CAUT Policy Statement

Academic staff should be free, as are members of other professions, to enter public life. There is an obligation upon the institution to see to it that there are no impediments. When an academic staff member chooses to seek public office, the following arrangements should be used.

1
For the period of the active election campaign, a member seeking public office should be granted leave of absence with full pay.

2
Academic staff who are elected to public office should be given leave of absence without pay for the life of their term. In the case of municipal office or other local government office, the leave of absence may be partial or the academic staff member should be granted a reduced workload.

3
Academic staff who are appointed ministers of the Crown should be given leave of absence without pay during their tenure of office.

4
During the period of their extended leave, academic staff should be entitled to the same rights as members on other leaves of absence, such as the right to continue to make payments in their pension plan and to continue to make their own contributions to any other benefit plans.

5
On the conclusion of their period of public service, academic staff should be entitled to reinstatement, without loss of rank or seniority.

Approved by the CAUT Council, May 1963;
revised, November 2007.