Dear colleagues,
Yesterday our coalition with the University of Alberta Students’ Union, the Non-Academic Staff Association (NASA), the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), and the Postdoctoral Fellows Association (PDFA), met for the second time with Bill Flanagan, Verna Yiu, Todd Gilchrist, and Melissa Padfield regarding the events of May 11.
The PDFA, which represents around 600 post-docs, recently joined our coalition pushing for accountability from university administration.
The coalition continues to call for a thorough third-party independent investigation to assess the decisions, statements, and actions made by senior leadership officials that led up to the police being called to forcefully remove protestors. Despite University Administration reiterating they are considering this proposal, they have still not committed to this crucial step towards truth and accountability.
Media conference and clarification on AASUA’s position
Together, the coalition held a media conference immediately after the meeting to amplify the need for a third-party investigation. You can view some of the coverage from yesterday in The Gateway and CBC.
During the conference, AASUA’s Vice-President Kristine Smitka addressed the media and stated AASUA’s position. Specifically, Smitka shared AASUA is calling for clarity on all the decisions and actions by senior leadership that led up to the forceful removal of the encampment, but AASUA has never taken a position on any of the contents or objectives of the protest.
Smitka stated: “From the AASUA’s perspective, we are focused on the forceful removal of the protestors. We have not taken a position on any of the contents of the protest itself.”
In addition to calling for the investigation, we are also continuing to push for a review of the existing policy for campus protests. We would like our coalition to be consulted in this review process, and to explore building an emphasis on de-escalation rather than confrontation into the policy.
We have an additional meeting June 5, where we are hopeful we will get a firm commitment from University Administration on these critical steps towards rebuilding trust on campus.
Sincerely,
Gordon Swaters
AASUA President