Private partnerships common, says vp academic and provost
Jacqueline Perlin
Assistant News Editor
@jackiperlin
The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) is contemplating placing a “censure,” or academic boycott—which will discourage academics from working or meeting at the university—on York University for connection to a think tank.
CAUT represents 66,000 professors, researchers, librarians at 122 universities, and colleges.
The think tank, called Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), is run by Research in Motion co-founder Jim Balsillie. York recently signed a $60-million deal with CIGI to launch an international law program with 10 research chairs and 20 PhD students.
The deal gives CIGI two spots on a five-person steering committee that advises on hiring and research.
The union wants the university to change the agreement they have with the think tank which gives it prominent say over the university’s academic matters.
While the deal has changed to remove any veto power the committee has over the hiring processes, the union is opposed to CIGI being on any academic committee at all despite the fact that York assures there will be binding protection to academic freedom.
James Turk, executive director of the teacher’s union, recently stated in an interview that it is still “unacceptable for CIGI to have any voice in academic matters, even if they no longer have veto power.”
York’s vp academic and provost Patrick Monahan, however, says these university-private partnerships are becoming more common and that promoting the idea of corporations investing in post-secondary institutions has been encouraged by Glen Murray, Ontario’s minister of training, colleges, and universities.
The association will be voting in April on whether to place a censure that, if it goes through, will officially be implemented November 2012.
