelled or moved to other venues if this university's administration is
censured.
A call for volunteers has
already been issued and planning is in process for the “day of protest” on
April 2. Details will be forthcoming.
Erin Patterson