On Mar. 20 CAUT and the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA/ BC) announced an agreement with the Technical University of British Columbia (TechBC) to lift an eight-month boycott of Canada's newest university.

Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Deutsche Kommunistische Partei?" If your desire is to participate in the Canadian Studies Visiting Professors Program at the University of Augsburg in the German state of Bavaria, you must answer this question and the answer must be "no." Patricia Marchak, a professor in the sociology department at the University of British Columbia, learned this lesson the hard way.

For excellent reasons investigators are being held accountable for their use of public funds and their research productivity. This may be a good thing, but we have not yet got it right.

When the provincial government first announced its intention to legislate sweeping changes to the education system in Ontario, it indicated that principals and vice-principals would be removed from teacher bargaining units. The Ontario Teachers' Federation and its five affiliates objected to the government's proposal and apparently persuaded the government that the exclusion was wrong. When the Education Quality Improvement Act, 1997 ("Bill 160") was introduced on September 22, 1997, it did not contain any provision to remove principals and vice-principals.

Mount Saint Vincent University

The week long faculty strike/lock out at Dalhousie University ended on the first day of April. A tentative agreement and an agreement on the back-to-work protocol were reached by the two negotiating teams late on April 1. On April 2, the DFA membership voted to accept the back-to-work protocol, and normal academic life resumed that morning. The date for the ratification vote has not yet been set.

As universities deal with decreasing budgets librarians are finding their institutions changing in alarming ways.

In mid-July 1997, Dr. Alan Law was abruptly removed from his position as dean of science at Memorial University by the executive committee of Memorial's board of regents.

The Committee of Concerned Faculty (CCF) at Memorial University is concerned to try to ensure that fairness and due process are followed since the board of regents was obliged to rescind the attempted dismissal of dean of science Alan Law last July. With this in mind CCF is responding to a series of statements issued by Mr. Peter Morris, division of university relations, Memorial University, because of their biased and inaccurate content.

The CAUT Council will review at least three model clauses on technology-related issues, when it meets at the end of the month. The Collective Bargaining & Economic Benefits Committee has formulated model language on e-mail security, the choice of teaching materials, and the status of electronic journals. When the clauses are finalized and approved by CAUT Council they will be posted at the CAUT web site.

n a departure from tradition, the Collective Bargaining & Economic Benefits Committee is now offering on-site bargaining training for faculty association members

fter an intensive four-month campaign, full-time and part-time faculty at the University of Western Ontario have voted 65 per cent in favour of certification. With over three-quarters of the 1,250 eligible faculty casting a ballot, full-time professors voted 63 per cent in favour and part-time faculty 82 per cent.

With the assistance of mediator John Scurfield, the University of Winnipeg Faculty Association and the administration reached a contract agreement on Sunday, March 29. Four days of continuous mediation and negotiations ended the 13-month long negotiation process, thus avoiding looming strike action. Association members voted to ratify the proposed contract on April 3.

The CAUT Executive Committee has set up a working group on part-time faculty. The five-member group is comprised of one representative from each of the four standing committees and the President. Members are: Linda Paul (Status of Women, Regina -- Chair), Ruth Sheeran (Librarians, Bishop's), Gary Tompkins (Collective Bargaining & Economic Benefits, Regina), Pat Grassick (Academic Freedom & Tenure, Calgary) and Bill Bruneau (CAUT President, UBC).