Voices From the Margins: The Regulation of Student Activism in the New Corporate University
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v9i2.1154Keywords:
student activism, universities, corporatization, institutional ethnography, risk managementAbstract
This article critically examines recent revisions to student codes of conduct in Ontario’s universities, by focusing specifically on York University. It illustrates how these policy changes have been informed by a new rights and responsibility discourse designed to reduce political conflict on campuses. Couched in terms of promoting student inclusion, fairness, and campus safety, this discourse works with managerial technologies to increase the surveillance and regulation of student political advocacy work. I argue that these changes to student codes of conduct obfuscate the ways in which corporate-service sector relations operate to depoliticize student dissent and silence marginalized student voices, especially voices that raise controversial issues of oppression and challenge the status quo. In developing this argument I also discuss the contradictory and uneven ways that student activists respond to these discourses, and the effects of this new regime on the social organization and social relations of students’ political activist work.
References
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Freeman-Maloy v. Marsden, CanLII 9693 (ON CA, 2006)
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Hanke, B., & Hearn, A. (2012). Out of the ruins, the university to come. Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 28, 11-20.
Hannah, D.A. (1996). Student-Institution legal relationships in colleges and universities in the common law provinces of Canada: An analysis of the case law from 1982 to 1994 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). York University, Toronto.
Jeffers, S. (2006). January 20, 2005, and its aftermath: Will Greg Bird finally get an apology? York University’s Critical Times, 4(1), A4.
Jeppesen, S., & Nazar, H. (2012). Beyond academic freedom: Canadian neoliberal universities in the global context. Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 28, 65-86.
Kankesan, D. (2009). Pro-Palestine, pro-Israel supporters face off in Vari Hall. Retrieved February 28 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEWeZyvSyM&feature=related
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Macdonald, I. (2005). The value of free speech: Admin paid police $3498 to shut down peaceful January 2005 protest. York University’s Critical Times, 4(1), A1, A5.
McGrath, E.J. (1970). Should students share the power? A study on their role in college and university governance. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
McLean, S. (2009, November 25). Vari Hall reno to quell protests: Tiffin. Excalibur.
Nadeau, M-J., & Sears, A. (2010). The Palestine test: Countering the silencing campaign. Studies in Political Economy, 85, 7-33.
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Noble, D. (2005). Private pretensions: The battle for Canada’s universities. Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, 7(1), 4-8.
O’Conner, C. (2009). Pedagogies of space: The contestation of Vari Hall (Unpublished masters thesis). York University, Toronto.
Rinaldi, J., & Flook, C. (2010, February 27). Vari Hall renovation from a disability studies perspective. YU FreePress. Retrieved February 28 2012, from http://www.yufreepress.org/feministcomments/vari-hall-renovation-from-a-disability-studies-perspective/
Sears, A. (2003). Retooling the mind factory: Education in a lean state. Aurora: Garamond Press.
Schudson, M. (2006). The troubling equivalence of citizen and consumer. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 608, 193-204.
Smeltzer, S., & Hearn, A. (2015). Student rights in an age of austerity? ‘Security,’ freedom of expression and the neoliberal university. Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest, 14(3), 352-358.
Smith, D.E (1999). Writing the social: Critique, theory, and investigations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Smith, D.E. (2007, Fall). Making change from below. Socialist Studies, 7-30.
Smith, D.E. (2010). Institutional ethnography: A sociology for people. Toronto: Altimira Press.
Smith, Z. (2005, February 9). York imperialism and repression. Excalibur.
Stewart, P. (2010). Academic freedom in these times: Three lessons from York University. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, 2(2), 48-61.
YFile. (2006, February 6). Work begins on York’s new student code of conduct. http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2006/02/06/work-begins-on-yorks-new-student-code-of-conduct/
YFile. (2009, March 16). President Shoukri appoints task force to address student environment. Retrieved from http://www.yorku.ca/yfile/archive/index.asp?Article=12233
York University. (2006). Student code of conduct. Toronto: York University. Retrieved November 27 2007, from http://www.yorku.ca/oscr/pdfs/StudentCodeOfConduct.pdf
York University. (2009). Rights and responsibilities within the university: Report of the Presidential Task Force on Student Life, Learning & Community. Toronto: York University. Retrieved August 25 2010, from www.yorku.ca/vpstdnts/initiatives/taskforce/report/index.html
York University. (2010). Code of student rights and responsibilities. Toronto: York University. Retrieved from http://www.yorku.ca/oscr/pdfs/CodeofRightsandResponsibilities.pdf
York University. (2012). RED Zone boot camp: Get an inside look at what it takes to be a RED Zone student ambassador. York’s RED Zone. Toronto: York University Student Community and Leadership. Retrieved July 20 2012, from http://redzone.yorku.ca/2012/06/1598/#more-1598
York University. (2014) About York. Retrieved March 1 2016, from http://about.yorku.ca
YUFA (York University Faculty Association). (2005). Anomalies in York’s policy and procedure for the temporary use of university space. Retrieved September 25 2007, from http://www.yufa.org//freespeech/space.html
Barrows-Friedman, N. (2013, August 12). “Boycott Israel” activist banned from Toronto university. The Electronic Intifada. Retrieved September 3 2013, from https://electronicintifada.net/content/boycott-israel-activist-banned-toronto-university/12674
Brownlee, J. (2015). Academia, Inc.: How corporatization is transforming Canadian universities. Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.
Brulé, E. (2004). Neo-liberalism and the social construction of the university student as an autonomous consumer. In M. Reimer (Ed.), Inside Corporate U: Women in the academy speak out (pp. 247-264). Toronto: Sumach Press.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (1982). Constitution Act, 1982, Being Schedule B to the Canada Act (UK), 1982, c. 11. Retrieved February 2011, from http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-15.html
Committee to Defend Student Space. (2010). Proposed Vari Hall renovation worse than a waste: York community members oppose misplacement of priorities, resources. YU FreePress, 2(3), 3. Retrieved February 28, 2012, from http://www.yufreepress.org/feministnews/proposed-vari-hall-renovations-worse-than-a-waste/
Côté, J., & Allahar, A. (2011). Lowering higher education: The rise of corporate universities and the fall of liberal education. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Doyle, A., & Ericson R. (Eds.). (2003). Risk and morality. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Freeman-Maloy v. Marsden, CanLII 9693 (ON CA, 2006)
Freeman-Maloy v. York University, CanLII 4349 (ON SCDC, 2004)
Grainger, B. (2008). York’s Middle-East war. Toronto Life Magazine. Retrieved from http:///www.torontolife.com/features/yorks-middle-east-war/?pageno=1
Griffith, A., & Smith, D. (2014). Under new public management: Institutional ethnographies of changing frontline work. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Hanke, B., & Hearn, A. (2012). Out of the ruins, the university to come. Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 28, 11-20.
Hannah, D.A. (1996). Student-Institution legal relationships in colleges and universities in the common law provinces of Canada: An analysis of the case law from 1982 to 1994 (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). York University, Toronto.
Jeffers, S. (2006). January 20, 2005, and its aftermath: Will Greg Bird finally get an apology? York University’s Critical Times, 4(1), A4.
Jeppesen, S., & Nazar, H. (2012). Beyond academic freedom: Canadian neoliberal universities in the global context. Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 28, 65-86.
Kankesan, D. (2009). Pro-Palestine, pro-Israel supporters face off in Vari Hall. Retrieved February 28 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEWeZyvSyM&feature=related
Laskin, B. (1970). Freedom and responsibility in the university. Report of the Presidential Committee on Rights and Responsibilities of Members of York University. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Macdonald, I. (2005). The value of free speech: Admin paid police $3498 to shut down peaceful January 2005 protest. York University’s Critical Times, 4(1), A1, A5.
McGrath, E.J. (1970). Should students share the power? A study on their role in college and university governance. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
McLean, S. (2009, November 25). Vari Hall reno to quell protests: Tiffin. Excalibur.
Nadeau, M-J., & Sears, A. (2010). The Palestine test: Countering the silencing campaign. Studies in Political Economy, 85, 7-33.
Nadeau, M-J., & Sears, A. (2011, March 5). This is what complicity looks like: Palestine and the silencing campaign on campus. The Bullet, 475. Retrieved June 2 2012, from http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/475.php
Noble, D. (2005). Private pretensions: The battle for Canada’s universities. Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, 7(1), 4-8.
O’Conner, C. (2009). Pedagogies of space: The contestation of Vari Hall (Unpublished masters thesis). York University, Toronto.
Rinaldi, J., & Flook, C. (2010, February 27). Vari Hall renovation from a disability studies perspective. YU FreePress. Retrieved February 28 2012, from http://www.yufreepress.org/feministcomments/vari-hall-renovation-from-a-disability-studies-perspective/
Sears, A. (2003). Retooling the mind factory: Education in a lean state. Aurora: Garamond Press.
Schudson, M. (2006). The troubling equivalence of citizen and consumer. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 608, 193-204.
Smeltzer, S., & Hearn, A. (2015). Student rights in an age of austerity? ‘Security,’ freedom of expression and the neoliberal university. Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural and Political Protest, 14(3), 352-358.
Smith, D.E (1999). Writing the social: Critique, theory, and investigations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Smith, D.E. (2007, Fall). Making change from below. Socialist Studies, 7-30.
Smith, D.E. (2010). Institutional ethnography: A sociology for people. Toronto: Altimira Press.
Smith, Z. (2005, February 9). York imperialism and repression. Excalibur.
Stewart, P. (2010). Academic freedom in these times: Three lessons from York University. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, 2(2), 48-61.
YFile. (2006, February 6). Work begins on York’s new student code of conduct. http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2006/02/06/work-begins-on-yorks-new-student-code-of-conduct/
YFile. (2009, March 16). President Shoukri appoints task force to address student environment. Retrieved from http://www.yorku.ca/yfile/archive/index.asp?Article=12233
York University. (2006). Student code of conduct. Toronto: York University. Retrieved November 27 2007, from http://www.yorku.ca/oscr/pdfs/StudentCodeOfConduct.pdf
York University. (2009). Rights and responsibilities within the university: Report of the Presidential Task Force on Student Life, Learning & Community. Toronto: York University. Retrieved August 25 2010, from www.yorku.ca/vpstdnts/initiatives/taskforce/report/index.html
York University. (2010). Code of student rights and responsibilities. Toronto: York University. Retrieved from http://www.yorku.ca/oscr/pdfs/CodeofRightsandResponsibilities.pdf
York University. (2012). RED Zone boot camp: Get an inside look at what it takes to be a RED Zone student ambassador. York’s RED Zone. Toronto: York University Student Community and Leadership. Retrieved July 20 2012, from http://redzone.yorku.ca/2012/06/1598/#more-1598
York University. (2014) About York. Retrieved March 1 2016, from http://about.yorku.ca
YUFA (York University Faculty Association). (2005). Anomalies in York’s policy and procedure for the temporary use of university space. Retrieved September 25 2007, from http://www.yufa.org//freespeech/space.html
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