Harris & the Humanities (fwd)

[Kathy Chung]

the last word on the subject?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 1997 16:17:16 -0500 (EST)
From: CUPE 3902 <qp3902 at interlog.com>
To: qp3902 at gpu.utcc.utoronto.ca
Cc: gsunion at chass.utoronto.ca, assu at campuslife.utoronto.ca
Subject: Harris & the Humanities

        (NB.  This message has been blind-copied to most recipients.)

        Dear members in the humanities, geography, and sociology,

        Quite a furour is beginning to arise over some remarks made by the Premier
at a meeting on Wednesday, November 19, which were reported in the press.
For the purpose of any correspondence you wish to engage in on this matter,
I did a little fact-checking.  Here is the background (sources in parentheses):

* * * * * * * * * *

        A meeting took place on November 19 at the Metro Convention Centre, called
the "Chancellor's Summit on the Future of Ontario Universities".  It was
jointly sponsored by Scotiabank and the Council of Ontario Universities.
Invited were "university leaders and community partners".  By "partners",
the COU means the "leading corporations [the universities] have partnerships
with."  (Varsity, November 20.) Premier Harris was a featured speaker.

        On Friday, November 14, the Ministry of Education and Training faxed the
text of Mr. Harris's speech to the "Summit" to the Press and others
including the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Assns (Mark
Rosenfeld, OCUFA).  In it appear the following paragraphs (quoted verbatim):

------------
        Accountability, efficiency, and relevance are important keystones of our
government's measurement system.  We have restructured our own government
operations in order to save hundreds of millions of dollars.
        With our municipal Who Does What exercise we are eliminating duplication in
service delivery that wastes so many millions of taxpayer dollars.  And the
Health Services Restructuring Commission, chaired by Dr. Duncan Sinclair, is
reviewing our province wide-hospital (sic) sector.
By modernizing, updating, and reorganizing our hospital system we will
continue to find the savings that will let our health care system adjust to
new challenges.  All of you have shown determination in confronting the
financial pressures that succeeding governments have challenged you with
this past decade.
        But I ask, is there more that could be done?
        Are there further questions of system-wide service, value, and efficiency
that you yourselves can address?
        Who in the university system will decide to reduce enrolments or close
programs when there are few jobs available in a profession, like certain
professional or PhD programs?  For example, do we need ten PhD progrmas in
geography, or six in sociology?
        Who is responsible for opening or expanding programs in fields where there
are significant shortages, like computer science and software engineering?
        Our govenrment respects the autonomy of universities in our education
system.  But I suggest that there are no avenues for change to rule out as
we face the challenges of the next century.
        We need universities on side as a willing partner in addressing questions
about their future -- questions that, to a large degree, should find their
answers from within the system.
--------------

        Subsequently, Ministry officials claimed that the text faxed to OCUFA was a
"draft", and that not all that appeared in it had been said by Mr. Harris.
When the final text was faxed to OCUFA, the only revision from the draft
version was that the sentence about sociology and geography had been removed.

        Nevertheless, the reporters at the "Summit" were working from the "draft"
(Rosenfeld). Following is how the Star reported his response to a question
about geography and sociology:

-------------
        The Premier issued a challenge to universities to offer programs and
courses ``that are more relevant for the next century.''
        He said some university graduates don't have a hope of ever contributing to
society because the programs they majored in weren't tailored to today's job
market.
        "The universities themselves realize that there are some programs they're
offering, that their graduates are in surplus, and have very little hope of
contributing to society in any meaningful way,'' Harris said.
        At the same time, some companies, "like Nortel, are scouring the globe to
recruit people with the skills they're looking for.''
-------------

        Next day, the Globe reported:

-------------
        The Minister of Education was asked in the legislature to explain what Mr.
Harris meant in a comment he made Wednesday at a conference on the future of
universities.  He had indicated that he sees little value in academic
degrees in geography, sociology and the humanities in general, saying, "The
graduates are in surplus and have very little hope of contributing to
society in any meaningful way."
--------------

        Interestingly, the Varsity had NOTHING to say about Mr. Harris's views of
geography and sociology PhD programmes.

        In any case, it would appear that when the Globe quoted an MPP's question
to the Minister of Education about Mr. Harris's statements ("that he sees
little value in academic degrees in geography, sociology and the humanities
in general). it was, perhaps unintentionally, misinforming the public.  In
fact, Mr. Harris said no such thing.

        What Mr. Harris DID say is bad enough, and much can be made of it.

        I hope this is of use to you.  Copies of the Premier's speech are available
at the office.

--Brian Robinson, Business Agent, CUPE 3902
My Canada includes surplus geographers and sociologists!