I would have flavoured this post with a graphic, but how does one depict visually the deep pride and immense admiration that I feel for those students who just got an A+ in this final examination in personal and social responsibility?
These students and their supporters have been respectful, visible, and very effective reminders of lapsed administrative conscience past which the senior university officers must walk at least twice a day. It should be very difficult for them to look those students in the eyes.
Now that the students have been named publicly in the paper, let me offer my own congratulations to them.
To Rob Lanteigne, Katie Gellatly, who were the organizers, and Andy Saunders who seemed to be there every single day: I hope you are as proud of yourselves as I am of you. There are many, many more who stopped by to offer support and encouragement.
You maintained a non-partisan demand, that both sides return to the bargaining table.
- When someone claimed that both BUFA and the administration had mutually agreed to abandon negotiations until December 3rd, you tested the hypothesis as any scholar might. You drafted a declaration of intent to return immediately to the bargaining table, tracked down the BUFA negotiating team and got the entire team to sign the declaration. You then presented the signed document to senior administration. That was inspired applied research!
- You were persistent when you had the opportunity to question senior administrators who stopped long enough to talk to you.
- You were pro-active in starting a petition and having your fellow students sign it.
I frequently hear colleagues talk about students who "aren't what they used to be," that students today "just can't think critically anymore!" One hears it so often that one begins to wonder if it might be true.And then I discover a rich lode of integrity, intelligent reflection and social responsibility in a group of students like Katie, Rob, and Andy, and I know that my faith in students is in no way misplaced.
2 comments:
I'm just curious as to why, though you have clearly been updating your blog, you still haven't approved my comment from Monday? I think it's odd that you are encouraging students to have a voice, but are suppressing mine because I simply bring to light a reality for many students which you perhaps do not wish to acknowledge because it may seem to clash with your own opinions. The mature thing to do would be to approve the comment and then post your own reply.
If you had previously lost faith in the students of Brock, this incident is making me lose faith in the faculty. You should be encouraging discussion, not avoiding it. I still support BUFA, but I still stand by everything I said in my last comment. You are asking us to consider the stakes for the faculty in this situation, and now I am simply asking you to consider ours.
I, like you, have agonized about the strike and how we were forced to take a position that would have harmed those who we love the most: our students. You have not been alone, I am sure that many others like me found encourgament and strenght by reading your blog. Thank you and sleep tight. It is OK now.... I hope!
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