- "What did I say that could not and should not be said everywhere?" Raphael Hythloday in Thomas More's Utopia (1516)
Keyword search for the Virtual Square
Recent Comments
Arts Squared on “Whatsoever things are t… Arts Squared on GFC and the USRIs: How Should… Arts Squared on GFC and the USRIs: How Should… Michelle Maroto on GFC and the USRIs: How Should… Natalie Kononenko on Responses to the Proposal for… Kathleen Lowrey on Responses to the Proposal for… Arts Squared on Responses to the Proposal for… Natalie Kononenko on Responses to the Proposal for… Natalia Pylypiuk on Responses to the Proposal for… Sathya Rao on Responses to the Proposal for… Micah True on Responses to the Proposal for… Christine Wiesenthal… on Open Letter from Professor Kat… Archived Posts
-
Recent Posts
- Read this! Dutch Study on “Baseline Grant” System for Research Funding (Guest Post by Andrew Gow)
- Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic among the Albertanae; or WrestleMania: University SmackDown (Guest Post by Kathleen Lowrey)
- “Whatsoever things are true”? GFC votes to allow continuing use of possibly discriminatory USRIs
- Comments on the Recent GFC USRIs Report (Guest Post by Michelle Maroto, Sociology)
- GFC and the USRIs: How Should Teaching Evaluations at the University of Alberta Be Used?
- MLCS is going generic or, Why French will no longer be an exception (Guest Post by Sathya Rao, Modern Languages & Cultural Studies)
- In the Journal today: Kathleen Lowrey (Anthropology) on “flexibility,” “experiential learning” and other curricular matters
- Reflexions on the Arts Faculty Council discussion of the MLCS BA proposal (Guest Post by Marisa Bortolussi)
- Responses to the Proposal for a New Modern Languages and Cultural Studies BA (Guest Post by Marisa Bortolussi)
- Fruit of the Poisonous Tree (Guest Post by Dougal MacDonald, Elementary Education)
- GSEC: Open Letter to ab-GPAC, GSAs, and Minister of Advanced Education (27 February 2017)
- Open Letter from Professor Katherine Binhammer (EFS): Reject BA Core Proposal at Arts Faculty Council on Nov. 24th
- Brad Bucknell (English & Film Studies) on the arguments at Arts Faculty Council on the transformation of the Centre for Writers
- Professor Moussu Speaks Out on Centre for Writers Changes Sought by Faculty of Arts (Open Letter)
- Professor Sargent Responds to Provost’s Document on Situation with Centre for Wrtiers
- Open Letter from Professor Garry Watson (English & Film Studies) on the Centre for Writers (To be discussed at the General Faculties Council meeting of 30 May 2016)
- Open Letter from Betsy Sargent (English & Film Studies): Do Not Let Faculty of Arts Undermine Centre for Writers
- Academic Freedom and “Respectful Dialogue” at UAlberta’s Faculty of Arts: Response to Message from the Dean
- Kick Out the Jams (Post by Kathleen Lowrey, Anthropology)
- Open Letter to Minister of Advanced Education Lori Sigurdson on the Rewriting of the Post-Secondary Learning Act
- Efficiency of What? (Post by Kathleen Lowrey, Anthropology)
- Notes on Rewriting the Post-Secondary Learning Act (Draft Clauses for Open Letter to Minister of Advanced Education)
- OpEd to be submitted to Edmonton Journal: Criteria for Selection of New Chair of the Board of Governors
- Sunshine, with a Great Many Black Clouds: Alberta Bill 5 (First Reading, 5 November 2015)
- Confidence Game: Conflict-of-Interest, Confidentiality Clauses, and Our Public Universities
- Docherty, “Literature and Democracy,” 4 November 2015
- Alberta’s New Government and the Funding of Postsecondary Education and Academic Research in Alberta
- “Raise corporate taxes & … reduce tuition fees”
Recent Comments
Arts Squared on “Whatsoever things are t… Arts Squared on GFC and the USRIs: How Should… Arts Squared on GFC and the USRIs: How Should… Michelle Maroto on GFC and the USRIs: How Should… Natalie Kononenko on Responses to the Proposal for… Kathleen Lowrey on Responses to the Proposal for… Arts Squared on Responses to the Proposal for… Natalie Kononenko on Responses to the Proposal for… Natalia Pylypiuk on Responses to the Proposal for… Sathya Rao on Responses to the Proposal for… Micah True on Responses to the Proposal for… Christine Wiesenthal… on Open Letter from Professor Kat…
Two stories in January 16, 2012 Edmonton Journal (both by Sheila Pratt, bless her):
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/faces+staff+cuts+larger+classes/6001362/story.html
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/arts+faculty+getting+short+stick/6001371/story.html
The cuts are “modest” and “there is pain everywhere”–in the same interview. They aren’t modest, Indira, for the women losing their jobs.
“Modest cuts at U of A won’t impact students, President says,”
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/Modest+cuts+impact+students+president+says/6010880/story.html
Edmonton Journal January 17, 2012, story by Sheila Pratt
Here’s one comment as posted on the Edmonton Journal site by “vatera”:
vatera
10:20 PM on 1/17/2012
Modest? Modest? Dr. Samarasekera needs to get up to speed, with all due respect, on the extent of the cuts suffered at the U in recent years–especially in the Arts Faculty. And perhaps she could try to put herself in the shoes of support staff who are waiting for the axe to fall on their jobs in a few weeks. As for students, I guess she isn’t hearing what the SU President is saying about the use of non-tuition fees to get around tuition fee caps. Or what the grad students in Arts are saying–quite publicly–about how the cuts will affect them. “It must be difficult”? You’re just taking a wild guess, are you, President? This really sounds like the 1 per cent speaking to the 99 per cent.
Comment from a reader in response to January 16th 2012 story in Ed Jo on cuts to the Faculty of Arts:
Article Title: Is arts faculty getting short end of the stick at U of A?
Link to Article: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/arts+faculty+getting+short+stick/6001371/story.html
Link to Comment: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/arts+faculty+getting+short+stick/6001371/story.html?plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:8210f330-2600-4938-b746-a1194127450d
The late Steve Jobs provided a hint to these not sure of the value of arts in college. In 1972 Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland. The college requires every freshman to take humanities program. Jobs’ academic life was short lived but he took a calligraphy class because “… It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating. None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.”
Comment from reader of Sheila Pratt’s January 16, 2012 article:
LYFK
6:03 PM on 1/17/2012
As a graduate of both Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Design (Applied Arts), I have a unique perspective on the situation and I am deeply saddened by the lack of funding for the Arts, and am reminded of that sadness every time the University calls me for a donation…
A somewhat heavily edited version of my letter was published in the January 21st, 2012 print edition of the Edmonton Journal:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/University+cuts+modest/6031457/story.html