Military colleges to lose 1 in 3 professors
RMC to be hardest hit, association says
By Jeff Davis, Ottawa Citizen April 6, 2012
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Federal budget cuts targeting Canada's military colleges will eliminate up to one-third of the jobs now held by professors, says their professional association.
Jean-Marc Noel, a professor of physics and president of the Canadian Military Colleges Faculty Association, said Thursday he has been given a list of 68 faculty members that the Department of National Defence is looking to get rid of to cut costs.
That number represents more than a third of the approximately 185 faculty teaching at Canada's military colleges: Royal Military College in Kingston, the Canadian Forces College in Toronto and the Royal Military College campus in Saint-Jean, Que.
"It's going to seriously negatively affect the institution," he said. "My problem is if you're cutting to the bone, which is what they're doing now, they're jeopardizing their own reputations."
All the names are tenured professors who are locked into long-term union contracts with the colleges, Noel said. The list includes 35 full professors, 25 associate professors, six assistant professors and two senior lecturers who do not hold doctorates. Of the 68, Noel said, a majority teach at the Kingston campus, the largest of the three.
Strict union work rules mean that professors will not take on extra teaching burdens on any sustained basis, Noel said, so fewer profs means fewer classes. "They're saying we're going to have to do more with less," he said. "I hope they realize we'll be doing less with less because the work has not disappeared."
Neither the Royal Military College, the Department of National Defence nor Defence Minister Peter MacKay's office would confirm the plan.
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RMC to be hardest hit, association says
By Jeff Davis, Ottawa Citizen April 6, 2012
Article Link
Federal budget cuts targeting Canada's military colleges will eliminate up to one-third of the jobs now held by professors, says their professional association.
Jean-Marc Noel, a professor of physics and president of the Canadian Military Colleges Faculty Association, said Thursday he has been given a list of 68 faculty members that the Department of National Defence is looking to get rid of to cut costs.
That number represents more than a third of the approximately 185 faculty teaching at Canada's military colleges: Royal Military College in Kingston, the Canadian Forces College in Toronto and the Royal Military College campus in Saint-Jean, Que.
"It's going to seriously negatively affect the institution," he said. "My problem is if you're cutting to the bone, which is what they're doing now, they're jeopardizing their own reputations."
All the names are tenured professors who are locked into long-term union contracts with the colleges, Noel said. The list includes 35 full professors, 25 associate professors, six assistant professors and two senior lecturers who do not hold doctorates. Of the 68, Noel said, a majority teach at the Kingston campus, the largest of the three.
Strict union work rules mean that professors will not take on extra teaching burdens on any sustained basis, Noel said, so fewer profs means fewer classes. "They're saying we're going to have to do more with less," he said. "I hope they realize we'll be doing less with less because the work has not disappeared."
Neither the Royal Military College, the Department of National Defence nor Defence Minister Peter MacKay's office would confirm the plan.
end