YUFA
External
Conference Report
CAUT Women’s Conference: Mobilizing in an Era of Restructuring
16-18 October 2008, Ottawa, ON
by Lorna Erwin, Department of Sociology, York University
25 Nov 08 – The CAUT Biennial Women’s Conference, Mobilizing in an Era of Restructuring, held in Ottawa last month, provided a sombre look at the rapid and profound changes that are reshaping universities across the country. The two-day gathering featured a mix of speakers, panels, and breakout groups. The focus was on identifying the principal changes that have transformed academic work environments and on analyzing the implications of these changes for equity goals.
This report summarizes some important themes and recommendations that emerged from the presentations and panel discussions.
Context
In her opening remarks, CAUT President, Penni Stewart, focused on how the changing organizational culture of the university has undermined political resolve and commitment to an equity agenda. She reminded us that the fundamental premise of the Abella Report, which set the basic legislative structure for employment equity nearly twenty-five years ago, was that systemic discrimination requires systemic remedies. This was an exciting time for activists: Status of Women committees were struck; sexual harassment and equity policies were developed, while day-care provisions, parental leaves, and affirmative action were incorporated into the collective bargaining demands of local associations. These initiatives brought together various constituencies and sectors of the university community. There was also a growing recognition that to address inequities required an intersectional approach that included members of other historically disadvantaged groups.
This “activist” moment, Stewart reminded us, was brief. The potential for reform was truncated by both a shift from collegial to corporate governance and an increased emphasis on centralization and professionalism. The community structures and grass-roots organizing that brought faculty, staff, and students together have increasingly been replaced by “professionalized” offices, educational programs, and staff. In response, faculty associations have used collective agreement language to achieve equity in hiring and promotion decisions. Despite some gains, particularly in terms of representation, this regulatory strategy has often created unwieldy procedures. Significantly, equity remains an elusive goal. We need to understand that regulation is necessary; but, in itself, it is not sufficient to create inclusive structures. When regulation alone dominates our equity agenda, we end up with the form but not the substance of inclusivity.
The New Managerialism
In the conference’s keynote address, Rosemary Deem of the University of Bristol described the new managerialism as a set of ideologically driven reforms in the management and organization of publicly funded institutions which has now permeated the universities. The upshot of this “corporatization” of campuses has been the transformation of universities from communities of scholars to bureaucratic workplaces. In the new managerial discourse, the emphasis is on diversity rather than equity. This linguistic shift reduces inequality to an individual problem. It is no longer a political marker of systemic disadvantage. Equity, in this context, is just one more issue to be managed.
Working In A Time Of Scarcity
Why are resources for teaching and other aspects of access and quality education being eroded? In a panel featuring David Robinson (Assoc. Director of CAUT) and Pat Armstrong (York University), the emphasis on “scarcity” was debunked. The issue, it was suggested, was not so much a lack of resources, especially for undergraduate instruction, as about new funding priorities. In this connection, a number of factors have come together: the “commodification” of educational outcomes; the commercialization of research; the emphasis on accountability and measurement; the trend toward merit pay, market differentials, and discretionary funds; and an increasing reliance on tuition fees and private sources of funding to support operating budgets
A related trend involves government research funding which is often tied to collaborative research. This has a profound impact on who does research, how research is done, and the type of research which is funded. Faculty are increasingly required to spend time "managing" research projects, leaving less time to engage in the research process itself. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer of these collaborations are community based. Rather they refer to organizational ‘partnerships,’ where the partner can make a sizeable financial contribution.
Suffice it to say that all of this emphasis on competition, assessment, and marketability comes at a price. The end result is the creation of a false but nevertheless fundamental dichotomy between excellence and merit. This is illustrated in the ongoing struggle over the failure to incorporate equity into the Canada Research Chair program.
The Unsustainable Job
Caroline Baillie (Queen’s University), Chris Ferns (Mount Saint Vincent), Kathleen Dindoff (Fanshawe College)
Life within the academe has changed as a result of corporatization. We are pressured to act fast and think quickly; to work harder, but not smarter. Class sizes have increased, workload has intensified, and the nature and context of our work has changed.
The growth of contingent faculty is integral to the transition from collegial to corporate governance. The movement away from full-time tenured positions reduces labour costs, while also weakening the strength of faculty to engage in university governance. We are moving to a multi-tier personnel system that is producing classic "divide and conquer" effects. Large numbers of academic workers lack job security, decent salaries and benefits, and a voice in academic decision-making; more equitable working conditions for all faculty must be central to mobilization efforts.
Recommendations: What Can Academic Staff Associations Do
Brenda Austin-Smith (University of Manitoba), Carl James (York University), Lorraine Weir (UBC)
Equity organizing faces difficult times ahead. It is through our faculty associations that we can most effectively resist the marginalization of equity concerns and develop proactive alternatives. But to be successful, faculty associations must be models of best practices. We need to ensure that inclusivity is fundamental to the organizational structure and culture of our associations. This will require nothing short of faculty associations taking on the equity agenda as a core mission.
A call for local associations to collect and share better data on representation, hiring, tenure, etc., the inclusion of equity clauses in collective agreements, and the establishment of a “Generation Gap” Committee to examine collective agreements with an eye to the generational dimensions of equity at different career stages were among the suggestions raised in the closing panel.
Other YUFA Delegates from this Conference:
Mitzi Mitchell
Janice Newton
Narda Razack