The Faculty Association as Union

The current controversy at Brock University over the Faculty Association's role in the matter of a professor who is alleged to have had improper contact with students late at night in his office while drunk calls into question the relationship between professors and librarians and their union.

The issue comes down to is it the function of a faculty association to represent the will of the membership, or should a faculty association be driven by labour movement ideology?

What we want is openness, transparency and honesty. What we don't want are hidden agendas driving manipulation of the "union membership" to fulfil union movement sociological goals beyond the terms and conditions of our employment.

What we want is a university that is led and directed by scholars.  We do not want to be the subjects of “profit and efficiency” corporate agenda scheming by the people we entrust to serve us as our university administrators.

Nor do we want to be the subjects of labour activism.

​Brock University tells student to keep quiet about sexual harassment finding - Canada - CBC News

​Brock University tells student to keep quiet about sexual harassment finding - Canada - CBC News

Brock University has issued a response to the CBC report:
http://www.brocku.ca/brock-news/2016/03/brock-officials-moved-promptly-after-being-told-of-sexual-harassment-claim/


My comment: Respecting students and maintaining proper trustful student-teacher relations is the central responsibility of university professors. After all, it is an asymmetrical power relationship. So it is incumbent on the professors not to abuse this power.

And the burgeoning growth of Brock's bureaucracy of non-scholar administrators, aside from leeching scarce resources away from the teaching and research function of the University, does not seem to have served the student victim well in this case.

The whole thing just fills me with a deep sense of despair.


Later: Story gets worse and worse: "Sexual harassment at Brock University brought into the spotlight" - The Brock Press  - http://go.shr.lc/1QKZQqa