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Academic Solidarities

Power and Governance in the University

Overview

Academia thrives on individualism and competition. What would it look like if we chose solidarity and collective action instead? This interdisciplinary working group of professors and students from Queens and Concordia–representing fields including Literature, Geography, Public Policy, History, Sociology, and others–will use the example of our respective institutions as a jumping off point for exploring the potential of collegial governance as a model and solution to neoliberal managerialism that might also address the political economy of contemporary universities. One particular focus of our readings and discussions will be on the promotion of institutional literacy among students and faculty, to both counteract the so-called “hidden curriculum” that hinders the progress of working-class and first-generation students, and also to empower university community to participate in meaningful decision-making. The goal of the working group is to combine historical, political, social and economic analysis both to understand how we got here and to creatively imagine better futures. All team members are dedicated to collectively envisioning a more just university. 

Our readings and discussions will address: 

  • democratic and inclusive university budgeting 
  • recognition of academic research and teaching 
  • false conceptions of what is “useful” 
  • the different effects of austerity on various stakeholders 
  • the possibilities for solidarity and collective action

Teach-ins

Teach-ins are held the last Thursday of every month. Readings are circulated in advance of the teach-ins. 

September: University Finance 101 

Readings:

  • Johnstone, D.B. & Marcucci, P.N. (2011) Worldwide Trends in Higher Education Finance: Cost-Sharing, Student Loans, and the Support of Academic Research. In Revista educación superior y sociedad: nueva época, 16 (1) pp. 105-122. UNESCO.  
  • Maroy, C., & Doray, P., & Kabore, M. (2013). University Financing Policy in Quebec: the test of the 'printemps érable'. 10.13140/RG.2.2.30676.42882.  

November: Managerialism and Universities 

  • Excerpts from Eastman, J., Jones, G.A., Trottier, C., & Bégin-Caouette, O. (2022). University Governance in Canada: Navigating Complexity, McGill-Queen's University Press. 
  • Lynch, K., & Grummell, B. (2018). New managerialism as an organisational form of neoliberalism. In F. Sowa R. Staples and S. Zapfel (Eds.) The transformation of work in welfare state organizations: New Public Management and the Institutional Diffusion of Ideas, pp. 203-222. Routledge. 
  • Schoorman, D., (2018) The Erosion of Faculty Governance. Counterpoints 517, pp. 237–51. 
  • Usher, A. (Host). (2023, June 1). University Governance in Canada: Navigating Complexity [Audio podcast episode]. In The World of Higher Education Podcast. https://higheredstrategy.com/university-governance-in-canada-navigating-complexity/  

January: Abolition and Academic Solidarity 

  • Boggs, A., Meyerhoff, E., Mitchell, N., and Schwartz-Weinstein, Z. (2019) Abolitionist University Studies: An Invitation. https://abolition.university/invitation/  
  • Eve, M.P. (2021). Introduction: The Abolition of the University. Open Library of Humanities, 7(1): 10, pp. 1–6. 10.16995/olh.4701 (view the whole special collection: https://olh.openlibhums.org/issue/446/info/)
  • Missé, B. & Martel J. (2024) For Democratic Governance of Universities: The Case for Administrative Abolition. Theory & Event, 27(1), pp. 5-29. DOI: 10.1353/tae.2024.a917791

March: What Could Collegial Self-Governance at Concordia Look Like? 

Readings to be announced 

Town Halls

Town halls are held the last Friday of every months (the day following the teach-ins). Members from the entire Concordia community (full- and part-time faculty, senior admin, students, staff) are invited to share perspectives and needs that will inform the discussions and actions of the working group.

The team

Organizers

  • Anna Sheftel, School of Community and Public Affairs, Concordia University
  • Stephen Yeager, Department of English, Concordia University 

Team members

  • Bengi Akbulut, Department of Geography, Concordia University 
  • Christopher Hurl, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University 
  • VK Preston, Department of History, Concordia University 
  • Dan Cohen, Geography and Planning, Queen’s University 
  • Mary Louise Adams, Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University 

Coordinators

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