The Canadian Association of University Teachers has censured the First Nations University of Canada, in Saskatchewan, the first time in nearly 30 years that the organization has voted to boycott a college or university.

First Nations is the only aboriginally controlled university in Canada. By imposing censure, the association asks that all professors, including those in other countries, not accept faculty jobs at First Nations, nor invitations to speak there or participate in its conferences.

The university’s troubles began in 2005, when its board chairman, who was also vice chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, suddenly suspended three senior administrators and seized computers and documents. A subsequent inquiry recommended measures to lessen the influence of the chiefs on the university and to correct serious governance problems.

The association says the university has still not carried out some key recommendations but will work with its administration to resolve the issues.

Canada’s de facto accrediting body, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, put First Nations on probation last year and later rescinded the probation.

The university’s president, Charles Pratt, said it had made good progress in instituting changes, according to the Leader Post, a local newspaper. He plans to meet with the national faculty association early next year. —Karen Birchard