A UBC Okanagan arts professor believes the concept of free speech is not being shared by his faculty brethren.

Peter Wylie is candidate for an executive committee of the UBC Faculty Association, which is comprised of faculty at both the 琉璃神社 and Point Grey UBC campuses. He issued a critical analysis of the association鈥檚 actions.

That analysis elicited a rebuke from the present UBCFA executive, calling Wylie鈥檚 analysis as false and unfounded, saying it constitutes 鈥渂ullying and harassment against our staff.鈥�

As a result, Wylie has been blocked access to the email contact list for the faculty members, which some of Wylie鈥檚 faculty co-members feels undermines the legitimacy of the executive election process.

鈥淚 find this advisory from your committee to be extremely disappointing and disreputable,鈥� said Wylie.

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Wayne Ross and Paul Quirk, Vancouver campus professors, publicly reprimanded the UBCFA executive committee for directly undermining Wylie鈥檚 candidacy.

鈥淲hether or not the allegations of Dr. Wylie鈥檚 report are accurate, this response seems to confirm that the UBCFA is actively working against him,鈥� Ross said.

鈥淚nstead of addressing his criticisms substantively, the association hides behind a bogus charge that he is harassing the staff. In fact, Wylie describes conduct of a few staff members鈥攚ithout mentioning their names鈥攖o substantiate his claim that the association has failed to support the Okanagan faculty.

鈥淭he charge of harassment is an attack on Dr. Wylie鈥檚 freedom of expression.鈥�

Repeated efforts by the 琉璃神社 Capital News, including emailing questions related to Wylie鈥檚 candidacy issues to the UBCFA office in Vancouver failed to generate a response.

UBCFA vice-president Vinayak Vatsal said he would attempt to get the submitted questions answered, but noted no one on the executive may want to make a comment, and he didn鈥檛 have authority himself to respond.

Wylie鈥檚 accusations stem from what he claims was 鈥渁cademic mobbing鈥� of him by the UBCFA and UBCO senior administration and of a sweetheart unionism deal going on that both the faculty association and university don鈥檛 want disrupted, which Wylie claims is to the detriment of UBCO faculty members.

Wylie stated in his analysis鈥攁 31-page document that presents a case-by-case accounting of his interactions with the UBCFA as a professor and member of the association鈥檚 faculty committee and member services grievance committee鈥攖his detriment has played out through consolidating power to staff, drawing out legitimate grievances until they鈥檙e dropped, and acting in UBC administration鈥檚 interests over the faculty they鈥檙e supposed to represent.

Because UBCO鈥檚 faculty make up small proportion of the UBCFA membership, Wylie says their grievances and workplace complaints get left in 鈥渁 quagmire and quicksand of collusion and complicity.鈥�

It鈥檚 a large part why Wylie is part of a group of 20 UBCO faculty who organized for eight candidates to run in the UBCFA executive election.

Wylie says the core of the lack of representation argument began when UBC Okanagan was created by the provincial government.

Some faculty from Okanagan University College and new faculty professors were adopted into the existing UBCFA rather than forming their own association, the result being their collective influence has been drowned out by their Point Grey campus counterparts.

The current furor, Wylie says, has been caused by the UBCFA hiding behind the ideal of the university being a respectful environment where bullying and harassment is not considered appropriate behaviour.

鈥淪o they are saying to me that offering criticism is considered being disrespectful. That is clearly dampening on our freedom of expression. Criticism is not bullying or harassment. It is freedom of speech,鈥� Wylie said.

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barry.gerding@blackpress.ca
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