The Honourable Mitzie Hunter

Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development

Government of Ontario

Dear Minister Hunter,

I was very disappointed to read your comments on the situation at York University in the Toronto Star yesterday.

The appointment of Mr. Kaplan as investigator gave us some hope, because we thought he had a mandate to ask meaningful questions about how the Board of Governors is running our university. Instead, we learn that you seem to think he is just here to facilitate some sort of miraculous negotiated settlement.

Even if there could be some kind of temporary solution to this strike, this will not solve the problem at York University.

As long as the current Board is in place, there will be no progress at York University. The current distressing situation will just repeat itself again and again.

The problem at York University is its Board of Governors

1. The problem is this Board’s complete disrespect for university rules, its sexist disregard for your own government’s legislation on equality and respect for women, its union-busting and top-heavy managerial style, and its disproportionate interest in a narrow range of business programs.

2. The problem is that this Board is irresponsible. If this Board has been listening to the York University community, as a responsible Board does, it would never have usurped control over the last Presidential search and imposed a President supported by only 11% of York faculty. There would not be strikes.

3. The problem is that this Board radically misunderstands its role. A Board of Governors of a public educational institution is supposed to exercise an oversight role on university affairs to make sure that public funds are used appropriately. It is not supposed to take over the running of the university itself behind closed doors. It cannot play a public oversight role and refuse itself to be accountable to the public .

4. Your ministry funds York University using Ontario tax-payers’ hard-earned dollars but this corporate Board is not using these public funds with the respect they deserve. Instead, it is diverting funds away from teaching, research and services for students, to finance a costly and non-productive managerial structure. Since 2002 the number of high-income managers has more than doubled (https://excal.on.ca/the-rising-cost-of-high-income-administrators-at-york/)while faculty appointments, that could improve class size and enhance learning outcomes, have stagnated.

5. The median salary in Ontario has hardly budged in the last two decades, and your government has recently adopted policies to improve salaries and ensure more stable working conditions for Ontario workers. In contrast, since 1996, senior executive compensation packages at York University have nearly doubled (https://excal.on.ca/the-rising-cost-of-high-income-administrators-at-york/) and this Board is undermining stable working conditions for all its part-time instructors.

6. Your government has adopted policies to enhance the learning experience for Ontario students, to provide them with greater opportunities for work experience, yet this Board has cut 800 graduate assistantships for our students.

7. The fundamental problem is that this Board is not representative of the society it must serve . It is composed exclusively of wealthy CEOs and corporate lawyers. It does not represent vast sectors of our community. It is too closely linked to three small faculties. It has no connection to the diverse range of programs in which 95% of our undergraduate students are enrolled.

The York University community is fed up with this irresponsible and disconnected Board

All across departments and faculties, the groundswell of votes of non-confidence in the Board of Governors and the administration at York University is mounting . We are fed up with this illegitimately-constituted, unrepresentative Board of Governors that is completely estranged from our university community.

As this Board so catastrophically demonstrates, the idea that the richer the Board is the better it is for students and the university is a fundamental misconception. This Board does not understand or care about the daily struggle of so many of our debt-ridden students. It has no commitment to the creative and intellectual purposes of an educational institution. It simply does not share the aspirations of the students, faculty and staff, who all together form the living learning community of York University.

We want to find a new harmony at York University. We want to put an end to this harassing, arbitrary, closed-shop, intimidating and oppressive management style .

Mr. Kaplan, despite his good will, does not have the mandate to make these positive changes happen. The task is too great.

We need your government to put York University under government tutelage

If your ministry and your government truly have at heart the interests of York University and its students, you cannot continue ‘supporting both parties’ as you said in the Star.

Your government must take responsibility for how public funds are being used. It must hold this Board accountable for the unjust and shameful actions that are going against your own government policies and putting York University and the education of its students at risk.

We need your government’s assistance to end the injustice we are suffering under this Board. We need your support in order to restore the spirit of our university community, to renew our sense of collective purpose, and to regenerate a serene and nurturing climate of shared endeavour.

I am once again imploring to you to place York University under government tutelage.

Yours sincerely,

Agnes Whitfield, Ph.D., c. tran.

Professor/Professeure titulaire,

Department of English/Département d’études anglaises

York University/Université York, Toronto (Canada)

http://people.laps.yorku.ca/people.nsf/researcherprofile?readform&shortname=agnesw

Founding Director/Directrice fondatrice, Vita Traductiva

http://vitatraductiva.blog.yorku.ca/

Visiting Professor/Professeure invitee, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 2017

Bilingual Joint Chair in Women’s Studies, Carleton University, University of Ottawa/Chaire conjointe bilingue en études des femmes, Université Carleton, Université d’Ottawa, 2009-2010

Virtual Scholar, Heritage Canada/Chercheure virtuelle, Patrimoine canadien, 2006-2007

Seagram Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies, McGill University/Chaire d’invité Seagram en études canadiennes, Université McGill, 2003-2004

Présidente, Association canadienne de traductologie /President, Canadian Association for Translation Studies, 1995-1999