Hi all,
Nilima – thanks for highlighting library hours in this conversation. All library locations have had to reduce their hours – a direct impact of budget reduction as well as the hiring freeze:
https://www.lib.sfu.ca/about/reach-us/hours/library-service-changes-2024. I think the “temporarily” used in this notice was a reflection of hope that we could get all of our hiring exceptions and somehow retain hours, but that looks not to be the case for
the longer term.
In the library, we hire students on a semesterly basis, who alongside continuing library assistants (all CUPE), provide public-facing services to students and faculty and keep our spaces open. These semesterly positions are subject to the
hiring freeze, requiring us to seek exceptions. These positions are also the first to have their work reduced due to their precarity.
To make a long story short, we don’t have enough funding/people to retain regular library hours and this will continue in 2024-2025.
I’m happy to share further details of the longer story , which include description of the challenges with a confusing hiring exception process that appears to operate with little to documented criteria and where the Provost is deciding
whether or not I can hire a student worker for 20 hours a week.
Leanna
--
Leanna Jantzi (she/her)
Head, Fraser Library | Simon Fraser University | Surrey
Located on the occupied lands of the q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), qiqéyt (Qayqayt), qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓ (Kwantlen), Səmyámə (Semiahmoo), and sc̓əwaθən (Tsawwassen)
Nations.
leanna_jantzi@sfu.ca | 778.782.7417
www.lib.sfu.ca/surrey
From: Nilima Nigam <nigam@math.sfu.ca>
Sent: Thursday, February 1, 2024 8:26 AM
To: Oliver Schulte <oschulte@cs.sfu.ca>
Cc: Faculty Forum Mail List <academic-discussion@sfu.ca>
Subject: Re: there's a town hall today
You're 100% correct that at SFU our problem isn't faculty salaries, it's administrative bloat. But in the minds of the taxpayer, perhaps this is irrelevant: we may end up needing to battle -perceptions- in the public domain.
The numbers around bloat have been eye-popping. I for one am glad that there's an attempt to freeze hiring of administrators.
To reiterate an observation: we've had the same VP Finance/ VP External for the past decade. We're on our 6th Provost (latest one started 5 months ago). It's about time the academic mission becomes the priority again, though it will
take time to turn this ship around.
And yeah, the hiring freeze/cuts aren't to impact academic operations ir academic hires. If the Deans say otherwise, there are questions to ask; if library times are scaled back, likewise. I'm tempted to start tracking what cuts to our
academic missions are being pushed; this may just be a way to make us feel the pain. Kind of like 'we need to stop spending on frivolous purchases at Home Depot' gets translated to 'sorry, no dinner from now on, we're cutting back.'
Nilima Nigam
Professor
Dept. of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University
Thank you for sending the link Ronda! It was an intense meeting, lots of good questions. Must be stressful for the Provost and President. Provost Rassier after all has no responsibility for our current fiscal difficulties.
One question that came up was how come we are still hiring faculty when the student numbers are going down. Student numbers are going up not down but the main thing is that Provost Rassier reiterated that hiring more faculty would be welcomed
by the central admin. If your Dean is telling you otherwise, you should tell them to check the memos from the upper admin.
Ronda's link worked for me and should work.
Michelle Nilson, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers) *Why do pronouns matter? https://pronouns.org/what-and-why/
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University
Director, Centre for the Study of Educational Leadership and Policy (CSELP), https://www.sfu.ca/cselp.html
President, Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE), https://csshe-scees.ca/
SFU acknowledges the Squamish, Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, Katzie and Kwikwetlem peoples on whose traditional territories our three campuses stand.
From: Sam Black <samuel_black@sfu.ca>
Sent: January 31, 2024 1:06:10 PM
To: Wendy Loken Thornton; Nilima Nigam; Faculty Forum Mail List
Subject: Re: there's a town hall today
Thanks Wendy,
I now know why I can't log in.
I look forward to reading about the highlights.
Best,
Sam
Sam Black
Assoc. Prof. Philosophy, SFU
This note is not AI-generated.
I respectfully acknowledge that SFU is on the unceded ancestral and traditional territories of the səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish),
xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nations.
From: Wendy Loken Thornton <wthornto@sfu.ca>
Sent: January 31, 2024 10:39:50 AM
To: Nilima Nigam; Faculty Forum Mail List
Subject: Re: there's a town hall today
Apparently we needed to register by January 25 in order to receive the invite. Granted I'm on leave and may have missed the memo, but it would be nice for faculty who can attend this zoom town hall today to be able
to do so.
"A calendar invite will be sent to those who register before
Wednesday, January 25.
All registrants will receive the Zoom link on the morning of the event."
***
Wendy Loken Thornton, Ph.D. R.Psych
Professor, Department of Psychology
Director, Cognitive Aging Lab
Simon Fraser University
***
The SFU Burnaby campus is located on the unceded traditional territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Musqueam, and Kwikwetlem Nations.
Note: My working hours and yours may differ. Please don't feel obligated
to reply outside of your normal hours.
From: Nilima Nigam <nigam@math.sfu.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2024 10:27 AM
To: Faculty Forum Mail List
Subject: FYI: there's a town hall today
Dear colleagues
as you may know, there's a towm hall today for Faculty and Staff, hosted by the SFU President, to chat about priorities and budgets.
(Wed., Jan. 31, 2024 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM PST).
I hope many of us can attend this. We, as faculty, have both the duty and the right to participate in the governance of the university, and to be part of discussions
around it.
The issues that may arise will be reflective of who is there. We likely won't agree with each other on what university priorities ought to be, and that's a good thing. Herds of cats are vastly
more interesting to me than herds of lemmings. But even cats need to show up at the watering hole.
--
Nilima Nigam
Professor
Dept. of Mathematics
Simon Fraser University
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