Editor, the Gauntlet,
Re: "Calgary nowhere near world class," Sept. 4, 2003,
I would like to respond to Kristopher Foster's Sept. 4 letter regarding the qualities of a world class city by extending some of his criteria to the University of Calgary.
What is a world-class university? A world-class university is one with a broad vision: to acknowledge and celebrate diversity, culture, dissidence, inquiry and knowledge in all forms and disciplines. A university is a conglomerate of the finest wisdom of human society. It is where art and ideas emerge, flourish and are challenged. A world-class university is a holistic learning/researching/teaching environment where diverse fields of knowledge are studied, respected and revered.
The medieval philosopher Cassiodorus realized the interconnected nature of education when he included grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic and music together in his curriculum of "The Seven Liberal Arts." World class universities rely on a diversity of expertise to enrich the lives of professors, students and communities.
And world-class universities realize the importance of the arts (visual, fine arts, music and dance) in that equation.
The University of Calgary is not a world-class university.
When world-class universities need to raise funds, they don't cut $600,000 from the operating budget of the Fine Arts department. They don't fire 14 Fine Arts staff members without notice, then post seven job openings on the university website the next day. They don't decrease availability of art courses by cutting back on the number of sections offered or eliminating courses altogether. They don't act in secret, in summer, when no one is around to see their cowardly behaviour and protest the changes. World-class universities value their professors and rarely do these prominent world-class academics resign in frustration.
Universities are about, or should be about, people. A university attracts world-class professors, students and researchers because of its academic culture, not because it sports a new ICT Building or programs that bring in industry/corporate funding (wealthier faculties like Engineering and Management).
The elusive and secretive "Academic Plan" of our president seems to be moving this institution towards a technical academy existing to meet the needs, and benefit from the profits, of industry. That field is already occupied by the likes of SAIT and DeVry and is not the purpose of a university. A university is more well-rounded and far-sighted than that.
Unfortunately, this university tends to reflect the small-town mentality that is Calgary. As Kristopher Foster mentioned, Calgary is a cultureless whitewashed void, "centered solely around the petroleum-junky." If a university is a reflection of the society around it, then it's clear the U of C is anything but "world class."
Comments
I am sooo tired of hearing about how much Calgary sucks, and for that matter how much the UofC sucks. I grew up spending many, many days at UofC, which in turn shaped my ideas of what I thought university was going to be like. Well needless to say I was very dissapointed when I moved away from home to pursue what I thought would be a signifigantly better education. Your education is what you make of it - U of C may not be perfect, but their emerging pattern of cutting programs in the arts and focusing on faculties and programs that bring in dollars is not unique in North America, let alone Canada. Be thankful that you do not attend a law school named after the Anheuser-Busch company such as those who attend Washington University in St. Louis do.
Newsflash: U of C is never going to be Harvard, Yale, Stanford, nor will it probably ever be a U of T, but don't think for a second that schools like either UofT or Queen's don't care about where their business program is ranked by US News because that would be extremely naive. It is these MBA programs with tuitions around $30,000 a year that bring in money for the university, and corporate sponsorship. Thank god the MBA has a shelf life of about 6 years!
In addition, your claims about Calgary being small minded and culturally void are hard to take seriously. I hope you soon realize that it is a matter of personal resonsibility in our society to educate one's self and to not rely on the mainstream or popular culture. Please do not fall back on your perceived shortcomings of Calgary (which you seem to think are only applicable to Calgary) for your lack of cultural fulfillment. I've heard this rhetoric many times before and quite frankly it is tired and unsubstantiated.Go to Pages in Kensington, pick up the new Michael Ignatieff, or Margaret Atwood, or Harper's or ADBUSTERS or whatever - just be proactive in your own education.
Sure Calgary is reliant on oil and gas, and is obviously in many ways a company town, but would you criticize Bay Street lawyers and investment bankers the same way you do the Calgary oil and gas industry? Explain to me how one is more virtuous than the other.
And yes, maybe the nightlife is not comparable to Robson Street, or bar hopping in SoHo, but not every city can be a New York. This said though, Calgary is a beautiful and welcoming city. It has an extremely high quality of life when compared with other cities of its size and it is a place people move TO. I take it you are only in school now, but if you ever work in corporate Calgary I would be interested to see your reaction when you discover how many people have moved to the city because of what it had to offer.
So I implore you to inform yourself. Do you know what other cities that house "world class universities" are like? The Johns Hopkins University hospital (ranked #1 in the U.S.) is in such a dangerous neighbourhood of Baltimore that the few medical students qualified to go there often have to weigh the possibility of being shot while on their way to school. Or Yale - have you been to New Haven CT? Would you argue that Yale University is a direct reflection of its environment? I should hope not. Of course, some universities like Carlton or Georgetown are in a special position because of their proximity to government policy makers and activists, and in this case those programs that can use this relationship benefit greatly from it, but obviously not every university has that luxury. In Calgary's case, the proximity is one that is close to oil and gas - this has boosted the growth of not only the management and engineering programs, but also of such areas as natural resource law.
I am not arguing that U of C is perfect - no university is, and no one should expect their institution to actively fulfill all their needs. It is the job of university to teach you how to learn, so that you will be curious about the world. To perhaps enhance my legitimacy, I have taken a class at UofC and I was very familiar with a certain popular line of thought that has become all too easily labelled as "Albertan" . But I also sit in class all day with what appear to be independantly wealthy 21 year olds from North Toronto, whose ideas are identical, if not located a little further right of the stereotypical Calgarian. It is only because they call right wing "liberal" in these parts that they continue to believe that they can connect with "the little guy". Imagine ME, an Albertan, whose family welfare depends on the energy business, playing the part of social activist - UNHEARD OF! Right? Ok, so this is perhaps off-topic, but my point is that you cannot lay blame on Calgary as a city for what you see wrong with the university, nor should you be so uninformed to underestimate the challenges that ALL universities face, not just UofC.