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laurentian university welcomes students to a new school year at its campus.
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the union representing faculty at laurentian university says it is disappointed in how the university is moving forward with the institution’s transformation plan, citing a lack of transparency and collegiality in the approval process.
the board of governors approved a transformation plan at its meeting on wednesday. the plan follows the university’s 2021 insolvency and details the path forward, and how to improve systems, processes and policies to ensure the institution’s future financial stability. the strategic plan was developed by deloitte working closely with administration and after months of consultation with faculty, staff and the community through a series of engagement sessions.
the plan now awaits approval by the ministry of colleges and universities.
however, laurentian university faculty association’s president said that it was only thursday evening — the day after the board approved the plan — when the union had the chance to review the finalized version since some members of its executive team were out of town. fabrice colin said the union had asked the board to delay its approval — even for 48 hours — until its team had time to review the document. instead, according to colin, board members voted to approve the plan without lufa’s final review.
the sudbury star did not attend the board of governor’s meeting. when contacted by the star, a laurentian spokesperson said the meeting minutes will be made publicly available on the university website after the board approves it at its next meeting on dec. 15. there is no video recording of the meeting, the spokesperson said.
“we are disappointed because at the board meeting on wednesday we urged the board to consider a motion to table the approval of the transformation plan until lufa, the executive and other labour participants could be consulted,” said colin, who is also an associate professor in the bharti school of engineering and computer science.
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“when we were with the ccaa, we were promised that going forward, there would be a lot more transparency and collegiality.”
colin said the union intends to file a grievance due to the “lack of transparency and collegiality” in the approval process and failure to provide information in a timely manner.
colin said the union has concerns outside the approval process, too. “we have concerns about what we also saw in the document,” he said.
for example, he said the union was not consulted in the establishment of the transformation plan implementation office team, which will be responsible for moving the plan forward.
despite these concerns, colin was somewhat optimistic. “we are hopeful we can reach an informal resolution without the need for litigation.”
the transformation plan features four key areas: information technology, finance, human resources as well as registrar services and student affairs. according to a press release issued by the university, the plan was informed by earlier recommendations from the nous group and the auditor general’s report on laurentian university.
“next steps are already in motion as the transformation plan implementation office is in the process of building its team, which will be made up of members from each of the four work streams, along with supporting resources,” states the release.
“as required by the university’s plan of arrangement, the tpio will be supported by a third-party through plan implementation. deloitte has been retained until october 2024 to fulfill this obligation at a cost not to exceed $972,920. together, they will be responsible for prioritizing tasks outline in the plan and overseeing the delivery of each milestone with established timelines. as we progress through implementation, we look forward to continuing to work with our labour partners as key stakeholders.”
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the university has launched a review of the current enterprise resource planning system, which began in september and will continue through to december.
a website will be launched in the coming weeks to serve as a “hub for all information and communication” related to the transformation plan, including tracking work according to timelines.
“we believe this transformation plan, along with the upcoming strategic plan, will lay the foundation for a sustainable future where laurentian university fosters growth and opportunity for all,” said sheila embleton, interim president and vice-chancellor in the release. “while there is still a lot of hard work ahead, we emerge confident that we have the right plan for a vibrant future.”
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