Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Simon Fraser Teachers' Union
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Simon Fraser Teachers' Union held its organizational meeting and first general meeting on July 27, 1967. Its membership consisted of faculty members who felt that the Simon Fraser University Faculty Association (SFUFA) was not representing their interests. The SFTU remained active until 1968, when it integrated into the SFUFA after that body called for the resignation of SFU's president, Patrick Duncan McTaggart-Cowan.
The SFTU was formed, in part, as a reaction to perceived inadequacies with the SFUFA due to its close association with university administration. The SFTU was distinct from the SFUFA because it excluded from its membership the President, administrators, heads, librarians and teaching assistants. The SFTU was designed to deal solely with the problems of faculty members, and to advocate on their behalf
The Teachers' Union's stated aims were as follows:
to promote, establish, and maintain the highest academic standards among the members of the full-time teaching faculty at Simon Fraser University; to concern itself with the welfare of its membership specifically in the areas of academic freedom, tenure, promotions, dismissal and renewal procedures, and in general to adopt the methods of collective bargaining in furthering the vital interests of its membership; to ensure that the university adheres to democratic principles and procedures in the relations that are established between students, teaching assistants, faculty, administration, and all other members of the academic community; to provide ways and means of furthering the interests of faculty not available through other teacher associations (e.g. Faculty Association, CAUT), due to the limited effectiveness imposed upon such associations by their structure, and, by the exclusion of heads of departments and other administrative personnel, to minimize conflicts of interest that militate against the best interests of the faculty.
The Simon Fraser Teachers' Union executive, consisting of a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, corresponding secretary, and four directors managed the business of the union. The STU was the first union of university professors in Canada, although it did not receive certification under the existing labour code.