University protocol regarding political activity

To all students, faculty and staff:

The next civic election will be held on Oct. 18, 2021. As the nomination and campaign period for City Council is well underway, I would like to remind our community that the University of Calgary is a non-partisan organization and does not support or endorse any political party or candidate, at any level of government. 

The University of Calgary recognizes the right of students, employees, academic staff members and postdoctoral scholars to participate as individuals in the political process, provided they do not use university resources to do so, subject to the restrictions laid out in the Partisan Political Activities Policy. Members of the university community must be diligent in not using university resources for partisan political purposes. Key points of the policy include:

1. Individuals who participate in partisan political activities must do so outside of their work time and be careful that they do not present themselves as a representatives of the university or in such a manner that a reasonable person would assume that they are representing the position of the university.
2. The University of Calgary cannot make contributions (money or donations in-kind) to any candidate running in an election. Any funds that flow through the university including operating, research or donated funds cannot be used for partisan political purposes.
3. University funds cannot be used to cover the cost of attending partisan political fundraising or campaign events.
4. University resources cannot be used to promote partisan political events or campaigns. This would include using your ucalgary.ca email address for partisan political purposes, including distributing campaign information, forwarding campaign materials received in your ucalgary.ca inbox, or using university mailing or email lists to distribute campaign materials.   

The policy is not intended to limit or interfere with academic freedom and does not preclude academic staff members or postdoctoral scholars from engaging with political parties, their candidates or other political party representatives in conducting teaching and research.

If you have any questions, please contact the government relations team: David Keto, director, government relations (dketo@ucalgary.ca or 403-220-8567).

Thank you.
John Alho
Associate Vice-President (Government Relations)