Volume 28, No. 8 Editor: Mark Langer November, 1997 THE REAL AGENDA BEHIND PROGRAM REDUNDANCY In his press briefing on 20 November, President Van Loon revealed the hidden agenda behind program redundancy when he suggested that courses taught by professors earning $70,000 would now be offered by sessionals earning $7,000 per credit. The loss of the small language programs would not be felt as language courses now being taught by tenured faculty would be offered by sessionals elsewhere in the university. This means that real jobs offering a living salary, benefits and retirement packages would be turned into part-time McJobs. Senate is being asked to declare the Classics program redundant, enabling management to fire two mature faculty members. At the same time, the University is attempting to hire a classics professor at a salary little more than half that of our tenured faculty in that discipline. Is this redundancy, or the opportunity to reduce faculty salaries? Program redundancy not only is the breach in the fortress of tenure, it is the weapon that management needs to force further reductions in the salaries of those of us who survive this round of layoffs. If Senate endorses management's plan, who will be next? What other programs could be offered more cheaply by substituting sessionals for faculty, drawing on a pool of people already holding jobs in the area? The Department of French? The School of Business? English? With vague criteria for redundancy, even programs that are financially secure would become even more profitable by the replacement of tenured faculty with sessionals. What effect will this have on the already dismal reputation of Carleton, as reported annually in Macleans? Those who think that this would never happen should regard the University of Phoenix, which is the fastest- growing and most profitable university in the United States. All of its courses are taught by sessionals. When the bottom line becomes the chief criterion of excellence, the McEducation offered at the University of Phoenix, with its suburban, franchise-style "outlets," becomes a model for education in Ontario. Senate, faculty and students should think about the University of Phoenix. After all, Richard Van Loon and Mike Harris do. Continued overleaf CUASA's profiles of faculty threatened with being fired through program redundancy continues, in order that members of the university community might consider the loss to the institution if these scholars are terminated. ARND BOHM Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literary Studies Scholarly work: Special note: 7 book chapters President Elect, Canadian Assoc. of University Teachers of German 40 articles Co-editor, Carleton Germanic Papers since 1985 61 book reviews Former Clerk of Arts Faculty Board 70 papers presented Former Chair of the Department of German