This week in austerity and budget cut news #5

Thanks to everyone who has shared this newsletter with colleagues. One of the most frustrating aspects of the current employment situation at Queen’s is the uneven communication across units about what people should be expecting over the coming months. Given the inevitable anxiety many are feeling about potential job losses and changing working conditions, it seems important for us to talk with each other and to share information.

1. Save the date: QCAA is organizing a Week of Action Against Austerity beginning on March 4th. The first event, on Monday March 4th at 12:00 pm, will be a hybrid teach-in about the threat to the university posed by consulting firms, benchmarking, and the politics of ratings. More info coming soon. Watch this space.

2. An article in The Journal reports on the meeting held February 8th, in which the Principal and Provost met with representatives of Queen’s Students vs Cuts.  

3. The Journal also reported on the virtual town hall meeting, held on February 12th, at which Principal Deane, Provost Evans and Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration) Donna Janiec met with students.

4. The February 2024 issue of the QUFA Voices newsletter includes a timely piece on some of the typical practices used by consulting firms like Nous as they have gone to work in the higher education sector. As we are now seeing at Queen’s, consultants have been playing an increasing role in shaping universities in Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Other articles in Voices address the importance of collegial governance structures and the necessity of participating in them, the implications of the leadership vacuum that is currently shaping people’s working conditions at Queen’s, and the effects of the constant climate of uncertainty in the workplace on employees’ mental health. We are also reminded of the authority of the Collective Agreement in setting out the general principles that govern the work of faculty, librarians, and archivists and the specific conditions that shape it. 

We do not yet know how much Queen’s is paying Nous. But, the cost and influence of consultants is not incidental. A response by the Association of Professors at the University of Ottawa (where Nous is also at work) to their administration’s January budget update, noted that “The $43 to $51 million dollars set aside for external consultants in each of the previous five years is money that would have been far better and more appropriately invested in supporting uOttawa’s teaching and research missions.” Interesting that UofO’s projected budget deficit for the current fiscal year is also $48 million.

5. The Nous Group’s UniForum Service Effectiveness Survey closed at Queen’s on Friday.  Given the methodological and contextual problems with the survey, many people chose not to answer or to provide answers that prioritized their own knowledge of the institution, solidarity with co-workers, and/or scepticism about the purpose and potential effects of the exercise. Queen’s staff and faculty are clearly not alone in raising questions about this process and the validity of the data and plans that may emerge from it. Here you can see “Advice regarding the Uniforum Service Effectiveness Survey” provided to members of the Universities and Colleges Union at University College London in 2018. The advice offered is very similar to the advice offered by several Queen’s experts on the QCAA blog.

6. In what seems to be a continuing series of budget-related “conversations,” “town hall meetings,” and “Q&A sessions,” a virtual conversation with Principal Deane has been organized specifically for alumni. The event will be held on February 28 at 7 pm.

7. A recent opinion piece in the Ottawa Citizen argues that Ontario university administrations need “to shrink.”  

8. An interesting discussion on Reddit, following this post, talks about the fact that all of the union locals at Queen’s, except QUFA, will be bargaining new contracts later in 2024.

If you would like to be added to the mailing list for this newsletter, you can write to me at mla1@queensu.ca. You can also sign up on the QCAA website.

You can find Queensu Students vs Cuts on Instagram.

You can also find some interesting material if you browse the Queen’s community page on Reddit. Thanks for reading. Please share this info with your colleagues and students!