Last month CAUT met with officials from the University College of the North to discuss possible censure of the newly-created institution.

“We had a very productive meeting,” said CAUT executive director James Turk. “UCN officials seemed genuinely interested in addressing our concerns about assuring proper academic freedom and tenure provisions for their academic staff.

“As a result, the CAUT officers who attended the meeting agreed to recommend to Council that consideration of censure be deferred until next year.”

Earlier this year, CAUT Council voted to proceed with censure of the institution in November unless adequate progress is made to ensure the introduction of provisions for academic freedom, tenure and collegial governance rights for academic staff at UCN that are comparable to those at other universities in Manitoba.

“We hope UCN’s interim council will take the steps necessary to ensure the protection of academic freedom and a system of tenure,” Turk said.

He added he believes the bigger problem lies with the Manitoba government’s refusal so far to amend the University College of the North Act to give the Learning Council, the institution’s senior academic body, the power to set educational policy and to remove the power of the advanced education minister to impose programs on UCN, despite the wishes of the council or the board of governors.

Turk has written to Premier Gary Doer asking him to step in and fix the problem. In the Nov. 2 letter he asked Doer to “personally reconsider this matter and the position of your government.”

“You have taken a wonderful step in creating a new institution that will offer greater access to post-secondary education to the people of Northern Manitoba,” the executive director wrote to Doer. “However, without action by your government to amend the UCN Act, we will have to proceed with consideration of censure in April.”

Meeting with CAUT in October were Kathleen Leary, chair of UCN’s interim council; UCN president Tony Bos; John Hofley, a special consultant to UCN and chief negotiator; and Sydney Garrioch, Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinook Ininew Okimowin. Also in attendance were CAUT president Loretta Cznernis, executive director James Turk, executive member Mark Gabbert and assistant executive directors Neil Tudiver and Peter Simpson.