For Immediate Release , July 8 2020
The Faculty Union of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (FUNSCAD) votes NO CONFIDENCE in NSCAD Board of Governors
Through a secure online platform and with a secret ballot available from July 6-8, full and part time faculty, librarians and technicians at NSCAD University powerfully expressed their lack of confidence in the Board of Governors with 95.6% of members voting and 96.3% of those voting NO CONFIDENCE in the Board.
“Our members have spoken, as have many others in both the wider art community and university sector, through online petitions and letters to the Board and to the Nova Scotia Minister of Labour and Advanced Education.
The lack of transparency in the Board’s decision to remove the President after only 11 months in the position, and its unwillingness to share the reasons for its decision has created a vacuum of information that is destabilizing to the University and destroying our trust in the Board and its ability to responsibly fulfill its fiduciary duties.
Our membership has expressed serious concern over the way this Board decision has disrupted our educational mission at a time when everyone at NSCAD is working hard to meet the needs of our students while shifting our programs to on-line delivery, as well as responding to the serious social issues that have arisen over institutional racism.
The Board’s unexplained actions are damaging to NSCAD. At this time, the Board is the only entity that can repair this problem, either by providing a compelling and satisfactory explanation to the community it serves, and proving that it can act collegially and transparently; or by reinstating the President, and stepping down so that others who have the trust of the community may take up this important responsibility,” says Mathew Reichertz, President of FUNSCAD.
FUNSCAD is made up of two Bargaining Units. Unit II consists of technicians and Unit I is full time and part time faculty and librarians.
