By David Dyck
Two positions within the faculty eliminated, raising concerns of student–faculty engagement
On Thursday, January 26, the positions of coordinator, recruitment and retention, and the director of finance in the Faculty of Science were terminated. The termination of these positions came as a surprise to faculty members, students, and the employees themselves.
Stephen Price, who had held the position of coordinator, recruitment and retention, for five years, was “visibly upset”, according to Tabrez Hussein, the Simon Fraser Student Society representative from the science faculty. Price was an intrinsic part of the Geek Week and Science Frosh events at SFU in past years. “He’s the contact guy, and has been ever since Geek Week has been functioning at the school. He’s the administrator behind it. The funding for it came out of his budget,” Hussein told The Peak. Hussein explained that typically it’s difficult for students to talk directly to the faculty, and Price assisted in bridging that gap during his time in the position.
In addition, Hussein noted that Price’s position was terminated during Geek Week January 23 to 27. “He actually had a group picture scheduled with us at 2:30 [on January 26], and at 11:00 a.m. we hear [his position] was terminated . . . It was surprising to everybody.”
“This was a shock to us,” said Michael Chua, the budget and fundraising director for the Science Community Initiative. “We were in the middle of conducting Geek Week, and then Stephen approached us directors [of the Science Community Initiative] and that’s when we found out.”
The decision to eliminate the positions was made by the dean of science, Dr. Claire Cupples, who has held the position since August 1, 2010. Although Cupples declined The Peak’s request for an interview, she issued the following statement via email: “This organizational restructuring will not affect our student-focused or student-run programs. My associate dean and I met with the faculty of science representative of the Simon Fraser Student Society, and one of his colleagues, this past Tuesday morning so that they could reassure their fellow students on that point.”
Both Hussein and Chua were at the meeting on January 31, but neither felt confident that the duties performed in the position of student recruitment and retention coordinator would be taken up to the extent that it had been by Price. “I don’t understand why the dean wasn’t able to rewrite his job description, or even approach him about changing his job description; [it made] absolutely no sense. Also, there’s no clear vision as to what’s going on with the position that existed already,” said Hussein.
“We wanted to ask her who we can coordinate with for our events, since most of them are Faculty of Science related,” said Chua. “The dean assured us that we would get funded for Geek Week, but for future projects we have to propose first what we want to do, and if it’s aligned with the vision of the faculty of science then we would be funded or supported in any way that seems fit.” According to Chua, the dean assured them that although someone would be in contact with them, connecting students with the faculty would be less of a priority in the new position.
The Peak obtained a copy of the job description for Price’s former position. Although much of it revolves around active recruitment for the SFU Faculty of Science, an equal portion is given to promotion within the faculty, including “[liaising] with Student Services to ensure faculty recruitment and retention initiatives are consistent with university goals and objectives and to encourage joint development of initiatives.”
Jonathan Driver, VP-academic, told The Peak that positions are eliminated either for budgetary reasons, or because of restructuring within the faculty. According to Hussein, the reason given by Cupples for the termination of these positions was the latter.
“Whenever a position is eliminated it will always be sudden because there would not be any public dissemination of information about that, until the position has been eliminated,” said Driver, “so it would always work in this way.” He maintained that to the best of his knowledge, the process was done in accordance with university policy.
Both Price and the former director of finance, Siamak Saidi, declined to comment.
