Book criticizes instructors’ precarious positions
Former Emily Carr student’s book suggests academic precarity is an issue at the school
Continual rating of instructors without job security at Emily Carr University of Art + Design is contributing to a chilling effect on speaking out about working conditions, according to the author of a new book.
Terra Poirier, an artist and writer, said she didn’t realize how deep the chill extended before she started researching the precariousness of non-regular instructors on the faculty at Emily Carr.
Poirier said she believes academic precarity affected the quality of the undergraduate education she received at the university.
“Students are positioned as customers who need to be satisfied,” Poirier said.
“An instructor might feel not to be such a hard marker or not present curricula that is too challenging because they get rated as too difficult. It really surprised and deeply unsettled me how that really compromised the quality of my education in these insidious ways.”
Non-Regular: Precarious academic labour at Emily Carr University of Art + Design is a 132-page artist book published by Unit/Pitt Projects. The $20 book is available this weekend at the seventh annual Vancouver Art Book Fair at Emily Carr.
Gillian Siddall, Emily Carr’s president, said in a prepared statement about Poirier’s book that “our part-time faculty are outstanding teachers who contribute to a robust student learning experience.
“We are genuinely committed to growing the number of tenured faculty at ECU, and will continue to collaborate with faculty and staff to maintain a supportive environment in which to learn, work and create.”
Poirier pointed out that she never felt she suffered from inadequate instruction as a student in the classroom.
“If I didn’t have an inside scoop, I might not be aware this was happening,” she said. “I’d be aware there were certain problems, but not necessarily be able to attach them to my instructors because they’re totally qualified, accomplished artists and scholars.”
Last year, Emily Carr left Granville Island, where it had been located since 1980, and moved to a new $122.6-million campus on Great Northern Way.
Poirier said the treatment of non-regular faculty is part of how workers in the arts deal with poor pay and little job security.
“Another thing that really angered me is the implication for how art and artists are valued,” she said. “One contributor pointed that out: ‘They are exploiting artists who are educators in the name of educating emerging artists.’ That just angered me so much.”
The university has 216 faculty members: 74 are regular, tenured faculty with full benefits; 20 are lecturers with partial benefits at greater than a 40 per cent course load; and 122 are sessional instructors who have no health benefits. Lecturers and sessionals are classed as non-regular and teach 56.5 per cent of undergrad courses at Emily Carr.