Last Monday, SFU Senate voted to officially recognize Reconciliation Week, a week of events by separate organizations Reconciliation Canada and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), which will take place from Sept. 16 to 22. Senate has granted academic amnesty to any student who wishes to miss classes to attend events during that week. Professors are encouraged to not penalize students who hand in late assignments miss quizzes during that week.
The TRC is an organization whose mandate is to learn the truth about what happened to First Nations peoples at the hand of the Indian residential school system, which dates back to the 1870s and were notoriously abusive and caused a huge loss of identity for those put into the schools. The last residential school in Canada closed its doors in 1996.
Clay Gray, SFSS At-Large Representative and First Nation Student Association member, has been advocating around campus for an SFU-wide closure of all three campuses on Sept. 18 to honour the gathering of the TRC in Vancouver that week. The 18th is the opening ceremony of the TRC BC national event. UBC has already made a similar decision to cancel classes on that day to allow students to attend the TRC opening ceremonies.
Of his campaign, Gray emphasized the importance of “showing [that] the student body and community of SFU are aware of and support this healing and reconciliation process.” He added, “people should understand that this isn’t just an aboriginal issue, this is an issue for all people.” Gray received letters of support from TSSU, CUPE 3338, GSS, APSA, all the campus rotunda groups, and several university professors.
Dr. Jon Driver, SFU VP Academic, spoke on behalf of SFU administration during the senate meeting, and proposed not to close the school for that one day, but instead to recognize the entire week as “a special week.”
The motion proposed by Driver at senate read: “In recognition of the unique national importance of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), and specifically the BC national event to be held in Vancouver this fall, senate supports the designation of Sept. 16 to 22, 2013, as reconciliation week at Simon Fraser University.
“Senate encourages all instructors to accommodate without academic penalty any students who wish to participate in TRC and Reconciliation Canada events and activities during that week. Senate also encourages instructors to incorporate material relevant to the history of residential schools and the reconciliation process into their courses.”
Opinions from other senators were widely varied, ranging from believing that no recognition should be made at all, to wanting to cancel classes on the proposed day and recognize the entire week. In the end, no amendments were made to the motion, and it passed with seven senators opposed, most of whom advocated for the cancellation of classes as opposed to the recognized week.
In an interview prior to the Senate meeting, Driver expressed that SFU administration was reluctant to close the school, for both practical and philosophical reasons. “We haven’t yet seen a full schedule of activities for the reconciliation week . . . so we actually don’t know anyway which would be an appropriate day to close,” Driver said. He also cited scheduling of exams and planned renovations during winter break as reasons against cancelling classes.
Besides those practical reasons, Driver said, “The more important issue for us is we don’t think cancelling classes or closing the university is the right way to acknowledge the reconciliation process . . . We think we can make a bigger impact on SFU students and staff if we, first of all, ensure that events take place on our campuses, and secondly, that we will certainly be looking to find ways so that students who want to participate in events that are off-campus will not receive any sort of academic penalty for late work.”
Of the decision, Gray said, “I feel it was really positive. The discussion was an hour-long discussion . . . so to have that kind of debate there in itself is positive . . . Hopefully that discussion will motive [the senators] to continue the dialogue in their personal life and professional life.
“Senate also didn’t limit it, saying individual professors couldn’t cancel class. So if any professor does feel like they want to recognize Sept 18, the opening day of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for its importance, they can still cancel class,” Gray continued. “I would encourage those professors that did feel like that but didn’t see the vote go the way they wanted to take that action themselves.”
While professors have the academic freedom to cancel classes, TSSU sessionals and TAs don’t have the same protections as faculty members. These teachers, who do around half of the face-time teaching at SFU, face the prospect of discipline if they cancel their classes, or even if they deviate from the syllabus to include material relevant to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Its unfortunate that the senate did not pass a more comprehensive motion that covered all teaching staff at SFU.