The Faculty Association advocates on behalf of its members on a wide variety of issues:
On Campus
The Faculty Association, either on our own or in cooperation with other unions, employee and student groups, advocates for faculty members’ rights and interests with the administration on a range of issues covering everything from privacy to day care to student evaluations. We do so through a variety of channels including meeting with the President, Provost, Senate & Board of Governors representatives, and other administrators. We also meet with or are represented on various university institutions and committees such as the:
- Joint Consultation Committee (a committee established under our Collective Agreement)
- Academic Leadership Development Program Advisory Committee
- Pre-tenure Faculty Teaching Development Program Advisory Committee
- President’s Advisory Committee on Naming of Facilities
- University Health & Safety Committee
- Senior Appointments Committee
- Transportation Planning Advisory Committee
We also meet regularly with the AMS, GSS, and other unions on campus.
In addition to written correspondence and meeting with the University, we have a voice on campus through campus media and our own communication tools (newsletters, website, etc.).
If you have an issue you’d like us to raise with the University administration, please let us know!.
Provincially
The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA BC) is our provincial lobbying association. “In a landscape of political, fiscal, and sectoral instability, collaboration and solidarity are a strategic necessity. CUFA BC is a non-profit society representing approximately 5,500 faculty members through their unionized faculty associations at BC’s public research universities… Members include professors, researchers, instructors, lecturers, and academic librarians who are responsible for the core academic mission of teaching, research, and service… Collectively, CUFA BC’s members teach 69% of the undergraduate students and 95% of the graduate students enrolled at BC’s public universities. For more than fifty years, CUFA BC has championed the value of high-quality public post-secondary education, academic freedom, collegial and bicameral governance, fair academic labour relations, and the central role of research and research-informed teaching in advancing BC’s social, cultural, and economic well-being” (CUFA BC, “Advocating for Faculty”).
Federally
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) is our national organization, representing faculty associations across the country. CAUT provides invaluable lobbying support on the federal and international level. They also supply in-house training on collective bargaining; arbitrations and grievance-handling; health, safety, and equity; salaries and economic benefits; academic freedom; communications; and intellectual property. CAUT has an extensive data-base resource for collective bargaining and policy issues and a legal department for assistance in major cases. We are members of CAUT Council, the governing body, and have representatives on several national standing committees.
