GFC to recommend BoG approval of U of A organizational values

At the University of Alberta’s General Faculties Council (GFC) meeting on November 17, a motion to recommend that the Board of Governors (BoG) approve a proposed value statement passed.

Vice-president (university services, operations and finance) Todd Gilchrist said developing organizational values is a “key deliverable of the People Strategy.” The value statement begins with Henry Marshall Tory’s statement: “Knowledge shall not be the concern of scholars alone. The uplifting of the whole people shall be its final goal.”

“We live this credo through relentless curiosity devoted to the Quaecumque Vera, whatsoever things are true, a spirit of community grounded in caring and respect, shared accountability for a sustainable future, and the tireless pursuit of impact through excellence in all we do,” the proposed statement reads.

For Valentina Kozlova, steering committee member, the values “feel meaningful because they reflect both who we already are and who we want to be as a university.”

Arts representative Christopher Lupke raised concern with “the value of expression” not being explicitly mentioned in the statement.

“The value of academic expression, of academic freedom, is in peril and is being assaulted every day,” Lupke said.

“If we’re going to have in here something like accountability, and I’m not against that at all, but I don’t want to be accountable for stuff if I don’t also have expression to say what I want to say,” Lupke added.

Arts representative Feodor Snagovsky offered a similar perspective about the importance including academic freedom in the statement.

“I think the ability to speak freely truth to power is a key function that we play in the academy, and I think it would be a real missed opportunity for that to not be reflected in our values.”

In response, Provost and Vice-president (academic) Verna Yiu said the phrase “whatsoever things are true” in the statement “points to the issue around freedom of expression.”

Concerns that academic freedom is unaddressed by value statement

Additionally, academic teaching staff (ATS) representative Robert Prybysh raised concerns with the values being “grey” in practice.

Yiu, in response, said that “when we don’t have any values, people make assumptions that we do.”

“Not actually having a good understanding of what we stand for and what is meaningful to us I think is actually a little problematic.”

U of A Students’ Union (UASU) President Pedro Almeida spoke in support of the value statement, saying “it makes sure that we have a standard of excellence that stays with the U of A as different students and different generations of learners come through to join our incredible community.”

Nathaniel Morley, graduate student representative, asked how the university can “reconcile policies that have been forced onto the university by external political pressures or something that may not agree with these value statements.”

Morley referred to the Fairness and Safety in Sport Policy, which was discussed at the last GFC meeting. As per the policy, transgender women are restricted from participating in competitive sports. Athletes competing in women’s leagues must provide proof that they were assigned female at birth in the event of a challenge to their sex.

Morley said that although the policy was made in response to legislation, it’s “a discriminatory policy, and we have to reconcile that with … this value statement.”

“We can’t control what we can’t control, but we can control how we respond,” Yiu said in response.

The motion passed with a friendly amendment to change the word “relentless” in the statement to “unwavering.” Yiu said the university can commit to being explicit around the importance of freedom of expression as the values are implemented.

GFC to recommend BoG approval of IT security policy

GFC then moved to recommend BoG approval of the proposed revisions to the IT security policy. This motion was tabled at the last GFC meeting. Gilchrist said that further consultation took place following the meeting.

Duncan Elliott, faculty of engineering representative, motioned to amend the IT security policy so that “variance to IT security requests may be approved by the chief information officer (CIO), faculty deans, or their delegates.” The motion to amend failed, and the original motion passed.