Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Concordia University of Edmonton Faculty Association votes no confidence in university's president

Kellen Taniguchi - EDMONTON JOURNAL

A large majority of Concordia University of Edmonton Faculty Association (CUEFA) members have voted they have no confidence in the current president’s leadership.


© Provided by Edmonton Journal
Tim Loreman, president and vice-chancellor of Concordia University of Edmonton, outside the Magrath Mansion on Aug. 18, 2021.

In a Tuesday news release, CUEFA said 91 per cent of its members registered to vote and 90 per cent voted no confidence in president Tim Loreman’s leadership.

Glynis Price, acting CUEFA president, said when the faculty association was on strike in January , members spent a lot of time together and noticed a lot of members had similar views of Concordia University of Edmonton’s (CUE) current leadership and the feelings remained post-strike.

“The workplace was still a very toxic, a very unstable workplace culture which is incredibly difficult when we’re looking at a workplace characterized by disfunction, by fear, threats and reprisal,” Price told Postmedia.

Price said there has been “significant issues” with decisions about research at the university, funding research for its membership, financial health and the lack of long-term fundraising. She noted there has been a surplus in the past, but fundraising is one of a university president’s main jobs.

CUEFA members pointed to four main areas of concern when voting they had no confidence in the school’s leadership — a toxic workplace culture, the president’s failure to effectively manage the core operations of the university, the financial management of the institution and the damage done to relations between CUE and key stakeholders.

“It’s really difficult if we’re trying to be collaborative and work in relationships with all of these different stakeholders if we have broken relationships,” said Price.

Price said CUEFA notified the chair of CUE’s board of governors about the no-confidence vote on Feb. 14 and requested the board give a formal reply by Tuesday. CUEFA said it didn’t receive a reply by its deadline.

Although the strike came to an end last month, Price said it didn’t address the ongoing leadership problems.

“If we don’t work on these issues, if we maintain the current course with the issues that are in place, it’s not going to be sustainable in the long run for the health or advancement of the university,” said Price.

She said CUEFA is not expecting a resignation letter or a firing, but it wants more conversations to happen to take steps forward in addressing the university’s current issues.

ktaniguchi@postmedia.com

twitter.com/kellentaniguchi

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