To the gods regarding the search for wisdom By Sandra Bannikoff Pleonexia prevails preventing our progress … [Read more...] about Spotlight on Literature – Poet’s Corner, a Haiku
Confluence Blog (Digest)
FPSE – HRISC Speakers Tour 2023
Academic Freedom | Monday, March 20th@1pm PT Although academic freedom is protected under most collective agreements, its use and scope is poorly understood on college and university campuses. This panel will survey a wide variety of examples where academic freedom has been infringed, and explore why faculty are often reluctant to exercise these rights. Discussion will … [Read more...] about FPSE – HRISC Speakers Tour 2023
#EmbraceEquity IWD2023
How will you mark International Women's Day this year? The Union and FPSE have a long and glorious history of doing A LOT for IWD each year. Originating from the Status of Women Standing Committee, now the Women & Gender Equity Committee (WGEC), FPSE along with the dedicated women at our local who had a passion for promoting gender equity usually plan and host a myriad … [Read more...] about #EmbraceEquity IWD2023
Guess who is turning 50?
Well, one of the fun things about doing Data Archiving and Scanning all of our old files is we've found a lot of things that we didn't really know we had. They weren't lost, just sort of forgotten. That's the challenge when a small group of insanely capable and dedicated members serve in the Union for a very long time. We have our own indispensable knowledge keepers, and … [Read more...] about Guess who is turning 50?
CCFA Bargaining Update #3
Greetings, friends. The Union bargained for three days last week (February 21-23, 2023). We began by settling several more housekeeping issues. Then we went through each other's proposals to indicate broadly our interest in finding middle ground. This helps all concerned decide where to focus their energies, but it does not mean that either side cannot push forward with a … [Read more...] about CCFA Bargaining Update #3
FPSE-HRISC Speakers Tour 2023
International Students in Canada (March 3 | 1pm PT) University and college students in BC (and beyond) are reporting health, housing and food insecurity challenges. International students often face these and other challenges in navigating their schools, communities and governmentalities. Our moderated March 3rd afternoon panel will focus on longstanding (and … [Read more...] about FPSE-HRISC Speakers Tour 2023
First Notice of upcoming 2023 Spring Elections
Happy Friday, Members! I wanted to inform you all of the upcoming Spring Elections. Some of you may remember my blog post last fall, “Why should you care about Academic Governance?” which explains how important it is to have strong faculty representation on our Educational Council. Our organization has been systematically attempting to expand their managerial rights … [Read more...] about First Notice of upcoming 2023 Spring Elections
Request for information on behalf of the CCFA Contract Management Committee
Dear Colleagues, The Contract Management Committee has a few pieces of news for you as well as a query. In solidarity, Jeanne (on behalf of the Contract Management Committee: Frank Jankunis, Mark Kunen, Denelle Lambert, Peter Ove, Kelly Pitman, Dominique Roelants, Charlotte Sheldrake, and Lynelle Yutani) … [Read more...] about Request for information on behalf of the CCFA Contract Management Committee
Reminder for Members – Two Important Deadlines on February 15
Dear Members, I know many of you were negativity impacted by the pay date change and wanted to be sure you don’t miss the window to reapply! The Payroll Advance Option to support faculty negatively impacted by the Pay Date Change Deadline to Apply is February 15! The College is making the “loan option” available to faculty and exempt employees. This “loan” is … [Read more...] about Reminder for Members – Two Important Deadlines on February 15
Call for Proposals: 2023 FPSE International Solidarity Fund
Dear Members, The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators is accepting requests to access funding from the 2023 International Solidarity Fund (ISF) until Monday, February 20, 2023. You may access the online application form and other ISF information on the FPSE website. The ISF is designed to support long-term, ongoing projects that build partnerships between our … [Read more...] about Call for Proposals: 2023 FPSE International Solidarity Fund
Welcome Message from New PD Chair
Hello dear CCFA members. I want to introduce myself to you. I have just taken over the role of the CCFA Professional Development Fund committee chair (from Blair Fisher, who was in the role for many years). I thought it would be good to share some valuable tips and info with you about the PD funds and the process to apply. DID YOU KNOW? Term faculty are also entitled … [Read more...] about Welcome Message from New PD Chair
SD Intent Deadlines & Payroll Advance Registration Reminders!
Greetings Members! I know from the title you were probably expecting to get a series of Confluence Blog articles from the Union’s posts over the last month. Well, surprise! THERE WEREN’T ANY. Not that I didn’t want to publish some great info for our members or that I wouldn’t have loved to post your content, too (that’s a plea, by the way!). None of … [Read more...] about SD Intent Deadlines & Payroll Advance Registration Reminders!
UPDATE: Union Response to Pay Date Change Fiasco
Dear Members, Yesterday, we asked you for your stories and I’ve spent the past day reading so many distressing stories about you were affected in the aftermath of the Pay Date Change. I learned that a substantial number of our members have suffered negative financial consequences from being improperly informed and underprepared for the shift to “Pay in Arrears.” … [Read more...] about UPDATE: Union Response to Pay Date Change Fiasco
Union Response to Pay Date Change Fiasco
Dear Members, Earlier this month, it seemed like our members lost a week of pay because our pay date was postponed right after the Winter Holiday, and we won’t get that money back until we retire or otherwise leave the College’s employment. In September, when the College indicated it would change the dates of pay for CCFA members, it is clear that they utterly failed to … [Read more...] about Union Response to Pay Date Change Fiasco
Shared Recovery Mandate | Bargaining 2022
How Does The "Shared Recovery Mandate" Stack Up Against Inflation? Are you sure you really want to know this? I wasn't... but then morbid curiosity got the better of me. Our Union is 48 years old. In less than two years, we will celebrate OUR golden 50th anniversary, just three years behind Camosun College's. So lets see how well we weathered inflation during that time. … [Read more...] about Shared Recovery Mandate | Bargaining 2022
Holiday Spotlight on Literature: “A Visit from the Union”
Updated 2022 Edition by Lynelle Yutani. (A highly stylized adaptation of the poem, “Twas The Night Before Christmas” attributed to both Clement Clarke Moore and Henry Livingston Jr.) 'Twas just days before Christmas, when all through each campus,Not a creature was stirring, the Term's all complete, for which you can thanks us; Next term’s course syllabi are posted to … [Read more...] about Holiday Spotlight on Literature: “A Visit from the Union”
Faculty Feature: Winter Break Isn’t a Jolly Holiday for All
A reminder about precarity from one of your many Term Colleagues It’s that time again! We are in the final stretch until the end of the term. For many instructors this is a time of winding down and thinking about the next semester of teaching and looking forward to some well-deserved R&R. For term employees, it the stress and uncertainty of if there is a contract coming … [Read more...] about Faculty Feature: Winter Break Isn’t a Jolly Holiday for All
It’s Not Just
Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living. There are far too many "memorial" dates in November, beginning with November 8, Indigenous Veteran's Remembrance Day and traditional Remembrance Day on November 11, every November Canadians spend a vast portion of time grieving for those we've lost and reflecting on how to end the violence. You may have noticed the … [Read more...] about It’s Not Just
Spotlight on Literature – Poet’s Corner, a Haiku
Found Feather By Sandra Bannikoff a remembrance of someone who is still free … [Read more...] about Spotlight on Literature – Poet’s Corner, a Haiku
CCFA Info-sessions Fall 2022 – Updated
Check your Cheque - October 14, 10-11:00 a.m. Are you receiving the right pay? Would you like to be able to understand and check your earnings statements? Come to this brief info-session and learn the tools you need. With special guest Tana Kristjansen, retired accounting instructor. This one-hour session includes a 20-minute presentation followed by Q & A. … [Read more...] about CCFA Info-sessions Fall 2022 – Updated
CCFA Endorses Capilano Faculty Association’s Statement of Support For Iran
It is impossible to ignore the ongoing human rights violations occurring daily in Iran as people there continue to protest the death of Mahsa Amini on September 13, 2022. Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, was accused of inappropriately wearing a hijab by Iran’s ‘Moral Security’ agency, arrested, and killed. Following her death, … [Read more...] about CCFA Endorses Capilano Faculty Association’s Statement of Support For Iran
New Confluence Feature: Spotlight on Literature – Member Book Review
“The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility.” (bell hooks, 1994) By Martha McAlister For the faculty book club this fall, we just finished reading “Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom” by bells hooks. She passed away last year, sparking us to revisit her seminal work. Though this book was written in 1994, it’s … [Read more...] about New Confluence Feature: Spotlight on Literature – Member Book Review
Faculty Feature: Kenyan Women and Children
Arts & Science Students & Faculty Fundraiser School of Arts and Science Kenyan Women & Children Fundraising Join the School of Arts & Science for their Kenyan Women and Children Fundraiser Event, on November 4 and 7; 11:00am to 2:00pm in the Fisher Foyer. We are hosting Fundraiser for the Ngoswani School for Kenyan women and children to … [Read more...] about Faculty Feature: Kenyan Women and Children
2022 Fall GM – Thursday, November 3, 3:00-4:30 PM – Online
Attention Camosun College Faculty Association Members, your Fall General Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 3, 2022, from 3:00 to 4:30 PM. Please check your Outlook Calendar to make sure you've received our invite and link. If you haven't gotten an invite, please contact us. This is an important meeting for all Term AND Continuing Faculty members … [Read more...] about 2022 Fall GM – Thursday, November 3, 3:00-4:30 PM – Online
Fair Employment Week 2022
MAKING IT FAIR FOR CONTRACT ACADEMIC STAFF October 17-21 is Fair Employment Week, the Canadian Association of University Teachers' annual campaign to raise awareness about precarious employment on campuses and support local organizing to improve the working conditions of contract academic staff. For us here at Camosun College that's our many Term, Contract, … [Read more...] about Fair Employment Week 2022
Have You Seen the New 2023-2028 Strat Plan Draft for Camosun College?
I hadn't, and I'm usually pretty observant! So you can imagine my surprise when, during the October Board of Governor's (BoG) meeting, I learned that it was due to be approved next month for adoption in January. Hang on. What? That's right. The thing that will guide, direct, and affect each of our working lives over the next five years, that we were promised to be … [Read more...] about Have You Seen the New 2023-2028 Strat Plan Draft for Camosun College?
Camosun Showcase 2023: Professional, Scholarly, and Creative Activity – Call for submissions to share your knowledge and expertise
Are you interested in sharing your stories of innovation, research, and creativity with the college community and beyond? Are you interested in highlighting the relevant and important work that you have done individually or collaboratively with colleagues, students, or community? Are you interested in writing about your experiences in harnessing the ‘best of both worlds’ of … [Read more...] about Camosun Showcase 2023: Professional, Scholarly, and Creative Activity – Call for submissions to share your knowledge and expertise
Hey CCFA, Let’s Get Out the Vote on Oct 15!
B.C. municipalities go to the polls to elect new city councils, school boards, and mayors on Oct 15—in fact, mail-in ballots and advance voting have already begun. Local civic elections represent residents’ best chance to have a direct impact on their day-to-day lives—far more than provincial or federal equivalents. And yet, ironically, they habitually attract much lower … [Read more...] about Hey CCFA, Let’s Get Out the Vote on Oct 15!
Learning to Walk Together in a Good Way
September 30th is now officially Victoria Orange Shirt Day in BC also known as National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. This proclamation was made by the Honorable Murray Rankin, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Housing, an uninvited settler on these unsurendered (but occupied nonetheless) lands, with the … [Read more...] about Learning to Walk Together in a Good Way
What does “important” mean?
Recently your Union did something that may have surprised many of you. We sent an actual physical postcard... to your home address. No one on the current Exec could remember ever having done anything like that before; and don't for a minute imagine that it was an easy decision for the Executive Committee to make, either. We wrestled with the idea for a long time... we … [Read more...] about What does “important” mean?
