Came across

this article by Sean Junor, published in the Globe and Mail this past October, about tuition, student debt, and access to education. The gist of it is that lowering tuition fees does not do much to improve access for students from lower-income families:

Educational opportunities for traditionally underrepresented students such as aboriginals and first generation learners need to be expanded. Jurisdictions would be wise to follow the lead of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation and the governments of Ontario and Canada. They are targeting mainly low-income families and providing non-repayable grants to offset rising education costs. These grants reduce the financial barriers to college or university in two ways: by making attendance more affordable and by affecting early perceptions about whether a realistic opportunity to study even exists.

Junor goes on to outline other areas that need investment, including deferred maintenance and student services, if Canadian post-secondary education is to face the challenges ahead:

In addition, libraries could use a major cash infusion to provide necessary resources for all students and faculty. The intense global competition for faculty will ensure that recruitment and retention initiatives are going to be increasingly important and costly. More faculty members will be required to ensure quality does not slip; class sizes cannot continue to grow or student-faculty interaction will suffer. This means additional graduate students will be required to prime the supply chain.

He ends by saying that the status quo cannot continue. But this time, the words sound new, fresh, and sensible.

 

In related news

University attendance is up, according to CTV: “Universities rising as post-secondary choice: study.”

Come on, Mr. Graham, let’s get with the programme.

 

Are We at War?

Some might be offended by the Masked Cartoonist’s comparison of the PSE dispute with war, feeling that it trivializes the sufferings and sacrifices of war. Some of those who will criticize the comparison will never have been to war, and so are not in a position to make a reasoned comparison. I have been to war, not as an active participant but as a UN observer. I have been shot at many times and, thankfully, missed an equal number of times. I remember talking to my late uncle about the differences between my experiences in peacekeeping and his on the battlefields of Northwest Europe during World War II. The main difference, he told me, was that the bad guys were not actually trying to kill me on a daily basis — something that had been his own portion for many months. That, he assured me, did not make my experience any less of a war. With this in mind, I consider the comparison of the PSE dispute with war to be an acceptable analogy.

Why? There are a number of reasons.

 

I wrote

a most excellent letter to the Globe and Mail, as previously threatened, but they have not seen fit to print it. Our standards here at the blog are not so high:

Elizabeth Church’s “One-stop shopping” unwittingly underscores arguments against the $1.2 million Miner/L’Écuyer report on post-secondary education in New Brunswick. She mentions the range of programmes available to the 18,000 students at Humber College, a range Miner disingenuously implies would be available to the 3,000 students at UNBSJ if we follow his model, decommission the campus and turn it into a “polytechnic” with a fraction of the resources of the behemoths in Ontario. Church then names some of these programmes but many of them require partnerships with universities: just what Saint John, Shippagan and Edmundston won’t have if Premier Graham listens to Miner.

New Brunswickers are not against applied programmes. There is a crying need for them and a simple solution: fix the community colleges. We are against destroying existing campuses and denying students, many from modest backgrounds and the first in their families to go beyond high school, access to university. Some want diplomas while others want degrees. Some want a combination. What no-one wants is to have their lives limited by the whims of corporations. A system that was really “student centred” and not just using that as a slogan would offer choices, not close them off.

Miriam Jones
Saint John, New Brunswick

 

Here’s mine:

 

The Telegraph-Journal

had so many great letters about the PSE today that it didn’t publish mine, so I share it with you now:

Rick Miner’s remarks, quoted by Dave MacLean in “Miner’s Misunderstanding” (24/10/07, C1) are patronizing and misleading. He chillingly dismisses student concerns about access to university education as “screaming.” He says that people reacted badly to the term “polytechnic” because of their lack of awareness and understanding. Even if this were the case, then it was surely up to him to do a little homework about his intended audience. But it is not the case. People are all too aware, for Rick Miner’s comfort, of a number of things: he keeps claiming that a “polytechnic” could offer programmes and degrees in the liberal arts, but the PSEC proposals specifically say that Saint John, at most, would offer the first two years of selected programmes, not the full array of programmes and degrees students currently enjoy. He keeps muddying the waters by mentioning established, well-funded institutions in other countries, when the institution he has proposed for Saint John would be neither: it would be an ill-conceived boondoggle that would provide “just-in-time” job training that would not be recognized outside the province. We don’t in fact have, in Canada, any institutions of the sort he proposes: we have colleges, like Miner’s own Seneca College, and institutions of applied programmes which are affiliated with universities, like l’École Polytechnique de Montréal, which is affiliated with l’Université de Montréal. Dr. Miner seems to think you can rejigger institutions of higher learning to follow the fads. You can’t. They grow and evolve within communities, just as UNBSJ has, and they are part of an international network of mutually recognized, and self-regulating, traditions and practices.

Could we build a technical university, or Polytechnic on the European model, here in New Brunswick? Possibly, with enough funding. But that is the one thing we don’t have. It makes more sense to use our limited resources to modernize the struggling community college system and support our underfunded universities. Then, New Brunswick institutions of higher learning could continue to do what they do best, freed from the tensions and uncertainties of the last months.

Bottom line: Rick Miner is a lobbyist who used $1.2 million of public money to promote an agenda that would benefit his own institution in Ontario. He has played fast and loose with the people of New Brunswick, and in particular, our students.

Nice work if you can get it.

Miriam Jones,
Saint John

 

Another beautiful day

at the Kingston Market, and we collected over 250 postcards. Representatives from the UNBSJ SRC are going to deliver thousands of signed cards to the provincial government on Tuesday. Here are selected comments from the current crop:

• “I remember when they started the University.”
• “UNBSJ gave me my start in 1978 with Dr. Beckett as Registrar.”
• “No way José. Saint John needs this lovely campus … Don’t take more from Saint John, ‘the First City.’”
• “UNB and the city and the people are one. Leave us alone.”
• “Why should the largest city in N.B. not have a university?”
• “Why close one of the few things Saint John has going for it?”
• “Develop Community College but not at expense of our treasure UNBSJ.”
• “Don’t downgrade our one and only university.”
• “We need a university, not a glorified community college.”
• “I think our children should be able to attend UNB in their own city.”
• “If you want another community college, build one on the old Sugar Refinery site uptown.”
• “There are enough empty buildings in Saint John.”
• “You want students to stay in N.B. but if they have to pay $17,000 to go to school they are going to want to leave the province.”
• “Keep our school here for my grandchildren.”
• “Help our children stay home.”
• “My sister goes to UNBSJ and if it changes she’ll have to move to Fredericton and she is a single mother so it isn’t an option.”
• “I could not have afforded to finish my education if not for UNBSJ.”
• “Can’t afford to travel elsewhere.”
• “My whole family attended UNBSJ and didn’t have the money to attend another university away from home.”
• “I would not have a degree without this university.”
• “Hopefully UNBSJ will still be here when it’s my turn to go.”
• “I want to go there.”
• “Too many people are opposed to this … universities were never meant to be corporate entities.”
• “It shouldn’t even be up for discussion.”
• “Don’t be foolish.”
• “I can’t believe this ridiculous idea was even suggested.”
• “Disgusting. Shawn Graham should be ashamed.”
• “Don’t do what you will regret in the future.”
• “Don’t destroy a good thing.”
• “Keep it!”
• “What are you thinking? I can’t believe you would even think of supporting a proposal like this!!”
• “Why close something when it’s good?”

 

The masked cartoonist isn’t playing around

 

Selected comments from

the petition:

• “Why is it that Saint John always draws the short stick? They would never dream of doing something so foolish in Moncton or Fredericton. Why not expand the community college to include a Polytechnic?”
• “Although university is not for everyone, it is everything to a lot of people!”
• “[M]any [students], despite opportunities elsewhere, intend …[t]o work here and to live here. If you shut the door of this university, you are in effect telling these students that they were mistaken, and their futures must lie elsewhere.”
• “The government would better spend its time on job creation than on fixing ‘what ain’t broken’ in the university system in the province.”
• “A university is a place where ideas are explored for their own sake. In a place where the economy and media is controlled by so few it is one of the few places where free thinking is encouraged.”
• “I am a mature student attending on a part time basis. If you continue with this process I have no other option but to complete my degree online thru another school out of province. I lose my quality education and you lose my money.”
• “If private business in NB wants a Polytechnic Institute then let them spend their own money & build it somewhere else!”
• This whole proposal has me on edge everyday, to think that next year I might have to leave the city that I love so much because of ‘PROGRESS?’ More like progressing UNBSJ students out of Saint John.”
• “This is not only a slap in the face to the people of our region, but to all Canadians. It is not only the right but indeed the duty of citizens to stand up and say ‘no’ when misguided policies are put forth - political leaders are not infallible, and one could easily commission many so-called ‘independent’ reports (at a cost of $1.2 million to the taxpayers) to endorse any pre-cooked cockeyed idea at all. The closure of UNBSJ benefits very few, and is not in the interest of New Brunswick or Canada. We are not living in a dictatorship; we have the right to say no. Let us do that.”
• “Most cannot send their children to other cities as the cost of room and board let alone tuition and transportation are exorbitant. Single parents raising children will be left with no other alternative but to go into debt in order to achieve adequate education for their children. $6,000 per year in Saint John compared to $24,000 per year in Fredericton or Halifax, well you do the math.”
• “Don’t do this to us please”

 

Bricklin Polytechnic PR

 

Why should the Masked Cartoonist have all the fun?

 

Elitism

Have been meaning for some time to write a grousing post about the charges of “elitism” that one hears reported, but Suzanne Kingston, who just signed the petition (#2,263), put it much more succinctly:

It is important that a university education is accessible to all people who live in this region. The people who will be most effected by the elimination of UNBSJ are people who simply cannot afford to go to university away from home. If UNBSJ were gone, youth from economically well off homes who want to go to university will likely still go to university - away from home - they will carry outrageous levels of debt but they will still go - the investment is worth it. For others university education will simply not be a possibility. In a city with a child poverty rate of 25% (that is 1 in 4 kids) does this proposal really make any sense??? It is irresponsible! The supporters of UNBSJ have been accused of being elitist - those making this accusation need to look in the mirror.

 

Another excellent letter

Honestly, if these letters don’t move them, I don’t know what could. Here is Roni Myers’ letter to Ed Doherty. (If you send letters, I would love to have a link or a copy to post here).

 

Kingston Market

Another successful day talking to people at the Kingston market. We collected almost 250 postcards. Thought I’d read them before handing them over. Here are some highlights:

• “Gordon Fairweather is right!”
• “Education is more than training.”
• “Consumerism is not citizenship. The mind is not a cog in the machine.”
• “The uncertainty is or can be disastrous.”
• “We fought long and hard to get a branch of UNB in the Port City. We’ll fight equally to keep it. Nothing wrong with a Polytechnic but it must be distinct and separate.”
• “Fought too hard to get a university.”
• “If it isn’t broke don’t fix it.”
• “Listen!”
• “Hear the people! Don’t decide abruptly!”
• “Very stupid idea!”
• “Unthinkable!”
• “This is crazy.”
• “No way!”
• “Give your head a shake!”
• “Think again!”
• “Don’t Do It! It’s not Right!”
• “Don’t Do It!”
• “This is a ridiculous idea. MIT is not a polytech school.”
• “BIG MISTAKE!! NO ———NO”
• “Where are the people with common sense and wisdom?”
• “I do not approve of this happening.”
• “I do not think this should happen. As a taxpayer I think it is awful.”
• “Totally unacceptable to eliminate the university especially with the advent of a medical school and S.J. becoming an energy hub.”
• “Build your own Poli-tech!”
• “Make NBCC a ‘Polytech’.”
• “Higher education is the only reason I stayed in SJ. If we lose higher education I will leave for my children’s future.”
• “Our children’s educational future is at stake.”
• “Clue in. I want the university to be there for my kids.”
• “We need our students to remain here in Saint John.”
• “We need our university for our children. Keep them home!”
• “I chose UNBSJ over Fredericton for the campus size and quality of education. I moved to Saint John and settled here after graduation.”
• “I graduated at UNBSJ with my nursing degree. If I had not attended UNBSJ I would have left the city to practice Nursing elsewhere. Due to UNBSJ I am now working full time in Saint John!”
• “UNBSJ is a critical component of what makes Saint John an attractive place to live and work — keep it here.”
• “Having family members who attended U.N.B. & grandchildren starting hope degree granting will still be available.”
• “Keep UNBSJ. Update Com. College Progs. Both are needed side by side.”

Now these next two are both unconfirmed, but I can report that I hold here in my hand a postcard from someone purporting to be an administrator in admissions for the new medical school, which says, “I won’t be considering applications form a Polytechnic when I am considering applications to our new medical school!” and another signed with the name of a well-known Grit lawyer with a journalistic bent, which simply says, “Ed, call me.”

There were also, those of you who have been working on this campaign will be happy to hear, several postcards that offered us thanks and support.

The prize, though, for cutting to the chase, goes to the person who wrote, “Lose UNB — Lose my vote.”

Quite.

 

Selected comments from

the Online Petition, in answer to the question, “Why is this issue important to you?”:

• “As someone from a low economic background the idea of attending university would never have presented itself to me if it was not here in the city. Neither of my parents finished high school. Attending university is not something taken for granted in all households. If you take away the university in Saint John you take away not only the oppurtunity to attend but even the dream of attending.”
• “If it was not for UNBSJ I would have never been able to attend university. I obtained a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in 2005 from UNBSJ. I also garnered my Master of Arts from UNBSJ in 2006. I am currently attending the University of Calgary to complete a Doctorate Degree. UNBSJ was the only option for me and my family. I was a local resident who could not afford to attend a university elsewhere. As well, being a single mother I wanted the stability and support of my family, as well as the local community when I attend university.”
• “As an alumni and life long resident of Saint John I am embarrassed to think that we elected a politician (Shawn Graham) that would dispose of one of our most valued assets. … What do you want to sell next Mr. Graham - UNB itself?”
• “We can’t put all our eggs in one basket, that’s never a good idea!!!”
• “Demonstration of crass anti-intellectualism and the prioritization of narrow minded business interests.”
• “We need it to learn,I want to be a nurse if that’s gone I’ll have to be a banker or something!”
• “Because I want to go to university so I don’t end up working at the Dollarama”
• “my school & my home… if I wanted to go to fredericton, i would’ve applied there!!!!”

 

Impact of local universities

Students who grew up within 40 kilometres of a university were 73% more likely to attend university than students who grew up more than 80 kilometres away and 45% more likely to attend than students who grew up from 40 to 80 kilometres from a university.

from “If you build it, they will come: The impact of new universities on local youth,” Statistics Canada. Via Morrie Mendelson.

 

New feature: selected comments from

the Online Petition, in answer to the question, “Why is this issue important to you?”:

• “This is going to be the end of this city. Its going to become a toxic wasteland of ignorance and pollution without the university.”
• “My husband is a graduate. My son is in his 4th year. My daughter is a candidate for enrollment in 2008. Iplan to attend when I’m 65. What kind of a silly notion is this?????”
• “Are they really trying to make Saint John, N.B. a ghost town.”
• “I am a single mother who is trying to set a good example for my son, by improving my life, and showing him that no matter what the obstacle that it is important to get your education. I feel that if you shut down the Saint John university, you are taking this lesson away from my son, as well as, the chance for me to finish what I had started! If they shut the university in Saint John down, I can not afford to go to the Fredericton campus to finish my degree and, therefore, have wasted the last two years of my education process as well as 16,000.00 in student loans! If the government wants people to stay in Saint John, or even New Brunswick for that matter, then don’t show them by shutting down the one chance we have to better ourselves!”
• “The issue really is that our Community College programs as administered by our provincial government have been left under funded, and generally under resourced for far too long a period and that the need has moved from the chronic condition to an acute stage.”
• “What is the government smoking??”
• “Why is this issue important to me? DUH !!! Education should be a universal right, everywhere. Saint Johners don’t deserve to lose their university.It’s just…not…right. Not ok.”
• “I am truly disappointed in those who speak for Saint John who seem to have not raised any objection to the potential repercussions of this proposal.”
• “I have my reasons.”

 

Oh the irony

Students told to “stay put.” Meanwhile, Shawn Graham is showing them the door.

 

Okay, so here’s the latest:

A UNBSJ faculty member and a student representative were invited to Harbour View High School to present information to a school assembly this morning, but before the visit they were informed by an embarrassed staff that the assembly had been cancelled, from somewhere on high, one presumes. Now if SJ high school teachers and students and aren’t “stakeholders” in the future of the university campus, I don’t know who is.

We are concerned that our academic freedom would be threatened under some of the proposed changes, but the problem of freedom of speech, and freedom to information, is obviously a lot more widespread.

Update (22/9/07): There is a story about the incident today in the Telegraph-Journal. Apparently the cancellation was the result of protocols for visits not having been followed.

Further update: Some unverified information about a group of students was posted here yesterday which turns out to have been unfounded and has now been removed. Apologies for any confusion it caused.