CAUT’s former executive director Donald Savage received the organization’s Milner Memorial Award in November for distinguished contribution to the cause of academic freedom.
“The award signals Don’s commitment to academic freedom in the spheres of scholarly work, the law and international relations,” said William Bruneau in citing the award on behalf of CAUT’s Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, which unanimously recommended the recognition.
Bruneau said Savage, who retired in 1997 after 27 years with CAUT, played a key role in strengthening academic freedom within the academic community. “In national academic life, Don’s contributions go back at least 40 years, but beyond and behind this work lies a quarter-century of energetic action on behalf of academic freedom, carried on as executive director of CAUT,” Bruneau said, noting the day-to-day service to individuals and local associations in the academic community.
“At the international level, Don’s commitment to academic freedom began with his scholarly work on labour unions in east Africa, and then in the 1980s and 1990s his highly visible role in UNESCO, where he played a crucial role in that organization’s adoption of strong policy on rights of higher education teaching personnel,” he added. “In the past half-dozen years he has continued and extended that work for academic freedom through documents and interventions in the International Labour Organization.”
The work he started four decades ago goes from strength-to-strength, Bruneau said, adding that “many an academic freedom clause in member associations’ collective agreements owes something to Don’s work.”
The award is named after James Milner, a former chair of CAUT’s Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee. The award is presented to an individual for “actions undertaken on behalf of academic freedom, or writings which contribute significantly to an understanding and strengthening of academic freedom in the Canadian community.” Savage is the 10th person to receive the award since it was first established by CAUT in 1969.