U of O Watch mission, in the words of Foucault...

"One knows … that the university and in a general way, all teaching systems, which appear simply to disseminate knowledge, are made to maintain a certain social class in power; and to exclude the instruments of power of another social class. … It seems to me that the real political task in a society such as ours is to criticise the workings of institutions, which appear to be both neutral and independent; to criticise and attack them in such a manner that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight against them." -- Foucault, debating Chomsky, 1971.

U of O Watch mission, in the words of Socrates...

"An education obtained with money is worse than no education at all." -- Socrates

video of president allan rock at work

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Dean Art

As I have gotten to know the institutional side of the present dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa, I have developed the opinion that the artist depiction featured below is not far from the truth.

We cannot know how the institution will react to the use of academic freedom until someone uses academic freedom. Only then do we see what deans stand for and the true meaning of our eloquent institutional statements of principle.

In light of the Rancourt case, the University of Ottawa should consider being as straightforward as is this stencil art in its communications – in the interest of transparency and responsibility to the public.

No comments: