The Martlet

With the UVic Board of Governors out of session, the university co-operated with the provincial government to revise the controversial Letter of Expectations released by the government in spring 2008.

The letter appeared to challenge university autonomy, by instructing B.C. post-secondary institutions on how to spend their government-alloted funds.

As reported in the Aug. 4 issue of the Martlet, Chris Petter, president of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA-BC) encouraged the boards of B.C. universities not to sign the letter, saying that the letter “infringes upon the legal and traditional autonomy of public universities in B.C. [and] is a wholly inappropriate replacement for the customary budget letters.”

An article in last week’s Martlet, cited Robert Clift, the Executive Director of CUFA-BC stating that the revised draft seemed to be better worded than the original.

Reviews of the new letter from UVic Board of Governors Chair Ray Protti also appeared to be positive. He defined the revision process as “quite harmonious.”

“I signed [the letter] on behalf of the Board of Governors,” Protti said.

The board chairs from the “Big 4” B.C. universities (UVic, UBC, SFU and UNBC) worked along with the Ministry to create the new document.

The Ministry could not be reached for comment.

The original letter was released at the end of May, two months after the debilitating 2.6 per cent funding cut to post-secondary institutions across B.C.

The cut was made about two weeks before the institutions released their 2008-2009 budgets, many of which had already been finalized.

“When the B.C. Government was re-elected in 2005 they made it clear that they were going to start establishing predictable three-year funding plans for the universities,” said UVSS Director of Academics Edward Pullman. “In the first or second year of that plan, they essentially tossed it out the window.”

Unlike the first letter, the revised letter was drafted and signed in the summer, when the full Board of Governors were not present. Protti confirmed that the Executive Council of the Board had reviewed the new letter.

“I tried to get an update from them [the student board reps], but they were both graduating and taking off,” said Board of Governors student representative Caitlin Meggs.

The student reps of 2007-2008 are currently traveling and unreachable. Meggs, also the UVSS Chair, confirmed that the UVSS was not asked for their input into possible letter revisions, although they did send out a press release.

“I’m not exactly sure who the executive team at the university discussed the contents of the letter with,” said Protti when asked whose feedback he brought to the table at when the letter revision was taking place.

The new letter’s contents are as yet unknown. According to Protti, it’s “privileged until such a time as the provincial government decides to release it.”

What the Board of Governors deemed unacceptable has also not been concretely stated, making it difficult to forecast what alterations had to be made to the original document for it to become signable material.

“The letter really deals overall with the government funding that’s going to be coming to the university, and some expectations on the part of the government and priorities that we would bear in mind as we go forward with the management of the university” said Protti.

He could not offer comment on UVic’s future project plans.

A paragraph on the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development reads, “the Government Letters of Expectation have been removed temporarily, awaiting posting of final signed versions.”

There has been no release date given for the letters.