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Communities and Universities: Partners in Education
Simon Fraser University
October 22- 23, 2006
By: David T. McNab, School of Arts and Letters, Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, York University
8 Nov 06 - I attended this conference at SFU and did so because I have always been interested in the relationship between universities and communities-especially Indigenous communities. York is the twelfth university I have been associated with across Canada. For thirteen years I worked in the provincial government building partnerships with First Nation communities and for another thirteen years, I worked for communities and their partnerships with non-Aboriginal governments and universities.
This conference was very well organized by SFU. It initiated a new dialogue between communities and universities in a transnational context - specifically SFU in Canada, the University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, USA and the Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de Mexico, in Mexico City, Mexico. There is a need for such a dialogue because it did not exist until this conference.
This conference was also all about listening and learning to the plethora of stories from the communities and universities. We learned that partnerships between universities and communities can make a difference. Many universities are situated adjacent to very poor communities, including the three universities who are beginning this dialogue. York University was well represented in connection with the Jane-Finch community and its issues. It is to be hoped that York will also take steps to join in this transnational dialogue with the other three universities since they do have a lot in common. We at York have much to learn from the long and constructive relationship between the community of West Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. The star of the show was undoubtedly Professor Ira Harkavy from the University of Pennsylvania and his community partner, Jettie Newkirk, who certainly had the most experience and laid out how best to approach such partnerships.
Clearly, for the partnerships to work well, there has to be a process of mutual respect developed from the community grass roots to the university and the university must be prepared to listen to the community and act in the community’s interests rather than the other way around. In West Philadelphia this process was achieved through University-assisted Community Schools to combat issues of racism and poverty among African Americans. York University must continue to develop a process of mutual respect with the Jane-Finch community as well as with a new process addressing the concerns and issues of International Indigenous people in the Greater Toronto area. This approach could well fit into York’s Internationalization movement.
Other sessions were held on processes relating to the following: Frontier College; George Brown College and Regent Park; SFU and East Vancouver Sex Trade workers; the University of New Mexico and the United South Broadway Corporation; UBC and its Learning Exchanges; Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de Mexico on issues of health / education / literacy. There was a great opportunity to discuss these issues with the presenters since the conference was not too large and overwhelming in terms of numbers who were in attendance.
A “Declaration of Higher Education and Democratic Culture: Citizenship, Human Rights and Civic Responsibility” at Strasbourg, France, on June 22nd-23rd, 2006 was also circulated. This Declaration came out of a meeting of the Council of Europe and it makes for fascinating reading in its focus on making partnerships between universities and communities necessary to foster improvements through dialogue and action on human rights, citizenship and democracy.
The plenary discussions were ably and thoughtfully led by Dr. David Maurrasse, President and CEO of Marga Inc., who has written a book on the subject. They focused on how the processes of mutual respect which had been developed could be improved and how the partnerships had to be democratic and egalitarian. Above all, the university had to learn how to listen to the communities-including Indigenous communities in Canada.
Other Reports from this Conference:
Joan Allen's Report
Stephanie Baker Collins' Report
Don Dippo's Report
Shelia Lewis' Report
Deena Yanofsky's Report