dear friends,
in response to the thread regarding what i would consider excesses in bureaucracy at our home institution, i would like to pose a thought:
in my previous capacity as the director of a not-for-profit foundation, there were and are clear guidelines as to how much of an overall and annual budget may be used for administration, relevant to how much is used for fulfilling the actual mandate/mission of an organization.
do universitites in canada have similar restrictions, expectations, or social contract?
in other words, once a certain percentage of the budget (used for 'administration'), exceeds a maximum percentage of the overall budget, the foundation is considered to no longer be fulfilling its mandate, and would lose it's legal status.
something to consider.
annie
dr. annie g. ross
Professor. Department of Indigenous Studies
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Dr., Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6
T: 778.782.3575
www.anniegrace.ca
Love and thanks to all Wild, Sacred, and Good. I especially acknowledge that i live,
learn, work with and benefit from the unceded, ancestral, and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh, Kwikwitlem, and Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw
First Peoples' HomeLands.
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2022 7:31 PM
To: Cynthia Patton; Henry Daniel; Black Caucus; academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Cc: SFU Media Relations; Communications and Marketing; UBC Black Caucus
Subject: Re: SFU remains Canada’s top university for innovation, rises to first for entrepreneurial spirit in global ranking
I think we just need to deprive administrators of money, analogous to one way you put out fires– deprive them of oxygen. The more money administrators have, the more silly things they will do with the money, and the more they will autopoietically keep replicating themselves by expanding their ranks.
The best way I can think of to deprive admin of money is to give big raises all around– to faculty, academic unit staff, TSSU members and librarians. So, in addition to salary parity with UBC and the cost of living in YVR, we can add ‘keep SFU admin from wasting money’ as another rationale in bargaining for higher salaries for employees who are focused on the core mission.
We could even invent fictional faculty and pay them, and let the money accumulate in non-existent faculty accounts to cover the eventual costs of new hires and giving them research startup fees with the money stored in these fake faculty placeholder accounts– anything to keep the money out of hands of people who don’t know how to spend it well.
Michael Filimowicz, PhD
Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology
School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Simon Fraser University
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2022 8:27 AM
To: Henry Daniel; Black Caucus; academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Cc: SFU Media Relations; Communications and Marketing; UBC Black Caucus
Subject: Re: SFU remains Canada’s top university for innovation, rises to first for entrepreneurial spirit in global ranking
I echo Henry's observations.
The idea that there currently isn't sufficient funding for the Black Cluster Hire is especially ridiculous given the reports we have recently received about the dramatic expansion in non-faculty, non-permanent staff, and the lack of replacement of faculty.
Perhaps our colleagues Media Relations and in Communications and Marketing can report to their VP that they are in a rather difficult moral position because they are being asked to promote a university that is ongoingly and blatantly not meeting its "Equity,
Diversity, and Inclusion" benchmarks at the faculty level. (I note that the University threw away an opportunity in the recent FASS Dean hiring process.)
Sent: June 14, 2022 2:40 PM
To: Black Caucus; academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Cc: SFU Media Relations; Communications and Marketing; UBC Black Caucus
Subject: SFU remains Canada’s top university for innovation, rises to first for entrepreneurial spirit in global ranking
Distinguished SFU Professor | Professor - Dance, Performance Studies, New Media Technologies | School for the Contemporary Arts | Goldcorp Centre for the Arts |
149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC. V6B 1H4| C: +1 778 994 3897 | Office: +1 778 782 3897 | hdaniel@sfu.ca | www.henrydaniel.ca
