Headlines for Hacks, March 2011

A collection of stories that may have fallen through the cracks, or were featured on our Twitter Feed but deserve some coverage on the blog as well.

Student Evaluations of Teaching case comes to an end

This news is somewhat old, and has already been covered well elsewhere, but we would be remiss by not mentioning it on UBC Insiders. Briefly:

In 2007, the UBC Vancouver Senate passed a policy on student evaluations of teaching. The Faculty Association felt the new policy was not consistent with their collective agreement and filed a grievance.

David McPhillips, a Professor Emeritus in Sauder who now acts as an independent arbitrator, was enlisted and decided he did not have the necessary jurisdiction to perform arbitration.

This led to a judicial review at the BC Court of Appeals which agreed with McPhillips in that he did not have jurisdiction over the grievance.

The faculty association then appealed the case to the Supreme Court. What’s new and hasn’t been widely reported is that in December 2010, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, an intervenor in the case, said that the supreme court declined to hear the case. With nowhere left to appeal the decision, the case is over once and for all, with UBC emerging victorious.

The effect of this decision concerns more than simply this one policy, however. The BC Court of Appeals decision was a precedent-setting ruling which cemented the bicameral power structure of the university. It reinforced the idea that neither the Board of Governors nor the Senate hold ultimate authority over the entire university. Rather, BoG and Senate each have ultimate authority over certain parts, broadly described as the business interests (BoG) and the academic interests (Senate) of the university. They cannot overrule each other as long as each body sticks to its intended mandate.

UNA in Brief

In January the UNA’s governance committee reported that their parking and noise bylaws were still unenforceable. Both bylaws reference a third bylaw, the Enforcement and Appeals Bylaw which, as the name suggests, deals with enforcement menchanisms, penalties and the appeals process. Essentially it’s a bylaw that gives them the authority to enact bylaws. Problem is, it doesn’t exist yet.

“The UBC Legal Counsel, in reviewing section 52 of the proposed Parking bylaw has indicated that it has not received a copy of the proposed Enforcement and Appeal Bylaw. There is some urgency in enacting this bylaw because it is necessary to make other UNA bylaws work.”

As of this month, the previously passed parking and traffic bylaw may have to be completely re-tooled to include enforcement and appeals directly within it and to exclude the traffic portion, which would make up its own separate bylaw.

In February, the UNA board passed a motion in support of residents who oppose the construction of a hospice adjacent to their building, urging UBC to reconsider the location. The motion read:

i. That the UNA Board of Directors unreservedly supports community hospices and recognizes that this is an academic project.
ii. That the UNA Board of Directors, after studying the UNA’s ESL Committee Report on the Promontory and the Order of St. John’s Hospice, February 2011, urges UBC to reconsider the choice of the Promontory site and to consider selecting another site.

UBC is currently reviewing the hospice location once again.

UBC to NCAA a done deal?

Jim Mullin at CKNW reports that UBC has already signaled their intent to join the NCAA. A source is quoted as saying “UBC is definitely making the move and will make the formal exploratory announcement before June 1.” The administration denies that the decision has already been made and aside from a short follow-up, there’s nothing more concrete at this point.

CASA comes to UBC

This week, March 14-18, the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), a national student lobby organization, is taking place in Vancouver with the AMS as host delegate. (Full disclosure: Alex Lougheed is CASA’s current Policy and Research Officer.) Despite being a founding member of CASA, the AMS and CASA have had an on and off relationship over the years. The AMS is currently a non-voting associate member, but is now eyeing a move back up to full member.

The AGM agenda is largely focussed on internal governance and therefore quite dry to everyone except the most die-hard policy wonks (see Alex, above). CASA is looking to make revisions to their out-of-date bylaws, the fee structure for members, and will be holding a session on election preparedness in the event of a federal election, among other things.

UBC Votes

Constituency election season is upon UBC again. The GSS and the CUS have already held their elections. Arts, Engineering, Science and Human Kinetics are next, running coordinated elections under the “UBC Votes” branding. We have a dedicated page up and running where you can keep track of all the latest news.

Arts will be holding a St. Patty’s day concert near the Knoll. The three constituencies have also committed $1500 to a one-time VFM competition, so please vote for us if, once the elections are over, you’d like to continue reading articles that aren’t about the personal lives of obscure hacks.

In other VFM news there was an attempt to hack the Continuous VFM ballot. Award payments have been shut down while a new registration and login system is put in place.

New Premier, New Ministers, New MLA?

Now that Christy Clark has been sworn in as BC’s premier, another cabinet shuffle has occurred. In charge of post-secondary education now is Naomi Yamamoto. Also notable, Community, Sport and Cultural Development (CSCD) has a new minister in Ida Chong. CSCD is the ministry which ultimately holds the reign over the university’s municipal-like powers over campus, such as the Land Use Plan. The provincial oversight of UBC is resembling a farce: Chong is the fourth minister to oversee UBC since this arrangement was put in place less than a year ago.

Closer to home, rumours are intensifying about a by-election for Gordon Campbell’s Point Grey seat, especially with Christy Clark needing a seat in the legislature. Seems likely sooner rather than later. Pay attention to mainstream media sources when it does. Now, about those municipal elections…