Re: presidential survey

Dear Mark,

Thanks for your thoughtful letter! It made great points, particularly about the erosion of the centrality of the academic mission, and the increasingly managerial/corporate nature of the university. Am I the only one who reads 'stakeholder' and thinks 'vampire killer?'

Without taking away from your argument, here are some relevant facts: the term of the university President is term-limited. The current president's term started in September 2020.

- VP portfolios with no term limits:

- VP Finance: M. Pochurko, since 2015

- VP External Relations: J. Curry, since 2016

- VP Advancement and Alumni Engagement: E. Morantz, since 2021

- VP portfolios with term limits:

- VP Academic. Since 2013, we're on our 6th VP academic.

- VP research.

I do not know if the VP People, Equity and Inclusion is term-limited.

While I'd love to lay the blame for the current situation entirely on the incumbent's door, the facts suggest this may be overestimating the impact of the current president. The non-academic VPs have been around for a lot longer. The non-academic VPs are not accountable to the professoriate, but more to the point - any President or VP Academic will be faced with extremely powerful incumbents of these portfolios. A lot of our working conditions (and those of our TAs/grad students) are impacted by these portfolios. These portfolios have been hiring as if the world were running out of administrators; I doubt most of the people in these units know that classes begin on the half-hour, or when examinations are.

cheers

Nilima

On Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 5:20 PM Yildiz Atasoy <yatasoy@sfu.ca> wrote:

I really liked your letter, Mark. Very thoughtful!

Kindest regards,

Yıldız

Dr. Yıldız Atasoy

Professor, Sociology,

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Former Director, Centre for Sustainable Development
Associate Member, the School for International Studies

Associate Member, Department of Geography

Food, Climate Change & Migration - Public Engagement Forums

NEW BOOK: Commodification of Global Agrifood Systems and Agro-Ecology: Convergence, Divergence and Beyond in Turkey

Book Reviews: International Sociology & New Perspectives on Turkey

From: Mark Leier <leier@sfu.ca>
Sent: Friday, September 29, 2023 3:25 PM
To: academic-discussion@sfu.ca
Subject: presidential survey

I've attached the letter I sent to the BoG chair, Angie Lamarsh, regarding the reappointment of the incumbent president. It is long--about 2 pages. It may strike a chord with some on this list.

I have received a reply, to wit

Hello Mark,

We thank you for your feedback regarding the Presidential Re-Appointment Process for Dr. Joy Johnson. Your feedback is highly valued, and we appreciate you taking the time to provide your insight.

Best,

Angie Lamarsh

Chair of the Board of Governors, Simon Fraser University

Nilima Nigam
Professor
Dept. of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University