April 2008
This year’s
conference will address both of SAFS goals: the protection of academic freedom
and the promotion of the merit principle in academic decisions. Our keynote
speakers are Jim Côté
and Anton Allahar, professors of sociology at the University of Western Ontario,
who will speak on the topic of their recent, well-received book, The Ivory
Tower: A University System in Crisis. They will present data to support
their contention that grade inflation and lowered expectations of student
performance have combined to create student alienation and decreased academic
standards. In their presentation they will address the impact of these trends as
well as some thoughts about how to improve the situation.
The morning panel
session will focus on the potential threat of collective agreements to academic
freedom. Collective agreements frequently contain effective articles on
academic freedom, but they also include articles dealing with various kinds of
harassment, such as discrimination, sexual, speech, and bullying. In theory no
one wants these articles to collide, with the effect that a gain in protection
in academic freedom comes at the expense of a decline in protection against
harassment, or vice versa. But sometimes there are, or appear to be, genuine
conflicts. Our panelists will examine the ways in which such conflicts can
occur and what may be done to remedy the situation.
Murray Miles will
describe his recent, personal experience at Brock University, where a collective
agreement article on Respectful Workplace and Learning Environment Policy
was used to challenge his academic freedom.
His
descriptions of the process of defending against such charges and how the
procedures to investigate the charges can be ‘suspect’ serves as a reminder of
how fragile our rights to academic freedom really are, and why they must be
defended vigorously.
Albert Katz, who is a former president of the faculty association at Western and
who also served as chief grievance officer for a couple of years, will
describe the collective agreement in the context of a unionized university, the
grievance process and duty of fair representation, and how can member to member
conflicts can be handled.
Phil Sullivan will try to place these issues in the larger context of societal
trends that he believes are undermining the core purpose of the university: the
search for knowledge and its transmission through research and teaching.
Sullivan will discuss two trends that he thinks are problematic: 1) the
emergence of the managerial university that focuses administrators on trendy
pursuits that may conflict with scholarship, such as promoting equity and
inclusiveness, and 2) the influence of relativism, which he believes has led to
a decline of standards in some disciplines.
I hope our members will join us
this May for what promises to be an intellectual feast. Further details about
the conference and its program are provided on page 10.
Help us maintain freedom in teaching, research and scholarship by joining SAFS or making a donation.
