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Dear All As you may have heard by now, our teaching assistants are out on strike and are under the threat of being fired on February 4th. [see www.cupe3902.org for details] I had delayed posting this last week the union and the admin were still meeting and I was hopeful of a settlement, but talks broke down this Monday. Our graduate student union, in a move of solidarity with the TAs is asking students to boycott classes next week. We as faculty have been asked to restructure our courses, to design them to alleviate the need for TAs, or alternately to be prepared to take over their work ourselves. Many of the faculty at our institution are extremely dismayed by the intransigence of the administration in refusing to address the issue of rising tuition for all our students and bargain with the TAs in good faith. Some of us have written publicly to the administration in an open letter to the President, [myself included] many many others have written privately, many are holding classes off campus or refusing to teach at all. We urge you to join us in supporting the TAs and through email and other means of support, The next few days are crucial. Yours sincerely, Sue Ruddick ____________________________________________________________________________ _________________ >> AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT PRICHARD >> >> Dear Dr. Prichard, >> >> It is with a deepening sense of dismay that we, the undersigned >> faculty at the University of Toronto, have watched the handling >> of the labour dispute with striking teaching assistants. We feel >> the administration's refusal to address seriously the question of >> student fees and funding has brought the dispute to a point where >> the integrity and quality of our academic programs are seriously >> threatened. We are extremely concerned about the immediate and >> future impact of the administration's evident disregard for >> collegial relations and for the work performed by teaching >> assistants and faculty. We also worry about the effects of the >> strike/lockout on applications to and enrolment in our programs, >> and on faculty recruitment. >> >> Our frustrations have been aggravated by the administration's >> recent plans to implement course restructuring. We wholeheartedly >> agree with the University of Toronto Faculty Association >> (UTFA) that course restructuring is a violation of our academic >> freedom. In addition, we have the following concerns: >> >> 1. course restructuring seriously devalues the quality of >> education by forcing us to implement inadequate standards of >> testing and evaluation; >> >> 2. course restructuring takes away the work of our colleagues, >> the teaching assistants, even after the strike is concluded; >> >> 3. course restructuring threatens collegial relationships with >> our teaching assistants; >> >> 4. course restructuring cannot be implemented without overwork by >> professors or recourse to scab labour. >> >> Quite simply, it is unworthy of a world-class university such as >> this one claims to be. >> >> As members of this university community, we call on you and the >> senior administration to: >> >> 1. withdraw the plan for course restructuring now; >> >> 2. bargain in good faith with CUPE 3902 and CUPE 3907 and come to >> a just and fair settlement in a timely fashion; >> >> 3. immediately address concerns by both undergraduate and >> graduate students for serious tuition relief and financial aid. >> The teaching assistants said it best, "Let's be fair, the money's >> there." >> >> Sincerely yours, >> >> Stephen Anderson, OISE/UT >> Ed Andrew, Political Science >> Eileen Antone, TYP >> Rick Asals, English >> Fabienne Baider, French >> Chantal Bertrand-Jennings, French >> Parth Bhatt, French >> Kathy Bickmore, OISE/UT >> David Blostein, English >> Michal Bodemann, Sociology >> Lennox Borel, OISE/UT >> Daniel Brooks, Zoology >> Anne-Marie Brousseau, French >> James Robert Brown, Philosophy >> Barbara Burnaby, OISE/UT >> Joseph Carens, Political Science >> Fred Case, French >> Eric Cazdyn, East Asian Studies >> David Coburn, Public Health Sciences >> Rebecca Comay, Philosophy >> David Corson, OISE/UT >> Gary Coupland, Anthropology >> Hilary Cunningham, Anthropology >> Judy Curtis, French >> Amrita Daniere, Geography >> Vivian Darroch-Lozowski, OISE/UT >> Chandler Davis, Mathematics >> John Davis, OISE/UT >> Kari Dehli, OISE/UT >> George Sefa Dei, OISE/UT >> Julian Dent, History >> Miriam Diamond, Geography >> Ronald De Sousa, Philosophy >> Paul Downes, English >> Deborah Esch, English >> Dickson Eyoh, Political Science >> Graham Falconer, French >> Eric Fawcett, Physics >> Peter Fitting, French >> Maureen Fitzgerald, TYP >> Laara Fitznor, OISE/UT >> Rose Baaba Folson, OISE/UT >> Lynd Forguson, Philosophy >> Bonnie Fox, Sociology >> Ursula Franklin, University Professor >> David Galbraith, English >> L. Terrell Gardner, Mathematics >> Rosemary Gartner, Criminology >> Elise Gillon, French >> Tara Goldstein, OISE/UT >> Danny Goldstick, Philosophy >> Tom Goodenough, OISE/UT >> Kanishka Goonewardena, Geography >> James Graff, Philosophy >> Allan Greer, History >> Budd Hall, OISE/UT >> William Harvey, Philosophy >> Amir Hassanpour, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations >> Rod Heimpel, French >> John Hunter, English >> Franca Iacovetta, History >> Jim Ingles, Banting and Best >> Eric James, French >> Alana Johns, Linguistics >> Ivan Kalmar, Anthropology >> Brent Kilbourn, OISE/UT >> Mark Kingwell, Philosophy >> Lynda Lange, Philosophy >> June Larkin, Women's Studies and Gender Studies >> Ellen Larsen, Zoology >> Alan Latta, German >> Marti Latta, Anthropology >> Richard Lee, Anthropology >> Helen Lenskyj, OISE/UT >> David W. Livingstone, OISE/UT >> David McDougall, DOE >> Ian McDougall, DOE >> Bonnie McElhinny, Anthropology >> Margaret McGeachy, English >> Sara McKitrick, OISE/UT >> Deborah McLennan, Zoology >> Randall McLeod, English >> Elizabeth Macdonald, Geography >> Robert MacKay, Sociology >> Jamie-Lynn Magnusson, OISE/UT >> Linzi Manicom, Women's Studies and Gender Studies >> Diane Massam, Linguistics >> Tom Mathien, TYP >> Jack Miller, OISE/UT >> Angela Miles, OISE/UT >> Kiran Mirchandani, OISE/UT >> Shahrzad Mojab, OISE/UT >> Cecilia Morgan, OISE/UT >> Kathryn Morgan, Philosophy >> Robert Morgan, OISE/UT >> Naomi Morgenstern, English >> Amy Mullin, Philosophy >> Roxana Ng, OISE/UT >> Emmanuel Nikiema, French >> Mary Nyquist, English >> C.Paul Olson, OISE/UT >> Andrew Oliver, French >> Edmund O'Sullivan, OISE/UT >> Julian Patrick, English >> Bob Phillips, OISE/UT >> Ruth Roach Pierson, OISE/UT >> Margaret Procter, Co-ordinator, Writing Support >> Jack Quarter, OISE/UT >> David Raby, History >> Ian Radforth, History >> Katharine Rankin, Geography >> Dennis Raphael, Public Health Sciences >> Sherene Razack, OISE/UT >> Raymond Reiter, Computer Science >> Keren Rice, Linguistics >> Yves Roberge, French >> Kathleen Rockhill, OISE/UT >> Richard Roman, Sociology >> Jeff Rose, adjunct faculty >> Helen Rosenthal, Mathematics >> Peter Rosenthal, Mathematics >> Sue Ruddick, Geography >> Janet Salaff, Sociology >> Marg Schneider, OISE/UT >> Peter Seary, English >> Ben Shek, French >> Philip Siller, adjunct faculty >> Edward Silva, Sociology >> Ron Silvers, OISE/UT >> Roger Simon, OISE/UT >> Gavin Smith, Anthropology >> Jean-Claude Susini, French >> Nicholas Terpstra, History >> David Townsend, English >> Robert Tully, Philosophy >> Alasdair Urquhart, Philosophy >> John Valleau, Chemistry >> Mariana Valverde, Criminology >> Sue Varmuza, Zoology >> Claudine Vercollier, French >> Lynne Viola, History >> Joe Vise, Physics >> Joel Weiss, OISE/UT >> Barry Wellman, Sociology >> Gordon Wells, OISE/UT >> Cynthia Wright, Women's Studies and Gender Studies >> John Zilcosky, German> >> > > >-- >Peter Fitting tel 416-531-8593 >73 Delaware Ave fax 416-531-4157 >Toronto M6H 2S9 CANADA e-mail [log in to unmask] > >_______________________________________________ >Fdu mailing list >[log in to unmask] >http://physics.utoronto.ca/mailman/listinfo.cgi/fdu > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%