| Hi all, Hopefully you’ve seen this come across you desk recently. I’d urge you to take a look at the policy and the move of the human rights office into the VPPEI portfolio. As you’ll see in the attached, I have real concerns that the move of the office will put individuals and SFU as an institution at risk when human rights issues arise and there are substantive reasons to protect and enhance the independence of the HRO rather than weaken it (as the current move does). I’ll also paste a TLDR version as a PS. Whether you agree with me on this or not, I’d urge you to reach out to the Acting General Counsel and share your thoughts about the move—collegial governance only works if we exercise our right to use our voice to help guide the university. Hope you all are enjoying a smooth end of the semester and have a relaxing holiday as we slip into 2023. Dan |
Attachment:
Consultation notes.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
TLDR Version: After the abrupt departure of the previous University Secretary and General Counsel, SFU has split that position in two: the University Secretary, reporting to the Board of Governors, and the General Counsel, reporting to the President. The change means that all SFU policies previously under the University Secretary and General Counsel must now be directed to either the University Secretary or the General Counsel. The current consultation requests comments from the SFU community regarding changes to SFU’s Human Rights Policy, General Policy 18 (GP18). Authority for GP18 is being moved from the General Council and University Secretary to the Vice-President, People, Equity and Inclusion (VPPEI). This means that the Director of the Human rights office will now be reporting to the office responsible for human resources at SFU. In effect, if allegations of human rights violations are made against the university regarding decisions made by the office responsible for human resources at SFU, the Director will be put in the awkward position of potentially ruling against her/his own supervisor. The policy has also been revised in matters of appeal. If a complainant is not satisfied with the results of a review by the Director of the Human Rights Office (HRO), they can appeal the decision to the General Counsel. The General Counsel reports to the President, as does the VPPEI, meaning that any appeals of a decision are heard within the same administrative reporting line. The net effect of these changes is to reduce the independence of the Human Rights Office. To protect the independence of the HRO, strengthen its ability to hold SFU accountable to protecting human rights, and maximize its reporting and education functions, the HRO should rest within the portfolio of the University Secretary and remain within the reporting line of the Board of Governors. To allow independent appeals of HRO decisions related to human rights, appellants should be directed to SFU’s General Counsel, a position with the appropriate legal expertise to review concerns. The independence needed to protect the SFU community, and the institution itself, can be best maintained by locating the HRO under the Board of Governors and outside of SFU’s day-to-day administrative structures and reporting lines. By locating the appeals process under the General Counsel, the Administration can concomitantly hold the HRO accountable for its decisions. In reporting to the Board of Governors, both the Administration and the HRO can be supported in, and held accountable for, protecting the human rights of SFU community members while also maintaining the autonomy of the Administration to engage in human resources work as it seeks to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion under the VPPEI portfolio.
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Attachment:
smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature