Harris on the humanities, newspaper quotation

[Kathy Chung]

On Wed, 26 Nov 1997, Andrew Gray wrote:

> I am an English PhD student and I work at the TA union, CUPE 3902.  We did
> some research, and have discovered that the letter from the Queen's
> Professor misquoted his sources.  In fact, we can find no direct reference
> to either the humanities or social sciences in the articles he cites.
> Nonetheless, it is important that we defend ALL post-secondary education
> in Ontario.

I agree!  For your reference, the newspaper article to which I believe
Prof. Sismondo is referring is:

  Armstrong, Jane.  "Premier ducks demonstrators at meeting." _Toronto
     Star_ (20 Nov 1997): A7.

I couldn't find a 21 Nov _Globe_ article but did find one on the day
before referring to the same Council of Ontario Universities meeting:

  Lewington, Jennifer.  "Re more relevant, universities urged."
   _Globe and Mail_ (20 Nov 1997): A8.

I would urge you to go and read the whole articles for yourself instead of
relying on my (subjective) quotation but here are some tidbits:

Armstrong from the _Star_ writes:
---------------------------------

        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 compaines, "like Nortel, are
   scouring the globe to recruit people with the skills they're
   looking for."

Lewington in teh _G&M_ writes:
-----------------------------

       "Decisions must be made about ensuring good value for
   students and taxpayers in their investment in post-
   secondary education," Mr. Harris said at a one-day conference
   on the future of Ontario universities. . . .
      The Premier, in his remarks, gave the universities part
   of what they wanted to hear--the promise of no actual cuts
   to the $1.8-billion post-secondary sector, in contrast
   with the looming cuts of more than $500-million to the
   $14-billion elementary and secondary sector.
      But in an impassioned response to the Premier's speech,
   University of Toronto president Robert Prichard said that
   "Despite deep agreement on the goals [of quality and access
   in higher education], we face a reality which is a very long
   way from the goals we share with you."
     . . . In calling for accountability, efficiency and relevance
   as criteria for measuring performance, Mr. Harris challenged
   the universities to cut programs in which graduates have little
   success of finding work and to expand in areas of shortage
   such as computer science and software engineering.

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