Viewpoint

University's 'corporate agenda' cause for professors' concern

Whose University is This?

By Chary Rangacharyulu & Ed Tymchatyn

“The training of men and women transcends in value and interest all the other activities of a university. Buildings are but shelters, laboratories but tools, and money the elusive assistant of the men and women who teach and are taught.” – Walter Murray, 1927, first U of S President

Chary

The U of S administration has abandoned this University’s traditional focus on providing superlative undergraduate education in favour of a corporate agenda. It is changing fundamentally the way this University serves its public and it is doing this without proper consultation.

It is our impression that the administration fails to release financial and employment information that has traditionally been in the public domain. Without this information, the public and the campus community cannot begin to fathom the effects of the changes the administration has made.

Tymchatyn

What information the University administration has released in its annual report is suspicious. The University’s financial statements, as shown on page 39 of the 2003-04 U of S annual report, reviewed by the provincial auditor, shows that the administration has overstated actual expenditures by 24 million dollars (257 versus 233 million dollars). Meanwhile, senior administrators talk of “structural deficits”. Are they credible?

The taxpayers who fund this public institution are entitled to know how their money is being spent. What are we to think? That it is it going into some people’s pockets? Is it funding pet projects? Or being squandered on computer systems that don’t work? Remember, we haven’t had a full disclosure of the university’s statistics since the 1999-2000 academic year. That is because, according to the University’s Institutional Analysis office, they cannot get the computer system (bought in 2000) to work. Is this credible? Either there is gross incompetence or there is some mystery here. Which is it? Increasingly, there is public protest from students who must pay wildly escalating fees for a denatured education. There is protest from CUPE staff, who voted for job action just a few days ago. While the numbers of faculty and support staff dwindle, administrators proliferate and prevaricate.

The U of S Faculty Association (USFA) external relations subcommittee has in concert with groups of concerned faculty, students and staff planned two series of public events to examine the true state of this institutiion.

First is a series of open meetings with keynote speakers and panel sessions. Professor Emeritus Michael Hayden, Historian of the U of S will be the keynote speaker at the inaugural session on September 28, 2005. For details, see the advertisement on this page and the events calendar in this issue.

The second series is called ‘Speaking up’ and features short talks in Lower Place Riel, at Thursday noons. We hope you did not miss the presentation by Professor Tracy Marchant of the Biology department on “Student Tuition Revenue: Is the Golden Goose Healthy?”.

All concerned persons are invited to attend these meetings and to contribute to one or both series. All topics will be considered. We may be reached at Chary.r@usask.ca (phone 966-6412) or tymchat@math.usask.ca (phone 966-6113).

This is our University and we are accountable to future generations.

Chary Rangacharyulu is a professor of physics & engineering physics and Ed Tymchatyn is a professor of mathematics & statistics.