disappointments…….
Hi Gang….
This is my first posting, so bear with me if my usual acerbic wit and nasty satire are a bit muted. But I am absolutely disappointed at (1) the outcome of the bargaining between the Faculty Union at Queen’s and the university’s new and insecure administration. There’s a three-year deal out there that fails to address several issues that require immediate attention. Two of these items are the merit question and the mandatory retirement issue. Both have big implications for a university that already has a faculty morale problem, and, more important, lacks the faculty cohort #s to do justice to our ever-enlarging corporate mission. Liberal arts just took another de facto hit, as programs in arts and science require direct student-faculty interaction. The lecture courses are getting larger, the professoriat is shrinking, technological fixes loom on the horizon. More to come on this one, shortly–and feel free to e-mail me on it at smithgs@post.queensu.ca
The other item this fine spring afternoon concerns the Federal Liberal sponsorship program in Quebec, ostensibly created to save Canada from the separatists, but now quite clearly a way for selected Liberal Party members to line their pockets with kickbacks. What were these people who got involved in this harebrained scheme thinking? What does this episode tell us about the politics we must embrace in Ottawa? Does Liberal fiscal mendacity warrant another election? Are there other lessons to be learned or connections to be made on risk-and-awareness issues in our time? Yes, there is another op-ed on the horizon, entitled “What were they thinking: what should we think”.
Finally, as a coda, the neighbourhood is looking cleaner after my editorial in the Kingston Whig-Standard last Saturday. The potholes are still there and will probably be there into the early summer, if not for the duration. (God can’t we take all of our touted expertise and move away from a petroleum-based economy?) But there are still a lot of pockets of garbage, especially in ghetto areas bounded by fast-food emporiums. Would that the latter send minions into Kingston to pick up their detritus……there are some things we can do….go to Constructive Journalism on the website to pick up on, “Yup, It’s Spring in Kingston.”
Oh yes, have a grand weekend. Get outside, enjoy that sun, breathe that air, and be thankful for the little things! 16:20 15 April 2005