Welcome to University Governance in Canada, the beginnings of an effort to gather together material on the subject. After non-confidence motions against administrations in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, the crisis at the University of Saskatchewan precipitated by prioritization and “The Silence of the Deans,” events at Dalhousie around the response to a Dentistry facebook group, as well as more widespread debates over the value and growing prevalance of the Provost model as well as the top-down implementation of US-generated cost-cutting regimes (prioritization, differentiation), this seems to be a good time to start talking about university governance nationally instead of just campus-by-campus, and province-by-province.
Key statements for this discussion include: the Canadian Association of University Teachers’ statements on “Governance” and on “Academic Freedom for Academic Administrators“; and, for a broad vision that also outlines the roles of governing boards, the American Association of University Professors’ “Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities.”
This blog is maintained and written by Julia M. Wright, FRSC (University Research Professor, Dalhousie University): her other publications on governance and related university issues include “Professionalism, Citizenship, and the Problem of University Governance” (MLA’s Profession 2013), “The Simulation of Academic Crisis; Or, Chicken Little Rules the Roost” (English Studies in Canada 2003), “Open Access and the Public Purse” (Academic Matters 2014), and “How to Invest in our PhDs?” (University Affairs 2017).
University Governance in Canada 