Well, in less than 400 words the editorial board at the TJ thinks it has summed up and shown the case against the Libs’ “Action Plan” as illogical. Yes, that’s how it’s done all right.
Let’s begin with the allegation that AUNBT bases its case on an “appeal to tradition: universities have always been run this way and always must be.”
In fact, in New Brunswick, like elsewhere in the western world, universities have changed markedly in the last 125 years. Why, we now have women in the classroom and women behind the lectern. There are also people of colour and aboriginal people in the same places studying subjects that were not offered traditionally. It’s been some time since universities expanded beyond the law and religion to offer science and the professions-to a diverse student body. The fact that there is a university in Saint John is also indicative of the way in which universities have changed. Many cities in Canada and the United States witnessed the expansion of opportunities in post-secondary education during the 1960s. The editors have not done their homework… but then doing so would not allow them to generalize and make unfounded conclusions.
Next the editors move on to “the appeal to fear: if universities have to draw up five-year strategic plans and meet performance targets, students and professors will leave, and the universities will start to collapse.”
Talk about hyperbole and faulty logic! It seems that the editors at the TJ are ill informed about how universities work - at least how institutions that aspire to be recognized as universities work. As indicated in the AUNBT position paper, the Supreme Court of Canada has deliberated on, and confirmed, the necessity of autonomy and academic freedom to the very identity of a university. Apparently, the views of the Supreme Court are of no consequence to the editors at the TJ. There is no doubt that the buildings will remain - and it will probably appear as if the post-Action Plan institutions are the same as those we have today - but they will be very different and it is uncertain whether they will be recognized as universities by the constituencies that allocate research monies to university faculty, hire university graduates, or accredit professional programs. Will faculty and students leave? Some will, some won’t. Will those who remain have access to the same kind of education that other Canadians have? No.
Taking the easy route, the editors then state that faculty “appeal to emotion: universities are under attack - save UNBSJ/UNB/STU/UdeM/Mount A! “
I, for one, don’t recall any university other than UNBSJ being under attack. I saw no evidence of faculty at UNBF or STU or MtA mounting a SAVE UNBF campaign etc. Moreover, the editors are dismissing the very real threat to the existence of UNBSJ by insinuating that faculty at all New Brunswick institutions saw their institutions as at risk. In any event, the AUNBT position paper does not mention any institution but UNB by name.
And then, without a shred of evidence, the editors state: “Faculty seem to be confusing cause with effect. New Brunswick’s universities are already collapsing, which is why the government has gotten involved.
Public universities are suffering from declining enrolment, tens of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance, and programs that aren’t always nationally competitive. For students, the results have been abysmal.”
Since when do the ebbs and flows of running an institutions signal imminent collapse? I cannot comment on the situation at all New Brunswick universities, or the views of all NB graduates, but I doubt that they see their experience as “abysmal.” My son, for example, completed a BA at UNB and has a job he enjoys, at a competitive salary-in Calgary! Perhaps if there is dissatisfaction among students it has less to do with their studies at “the university” than it does with the fact that they borrow heavily to attend university and then, if they stay in this province, they can’t get a job that will allow them to repay these loans and still have a decent standard of living. Perhaps the TJ would like to do some investigative reporting on what really happens to the graduates of our PSE system regardless of what institution of higher learning is attended. What are the enrolment stats at NBCC? MtA? and so on… These numbers are usually available online - at least for the universities which are more transparent in their behaviour than some would have us believe. It just takes some digging to find the info.
Real research might also be advised before waxing poetic on the “poor results” of our university system. Everyone wants to talk about accountability and quality assurance, but when it comes to actually following their own dicta, the editors at the TJ fall short. Again, there is a mountain of info measuring the accomplishments of our universities-especially on the accomplishments of faculty, some of whom do work on arcane topics, but then where would Jack Keir and Co. be if Albert Einstein hadn’t had a series of academic appointments allowing him to “be” the theoretical genius who developed mathematical models to predict the behaviour of subatomic particles. Interestingly enough Princeton University employed Einstein for some 25 years while he worked on the Unified Field Theory, or as some have called it, the theory of everything. He produced a number of formula, but the experimental proof needed to validate them still eludes scientists - many of whom are employed by universities to continue the work begun by Einstein. Twenty-five years and counting with no practical results! I’d like to think that this type of research–whether in theoretical physics or Early English literature, for example, could be pursued at our universities.
Well, you say, not all academics are Albert Einstein. No kidding. But it is only through having the freedom to pursue research, unfettered by the demands of the state, that academics have the potential to aspire to similar accomplishments. By the way, Einstein had to combat the anti-intellectual forces of the day, defending his theories against nay-sayers, and ultimately leaving his homeland when the National Socialist Party came to power.
Perhaps now I’m being dramatic, but then that is what is required when conversing with the editors of the TJ .
Penni Stewart, the new president of CAUT, has a most pertinent piece, “Towards a New Coalition Movement in Higher Education,” in the most recent CAUT Bulletin. Here are some highlights:
