Happy Easter!
On Monday we asked if Athabasca University’s administration had gone rogue and was defying the Kenney Government with plans to let faculty, administration and staff live where they pleased, or if the premier and members of his cabinet were pulling the legs of the good people of Athabasca when they said they had directed the university to increase its presence in the town.
Now we – and the university’s administration – have an answer of sorts.
On Wednesday, Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides pushed back at statements in recently appointed AU President Peter Scott’s April 7 email to the university community in which he said that “our operations, mission, and mandate remain unchanged” and the university would continue to hire “the best and brightest talent” regardless of where those folks wanted to live.
“AU’s ongoing work with our near-virtual workforce will continue to support our online virtual campus in Alberta, across the country, and around the world,” Dr. Scott insisted in the email to faculty and staff.
However, the day after the AlbertaPolitics.ca story was published, Dr. Nicolaides told the CBC that “government has provided very clear direction to the institution.”
“We’ve asked for some very specific implementation plans due to government on June 30 and I fully expect those reports and implementation plans to be provided,” the minister said.
Those directives, as described by Premier Jason Kenney during a town meeting in Athabasca on March 24, included instructions “to maintain and grow a broad range of employees in Athabasca, and to develop and implement a reopening strategy for the Athabasca campus to resume most employees working on site.”
“We have directed the Board of Governors to strengthen its physical presence in the Town of Athabasca by consolidating executive and senior administration offices in Athabasca at the earliest possible opportunity,” the premier told the town meeting.
It sure sounds as if Dr. Scott was told one thing by the AU Board when he was hired and the residents of Athabasca were told another by the government when they reacted to what they knew about the university’s plans to let faculty and staff live where they liked and shrink operations in the community of 3,000 people 145 kilometres north of Edmonton.
But with an election looming and the premier in the midst of a leadership review vote right now, and significant opposition to his continued presence as the party’s leader influencing the potential outcome of the vote, perhaps government priorities were bound to change.
Dr. Scott, who was recruited from Australia in January, presumably won’t be very happy if he can’t proceed with the reorganization of the institution he was hired to carry out.
As for where he lives, that’s not entirely clear. AU presidents are no longer required to work on the university’s campus in Athabasca, and while AU says Dr. Scott will live somewhere in Alberta, they won’t say if it’ll be in Athabasca.
It will be interesting to see if Dr. Scott, Dr. Nicolaides and the AU Board can square that circle, or if they even try.
I think the simplest answer to this conundrum is one way or another the president of the university will be living in Athabasca. If the UCP can fire the head of AHS, I suspect replacing a university president and maybe some of the board too if necessary, until they get what they want politically, is quite plausible at this point.
The more complicated answer is maybe this will not actually happen. First of all there is a clock ticking and time may soon run out for Kenney and his crew. Also, there is only so much they can deal with at once so this may not be their highest priority.
The almost open defiance leads me to believe the university president may be hoping for that. If not, perhaps he would happily accept a nice severance package instead of moving to a place it seems he is not very eager to go to. So, there may not be much of a downside either way here for him.
Of course, it’s not Kenney or the UCP’s own money at stake here as well. So, the like many of Kenney’s previous financial misadventures the biggest loser may be the people of Alberta.
I believe it should be “of sorts” not “of sports”. Although the latter could have led into some pretty interesting pugilistic metaphors.
Thank you, Philip. A simple typo. No metaphor intended. It’s been fixed. DJC
Another case of the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, and they are both moving with two left feet.
What could possibly go wrong?
The two faced UCP doesn’t surprise me, by what they say and do. They want to do anything to stay in power. If Albertans are smart enough, they will turf the UCP in 2023. One term was bad enough with these pretend conservatives and Reformers. Four more years would be an unmitigated disaster.
I wonder if the apparent typo at the end of your first paragraph, “answer of sPorts” actually identifies a truth? Gas lighting Albertans and spinning them has become a sort of sport for the UCP and the Kenney Cons. Which Cabinet Minister can get away with the most gas lighting? A big bottle of cheap whiskey being the prize. Wasn’t it Minister Nic who wanted to give control of the land titles system to his cronies in the private sector while his government still yaps about respecting private property rights? Talk about unaccountable private police. Just askin’
Thank you, Kang. That was, I’m afraid, a legitimate old-fashioned typo, no Freudian hidden meanings. It’s been fixed. DJC
While there is no doubt Jason has a less than monogamous relationship with the truth, smart politicians are extremely skilled at choosing words that create one impression but whose words don’t have the same literal meaning. Consider Mr. Kenney’s statement:
“We have directed the Board of Governors to strengthen its physical presence in the Town of Athabasca by consolidating executive and senior administration offices in Athabasca ”
Really he is just referring to the administration – HR people, financial controllers etc. At the same time, when Dr. Scott talks about hiring “the best and brightest talent” it really sounds like he is referring to instructors. It does sound like Dr. Scott might be expected to move to Athabasca, however.
Sounds like Dr. Scott was told one thing by the Board in order to entice him to sign onto AU.
Considering the hiring practices of AU, that’s not unusual. Many have been sucked in this way over the years.
If Dr. Scott were smart, he’d run for the nearest exit and not look back. Barring that he better hope that a Post-secondary friendly government wins the next election. By that I mean Rachel Notley of course.
Until, and if, that happens Dr. Scott is in for a rough ride.
This is exactly what I think has happened, Athabascan. I also agree with your advice to Dr. Peters, although he may have reasons to defer such a plan for now. Regardless, he should probably lay in a supply of cookies, as that other imported Australian, Stephen Duckett, must have done, in the event he needs to make a quick return to the lucky country. “Can’t you see, Dr. Nicolaides, that I’m EATING MY COOKIE!”DJC
It really could have helped if Kenney had gone to a university, any university, and completed a degree, any degree. As it is, he doesn’t understand what it is he is telling everyone to do.
Let’s talk about the nursing degree program, for example. Students who live in Calgary and Edmonton choose AU because it allows them to study while working. Many are already working in health careers. This works for everyone, professors and students alike. When it comes to practicums, students and professors already live in Calgary and Edmonton. Students can complete practicums where they live. Practicums require in-person supervision by the professors. No travel and accommodation expenses are incurred by AU when professors live where the practicums take place. Sometimes practicums are completed at the health facility where some of the students already work. All good, right?
Then along comes Kenney to upset the apple cart. Many possible scenarios that disrupt learning for students and the lives of the professors are now possible and likely. None of it is necessary. A system that has worked well for many years suddenly gets turned on its head for no logical reason. Surely many professors would decide to retire or resign if they are ordered to relocate to Athabasca permanently. Skills, knowledge and experience would be lost, lowering the quality of an AU degree. What next? Will all the students also be required to live in Athabasca, when remote learning is why they signed up in the first place?
Is this part of the UCP’s privatization agenda? Break something, then sell it off because it is broken? AU faculty voted to strike recently. That is likely the crux of the matter.
https://aufa.ca/blog/2022/3/30/aufa-members-vote-to-reject-mediators-proposal
Abs, I think you, at least partially, misunderstand the situation and the province’s request. Tutors, who make up about 30% of AU employees, and who work most closely with students, have always worked remotely. That won’t change. Professors traditionally worked from wherever they wanted, some in AU offices, some from home or wherever. That won’t change.
The preceding AU president, Neil Fassina, decided he didn’t want to work from the Athabasca campus and decamped to the Edmonton campus. He was quickly followed by almost all the executives and some professionals. The number of employees at Athabasca fell from about 500 to around 300. Then in 2020, the AU Board of Governors passed a motion to close the Edmonton and Calgary campuses and concentrate their efforts in Athabasca. Employees who had worked in Calgary and Edmonton would be accommodated to work from home if they wished, or, if the nature of their jobs demanded that they be onsite, they would be assisted with relocating to Athabasca. (That’s what the motion said as far as we know; it was passed in a “closed meeting” and the wording remains a closely held secret.)
The current executive, realizing that they would all have to move back to Athabasca came up with their “near-virtual” scheme wherein everyone, including themselves, would work from home. Their transparently self-serving experiment in social engineering is what upset the apple cart, not the government’s intervention.
AU’s nursing program, the largest in Canada, by the way, has always been delivered remotely—at a distance—that’s the whole idea behind AU. That won’t change.
The executive wants to change the core business of AU. Instead of a close-knit group of administrators, professionals, and executives, working in collaboration to develop, deliver and administer quality courses and support students, which is a proven, long-term success, they want to send everyone home. The only plausible reason for that is so they don’t personally suffer the inconvenience of having to get up in the morning and go to work.
For people reaching the end of their careers, those who have little left to gain, a remote workplace is a great place to hide out until retirement, but for newer employees it is a dead end. Formal training is facile, informal training (perhaps the most important) is gone, and any contact with the very few people who can help guide their career is lost. Well-paid executives can afford a quality home office with the best equipment and furniture, but many administrative and young professionals simply can’t afford those luxuries. Many, especially in rural areas find themselves working in domestic situations from their kitchen tables with second-rate internet connections and no tech support. Escalating concerns among AU staff are very poor staff morale and recent very serious mental wellness issues.
AU grew from an innovative idea to become Alberta’s biggest university (in terms of number of students) and became internationally recognized for its quality courses and excellent student services, and it did all that while located in Athabasca. That’s where the courses were developed, delivered and administered. There was never a problem attracting the best and the brightest to a successful community of progressive thinkers and innovators. President Scott’s suggestion that it is a problem is insulting to the many hundreds of exceptional people who have moved to and stayed in Athabasca to make AU a success.
It is ironic that Albertans, especially some on the left, are taking the side of an entitled group of high-paid executives over the plight of hundreds of workers, just because the solution was presented by an unpopular government.
AU management’s near-virtual experiment has already failed as evidenced by the ongoing collapse in undergraduate student numbers and course registrations, which, in the last year, fell 19.2% and 9.3% respectively, per AU’s own reports. It’s a slow-motion train wreck in progress.
Following the “privatization myth” that proposes that only 90% of any service be delivered for 100% of public money, it appears that the UCP has not yet matriculated any of the math courses they intend for our kids!! This applies most obviously to “education” and “health care”, but be sure that when the spin-masters get rolling more, more will succumb to this mathematical/ideological formula.
‘Directing’ AU is one thing. It may look good to voters in the near term.
But like everything associated with the UCP, there is a huge difference between announcing, directing and actually monitoring that the ‘directions’ are being implemented.
In many instances it is more of a chasm than a difference.
The UCP is trying to fight on both sides of the battle. On one side, they want to reduce per capita funding to levels on par with jurisdictions such as BC and ON. On the other, they want to use post-secondary institutions as local engines for economic development. If they want a system that encourages local access and economic benefits, it’s going to cost more but the UCP doesn’t understand that. The institutions are under pressure to deliver on competing goals.
The debate about where Athabasca University (AU) employees will live sounds very last century, and risks the institution’s reputation as a leader in online learning. I selected AU to study at, over the 40 universities in my country, because it offered flexibility. The techniques I learned in my education degree at AU allowed me to teach students anywhere, during a pandemic. The idea that AU, as an employer would tell staff where to live, seems outdated, especially when the major feature of the product they produce is that it is available online anywhere. If the town of Athabasca wants staff to live there, then it is going to need to offer people something, not threaten their jobs, as these are people who can work anywhere (literally).
It seems logically inconsistent to require faculty of a 100% online university to reside in Athabasca, or even Alberta. There are no on-site lectures or seminars at the Athabasca campus.
When I did my Master’s with AU (in Nursing), my professors were all over, from Edmonton to Winnipeg to who knows where — although all were in Canada. My classmates were also from all over, and not all were in Canada — navigating time zones for synchronous class times must have been interesting for some. This was long before the pandemic: remote learning has always been the norm with AU.
Now, administration is another matter. Perhaps there is some value to having senior executive-level leadership of the university on-site, and certainly if there is any physical infrastructure in Athabasca there has to be some staff onsite to operate it.
I am an AU employee and I didn’t sign up to live or work in Athabasca. Even before the pandemic, the vast majority of us already lived and worked in Edmonton or Calgary, and I’m proud of the fact that we can support AU’s mission from anywhere, just like our students can learn from anywhere.
This government’s direction to force an online university and its staff to work from small town Alberta smacks of a desperate leader pandering to the party’s rural base. The university has nothing to gain for such a move. Zero. The benefit for students, 99% of who never set foot on campus, is about the same.
I don’t understand why a small group of AU employees who live in Athabasca are so intent on requiring the university’s president or its employees to live or work in their town. Turning back the clock to the 1980s isn’t in the best interests of AU or its students. Maybe we should consider delivering course materials by snail-mail too? Like the good old days!
Best of luck with that staff attraction strategy. 150 km from Edmonton might as well be 1500 km. If this truly is the direction, I think a lot of employees will be out the door.
Hey An AU Employee,
First, my condolences for working there. I worked in that sick organization for 25 years. For what it’s worth, here’s my advice:
Relax. They will never compel people to live in Athabasca as a condition of employment. The voices you hear are from residents of the town who want to desperately save their dying municipality. I heard the same complaints, rumors, etc., on and off for the entire time I was at AU.
All this senseless chatter is just hot air – Relax.
From my viewpoint, I think that this university’s administration doesn’t care enough. I hope I’m wrong, but that’s just how it seems to me.