These days, the university doesn’t seem like the great public institution it’s cracked up to be. For the most part we, as students, don’t have a say in what we learn or how we learn it. Beyond making choices between course offerings, you have little control over what is taught in the classroom and what research is conducted. Students aren’t involved in setting the curriculum, deciding how their work will be evaluated or determining who will teach at the university.
What is even more troubling is the fact that Dalhousie’s decision-makers are catering to private interests.
While students are shut out of the conversation, the administration and the government are allowing big business to roll on in. Naming rights in exchange for corporate sponsorship of new infrastructure developments and directed comported funding to develop marketable research are just two examples of how big business speaks on our campus.
If we don’t like the conversation, or the powers who control it, students have the power to change it. Collectively, students have more power, not only to pressure the Dal administration to listen to student voices, but also to create the kind of university students want to see.
Students can make change on campus that extends into the broader community by collectively pooling our resources to make our own independent media, research and services. For example, student-supported, levied societies like the Dalhousie Women’s Centre, DalOUT and the Student Accessibility Fund exist to further collective goals of a diverse campus free from discrimination.
The Gazette is an example that is close to home. This fine paper you are reading is funded by students based on the premise that student issues need more attention than is possible in a standard daily, where students are just one of a plethora of special interest groups.
Similarly, the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group (NSPIRG) challenges the corporatizing of the university by creating a resource for activities that support social justice over private gain. If you aren’t familiar with the mandate of NSPIRG, the acronym may seem a little oblique. The group is so named because it supports local independent research that is a benefit to the public interest.
Starting in the 1970s, students all across North America formed campus-based PIRGs to research social problems facing young people and their communities and to come up with more sustainable and just solutions. PIRGs use research and education to share some of the power vested in the university with the broader community.
Despite how you feel during midterms and exams, students have lives outside of school. Many students are also workers, parents, and persons with disabilities. Many students are impacted by racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Climbing tuition fees mean many students are struggling to buy groceries. Others turn to the military because it’s the only way they can get an education.
Most PIRGs fulfill their mandate through funding research and other public education projects with money that is pooled together from students at a particular school or in a particular region. In NSPIRG’s case, a $2 levy from each student per term provides the bulk of the money in the organization’s budget.
Fees collected to run various societies at Dal are democratically decided and can be democratically repealed as well. After a levy is secured by a referendum, societies are assured consistent funding. Consistent funding means a society can spend student dollars to uphold the mandate of the organization and provide services to students without having to constantly justify the existence of the society to potential funders.
Paying these fees allows students membership in the organization. And what makes membership fees different than tuition fees? When you are member you have a direct say in how your money is spent.
Structures are in place to ensure students can get involved, access information about the societies and can hold elected executives or board members and staff accountable. These structures are also there so students can direct the work of the organizations and institutions they are members of.
Maybe you think that NSPIRG should take up a new campaign or start a new working group, but you don’t know where to start. Annual general meetings provide a great space to talk about what NSPIRG could do for an upcoming year.
NSPIRG also offers students the option of opting out of the society, a practice that Dalhousie students mandated, when they democratically voted to fund NSPIRG through a levy.
If you’re super set on getting back your $4, come by during our opt-out period. But before you do, take a minute to think about what can happen when we work together. Feedback and concerns are taken seriously by our board and staff and we are happy to discuss any issues and concerns with members.
Dalhousie isn’t an island after all, and while most of us won’t be students forever, we’ll be citizens for life.
The fall opt-out period runs from Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2009 until Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 at the NSPIRG office in room 314 of the Dalhousie Student Union Building.
Emily Davidson is a board member with NSPIRG.
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