Dr. Hallonquist's Mandatory Retirement
Nicole and Tom Befurt
First off I wanted to Thank everyone that send in their letters of support
and signed the petition to keep Dr. Hallonquist on staff. In the end we had
49 signatures on the petition to the Board of Governors along with a dozen
letters of support from students and alumni.
The presentation in front of the board went well, although it is difficult
to gauge their reaction. They seemed favourable to some of what I had to
say- that other universities that have long since abolished mandatory
retirement did not see a noticeable difference in the average age of
faculty. There were other things that they obviously didn't like to hear,
especially how every other major University in BC has abolished, or is in
the process of abolishing mandatory retirement prior to the enactment of
Bill 31. They did not respond during the meeting and will be discussing the
issue at a closed door meeting on June the 9th. However, Chair Ron Oylnyk
spoke to me after the meeting. He said that it is not their policy to make
decisions regarding the mandatory retirement issue in regards to
individuals. First I pointed out that they had in the past made allowances
for individuals which included letters of agreement to allow the faculty
member to stay on for a set period of time. Also, I pointed out that there
was another student pleading on behalf of two professors in the computing
science department and that to my understanding these were the only
professors contesting their forced retirement at this time. Chair Ron
Oylnyk then pointed out that this was a contract issue and that the
collective agreement did not include provisions for mandatory retirement,
and that if they were to allow Dr. Hallonquist to stay on staff, past
faculty that are contesting their forced retirement last year and the year
before, could use it as ammunition. I then pointed out that the board
essentially denied the TRU Faculty Association from tabling any reference to
the mandatory retirement issue in their last collective agreement, and Dr.
Hallonquist's situation should be reviewed independently and I stressed to
him the importance of Dr. Hallonquist on staff as an integral part of the
psychology department and how this would be a mute issue in only a few more
months any way.
After I left the meeting the press asked to interview me and there should be
an article in Friday's Kamloops This Week. Also, watch for articles in the
Daily News. There was a large article on Tuesday, May 29th, page 3, and
another smaller editorial on Page A9. I suspect that the Daily will put
quite a bit about it in tomorrow's (Thursday) paper as well. All we can do
is wait and hope.
Thanks again for all the support.
Nicole Befurt
Krystal Bochek
BRAVO. thank you so much for doing that! i'll keep an eye out for the articles.
Krystal Bochek> Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 23:59:18 -0700
> From: ntbe...@shaw.ca
> Subject: Dr. Hallonquist's Mandatory Retirement
> To: TRU-Psych...@googlegroups.com