It was curiosity, not stupidity that killed the Dodo. For too long, we have held to the unfair myth that the flightless Mauritian bird became extinct because it was too dumb to understand that it was being killed. But as Stefan Pociask points out in “What Happened to the Last Dodo Bird?”, the dodo was driven into extinction partly because of its ( Read more... )

"The only possible opening for a statement of this kind is that I detest writing. The process itself epitomizes the European concept of "legitimate" thinking; what is written has an importance that is denied the spoken. My culture, the Lakota culture, has an oral tradition, so I ordinarily reject writing. It is one of the white world's ways of ( Read more... )

A few years ago, while I was still sitting in Carleton's Senate, we managed to pry figures out of the University's fingers which revealed that the drop-out and failure rate of their "faster, cheaper, better" online courses were spectacularly higher than for in-the-flesh courses. Apparently, the figures only get worse as you scale up.

What is not ( Read more... )

Thousands of Indigenous Manitoba students will return to better-funded schools next fall with the creation of a new First Nations school board that will serve as an "inspiration" throughout Canada, according to the federal Minister of Indigenous Affairs Carolyn Bennett ( Read more... )

5 December 2016

Sexual Violence PolicyThe Board of Governors approved a new sexual violence policy on 1 December 2016. The version of this policy that was passed (here or see the meeting materials posted online for 1 December 2016) was essentially identical to the draft released by the administration on 6 October 2016, a version that many ( Read more... )

'Listening to Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington play a spot of classical on the CBC, whilst sipping a dram of sake by the sparse Autumn moonlight after a flash storm of depression. That cleared up a mite after sending an e-mail off to the Senate, GSA, and CUPE4600 regarding the ongoing Carleton finances scandal. It can be uplifting to get a wee ( Read more... )

"Thrilling" isn't a word I often apply to books about higher education, but these pages galvanized me. Last December, I concluded 27 years of college teaching and, for now, I still feel a part of campus culture. I'm in contact with colleagues (locally, nationally and internationally) who feel burned by this corporate model. They work long hours yet ( Read more... )

Young women scientists leave academia in far greater numbers than men for three reasons. During their time as PhD candidates, large numbers of women conclude that (i) the characteristics of academic careers are unappealing, (ii) the impediments they will encounter are disproportionate, and (iii) the sacrifices they will have to make are great ( Read more... )

A familar story, this time from Australia. This malaise is apparently common throughout the English-speaking world, and likely speaks to a common ideological ailment:

There is a prevailing expectation in today’s student body that their university education should make them “work-ready”. That they should graduate with a set of practical skills that ( Read more... )

The association representing Canada’s university professors condemned Carleton University’s board of governors Saturday for a new policy that will ban board members from speaking publicly about the meetings they attend ( Read more... )