By Gautam Srivastava, BUFA President
Welcome all members and onlookers to BUFA’s first ever blog accompanied by BUFA’s first ever blog post. The purpose of this blog is to create forum where interested members can keep up to date with BUFA’s regular activities and issues of concern.
Communication and transparency are BUFA priorities, and this blog is among several new initiatives to further support these. Among these, BUFA Open Session meetings are now also open to members to attend; so far, we have had members at every meeting since this was introduced in the spring. Thanks to Rhonda Hinther (BUFA Secretary) and Shari, we are also planning regular updates on social media. Watch for future posts explaining how you can follow us on social media.
As we embark into a new academic year, I was pleased to see the campus bustling on Tuesday, September 2 during Brandon University Student Union (BUSU) planned activities. Speaking to BUSU President Charles Adamu, he suggested the energy around new students this year is much different, with students demonstrating more enthusiasm than years previous. Incoming student numbers are up overall too, as a recent Brandon Sun article noted, although international student enrolments continue to plunge, thanks to the federal government’s 2024 cap on international student visas.
Also noteworthy in the Brandon Sun is coverage of the ERP Investigative report results from BDO, including this pointed editorial. BDO’s report was also shared campus wide in late August; if you have not had time to read it, please do. A key takeaway the investigators noted was the serious lack of oversight on the failed project and the ongoing potential for any similar projects, either current or in future, to likewise lack appropriate oversight if the status quo remains in place at BU.
In matters of oversight, a healthy university relies always on its collegial governance structures to help guide decision making all the time. Also called shared governance, collegial governance is the foundational principle of Canadian higher education. It is rooted in the conviction that academic staff, as the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) notes, “must play the decisive role in making academic decisions and setting academic policy,” while financial and administrative authority resides with a Board of Governors comprising academic staff, students, alumni, and public representatives. The traditional governance model in most Canadian universities is bicameral: a Senate (or equivalent) oversees academic affairs such as curriculum, standards, and strategic planning; a Board of Governors manages financial, operational, and external relations. In the wake of the ERP Project, Brandon University must ensure collegial governance is strengthened, with transparent decision-making at the forefront of all initiatives.
In other news, the BUFA Table Officers have begun, although slowly, working towards bargaining our next Collective Agreement (CA). Our current CA is set to expire March of 2027. This planning may seem premature; however, establishing a concrete bargaining plan early will pay dividends once the CA is opened for negotiations in the Winter of 2027.
Finally, mark your calendar. A BUFA townhall is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, 2025. I hope to see all members there, ready for open discussion on any matters of concern.
In the meantime, have a great start of the academic year!