Weekly Update – June 19 – Carleton University Academic Staff Association

Weekly Update – June 19

June 19, 2020

Weekly Update – June 19

Updates from JCAA

Following recent discussions at JCAA, the University has provided an online COVID-19 health and safety resource page, including COVID-19 infection prevention training, which can be accessed here. In the event that the University reopens at any time during the fall term, members will retain the choice to teach online as opposed to face-to-face.

Although the Ministry of Colleges and Universities outlined a plan for a partial reopening of universities and colleges starting in July, the University will not be following this voluntary option for reopening and working off campus is still the norm.

Summer Teaching Evaluations

CUASA and the University came to an agreement on teaching evaluations for the summer term. Members teaching for the summer term must opt-in to administer teaching evaluations and may only administer evaluations in electronic format. If members do not opt-in, they will be considered to have declined administering electronic teaching evaluations. However, if evaluations are administered, they will only be used for collective data and not for career decisions.

The full Letter of Understanding will be available on the CUASA website as soon as possible.

CUASA Business and Events

Council Carries Motion on Anti-Racism Statement

CUASA Council recently carried a motion approving the following statement:

CUASA condemns all forms of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism, as well as all other forms of racialized discrimination and violence in Canada, the U.S. and across the Globe. We are also committed to identifying ways we have not done enough to address systemic racism and to taking further steps as an organization to educate ourselves and promote specific changes to protect the rights of Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (POC), and other marginalized communities here in CUASA, at Carleton, and in the wider community. This includes supporting the growing movement to defund the police and reallocate resources to alternative forms of public safety that prioritize mental health, poverty reduction, and other forms of social infrastructure. CUASA is determined to solicit input from the broader membership on next steps for a more detailed response and further engagement in countering the effects of racism in all its forms.

Call for Volunteers – Chair of Equity and Equity Committee Members

Further to Council’s approval of the statement denouncing racism, which commits to soliciting input from the membership and engaging in countering racism, CUASA is still seeking a volunteer for the Chair of Equity position and volunteers to form an Equity Committee.

To learn more about volunteering for the Chair of Equity position or for the Equity Committee, please visit the How to Volunteer page.

Nominations for Steering Positions

We are also still accepting nominations for the following Steering positions:

External Relations Officer
Communications Officer
Chair, Nominations and Elections
Chair, Internal Affairs
Instructor Representative

Information on the nominations process can be found on our How to Volunteer page. The work of the Association continues, despite the current environment we find ourselves in. Remember that our Association is only as strong as its membership, so we count on the time and commitment of our members to achieve our goals. Some of these positions come with a course release subject to the availability of funds.

CUASA’s 45^th Anniversary

Yesterday marked CUASA’s 45^th anniversary as a certified labour union. On June 18, 1975, CUASA was the first faculty association to certify with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Today, CUASA is the bargaining agent for over 950 Professors, Instructors, and Librarians.

We celebrated CUASA’s anniversary with a Zoom Café prize draw and CUASA trivia challenge for Councillors. We are pleased to announce the winners:

$50 gift certificate for Netflix – Karen Jesney
$50 gift certificate for Chapters Indigo – Leslie Pal
$50 gift certificate for Winner’s Choice (you get to pick!) – Guillaume Gentil
2 Tickets to a National Arts Centre Event or Exhibition of your choice – Katharine Kelly(once NAC safely resumes activities)*
2 Tickets to a Senators Hockey Game of your choice (once hockey safely resumes)* – Lev Blumenfeld
Tickets for your immediate family for CUASA’s annual 2021 Sugar Shack activity.* – Paloma Raggo

Please contact Christal Côté at [email protected] to make arrangements to collect your prize.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who participated in CUASA’s 45th anniversary event!

Carleton Community Announcements

Launch of the Residential Schools Land Memory Atlas

On June 21, after five years of research and development, Carleton University’s Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre will launch its Residential Schools Land Memory Atlas in Honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Read the full story here.

Support for Online Teaching

The University has signed onto a special project, the Shared Online Projects Initiative (SOPI), a consortium of three universities: University of Ottawa, Queen’s University and Carleton University. SOPI is intended to share online courses under a creative commons licence so that your course content may be modified as per the licence. CUASA was not consulted on either the creation or the management of this project.