Archive for academia
“A Disaster Not Waiting to Happen”
This is the excellent title of Andrew Petter’s Vancouver Sun article explaining how recent federal education policy has been undermining universities throughout Canada. The subheading is similarly right on:
A new report from Canada’s auditor general reveals that the federal program represented as a measured effort to reduce international student numbers instead produced a shockwave — destabilizing post-secondary institutions, damaging Canada’s global reputation and hitting B.C. particularly hard.
Both my former home and my current one have been hit hard, with very large layoffs (more seem to be on the way, alas).
This country’s international student program [had] been a quiet success story — supporting institutional excellence, strengthening communities and projecting Canadian values abroad. …
The dramatic rise in international enrolments during the past decade was no accident. Federal and provincial governments actively encouraged it. Federally, international students were seen as drivers of economic growth and a vital source of future skilled labour. …
The auditor general’s findings reveal a program rollout that was deeply flawed. What was represented as a measured effort to reduce international student numbers instead produced a shock wave — destabilizing post-secondary institutions, damaging Canada’s global reputation and hitting B.C. particularly hard.
Here’s the Auditor General’s troubling report in full:
My old school
The mysterious absences and then the firing of Kwantlen Polytechnic University‘s just-hired President, Dr. Bruce Choy, has increased anxiety among faculty, staff, and leadership already shaken by Wednesday’s announcement of new layoffs.
The latest round of layoffs comes as the Kwantlen continues to grapple with declining international enrolment that has contributed to a “sharp decline in revenue.” KPU has campuses in Surrey (largest), Richmond, Cloverdale and Langley. In fiscal year 2026, KPU reported international student enrolment fell by nearly 4,500, compared to fiscal year 2024 when the federal government capped the number of student visas being issued. … As a result, KPU made a number of cuts in administration, faculty and union positions, while also freezing overtime and discretionary spending.
My old union has some serious questions about all of this.
It will be no hayride for the person who becomes Kwantlen’s *next* president!
Winter term
I am really looking forward to this term, to teaching “Information Gathering,” a new class for me. It’s essentially a course in investigative journalism. The course description:
The information used to develop communications materials comes from many sources. Students research and evaluate information from print and electronic records, databases, and interviews. They examine issues relating to how information is gathered, stored, retrieved, and disseminated. Students enhance their creative and critical thinking skills through finding and evaluating information.
Right down my alley!
I am grateful for the opportunities University Canada West has given me.
Some meaning
I’m lucky I’ve been able to extend my teaching career a bit, at University Canada West, after taking Kwantlen‘s retirement buy-out. My two advanced professional communications classes this term are really wonderful. A special bonus is that one of the classes starts at 8AM on Monday morning.
It was a good day.
I received another royalty cheque yesterday. The textbook Dave Ingre and I wrote has been in print and in continuous use for almost nine years. That’s a long time for a textbook.
My fall classes at University Canada West have been lovely. Going into this week I had been in quite a funk, but my two classes earlier this week revived my spirits. My students rescue the best in me.
Fall classes
I have two at UCW, including a Monday morning 8AM weekly gathering, starting tomorrow. Having students to guide and teach is a most profound blessing.
Teaching
Nothing focuses the mind like the knowledge you have to walk into a class and stand in front of your students. Three or thirty, the sense of heightened anticipation and the need for ardent preparation are the same.
LeAnne Flaherty
A few days ago I had the good fortune to chat (via Skype) with advanced undergraduate students at Brooklyn College. Our topic was “parapsychology.” The gifted and nimble instructor of Psych 3585 was LeAnne Flaherty, who was a student in that same class the last time I was invited (by my genius brother-in-law Frank Grasso).
It is such a good class and important topic to study and discuss.
The syllabus says, “Students in parapsychology will learn and practice the concepts and methods of critical thinking used in the science of psychology. Parapsychology is a branch of empirical psychology that has made controversial and not widely accepted claims about the nature of the human mind and human mental abilities. … Through the critical examination of the peer-reviewed parapsychology literature and lectures on the history and methods of parapsychology, students will develop the background knowledge and use skills psychological scientists and scholars use to judge the evidence for extraordinary scientific claims.”
This is a superb way to teach some of the most important things you need to learn at university: critical thinking, the scientific method, and intelligently and ethically communicating findings and argument across disciplines and cultures. …
Brooklyn College knows how to do it right. Thank you to Leanne Flaherty for the invitation and to her students for being so involved and amazing.
LeAnne passed away a few weeks ago. Her friend Daniella wrote on the GoFundMe page she set up for LeAnne: “We all loved Lea so much and will miss her terribly. Let’s carry on her spirit of love, kindness, and silliness in our hearts as a way to keep part of her with us, and to help navigate a world that can be so unfair and difficult.”
I found LeAnne to be a charming and generous and truly friendly person – a terrific colleague, too. I liked her very much. And I could see how much her students loved and admired her.
She was still young. This really hurts.
American scholars move north
Brynn Tannehill writes on Twitter this morning:
I’m going to break my personal rule about not posting on Twitter anymore because I need to get out this warning: Timothy Snyder (On Tyranny) and Jason Stanley (How Fascism Works) have left the US. I’m on my way out too. The experts know what this is.
She links to Leiter Reports:
Jason Stanley (philosophy of language, epistemology, political philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, has accepted a senior offer from the University of Toronto, where he will be three-quarters in the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and one-quarter in the Department of Philosophy. Professor Stanley tells me the primary reason was the deteriorating political situation in the United States, with the capitulation of Columbia University sealing his decision. (The well-known Yale historian Timothy Snyder has already moved to the Munk School as well.)
The arguments in Jason Stanley’s “How Fascism Works,” from 2018, were persuasive, and his exposition of history was plain as day.
2025
Next year, at summer’s end, I will be retiring from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. I will remain open to other contract opportunities elsewhere after that, but this will be it for me as a full-time prof. The decision conveys my acceptance that I am just not the marvellous teacher I used to be: The oil in my olive is no longer extra-virgin, and my students and I share fewer and fewer references in culture and in history.
A friend wrote me earlier: “Give a special mindfulness to every day in the classroom. These years that defined you will no longer be your lifescape. You are a teacher and took that as a trade and an obligation quite seriously and you got a lot of joy from it. Just savour all the days between now and when you’re over the wall.” I will.
Happy American Thanksgiving!
Even though I live in Canada, there is no holiday more meaningful to me than American Thanksgiving, having been raised south of here. I always obey the name, and spend the day reflecting in gratitude.
Today will likely be the last time I teach a first-year class at Kwantlen. I was assigned this class by surprise right before this semester started. It was a fun challenge getting back up to speed! These students form such a delightfully keen and courteous group. I’m grateful for the opportunity to stand in front of them one last time.
“Since I Been Down”
The woman who sat next to me on the train from Olympia to Seattle this weekend directed this terrific documentary.
Apropos
My colleagues and I at The Spectrum – the University at Buffalo’s student newspaper – published a special issue in May 1979 to commemorate the demonstrations and police presence that took over the university at the beginning of that decade. We republished this searing editorial, written by Linda Hanley, from February 1970:
The work international students must do in B.C.
Several years ago my late Kwantlen colleague Arley McNeney organized a class project in which her students presented research on the challenges international students at our school face. I was embarrassed when I read their report; I had been so clueless, about so much, regarding the lives of my own students. I was particularly alarmed by the report’s findings illustrating how many international students faced continual food insecurity. There were additional widespread problems these students face, including precarious living situations (usually far away from a KPU campus) and abusive work environments.
This week The Tyee published what can be read as an update of the report prepared by Arley’s class: “Cash Cows and Cheap Labour: The Plight of International Students.” One disquieting theme: Students recruited internationally were shocked by how many hours they needed to work outside of school simply to survive in Canada. One study surveyed
1,300 international students at Langara and the College of New Caledonia in Prince George. They found the vast majority of students were working, and many were struggling. Only 28 per cent of surveyed Langara students said they had enough cash to meet their basic needs.
In theory, international students need to show they have the financial means to support themselves for one year in Canada. Since the early 2000s, that figure has been set at tuition, travel costs and $10,000 in cash. The federal government has recently announced that figure will double to $20,635.
But McCartney said the government likely knew for years that the $10,000 threshold was far too little to make ends meet, especially in cities like Vancouver, where the cost of a vacant rental unit stood at $2,373 a month as of last year.
The result was that students, either by plan or by necessity, found jobs. …
“At the end of the day, I think that we all believe students shouldn’t have to work 40 hours a week to pay for their rent, their groceries, their food. I wish that was the reality,” Chirino said. “But when you look at their fees and how much they have to pay, that simply isn’t feasible.”
At least 90% of my international students have jobs, very often more than one job. But it is not rare for me to hear growling stomachs in the classroom.
A couple of weeks ago, our university president, Alan Davis, wrote an open letter to the university community on this topic:
We have done significant work to improve the experience for international students in the past few years, but we also heard what you said [in a recent large survey] and there is more to do….
This won’t be an easy road. The federal and provincial governments are taking a close look at international education and some of the changes they are making or might propose could have a significant impact on KPU. While we’ve been gradually increasing the diversity of our international student population and we’ve seen a softening of international enrolment, the emerging external factors provide additional complexity in forecasting future trends.
Our annual student satisfaction survey repeatedly shows a higher proportion of our international students have more positive views of KPU than domestic students across several important metrics, including supporting student success and feeling part of the community. We have some strong foundations, but we will build on them in a careful and considerate way.
The right tone and focus, I think
From my university’s president just now:
Colleagues,
The events this past weekend in Israel and Palestinian-territories have been profoundly disturbing. While we respect the right of Palestinian people to address legitimate grievances as well as Israel’s right to defend itself, indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians is unconscionable.
Undoubtedly, some of you will have been deeply affected by these events. The following supports are available to the KPU community.
For students:
- TELUS Health Student Support app provides KPU students with unlimited, free, 24-hour access to trained counsellors available in several different languages in addition to other wellness resources and information.
- KPU Counselling Services are available online or by phone for students. Please visit us online to book an appointment or for more information.
- KPU Student Resources ‘Quick Guide’ – a quick guide to online information and resources for all KPU students.
For employees:
- Homewood Health, KPU’s Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP) provider, is available to help with counselling and other services.
During these periods of global upheaval, please take time to think about those around you: your colleagues, your students, your friends and your family. Please support those in need and encourage them to seek assistance.
Comments off
“Orange Shirt Day” in Canada
My colleague Seema Ahluwalia of Kwantlen‘s Sociology department has given me permission to share this:
The Kwantlen Faculty Association (KFA) acknowledges the underlying title and inherent rights of self-determination of Indigenous peoples, and our presence as uninvited guests in the traditional and unceded territories of the xwmƏθkwəyə̓ m (Musqueam), qi̓ cə̓ y̓ (Katzie), SEYMONE (Semiahmoo), scə̓ waθən (Tsawwassen), qiqéyt (Qayqayt), and kwikwəƛə̓ m (Kwikwetlem); and qw̓ ɑ:nƛ̓ ə̓ n̓ (Kwantlen) Peoples.
The truth is we must learn from and alongside Indigenous Peoples in order to make things right.
September 30 was chosen as “Orange Shirt Day” by Indigenous people in 2013 to commemorate and honor the survivors of The Indian Residential School System (IRSS) and those who never returned home. At this time of year, over the course of more than 100 years, Indigenous children were forced to return to IRSS institutions where they were targeted for indoctrination and torture organized by the Canadian state to weaken and destroy Indigenous nations. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) recommended that the Canadian government establish a statutory holiday so that Canadians may never forget the history and ongoing legacy of the IRSS. September 30 is now also Canada’s National Day of Truth and Reconciliation.
In solidarity with Indigenous Peoples, we mourn the loss of the children who did not make it home and honor the courageous survivors and their allies who worked for decades to break the walls of silence and denial surrounding the IRSS. On this day of solemn reflection, we acknowledge that racism and religious persecution were used to dispossess Indigenous peoples of their territories, and that we must educate ourselves about the ongoing and current impacts of colonization and genocide on Indigenous peoples. We must do the urgent work of ending systemic racism by engaging in a meaningful process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples that leads to decolonization.
Many Indigenous leaders have warned that “reconciliation” has stalled and advised that Indigenous perspectives must be employed to understand the critical issues impacting Indigenous peoples. Canadians must ask ourselves how we are holding our governments, associations, and ourselves accountable for the work that must be done and transform our talk into action.
On September 30, we encourage Canadians to learn, reflect, and act.
Here are some resources that you may find useful:
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: 94 Calls to Action
Calls to Action Accountability: A 2022 Status Update on Reconciliation
Semiahmoo First Nation 3rd Annual Walk for Truth & Reconciliation: Sept 30, 2023
National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: Lunch and Learn Webinars, Sept 25 – 29
Sign CLC’s petition “Justice for First Nations’, Inuit, and Metis is Long Overdue”
BCFED Reconciliation Plan Framework
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION: CUPE TAKING ACTION THROUGH COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
UFCW: Indigenous Rights and the Workplace Bargaining Guide
Support Services and Resources:
Indian Residential School Survivors’ Society: Toll-Free Line 1 800 721 0066
Indian Residential School Crisis Line: (604) 985-4464
Hope For Wellness: Toll-Free Line 1 (855) 242-3310
Metis Crisis Line: 1 (833) 638-4722
KUU-US Crisis Line: 1 800 588 8717
Tsow-Tun-Le Lum: 1 866 925 4419
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