Cambrian College: Back to the North!

On Halloween day I drove back up to Sudbury to visit with faculty at Cambrian, the other college that calls the city home.  The professors, counselors and librarians at Cambrian are represented by President Carolyn Gaunt and the stewards of OPSEU Local 655. 

Carolyn Gaunt - a most memorable local president

With over 4,000 full time students, Cambrian is the largest of Ontario's northern colleges.  Originally, Cambrian had campuses in Sudbury, North Bay and Sault St. Marie, but in the 1970s North bay and Sault became independent colleges in their own right - Canadore College and Sault College.  In 1995, the french language programs at Cambrian were transfered to the newly created College Boreal.

During an LEC meeting, the stewards at Cambrian discussed a host of pressures that they are experiencing as programs are rationalized.  Like most colleges, a primary challenge at Cambrian concerns the declining number of full time faculty.  Local 655 currently has 182 full time members, approximately 35 partial load, and over 200 part time.  This ratio of full time to part time faculty is better than at many colleges, but full time numbers continue to shrink as retirements aren't replaced.

The impacts of management cost-cutting are apparent in several other areas.  Stewards in the trades describe classes in which students are doubled up on machines designed for a single student to learn on.  Apart from the health and safety flags this raises, one steward expressed his concern for student learning: "they're not paying for half an education, so why do they put up with this?"   Increasing class sizes and mandatory online courses were also mentioned as negatively impacting student learning.  However, without faculty academic freedom, professors, counselors and librarians are finding it difficult to be advocates for academic standards.  Faculty that complain can face serious repercussions, including termination, and college student associations tend not to get involved in academic issues.  At the end of the day then, who is speaking up for students?

Near the end of our discussion, Cambrian faculty switched to the big picture, and asked where the current trajectory of college education is taking us.  If it's business as usual, they argued, the future looks like a largely part-time academic workforce, university-sized classes, mostly online courses, and an ever-expanding army of administrators.  All the while, students will keep paying higher tuition, and getting less in return. 

Only by taking control over our academic work can faculty reverse a management-driven austerity agenda, and refocus on the raison d'etre of college education - the relationship between student and faculty in the classroom.  Carolyn Gaunt summed up what this change could mean for our students, noting: "When you think back to your own time in college, do you remember your favourite professors, or do you remember your VP Finance?"

I sure know who I remember...