All Posts Tagged With: "Carleton University"
Carleton will open sexual assault centre
Follows years of student lobbying
After years of lobbying from students, Carleton University has announced that the school will open a support centre for victims of sexual assault. Advocates began pushing for a crisis support centre in 2007 after an attack in a school lab. But the university resisted the creation of a separate centre, arguing it offered sufficient support through counselling and medical services.
Then, at least three sexual assaults on women were reported on campus last fall, raising the volume on the demands emanating from the Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Support Centre, a group of volunteers who run an unofficial victims’ campus hotline from eight a.m. to midnight.
Linda Capperauld, director of equity services for Carleton, told the Ottawa Citizen Tuesday that the administration will run the new centre in Robertson Hall. It may open as early as September.
Ottawa condo bans student renters
But Carleton student fights back
A condo board in Ottawa passed a rule in October that essentially outlawed students from renting in their building, because it required renters to be families, common-law or otherwise intending to live together permanantly. But Carleton University student Nicholas McLeod has collected enough signatures to force a vote on the ruling, which could overturn it at the annual general meeting at the Southgate Road building on Dec. 6. according to Metro News.
Students declare “death of affordable transit”
Zombies protest 17 per cent U-Pass increase
Photo by Jane Gerster of The Charlatan
Zombies welcomed public transit users at Carleton University’s main bus stop on Halloween morning. The students in costume were protesting what they called “the death of affordable and accessible transit,” and were collecting signatures from supporters to send to city council.
The protest was a response to the local transit authority, OC Transpo, which announced that Ottawa university students will pay $180 per semester for their universal transit passes (U-Passes) next year. That’s a 17 per cent hike from the $145 they paid this year. According to the Carleton Undergraduate Students’ Association, the new price—$360 a year for most students—means Ottawa and Carleton will have Canada’s most expensive student transit passes.
In contrast, consider that students at Dalhousie University in Halifax pay only $69 per semester.
Continue reading Students declare “death of affordable transit”
Gandhi haters vow to fight statue
People will protest anything. Or will they?
Gandhi statue in Geneva, Switzerland by cosmicautmumn on Flickr
On the weekend, Carleton University and McMaster University both unveiled statues of Gandhi in celebration of Gandhi Jayanti, the political leader’s birthday, a national holiday in India. The celebration was part of the Year of India in Canada, an initiative to strengthen cultural and economic ties between the two countries.
But in the days leading up to the Carleton statue unveiling, a group inspired by New York activist Arvin Valmuci created a Facebook group called “Stop the Carleton University Gandhi Statue” and sent an open letter to the school demanding they revoke the statue—or risk protests. They pointed to a website claiming Gandhi was guilty of “racism, sexual perversion and hatred of minorities.” Among other things, they allege that Gandhi “slept with his grandnieces.”
More than 150 “liked” the Facebook group.
It may seem odd to Canadians that people could hate Gandhi.
But many do. Valmuci works with a group called the Organization for Minorities of India. The same group protested a 23-year-old statue of Gandhi in San Francisco last year. The group called for the statue to be replaced by Martin Luther King Jr. or Nelson Mandela. After telling the San Francisco Chronicle they wouldn’t take it down, P.J. Johnston, the man responsible for the statue said, “I suppose Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela must have their critics as well.”
It’s true, they certainly do. There will always be people opposed to any political symbol on university campuses, even if that symbol is nearly-universally lauded for promoting peace like Gandhi.
Like the San Francisco Arts Commission, Carleton decided to ignore the group against the statue.
Whether they made the right choice seems almost moot. No protesters showed their faces.
Carleton asks judge to throw out discrimination case
Students wanted to show graphic images in high-traffic area
Carleton University has asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit by two members of an anti-abortion group who claim they were discriminated against by the administration, reports the Ottawa Citizen.
The school wouldn’t allow Ruth Lobo and John McLeod of Carleton Lifeline to put up a display that included graphic images of genocide and fetuses in a high-traffic square on campus known as the Tory Quad. The university offered them a more secluded space to make their presentation. The students argue that was discriminatory because animal-rights activists and Holocaust awareness groups are permitted to use graphic images in Tory Quad.
Lawyers for the university told the judge the claim is “scandalous, frivolous, vexatious or otherwise an abuse of the process of the court.” They argued that the university’s Human Rights Policy and the policy on Student Rights and Responsibilities are “internal administrative directives and procedures,” and that they do not form a contract between administrators and students.
Lobo and McLeod’s lawyer argued that Carleton University may have been acting as an agent of government and would therefore be subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including provisions on freedom of expression.
Carleton University gets its football team back
Former player rescues team with $2.5-million gift
Football fans in Ottawa will soon have one more team to cheer for. Carleton University will launch a new varsity team in 2013.
It’s all thanks to a philanthropist — entrepreneur and former Carleton Ravens defenceman John Ruddy — who gave the proposed team a $2.5 million boost, matching other fundraising for a total of $5-million in start-up capital.
The Carleton Ravens were axed in 1998 due to financial shortfalls, which came after a poorly played season.
The new team will be controlled by an alumni association called Old Crows Football Inc., which will include community members and the university’s administrators. The university plans to refurbish the old stadium, add new seating, a new press box, a new locker-room and fitness facilities.
Rob Ford dropped out of university. How dare he?
What’s really stunning is that he went to York
Toronto mayor Rob Ford dropped out of university in 1991 and it is apparently a scandal. There was some confusion over whether or not he graduated but that was cleared up months ago. He attended Carleton University for 1989-1990 and we now know that he later attended York University for 1990-91 taking distance education courses.
Bouncing off an Open File Ottawa story that looked at whether or not, and by how much, Ford embellished his time as a member of Carleton’s football team, the Toronto Star writes:
Mayor Rob Ford took courses at university — that much, at least, is clear.
Normally, a mayor’s post-secondary education is an easily confirmed thing, a line or two in an official biography.
But Ford is no ordinary mayor.
So, an ordinary mayor would list himself as a university dropout on an official biography? Or would an ordinary mayor simply list the education institutions he attended in order to imply he graduated, when he did not? Or is it that ordinary mayors have university degrees? It’s not really clear what the Star is implying. Are official biographies not usually a list of a politician’s accomplishments, and not their list of failures and incomplete or half-hearted measures? Should Ford’s official City of Toronto biography also list how many times he’s been arrested?
The Star also writes that: “Ford’s official biography makes no mention of university.” Well that is not entirely true. The biography does mention his experience playing “university-level” football, which is just the sort of passing reference one might expect from a politician who attended but did not complete university. The emphasis on football, and not, say, the courses he took in political science also seems to be typical Ford.
Besides, the Star appears to have buried the lead all the way in paragraph nine. Rob Ford went to York!?
Retaining success
Carleton University has found a new way to keep students from flunking out
At the end of her first year at Carleton University, Stephanie Hamway was struggling with poor grades and a program she didn’t like. “I rushed into university before I fully realized what I wanted to do,” she says. But after spring finals, she got an email from the school’s Student Academic Success Centre, offering to help her create a plan to fix it. Today, in her third year, she has an A average.
Identifying at-risk students and getting them the help they need to stay on track is an obstacle all universities encounter, though some more than others. Retention rates, measured as the number of students who go on from first year to second year, range from a low of 70.3 per cent at Brandon University to a high of 95 per cent at Queen’s University.
Some universities, like Carleton, have realized that students won’t ask for help until it’s too late. That’s why, after mid-terms and finals, the academic success centre reviews grades from the registrar and contacts struggling students directly. They aren’t always easy to convince. “Identifying them is one thing,” says Suzanne Blanchard, associate vice-president of students and enrolment. “Getting them in for help, we’re working on.”
Blanchard estimates that only 30 to 40 per cent of students accept help. To try to reach the school’s goal of helping three-quarters of struggling students, Carleton added a walk-in program in September for students staring down an impending exam. Hamway didn’t need convincing after she was contacted. Her adviser laid out the options: continue, drop out, take a year off, transfer to a college or change majors. She opted to switch majors. “I love the program I’m in now, which has given me a lot of motivation,” she says.
Research on what improves retention is sparse, but a recent study by Ross Finnie, a University of Ottawa economist, determined that the conventional wisdom may be wrong. Traditional thinking has been that at-risk students come from particular demographics, like francophones in Ontario, or visible minorities. Finnie found little correlation between coming from a group that is underrepresented at university and making it beyond first year. He concluded that universities should focus instead on individual students with low marks.
Hamway is glad that Carleton is doing just that. It helped her realize something important: “There’s a lot of support for people who may not have the grades—they shouldn’t just give up.”
Money, not free speech, at issue in Carleton pro-life dispute
Carleton students shouldn’t be forced to pay for a group they don’t support
Critics of the Carleton University Students’ Association’s threat to strip an anti-abortion group’s club status are missing the point.
“Carleton student association bans anti-abortion club,” screams the headline on the National Post’s religion blog. According to a press release from the Campaign Life Coalition: “Carleton University, that bastion of free-thought, has ordered some of its students to accept its pro-abortion policy or leave the University.”
The problem is that this just simply isn’t true.
What’s actually happening at Carleton is that the students’ association–not the university–has decided to suspend a group’s club status. What does this actually mean? It means the group won’t get student money and can’t use student space for their activities. That’s it.
This has nothing to do with freedom of speech and everything to do with a group of self-righteous whiners who feel that they’re entitled to funding from all students and are upset that the gravy train has been stopped.
This group hasn’t been “silenced” or any such nonsense, they’re just being forced to pay their own way.
Students shouldn’t be forced to financially support groups that they disagree with. As Thomas Jefferson said, “to compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
Yes, I am aware that students across the country are forced to pay for on-campus groups they may or may not support. I don’t think they should be.
Moreover, Carleton Lifeline’s views are particularly extreme. The group’s most recent protest involved the hosting of something called the “Genocide Awareness Project” a vile campaign which makes a mockery of the suffering of Holocaust victims.
The CUSA is a private corporation run by elected pseudo-politicians, they’re allowed to take stances on issues. One might even say that’s what they’re supposed to do.
If individual Carleton students want to pay for this group they can, and should, do it out of their own pockets.
Carleton student union to enact discriminatory ban
Threat to decertify pro-life group ignores union’s pledge to protect campus diversity
The Carleton University Student Association (CUSA) has made a farce of its own supposed values by threatening to strip an anti-abortion club of student group status.
CUSA issued a notice to Carleton Lifeline Monday saying that the group will been banned for failing to comply with CUSA’s anti-discrimination policy. It helpfully informed the club that it has the opportunity to be recertified, so long as it adjusts the terms its constitution.
“We invite you to amend your constitution to create one that respects our anti-discrimination policy,” wrote Khaldoon Bushnaq, CUSA’s vice-president of internal affairs. CUSA’s anti-discrimination policy essentially states that “any campaign, distribution, solicitation, lobbying, effort, display, event etc. that seeks to limit or remove a woman’s right to choose her options in the case of pregnancy will not be supported.”
In sum, Carleton’s anti-abortion club must now support abortion rights if it wants to remain a student group on campus. The thought police at CUSA have given Carleton Lifeline until tomorrow to amend its constitution.
CUSA is the same student organization that famously and erroneously characterized cystic fibrosis as a disease only affecting “white people, and primarily men” back in 2008. The student savants who made up the council at that time deemed the disease not “inclusive” enough and voted to discontinue its Shinerama fundraising campaign. The burden of national embarrassment (and, you know, the actual facts about the disease) eventually prompted council to reverse the decision, but it seems the discomfiture of being a Canada-wide laughingstock back in 2008 has settled for the CUSA of late, and it’s getting back to making outrageous moves.
In what can only be perceived as an ironic push for progressivism, CUSA has turned its own constitution on its head; a constitution which explicitly states its aim to uphold an “environment free from prejudice, exploitation, abuse or violence on the basis of, but not limited to, sex, race, language, religion, age, national or social status, political affiliation or belief, sexual orientation or marital status.” Despite Article I of CUSA’s constitution, which states that the organization “shall act as a representative of the entire undergraduate student body attending Carleton University” (emphasis mine), CUSA’s decertification of Carleton Lifeline is little more than a discriminatory move toward a segment of its populace.
Some students at Carleton University believe that abortion is wrong. Shall I pause for dramatic effect? Though perhaps an unpopular position among members of CUSA’s council, it shall nevertheless seek to uphold an environment where pro-lifers can express their political and ideological beliefs free from discrimination. That’s according to CUSA’s own stated principles. Perhaps council has forgotten, but clauses protecting individuals’ rights to association and free speech are precisely so important as to protect those unpopular opinions. Concepts such as a woman’s right to cast a vote or the freedom for gay partners to express affection in the streets were once unpopular and/or offensive positions too, after all.
Not only is CUSA failing to protect its student from discrimination based on political and possibly religious belief (anti-abortion positions are often faith-based, after all), the group has taken on the role of oppressor itself. By mandating a “think like us or else” ultimatum, council is not seeking equity for all students, but rather, is playing favourites with group ideology. Short of CUSA declaring that pro-life attitudes plague only “white people, and primarily men,” I should think this latest hypocriticial CUSA move has just about pushed limits of reason.
Related: Money, not free speech, at issue in Carleton pro-life dispute
-Photo shows Lifeline members being arrested during a demonstration on campus last month.
Carleton should back off its students’ unions
Withholding funds while negotiations are ongoing is a sign of bad faith
Both the undergraduate and graduate students’ associations at Carleton University have called on a provincial judge to untangle a financial battle with their administration. On Oct. 25, the university’s board of governors decided to withhold the unions’ membership fees until a new funding agreement has been signed.
But, the students’ associations feel the university’s latest actions have been triggered by their traditionally critical opposition to issues on campus, including the current labour negotiations with campus faculty, and they’re using the funding agreement as an excuse to keep them quiet.
“This is about political interference plain and simple. They want to silence students’ voices on-campus,” graduate students’ union president Kimalee Phillip said in a statement on Nov. 11. “Students have decided to pay these fees for on-campus services and representation.
“Senior administrators think that they should decide where students’ money goes instead and are attempting to starve the students’ unions by withholding our only source of operating revenue.”
According to the university, though, it’s about accountability. The university wants to see audited account statements to prove that student money is being handled appropriately.
“The university has no interest in determining or directing how student associations at Carleton University spend their funds,” said spokesperson Jason MacDonald in an email to CBC. “The university is simply asking for CUSA and GSA to be transparent and accountable to the Carleton community with regard to how student fees are disbursed.”
This isn’t the first time a university has made that argument.
Back in 2005 and 2006, the administration of Quebec’s Dawson College withheld student fees from the Dawson Students’ Union over allegations that the DSU had not properly incorporated as a students’ society under Quebec law.
The issue of liability gets complicated, especially since nothing has been proven in court. But withholding funds while negotiations with the students’ unions are ongoing, is a sign of bad faith.
That results in the kinds of broad accusations that are now being hurled around.
While Carleton University might be uncomfortable with the way the students’ union is organized, it is a union elected and funded by the students of the university. That has to be taken into account. Elected officials screw up all the time. That’s nothing new. If funds are being mismanaged, it will be up to the electorate and the union’s oversight bodies to fix it.
If Carleton University has enough evidence that funds are being mismanaged, they should move through the courts or make their accusations known publicly. If they don’t, they need to back off and let students hold their own representatives accountable at their discretion.
Photo: Getty Images
Lock up your laptop
Laptop stolen at Carleton by man wielding a knife
A Carleton University student witnessed a man wielding a knife steal a laptop Monday morning. The unattended laptop belonged to a friend of the student’s who happened across a man who was taking a look at the computer before pulling out a knife and stealing it. Police told the Ottawa Citizen that incidents like this are common early in the year, as incoming students are still adjusting to university life and may still be used to high school where they may be familiar with most students. “New students have got to be careful, always keep it under lock and key or under surveillance,” Staff Sgt. Denis Cleroux said.
Carleton considers privatizing teaching
University examines partnership with private international student recruitment company, Navitas
Carleton University may become the latest school to contract out its foreign student recruitment to Australian company Navitas. The university has struck a committee of department heads, administrators and students to consider Navitas’ proposal to run a private college for international students at Carleton. The company already operates two similar colleges at the University of Manitoba and Simon Fraser University.
For background, please see: The sneaky way universities are privatizing teaching.
Navitas, which would be responsible for recruitment, would offer first-year courses for international students who may not meet requirements to be admitted directly to the university or who need extra support, including with developing their language skills. Courses would be designed in consultation with Carleton, and, although Navitas hires its own instructors, they must meet the institution’s academic qualifications. Students who successfully complete the first-year program would then be admitted directly to the university.
Students are charged the same tuition as other international students, and Navitas pays a royalty to its host schools.
At Carleton, the proposal is being met with skepticism from professors and other staff who fear that their jobs may be contracted out. Similar concerns have been raised at the University of Manitoba, where the faculty association has questioned to the quality of education, academic freedom, and the fact that Navitas uses publicly paid for classrooms. The University of Windsor rejected a similar proposal with Navitas competitor Study Group International earlier this year.
The ‘legal’ way to protest on campus
How to take a stand… without getting arrested.
Carleton profs vote for strike mandate
UPDATED: Bargaining resumes Tuesday after 88.5% of faculty vote yes
Carleton University professors have voted an overwhelming 88.5 per cent in favour of giving the faculty association a strike mandate. Bargaining resumes Tuesday morning and a provincial conciliator has been appointed. Faculty would not be in a legal position to strike until 17 days after the conciliator recommends the Ontario minister of labour file a no board report, meaning a contract could not be negotiated.
Related: Western profs vote 87% for strike mandate and Carleton profs prepare for strike vote
At the centre of the dispute is the process of tenure and promotion, and the Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA) says the university’s bargaining proposals would threaten academic freedom. “The message is that academic freedom and the tenure process are not up for negotiation,” CUASA president Johannes Wolfart said of the vote results.
Carleton’s director of communications, Jason MacDonald, says the goal is still to reach a negotiated settlement. “Strike votes are one of the tools that a bargaining unit has,” he said. “There is a history at Carleton of never having a faculty strike.” Despite the holding of a strike vote, the administration maintains that under the current collective agreement, the faculty association is not actually in a “position” to strike.
Last month, Carleton released a proposal to revamp its tenure process in an effort to bring it inline with other Canadian universities. Among the recommendations are to seek external peer review for candidates, whereas now all peer reviews are internal. The length of tenure-track positions would increase from three years to six years, and a more standardized tenure process would be established across the university, as opposed to the wide variation that currently exists between departments. Candidates for tenure would also be assessed “within the context of the university’s reputation and status.”
The report indicated a failure to reach consensus, between faculty and the university, on at least three points. They include proposals to strengthen the authority of an appeal committee to make final “binding” decisions, a role for an arbitrator to award tenure, and the ability for the president to overturn tenure decisions. In the case of the president, a tenure recommendation would be overturned in the event of a procedural error, not for “substantive” reasons related to the quality of the applicant.
Neither side would comment on the specifics of the negotiations, but Wolfart did say that “not much has moved at the table” in recent weeks.
There are approximately 19,000 full and part undergraduate students attending the university. Faculty have been without a contract since April.
- photo by churl
Carleton pro-lifers arrested
Students charged with trespassing after erecting anti-abortion display
Five students were arrested and charged with trespassing after erecting an anti-abortion display at Carleton University’s main quadgrangle. Four of the students are members of pro-life group, Carleton Lifeline, while the fifth student was from Queen’s University.
The university had denied the group permission to put up the display in the quadgrangle when it applied two months ago, citing the size and offensiveness of the photos. Instead, the students were offered a table in university centre, an offer that apparently was not suitable for the group’s goals. It is about telling “the truth about abortion,” a Carleton Lifeline member said in the Post.
Photo of Ottawa police arresting students, courtesy of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform
My tenured life
My best argument for tenure? This awesome blog.
The recent faculty unrest at Western and Carleton has turned in large measure around disagreements over the tenure system at those universities, and whenever tenure comes up, the comments from some corners are predictable. Why, people ask, should professors, unlike any other group of employees, get unbreakable contracts for life?
Leaving aside the fact that firing people at the drop of a hat is probably rarer in the non-academic world than people let on, and ignoring the fact that tenure is not an absolute guarantee of infinite employment, there are at least a couple of very good reasons to justify tenure, and they have been well-rehearsed elsewhere. Unlike most workers, university faculty members have to spend at least nine, usually many more years training for their job, and so tenure provides a counterbalance to all that lost income and pension earnings. Some professors don’t land a tenure-track gig til they are in their forties, while high school teachers of a similar age are already planning for retirement.
But the most important and compelling reason is that tenure is part of the academy’s guarantee of academic freedom. This might sound strange to you if your job is, more or less, completing the tasks that you are given, and either liking it or pretending to. But scholarship demands that professors be free to explore ideas where ever they may lead. Good research cannot be done if the researcher’s first concern is for justifying her position. Moreover, scholars must be confident that pursuing a particular line of research will not result in threats of dismissal because the boss, or the CEO, or the clients, or the government find it offensive, or awkward, or out of line with the thinking of whoever’s feelings they care about.
Though my own research is not especially controversial, my status as a tenured professor allows me to do things that I would not otherwise do. A while back it occurred to me that it would be interesting to write a book about Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, to try to get to the bottom of many of the things that had long troubled me about the play. But then, I thought, what if I do all the work and there is no book to be written? Well, I replied to myself, that’s what tenure is for. As it turns out, it seems like there is a book to be written, and I’m writing it. If I were not tenured, I probably wouldn’t be.
Would you like another instance of what the world would be lacking without tenure? You’re reading it right now. This blog would not exist were I not tenured because it would be too much hassle and too little fun if I had to make sure that nothing in it was going to get me called onto the carpet the next day. In the time I’ve been writing in this space, I have attacked my own professional association, called the sanctity of military service into question, raised concerns about the dominant approach to Native Canadians at universities (including a critique of what goes on at my own university), spoken out against the value of traditional religion, and admitted to laughing at students. This has earned me a fair bit of opprobrium from the public, but no administrator has ever written to me asking me to apologize or “clarify” my position. No one at my august institution has ever suggested I look elsewhere for a job.
They wouldn’t even try. I have tenure.
Western profs ponder striking
Faculty at UWO to cast ballot on whether or not to strike Sept 30
Barely a month into the school year, and professors at the University of Western Ontario are already pondering a strike that could cancel classes for students. At a meeting of 200 members of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA) last week, a motion was passed to give the union’s board authority to call a strike vote, which it will be doing. The ballot will take place between Sept 29 and Oct 1, it was announced today.
At issue is a proposal from the university that the union says threatens academic freedom by weakening tenure. In an effort to improve “performance management,” Western, the union says, has proposed that several related clauses be linked together in their contract. They include the linking of academic responsibilities, conflict of interest and conflict of commitment, annual performance evaluation, sabbatical leave, and discipline.
According to UWOFA president James Compton, the university wants to implement a centralized review committee for evaluating and reviewing faculty job performance. “It would be staffed by senior administrators and not peers in those fields, so that’s a problem,” he said. Compton added that the proposed language amounts to “a continual tenure review” for faculty, who, he says already have to go through a rigorous process to attain tenure, and who are already continually evaluated by their home department. He called the university’s proposal “a weakening of the tenure system.” He added that the university has yet to make any proposal regarding wages.
In a media release, Helen Connell, associate vice-president communications, did not address any of the faculty association’s specific concerns, but did note that even if the union is given a strike mandate after next week’s vote, that doesn’t mean professors will be heading to the picket line. “It is important to note that holding a strike vote is normal in the process of collective bargaining and does not necessarily mean there will be a strike,” she said.
A conciliator appointed by the province has met with both sides, and talks are set to resume Oct 5. The faculty association represents 1,400 academic staff who have been without a contract since the end of June.
A strike vote is also scheduled to be held at Carleton University.
Carleton profs prepare for strike vote
Dispute over tenure has left faculty without a contract since April
A plan to more closely scrutinize the tenure process could lead to a strike, and the cancellation of classes at Carleton University. Faculty will vote whether to give its union a strike mandate on Oct 4 and 5. The Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA), representing around 830 professors and librarians, has been in negotiations with the administration since the end of April when their contract expired.
Related: Western profs ponder striking
At the centre of the dispute is the process of tenure and promotion, and negotiations haven’t even begun to touch on wages, according to CUASA president Johannes Wolfart. “Nobody wants to be bargaining this hard on tenure procedures,” he said.
Earlier this Month, Carleton released a proposal to revamp its tenure process in an effort to bring it inline with other Canadian universities. Among the recommendations are to seek external peer review for candidates, whereas now all peer reviews are internal. The length of tenure-track positions would increase from three years to six years, and a more standardized tenure process would be established across the university, as opposed to the wide variation that currently exists between departments. Candidates for tenure would also be assessed “within the context of the university’s reputation and status.”
The report indicated a failure to reach consensus, between faculty and the university, on at least three points. They include proposals to strengthen the authority of an appeal committee to make final “binding” decisions, a role for an arbitrator to award tenure, and the ability for the president to overturn tenure decisions. In the case of the president, a tenure recommendation would be overturned in the event of a procedural error, not for “substantive” reasons related to the quality of the applicant.
When asked to clarify which items the faculty union is disputing and why, Wolfart said he would not speak to anything specific in the report. “That document is actually verbatim their bargaining proposal,” he said. Wolfart did say that the administration is implying “that the reputational problems at Carleton are somehow to be laid at the feet of the faculty.”
Jason MacDonald, Carleton’s director of public relations, disagrees. “Carleton’s an outstanding university, we’ve got outstanding faculty doing groundbreaking work, doing headline grabbing research,” he said. “This is about making sure that the processes we have in place around tenure and promotion . . . reflect the standards that are being applied at other leading institutions right across Canada.”
There is some disagreement over exactly what the collective agreement permits in terms of work stoppage. While the faculty association has called for a strike vote, MacDonald says striking is not allowed within the contract. “Our view on the issue is that they aren’t actually in a position to strike, that the collective agreement would require the parties to submit to binding arbitration,” he said.
Both sides point to the fact that Carleton has never had a faculty strike. There are approximately 19,000 full and part undergraduate students attending the university.
Photo of picket line at York University during the 2008-09 strike
How to save money on textbooks–rent them
Textbook rentals have stormed onto Canadian campuses, but not without some opposition
Shocked by the nearly $1,000 you dropped on textbooks this fall? Maybe it’s time to rent. Big business at American universities, textbook rentals have stormed onto Canadian campuses, but not without a little opposition. While the idea may prove popular with some students, a limited number of titles available for rent could see the program unavailable to many others. As for publishers, many are squirming from what they say could be an administrative nightmare that will eat into their finances.
Six university and college book stores, run by Follett of Canada, are participating in a pilot textbook rental program, called Rent-a-Text. They include stores at Carleton University, the University of Winnipeg, Humber College’s Main and Lakeshore campuses, and St. Clair College campuses in Windsor and Thames. Michael Clark, who runs the U of W bookstore says students who decide to rent can expect to save at least 50 per cent per title. With about a quarter of the store’s titles being eligible for rent, he estimates that could translate into $200 or $300 in savings for the average student. “I think once it catches on, it’s really going to catch on,” he said. Students will typically rents books on a per semester basis.
Stores say they are choosing books for rent that are popular and that have put out recent editions, to ensure they will be used for several semesters. “We’re hoping the professor will use it for three years,” Ed Kane, Carleton’s assistant vice-president (university services) explained. Even if professors won’t commit to a rental title, or change their minds, Follet will be able to rent the book at one of its other stores.
The company, which runs 35 stores in Canada, piloted the program at seven American campuses last fall and has since extended that to more than 750. According to numbers released by the company yesterday, Follet stores have rented more than one million books over the past three weeks, a savings to students of $45 million the company claims.
The market for rented textbooks has been steadily growing in the U.S. since at least 2001 when Chegg.com, a book renting website modeled off of Netflix, launched. Bricks and mortar retailers are only now starting to catch up with their online counterparts.
The National Association of College Stores (NACS) estimated that only 200-300 of its members were renting books last September. They now peg that number at more than 1,500 American campus stores. Barnes and Noble, which operates 636 campus bookstores, also piloted a rental program, beginning with three stores last September, and expanding to 25 by this past winter.
However, renting textbooks is still relatively rare, even in the United States. A May survey of 500 students by the NACS, found that only 12 per cent had rented textbooks, though about 44 per cent said they would consider it. Another 36 per cent were unsure, and 20 per cent said they would not choose to rent. Of those who rented, 72 per cent said they would rent again.
Although textbook renting is new to Canada, Carleton and the U of W won’t be the first universities to enter the market. Last fall the University of Manitoba Students’ Union started a book rental program, and is continuing it this year. Although the UMSU plan is on a much smaller scale—renting only three titles—union president Heather Laube says it is still saving students thousands of dollars. “We had a high success rate last year with very positive feedback and a smooth return process overall,” she said.
In the spring, the University of Toronto Bookstore put six books up for rent, and has now expanded that to more than 100 titles. When the program was first launched, the bookstore rented one book for every four sold. The non-profit bookstore will be renting textbooks for a little more than Follet stores, at around 60 per cent of the retail price.
Campus bookstores will also be facing competition from book renting websites geared towards the Canadian market. Brad Dolan, who graduated with a business degree from Carleton in 2008, started an online rental company called BookMob. Dolan says students will save between 50 and 80 per cent off the retail price.
BookMob boasts being “the first service of its kind,” but another website, textbookrental.ca, also launched this summer. Michael Stock, who completed his business degree at York University in the spring, started the company with the help of Toronto accountant Gershon Hurwitz, to capitalize on the budding textbook rental market. “We identified that no one was doing it in Canada,” Hurwitz said.
While renting may prove to be a boon for retailers, who can rent the same title over and over, some publishers are concerned that rental schemes could hurt their finances, if they are not compensated. Paul Cercone, executive director of McGill-Queen’s University press, told industry magazine, Quill and Quire in June that he is worried about author royalties. “I would want to know exactly what they have in mind to see if it’s advantageous for me,” he said.
Colleen O’Neill, of the Canadian Publishers Council, told the magazine that rental programs have been an “administrative nightmare” for publishers down south.
Follet didn’t consult with publishers prior to offering books for rent and does not pay additional royalties. “Rent-A-Text is driven by our own inventory of both new and used books. We purchase new from publishers,” Elio Distaola, Follet’s director of campus relations, stated via email.
However, profit sharing and royalties agreements, to compensate publishers when a textbook is rented, are not uncommon. Cengage Learning pays publishers a royalty for every time a book is rented, and McGraw Hill supplies Chegg with a limited number of titles for rent in exchange for a portion of revenues.
Despite potential savings to students, renting will not always be the optimal option. An internal U of T survey did reveal that 66 per cent of students were interested in renting textbooks, but 81 per cent indicated they would be interested in buying second hand. Owning a book is often desirable because it can be used for future reference. In other cases, a book may be required for multiple terms rendering the renting option uneconomical.
There is also some dispute about exactly how revolutionary the idea is. Students have always been able to sell their used books back to bookstores, in what amounts to a “quasi-rental” exchange. One bookstore manager pointed out to the Chronicle of Higher Education that if a book has a retail price of $100, a student may be able to rent it for $40, or buy it used for $75. The buy back option may see $50 returned to the student. Although, there are usually only a limited number of books that stores will buy used.
Because only a fifth to a quarter of textbooks may be available for rent from any given store, not all students may even have the option. Zach Janzen, a second-year environmental studies student at the University of Winnipeg, was hoping to rent three books this year. “But it ended up that none of them were for rent,” he said. Instead he purchased two books second hand, one for $80 and the other for $90. Another he purchased brand new for $150. A fourth book Janzen wanted was available for rent, but it cost only around $20 to buy, so he bought it.
Distaola admits that renting will never fully supplant the market for new and used books, nor is it intended to. “It’s about creating options for students.”
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