The Martlet

Signed copies of the redrafted Government Letters of Expectation (GLEs) have been released by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development.

Though the Ministry website continues to say that the letters have been removed pending the posting of signed copies, UVic spokesperson Patty Pitts confirmed that the GLEs on the website are the second drafts.

Difficulties with the initial letter stemmed from its perceived commanding tone. B.C.’s “Big 4” universities (UVic, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University and University of Northern B.C.) collectively refused to sign. But, the Ministry and Board of Governor chairs co-operated to produce a rewritten letter over the summer.

As reported in October, UVic Chair Ray Protti called the revision process “quite harmonious.” His signature appears on the new letter.

The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of British Columbia (CUFA-BC) released an analysis of the original GLE in June of last year. Spokesperson Robert Clift said about half of their concerns were directly addressed in the revised letter. Overall his response to the revised GLE was positive.

“In general, the letter overall much more closely reflects the actual relationship between the government and the universities, as opposed to assuming the universities are direct agents of government,” said Clift.

While the redrafted letter is not significantly different in content from the original letter, some sections have been reworded. Greater emphasis is placed on the separate roles of universities as autonomous institutions and the government as a funder, and references to the trades have been removed.

“I’m sure what’s happened ... is that someone came up with a cookie-cutter approach and just plugged in names ... The letters weren’t appropriate for the universities as a result,” Clift said.

Clift described CUFA-BC’s unaddressed concerns, such as the Naming Privileges Policy and Healthier Choices in Vending Machines in British Columbia Public Buildings Policy as irritants rather than pressing issues.

“It’s not clear from the University Act that [these are] necessarily a violation of our autonomy ... it’s still a little bit irritating for government to have made decisions in these respects,” Clift said. “But it’s not fatal, because we would have done these things anyway.”

However, Clift said a remaining major concern was the fact that the new universities (University of the Fraser Valley, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Vancouver Island University, Capilano University and Emily Carr University of Art and Design), though under the University Act, were still under the old letter.

“Certainly in talking to the Ministry we are going to insist that all institutions under the University Act will have similar letters that fully respect the mandates under the Act,” he said.

In the past, Protti expressed a positive view toward the revision process and future university government interactions. Likewise, Clift expressed a fairly positive view of the process.

“Come April, we’re going to be in discussions with the Ministry to try and remove any lingering irritants,” Clift said. “But the main things are gone.”