By Mario deSantis, October 26, 1999

It took a revolt by the students to convince the University of Saskatchewan Council to turf the tuition report prepared by the university council's budget committee(1). The committee headed by Michael Atkinson, Vice-President of Academics, and Tony Whitworth, Vice-President of Finance, prepared a report which included the recommendation to set differential tuition fees in accordance to the cost and benefit analysis of different degrees. In addition, the report stated that in an effort to assure the universality of access to education scholarships should be provided to the "brightest and best students". In the meantime, as Peter MacKinnon was being installed as President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan, he stated that a new vision must be identified to make the University of Saskatchewan a centre of excellence, a vision which will include the use of the monumental Synchrot.ron(2) (3)

We have the social responsibility to increase the collective intelligence of our students and let them choose whatever discipline they may love; instead, our bean counters are visualising a university education based on the cost and benefit analysis of different degrees. The basic ingredient for increasing the collective intelligence of our students should be based on diversity and universality of access to education; instead, our academic leaders support an elitist system where scholarships are the monopoly of the brightest and best students. Professor Len Findlay was right in taking issue with the report and saying "...This report is intellectually mediocre and socially unacceptable... the term best and brightest too often means best off and whitest..."

MacKinnon's new university vision for the use of the Synchrotron has been rightly re-dimensioned by George Ivany, retired President of the University of Saskatchewan, who has stated "...the Government has absolutely no understanding of the connection between a healthy university and these big successful economic projects..."(4). Further, commenting on the Synchrotron, Franco Berruti, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, has stated "...We are extremely strapped for resources for setting out the critical core of our operation, forget about immediately jumping into new opportunities..."(5)

This is the depraved state of our higher educational system; on one side we have the university students who are revolting against a dictatorial system(6) and asking for adequate learning opportunities(7), and on the other side we have the educational experts who are envisioning an oligarchic society built on privileged education and the digging of another big and deep hole in the ground(8): the low risk bureaucratic venture of the Synchrotron(9).

Endnotes

1. Tuition report trashed: U of S students storm campus meeting to protest committee's suggestion of what they should pay, By Gerry Klein, The StarPhoenix, October 22, 1999

2. MacKinnon's plate full already at U of S, by Gerry Klein, The StarPhoenix, October 23, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

2. Premier Romanow's Shining Light to the World: The Canadian Light Source Synchrotron, by Mario deSantis, April 2, 1999

3. Some fear synchrotron project may drain university finances, by Kim McNairn, The Star Phoenix, April 1, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

4. Some fear synchrotron project may drain university finances, by Kim MacNairn, The StarPhoenix, April 1, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

5. U of S hassles force early exits, by Robert A. Carlson, The StarPhoenix, March 11, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. An excerpt from this writing: "...the current military-style, top-down structure that is proving so inefficient, so destructive to good morale and so wasteful of taxpayer money..."

6. An excerpt of the full page ad publicized by the University of Regina Students' Union and the University of Saskatchewan Students' Union: "...education matters. Make post-secondary education your concern. Vote education...", The StarPhoenix, September 9, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

7. Health Reform in Saskatchewan: Digging Holes in the Ground, by Mario deSantis and reviewed by James deSantis, October 22, 1999

8. Russ Huebner, an expert in the commercial applications of researches undertaken at synchrotrons, observed that it may take over a decade to attract private-sector clients, but he also stated that synchrotrons "...have long lifetimes once they are up and running, between 30 and 50 years..." Business excited about project's possible economic spinoffs, by James Parker, The StarPhoenix, April 1, 1999, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.