I was present at the forum in question, and I can attest to the accuracy of The Cascade’s editorial (“Provost Accuses The Cascade of Ignorance,” 22 October 2014). To my mind, the most unfortunate aspect of this embarrassing incident is that it tends to frame the debate around an irrelevant issue — that is, the relative prestige of different disciplines. No one loses any sleep over stuff like this, and it represents a huge distraction from the real issue, which was well expressed in the original Cascade editorial (the one that for some reason incited an official rebuke). Here’s the key line: “the government has put in and paid for an order of one million employees, and post-secondary institutions shall provide” (“A University in Name Only,” 1 October 2014).
Recent developments in the economy suggest that the much-vaunted LNG industry in this province is shaky at best. It follows that the need for a bumper crop of workers skilled in the trades is equally uncertain. I strongly object to the notion that government has either the responsibility or the foresight to intervene in university structures to produce the economic outcomes they desire.
In reporting and commenting on these matters, The Cascade is doing its job well. The Cascade has not only a right but a mandate to report the political news as it impacts students and the university community. I am dismayed and alarmed when the good judgement, integrity, and intelligence of our best student writers are called into question, publicly.
Hilary Turner
Department of English
