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

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Two recent posts about the open court matter in the St. Lewis v. Rancourt litigation

Two elected members of the Senate of the University of Ottawa have sent open letters posted at the Student's-Eye-View blog:


Letter to Prof. Joanne St. Lewis from Kilamanjaro Black Student Association President: “A Travesty of Justice” (link)



Professor Joanne St. Lewis Maintains Demand for Legal Fees from Student (link)

1 comment:

Steve E. Noble said...

I, as a social justice practitioner and critical pedagogist question St. Lewis's brand of social justice. When I read the following blog entry from the U of O Student Appeal Centre about the St. Lewis report and how intimately Rock was connected to the resultant St. Lewis report that dismissed racism. I find this brand of apparent co-opted (with elite authorities)social justice troubling. The blog entry is here from 2011:

http://uofoappeals.blogspot.ca/2011/02/freedom-of-information-documents-show.html

After reading the above, I don't believe social justice can come from within elite institutions, but directly from community organizing and advocacy. The obvious power differential between Rock and St. Lewis gives a strong appearance of manipulaiton (and likely a very real opportunity for abuse). I may not have had paid positions of a St. Lewis, but have a depth of experience of working with marginalized groups directly for over 20 years. Status is not my focus; helping make a direct voluntary social change is.