More on My Political Participation – the Issue of University Funding

 

By Kendall Worth

In my BLOG last week, I wrote about the importance of our community actively engaging in politics – above and beyond voting. Yes, voting IS important, - but it is NOT enough if our voices are to be really heard by those who make the big decisions that impact our lives.

I wrote in that BLOG about my membership in the Nova Scotia NDP, and why I had attended their recent Policy Convention to try and influence some of the decisions that were being made. 

At a Policy Convention, there are the usual reports, speeches and workshops that you see at most annual meetings of organizations. What makes a Policy Convention different is that significant chunks of time over the weekend are allocated to the presentation and debate of policy proposals – suggested actions and initiatives that the Party will pursue if it is elected Government at the next provincial election.

There were over 90 such resolutions that came from local constituency associations and working committees of the Party. These resolutions took up over 30 pages in the Convention program – so there was a lot of reading to be done.

In today’s BLOG, I will speak to one of those resolutions that I thought was important and to which I contributed to the on-the-floor debate. It was Resolution 46 on University Funding.  The resolution had a long preamble about the financial problems being faced by universities, and ended with two proposals:

·       Be it resolved that the NS NDP works to restore public funding to at least 50% of university operating costs; and

·       Be it further resolved that the NS NDP works to ensure that funding agreements respect universities’ research independence and researchers’ academic freedom.

There were four main points I wanted to make about the resolution as proposed, and although I did not have the time to make all these points at the microphone, I will lay them out here. I will also admit that at the mike I struggled a bit to find the exact words and phrases to make my points clearly, - speaking in front of 200 people can be a little intimidating! Hopefully this BLOG will help to clarify the points I wanted to make.

Some readers may find it odd that of all the issues I could speak on (there were resolutions on housing, basic income, mental health care, etc), I chose to speak on university funding. Let me explain my thinking.

In general terms, I believe that Nova Scotia’s educational institutions, - and most particularly colleges and universities - should play a key role in developing and implementing many of the solutions that I advocate for through my BLOG.  While the institutions themselves may not always be allies in our struggles, there are many people – faculty, students and administrators – in these universities who can and do make important contributions to advancing our agenda of change.  

Firstly, on principle, I feel that it is fundamentally wrong for the government of Nova Scotia to be cutting funding for our Universities. Such cuts will mean both job losses on campuses and much more expensive costs for students. This will have a negative impact on many smaller communities across the province like Wolfville (the home of Acadia University) and Antigonish (home of St FX) where universities are the backbone of the local economy.  Even here in a relatively big city like Halifax, you can see the economic impact of the local universities just by walking down Spring Garden Road and observing all the students out and about.

Secondly, I am also a strong believer in education as an important part of people’s social and economic lives. This is why I have long advocated for changes to the provincial Career Seek program so that more people from my community can gain access to post-secondary education and improve both their current lives and future prospects. Cuts in funding to educational institutions will only make this option LESS accessible to people.  Surely, this is a step in the wrong direction.

Now, I do recognise that issues of access to higher education are not only rooted in funding. The Carrie Ann Bugden story which I wrote about extensively years ago highlighted obstacles to higher education for people with disabilities that were rooted more in attitudes, behaviours and policies than in funding. So I do not want to suggest that funding is the ONLY problem faced with regards to access: there is much to be done with regards to training and policy reform. But at the end of the day, funding will be core to improving access to higher education for marginalised groups. As I wrote at the time,  Carrie Ann was certainly not alone in facing these challenges.

Thirdly, as centers of research and learning, Universities can be important sources of information and advice with regards to social issues and policy options. This can be in terms of economic analysis of poverty and guaranteed income. Or it can take the form of participatory research by the School of Social Work. With such research, Universities can make important contributions to the government making INFORMED decisions with regards to what works and what doesn’t work in solving the problems of our time.  

Fourth and perhaps most importantly for our on-going work, Universities can also be active allies in the struggles of our community. This can be as modest as writing letters in support of community initiatives – such as the Dalhousie Social Work Clinic did when we launched the Mitigating Social Isolation Project, some years back. I wrote about that support in a BLOG at the time.  (More details on the project itself can be found here.)

University professors and students can also become more direct participants in our community level work, bringing their energy and expertise to the table in support of our initiatives, providing support and services to our community.  In this regard, I wish to recognize in particular the on-going work of the Dalhousie Social Work Clinic to support our community members.

Some Concluding Thoughts:

These are the main reasons that I spoke up at the NS NDP Policy Convention in support of the resolution on University Funding. If I did not make these points clearly on the floor of the Convention, I have taken this opportunity to clarify them here.

We all know that governments in Nova Scotia tend to be very cautious with regards to adopting  new and innovative approaches to solving long-standing social problems. I am hopeful that Universities that are both funded and autonomous can help to define and promote social innovations – such as the Social Prescription approach to addressing social isolation in my community. This promotion could take two major forms:

·       documenting and sharing lessons learned from social prescription organizations already operating in other parts of Canada; and  

·       engaging social work students in the practice of social prescription locally, so that we begin to build a base of local experience and knowledge.

It is through such collaboration that Universities can make their greatest role in the community.

(I have more to say on other issues and resolutions that were addressed at Convention, but that will follow in a later BLOG.)

 

Kendall Worth is an award-winning anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance.