The Trent University Faculty Association has claimed victory in a two-year grievance battle with the university that ended April 5.
In April 2005, Mark Neufeld and Andreas Pickel, both senior tenured faculty in the political studies department at Trent, were stripped of their departmental appointments without reason and without due process. The faculty association approached CAUT for assistance and CAUT senior legal counsel Rosemary Morgan was assigned to investigate.
Morgan interviewed more than a dozen witnesses in April and May 2005, reviewed all documentation in the case files and provided a comprehensive legal opinion to the faculty association. Later that year TUFA filed grievances on behalf of the individuals and asked for legal services through CAUT to handle the grievances.
Repeated attempts to reach a settlement, including two interventions — one with an independent mediator — proved unsuccessful, so the grievances went to arbitration. At midnight on April 4, 2007, the eve of another hearing day, the university finally agreed to a full and complete settlement of both grievances.
The settlement provides both Neufeld and Pickel with the opportunity, autonomy and support to develop an independent “emphasis program” in global politics. The new program will in time have its own physical space as well. The program also has the support of the university to rename the “Trent International Political Economy Centre” to accord with the name of the new program —“Global Power and Politics.”
Under the terms of the settlement, the university also issued a public apology to Neufeld and Pickel for the “harm and considerable distress caused to Professor Neufeld and Professor Pickel as a result of the Dean’s unilateral decision to remove Professor Neufeld and Professor Pickel from the Politics Department in April 2005.” It acknowledged that the failure to follow due process “was inconsistent with the collective agreement.”
Faculty association president Ken Field, one of the union’s negotiators, said the settlement recognizes “the integrity of the collective agreement and the importance of due process.”
Pickel said the settlement “fully restores our collective agreement rights and finally we have a public acknowledgment of the harm we have suffered.”
“We can all move forward now,” said Neufeld. “We have lost years of critical research capacity as a result of the expulsion and isolation. The university is finally committed to a full restoration of that loss.”
CAUT president Greg Allain said CAUT agreed to provide legal assistance because the grievances were critical, not only for those affected, but also for all academic staff in Canada.
“The removal of two tenured professors, one who was on disability leave at the time of his removal, the other who suffered from a similar disability and was attempting to negotiate a suitable accommodation at the time of his removal, was a gross violation of their right to freedom from discrimination,” Allain said. “Freedom from discrimination is one of the pillars of academic freedom.”
Allain also said there was grave concern with breach of academic freedom. Neufeld and Pickel were excluded for two years from all aspects of collegial self-governance, including participation in course development and assignment, curriculum development and all other fundamental collegial rights.
The settlement further stipulates that TUFA and the university will jointly develop, with the assistance of experts, comprehensive policies and training for all management and staff on the right to freedom from harassment in the workplace and the duty to accommodate people with disabilities, with a particular focus on the rights and needs of people suffering from mental disability.
“This was a central demand in the grievances,” Field noted. “The settlement ensures a reasonable process to develop better protections for the human rights and health and safety of our members.”
Other details of the settlement remain confidential, he said.