Vote February 7 to 15 on Policy 76/77 changes to FAUW's MoA

MoA ratification vote 2024

Results

Over 90% of voters were in favour of ratifying the revised MoA between FAUW and the University, in support of the Policy 76/77 agreement. View detailed vote results. 

Background

On December 6, 2023, the Faculty Association (FAUW) and University of Waterloo jointly agreed to mediated revisions to Policy 76 – Faculty Appointments and Policy 77 – Tenure and Promotion of Faculty Members, and related agreements concerning the establishment of a well-defined teaching stream at Waterloo. This agreement comes after years of work done by policy development committees.

The changes made to policies 76 and 77 inherently change the Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between FAUW and the University. Any changes to FAUW's MoA require ratification by voting members. 

January 15, 2024 Town Hall video

View on YouTube

Changes to the MoA

Please see the new MoA between FAUW and the University, with all revisions highlighted, to better understand what you are voting on.

Please note: this vote is not to ratify the changes to policies 76 and 77, only to ratify the resulting necessary changes to FAUW's MoA with the University.

Key policy changes that impact teaching faculty

  • Titles: A change in titles from lecturer ranks to ranks of (assistant, associate, or “full”) professor, teaching stream.  

  • Academic freedom: Teaching-stream faculty in all types of positions will have the same academic freedom granted to tenure-stream faculty members.  

  • Permanence: Teaching-stream faculty members in “probationary” positions will be eligible for promotion, which comes with permanence equivalent to that afforded by tenure granted to tenure-stream faculty members.  

  • Conversion: A mechanism to convert current lecturers to these new ranks. 

  • Workload: A maximum course load for teaching-stream faculty - 12 courses over two years.  

  • One-in-six: Guarantee that teaching-stream faculty members are entitled to one term out of every six terms during which no courses are assigned for teaching.  

  • Course releases: Granted to lecturers in their first and second probationary terms, and in preparation to apply for promotion to associate professor, teaching stream.  

  • Pseudo-sabbatical: An added credit system granting one credit for every 13 courses taught, which would enable a lecturer to take a term with no courses assigned, upon accumulating enough credits to cover the teaching load for one term.  

  • Educational leadership: Considered part of the regular work of a teaching-stream faculty member, and such work can include scholarship. Educational leadership will be evaluated as grounds for promotion.  

Frequently asked questions (FAQ) and answers about Policy 76/77 can be found on the Provost Office website.

MoA vote

This February, FAUW's voting members will be asked to vote on ratifying the revised MoA.

Voting will be open from 12 p.m. Wednesday, February 7, 2024 to 12 p.m. Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

Voting members will receive an email when voting opens with a unique link to a ballot on the Simply Voting platform. Voters will have the option of voting Yes or No to ratifying the new MoA.

Next steps

Results of the MoA vote will be presented to the FAUW Board of Directors on February 21, 2024. Once the Provost Office has been informed of the results of the vote, those results will be shared with all FAUW members after February 22, 2024.

The policy agreement will proceed through the University's usual governance approval process, with the intention of implementing the new policies on September 1, 2024.

More information can be found on the Provost Office's Joint statement on Policy 76/77 agreement webpage.

Timeline of Policy 76/77 changes

  1. 2023
    1. Dec
      1. Mediated agreement reached for policies 76 and 77
      2. Faculty Relations Committee (FRC) approval of policies 76 and 77

  2. 2024
    1. Jan
      1. Policy 76/77 Town Hall
      2. Policies 76 and 77 at Senate for approval

    2. Feb
      1. Voting on revised MoA opens

      2. Voting on revised MoA closes

      3. MoA vote results shared publicly

    3. Apr
      1. Anticipated: Policy 76/77 and MoA at Board of Governors for approval

    4. Sep
      1. Implementation of new policies 76 and 77