The Decline and Fall of Literacy Course Change Process to Get Inquity
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A "horror" says CUSA co-pres. Course change process to get inquity The university will be taking a long, clients in the degrading manner students hard look at the course change process, were treated would have gone bankrupt termed a disaster by all who were involved long ago," he said. with it. Murray also questioned the value of a A task force, comprising a student, campus security system that allowed faculty member and administrator, has CUSA offices to be broken into and been established under the chairmanship vandalized. of Associate Vice-Rector Jim Whitelaw, (The complete text of Murray's letter and an internal report has been requested was reprinted in last Friday's issue of The from the registrar's office by Graham Link.) Martin, administration and finance vice Faculty representative Henry Habib Union Oil vice-president Eric J. Conno~ will be touching on job prospects in the rector. backed up several of Murray's charges, oetroleum industry and the relevance of university programs when he gives a talk at Sir Martin is also looking at a list of agreeing that the "human dimension" on George next Thursday. Connor, who is also chairman of the Canadian Petroleum serious complaints concerning which Concordia has prided itself is Association, will speak at 1:15 p.m. on Oct. I in H-1223. registration, course change and secprity lacking and that students are often that was prese nted by CUSA co-president "treated very badly". He warned the Glen Murray at last Thursday's meeting board that Concordia mustn't sacrifice its of the Board ot Governors. reputation as a caring university. In an open letter read out at the The board was visibly disturbed by meeting, Murray called the course change Murray's charges, which outside member and registration procedures a "horror" Glen Fisher said "sounded uncomfortably -The decline and fall perpetrated by a "bumbling true". Fisher promised to use his position administration", and demanded that those as chairman of the board's operational responsible "be publicly called to services committee to look into the account". He called the board's at~ention security complaints, and noted that board of literacy to the four-to-six hour waits in the involvement in the registration/ course poorly-ventilated-fourth-floor corridor of change situation might be desirable. the Hall bldg., and suggested that those Rector John O'Brien, while recognizing By Beverly T. Watkins "Everything has to be renamed. You are students forced to endure the "subhuman" that course change wasn't functional, told An increasing number of American not a teacher; you are a language-skills course change process have their course board members that the registrar's area scholars and authors, bombarded daily by coordinator. People are constantly change fees refunded. couldn't be held responsible for all the pseudolanguages and verbal shorthand, reducing literacy to communication and Murray blamed the situation less on problems because the registration process are worrying about the survival of English information. They are persuaded that cutbacks than on the "bungling and involves many different areas from across as a means of communication. some kind of parascientific language incompetence" of the administration and the university. There is "an overwhelming movement makes discourse more scientific, more the "abysmal mess" that is academic toward the deterioration of literacy and authoritative, or more democratic." advising. toward the lowering of standards for the Actually, Ms . Sontag said, "these He mentioned examples of professors English language" in the United States languages are making us less literate and cancelling all preregistration advising today, author Susan Sontag, told a less able to uphold any kind of language appointments and described foul-ups in meeting of educators searching for ways standards." the distribution of appointment cards. to resolve "the crisis in literacy." Colleges and universities should require Some students, he said, had told him that There are "considerable forces at work a period of total immersion in English they would be forwarding the university a that contribute to this decline," although language s_kills for all students when they bill for time missed from work. they do not include "biological See "As language", page 2. "Any private company that treated its degeneration of students or lack of competence or good will or dedication by Film in the buff. The now teachers," said Sontag, whose most recent famous (or is it infamous?) book is a collection of essays called Under Financial future gloomy the Sign of Saturn. · male strip club on Ste. "Literacy has been eroded by the very Catherine St. east is the large victories of a number of illiterate despite deficit surprise, subject of an award-winning languages which people speak and in film made by a group of which people think," she said. "One is the In spite of an announcement at last board university spending by about three language of advertising or con!'llmerism week's board meeting of a lower-than per cent after inflation for the next four cinema students. For a with its slogans. Another is the language anticipated deficit- by about a million- it years. The cutback wiH be 3.5 per cent in glimpse of the film, turn to of bureaucracy with all its compound looks like money will be tight throughout 1982-83 (in constant 1981-82 dollars). and page 3. words and jargon that make things the Quebec universi ty system until at least two per cent on salaries and three per cent complicated when they could be expressed 1985. on non-salary expenses in 1983-84 and Broadcaster, sociologist, clearly and directly." (After several months hovering between 1984-85. entrepreneur, policeman. A third, she said, "is the language of $4.2 million and $5 ."6 million as the How Concordia will be affected by this These are only some of the psychiatry and psychology and a great auditors worked and reworked the figures, budgetary compression is not yet clear. as jobs Taylor Buckner has had deal of the language educators use. The the accumulated deficit has finally settled the cuts will be averaged out over the peculiar thing about these languages is at $4.58 million.) university system. The government has in his varied career. And he's that they involve the 'euphemization' of The provincial government has not yet announced funding envelopes for not through yet. See page 5. everything- to use a barbarous word. announced plans to decrease across-the- the individual universities. Border crossings: Saint Lawrence University in Canton, New York, has received a S 1.3 million grant from the state's AugsbUfY family "to further the understanding of Canada in the US." The money will extend tpe university's Canadian studies program and support 40 Augsbury Canadian-American scholars. (Uni 2 versity Affairs) ''.4 s language becomes poorer and as people's ability to use language become poorer, we are simply in touch with less and less reality. We become literally less intelligent ... " FOR THE continued from page/. RECORD first come to the campus. said Leon ability to use language becomes poorer, Botstein, president of Bard College, where we are simply in touch with less and less the conference was held. reality. We become literally less Board of Governors "Every college freshman should get intelligent. eight weeks of basic trai.ning in English, "That is the ultimate justification for At its regular meeting on Sept. 17. the Board of Governors day and night, with no other options," he anything we can do as educators to try to • announced the appointment of W . Earle McLaughlin. former chairman of the board said, "This basic training should be roll back all the forces that conspire to of the Royal Bank. as the university's new chancellor for a five-year term beginning intense writing, reading, writing, reading, reduce literacy." Januarv I: and speaking. When you get out, you If Americans lose "the ability to read • was told that government spending plans for the university sector call for an annual have a given level of competency-and it\ and to be educated - to process in a full compression of approximately 3 per cent: pretty sophisticated competency." and rich way their own language," they •was informed that all downtown annexes arc being converted to natural gas heating Botstein said that "the objects of will lose their culture, Sontag maintained. with government subsidies: imitation we have before young people" "Litera~y has essentially and profoundly • learned that donations for the 1981 development fund campaign. were down from contribute to their decreasing ability to to do with the transmission of culture. previous years in donations and total amount collected: read, write, and speak traditional English. Our sense of what literacy is has been • .i pproved the membership of its standing committees: executive committee. finance "We speak increasingly in telegraphic eroded because we are also losing our committee. graduation ceremonies committee. nominating committee. operational prose and shorthand," he said. "Extended sense of culture. services committee. personnel com·mittec. planning committee. Jund procurement conversation is not longer essential. There "Our culture is burdened with adjectives committee. and faculty and staff relat ions committee: is even a surrogate for speech - the visual today - 'high' culture o r 'elitist' culture." •approved the 1980-81 financial statcm<;nts and was told that the final accumulated and physical gesture. Botstein said there were "common deficit figure as of May 3 I. 1981 was $4.581.000: "A lot is also communicated by rapidly sense" reasons to overcome language • heard a representation from student representative Glen Murray concerning the developed formulae. What we have is illiteracy. "bungling and incompetence" that marked this year\ course change and registration things like 'getting it together' and ·'wow.' "Our literacy is inadequate for our processes (sec story.