Due to the intense lobbying efforts of Principal William Leggett, Queen's University is often seen as leading the charge to establish a two-tiered education system in Canada.
The latest chapter in this saga is an attempt to revive deregulation under the guise of "flexible tuition." Leggett's campaign, however, is not supported by all, or even a majority, of the students, faculty members and staff at Queen's.
Students in the faculty of arts and science have roundly rejected his plan to deregulate their tuition, through a referendum vote and a well-publicized occupation of administration offices.
A large number of faculty members from a diverse range of departments and faculties are also committed to maintaining Queen's as a public university with accessible tuition. These faculty members have chosen to express their commitment by demanding the immediate re-regulation and de-privatization of all faculties, schools and departments at Queen's University.
The Kingston Statement
We are faculty members at this university, bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in departments, looking uncomfortably at the world we are passing on to those who will come after us.
Most of us have had the benefit of an affordable education. We have worked in a relatively free and open intellectual environment, where we have been able to pursue our scholarly interests without worrying about whether a profit could be made from our efforts.
But all of this is changing as universities are reconstructed on the model of the corporation, as accessibility is discarded in favour of profit and efficiency is given precedence over scholarship. We do not accept the argument that there is not enough money to allow the university as we have known it to continue to exist. Rather, we observe that the public post-secondary education system is being deliberately starved into submission to facilitate its deregulation and privatization.
Why is this a problem? Recent data show clearly and unequivocally that deregulation decreases access to education. During the period 1990-2003, average tuition in Ontario jumped 180 per cent - this is the second highest rate of increases, next only to Alberta, where tuition rose by 235 per cent. And while this is a terrible load to bear, increases in the deregulated faculties of medicine and law have been even more prohibitive. As Queen's medical historian Dr. Jaclyn Duffin has shown, a medical education that cost 118 manufacturing wage hours in 1990 now costs more than 425. Most alarming of all, this trend is accelerating. Since deregulation five years ago, medicine tuition at Queen's has increased by 300 per cent, law fees have gone up by 240 per cent, and applied science by 180 per cent. In the three remaining regulated faculties, increases over the same period have been in the order of 20 per cent.
Privatization poses its own problems. First and foremost, the privatized university is, by definition, oriented to furthering its own particular interests over those of the greater public. Its primary goal is not to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, or to the well-being of local, national and international communities, but to survive in the "educational marketplace." When short-term profit becomes the first priority, critical thought, the pursuit of new knowledge and basic research all suffer. This is not mere speculation, as the cases of Dr. Nancy Olivieri and Dr. David Healy have vividly demonstrated.
We recognize that the funding to universities is at an historic low. But we also recognize that there is nothing inevitable or necessary about this. Thus, we have come together to express our support for the following actions:
We call for the immediate re-regulation of all faculties, departments and schools at Queen's University.
We call for tuition fees in all faculties, departments, and schools at Queen's University to be returned to regulated levels, and for all privatized units to be returned to the public realm.
Should locally administered tuition become a reality, then we call for Queen's University to administer its tuition fees such that their rate of increase does not exceed the general rate of inflation. The important point, of course, is not who regulates tuition, but how it is regulated.
Finally, rather than fighting to deregulate tuition and privatize the public education system, we call upon our administration to join in the nationwide struggle to restore adequate funding to post-secondary education.
As scholars and teachers who are part of this community, we believe that students of today and tomorrow should receive the benefits of an accessible, open and publicly funded education. Following the lead set in the reaffirmation of the universal right to quality health care, and the re-regulation of the Ontario Hydro system, we believe that a quality public education should continue to be available to all Canadians.
MARY LOUISE ADAMS
Physical & Health Education/Sociology
BLAINE ALLAN
Film Studies
JAN ALLEN
Art
GRANT AMYOT
Political Studies
SUSAN BABBITT
Philosophy
ABIGAIL B. BAKAN
Political Studies
BRUCE J. BERMAN
Political Studies
SHERYL BOND
Education
JEAN BRUCE
Film Studies
ANNETTE BURFOOT
Sociology
FRANK BURKE
Film Studies
STAN CORBETT
Law/Philosophy
RICHARD DAY
Sociology
ELSPETH DEIR
Elementary Education
KAREN DUBINSKY
History
WILLIAM J. EGNATOFF
Education
JUDITH W. FISHER
Drama
KAREN FREDERICKSON
Music
RICHARD GREENFIELD
History/Classics
ELIZABETH HANSON
English
GEORGE L. HILLS
Education
ARLENE HOLLAND STAIRS
Education
DIANA H. HOPKINS-ROSSEEL
Rehabilitation Therapy
LYNDA JESSUP
Art
ELEANOR MACDONALD
Political Studies
MARK JONES
English
GARY KIBBINS
Film Studies
JOHN LAZARUS
Drama
MARGARET LITTLE
Women's Studies/Political Studies
SUSAN LORD
Film Studies
DAVID LYON
Sociology
A. MARTIN
English
DAVID MCDONALD
Development Studies/Geography
IAN MCKAY
History
MARY E. MORTON
Sociology
DORIT NAAMAN
Film Studies
FRANK PEARCE
Sociology
DAVID RAPPAPORT
Computing
BARRY RIDDELL
Geography
GEOFFREY ROULET
Education
KAREN RUDIE
Electrical & Computer Engineering
JULIE SALVERSON
Drama
HOWARD A. SMITH
Education
DON STUART
Law
CHRISTINE SYPNOWICH
Philosophy
MARK WEISBERG
Law