The Communiqué: Volume 46, No. 17 – May 17, 2024 – Carleton University Academic Staff Association

The Communiqué: Volume 46, No. 17 – May 17, 2024

In this Issue:

CUASA Office Victoria Day closure and new summer hours
Agreement on Bill 124
Staff update: Jaye Horton appointed as Executive Director
We’re hiring!
Grievance Advisory: Potential changes to past practice
Steering Committee election results
Get involved: Volunteer opportunities at CUASA
Missed our Tenure/Confirmation and Promotion workshops?
Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey
CAUT statement on police actions against peaceful protesters on campus – May 10

CUASA Office Victoria Day closure and new summer hours

The virtual CUASA Office will be closed on Monday, May 20, for Victoria Day. The office will reopen on Tuesday, May 21, at 9:00am.

Also, from next Friday, May 24, the CUASA Office will begin its summer schedule. This means that the office will close at 12:00 pm on Fridays for the summer, with the exception of July, when the office will be closed on Fridays for the entire day.

We wish to take a moment to remind members that staff work primary remotely and CUASA’s physical offices in Dunton Tower remain closed. If you need to reach us at any time, please contact [email protected] and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Agreement on Bill 124

In case you missed it, we announced on Wednesday, May 15, that CUASA and Carleton had reached a tentative agreement to resolve all issues related to Bill 124.

At its meeting yesterday, May 16, CUASA Council ratified the settlement, and we confidentially shared the details of the agreement with members.

Please note: the agreement remains confidential until it is ratified by the University Board of Governors. Please do not share the details of the settlement, except with other current CUASA members.

We will update you once we hear from the University regarding the approval of the Board of Governors.

Staff update: Jaye Horton appointed as Executive Director

CUASA is pleased to announce the appointment of Jaye Horton as Executive Director. Jaye has been a member of CUASA staff since April 2018. They previously served five and a half years as the Member Services and Communications Officer, and most recently simultaneously spent a year and a half as the Interim Director.

Jaye is currently enrolled in the Professional Master of Industrial Relations program at Queen’s University. He holds a Master of Arts in Communication from Carleton University, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Communication from Cape Breton University in his hometown of Sydney, NS. They have also completed training in leadership, labour relations, and professional writing for marketing and public relations.

In their new role of Executive Director, Jaye will be responsible for the administration of the daily operations of the Association by managing, supervising, and directing the staff team, serving as an advisor, consultant, and resource person to the President, facilitating the coordination of all aspects of CUASA’s mission, ensuring that the constitution, bylaws, and polices of the Association are observed, and overseeing the effective delivery of services to the membership.

Congratulations, Jaye, and thank you for your continued contributions to CUASA!

We’re hiring!

CUASA is hiring for three positions:

Member Services and Communications Officer, full-time limited term appointment – 1 year (with the possibility of renewal)

Collective Bargaining Support Assistant (Research), casual part-time appointment – maximum 150 hours (approx. 15 hours per week for 10 weeks)

Collective Bargaining Support Assistant (Finance), casual part-time appointment – maximum 100 hours (approx. to 10 hours weekly for 10 weeks)

Applications will be accepted until May 31. Click on the links above to view the job postings. Please share them in your networks with any interested individuals.

Grievance advisory: Potential changes to past practice

It has come to our attention that the university intends to reduce course releases provided to some CUASA members in administrative roles. For example, by reducing the course release provided to an Undergraduate Supervisor role from 1.0 credit to 0.5 credit. The union views this type of reduction as a change to past practice and may need to grieve such matters once they are formally implemented.

If you are aware of any similar changes that may increase your workload or change the past practice of the role, please contact us at [email protected].

Steering Committee election results

As previously announced, at the April General Meeting on April 24, CUASA President Dominique Marshall was acclaimed as President for the 2024-2026 term, beginning July 1, 2024.

At its meeting yesterday, May 16, Council elected the other Officers of the Association in accordance with Article IX of the CUASA Constitution. Here are the results:

Nadine Ijaz (Law and Legal Studies) was acclaimed as Vice President for the remainder of the 2024-2025 term.
Devin Fraser (Sprott) was acclaimed as Treasurer for the 2024-2026 term.
Anil Varughese (Public Policy and Administration) was elected as Chair, Grievance Policy and Administration.
Mayurika Chakravorty (English/Interdisciplinary Studies) was acclaimed as External Relations Officer for the 2024-2026 term.
George Duimovich was acclaimed as Professional Librarian Representative for 2024-2026 term.

We sincerely thank these members for their willingness to serve as CUASA Officers. Keep an eye on future Communiqués over the summer, as we introduce the new Officers to you!

We also extend our deepest gratitude to outgoing officers, Greg Franks (Treasurer), Dipto Sarkar (External Relations Officer), and Wasiu Raji (Chair, Nominations and Elections) for their service.

Get involved: Volunteer opportunities at CUASA

The Association is as strong as its membership, so we count on the time, ideas and commitment of members to achieve and update CUASA’s goals. If you’d like to contribute to CUASA’s work and positions, here are some ways you can help:

… join the CUASA Steering Committee

We are still accepting nominations for the following positions (click on the position title to view the description):

All nominations must be made using the form found here. All nomination forms must include the signatures of the nominee and two Association members as nominators. Please send completed forms to [email protected].

… volunteer on the Grievance Policy and Administration Committee

This Committee helps to set CUASA policy on how to handle member grievances, and works with CUASA staff to support members during the grievance process. The committee meets once a month during the academic year.

… serve as a member of Anti-Racism Working Group

This Working Group is open to any CUASA member interested in addressing the issue of racism at Carleton. It usually meets once a month during the academic year.

… join one of our Caucus Groups

CUASA’s 2SLBGTQIA+ Pride Caucus and Disability Caucus are now meeting regularly, and we are happy to welcome new members. These caucus groups are intended to be a way for people from equity-seeking groups to find community connections, socialize, organize, support one another, and share ideas with each other and with CUASA. These groups usually meet once a month.

For more information, or to volunteer for any of these positions, please contact the CUASA Office at [email protected]. If you are interested in participating in a caucus group, please contact our Equity and Member Services Officer, Max López, at [email protected] for more details.

Missed our Tenure/Confirmation and Promotion workshops?

Thank you to those members who attended our annual Tenure/Confirmation and Promotion workshops over the last two weeks!

If you missed this year’s workshops and would like to receive a copy of the materials or ask us any questions, please contact [email protected].

Please note: We had to postpone our Instructor/Teaching Stream workshop that was scheduled for May 7. We will announce a new date for this workshop as soon as possible.

Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey

Each Spring and Fall, the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association (CDLRA) conducts its Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey project that tracks digital learning trends in post-secondary education.

At the request of the CDLRA, we are inviting CUASA members to participate in the 2024 Spring Pan-Canadian Survey. The CDLRA recently expanded the survey to include faculty as participants, as it is highly important that the data reflects the perspectives of those who are actively teaching at institutions across the country. The CDLRA hopes to increase the faculty response rate for 2024 to ensure that the faculty voice is not overlooked when findings are shared later this year.

The survey takes less than 10 minutes to complete, and can be accessed at this link: https://bayviewanalytics.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2gZFJ3o9Ac9YrpI

CAUT statement on police actions against peaceful protesters on campus – May 10

From CAUT:

CAUT defends the right to free expression and assembly on university and college campuses and condemns those institutions that have or are threatening to have police forcibly remove and arrest peaceful protesters.

Universities and colleges must be places that foster debate, dialogue and free expression. The forcible removal and heavy-handed arrests of peaceful student protesters who pose no demonstrable threat to campus safety are inimical to the mission of post-secondary institutions and contrary to the democratic rights expressed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

CAUT policy emphasizes that police and campus security services must never be used to constrain academic freedom, free expression or peaceful assembly. The police should be permitted to intervene on campus only where there is a clear and imminent threat of violence, violation of criminal law by an assembly, or a serious violation of the rights of others. Simply asserting that peaceful assemblies are “trespassing” on university or college property is not justification enough for abrogating fundamental democratic rights.

University and college leaders have a positive obligation to defend expressive freedoms and the autonomy of their institutions. They fail in that duty when they capitulate to political and donor pressure to silence debate.

Academic institutions must be places that encourage dialogue in the pursuit of understanding and knowledge. There is no justification for police crackdowns on peaceful assemblies on campus.

The Communiqué is published by the Carleton University Academic Staff Association. Past issues are archived on our website at CUASA.ca.
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