At the June 2026 Board of Governors meeting, LFA President Pauline Greaves expanded on the content of the LFA’s written report, submitted earlier (read it here). Pauline spoke forcefully  about the way Langara’s administration is interpreting reappointment rights, which disrespects seniority and the intent of the LFA Collective Agreement. At the meeting, the Board of Governors also voted to suspend several programs, including the Diploma in Journalism, after asking questions about the difference between suspension and cancellation. Pauline addressed this by reminding the BOG of the fate of the “suspended” BBA program.

As the BOG did not discuss Pauline’s verbal submission or ask any questions, this letter was sent to ensure our Governors are clearly aware of these issues. 

From: Pauline Greaves

To:
Joey Hartman, Chair, Langara Institutional Sustainability Task Force
Langara Board of Governors, via Scott Murray, Chair

June 29, 2026

Dear Langara Governors,

I am contacting you on behalf of the LFA’s Board of Directors to ensure you understand a couple of urgent issues I outlined at the Board of Governors Meeting on June 25, 2026. The details were not included in my written report to you prior to the Board meeting, and because there was no discussion of my verbal comments, we want to confirm that you are aware of the potential public and reputational impact of these situations on the College.

As you know, 75 ongoing faculty members have been given formal notice at the College, with the last few to be terminated at the end of August. These were members with ongoing contracts and significant years of service and seniority. After being severed, they are eligible for reappointment under Article 10.5.3.6 of our collective agreement.

However, recent events have alerted us that the administration is taking an extremely narrow interpretation of what types of work are eligible for reappointment. Due to this narrow interpretation, department chairs have been directed that – in the majority of cases – they should not offer available work to those on the reappointment list, but instead bypass these individuals and offer the work to those on temporary contracts at Langara. In most cases, these individuals have less seniority.

If there are not enough temporary faculty to handle the available work, department chairs are instructed to post the work. Those on the reappointment list may then apply and be interviewed for their old jobs, but their right to reappointment is effectively ignored.

This means that those faculty members with reappointment rights are expected to apply for and interview for the same work they have done for years and just lost. For example, we currently have a member with more than 15 years of service to Langara who is expected to apply for and compete to teach a course she helped design and has taught for years. This is a blatant break from the terms and intent of our collective agreement.

I am advising you that the members of Langara’s faculty take this situation extremely seriously:

• We see the replacement of long-term faculty members with temporary contracts given to people with less seniority as a clear move to casualize the workforce.
• It is financially irresponsible to pay people severance when there was likely work available for some of them all along, and they should not have been terminated in the first place.
• These actions pit worker against worker – forcing temporary workers with less seniority to accept work that they know should be offered to those with more seniority who were terminated.
• It undermines the concept of ongoing contracts and commitments, which tarnishes Langara’s reputation as an employer.

It has been heartbreaking to witness more than 200 of our members lose their livelihoods. In one particularly affected faculty, 80% of instructors have lost their jobs. However, our members recognize that allowing our employer to disregard seniority and reappointment rights, as well as forcing individuals into short-term contracts, goes against the core values of our union.

We view reappointment rights as a strike vote issue. The way our administration is now cutting terminated faculty out of their rights to reappointment is a deliberate misreading of the intent of our collective agreement. Our members understand that this is a line we will not cross. Through this communication and my presentation at the Board of Governors’ meeting, I’m confirming on behalf of the LFA board that our Governors are fully aware of the situation we immediately and urgently face on this front.

The second issue is the BBA, which demonstrates that the Board of Governors’ suspension of a program is a cancellation in practice

I tried to articulate to the Board that what was being told to them differed from what was actually taking place at the college. This issue arose immediately after your meeting last week and is one you should be aware of. On Friday afternoon, July 26, members of Langara School of Management learned from our Dean that efforts to redevelop the BBA program have been put on indefinite “pause”.

This took place one day after your meeting, during which you asked questions about the suspension of the Journalism program and sought to understand the differences between suspension and cancellation, and whether the board is usually informed of the progress and receives regular updates on programs and credentials that are suspended. You were assured that “suspension is not cancellation.” The demise of the BBA tells a different story.

The BBA was suspended by the Board of Governors in January 2024. Your minutes from that meeting say the suspension was “to allow time for finalizing the new full program proposal to be submitted to the Degree Quality Assessment Board (DQAB) for approval” – even though faculty had been told to stop all DQAB work in June 2023, and nothing more was discussed about the program for more than two years until last fall. Since September, a streamlined proposal has been developed which would allow any student with sufficient credits at Langara to enter the BBA and cap their existing studies with a degree: a program revival with no implementation costs and an in-place pipeline of potential students. Then suddenly, a week ago, the team working on this proposal was told to stop work, with no timeline or plan to restart.

As an ironic and disrespectful twist, one of the reasons interim Dean David Wright gave in his email was that “limited faculty engagement” in recent discussions about the future of the Faculty of Management suggested there would be insufficient faculty presence and commitment to prepare the program for DQAB submission. This is in a faculty where we are down to approximately 20 instructors from a high of more than 100 two years ago. The suspension of this program has thus directly contributed to its demise.

People losing their jobs who are scrambling to figure out how to pay the rent do not show up for unpaid conversations and surveys about the future of a faculty that tells them they have no place. The Dean’s comments would be humorous if they didn’t show such blatant disregard for people who have lost their livelihoods.

The BBA was a highly successful program – and source of revenue – for Langara. Across its four years, it had approximately 580 students per year, 75% of whom were domestic. It represented four of the seven baccalaureate degrees offered at the college.

Since our Board of Governors chose to suspend this program, we have seen little interest or inquiry from you about its rejuvenation. Now, as student numbers dwindle, faculty are laid off, and there is insufficient faculty “presence” to bring it back to life, the program is effectively cancelled: this is a “suspension” in name only. This trajectory is what any program you suspend risks travelling when there is no Board interest in, or follow-up on, the downstream impact of your decisions.

With respect, but also frustration and resolve, I submit these two issues to your immediate attention.

Sincerely,

Pauline Greaves

On behalf of the Board, Langara Faculty Association