The Department of Social Science passed the following motion yesterday at their departmental council meeting. The motion may be of interest to YUFA members in light of the discussions at the September 2nd Special General Membership Meeting.

Motion to establish Remote Teaching as Default Mode of Delivery for Social Science 2021-2022

In accordance with article 18.08.3 of the YUFA Collective Agreement, the Department of Social Science affirms its rights as a unit to determine the structure, format and mode of delivery of all SOSC courses (including CRIM, SLST, DVST, SPTH courses), and the specific right of instructors, including those currently scheduled to teach or supervise in-person teaching, to determine class format and mode of delivery. In practical effect, this means that any class formats, including lectures and seminars, currently listed as “in person” may be taught remotely, and no faculty, contract faculty, or teaching assistant currently working in a SOSC (or CRIM, SLST, DVST, SPTH) course is required to teach in person while COVID remains a factor affecting pedagogic principles.

This statement, dated September 9, 2021, is consistent with the SOSC statement of May 14, attached, and will be communicated immediately to all students and instructors, and copied to the York University Faculty Association and the Dean of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies.

The force of this statement remains in effect until May 1, 2022.
--------

[Preamble from SOSC, May 14 2020: The Department of Social Science submits its revised curriculum for 2021/22, with approximately 50% of courses and/or tutorials offered as in-person learning in conformity with the Senate Executive Committee’s “Principles to Guide 2021-2022 Course Planning” of May 06, 2021, with the proviso that this submission is being asked for and provided without the requisite public health information on which to base such decisions, and in full knowledge that this submission may not be operable when the Fall term begins. We further do so without prejudice to our existing Collective Agreement rights, including, but not limited to, article 18.08 of the YUFA Collective Agreement pertaining to faculty workload and unit control over mode of delivery. In light of these rights and other circumstances that cannot be foreseen at the current time, it is our understanding that this submission simply reflects institutional goals or targets which it may not be possible to meet. We declare this submission to have been made under duress, and in full knowledge that this is a bad faith commitment to which we cannot, and do not, fully consent.]