By Patrick Burles - @Patrick Burles on Twitter

Lethbridge College Faculty Raise Concerns on First Day of Classes

Sep 6, 2016 | 7:26 PM

LETHBRIDGE – While new students were getting acclimated to their surroundings at Lethbridge College, a cloud lingered over the day as part of the faculty raised concerns about senior administration.

Faculty Association President, Dr. Gerri Joosse, noted that about a third of their members attended a town hall meeting Tuesday afternoon (Sept. 6).

She explained that while they have a long history of issues with College President, Dr. Paula Burns, this meeting was centred on the recent four year contract extension she received.

“The original contract had January 1, 2017, as the beginning of those discussions, so it was a bit of a surprise to have a completed contract ready to go into force on July 1, 2016, so that the new contract is in force six months before what was scheduled to be the beginning of negotiations,” explained Joosse.

She continued by saying they believe it is connected to Board Chair, Randy Jespersen – who has supported Burns over the years – and the fact that he will be leaving office this month.

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“Normally the renewal then would be the process given to the new chair-person of the Board of Governors,” Joosse stated. “So the timing of this renewal prevented the new board leadership moving into renewing the contract.”

Speaking on behalf of the college was Michel Bechard, Executive Director of Advancement and External Relations. He talked to the media earlier in the day, saying they had just learned about the faculty meeting that morning and they didn’t know what the concerns were.

When asked about the extension for Burns, Bechard stated that it was handled by the Governance and Human Resources Committee, which was chaired by a board co-chair and not Jespersen.

“The board decided to do that, among other things, it was to signal their confidence in Dr. Burns leadership, and also to bring stability over the next few years,” said Bechard.

“We have increased enrolment, we’ve been introducing some new programs, we’re wrapping up a capital campaign, which is the largest in our history… Our applied research has been growing tremendously, and we’ve been able to attract some new investments over the last few years under her leadership.”

Bechard added that based on information they received from a staff survey and a town hall meeting they held several months ago, they are taking steps to repair the fractured relationship.

“We’re going to be reducing the number of strategic priorities so that senior leadership can focus more on the people aspect of their job and rebuilding confidence,” Bechard explained. “We’re going to develop an employee engagement and internal communications plan. Again all of that is focused on building those relationships, re-establishing trust, if you will.”

From this point, Joosse says the faculty association will look for answers from administration, but couldn’t say how the process will unfold from there.

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