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Time off work doesn’t always mean a perfect break for professors

For many people, the holidays have always been something to look forward to. For students, this means time away from school and for others, it can mean time away from work. 

This year, at McMaster University, student examinations end officially on Dec. 22, 2021, with winter classes beginning on Jan. 10, 2022. While professors technically have the same time limits when it comes to class dismissals, they spend a large majority of break bringing their courses to fruition. 

Courses often require a lot of planning leading up to the first class, but the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in professors planning for online classes since March of 2020. 

Now, for the upcoming winter semester in 2022, there is going to be a transition to an almost entirely in-person learning format, which can mean a shift in planning for professors yet again. What this planning looks like will differ depending on the course. 

Joe Kim, an associate professor at McMaster under the department of psychology, neuroscience and behaviour, spoke about how the IntroPsych team at McMaster had already had a relatively hybrid learning style prior to the pandemic as they were using virtual modules. Kim explained that planning for the upcoming semester was close to completion. 

Krista Howarth, an assistant professor at McMaster under the department of kinesiology, explained that, although a large majority of her course planning had been completed, there were still things like the Avenue course shell that needed to be activated and then formatted. 

To Howarth, the way her course appears on Avenue is important, as it is an essential means of communication to her students. She talked about how it would have been nicer to have a longer winter break so she can better prepare for the winter semester.

“I do wish there was more time between term one and term two and even last year, there was a survey that went around and [asked], ‘Would you guys mind if we sort of started the term later this year?’ to give everyone more time. Not just the students, but also [so that] the faculty have more time to get ready for term two,” said Howarth.

“I do wish there was more time between term one and term two and even last year, there was a survey that went around and [asked], ‘Would you guys mind if we sort of started the term later this year?’ to give everyone more time. Not just the students, but also [so that] the faculty have more time to get ready for term two,”

Krista Howarth, Assistant Professor

Though professors spend time planning, many also try to balance spending time with family and friends over the holidays. 

For Kim, the holidays are a chance to be closer with his family. He talked about the variety of games they play, whether that be Sorry!, Dominoes, Clues or Jenga. He also talked about the importance of good food, exercising and binge watching television shows to help create a relaxing break.

“The holidays means the end of semester, so it is a chance to rest, regenerate and spend a lot of time with family. For my daughter, I think she just loves the holidays because everyone is together in the same house so we have time for lots of games,” said Kim.

“The holidays means the end of semester, so it is a chance to rest, regenerate and spend a lot of time with family. For my daughter, I think she just loves the holidays because everyone is together in the same house so we have time for lots of games,”

Joe Kim, Assistant Professor

Howarth also spoke about how excited she is for the upcoming holidays. 

It’s a hard earned break that she always looks forward to because she gets time to spend with her family. Her family loves to do puzzles together as she said it was their own form of relaxation. 

Howarth also discussed how few days she actually takes off during the winter, spending the rest of the days working towards the first day of winter semester.

“I don’t often get to spend as much time as I would’ve liked over the holidays with my family, [but] at least I do get to take a little bit of time off to do some things with my kids and my other family members . . . Most years I take off Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing day and I’ll spend that at my parents’ house. I go with my kids and we just hang out there and do our typical Christmas celebrations,” said Howarth.

“I don’t often get to spend as much time as I would’ve liked over the holidays with my family, [but] at least I do get to take a little bit of time off to do some things with my kids and my other family members,"

Krista Howarth, Assistant Professor

Both Kim and Howarth shared advice for students on how to have a balanced winter break. They stressed the importance of how taking a break is essential to wellbeing. 

Kim shared how it is good to be productive, but that there are realistic ways to achieve this. He suggested making a list of things one hopes to finish during the break and to ensure that they are realistic goals.

Kim shared how it is good to be productive, but that there are realistic ways to achieve this. He suggested making a list of things one hopes to finish during the break and to ensure that they are realistic goals.

The upcoming break is a much needed holiday for not only students but also professors. Many use this time to spend quality time with their families. Though rest is their main goal, many professors still find themselves spending a large majority of their break planning for the next teaching semester.

How tenures detrimentally impact the student body’s satisfaction with their education

_{C/O Erol Ahmed}

Imagine this: you just finished a gruelling midterm. Every part of you is sweating and it is taking every ounce of energy in you not to cry. Instead, you pool your remaining bodily resources in order to absorb the shock of what just happened.

You slug past the next couple of hours as you wait for the (inevitable) fury of students rushing towards the Mac subreddit to vent away their frustrations while folks in similar positions give their sympathies. You are an audience member to that subreddit and you wonder to yourself: how on Earth is *insert professor* employed?

For many new students in a challenging university like McMaster University, this thought surely has crossed students’ minds plenty of times with each evaluation season. Once you’ve been in the education system too long, it is easy to get desensitized towards just how odd this phenomenon is in post-secondary learning.

Despite the countless negative student evaluations and scathing Rate My Professor reviews, why does it appear that many faculty members appear to evade any consequences? After all, is it not the case everywhere else that if you do a bad job then you are bound to face the consequences?

Despite the countless negative student evaluations and scathing Rate My Professor reviews, why does it appear that many faculty members appear to evade any consequences?

One word: tenure.

It took me a while to really understand the concept. Essentially, tenures are the ultimate mode of job security an educational institution can possibly offer to its professors and is a process by which an academician can become a permanent faculty member of an institution without fear of reprisal due to their academic interests.

Since tenures are highly sought after, an academician must undergo a gruelling process to prove their worthiness and demonstrate why they deserve tenure to a larger committee.

Although being tenured may be an ideal position for an academic intellectual who has dedicated their life to pursuing a field of study, I strongly believe that the way tenure stands now serves to greatly disservice the student body.

While I am absolutely in favour of hardworking professors reaping the fruits of their labour and enriching our universities with their expertise, tenure can definitely be done in a manner that protects the professors from unjust treatment without compromising on taking student critique seriously.

While I am absolutely in favour of hardworking professors reaping the fruits of their labour and enriching our universities with their expertise, tenure can definitely be done in a manner that protects the professors from unjust treatment without compromising on taking student critique seriously.

I believe that addressing student opinion surrounding a faculty member should be done promptly and in a manner that makes student voices heard is the best way to change our places of learning for the better.

It is too often that students internalize the hopeless, long processes required to bring any matter to attention and instead bicker among themselves until there is a negative stigma around specific faculty members, departments and courses.

Tenures indirectly allow student criticism to increase and grow more and more severe against particulars of an institution throughout the years. This fosters an incredibly negative student opinion of certain faculties, which in turn allows for students’ perceptions of the reputation of the department and its members to supersede their passion for the subject.

If universities want to remain relevant as legitimate institutions of learning, we have a collective responsibility to change the culture of silencing student criticisms and adopting a student-first approach. It is students who drive it forward and if we wish to make progress in student satisfaction, it must start with a strong reevaluation of the outdated tenure system.

McMaster announces commitment to hiring 12 Black faculty members

In October, McMaster University completed an external review of Black student-athletes and their experiences with racism. The review was first initiated in July, prompted in part by tweets by former McMaster football star Fabion Foote who now plays for the Toronto Argonauts.

In a series of tweets, Foote shared his experiences of systemic racism within the McMaster Athletics & Recreation Department.

My DL coach at Mac said I had to sell weed to afford my tuition lol. Keep in mind I never smoked in my life. My friend was in a group chat were a white athlete used the N word. My teammate reported it to the coaches and they some how managed to blame us for it.

— Fab (@Fabloescoo) June 28, 2020

The review investigated the experiences of various students from as early as 2010 and included various interviews with both former and current Black athletes, Black staff and coaches and non-Black staff and coaches.

Completion of the review showed that a culture of systemic anti-Black racism is present at the school and has harmed a number of current and former athletes. 

Completion of the review showed that a culture of systemic anti-Black racism is present at the school and has harmed a number of current and former athletes.

“[I]t is clear that there is a culture of systemic anti-Black racism within McMaster Athletics as a result of individual and group actions and inactions from staff, coaches and department administrators. This culture is evident in explicit and implicit examples of anti-Black racism. It is also evident in a widespread lack of awareness, education, understanding, empathy and systemic perspective on issues of race and inclusivity,” the report said. 

“They probably think they’re working from neutral where they have to do something and fix it, as opposed to stopping doing things that they are already doing.”

McMaster President David Farrar shared a letter of apology to students and acknowledged that more action needs to be done. 

“On behalf of the University, I apologize for the anti-Black racism you experienced. I am deeply sorry that effective action was not taken to prevent this; there are no excuses for the behaviour you endured. I assure you that we are listening and that action is already being taken to implement the report’s recommendations and to begin the work with the Department and the broader university community to help us eliminate systemic racism,” the letter wrote. 

However, for Elvin Girineza, a fourth-year chemistry student, noted how several flaws of the review and the university’s response were apparent to him as a Black student.

“I think it’s interesting to say the least, that they reviewed only athletes as part of the survey."

“I think it’s interesting to say the least, that they reviewed only athletes as part of the survey. Also just that it was more asking for experiences rather than something more proactive, more doing something to address it. [It was more] reactive and having to have their Black students remind them of what exactly is going on or has been already going on in the past,” Girineza said. 

On Nov. 23, McMaster announced that the school will be committing to hiring 12 Black faculty members. The announcement stated that this approach aims to ensure the school’s commitment to inclusivity is supported by Black scholarship excellence. 

The release of the initiative received support from many across social media, with people feeling pleased that the university is addressing the issue and taking action. 

An important first step. Let’s keep imagining better futures ✊🏾 https://t.co/O8RNOFK6CB

— Stacy Creech de Castro (@Stacy_AnnC) November 25, 2020

Aside from showing support, some have also suggested the next steps the school can take to further foster inclusivity, such as considering similar initiatives for Indigenous scholars.

Excellent first steps towards meaningful change in #academia. I hope to see a similar hiring initiative focused on #Indigenous #scholars@McMasterU @EIOMcMaster https://t.co/1pvKtlAUmV

— Dr. LeaGrie (@LeaGrie) November 24, 2020

Others have also questioned whether this initiative is enough and how it can truly ensure that Black voices are being expressed in academia.

Dr. Alvin Thomas, a clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, responded to the announcement on Twitter.

“Along with the hiring, what positions, policies, procedures, processes and changes are being enacted to make sure that these new faculty have every opportunity and support towards success rather than becoming possibly sacrificial lambs as has happened with other academic spaces?”

“Along with the hiring, what positions, policies, procedures, processes and changes are being enacted to make sure that these new faculty have every opportunity and support towards success rather than becoming possibly sacrificial lambs as has happened with other academic spaces?” Thomas tweeted.

Along with the hiring, what positions, policies, procedures, processes and changes are being enacted to make sure that these new faculty have every opportunity and support towards success rather than becoming possibly sacrifical lambs as has happened with other academic spaces?

— Dr. Alvin Thomas, PhD. (@Dr_AT758) November 28, 2020

Girineza expressed that although hiring Black faculty is a step in the right direction, he believed a lot more work still needs to be done.

“They’re deciding how much influence and power [Black academics] get and then those new faculty will be restricted to their rules."

“They’re deciding how much influence and power [Black academics] get and then those new faculty will be restricted to their rules. . .[McMaster is] only willing to budge however much they’re willing to budge. They’re not willing to fully listen and maybe take on a more humble role and, you know, take a step back and not be the one in charge of the final decisions when it comes to how institutions deal with its own problems,” said Girineza.

"They’re not willing to fully listen and maybe take on a more humble role and, you know, take a step back and not be the one in charge of the final decisions when it comes to how institutions deal with its own problems,” said Girineza. 

Girineza is no stranger to racism as a part of his everyday reality. When he had to choose where to attend university, the culture and severity of racism at each university played a part in his decision.

“For people who haven’t experienced racism it’s a theory to them more and there has to be more work put on looking at the extent of it. Does it really exist? While to the people who experienced the consequences, it’s just a reality,” Girineza expressed.

“For people who haven’t experienced racism it’s a theory to them more and there has to be more work put on looking at the extent of it. Does it really exist? While to the people who experienced the consequences, it’s just a reality,” Girineza expressed. 

Girineza added that if McMaster really wants to properly address anti-Black racism, they have to be willing to dive deeper into the issue and apply their actions systemically.

“As opposed to trying to put a bandaid on cancer,” Girineza said. 

“As opposed to trying to put a bandaid on cancer.” 

Girineza believes the problem is being handled by people who may not realize that they may also be contributing to the problem.

“They probably think they’re working from neutral where they have to do something and fix it, as opposed to stopping doing things that they are already doing,” said Girineza.

He said that if the university wants to foster a place of community and safety, they must do more than just the basic standard.

“I can’t applaud the institution for doing the bare minimum,” Girineza said.

“I can’t applaud the institution for doing the bare minimum,” Girineza said.

Photo by Kyle West

By: Justin Temple

Waiting for final grades to be posted is a terrible experience defined by an abundance of anxiety coupled with the constant refreshing of Mosaic. Usually, this biannual waiting game ends before the new year for fall term grades and before the beginning of May for winter term. At that point, the "grade anxiety" faced by so many students, myself included, has subdued.

This time around, however, I am still waiting on a final grade nearly two months after the course ended. A situation like this should never occur at McMaster University and needs to be addressed by mandating grade submission deadlines for course instructors.

Such a mandate is not without precedent. Carleton University requires that instructors submit their final grades within 10 calendar days of the course's final exam. The University of Western Ontario grants instructors even less time, requiring submission of final grades within a week of the final exam.

Besides Carleton and Western, the University of Regina, the University of Victoria, the University of Windsor and Ryerson University are other postsecondary institutions which have implemented grade submission deadlines for instructors. It is evidently not a new idea.  

Despite this, McMaster currently has no policy that requires instructors to submit final grades by a specific deadline. This is beyond an inconvenience and only serves to complicate students’ lives.

For example, should an instructor fail to submit marks by the drop-and-add deadline for a prerequisite course, students' registration in a secondary course may be thrown into limbo.

Simultaneously, students planning on taking a second course based on their performance in the prerequisite class are withheld critical information that would likely dictate their decision to take the second course or not.

Even more alarming, a long delay in the submission of final grades can create a negative impact for students eyeing graduate studies. Given that grades are required to be reported to an applicant's desired graduate school as early as late December, an instructor sitting on their hands can put prospective graduate students in a completely unnecessary pinch.

With so much riding on those applications, McMaster is doing a disservice to its students by failing to force accountability onto its faculty.

Moreover, McMaster’s mission to promote health and wellness amongst its students could be furthered by mandating a grade submission deadline. As the time between when a student finishes a course and subsequently receives their final grade is variable and can last for weeks in length, existing academic anxiety is worsened.

A mark deadline could quell some of the existing anxiety by limiting the amount of time students spend worrying about marks they have yet to receive. Additionally, a grading deadline would provide students with a much more concrete timeframe to expect their marks, limiting any anxiety derived from the uncertainty of when grades will be uploaded.

As students, we should not have to deal with the mental and bureaucratic turmoil created from the inability of instructors to submit our marks promptly. Such issues could easily be averted by requiring instructors to provide their final marks by a specified date. Besides, as instructors demand us to submit our assignments on time, is it not time that they get a taste of their own medicine?

 

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By: Elizabeth Saucier

Earlier this month, Prof. Barry Allen of the philosophy department was rewarded a fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada. This prestigious national institution, established by parliament in 1883, aims to recognize outstanding scholarship and foster research and study.

Allen was nominated for his work on the nature of knowledge and aesthetics, as well as his efforts to connect the sometimes disparate worlds of Asian and occidental philosophy.

“I’m very grateful that my work has been recognized in this way. My work is not very conventional at all. It’s very gratifying to find that a body of academic peers are willing to find something of value in the work that I’ve been doing,” remarked Allen.

Allen recalls his experiences presenting his doctoral thesis at Princeton: “I caused a bit of a scandal in my own department because my department was one of the most trenchantly analytic departments that really had just no interest in continental philosophy... and didn’t really want to have anything to do with it. And I composed a dissertation that was right in the middle of continental philosophy and it caused a lot of consternation.”

Allen has never shied away from blazing a trail. His favourite aspect of teaching at McMaster specifically is the freedom the university gives him to create his own courses and curricula. Allen introduced a course on Chinese philosophy, a topic that had not been covered at McMaster in previous years.

“I like having the opportunity to make undergraduate students feel excited about philosophy. Many students have no real clue about what it is. I enjoyed being able to show them that this is an exciting thing. I hope that they might have memories of it for a long time,” he said.

Although Allen enjoys supervising graduate students who wish to explore topics in continental philosophy, aesthetics, and environmental philosophy, he relishes the opportunity to reach undergraduates, particularly those not focused on philosophy.

“Students discover things they had no idea existed, and find them fascinating.” Allen is motivated by his ability to introduce students to diverse topics and viewpoints of which they may have had no prior knowledge.

Finally, when asked, “What do you wish more students knew?” he had a few parting thoughts.

“[I wish they had] a little bit more history and a little bit more sense of the way the world works. A little bit more awareness that the way things are now is not the way it always was. Change can produce extraordinary differences that no one could have seen coming. When I teach I try to have a historical component. I teach them philosophy not just as a bunch of arguments and ideas. I teach them that a lot of things that seem obvious to them were not obvious to people in historical times. I hope that shakes them from the dangers of complacency, and alerts them that there may be a whole world they haven’t begun to guess, yet to be explored and discovered.”

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There are two university staff members that I see everyday who look like me. They are both women, and they are both very soft-spoken. We don’t ever exchange more than a “Hello” with one another, but between us there seems to be an unspoken agreement that we acknowledge and respect one another’s work. It’s not often that I see university staff faces with a similar bone structure to mine, the same skin colour as mine, or whispered hints of accents and languages that remind me of my family and my ancestors. But, I see these traits in these two women, and for that, they are the closest things to visual role models I have on campus.

Both of these people are custodial staff, and for the most part, they are the only staff members on campus that I have seen with faces like mine.

It is alarming to me that the only adult faces I see like mine on campus are the ones that are forced to work behind the scenes, not the ones actively being portrayed as representatives of our university. During my time as an undergraduate at McMaster, I only ever had one minority professor, and I was only ever taught by her for one of my four years. When it comes to minority women on campus, the message I get is quite clear: your role is best served in service, unless you’re willing to try and beat the odds.

I’m happy to have the role models that I do on campus, our service staff work hard for our campus and community. But I hate that I very rarely see these same role models at the heads of classrooms and hosting office hours — the same roles that I would like to see for myself and my sisters. Where’s my big family of Asian, Latin, Black, Brown, Middle Eastern and Indigenous female professors waiting to welcome me into their academic arms? Where’s my professors who look like me and who are happy to look like me and want me to learn from their visual example?

According to a 2010 study by the Canadian Association of University Teachers, only 17 percent of university faculty were minorities, without a report of how many of those were women. This may seem representative given that Canada has, according to the last census, a population consisting of 20 percent minority citizens, but how is this percentage of staff distributed through the university? Does one faculty have more exposure to minority role models than another? Another disappointing statistic comes in the form of unemployment research. The largest group of unemployed professors in Canada is that of  female visible minorities, with eight percent unemployment — a sizeable feat compared to the roughly four percent unemployment running across their male and white counterparts.

It isn’t a matter of there simply not being enough racialized women with PhDs and credentials; we know they’re out there, they are just not being hired as much as other groups.

Even when I was hired for my job and then was hiring positions for this paper, I heard one of our former staff members say blatantly sexist and racist micro-aggressions about hiring multiple women of colour (FYI, they asked “are we hiring too many?”).

I hold a position of power among my student body, and I acknowledge that. I am a minority woman who is filling a job that, aside from a single digit number of exceptions in our 85-year history, has consistently been held by white people (and only 12 of those white people being women). With this being said, it is part of my intrinsic nature of holding this position to feel a need to represent my sisters of all colours and try to be the professional role model many of them have yet to encounter on campus.

In general, I see a variety of colours and cultures on campus, but very rarely do I see them outside of our student body and our service staff. At this point, I don’t even care if I see professors and staff who are the same genre of minority as me, I just want to see more than one person representing minority women from the side of faculty.

So McMaster, I get that you’re trying, and I know that we work hard to promote a diverse campus, but I’d like to propose a New Year’s resolution for you: let’s get a female university staff in a range of colours — I want to see women of colour on campus clearing off chalk boards for more than one reason.

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How well do you know your professors outside of class? After Office Hours is a student-produced video series aimed at demystifying academia. Over the summer, a group of four undergraduate McMaster students interviewed professors from different faculties about who they are and why they do what they do.

In addition to the project's website, videos from the series will be posted on www.thesil.ca/videos every Tuesday beginning Oct. 22, 2013.

Five professors in the DeGroote School of Business have been handed “lengthy suspensions without pay” by the University after a tribunal of their peers found their misconduct resulted in a “poisonous and hostile work environment.”

In 2011, two complaints of harassment were filed by and against faculty in McMaster’s business school.

An anti-discrimination tribunal set up to address the complaints recently released its 26-page public report. The report summarizes the tribunal’s findings after two years of proceedings, 2694 documents and testimonies from 65 witnesses.

In the first complaint, five faculty members filed a harassment complaint against a senior administrator and McMaster University.In the second complaint, seven faculty members and one staff alleged that six faculty members, including four who filed the first complaint, harassed them. One counter-complaint was filed against one of the initiators of the second complaint.

A tribunal, made up of three tenured McMaster professors, was commissioned to hear the complaints. They found that several professors committed “serious and multiple” acts of misconduct.

“The most egregious misconduct involved the unlawful and self-serving interference with tenure and promotion,” according to the public report.

“Permanent removal was a remedy seriously considered for some of the individuals. In the end, it was not determined to be necessary,” the tribunal stated, as the University allowed some delays in the process and certain decisions by a “non-party senior administrator” also contributed to the workplace hostility.

The tribunal recommended that three professors should have “lengthy suspensions without pay, benefits, privileges or access to the University’s premises.” It was recommended that two other professors also be suspended, but for a shorter period of time. One other individual will receive a written reprimand.

The identities of the suspended professors have not been disclosed due to a confidentiality agreement. The tribunal did not specify how long the suspensions should last.

McMaster president Patrick Deane issued a statement calling the “complexity and number” of the complaints “unprecedented” at the University.

Deane stated that he “fully accepts the Tribunal’s findings” and has “already begun the process of implementing the recommended sanctions and other remedies.”

Following the release of the tribunal’s report, three business classes were cancelled this week.

McMaster spokesperson Andrea Farquhar said the department is working to ensure all classes are up and running again by next week.

“[The School of Business] has been successful in finding a number of well-qualified instructors,” Farquhar said, to temporarily take over from the suspended professors.

“It will certainly be a priority for us to minimize impact on students,” she said.

The tribunal dismissed allegations against the senior administrator accused of harassment and abusing his power.

The tribunal also found there was no “direct harassment or malicious behaviour” on the part of the University. However, it stated that University must “accept some responsibility” for the unacceptable workplace environment and review its anti-discrimination policy. The tribunal recommended sensitivity training for the reprimanded professors.

The complaints were filed a year after former business dean Paul Bates resigned. Bates stepped down amid disputes among the faculty and claims of bullying. Some believed he was not a qualified academic as he had industry experience but no university degree, while others defended him. The issue created a rift between business school faculty.

Bates, who was not specifically named in the tribunal’s report, still works at McMaster as a special advisor to the president.

Since the tribunal began investigating the complaints two years ago, proceedings have been kept out of the public eye.

Farquhar said it was necessary to protect the identities of the university employees involved in the complaints.

Individual sanctions have taken effect immediately while other recommendations will be gradually enforced.

“There are some recommendations on reviewing the [anti-discrimination] policy, for instance, and some sensitivity training – that takes a little bit of time to implement. The policy will go to the Senate,” she said.

 

Ryan Sparrow / The Silhouette

While students are wrapping up their courses and gearing up for exams, negotiations are underway for contract renewal for sessional faculty members.

"Sessional faculty face a myriad of other problems, including the inadequacy of TA support, the rising cost of child care and a lack of decent health benefits," said Alex Diceanu, a sessional faculty member who teaches in Political Science and Labour Studies.

CUPE 3906, the union that represents the approximately 300 sessional faculty at McMaster, is negotiating for its membership. The bargaining team for the sessionals recognizes that things need to change at McMaster.

“The biggest issue this round is job security,” said the union’s president Blake McCall, who did his undergrad and masters degrees at McMaster

“Many members have to apply for their job every four months, with some exceptions. This creates high levels of uncertainty leaving many sessionals without knowing if they are going to have a steady income on a semester-to-semester basis. Changing this to ensure security of our members is a top priority.”

Sessional faculty members, like many contingent faculty, are hired on a course-by-course basis, which makes it difficult to make long-term personal decisions like purchasing a home or starting a family.

As of 2013, Ontario still ranks the last in per-student funding at universities in Canada. The most recent budget announced is expected to include additional cuts to post-secondary education despite record enrollment.

One common cost-cutting measure for universities is to rely on increasing numbers of lower paid part-time faculty.

Continued budget cuts have resulted in a casualization of the academic sector. While some academic workers still have a relatively secure position, such as tenured professors, there has have been efforts to erode even their relative power in institutions.

The growth of precarious work in academia is accelerating. A University Affairs report from January 2013 states that, in the U.S., one-third of faculty at universities are contract workers. Experts suggest that Canadian data may indicate similarly high rates.

The UA report specifically looks at job insecurity, pay and benefits. Out of the nine schools surveyed, McMaster is one out of three that have no teaching load limit. McMaster sessionals also have no access to a pension and only have access to benefits through their union membership.

Temporary and part-time faculty are paid on average 50 per cent less than tenured professors, and they lack the job security and academic freedom that is afforded to tenured professors.

Most of the part-time and temporary positions are solely confined to teaching-only work, which can have an effect on learning outcomes for students, especially as their professor may also have to engage in additional research.

Gord Arbeau, a university spokesperson, described how, “McMaster values the important work that is performed by all employees at the University and believes all employees deserve fair and equitable contracts.”

“Negotiations work best when they happen at the table and not through the media or other avenues of communication,”said Arbeau.

Students are seeing the effect this has on their professors, and they are concerned.

"I think largely decreasing levels of tenure being made available to professors is an unfortunate trend for academia as a whole," said Eric Gillis, incoming SRA Social Science representative.

“As in any round of bargaining we hope to better job security, and better wages and benefits for our members,” said McCall.