Created 14 August 2020 07:08

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 14, 2020 – The Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC (CUFA BC) and its 5,500 faculty, academic librarians, and other academic professionals commend the provincial government for its work on helping post-secondary institutions understand how best to protect faculty, students, and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The recently released Go Forward Guidelines for BC Post-Secondary Institutions in the Context of COVID-19 provide important guidance for institutions as they create their COVID-19 Safety Plans.

In particular, we appreciate Government’s broad engagement of stakeholder groups, including CUFA BC, in creation of these guidelines. As CUFA BC President Dan Laitsch noted, “If we are going to return to campus safely in the fall, key stakeholders need to work together to understand the full context of what it means to deliver education, conduct research, and engage in collegial governance during a time of pandemic.”

The Go Forward Guidelines were developed by a panel of senior educational, administrative, and occupational health and safety experts from the BC Centre for Disease Control, WorkSafeBC, the Provincial Health Office, and the public post-secondary sector in consultation with representatives from Indigenous education groups, key student associations, and major post-secondary labour organizations, including CUFA BC.

CUFA BC represents over 5,500 faculty members, librarians, instructors, lecturers, and contract faculty at the five research and doctoral universities in British Columbia (University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria, Royal Roads University and University of Northern British Columbia).

For further information or comment please contact CUFA BC Executive Director Annabree Fairweather at 604-367-5856 or [email protected].