COLLEGIALITY Please tell us what collegiality issues you would like to see improved.

I am not convinced that the entire problem is administration - many of our colleagues do not understand the requirements of a collegial governance structure - maybe some education so that members know that they have the right to be involved in governance

I don't know.

I think better food in the faculty lounge would improve everybody's mood, don't you?

Relationships between the Dean and AVP and the academic faculty should be a priority, better communication, not just by emails or edicts.

I feel that the admin. believe the faculty are "fat cats" who do little teaching, and less research and lots of griping.  That is wrong. I feel those vibes from administrators such as G. Morrison and also K Squires.

There is sexism among the top administrators toward women and I have been a recipient of their coolness and sometimes their hostility. I resent this. THe world is very different than the academic world of 30 yrs ago.

At the outset I would recommend to the administration's negotiators that they think carefully before proposing anything that will insult faculty (e.g., post-tenure review). On the other hand, it does fire us up, to the detriment of the administration....

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eliminate ambiguously defined annual performance review by department faculty (peers) of department faculty.

There are none that I can identify personally.

Greater opennes and transparency on the part of the EMG.

This probably doesn't belong in negotiations, but, as far as I'm aware, despite my raising the issue in various ways since 1994, librarians are still not included among those eligible to be elected to Senate, even though they are "Academic Staff", and even though the Saint Mary's Act defines those eligible for election to Senate as "Academic Staff of Saint Mary's University". I'm worn out on this one, but just in case, I raise it here, possibly for the last time. (If I'm wrong, and this has been fixed, I'll be mortified, but happy.)

More meaningful consultation.
Less reliance on chairs alone to speak for departments.
Better consideration and definition of the cross-appointment process.
More defined presence for the Conflict Resolution Officer.
Circulated minutes of EMG meetings.

employer should ensure a minimum pension amount for all faculty who have participated for more than 25 years

"administrative" decisions. Facilities management makes decisions with no concerns for faculty and especially no concern for research. We should have a say in the priorities of the university.

The Administration needs to consult the Faculty Association on all issues that affect its members or the University in general. There seems to be a tendency to develop new policies without Faculty representation.

The University Senate is dominated by non-faculty interests, as are many of the Senate committees.  Administrators and student reps outnumber faculty members.  The Senate has certainly become a weak line of defense for faculty interests in the academic and administrative matters of the University. 

I would like to see failure to attend Dept. meetings and faculty councils a serious infraction, certainly as heinous as failing to go to class.

Increasing involvement requires that service work be meaningful (no more committe work that ultimately is ignored by the administration or is so inefficiently conceived that hours of effort are wasted).  Faculty should have time to serve.  While moving to a 2:2 teaching load may be unlikely, smaller class sizes and more efficient support from existing and expanded support staff or student assistants could make it helpful.  Better support from the university could truly make teaching less onerous and time consuming (hours spent getting computer lab resources to work properly, multiple failures with online classroom software, poorly assigned and designed rooms, failed equipment, no teaching assistants, single department administrative assistant who is not permitted or trained to do more than answer the phone and sort mail).

I would like to see better collegiality between programs and the departments who supply the courses/teaching for those programs. Running programs by decree or by substitutes from the outside is not the way to go.

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I would like to see less antagonism from the union directed at the administration.  Over the years I have felt thta the union has developed a disrespectful attitude toward administration.

Less senior administrative personnel, smaller administrative salaries, less paperwork for the rest of us.

ditto.

The Union should examine the number of ad hoc arrangements the Deans have negotiated with individual members.  There is a well-founded impression that individual members are not being treated fairly by adminstrators when they are being advised concerning employment matters such as workload, promotion and tenure, and market differentials.  There has also been a creeping incursion into the academic freedom of units in the institution in part because administrators (and the Registrars office) are attempting to micro-manage.  I would like to see a clause establising an evaluation of administrators by faculty and students--perhaps similar to the evaluation of professors by students.

Collegiality is not a problem.

A great "colllegiality" issue that I have encountered has in fact more to do with resources and resource allocation. It refers in particular to the relationship between Departments and interdisciplinary programs. With the University trying to operate such programs the cheapest way possible (with Departments' "support") all kinds of conflicts arise between Departments and such programs that spill over into interpersonal and faculty relations. For example, some interdisciplinary program coordinators are actively "poaching" Departments and trying to persuade some Departmental faculty that they should become "cross-appointed" (which the CA allows). I think that if the resource issues were handled in a fair manner, the collegiality issues among faculty would be greatly reduced. Also, a better articulation in the new CA of the limits and the boundaries of interdisciplinary programs and a clarification of the cross-appointment regime (how it happens, what it means for Departments and interdisciplinary programs) would go a long way.

A reduction in the "power" of Deans over department/program issues.

A more cooperative and democratic (collegial) decision making process where faculty, departments and Deans have equal power. Fewer administrative "rules" and "dictates".

"Real" responsiveness to faculty concerns and not the usual lip service, or worse, the usual "no response."

Greater transparency in administration, particularly the introduction of similar kinds of public performance reporting as currently required of faculty.
A shift to a genuinely organic structure in the institution with more local decision-making instead of the current mechanistic, top-down, secret junta approach.

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Consultation of faculty on issues of governance and direction of university development.

I don't have any such issues.

Between full-time and part-time faculty.  They should be included in the decision-making processes at the university. 

Administrators should not be able to make changes to courses without consultation with the department and the instructor of the course - this is particularly toward increasing class sizes

Nothing in particular leaps to mind.

The administration to understand that exercising administration is not a goal, but an
action that is supposed to aid this institution achieve its true goals of providing high
quality teaching and research. In this sense, the faculty and students are the primary
players, and any attitude of superiority from administration is unacceptable.

To be quite frank I would like to see mechanisms for ensuring that my *colleagues*--and not the administration--are held accountable for their failure to act in a collegial manner (ie: refusing or resisting administrative work).

I don't believe that collegiality or morale will improve until the current administration leaves.

Administration's handling of procedures surrounding promotion and tneure

Well, how about abolishing the 'market supplement' so there is equity among all the faculties? That would lead to improved collegiality. The questions in that section were entirely leading and I did not answer three of them because there was no way to oppose the concept of the 'market supplement'.  Has anyone noticed how difficult it is getting to hire in the humanities and sciences? The academic job market is competitive and the idea of the supplement is based on a fallacy and not even equitable within the commerce faculty.

Equity improves collegiality, let's see some.