Professor Ursula Franklin, one of Canada's most distinguished scientists, will be the keynote speaker at the opening of CAUT's conference, "Universities and Colleges in the Public Interest: Stopping the Commercial Takeover of Post-Secondary Education."

The focus of the conference, to be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ottawa from Oct. 29-31, 1999, will be on the threat to Canada's universities and colleges posed by the growing influence of private commercial interests. Conference panels and workshops will examine a number of topics: greater dependency on corporate funding, market-oriented management practices, skyrocketing tuition fees, adoption of private sector governance models, and research funding tied to restrictive corporate partnerships.

Throughout the conference, participants will discuss what can be done to assure accessibility, autonomy and academic freedom - essential elements if our universities and colleges are to maintain their extraordinary tradition of free intellectual inquiry and their contribution to Canada's cultural, economic and social life.

Other invited speakers include Nobel Laureate John Polanyi, Nancy Olivieri, David Noble, Janice Newson and Michelle Brill-Edwards.

For further information, contact Nancy Gordon, Conference Coordinator, CAUT, 2675 Queensview Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K2B 8K2; tel: (613) 820-2270; fax (613) 820-7244 or visit CAUT's web site at www.caut.ca.