Negotiating Academic Input at Fleming College

In November of last year I drove up to the Peterborough campus of Fleming College.  Fleming also has campuses in Cobourg, Haliburton, and Lindsay.  Approximately 6,000 full time and 10,000 part time students study at Fleming in a wide range of arts, environment, health, trades and business programs.

Gary Bonczak

The faculty at Fleming are represented by long-time president and past bargaining team member Gary Bonczak and the officers of OPSEU Local 352.  There are currently 200 full time faculty, and approximately 300 non full time.  Before the scourge of Mike Harris, Fleming had 235 full time faculty.  Since this time, student enrollment has steadily increased, and like other colleges, today's professors, counselors and librarians are being asked to do more with less.

At Fleming I was able to meet with both the officers and the general membership.  Both discussions highlighted the challenges being faced by faculty, and also offered an interesting glimpse into how academic freedom could work in Ontario colleges.

For years Fleming was unique in that professors ran the academic areas.  Faculty teams did all of the academic planning and course development.  They managed departmental budgets, and controlled the administration of programs.  This arrangement lasted for over 10 years, and was supported by a faculty-centered VPA.  While Gary mentioned that this arrangement added to the workload of academic team leaders, it also gave faculty unprecedented control over academic decision-making.  This model played a large role in building Fleming's reputation as an institution committed to excellence.

Due to layoffs in the 1990s and a lack of full time hiring, academic leaders who retired weren't replaced, and Fleming's faculty-driven model began to show strain.  When new administration arrived who didn't share the same collegial vision, a system of Deans and departmental Chairs was imposed.  Since this time, relationships have shifted, the faculty voice in academic management has waned, and grievances have become more common.

Despite this set-back to the culture of academic freedom at Fleming, faculty have been able to make some gains, as when they negotiated the return of non-contact development time in May and June.  This is a huge gain for faculty, and enables professors to keep up with much needed course and professional development.  Clearly the administration at Fleming realized that enabling faculty to stay up to date in their professions is directly linked to the quality of education.  Sadly, many other colleges have taken this once standard development time away from faculty, replacing it with an additional two months of teaching.

Fleming's unique history shows both that academic freedom is completely possible in Ontario Colleges, and also that its lack leads to an erosion of collegial relations.  With academic freedom negotiated in the new Academic Employees Collective Agreement, professors system-wide can begin to build the kind of faculty-driven, education-focused culture that Fleming once enjoyed.  The benefits this would provide to professors, and to students, are profound.