"9.03.3, 9.03.5, 9.03.7." by former ECU sessional instructor Wendy Oberlander in response to the ECU Collective Agreement using this phrase three times in reference to non-regular instructors. 2018.

Soft launch of Non-Regular: Precarious academic labour at Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Please come to the soft launch of the book I made in collaboration with 22 Emily Carr faculty members and other artists. I will be exhibiting it in the Reading Room at the Emily Carr University Grad Show.

The show runs May 5-20, 2018
OPENING NIGHT: Sat May 5, 5-9pm (I will be on site from 6pm)
In the library, on the 2nd (main) floor. Hours: Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm, Sat & Sun: 10am to 6pm.
Fully accessible.
On unceded Coast Salish territory, specifically the lands belonging to the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

About this project:

ECU students and instructors often work together without communicating about the problematic working conditions that underpin our interactions. For non-regular instructors at Emily Carr University, these conditions include lack of adequate work space, under-compensation and no job security. They are also excluded from many of the supports and recognition afforded to regular faculty, including professional development and sabbatical leave that would assist them in maintaining their professional practices. Sessional faculty, who make up the majority of non-regular instructors at ECU, are also not paid to do service and are excluded from governing bodies of the university. These conditions create barriers for instructors to do their best work and impact curriculum and students’ learning in several ways. They also have serious implications for the state of academic integrity and freedom at ECU.

Non-Regular is a 124-page book that aims to expose the problems of this employment model and to contribute to larger discourses about neoliberal education. It is a collection of stories, analysis, personal essays, interviews and artwork about the state of precarity at Emily Carr. Edited, designed and co-authored by Terra Poirier, an ECU student, it consists of collaborations and contributions by 22 instructors and artists speaking frankly (and largely anonymously) about the conditions of their labour. Topics include: teaching as low-wage work; job security; respect and the value of art(ists); maintaining professional practices; the politics of space at the new ECU campus; impacts on students; the role of tenured faculty; and the erosion of academic freedom and integrity. We also consider how these conditions are exacerbated by and amplify gender and racial bias within academia.

Non-Regular will be launched in two stages. The current bound draft will be exhibited in the Reading Room at the ECU Grad Show. The book will then be further revised to prepare for full publication and launch in the fall of 2018.

If you have questions or wish to share feedback after viewing the book, please get in touch via the contact form here. Media kit is available.