Polaris Listening Sessions
On June 27, you should have received an invitation from the Polaris Program Office to attend “Polaris Listening Sessions.” These meetings are meant to serve as both an opportunity to be updated about Polaris and a space to address your questions and obtain feedback.
The sessions are offered in-person at the following times:
- July 23, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Learning Crossroads (CRX), Room 040
- August 6, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Learning Crossroads (CRX), Room 040
- August 21, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Learning Crossroads (CRX), Room 040
You will recall that, on May 28, we published an analysis of Polaris and of Nous Group, the external consulting firm that is tied to the Polaris Program. At the online June 27thInformation Session on the 2024-2025 Budget, Vice-President, Finance and Administration, Jennifer Doyle, indicated that that at least $1.5M of the Polaris budget is allocated for Nous-related consulting services.
We encourage Members to attend the Polaris listening sessions and to:
- ask questions about what, exactly, is being proposed;
- query the exact nature of the Nous Group’s involvement in Polaris;
- ask questions about the Nous Group’s default position on centralization and collegiality;
- push back on any recommendations that are likely to further increase workloads and further deteriorate working conditions on campus; and
- make clear that existing challenges are a direct product of the Central Administration’s choice to underfund key services.
Following extensive consultations with institutions where Nous Group is present, the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) advises that in order to minimize the likelihood of Nous Group’s “one-size-fits-all” solutions being imposed on our French/English bilingual campus, it is important that if asked to complete any type of service effectiveness survey, to mark all services as ‘critical,’ indicate high satisfaction, and use open text responses to explain that existing challenges are related first and foremost to underfunding and understaffing.
Normal Teaching Load Event Recording
In our April 16 bulletin, we shared the Final Report from the Joint Working Group on the Normal Teaching Load of Regular Members, and followed this up with an invitation to attend a panel event to discuss key takeaways from the report. The panel featured the three APUO representatives from the Joint Work Group on the Normal Teaching Load of Regular Members (Thomas Allen, Tyler Chamberlain, Daniel Paré) and included a Question-and-Answer period for participants to discuss the report’s findings and recommendations. We wish to thank all the members who attended the panel discussion.
For members who were unable to participate, we recorded the presentation portion of the event. You can watch the panel’s presentation here.