Faculty members at the University of Saskatchewan have voted to rejoin CAUT, after an absence of seven years.

Members of the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association voted overwhelmingly in favour of the affiliation at a general membership meeting April 2.

"We're delighted with the decision," said Tim Quigley, chair of the association. "I was not surprised by the outcome. Our executive strongly favoured rejoining, and communications with the membership over the last year or so showed wide support."

Quigley said he felt membership in CAUT would have many advantages for USFA. "As with many other faculty associations we do not have enough people involved in the activities of the union. Taking advantage of the various training workshops CAUT provides on-site will help us to train members in various aspects of union activity," he said. "In this way, we plan to develop a larger cadre of active union members, helping us share the workload among a larger group and helping prevent an unhealthy situation developing of too few people perpetually running the association."

CAUT executive director Jim Turk said USFA involvement would be beneficial for CAUT and for other faculty associations. "This will reunite the CAUT family," he said. "USFA was a founding member of CAUT and we are happy this strong association wants to be a full participant in our activities."

He added he was hopeful USFA's decision would allow the reestablishment of the provincial association of Saskatchewan faculty associations.

USFA's membership application will be presented for endorsement at the CAUT Council meeting in Ottawa, April 25-28.