...born with the gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad

Damage control: The vice principal (academic) of Queen’s University writes to alumni (of which my husband is one) to assure them that, despite what they may have read, the campus has not become a nightmarish 1984-like environment:

Dear Alumni,

Queen's Intergroup Dialogue, a modest pilot program initiated in the residences this September, has attracted a good deal of attention in the press, where its nature, goals and operation have been seriously misrepresented.

The six students who have been trained to serve their peers as facilitators in difficult or sensitive discussions have been presented as thought and speech police. In a notable instance, the Globe and Mail recently likened our student facilitators to the KGB. What motives the media have for this misrepresentation are unclear; what is very obvious, however, is that they have not sought to ascertain the facts. Because alumni and friends of Queen's must understandably be perturbed by this very negative publicity, I am writing to provide you with an accurate account of what the program is, what it does and does not do.

Building on the recognition that much of Queen's distinction as an educational institution derives from its unique broader learning environment, and reaffirming our longstanding commitment to "preparing leaders and citizens for a global society," the program has a very simple goal: to foster amongst students, in their ordinary interactions, a spirit of mutual respect and understanding, especially where they might potentially be divided by differences of racial identity, religious commitment, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.

The program is founded on respect, which means that student facilitators are explicitly not intended or allowed to foist their views upon others. Indeed, they are expected to foster a safe environment in which all students can speak with assurance, and where differences of opinion will be worked through in civil debate. The entire project is premised on voluntary participation and it is not true that facilitators will in any way seek to censor, censure or discipline their peers

The Intergroup Dialogue program is not disciplinary but educational in nature, and more than anything else it resembles peer mentoring, long an established part of university life across Canada. It does not exist to force or even encourage consensus on any issue, except one: that freedom of speech and thought is impossible without respect, consideration, and a commitment to mutual understanding. It is difficult to see how we could claim to be educating global leaders if this commitment were not a cornerstone of our institutional life.

Finally, I should note that the project is indeed a pilot, and that it will be evaluated after a year. Any student who has been involved with it, either as a facilitator or a participant, will have an opportunity to comment on its value and usefulness.

In other words, don’t let the fact that we now have our very own campus thought cops deter you from sending us the big bucks.

Posted by: scaramouche at 21:08 | link | comments

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