Statements about U of L are shocking
By Letter to the Editor on November 10, 2021.
Editor:
Re: “Proposed U of L salary cuts affect the whole city,” Dr. Dan O’Donnell, Oct. 30, 2021.
Dr. O’Donnell argues that a proposed four per cent pay cut to University of Lethbridge faculty salaries will damage the Lethbridge community.
He says: “With salaries already 10-15 per cent lower than other similar universities, it is already difficult enough to attract and retain top talent, before an additional retroactive rollback… it becomes increasingly more difficult to hire good quality instructors and scholars and more difficult to keep good ones here in Lethbridge. The cheapest professors are very unlikely to be excellent or even average.”
The “cheapest professors…?” This is what $150,000+ salaried professors think of those who are paid much less? In other words, money equals your humanity, your dignity, your worth?
The best professors I’ve had have been the lowly paid sessionals.
While Dr. O’Donnell speaks of his fears of faculty losing their jobs, he does not disclose that the U of L’s draconian vaccine mandate has no qualms about putting faculty on unpaid leave or terminating, taking away the livelihood and careers of those who choose not to disclose their private vaccination status
(See https://www.ulethbridge.ca/sites/default/files/2021/10/covid-19_vaccination_prinicples_oct_1-21_final.pdf).
Interestingly, major universities, UBC and McGill, have no vaccine mandate.
He glowingly speaks of how the “students attending the University of Lethbridge contribute over $100 million to the local economy each year,” but does not disclose that U of L professors have been given lists of students, in their in-person classes, who have not disclosed their vaccination status.
Finally, it is shocking to see that amidst a pandemic in which there has been a huge psychological and economic fall out, Dr. O’Donnell finds it acceptable to publicly complain about proposed cuts to faculty (FYI: U of L salaries of those who make over $135,000 per year, https://www.ulethbridge.ca/governance/public-sector-body-compensation-disclosure ).
Since March 2020 we’ve been dealing with lockdowns, etc., and yet Dan O’Donnell et.al. are focusing on self aggrandizement.
One is reminded of the Neronian scene where Nero “fiddled while Rome burned.”
Bernadette Remus
U of L Student
-1
Perhaps, in the big picture, and what may be the most galling, is the Kenney UCP’s bent on defunding post secondary education. This is while $billions are/have been, frittered on iffy pipelines, $billions in corporate tax cuts, a $4 something billion corporate handout, a $30 million/year war room, the highest paid Premier and MLA wages in the country, continuing to give $billion dollar breaks/year to the oil and gas sector……
Again, we could be reminded that if Alberta would have a 6% PST, as does Saskatchewan, the revenue would be approximately $11 billion/year. This 4% proposed wage cut to post secondary profs is a reminder of how this government has also proposed a 4% wage cut for Registered Nurses.
Smart governments/jurisdictions/countries, do not, do cutbacks, particularly to post secondary education because they know, it is good for their economies. They want all fields of education to be at the top, globally.
this an excellent contribution to the discussion.
Grin said, “The fact of the matter is that U of L professors are not paid a fair wage and that makes our local economy weaker and over the relatively short term it will reduce the quality of education..
Spoken like someone who has a vested interest in the matter and stuck in the old days.
You want an education on something? Pay a few dollars a month to be personally tutored by an expert in any field. That’s the power of the internet.
Magical thinking.
Except, it’s already happening.
Paying tens of thousands to go to a building to learn about something is on the way out for most disciplines. Online learning is far more thorough, up to date, convenient, and cheaper than going to a building.
Universities and colleges as they are now, will generally become obsolete just like most aspects of libraries have become.
i suggest american universities emerged as obsolete in the aftermath of 9/11, when they acquiesced like bloated spaghetti to the official narrative. not saying the narrative was unequivocally wrong, but the fact that universities simply followed and otherwise shut up when discussion was needed, when rights and freedoms were trampled by the likes of the patriot act…the very basis of universities as being the bastions and seekers of knowledge and truth was hardly no longer the case. and, that is on top of the politics and massive egos and self service that underscore the various departments. and that is on top of the increasing “ownership” of “independent” thought and pursuit by big corp. notwithstanding the american patriot act, canadian universities are also undermined by very much the same issues. as for the u of l in particular, it is shameful that they chose to force vaxes. indeed, you have a choice: get vaxed, or get out. pathetic.
i suppose the difference between learning online, or any alternative forum, would be the accreditation aspects.
When I was at the U of L back in 1994, all staff had to take a 5% wage rollback. Not academics, just support staff. Absolutely no support from the community on that one.
It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.
U of L faculty took the 5% wage rollback that year and they took a 1% rollback a few years ago.
So the Socialists of Society are unhappy. I have a suggestion, because you are all so keen on providing for everyone and have so many profs espousing how the city should destroy itself treating drug addicts. Perhaps you can open the SCS on the campus and in fact provide all the services. We already know as boss of the SCS you can make $343,000 a year, so why not give it the ole college try and set up Drug Treatment Campus, you got a lot of empty acreage !
You are forgetting something! With the educated “elite”, it’s not do as I do but do as I say.Don’t hold your breath waiting for them to accomplish something.