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Continual rating of instructors without job security at Emily Carr University of Art + Design is contributing to a chilling effect on speaking out about working conditions, according to the author of a new book.

Terra Poirier, an artist and writer, said she didn’t realize how deep the chill extended before she started researching the precariousness of non-regular instructors on the faculty at ECUAD.

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Poirier said she believes academic precarity affected the quality of the undergraduate education she received at the university.

“Students are positioned as customers who need to be satisfied,” Poirier said. “An instructor might feel not to be such a hard marker or not present curricula that is too challenging because they get rated as too difficult. It really surprised and deeply unsettled me how that really compromised the quality of my education in these insidious ways.”

Non-Regular: Precarious academic labour at Emily Carr University of Art + Design is a 132-page artist book published by Unit/Pitt Projects. The $20 book is available Oct. 19 to Oct. 21 at the seventh annual Vancouver Art Book Fair at ECUAD.