Hi everyone:

I just wanted to send you a quick note on a timely item:  our June 20th survey. This survey asked every OCADFA member, “Do you feel that you were properly represented in the presidential review process?” We launched the survey because, immediately following the announcement of Sara Diamond’s reappointment, we heard a lot of expressions of concern. And so it was important for us to assess how deep that concern went, and how widespread it was.

The survey was open from Friday evening until mid-night Tuesday and got 103 responses. 78 (or 75.7%) indicated that they did not feel they were properly represented, while 25 (24.3%) indicated that they did feel they were properly represented.

The difference in the comments box was even more stark: only 5 of 55 comments remarked positively on the experience. The main theme in the remaining 50 comments was an absence of trust, which split into two types: (1) the review’s outcome seemed predetermined; and (2) the review did not seem fully anonymous, and thus open to the possibility of retaliation.

Clearly, the outcome of the presidential review disturbs many of you, just as it concerns the OCADFA board and many senate members (which, it is important to note, includes administrators as well as faculty). What will be done to address this issue depends on conversations involving members of senate, OCADFA and the faculty at large in the coming days, and we will keep you up-to-date on those discussions.

For now, however, I wanted to let you know the results of our survey, and to thank you for participating and for all that you do for the quality of education at OCAD University.

Best regards,

Charles