YUFA
Grievances
SCHEDULING OF EXAMINATIONS
on
FRIDAY EVENINGS AND ALL DAY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
Nov. 25, 2002
Dear YUFA Members,
Important changes in the scheduling of examinations at York University
have been agreed to by YUFA and the Employer. This letter documents the
history behind those changes, as well as the protections that YUFA was
able to bargain for its members around this issue.
This letter contains important information that all YUFA members need to know in order to exercise their rights.
Background
As you are likely aware, the Registrar imposed an extended examination schedule during the examination period in April 2002 without consultation with YUFA. The extended schedule included examinations on Friday evenings and all day Saturdays and Sundays. YUFA grieved this change of practice, and settled the grievance by signing Minutes of Settlement that the change was a one-time-only arrangement and that the Employer would not repeat the extension without first consulting YUFA (as required by our Collective Agreement's Article 17). In October 2002, YUFA learned that the Registrar had again drawn up an extended examination schedule, including the disputed weekend time slots. The Employer again failed to give notice of its intention, despite the and recently signed Minutes of Settlement. We again grieved this breach of our Collective Agreement.
YUFA was able to use the breach of our Collective Agreement to put pressure on the Employer to discuss examination scheduling in a more comprehensive way. This became necessary once the Registrar indicated that he believed an extended examination period would be necessary for the foreseeable future. Although the specific grievance referred only to the December 2002 examination schedule, we were able to use our position of strength with respect to that grievance to obtain considerable protections for the rights of our members in this and subsequent examination periods.
Click here for full text of Minutes of Settlement
Highlights of the Agreement
Accommodation
Faculty members may request accommodation on the following grounds: religious reasons, child care and elder care responsibilities, medical reasons, conference travel or reasons relating to the unavailability of public transit and lack of alternative transportation to York. Before now YUFA members only had a right to accommodation on religious and medical grounds.
For April 2003 and thereafter, faculty members may request accommodation on any one of these grounds, and the Registrar's Office will make its best efforts to meet all such accommodation requests.
The procedure for making accommodation requests is proactive. Faculty members must submit their request to their Dean or designate, where they will be held in confidence. The Registrar's Office must receive requests for accommodation no later than the last date for the submission of examination scheduling requests. In other words, the onus is on individual faculty members to notify the Registrar's Office of the need for accommodation at the same time that they submit their request for an examination slot. When faculty members submit their requests for examination bookings, indicating the course number, student enrolments, etc., they should also include any requests for accommodation.
Designated Deferred Examination Times Within the Examination Period
YUFA is very concerned about the implications on our workload that the extended examination schedule might have. We are particularly concerned that an increased number of students may request deferred examinations because they cannot, for various reasons, write examinations on the weekends. While such accommodation of students will be needed, we insist that it must be managed so as to ensure that individual faculty members are not writing and invigilating numerous make-up examinations.
The Registrar's Office has made available 15 deferred examination times in the examination schedule. There are rooms and times (one per day) designated for the writing of deferred examinations by students who have received permission to write their examination at a time other than that scheduled in the regular examination schedule. There are designated times and locations for make-up exams.
For April 2003 and thereafter, the Registrar will continue to make such designated deferred examination rooms and times available, though individual faculty members will have to invigilate their own deferred examinations. The deferred examination locations and times are posted by the Registrar's Office, and may be used by faculty members in coordinating the writing of make-up exams by their students.
It is imperative that all requests for deferred examinations from students be handled formally, i.e., by completing a Deferred Standing Agreement form (PDF). Unless this form is completed, deferrals aren't recorded. There is a commitment in the Minutes of Settlement to tracking the number of students who are requesting accommodation under the extended schedule. This information is necessary to gauge the impact on workload of the extended schedule, and so is information that YUFA needs to protect the interests of its members.
Security
The Employer will work with Security Services to ensure that adequate personnel, escort services and the like are provided during the extended examination schedule. Please write with any concerns that you have about security to Barry Miller and copy your memo to yufa@yorku.ca.
Examination Booklets
There will be one or more examination booklet pickup sites during weekend examination times. Please inform YUFA of any difficulties you have in connection with picking up examination booklets during examination periods.
Conclusion
Although this agreement extends the recognized grounds of accommodation and contains commitments to aiding faculty members in the administration of make-up exams and to providing adequate security during weekend examinations, YUFA will continue to monitor the impact of the extended examination schedule. You can assist in communicating to YUFA any concerns you have or problems that develop, as well as any increase in the number of make-up examinations you have to set because of weekend examinations.
Yours, in solidarity,
Susan Dimock
President, YUFA