Fighting on many fronts

Rick Miner is complaining that people are not appreciating the full scope of his vision (”Merger fight obscures real issues, author says,” Elizabeth Church, Globe and Mail [Sept 22/07]). Not true; it’s just that one needs to prioritize. Full access to education is being directly threatened in Saint John, so that is where people here are focusing their efforts. But let’s be clear: this report is poison from beginning to end. It seeks to overturn a democratic system of university governance that has evolved (and continues to evolve) for over a millennium, with centralized, corporate-driven, bureaucratic control. It takes “the market” as its baseline, rather than rights, or accessibility. Why not decide what we should have and then work to achieve it, rather than letting our vision begin and end with a focus on limits and constraints? Let’s start from a vision of what education means, and from a recognition that it is a universal human right. Obviously as a small province New Brunswick can’t do everything, but we need to begin from a position that articulates what we should do, what we want to do, and then work toward that. And in a rush to consolidate and rationalize, let’s not destroy things we are already doing well.

Sorry you are feeling piqued, Dr. Miner. But your report, such as it is, is written. Now go back to Ontario and leave us alone; we are busy dealing with the crisis you’ve created. After we have saved our campus, we will turn our attention to your recommendation that we abandon our responsibilities as educators in favour of a “supply-and-demand” business model. And then, you may be sorry you asked.