Trying the Way: Ethnographic Glimpses of York University
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Trying the Way: Ethnographic Glimpses of York University Penny Van Esterik Laurie Baker With the Kroy Collective Jeff Cook, Robert Ferguson, Monica Silva, Kaila Simoneau, Ines Taccone, Amanda Wakaruk, Sebastian Campos, Stephanie Morano, Flavia Geno, Ariela Fuerstenberg, Michela Lockhart, Elizabeth de Campenhaut and Jillian Ollivierre Trying the Way Ethnographic Glimpses of York University © Penny Van Esterik and Laurie Baker 2014 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the copyright owners. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Van Esterik, Penny, author Trying the way : ethnographic glimpses of York University / Penny Van Esterik and Laurie Baker. Includes bibliographical references. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-55014-595-3 (pbk.).--ISBN 978-1-55014-596-0 (pdf) 1. York University (Toronto, Ont.). 2. Universities and colleges-- Ontario--Toronto. 3. Education, Higher--Ontario--Toronto. 4. Ethnology--Ontario--Toronto. 5. College students--Ontario--Toronto-- Social life and customs. I. Baker, Laurie, 1979-, author II. Title. LE3.Y6V36 2014 378.713'541 C2014-901138-5 C2014-901139-3 Contact Information: York University Bookstore 4700 Keele Street Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 www.bookstore.yorku.ca Cover photos, layout and design: Laurie Baker York University, Department of Anthropology Monograph Series, No. 1 Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................ 1 Acknowledgements ................................................................................... 11 Part One: The Ecology of York ............................................................ 13 Event 1: A Day in the Life of Vari Hall ......................................... 17 The Ecology of York ......................................................................... 23 Diversity on the Cosmopolitan Campus ........................................ 37 Creating Communities ....................................................................... 60 Requiem for Vari ................................................................................ 65 Part Two: Academic Culture ................................................................. 69 Event 2: Graduation ........................................................................... 73 Apprentice Academics ....................................................................... 80 The Classroom, the Laboratory and the Studio ............................ 85 The Life of the Library .................................................................... 106 Writing and Computing ................................................................... 112 Disruptions, Interruptions and in it for the Long Haul............. 118 Part Three: Campus Culture ................................................................ 127 Event 3: Performing Diversity during Multicultural Week ....... 131 Diversity and Community ............................................................... 143 Student Groups ................................................................................. 146 Other Niches ..................................................................................... 151 Spiritual Resources at the Secular University ............................... 154 Social Media and Networking ........................................................ 161 The Student Body ............................................................................. 165 Courtship and Classes ...................................................................... 183 Parenting at York University .......................................................... 196 Part Four: Beyond the Ivory Tower ................................................... 209 Event 4: Student Day of Action: Tuition Freeze Protest .......... 213 Advocacy and Activism at York .................................................... 218 Linking Classrooms, Global Politics and Social Justice ............. 219 Community Action ........................................................................... 225 The Red Green Show ...................................................................... 240 Glimpsing York Culture .................................................................. 248 References.................................................................................................. 252 Preface Why write an ethnography of York University, or of any university, for that matter? The initial impetus for this project was to write an ethnography to complement the history produced to celebrate the 50th anniversary of York in 2009 (Horn 2009). Underlying this intention was a concern that neither national surveys, nor Maclean’s ranking of Canadian universities, nor public relations branding campaigns could capture the essence of York culture or counter anti-York writing in the media. York was not well served by these approaches, and we thought that an ethnography might do better. In the public media, universities are often targets of anti-intellectual rants; but criticism of universities often comes from people who are not familiar with the complexity of university cultures. We thought that as anthropologists, we should be able to capture and communicate that complexity. This ethnography emerged initially from a fourth year seminar course in anthropology called Practicing Ethnography, where class members learned ethnographic practice by observing their campus. Some of those class members remained involved after the course ended and became members of the Kroy Collective. The project expanded organically with observations and feedback from a number of student and faculty members in the York community. It took shape in the year before York’s 50th anniversary when some interesting soul-searching took place, particularly among older retired faculty members. The project was delayed for a number of reasons. Promised funding for research assistance and printing the ethnography project from the 50th anniversary budget did not materialize. The strike of 2008-9 delayed fieldwork and dampened enthusiasm, as informants were uninterested in talking positively about the university. Finally, the first author faced some health problems that delayed completion of the project, and the second author produced a dissertation and a daughter that competed for her time. An ethnography is a written description and analysis of a community in a particular time and place, as observed by one or more ethnographers, with a goal of communicating about that community 1 Preface to others. Ideally an ethnography is based on long term engagement with the community in question. The first hand experiences and observations of ethnographers, often in the form of fieldnotes, are augmented by additional contextual materials. Contextual material included campus newspapers, particularly Excalibur, York’s student newspaper since 1966. Unlike most ethnographies, there was not much comparative material available. While there are many ethnographies of institutions such as hospitals, clinics, retirement homes, and even public schools (cf. Yon 2003), there have been few ethnographies of universities. Exceptions include Becker’s et al. 1968 study of University of Kansas, Moffatt’s 1989 study of Rutgers University, and Nathan’s My Freshman Year (2006). To our knowledge, this is the first ethnography of a Canadian university. It is not the definitive ethnography of York; it is simply the first of a possible set of ethnographies of York University. More ethnographies need to be written from other entry points—hockey or chemistry, Glendon or international business. Ethnographies are always partial, always selective, and they carry the biases of their observers with them. Since this ethnography is written in English and printed at York, it will no doubt be read by York faculty and students. That is a terrifying thought, not for ethical reasons but because there will be disagreements with interpretation and coverage. Knowing that ethnographies are always partial does not help when people express disappointment that Schulich School of Business or Osgoode Law School or the football team is not adequately covered. Ethnographic research presents other dangers; there is risk to exposing the foibles of campus culture; in particular, stories about campus high-jinks may feed into images of the excesses and frivolity of university life. But campus culture provides one additional lens into the workings of the university, a glimpse into an enterprise that is about more than knowledge production as a means to an end, to a job. Trying the Way might be considered an institutional ethnography—the 2 Trying the Way: Ethnographic Glimpses of York University ethnography of a specific institution, rather than Institutional Ethnography as a specific sociological method developed by Dorothy Smith (2005) which includes how documents and people’s activities, including relations of ruling are co-ordinated in everyday life. Generally ethnographies are not based on survey data, although a recent study of Rutgers University library based on surveys calls itself an ethnographic project (White 2009). This ethnography is more qualitative than quantitative, more exploratory than systematic. Future ethnographies may choose to change this and work more directly with survey