Miskatonic University Press

Monday will be day 78 of the 2018 York University strike. CUPE 3903 walked out in March (see Labour Update for the Employer’s side). I’m not on strike, because I’m in YUFA, but it’s a grim situation, and of those of us left on campus, pretty much everyone is some combination of frustrated, stressed and angry. Any undergrad who had classes suspended, or was hoping to take a summer course that now doesn’t exist, is surely all three.

When it’s over, among the many problems that needs fixing is the governance crisis (or jurisdictional question, depending on your point of view) about the relation between the Senate and the Board of Governors. Many Senators (me included; I am one of two representing librarians and archivists) think the Board is not respecting the boundaries of the bicameral governance structure set out in the York University Act, 1965, where basically the Senate oversees academic matters and the Board oversees the operations and business side of things.

This whole issue is very complex, and I’m going to stick here to just one part of it: a letter written by Rick Waugh, the chair of the Board of Governors, to Lesley Beagrie, the chair of Senate.

The strike began on 01 March. On 08 March there was an emergency Senate meeting where a motion to suspend all classes was ruled out of order. The chair was challenged but this was defeated, 54–53, so the motion did not come to a vote. That led to this motion at the Senate meeting on 22 March:

That Senate hereby expresses its view that Senate, in conjunction with Senate Executive, has the authority to direct and determine that classes be suspended on the basis of academic integrity.

This was made by two Senators who wanted it to have meaningful force (though they did not intend classes would be suspended—the time for that had passed), but Senate Executive made it a hortative motion, which means it is just a matter of opinion and has absolutely no effect. (“Hortative motions express Senate’s opinion on matters lying outside its jurisdiction,” say The Senate of York University Rules, Procedures and Guidelines.) It passed. The majority of Senate, I think, assert that Senate actually does have the authority to suspend classes for reasons of academic integrity, but because the motion was brought to the floor as hortative, now it’s questionable. (I admire the skill with which this was done.)

Buried at the end of the 26 April 2018 agenda package are the minutes from that meeting, which say:

With the knowledge that Senate would be discussing a motion on this question, the Chair had contacted the Board Chair who communicated his view that the Board’s responsibilities for the conduct, business and affairs of the University includes decisions with respect to continuing or not classes and other University activities in the strike.

This letter became the object of curiosity for many people who wanted to know exactly what the chair of the Board had said. It was not released.

I was one of the curious, so I followed York’s access to information procedures and made a request under FIPPA, Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

• 28 March: I emailed the University Secretary and General Counsel (that’s one person) to ask for it. “At the 22 March 2018 Senate meeting Senator Beagrie (chair of Senate) mentioned a communication from Senator Waugh (chair of the Board of Governors). I request a copy of that communication, and any other communications between those two parties, dated from 29 February 2018 (two weeks before the current CUPE 3903 strike began) onwards, that are related to the Senate’s role in academic governance during this disruption, either a) about planning Senate and Senate Executive’s actions regarding a potential disruption or b) their actions when the strike began and the Senate Policy on the Academic Implications of Disruptions or Cessations of University Business Due to Labour Disputes or Other Causes came into effect.”
• On 02 April, Correspondence from the Chair, Board of Governors, April 2, 2018 was made public. It seemed pretty clear to me that with all the hubbub people reckoned they’d better make a letter public, if not the letter.
• By 05 April I hadn’t heard anything back, so I put in the same request on paper using the official form. The Information, Privacy and Copyright Office had 30 days to respond.
• 03 May: They said three documents met my criteria. It would cost $9.30 for me to get them. I sent a cheque.
• 17 May: The documents were sent. In fact, the director arranged for someone to walk them over to me, because for some reason campus mail never delivered the letter of acknowledgement I should have received first off, and took eight days to deliver the list of matching records, so who knows how long the actual documents would have taken.

The response contained three documents. First there was a brief email (dated 16 March, six days before the Senate meeting) from the chair of Senate (Beagrie) to the chair of the Board (Waugh) asking for the Board’s perspective on the hortative motion given above and other motions about suspending classes that had been passed at faculty councils. Then there were two letters from Waugh: the original mentioned at the Senate meeting and the later public one.

The original is redacted in two places. It looks like each blacked-out piece is covering a full paragraph. I was given a page with all the possible reasons why things can be redacted, and three points were cited:

13(1) Advice to Government: A head may refused to disclose a record where the disclosure would reveal advice or recommendations of a public servant, any other person employed in the service of an institution or a consultant retained by an institution.

18(1) Economic and other interests of Ontario. A head may refuse to disclose a record that contains:

(e) positions, plans, procedures, criteria or instructions to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of an institution of the Government of Ontario

(g) information including the proposed plans, policies or projects of an institution where the disclosure could reasonably be expected to result in premature disclosure of a pending policy decision or undue financial benefit or loss to a person.

Here is a paragraph by paragraph, line by line, comparison of the two letters: 20 March 2018 (the original) and 02 April 2018 (the public one). Where there is a difference in the second letter, that line is on a grey background.

Of course I want to know what was blacked out, but of what we can see that was cut for the second letter, this is the most damning regarding the governance crisis: “The mere fact that the decision to continue classes may affect the educational experience of students and faculty does not convert that decision into one concerning academic policy, or academic integrity, within the jurisdiction of the Senate.”

It’s also interesting to see how they watered down “Oversight and accountability for the conduct and operation of the University rest with the Board of Governors” (which leaves no role for Senate) and “I would be interested in discussing with you some feasible options for ensuring that, now and in future, the respective roles of Board and Senate are respected and decisions to keep the university open in a strike are effectively implemented.”

Later, at the 10 April 2018 Senate Executive meeting:

The Chair advised members that the Chair of the Board had accepted a proposed process to develop preliminary advice on the mandate, composition and timelines of a group that would take up the authority question. It was reiterated that this advice would be subject to the approval of the governing bodies.

This was the subject of much heated discussion at the 26 April Senate meeting (held in a large classroom, because the Senate chambers are occupied by protesting students), where this motion eventually passed:

Senate instructs Senate Executive that in regards to establishing a process for reviewing the authority and role of Senate during labour disruptions, forming a body to conduct such a review, as well as deriving conclusions and decisions, Senate Executive, shall, as per Senate procedures, bring any recommendation to Senate for approval.

The synopsis of that meeting (see the minutes for more detail) adds, “It is anticipated that recommendations on a process will be taken up by Senate and the Board in the coming months.”

The governance crisis is dormant right now—the whole campus is deathly quiet, while the Employer and CUPE 3903 sling open letters back and forth—but it will come back when the strike is over, and I think it’s going to get heated.

(If you have any comments about this, please send them to my work email address, <wdenton@yorku.ca>.)

Listening to Art 03.01 went up today. It’s a field recording of Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room—The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away.

Each volume contains twelve issues. I have plans for some recordings later in this volume that will be different from anything before, and fate willing they will turn out.

Anyone interested in listening to recordings of “silence” won’t want to miss Episode 4, Silence Special of the Young Quaker Podcast. It’s about half an hour of a group of Quakers in Nottingham (in the United Kingdom) at a Meeting for Worship, where they “gather together in silence but anyone present can speak if strongly moved to.” At this meeting, no one was strongly moved.

Today I tried for the second time to observe a meeting of York University’s Board of Governors, and for the second time it didn’t work out: they did it by phone instead, and no one was allowed to listen in.

As I wrote in February, my first attempt to observe the Board stopped at the doors to the Kaneff Tower, where they were meeting. This was just before the CUPE 3903 strike began (today is day 58), but they were protesting outside about how negotiations were going. I had emailed to be put on the observer list, but in the end I didn’t get on it. I couldn’t get upstairs.

This time I talked to two different people (by phone, email and in person) to make sure I got on the list. I did. I was looking forward to observing the meeting and seeing how the other half of York’s bicameral governance structure operates. (I sit on the Senate.)

The co-ordinator sent an email to me and, I guess, other observers, saying that there would be an in camera session when the meeting started at 1330, and that it would open up to us at around 1400. We should be at the meeting no earlier than 1345 and no later than 1400. Perfectly reasonable—with the strike on, they’ll have a lot to talk about, and labour issues are confidential.

This morning at 0948 the co-ordinator sent us all an email saying the meeting had been moved to 280N York Lanes. The location was a bit surprising, but I know the room well (I sit on the YUFA Stewards’ Council, which often meets there), and it’s pretty large, so there would be lots of room for everyone. That seemed promising.

I headed down to York Lanes with lots of time to spare, enjoying the warm sunny day. Outside there was a small protest.

Across the street a few people were standing around watching, including two uniformed security guards. The protest wasn’t really in the right place to prevent anyone from getting up to the second floor of York Lanes, so I didn’t think much of it, just that they’d be making noise outside and we might hear them inside.

When I got to the second floor of York Lanes I was surprised not to be stopped by guards. There are two separate entrances to that part of the building, and I though they’d be blocking each, but there was no one there.

A couple of dozen people (all young, at least to me) were milling around outside 280N. Its door was locked. A young man jumped up and looked over the frosted section of the glass walls and reported that he could see coffee and water set out, but there was no one there.

Without guards protecting the room it was clear it was useless as a meeting place for the Board.

I checked my email and discovered the co-ordinator had just sent a message, at 1344: the meeting would be held by teleconference, and so observers could not attend.

I recommend scanning the agenda package for the Board meeting, which as always is full of interesting stuff, including giving $850K to Osgoode (the law school) to improve a space it has downtown, $9.2M to Lassonde (engineering) for more space (including housing grad students in modified shipping containers?!), $6.6M for Lassonde to rent space on the other side of Keele, $2.8M so the finance department can extend their lease where they are also across Keele, $10.7M more (making $61.2M) for the construction of a new School of Continuing Studies building, and $4.7M for repairs and improvements to Atkinson. I assume the Continuing Studies building will make its money back in time, and I certainly understand the need for Lassonde to expand and for Atkinson to get improved (I think there’s over $500M of deferred maintenance that needs doing on campus)—but as seen on Reddit (good work /u/RandyFord), I wish they’d spend money on the Scott Library, which leaks even when it isn’t raining.

Naturally I wondered when the decision was made to do the meeting by phone. Probably not after 1330, minutes before the email went out. Later I saw some discussion about the protest on Reddit, and this tweet with a video clip of the police escorting a board member to another building, I assume to take the phone call. I don’t know when all that happened.

And I don’t understand why the meeting was moved out of Kaneff in the first place, given that security was tight the last time and the meeting went off without a hitch for the Board. (Did protesters get inside in the morning?)

Maybe the Board will try holding an open meeting and encourage observers to attend. Because our Senate Chambers are being occupied by students, the last two meetings of Senate have been held in lecture halls, where there’s lots of room of visitors. It’s worked out well. Decorum is gently enforced and mostly upheld. Instead of angry people banging doors and shouting from outside, everyone is inside, and gets to talk. It’s a small step but an important one.

UPDATE (Wednesday 02 May 2018): Turns out Richard Wellen, the president of YUFA, had requested to make a statement to the Board, and managed to do so by phone even with all the mishegas.

“The Big Exam!” is another Archie Comics story featuring the Riverdale Public Library. I saw it in B&V Friends (Jumbo Comics) Double Digest 260 (May 2018), but it may have originally appeared in Betty and Veronica Double Digest Magazine 179 (2010).

The story begins with Veronica (unusually–normally this is something Betty would do) giving a speech to all the Riverdale High girls saying, “It’s high time everyone realizes we girls can be tech-savvy!” For nonsensical reasons involving Superintendent Hassle, the girls decide to help their fellow students study for an upcoming state-wide examination. Betty books rooms at the library.

The program is a great success and, what’s more, the unnamed librarians are very happy with the increased patron activity.

In the end everyone does very well on the exam and Principal Weatherbee and Superintendent Hassle march outside the school carrying a sign that says, “Nerd Girls Rule!”

This story was written by George Gladir, pencilled by Jeff Shultz, inked by Al Milgrom, coloured by Joe Morciglio, and lettered by Phil Felix. It is copyright by Archie Comic Publications.

Recently I read Foolproof, and Other Mathematical Meditations by Brian Hayes, and I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in mathematics.

Hayes writes a column in American Scientist, and the thirteen chapters here are taken from it but expand on the original sources, which he’s put up on his web site. They cover a variety of topics in math: prime numbers, random walks, Markov chains, pi, the nature of proof, and more. Chapter four, The Spectrum of Riemannium, was a favourite of mine.

There are many (well, some) popular mathematics books out there aimed at people unsure of math who want some of the interesting groundwork covered again. This one is aimed at people that know some math—not a lot, little is required—but want to explore something new, and are interested in seeing someone try out some ideas and ask, “How does this work?” Every chapter is engaging and intriguing.

This is a delightful work.

From Rome (2011) by Robert Hughes, a marvellous book, full of wonderful insight and wisdom:

Coming from Spain, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (d. 65 CE) was Nero’s tutor, and a stupendously voluble writer: his surviving prose works alone run to over a thousand closely printed pages. He took great pride in his Stoicism, but no Stoic was ever longer-winded or more self-infatuated. He could argue both sides of a case—when Claudius died it was Seneca who compose the eulogy delivered on him by Nero, his successor, but also Seneca who wrote a satire on the departed emperor, the “Apocolocyntosis” or “Pumpkinification” of Claudius, who was imagined as turning into a dim-witted, sententious vegetable god. Seneca was a hypocrite almost without equal in the ancient world. He sang the praises of moderation: “To be a slave to self is the most grievous kind of slavery; yet its fetters may easily be struck off…. Man needs but little, and that not for long.” Fine words, which unhappily bear little relation to the real facts of Seneca’s life: he was a mercilessly greedy usurer. Few can have mourned him when, on direct orders from Nero, he committed suicide by opening his veins in a hot bath.

Episode 04: Lichen or Not is the most recent in the Fungi Town podcast, hosted by Jen Parrilli. Fungi are wonderful—where would we be without yeast?—but when they’re combined with algae or cyanobacteria to form lichen, well, that’s when things get even more exciting.