RRUFA Meeting minutes – September 2016

RRUFA September Monthly Meeting Minutes

September 7, 2016

Mews 110

Present:

Niels Agger-Gupta Geoff Archer   Jo Axe   Brian Belcher  
Geoffrey Bird   Kathy Bishop David Black Judith Blanchette  
Tony Boydell Elizabeth Childs   Kenneth Christie Robin Cox
Ann Dale   Audrey Dallimore   Matt Dodd   Juana Du  
Catherine Etmanski Lois Fearon   Doug Hamilton   Elizabeth Hartney
Jaigris Hodson   Julia Jahanzoosi   Shelley Jones Frances Jorgensen  
Marnie Jull Ingrid Kajzer-Mitchell   Leslie King   Richard Kool  
Charles Krusekopf Tamara Leary   Ryan Lee Zhenyi Li  
Chris Ling Mark Lokanan   Will Low   Eva Malisius
Kathleen Manion Moira McDonald Virginia McKendry   Will Meredith  
Robert Mittelman   Jonathan Moran   Terry Mughan   Mickie Noble  
Ross Porter Terry Power   Ash Prasad   Siomonn Pulla
Carolin Rekar Munro   Chaseten Remillard   Wendy Rowe    
Bernard Schissel   Jean Slick   Barb Stoddard   Geo Takach
Marilyn Taylor   Todd Thexton   Eugene Thomlinson   Mike Thompson
Phillip Vannini   George Veletsianos   Hassan Wafai   Jennifer Walinga
Brian White   Rebecca Wilson Mah   Michael Young   Amy Zidulka  

[Sorry if I have missed anyone!]                22 Members in attendance out of 67 active Members.

CONTENTS:

September 2016 Monthly Meeting

  1. Call to order at 12: 10 pm (President Kenneth Christie)………………………………………. 2
  2. Approval of July Monthly Meeting minutes:……………………………………………………………. 2
  3. New Business:……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 2
  4. 1 Introduction of New Members:…………………………………………………………………………….. 2

3.2 CAUT grievance workshop Aug 18-19                                                                   (David)……….. 2

3.3 RRUFA Humanitarian Donations – Terms of Reference (David/Catherine)…………… 3

  1. New Business:……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

4.1 Campaign for Dr. Home Hoodfar (Concordia)                                                  (David)……….. 4

4.2 Sexual Violence RRU Committee – (Virginia)…………………………………………………………. 4

  1. Regular Reports: Reports from:……………………………………………………………………………… 4

5.1 President           (Ken)……………………………………………………………………………………………. 4

5.2 Bargaining Team         (Wendy)……………………………………………………………………………… 4

5.3 CAUT          (David)……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4

5.4 CUFA-BC report:       (Rick)……………………………………………………………………………….. 4

5.5 Academic Council:       (Eva / Niels)………………………………………………………………………. 4

5.6 Board of Governors       (Charles)…………………………………………………………………………. 5

5.7 RRUFA Website:  (http:rrufa.ca)      (Will )……………………………………………………………. 5

5.6 Social Committee        (Ken)………………………………………………………………………………….. 5

5.7 Grievance Officer’s Report      (Jo)………………………………………………………………………… 5

5.8 Health & Safety         (Rick)……………………………………………………………………………………. 5

  1. Guest Speakers: Jessica Morrow – United Way of Greater Victoria & Guest…………….. 5

6.1 Jessica Morrow:…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

6.2: Ashley Cooper – WSANEC School Board/ LifeCycles Project Society Native Plants & Garden Education Program……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5

  1. Adjourn Meeting…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6

2016 RRU Faculty Association September Meeting

1.       Call to order at 12: 10 pm                                                                     (President Kenneth Christie)

2.       Approval of July Monthly Meeting minutes:

Moved by Niels; seconded by Ryan.  Approved.

3.       New Business:

3. 1 Introduction of New Members:

Welcome to Marnie Jull at Humanitarian Studies, introduced by Kathleen Manion.

Jenn introduced Kathleen Manion; Ryan introduced Ross;  Siomonn introduced Shelley.

3.2 CAUT grievance workshop Aug 18-19                                                       (David)

David brought the grievance manual. Grievance is apparently what FAs do between bargaining rounds…. CAUT provided David Whitehead from Brock – a near-Eastern Scholar and Industrial relations specialist for a day and half workshop on grievance handling… Glad we had nothing bad happen previously – we are not prepared  – 9 people showed up to the workshop at Laurel Point Inn. We came out with a better understanding of a surprisingly complex task. David Whitehead did a nice job; everyone had a good time and learned lots; Grievance Officer Jo Axe is now duly prepared.

Question: What grievances have we been involved with, lately?

David: More recently we have not had actual grievances; we have had members with concerns they cannot sort out themselves… The role of the FA Grievance Officer is typically intervening, or talking to members.

Ken: There are differences between complaints and grievances.. Not much can be acted on. People may complain but this does not constitute a grievance, or something that can be acted on…Things mostly don’t get to a formal grievance…

David: Falling outside a formal grievance are many levels of complaints.

Eva: There are quite a number of time frames that fall under this, including grieving lack of action within the time frame… We need to go early to ensure things are on track…

Question: could we have a session to explain this?

David: we could do this with Jo – what our rights are – what our responsibilities are…

Ken: This was a great workshop – lots of simulations!

David: Ken is very good about complaining about things (He was good at his role in the simulation!)…

3.3 RRUFA Humanitarian Donations – Terms of Reference                    (David/Catherine)

David: RRUFA made a $10K donation to help Syrian families in Victoria – which led to organizing a formal policy or protocol on making donations…  There is a different perspective of the FA as a formal business association and a humanitarian organization looking out at world… Consulted CAUT member list to see how other universities do this. There is a great variety of responses to David’s question to these FAs on their humanitarian donations policies.

Our Committee met this morning (Ryan, Brian, Catherine, David, Niels) to look at how other FAs do this. We saw everything from associations that only give contributions to striking fellow associations, to associations with very specific criteria to local causes, or to causes with labour or education mandates – to those who respond to crises in the world or in the neighborhood…  Most have caps/constraints, and have decisions falling within the policy made by the FA executive. Many other executives appear to have more power to take such actions. … Document is inventory of responses – with 3 typical policy statements:.

We have questions for FA membership:

  1. Does RRUFA want a donation policy? (Grandfathered in to striking associations ($500). But do we want specific policy for humanitarian donations?
  2. If yes, then what should we be looking at? What kinds of criteria are reasonable?

 

Robin: yes – a policy would be good: we have already come up with $ for refugees so a guidance for us moving forward would make sense…

Eva: A policy makes subsequent conversations easier – if we actually had a grievance – $ would be needed, and a policy would let us plan for all eventualities.

Ken: we don’t have an unlimited pot – we will continue to make small donations to other universities… We have to be fiscally conservative because we are small… We need to save if we need legal guidance.

Tony: So we need a clarification of language for charitable giving for humanitarian donations and money to other FAs.

David: So there are then two parts to this guidance policy: solidarity with other FAs, which will clarify what we already do. Send part charitable giving – need this policy so we have permission as FA/executive – and conversations with members on the humanitarian giving component.

Elizabeth: Have we considered creating a fee waiver or bursary for students experiencing financial hardships through studies?

Ross: This goes to the nature of the cause – financial need for scholarly – and also reach

David: if you look at some of these – local specific or more open-ended…

Robin: principles will help… We might also include geographic priority for projects in the Victoria region…

Catherine: Sounds like there is an appetite for this policy – …if we have said, “yes” to the 1st question – then our committee will meet again to come up with a draft policy

 

Motion: RRUFA to move ahead with the work of the Charitable Donations Sub-committee in creating a donations policy for the FA.

Moved: Eva. Second: Robin…

 

Discussion:

Brian: should we be giving charitable donations or should this be restricted to education – Could we do a short survey to members?

Siomonn: We could do a short Survey Monkey survey…

Ross: Perhaps we would only give to organizations in alignment with our LTM?

Chris: I suggest this be 1-2% of budget.

Ken: We need to establish priorities and then define allocation.

Eva: some have recommended an amount but not an overall plan.

Robin: We need to develop the mechanisms – how to do this. This does take some thought.

David: Speaking as Defense Fund rep – 3 FAs in Canada are moving to a strike position, so we could see further strike donations coming forward.

Robin: Perhaps we could have a year where there are many striking FAs?

 

Motion on moving forward – with subcommittee – passed with no abstentions.

 

4.       New Business:

 

4.1 Campaign for Dr. Home Hoodfar (Concordia)                        (David)

David: we donated $500 last spring – 2 ads in Globe & Mail have run, Feds are now actively involved.

[note that this was resolved in last week of September with the return to Canada of Dr. Hoodfar.]

4.2 Sexual Violence RRU Committee – (Virginia)

Roberta Mason sent out proposed policy – could Virginia get feedback on this from faculty? Is there anything she should be looking for. This is based on a fantastic template in Ontario policy… A few updates on transgender language – ending violence BC – Campus Sexual Conduct Guidelines – But there is very little on what to actually do… Virginia – will look at an experiential view…

Please email Virginia – if you have suggestions. She will send out draft policy by next meeting…

5.       Regular Reports: Reports from:

5.1 President                                                                                                               (Ken)

Postponed to next meeting to make space for United Way speakers.

5.2 Bargaining Team                                                                                                 (Wendy)

Nothing is really happening on the bargaining front – our CA goes to March 2019.  Next fall we will start process, beginning with CAUT Training. In 2018 – we will engage the FA to determine priorities – surveys, etc. This takes a whole year…

There will be two main issues:

  1. the workload menu – we have not sat down with administrators and deans about whether this is working… and
  2. Gender equity – salaries and promotion/hiring decisions – when we first asked about this a few years ago, the  Administration was prepared to give us figures – but then, when we asked for this last spring – we were refused on privacy grounds. We started making inquiries – other FAs get but some also do not get this info from their administrations.  We need clarity on this, so we can do own analysis – averages don’t tell story.

Where we come up when a CA issue comes up – decision does not follow CA – can often be dealt with informally…  If you have any issues that come up, contact Wendy, Ken and David…

5.3 CAUT                                                                                                                       (David)

(no report this month)

5.4 CUFA-BC report:                                                                         (Rick)

Rick not here – postponed to next meeting

5.5 Academic Council:                                                                                             (Eva / Niels)

Rick absent – and Niels was out of country for last AC meeting.

Niels: AC members should meet prior to the next meeting.

Ken: Invite all members of the FA to this meeting.

[Niels organized a meeting

 

5.6 Board of Governors                                                                                           (Charles)

No report this month.

5.7 RRUFA Website:  (https://rrufa.wpengine.com)                                                              (Will )

No report this month.

5.6 Social Committee                                                                                              (Ken)

Ken: Christmas Social – why not in castle? – bring families – tapas style food – vs formal dinner… What do people think?

 

Robin: Could we open the billiard room and make it Christmassy?

 

Ken: Why not!

5.7 Grievance Officer’s Report                                                                            (Jo)

Jo: Nothing to report – This is the quietest university at moment!

5.8 Health & Safety                                                                                                  (Rick)

Postponed

6.       Guest Speakers: Jessica Morrow – United Way of Greater Victoria & Guest.

6.1 Jessica Morrow:

Jessica: appreciate being asked back!  She moved from Ontario – where to help – or make a difference -UWay – steps in to support good organizations – a network of services… Takes substance abuse counseling, etc… Smoke to Sidney and southern Gulf Islands… Not just one cause… RRU is a long-term partner – raised over $700K since 1994 – when records came…

Jessica noted that President Ken was the RRU United Way Campaign Chair for this year. She then introduced Ashley Cooper as a key United Way agency doing good work in the community.

6.2: Ashley Cooper – WSANEC School Board/ LifeCycles Project Society Native Plants & Garden Education Program

Brief Bio: Based at the LÁU, WELNEW Tribal School gardens and greenhouse in Brentwood Bay, this program combines teachings on garden fruits and vegetables with native plants and foods. It explores plant propagation, traditional food preparation such as pit cooks and salmon bakes, food processing, and food ecosystems. Students develop gardens and learn about ecological restoration and native ecosystems from elders who speak on traditional methods and our connection to nature.

 

Ashley started with a welcome spoken in Coast Salish – She is from the Tsartlip Nation – teaches workshops – and brings in Saanich elders – to children ranging from Kindergarten to Grade 10…

Ashley is part of the first generation not forced into Residential School – She is the 4th generation in her family to have an interest in medicines – She was an at-risk youth – went through trauma – She experienced a huge part of the genocide faced by her family – and other families – learning

Judith Arney – offered Ashley a job: looking after meadows – open forest – wetlands – ocean; restoring environment – learning about native plants and how to care for these vegetables, that are valuable for the community – learning about native plants and access to healthy food available in back yard – identification of plants – funding beneficial -site on school grounds – explaining life cycles of plants –

Still full-time student – but fits this in… “I can’t quite find right words in English” – She has a strong role to play in the community at a time of reconciliation – to revitalize what is left with community – celebrate with community – This is important for community…  I have faith in next generations – when I see children learning language and identifying plants – our children will know food security…

 

Robin thanked Ashley for her heart-felt talk!

Members gave Ashley a warm round of applause of thanks!

 

Jessica: last year UW touched 97,000 people; Ashley is one of these stories… September 22 – electronic

Pledging starts at RRU.

7.       Adjourn Meeting

Motion to adjourn: Robin

Adjourned at 1:16PM.

Recorder: Niels Agger-Gupta, RRUFA Secretary