As you know, a few of us are organizing a meeting with the President/leadership of SFU to address the possible cancellation of the ICASC program offerings as part of a proposed diploma program. We could really use your letters of support as well as a few more volunteers if you feel that you could take on a task to prepare for the meeting or just to lend some advice or support. I know that we all lead very busy lives, but if you feel that you can lend a hand that would be great.
If you have not written a letter of support yet, please consider writing just a couple paragraphs as to why this course has been important to you and why you would support a diploma program from the International Centre of Art for Social Change at SFU.
Please send all completed letters to, me (Lindsey Ridgway) at lar1@sfu.ca by next Wednesday (November 23rd).
Judith, would you please forward me all the letters that have already come in?
I would also like to propose a meeting for anyone who is interested in volunteering in order to solidify the delegation of tasks/ responsibilities as well as to throw around some ideas for effective lobbying in a short amount of time. How about we plan to meet before class next Wednesday at 5:30. Does that work for those that are interested?
Please feel free to share any ideas or suggestions!... This little lobbying project is a great thing to tackle collaboratively.
Hope you all enjoy the weekend,
Lindz
P.S. I would also encourage you to get in touch with peers who have already taken this course or that are keen to participate in the course in the future. Their perspectives are important in supporting our case too!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI can't make the meeting time tonight, but perhaps during our class break we can figure out a time we can book this appointment.
Becky
One of my former board advisors is a recently retired head of dept. from SFU and he advised one of the most effective ways is a petition with as many names as possible so that should also include past students and those thinking of taking the class AND community leaders which is addressed to President Andrew Petter, and conspicuously "cc:'d" to the Dean of Continuing Studies (and "bcc:'d" to Judith Marcuse and Lynn Fells). To get more names and bring awareness to this issue an electronic petition may be one strategy. In the past I've also tapped into government types who are in the know but in this case my connections are not in the university education system. I suspect the possible cancellation may be one more move in the direction of "corporatization" of higher education. Let me know where I may be of assistance.
ReplyDeleteYvonne