Elections for the AUFA Executive and committees will take place at the upcoming Spring General Meeting on Tuesday, May 31, 1:30–4:00pm MST. This blog post outlines the positions that will be elected and highlights other ways to get involved in AUFA.

Nominations for all elected positions will be open until the final call during the Spring General Meeting (that is, individuals can be nominated from the floor during the meeting). However, if you would like to nominate yourself (for any position) in advance and have a candidate statement included in the meeting package, please send this to Brenda Skayman by end of day Friday, May 20.

Executive

The AUFA Executive includes five officers (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Past President) and up to nine member representatives (also called constituency representatives). Each of these positions, with the exception of Past President, will be up for election as part of the Spring General Meeting. The one-year term will begin on July 1, 2022, and end on June 30, 2023.

The time commitment and scope for these positions varies, as there are few rigid requirements in the current AUFA bylaws. In addition to regularly attending AUFA Executive meetings, officers or member representatives may chair or serve on other AUFA committees, attend conferences or meetings of umbrella or allied organizations, or participate in other initiatives undertaken by the AUFA Executive. For example, the incoming AUFA Executive may choose to pursue projects related to the Equity Audit that is currently underway.

Questions about any of these positions can be directed to Jolene Armstrong, AUFA Past President, who chairs the Nominating Committee.

In addition, the AUFA Executive includes non-voting positions: the two AUFA staff members (Executive Director and Professional Officer) and the AUFA representative on the AU Board of Governors (who is currently one year into a three-year term).

Elected Committees

Also up for election will be several committee positions. The AUFA bylaws state that both the Equity and Social Committees will “normally” consist of five members each, though in previous general meetings the AUFA membership has extended more flexibility to these committees to expand this number. The terms for elected members of these committees will be one year, from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. For more information, contact the AUFA office to be connected with current committee members.

As well, there are two committees outlined in the collective agreement that will be up for election this year, each with two-year terms (from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024):

Professional appeals: Five non-probationary, full-time professional staff members—three primary members, two alternates. See Article 9.5.10.a in the collective agreement for more.
Professional appeals with respect to position evaluation: Five non-probationary, full-time professional staff members—three primary members, two alternates. See Article 9.6.4 in the collective agreement for more.

There is also an academic appeals committee (Article 9.5.10.b in the collective agreement), but this committee is currently in the middle of a two-year term and will be up for election in 2023. Contact the AUFA office or Jolene Armstrong for more information about these committees.

Appointed Committees

There are also a number of committees that are appointed by the AUFA Executive.

The AUFA Executive is currently seeking interest in serving on the Occupational Health and Safety committee. Two members are required to serve on the single, central joint committee that includes employer representatives as well as representatives from each bargaining unit (AUFA, CUPE, and AUPE). These positions are appointed by the AUFA Executive; contact the AUFA office or current OHS representatives (Rhiannon Rutherford or Bob Barnetson) for more information.

Other appointed committees include the Grievance, Membership Engagement, and Joint Benefits committees. Contact the AUFA office for more information on these committees.

Jolene Armstrong

AUFA Past President

Chair, Nominating Committee

The 2021 AUFA General Meeting was held this past Tuesday with 185 members attending, approximately 44% of the current AUFA membership. This incredible turnout is thanks to engaged, active, and interested members who are taking charge of their own futures at Athabasca University. President of CAUT, Brenda-Austin Smith spoke at the AGM extensively on how executive incompetence mixed with austerity led to insolvency at Laurentian University, and the censure at University of Toronto over academic freedom.

AUFA members also endorsed a new equity statement and an Indigenous Audit of the association, both of which will be discussed on the AUFA website soon.

Motion on Israel, Palestine, and the University of Toronto

The CAUT censure of University of Toronto has brought to bear substantive academic freedom issues relating to scholarship on Israeli settlement and apartheid. Academic research that is critical of the Israeli occupation faces undue censorship and restrictions compared to research on any other number of controversial topics, and it is vital that faculty associations not only stand forth to defend academic freedom, but that they speak to the issue at hand with a collective voice.

AUFA condemns in the strongest terms all attempts to censor and contain legitimately scholarly research on the teaching of human rights and international law violations against Palestinians and Palestine. We publicly support, and voted for CAUT censure of the University of Toronto over this issue.

The motion, which was passed with a 74% majority, reads as follows:

Be it resolved, because Palestinians have the right to exist, we condemn the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and continuing apartheid settler colonial practices of the State of Israel.
Because of the ongoing violations of human rights, forced evictions, deliberate destruction of buildings, and putting civilian life in peril perpetrated by the State of Israel towards Palestinians, we condemn the apartheid State of Israel and stand in support for an immediate ceasefire and end of the violence.
We call on the Athabasca University Faculty Association and the university to condemn in the strongest terms the attempts to censor and contain legitimate scholarly research on and teaching of these human rights and international law violations against Palestinians and Palestine, and we call on AUFA to publicly support CAUT's censure of the University of Toronto.

Laurentian University

A second motion was passed with a 91% majority to demand the immediate resignation of the entire Laurentian University executive. AUFA once faced vague threats of insolvency in our past and the horrors visited about Laurentian University staff who have been denied access to their union and collective agreement rights must never be repeated. This is due to the incredible incompetence of the Laurentian University executive, and the mindless austerity of the Ontario Minister of Advanced Education Ross Romano.

The AUFA President will send a public letter demanding the resignation of the Laurentian University executive in the near future per the motion.

Motion text reads as follows:

That AUFA demand that all members of the Laurentian Executive resign effective immediately over the issues of financial mismanagement and invocation of Companies Creditors Arrangement Act Insolvency.

AUFA Executive

The new AUFA Executive will see David Powell and Gail Leicht return as President and Treasurer for second terms. Stepping up as Vice-President will be Serena Henderson, and Dawn Mercer Riseli will be the new Secretary. The elected roster of constituency representatives is Lisa Boone, Travis Burwash, Bangaly Kaba, Joanna Nemeth, Darka Pavlovic, Rhiannon Rutherford, Ingo Schmidt, Myra Tait, and Jason Foster.

Marti Cleveland-Innes will serve as the new Board of Governors Representative, replacing Derek Briton who has fulfilled his term limit as BoG rep. Thank you for your service and excellent reports, Derek. In addition a large slate of elected committees has been filled. All new terms begin on July 1st.

Thank you to the AUFA members for your support, the incredible turnout, and ongoing engagement and participation. This is how we win.

David Powell

President, Athabasca University Faculty Association

Upcoming AUFA Elections