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With all the international focus and the Westshore undergrad - we are steering further and further from the core mission of RRU. And then we are loosing student in our core while everyone is stretched into the 'add ons'. What is the point of expanding into areas that appear to have very little ROI.

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Indigenous peoples are the fastest-growing population in the country.

o   the Indigenous population was 1.8 million, or 5% of the population of Canada (given the global pandemic, 63 First Nations were unable to participate in the data collection at that time).

Indigenous populations are younger than other demographic groups in Canada:

o   there was a 9.4% increase in the Indigenous population between 2016 and 2021.

Indigenous populations are growing

o The population of Indigenous peoples grew 4X the amount of the rest of the Canadian population between 2016 and 2021.

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And finally, I get that we are losing money but I don’t agree that the best path forward is to sell our soul, uh, I mean lease out the quarterdeck to Brookes, the cedar building to JIBC, the castle to moviemakers, our brand name to foreign ‘groups’, etc. If RRU can’t function as a business, let’s take stock of that in a serious way and do something strategic rather than piecemeal. I made a shorter version of this comment on a RRUFA Zoom call and it was derided as a rant. I am copying it here to ensure that more members consider its content before getting back to hoping the executive forest bathes their way out of this financial spiral they’ve ‘led’ us into.

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some faculty lead a program or teach a course with 2 intakes of 30+ students each and others a program with 1 intake of 6 students - equity please!

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we need more support to offset high class sizes or a reduced threshold

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...not to mention Research and Scholarship Leave, which casts a much longer work obligation without backfill!

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need to find a balance so we can uphold all of our resps (teaching, research, admin)

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Let's Be Pro Bono Strategy Consultants! 

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Let's Be Pro Bono Strategy Consultants! 

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Of course, determining strategy for the university is not in RRUFA’s purview, but I submit that RRUFA is the very best pro bono consulting firm to advance suggestions to move things in the right direction. If we don’t, they’ll keep wasting a fortune on consulting firms who concoct reorgs that consume thousands of hours of our time while threatening further existential crises (and deeply scaring the non-unionized staff) instead of focusing on mission-critical marketing. Our Marketing budget is $1.7M. We need 1k more students immediately. How about RRUFA writes the Executive a letter suggesting that $1M of the 2025-26 budget be allocated to an alumni referral program; $1000 for each of 1000 alumni who get a friend to matriculate in this FY (paid out after the new student makes their first tuition payment)? Or maybe we just sit back and watch it all be wasted on more vague bus ads about a ‘bold’ degree with no QR code or call to action…

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The top issues are (1) fear of closure of RRU due to lack of students and dilution of defined institutional purpose (2) internal processes and culture that de-incentive taking on leadership and incentive disengagement and (3) Top leadership that has not demonstrated capacity to address #1 and #2. (Yes, external conditions for post-secondary are tough, but there are better & worse responses & it is difficult to find the wisdom in our leadership's response.)

I have many things I would like to see happen--including advancement of equity issues, further overhaul of teaching evaluation, adaptation of the WLU system etc. But I see all other issues, beyond the 3 mentioned above, as only achievable if we have a functioning institution and thus secondary priorities. This is not to say there are not ways to, for example, bring in students, while advancing equity--only that we in RRUFA need to be strategic about where to leverage our political capital.

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institutional neutrality

commitment to indigenous scholars

support for EDI and decolonization efforts/issue mgmt for faculty and libs

racism issues

decolonization

rru comms channels

threats to academic freedom, collegial governance

associate deans/directors removed from union

disparity in pay (sr admin 6.6% increase, faculty and libs 3.4%, inflation is 4.4%),

pay equity and transparency

sr administrative bloat,

faculty administrative role clarity (ph, dir, assoc dean, dean)

93% ltd’s are women citing challenges to mental health (UBC study),

Reorg issues – time lags, issues solved and unsolved, process, consultation, collaborative implementation,

Staff / faculty division

wlu allocation - admin, online/f2f

PCS redundancy and wild west course devt

wlu framework - rework, equity, distribution, backfill

sharing of electives

impact of term based model

oversight of westshore

recruitment gaps - eg. indigenous faculty, students

alumni gaps

consultants to RRU org dev't - leverage our expertise

possible consolidation of BC unis

UAE and other overseas collaborations

renew prog dev't processes - Tamara has started...

Unionize staff so we can bargain together

Health care improvements

Pay to match cost of living in Victoria

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Workload increase due to moving to term system & associated with the reorg - how will this be recognized in work plans etc.

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Tap into faculty knowledge (Shauneen; matt) and share out / host sessions

Be advocates for EDI - be able to speak to the benefits

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Clarification of processes - in particular teaching 

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Clarification of processes - in particular teaching 

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How teaching WLUs are assigned

Timing of course selection/approvals

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Unionize staff so we can bargain together

Health care improvements

Pay to match cost of living in Victoria

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Perhaps the WLU's worked in another time, but the nature of our work (term based system; % of graduate students compared to UG students; the reorganization toward new processes etc.) continues to change. Maybe its time to let go of this model for something that truly captures our work.

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The proposed usurping of union functions and clout with associate-dean positions could be offside of our collective agreement (whether unintentionally or otherwise). It's a serious concern, and I appreciate RRUFA's raising it. Don't back down!

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No backfill for PHs remains a big issue. I have to think twice about taking holiday time because I don't want to add to my colleagues' already full plates.

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No backfill for PHs remains a big issue. I have to think twice about taking holiday time because I don't want to add to my colleagues' already full plates.

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This needs to be a collaborative process within each program that ensures that core faculty have a right of first refusal. Once that is completed, then we reach out to associates.

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I'd like to see more alignment between the LTRM and what and how we report during our annual review process. How do you facilitate inclusivity? Indigeneity? Interdisciplinarity? etc.

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It seems to me that removing the directors from the organization is very dangerous. The directors have really important roles from my perspective and this will weaken RRU. Not only that to remove them unilaterally is a violation of the collective agreement, an agreement between RRU and RRUFA so we must prioritise this immediately.

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This is a difficult issue as I realise RRU has already (again unilaterally) gone ahead with arrangements to set up teaching in places like the UAE. The UAE has laws which forbid homosexual relationships and this can be punished by death. Is this really a country we want to develop education with given all the values RRU professes?

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How to address suspension/cancelation of programs

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How to address suspension/cancelation of programs

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Some scenario planning on what this means for our members and how RRUFA will support members - hearing Elizabeth and SET suspension of grad programs...

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the question of directors and associate deans

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the question of directors and associate deans

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As Annabree Fairweather, the estimable ED at CUFA has shared, we are in a strong position with regard to the question of directors in view of the RRU administration's decision to create a new category of manager, the associate dean. In effect, they can't abolish the director role or its functions without negotiating that through the CA.

With the confidence that her reading of our position allows, I think we go into a conversation with the Provost with a view to understanding their rationale for the change. So much of the reorg has come absent clearly-stated reasons for such seismic changes, as in the consolidation of the schools. We can and have inferred a lot of things, such as reducing staff-side positions, but it would help to know where the RRU admin is coming from.

With an earnest, open-minded conversation about the director versus associate dean matter as a start, we can then outline our concerns as to the loss of the director role and the shift of its functions and authority outside the bargaining unit. It's fair to say that, even before the AD role was proposed, not all was well with the director role. Crucially, directors were often caught between their limited power and significant responsibility, especially where it came to occasions where they strove to make peace in a school or manage a difficult colleague, and yet lacked any supervisory authority. There is also the problem of fewer faculty wanting to be directors once those who enjoyed that work had taken a turn. As the new and much larger schools will ask a lot of the director, should that role continue, it's time both RRUFA and the admin rethought the role.

By way of ideas, what if directors continued, largely doing what they do now, but the admin used associate deans to assist the FIS dean (whose remit will be twice as large after the reorg than it is now, with two deans). Most universities in Canada, including neighbouring UVic, have department chairs (i.e., directors) and associate deans. Chairs are in the bargaining units, associate deans out. I'd go into this conversation with the Provost with some ideas as to maintaining a dual structure in this fashion, as I think associate deans could do a lot of good, as well as providing senior admin experience for those seeing a future for themselves in higher-ed admin.

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Here is a possible motion for RRUFA to consider - that goes beyond a Board motion and includes the rationale presented in Jenn's email:

"The Royal Roads Faculty Association (RRUFA) calls upon the Provost/ VP-Academic to continue the role of School Directors, and re-think and retract the stated imposition of Associate Dean positions that would be exempted from RRUFA and the Collective Agreement (CA), since the Director role is currently defined in the CA as 'faculty' under the 'interpretations and definitions' section, and is assigned duties defined as faculty work. Removal of the Director role would therefore need to be bargained in the RRUFA CA and cannot be done unilaterally by RRU Administration. Removing this position may result in a change in the union's certified membership with the BC Labour Relations Board. RRUFA therefore calls upon the Provost to withdraw the Associate Dean (exempt) positions proposed by RRU senior administration and to retain the Director (unionized) role."

I would be happy to move this, but this may seem more than a little self-interested! So we need both a mover and a seconder at the next RRUFA meeting - or as an online vote.

Best wishes,

Niels

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Are we confident in overarching leadership abilities and strengths? Examples to consider that erode trust: reorgs that take years (and hold empty promise so far), lack of meaningful communication about that and so many other things too numerous to mention, failure to take our temperature internally (esp. post covid!) for what is possible and for our collective health and recovery, somehow ensuring that no matter the consultation (endless) processes and feedback received, often agendas appear to already be in place, inability to hear (and learn from) critical feedback, refusal to meet and discuss important issues (lack of accessibility to senior leaders), lack of understanding of what needs to happen to make our kind of learning happen (no comprehension it seems of the necessary structures, resources and supports, practicalities, actions required)...and in the midst of cancelling programs, we now have more castles by the sea, a second campus for undergrad programs which are not our primary work or haven't been so far (that have and will continue to drain resources and strain resources including marketing!)...does it seem a bit insane especially now in the reality of the context of a heating world (politically as well as climate wise?).

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realistic and transparent WLUs if we keep the WLU system

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What do members think about RRU using X as a coms channel - should we not be removing any use of X. There is a movement to leave this social media platform - oh for so many reasons, not to say what happened yesterday with Elon's Nazi salute. How much is it used at RRU and can we stop using it. I don't use it so I am not sure how much it is part of our comms strategy - I do see a live link to X on our main landing page.

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The Indigenous population in BC was 290,210 in 2021

98,000 Métis people lived in British Columbia in 2021.

The First Nation population in BC was 180,085 in 2021. 39% live on reserve.

61% of the Vancouver Island First Nations population is eligible for post-secondary education, this translates to approximately 7424 individuals.

Why are we not aiming partnership development and program development locally?

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It feels as it AD's add (yet) another layer, another arm's length from decision-making and would end being a glorified HR job where all inquiries would land about every little thing/concern whereas directors - properly resourced, inspired and networked (the latter being essential to the health of the whole) can provide a unified voice from the schools - be those connectors that flow from within to ensure there is two way flow and avoid more top down governance. AND we must reimagine the director's responsiveness and responsibilities and how we might assign time and workload units and accountability to that role in concert with other directors and the deans. Currently, directors are nearly powerless, considered nonessential except for signatory purposes - we have squandered our goodness in so many ways and in so doing, our power (potential to be who we all believe we are at RRU or at least many of us feel we are int eh classroom!)

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See pay transparency reports required by employers with 300 employees or less (Nov 2025) and more here https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/pay-transparency-in-bc

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Pay transparency in B.C. - Province of British Columbia

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Information about Pay Transparency Laws in B.C

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School Directors (Chairs) for Schools and an Associate Dean to implement University Strategic Plans

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School Directors (Chairs) for Schools and an Associate Dean to implement University Strategic Plans

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There is a need for a faculty member as School Chair (Director) to represent the voice of faculty as regards to the delivery of programs. This needs to be a communication/coordination role, not a management enforcement role. This person would support the development of faculty excellence (coaching/mentoring) as well as monitor /provide information on program quality issues. This person should interpret the wishes of the Dean and Executive and be a source of upwards feedback to Dean/Executive on what is working or not working. This person should be a union position and be rotated every three years, with training for a successor.

At the same time, there is likely a need for an Associate Dean to liaise with School Directors/Chairs to implement University goals/objectives. This person might also work with HR on employee performance issues.

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Discussion about Article 31.7

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This foray into international partner deals in the UAE and Singapore, etc. does not appeal to me at all. First of all, it seems like “Here we go again” with the litany of vapid partnerships that proliferated fifteen years ago. It took work to unwind all of them, and many had negative reputational consequences both abroad, and, more importantly, domestically. It seemed like the number of deals signed was a vanity metric that the then VP of Marketing was chasing. She once bragged to me that she was taking her 82nd flight to China in a ten years period. That’s not a strategy.

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Second, on face, this kind of press-release-driven activity really looks like something one would only do for the money. That’s not going to improve our reputation (or domestic enrolment). Third, the specific markets chosen are THE most elitist and brand conscious, conspicuous consumption hotspots on the planet. Why would we think that our unknown brand will be well-received in this opulent, gilded, mega-capitalist context? How is that in line with our values? Wouldn’t it make much more sense to go where our strengths are? Maybe use the President’s clout to acquire the smallest disused piece of Seneca college and get a foothold in Ontario? His bio states, “In Ontario, Steenkamp served as deputy minister in the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities and in the Ministry of Education.” Haven’t we all seen the studies that show that RRU is better regarded in Ontario than BC?

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Sorry to be verbose, but I am feeling the import of the moment. Our university is the smallest of 13 post-secondaries in BC. All of them are losing money as far as I know. All of them receive half of their annual operating budget from the province, according to a formula based on enrolment. Only RRU had some kind of undisclosed emergency that brought in a substitute CFO from the Provincial Auditor’s office. Do we think he’s checking up on people’s expense claim receipts? Or is it more likely that he’s crunching the numbers for a report to the Ministry about how (some pieces of) RRU could be shut down to save the province millions?

In the past, I have caused a minor hullabaloo by suggesting that RRU is the one post secondary that is most vulnerable to a shut down or a merger. I’m not saying the sky is falling just to frustrate people. Any economic sector goes through boom and bust cycles. During the downtimes there is consolidation. Market forces cull the weakest players. The stronger ones merge. Seen any Packards lately? Mercurys? Oldsmobiles? Pontiacs? Saturns? Scions? When the going gets tough, consumer choice is reduced in favour of operational efficiencies. We thought this was going to happen 20 years ago with MOOCs and certificates and badges. We thought this would happen during the pandemic. It finally is happening now with the international students unable to visit and sustain our top line (revenue) growth. There are universities in Ontario and the USA that have closed and are now selling off their campuses. In other words this is real now.

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Back to RRU, my inference is that we are THE most vulnerable of all 13 unis, for five reasons; 1. RRU has only 2 unions (Faculty and CUPE). All others have 3 (another one for the Staff). That right there would make us the easiest possible target to shut down with the fewest legalistic consequences. We are the low hanging fruit. 2. If you are going to have to relocate/redeploy all unionized staff and potentially get into labor court battles with several of them, you might also pick the very smallest university with the lowest number of employees. 3. During the pandemic, our President told us in a Town Hall that RRU wouldn’t be consolidated, because the community always comes to the rescue of a beloved university. This comment was unprompted, by the way. He just blurted it out which suggested to me that it was probably something he had recently been discussing with the higher-ed higher-ups. More importantly, Colwood is not coming to our rescue. They have so much more to gain if we moved to Langford (ahem) and the FN increase commercial usage of our 565 acre campus. 4. Our campus is being transferred back to the FN (this year?), and soon we should have to pay rent to use it. Where does that money come from if we are already in the red?  Let’s say the castle revenue brainstorming Zoom call comes up with some amazing ideas that might help the FN pay for gardening, maintenance and utility bills. That’s still not covering any of RRU’s potentially massive rental obligation to the FN. Not paying them rent wouldn’t be fair or in line with our values. This imminent move puts us in a tough spot…but wait, don’t we own a new campus that’s like 3km away? How convenient (said with faux astonishment).  5. President Phillip has recently lamented that the new campus is only going to be revenue neutral. Sigh. He says this like it’s a bad thing, but reframed, that would make RRU a plug-and-play asset that is also cost-neutral. Wouldn’t it be easier to convince VIU or Camosun to adopt RRU as a ‘graduate or honours college’ that bolts on and augments their offerings (now with doctoral degrees and flexible admissions too)?

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We are in a union. Our CA has provisions for important big picture events like this. We are going to be OK in the event of a merger. Our lives might only experience a minor disruption or inconvenience with some new pros and cons; new business cards without a castle logo, slightly better pay scale, no parking on site, etc. Our friends on staff would be let go. As RRUFA members we can just sit back and wait for the executive to…probably do something major to stop the financial bleeding. OR, we could do an analysis and make a suggestion that would work out in a way that we prefer. Again, WE are the braintrust. If this uni is closed, Phillip will just be redeployed as the Ambassador to Botswana (or similar) and everyone will understand, because of covid or ‘the headwinds’ or the international students…etc. There are 100 of us. Do we think he’s as bought-in to solving this problem as we are? Again, I am making the case on this RRUFA padlet so that the membership might consider prioritizing a consulting project that determines what operational efficiencies would work out best for the employees, and deliver a (public?) letter to the executive that makes it plain.

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I will close with a straw-man example of the kind of recommendation RRUFA might make. In my brief research, I determined that a three way merger of RRU with TRU and UNBC makes the most sense to me on paper. There are six universities in the BC Research Council. Technically, they are all our peers, apples-to-apples. In real life we know that it’s more like apples-to-kumquats, because UBC is ranked top 50 in the world, SFU and UVIC have three digit rankings and the rest of us have four figure scores on the QS. Rankings, research and funding are the engine of academia, like it or not. That’s not to say that RRU, TRU and UNBC are duds. We each have some excellent stuff to bring to the new combination. I know that TRU has student services staff delivering support in ten languages. Could they perform this function over Zoom and make our students in Victoria feel more at home? TRU also would have a far larger student co-op/career services office. UNBC has more scientific programs, like a masters in building skyscrapers out of wood (not steel). UNBC also offers an MBA with a Vancouver residency. Wouldn’t this be a boon to our MBA enrolment?  Can you imagine the vitality and strength of a multi-campus BC-wide university group? Think about how much stronger our unions would be if they were bigger and more consequential. Think about how much more inclusive we really would be if we offered so many different accessible places and ways to learn more varied subjects. Think about how many efficiencies would be found in shared services (like consolidating finance, development and marketing functions, for example). If we don’t do this analysis and lay out a roadmap for the political leaders to follow, we won’t be living and working in the future we prefer.

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Revisit WLUs of teaching small or large classes.

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Our salaries are low and yet there are funds to fly in AF from other countries and across Canada when there are core faculty capacity and local capacities available. Makes no sense anymore and is diverting funds away from our core faculty and staff. Housing AF and travel costs should come out of school budgets directly and not be dealt with separately. We would quickly see some much needed changes and improvements...

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Here's another letter I wish RRUFA would collectively write and send to the Executive: Stop giving honorary degrees. Learn from other universities mistakes. Remember Bill Cosby? This latest RRU recipient is a billionaire who made his fortune in a vice industry that is known to kill people through cancer, DUIs and the exacerbation of other addictions. How is the proliferation of Mike’s Hard Lemonade in line with our stated values?  From my seat on stage, the instrumental sycophancy was blatant. Someone in the advancement office foolishly thought a one percenter would throw us a 7 figure bone as a result of these 20 minutes of flattery in a small auditorium.

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Stop hiring staff during a fiscal crisis 

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Stop hiring staff during a fiscal crisis 

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Another letter that RRUFA could write to the executive: Maybe stop hiring staff if we have no money? Every week or two there are a handful of new staff job postings. This is highly incongruous. Why keep hiring and hiring while frequently announcing financial doomsday? I realize that none of these new hires will be in a union, and maybe HR realizes that too. Do the applicants know this? Talk about precarious employment...

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Streamlining the work planning process that should also include accountability and consistency (people not receiving their approved work plans)

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More broadly, there is no support for research. Research is related to attracting more students. Yet, even when we organize online conference (there is no welcome from the leadership).

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RRU needs to be very careful here. The current plan to expand our administrative structure by adding more directors and ADs risks creating unnecessary overlap at a time when British Columbia is facing a $12‑billion deficit and universities are already experiencing significant funding constraints. Growing the administrative layer during a fiscal crisis sends the wrong signal to government: it prioritizes bureaucracy over academic delivery.

A more sustainable and academically grounded approach would be to strengthen department‑level leadership. With a large faculty base (in the new FIS), department chairs are far better positioned to support curriculum, manage teaching loads, mentor faculty, and respond to student needs. Chairs provide direct, discipline‑specific oversight — something additional AD or directors cannot replicate without duplicating responsibilities and inflating costs (i.e., salaries).

Expanding upper administration will not solve operational challenges; it will dilute accountability, increase salary expenditures, and create confusion about decision‑making authority. Investing in department chairs, on the other hand, reinforces academic quality, maintains a lean governance model, and aligns with the financial realities facing both the province and the post‑secondary sector.