Your UBCFA Executive Committee members volunteer their time to help guide the Faculty Association’s operational and policy decisions including advocacy, negotiation, education, communication and planning decisions. This year, the following offices were up for election: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Chair – Librarians & Archivists, Chair -Member Services & Grievance, Chair – Contract Faculty and 3 Member-at-Large positions. 

They are clearly biased against racialized and other historically marginalized groups; they are statistically unreliable; and they do not and cannot answer their intended purpose. Yes, we are talking (again) about student surveys, the cheap candy of teaching metrics.
As we said in 2019, it is hard to imagine an instrument more ill-suited to its supposed value than student opinion surveys. Leaving aside the statistical limitations involved in what are often small non-randomized samples, these surveys cannot provide accurate information about the skill of the instructor or the effectiveness of their teaching. They tell us instead, as one would normally expect from a survey, about the students themselves.

In this first edition of our Bargaining Advisories, we respond to common questions and concerns you’ve raised about the rights and protections we have already negotiated. 

Last fall, as we prepared for the upcoming negotiating round, the Faculty Association’s Bargaining Preparation Committee (BPC) surveyed  the membership on areas of bargaining priorities. We were pleased that almost 1500 of you responded to the survey with meaningful feedback.