The Camosun College Faculty Association (CCFA) wants a collaborative approach to dealing with the college’s projected $10-million cumulative loss over the next two fiscal years. Their goal is not only to save jobs, but as well to ensure that students remain unaffected.
CCFA president Lynelle Yutani says that the collective agreement between Camosun and the association stipulates that consultation between the two parties must find, if possible, other ways to save money prior to laying off staff. However, she says those consultations—as well as discussions on the restructuring of the college—are not taking place.
“I know that [Camosun president] Lane [Trotter] routinely talks about how they weren’t consulted [over international student enrolment caps], but it just seems like we’re not consulted either, and it’s just… it makes me feel very ironic,” says Yutani. “It’s, for example, the vague, sort of half-baked plans to restructure our entire college.”
Further restructuring was announced in an internal email on February 19, which explained that the Office of the Registrar and Camosun International will now be in the Education and Innovation division; the Advancement and Alumni Foundation will join Strategy, Planning and Transformation; facility rentals will report to the Office of the Registrar; the print shop and graphics will report to Information Technology Services; the bookstore and childcare services will report to the Administration Division. As well, the director of Ancillary Services position, currently vacant, will not be filled.
Yutani says she’s concerned of possible weaponization of restructuring, creating excuses to increase tuition and, or instead, eliminate programs entirely.
“I brought [this] to the attention of the student society,” she says. “One of the things that concerns me greatly, and we are seeing in the sector, is the reorganization of these long-standing educational structures, and then using that as an excuse to eliminate programs—especially ones that cost a lot—and [to also] increase tuition.”
Yutani says that the CCFA has obtained some information but it wasn’t through consultation.
“We’ve done a Freedom of Information request from the college, and what we’re learning is that that idea arose in a late-night email chain and had no basis for, or we’ve been provided no evidence of, how that is going to truly solve this problem,” says Yutani.
The consultations that Yutani would like to see involve not only faculty, but all stakeholders—the three unions at Camosun, students, and the community. She’s asking for collaborative discussions rather than one-sided conversations.
“CUPE [Canadian Union of Public Employees] has a wonderful quote that I love to share,” she says. “It is ‘Telling the unions is not consulting.’ [Camosun] keep[s] telling us these things, and we ask for information, we ask for dialogue, and the college will meet with us, but they’ll tell us. It’s certainly not a collaborative process, and we have other concerns.”
Those other concerns include salaries of exempt employees and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance payments made to exempt higher-ups who, without explanation, have left the college, says Yutani.
Yutani says faculty members have heard from students that a reduction in services is already being felt: the Centre for Accessible Learning is booked up, making it difficult to review accommodation plans; counselling appointments are hard to get; the library has shorter hours; and some courses are not offered as frequently as they have been in the past.
“Those are the real ways that student services are being cut,” she says, “and I am suspicious of quotes from Lane, like students will experience no change in their their education.”
Yutani says the CCFA is also concerned about what they call “shadow layoffs.”
“When we talk about layoffs right now, we’re talking about continuing faculty members, people with a guaranteed job… A lot of the work that exists at the college is what we call term or sessional faculty work,” she says. “What the college decided to do was not run courses and sections that weren’t lucrative enough. They basically cancelled all of the term work that they could.”
Despite the college failing to seek out their opinions, there are ways students can get their voices heard, says Yutani.
“First of all, make sure that all the student governance opportunities are filled so there’s a student voice on our Education Council. There are student voices on the Board of Governors, and it is absolutely vital that student voices are seen and heard in those spaces,” says Yutani.
Importantly, Yutani says, showing up at the monthly Board of Governors meetings sends a message that students are listening and watching.
“I think that would be amazing, if students were routinely going to the Board of Governors [meetings] to see how the board talks about things like the student experience,” she says. “Does what they say match what you’re feeling, hearing, or experiencing yourself?”