THE LAST ISSUE (FOR NOW)
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ILLUSTRATION ARTHUR MACATANGAY, "TIRED AND BURNED OUT"
DEAR READER, Welcome to the last issue of The Gateway Magazine (for the time being). With less than a month left before the fall semester, we have been hard at work preparing ourselves for being a better organization for you. The Gateway Magazine has been a core presence in our university experience, however, all good things must come to an end (as they say). As The Gateway enters its next chapter, we hope to continue providing valuable content for you — after all, we are an organization for students, by students. We hope this upcoming school year brings you growth and new adventures — whether you're joining a student group, studying abroad, learning a new skill or volunteering for The Gateway. Remember, it's not goodbye, it's see ya later :-)
Tina Tai Magazine Editor
Sofia Capettini Art Director
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REQUIRED READING
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University: Deal or no Deal Three different students share the value attending university provides for them.
THE STUDIO 20
Musings A set of three poems that reflect on our self perceptions, our sense of being and our relationship with our surrounding world.
FEATURES 4 12
Indigeneity & Technoscience: A Conversation Read about the relationship between science, technology and colonialism. Has Free Speech on Campus Ever Existed? What does "academic freedom" really mean, and who does it really benefit?
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Featured Artwork A series of four abstract paintings that represent feelings experienced during prolongues periods of isolation.
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Illustration Featured volunteer illustration.
DIVERSIONS 32
Horoscope New (school) year, new you.
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Parker the Pepper Some final thoughts from Parker.
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Indigeneity & Technoscience: A Conversation TEXT KATE TURNER ILLUSTRATION AN BUI
In the Winter 2021 semester, the faculty of native studies introduced a new, fully asynchronous course: NS 115: Indigenous Peoples and Technoscience. As a native studies student, I have taken my degree in the direction of political science and law, but I was curious to learn more about Indigenous peoples and technoscience. I heard about some of the work being done in this area at the U of A in my first year in NS 240 with professor Jessica Kolopenuk. NS 115 is taught by professor Jessica Kolopenuk and Kim TallBear. It provides an introduction to the connection between science, technology, and colonialism, and looks at the growing desire for Indigenous governance within these fields. I spoke with them to learn more about Indigenous peoples’ experiences and perspectives in the fields of science and technology, and the work they do at the University of Alberta. Jessica Kolopenuk, assistant professor in the faculty of native studies, said Indigenous Studies as a discipline has not done a good job of looking at scientific fields and science’s role in colonialism, as well as the possibilities that STEM fields might offer to strengthen Indigenous governance and ways of relating. With science and technology influencing our world, Kolopenuk believes we need to engage with technoscience and how it affects our environment and relationships, both in order to understand it and to do it more sustainably, responsibly and so Indigenous peoples are in control of the technologies that affect them. She also
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FEATURE advocated for more programs doing interdisciplinary work. “Science and technology have always been a part of colonial processes and they continue to be, and maybe even more so in an intensified manner at this point in human history, and so we really need to be engaging with the sciences, with technologies that are affecting everybody because if we don’t… we can’t diagnose some of the problems, then we can’t solve them,” she said. “I think that there isn’t enough focus on engaging with the science and technologies that affect us.” Kim TallBear, associate professor in the faculty of native studies and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and the Environment, de-
scribed the foundational narratives that underlie colonialism. The fact that people don’t automatically think of Indigenous peoples as having an interest in science research and technology comes from the history of separating humans from animals and separating knowing, ‘civilized’ subjects from those who are considered ‘non-civilized,’ she explained. “All of that goes back to this sort of hierarchy of life that’s both species-ist and racist…If we go back to these fundamental binaries that inhere in Western culture,
they’re all about which beings sit above other beings in a hierarchy of life, who’s more civilized, who’s more rational,” TallBear said. Indigenous peoples are often depicted as ‘part of nature’ and the objects of the scientific gaze, she said. These histories and core fundamental ideas in colonialism create these ideas that Indigenous people don’t do science, or that they only have traditional knowledge, which is not seen as really doing science, TallBear explained. However, she has come to think about
“Science and technology have always been a part of colonial processes and they continue to be, and maybe even more so in an intensified manner at this point in human history...”
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FEATURE Indigenous peoples not only as capable of and interested in science, but also that the traditional sciences, now called traditional knowledge, practiced by their ancestors and continued today, is parallel with engagement in Western science. Instead of science and traditional knowledge being distinct from each other, TallBear considers traditional knowledge as an “umbrella of knowledge” for Indigenous people, which can include science. There could be an argument made, she added, that anything Indigenous peoples do in service of their worldviews can be considered Indigenous knowledge. From podcast editing to designing language learning apps, if the project wants to foreground Indigenous needs and Indigenous values inform their work with technology, it could all be considered Indigenous knowledge. Indigenous peoples doing science also impacts the methods of the work. “Indigenous peoples can also bring really novel approaches to doing science and technology because like everyone, who we are and what our experiences are affects how we do research,” Kolopenuk said. “They affect the questions we ask or that we think are important and they affect how we go about answering those questions.” The foundational narratives TallBear described above also influence the kinds of science and the questions being asked. TallBear explained that settler scientists aren’t necessarily asking the wrong questions, but they are not always the right ones for Indigenous peoples. These questions are coming from, whether they are aware of it or not, a hierarchy of life, resulting in a hierarchy of races, genders and sexual orientations that is foundational to the settler academy. “That’s what a lot of Indigenous Studies is pushing back against, and it’s why part of Indigenous Studies needs to be engaging with fields of science and technology,” TallBear said. “How are we going to effectively push back on these foundational settler narratives that underlie the settler academy if we’re not engaging with all of these different fields? We can’t do all of that work in the social sciences and the humanities.”
There is a history of exploitative relationships between Indigenous peoples and science research. Some examples Kolopenuk mentioned were nutrition experiments in residential schools and a history of forced sterilization of Indigenous women, as well as a famous case where blood was taken from the Nuu’chah’nulth in the 1980s for arthritis research and was subsequently used for other projects without the consent of the community. The samples were eventually returned because of the advocacy of the community. While there is no excusing these colonial experiences, Kolopenuk said it is important to acknowledge how the advocacy and resistance of Indigenous peoples have shaped what is deemed to be ethical research. They have pushed for tighter safeguards, ethics requirements and guidelines and some have their own research ethics review boards. These developments, she explained, are linked to Indigenous governance and ways Indigenous peoples are beginning to govern the science that affects them. At the University of Alberta, TallBear and Kolopenuk run the Indigenous Science,
Technology and Society (Indigenous STS) Research and Training program. The program doesn’t just study science and scientific fields, but also how it contributes to shaping the world around us. They do work on policy advising, training programs, as well as publications, op-eds, social media communication, and collaborations with research projects in the area. They have collaborated with organizations such as the National Geographic Society to look at ancient DNA research and work with global Indigenous biodiversity researchers. They are also connected to other people across Canada and in other places around the world, such as the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. Their partners are doing work in diverse areas, such as social sciences, artificial intelligence and environmental sciences. This collaborative nature drives this network and how they train students too, she added. This idea of a network with nodes, clusters and connecting lines is reflected in their logo to reflect the connectivity, relationality, and that it is not a hierarchical project. Rather, the project is about
“How are we going to effectively push back on these foundational settler narratives that underlie the settler academy if we’re not engaging with all of these different fields?”
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FEATURE their resources, knowledge and working towards better relations with each other, the places they live, and non-Indigenous people. Another part of Indigenous STS is the Summer Internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics (SING) program. TallBear was a part of the original faculty of the program in the United States, and the Canadian version of the program was organized by Kolopenuk, TallBear and a colleague at Concordia University in Montreal. The one-week summer program brings together Indigenous students, community members and elders to learn the basics of genomics, as well as meet other people and build long-term relationships. They also focus on a place-based approach, looking at topics relevant to the communities where the workshops are. TallBear explained the program aims to include conversations of decolonial ethics because mainstream science programs typ-
ically do not have conversations about how their science fits in the broader context of colonization. “We think that it’s really important to help train them to eventually do science in a way that contributes and gives back to Indigenous communities and isn’t just either being done in spite of them or in ways that are maintaining colonial perspectives on Indigenous peoples,” she said. Both Kolopenuk and TallBearhave heard students talk about feeling isolated or alienated in their science programs because they are often the only Indigenous person in their program. TallBear spoke about some of the ideas that can exist in research related to Indigenous peoples, such as a divide between science as ‘knowledge,’ and traditional people’s knowledge as ‘belief.’ Students can feel conflicted and they don’t always have the analytical tools, for example, to speak back to their professor who might have these ideas. Both active and passive forms of racism can be alienating, she said. It’s important, she added, to meet other
“We think that it’s really important to help train them to eventually do science in a way that contributes and gives back to Indigenous communities and isn’t just either being done in spite of them or in ways that are maintaining colonial perspectives on Indigenous peoples...”
Indigenous people interested in science, and that is what they come to SING for. Kolopenuk also talked about how thinking of Indigenous peoples as scientists and participating in scientific research challenges the ideas of what an authentic or traditional version of Indigeneity looks like. At SING Canada, participants are happy and relieved that they can be both Indigenous and pursue
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their passion for science, and it doesn’t mean they’re less Indigenous. “That is really an empowering thing… because it doesn’t make them any less Indigenous,” she said. “We encourage them to bring who they are as Indigenous peoples to the work that they do.” One thing that excites her is to see the excitement from Indigenous graduate students training in scientific fields, who feel hopeful that they will be able to support their communities with the training and jobs they might get. TallBear said they get calls non-stop to speak to departments about the work they're doing, and that there is a “real hunger” for the perspectives they have. She added that students from SING who have gotten PhDs in the last few years also receive requests to speak about the work they do. “People definitely want to do this, I think, but it’s hard to overcome hundreds of years of colonization and the marginalization of Indigenous peoples from everything, now that we’re in a so-called ‘era of reconciliation,’” she said. Indigenization isn’t easy, and it’s more than a scholarship or letting a student into a lab. TallBear brought up questions such as
do,” TallBear said. Kolopenuk also spoke about policy makers wanting to include Indigenous voices, but not having the understanding of the history of colonialism and its ongoing impacts and how it structures power relationships between Canada and Indigenous peoples. There are hurdles to overcome with education, she added. “Good intentions are great, but power works through good intentions as well, and [it] can’t just be about that, there has to be action involved… Indigenous people need to be [in] the core processes of policy making and implementation.” We also spoke about some of the barriers and challenges that exist for Indigenous peoples in scientific fields. One was the limitations that a student’s high school education can place on their degree program. Both
“People definitely want to do this, I think, but it’s hard to overcome hundreds of years of colonization and the marginalization of Indigenous peoples from everything, now that we’re in a so-called ‘era of reconciliation’...” ‘what is the atmosphere of the lab?’and if the lab can accommodate the different cultural perspectives, histories and values that Indigenous people might bring to the lab. It’s not easy to figure out, she added, especially when people have been exposed to ideas about science as objective and Indigenous people as superstitious. These are hard to overcome, she explained, because they are built into institutions. It takes more than just individuals having intentions to be different. “This is where we always need a structural analysis of racism and colonialism. We have to understand that built into this structure are these hierarchies I’ve been talking about, they’re deeply built in to the way we do everything, so you can be the nicest, most anti-racist, pro-Indigenous person in the world in your own mind, but that’s not enough, you’ve got to change the system, and that’s very, very hard work to
TallBear and Kolopenuk talked about the importance of math knowledge in particular to enter a scientific field in university, and the need for adequate math training from high school for students to be able to succeed in those programs. For students coming from poor school districts, they might not have enough math or science teachers or lab
systemic issues. While they are currently teaching NS 115, they are planning to develop two upper-level 400 or 500 level courses to be part of a certificate in Indigenous STS. Getting the certificate built and credentialled will take a few years, as there is some course management that needs to be worked out with the faculty and they need to ensure they are not taking students and resources from the current curriculum. They are also in the process of looking at cross-listing the courses within the faculty of science, so science students who might be interested in these courses can have room to take them within their programs. “Diversifying science and who’s doing science is so important and it’s something that we focus on in the course, [and the]
“Good intentions are great, but power works through good intentions as well, and [it] can’t just be about that, there has to be action involved… Indigenous people need to be [in] the core processes of policy making and implementation.” facilities. TallBear highlighted the issue of students not being able to declare a biology major, for example, if they wanted to, before even getting to the issues of alienation in the classroom. There is a need for systemic actions beyond individual intentions to fix
foundation of our Indigenous STS program as a whole...is encouraging and supporting Indigenous peoples to be scientists [and] not have to sacrifice who they are as Indigenous people,” Kolopenuk said. g
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TEXT REMI HOU ILLUSTRATION KAI JUN MA “You have to go to university.” These are words all college students have heard, either from parents or society or from themselves. Nowadays, more and more high school students are having these same thoughts. However, with the continuous increase in tuition – the average Canadian undergrad pays over $6,000 in tuition per year – and the devaluing of degrees due to high supply, one might wonder: is university still worth it? An article published by the Canadian Encyclopedia stated that in 1939, 40,000 students were enrolled in a Canadian university and these numbers would only increase. This rise in enrollment first began during World War II when scientific research was in high demand. In addition to this, veteran rehabilitation programs resulted in 53,000 veterans entering university between the years 1944 and 1951. While it was expected these numbers would drop, they never did and by 1963, the number of enrolled students had quadrupled from 1940. Universities Canada, a university advocacy group, says that in 2019, Canadian universities had 1.4 million enrollments with the University of Alberta alone contributing 40,000 to that number. However, once again the question becomes, “is it all worth it?” Is there a point to
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spending four years or more of one’s life pursuing a university degree to receive a piece of paper? Most students seem to say there is, but the reason may not be as obvious. Tod Vandenberg is a fifth-year student in the mechanical engineering co-op program with a biomedical specialization. For him, coming to university seemed like the natural thing to do after high school. “My grades in school were good and a lot of my talents were in academics,” Vandenberg said. “I felt that the best way to pursue those kinds of talents… was to stay in school a little bit longer.” Vandenberg decided engineering was the best fit for him because of his love for design and also the creativity which goes into being an engineer. When reflecting on the courses he took in his five years at the University of Alberta, he believes they gave him a solid foundation which he can build upon when he goes into the workforce. “I think that once we graduate there is
a pretty wide variety of jobs available for mechanical engineering like HVAC or the oil field or making machines,” Vandenberg stated. “I think I got a pretty good foundation for all those things even if I don’t want to work in one of those specific fields.” However, what Vandenberg most valued from his time at the UofA was not the knowledge he learned — it was the soft skills he acquired, such as teamwork. “Right out of high school, even in high school, I didn’t like group projects very much, but I realized that in the workforce, you’re going to work in a group,” he explained. “I think forcing us to do group work was really valuable even though one of the most difficult kinds of projects is group work.” “I also think that the time spent in between classes just being able to study and hang out on campus is pretty valuable … I do think that made the experience more than just education, it kind of made it so I had more of a life than just going to school constantly.” For Vandenberg, university was completely worth it, both for the knowledge it taught him which will help him in his career, but also in nurturing skills which go beyond the classroom. Zack Schwartz, who graduated from the
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faculty of science in 2019 with a degree in biology and chemistry, is currently a first-year medical student. He agrees with Vandenberg on the worth of university. “I went [into university] with medicine as the goal and so it was kind of a natural stepping stone for me to take to get there,” Schwartz explained. “I chose science partially because I really liked science in high school and … it is kind of a natural stepping stone for medicine so it sets you up pretty well, gives you a pretty good background for medicine.” What Schwartz enjoyed about his science degree was the flexibility it gave him regarding the courses he could take. He was able to pursue his passion for medicine and also other interests through his degree. However, similar to Vandenberg, Schwartz believes the soft skills he acquired were what made university much more worth it. “I think one of the main things that I learned was how to not just prioritize, but how to manage your time and how to really learn what’s important and what you shouldn’t stress too much about,” Schwartz reflected. “Just learning how that whole balancing works so that you can do well in school, you can have a social life, you can take care of yourself and just learn which ones to prioritize when so that you can be as productive and as healthy as you
possibly can.” To Schwartz, not only did university act as a way to help him get into medicine, but it also allowed for much personal growth and development which assisted him in his life, whether that be jobs or medical school. “I would say [university has] definitely been useful, both as a paper, a certificate and as the personal skills I’ve developed through it and the knowledge, but I would say the skills and the paper are more useful than the knowledge that I’ve forgotten.” While both Vandenberg and Schwartz chose to go to university because it was the natural way to use their talents or as a means to a great goal, not everybody makes the choice for that reason. Renae Ledoux, a fourth-year sociology psychology double major student, first went to university for something other than academics: she wanted to pursue her swimming career. “I wanted to continue swimming at a higher level and it seemed that doing it at university was a good deal because I could do it on scholarship and also get my studying done and continue doing a sport I love,” Ledoux said. Ledoux swam with the Pandas for the first three years of her university career. In her second year, she had the opportunity to compete at the national level and received two silver medals. “It was so much fun to travel and experience the varsity world of sports, I made so many great connections and life long friends,” Ledoux said. “I think having people
who you were in the same world as and who have a common interest is super important because school is hard.” Outside of her time in the pool, Ledoux also feels that the real worth of university comes from the way society sees it and how much value it puts in a postsecondary education. “I learned a lot of great things and a lot of cool courses, but I also took a lot of courses which I felt were redundant,” Ledoux expressed. “I think the biggest reason [why university is worth it] is that society right now says it’s important.” In a Pew research study in the United States, 94 per cent of parents with children ages 17 and younger want their child to go to college. However, people saw character traits, not education, as the greatest predictor of success. 96 per cent of people said a good work ethic is important and 93 per cent valued knowing how to get along with others. It seems that for many students, the value of a university education comes not in the knowledge they learn in the lecture hall; rather, the true value comes from the soft skills they gain at university: teamwork, perseverance, and critical thinking. These are the skills and attitudes many students are finding have the most influential impact on their lives. These are the skills which can’t be taught — they must be acquired. Like what the poet Oscar Wilde said: “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” g
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Has FreeSpeech Speechon on Has Free Campus Existed? Campus vE Ever er Ex isted? TEXT RACHEL NARVEY ILLUSTRATION AN BUI
Depending on who you ask, academic freedom either is or isn’t in a state of total crisis. Those sounding the alarm bells have largely been conservative voices who claim that right-leaning views are being censored within the university. Often, these narratives are tinged with nostalgia, framing the way the university used to be as a free-flowing arena of debate and ideas. But is this true? When we talk about “protecting academic free speech,” what does that mean, and who — both historically and in the contemporary moment — has been able to speak freely on university campuses? If we are to take a look at history, we might find that academic freedom is far more fraught than contemporary debates would suggest. By examining the cultural shifts and ideological systems the university is embedded in, perhaps we can more deeply understand what’s at stake within these conversations about academic freedom, and further, what the current fixation on academic freedom might conceal. Dax D’Orazio, a political science PhD student at the University of Alberta, is writing
his dissertation on free speech controversies within Canadian universities. D’Orazio defined academic freedom as a particular form of freedom of expression that can allow professors and instructors to teach without “undue interference,” whether from the government or forces within the institution. While D’Orazio described the narrative surrounding academic freedom as being largely championed by progressives before shifting over the years, he also pointed out that strategies surrounding the use of academic freedom as a political tool of the right are not new, but rather much of what’s happening on campus “harkens back to the socio-cultural tumult of the 1960s.” He explained that when Ronald Reagan was campaigning to be state governor, the Free Speech Movement (FSM) was surging on Berkeley campus. The FSM was made up of students who adopted the mass civil disobedience tactics used in the civil rights movement — like sit-ins — to organize effectively and engage administrators on issues they cared about, like opposing the Vietnam War.
“Reagan saw political opportunity at that moment, because he understood that … there was essentially a class resentment and racial resentment that led a majority of the population to view campus protests and campus unrest very unfavourably,” D’Orazio said. “They thought that [students] were entitled, spoiled, and elite, some of the same criticisms you see to this day.” Reagan won by a landslide in the 1966 election, garnering 57.5 per cent of the vote. According to D’Orazio, this victory was won by using the Berkeley campus as a prop. Some of the promises Reagan made during his campaign included constraining the funding of the post-secondary system within California, a promise he followed up on. In his research, D’Orazio refers to this pattern demonstrated by Reagan as the “campus crisis feedback loop,” which he says goes something like this: “There's campus unrest, there is lots of media attention paid to campus that generates an unsavoury and sometimes sensationalized portrait that results in negative public
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opinion. Then, that presents partisan and political opportunities to get political capital out of that public opinion. That results in explicit partisan political strategies to use campus as a convenient political punching bag.” The campus crisis feedback loop is — D’Orazio pointed out — a pattern still occurring today. He cited Andrew Scheer’s 2019 campaign for prime minister as one example. “[Scheer] was trying to tap into aggrieved conservative students and the conservative base in their disdain for campus politics,” he said. Although Scheer’s campaign was unsuccessful, parallels can be found in Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP), who pushed the U of A to adopt a free speech policy inspired by the Chicago Principles in 2019. They’ve also adopted a performance-based funding model, which many have described as punitive set of metrics designed to further restrict the university. With this in mind, the most significant change the UCP has made to the U of A during their time in office has been cutting theuniversity's operating funding, which
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they’ve slashed by nearly 19 per cent over the past two years. These changes the UCP have made to the university are directly related to other widespread changes many universities have been going through for decades. D’Orazio names two major shifts that occur in the space of the university: First, the criteria for who is able to attend university begins to expand beyond those who are white and male, leading to increasing demands for equality and equity within the space. Second, a neoliberal austerity agenda cuts funding to the public sector more widely, meaning that the university becomes increasingly reliant on its donors and corporate partners. “Universities are in a strategic bind,” D’Orazio said. “They have all of these demands placed upon them in creating good citizens, people who are equipped to go out into the world and get jobs and make a difference, but their ability to do so is hindered by a lack of funding. They start to look for how to fill those gaps, and begin to imbibe things like new public management.”
D’Orazio highlighted that the more the university understands itself as an “economic force,” the more it will avoid taking risks, an aversive stance that has consequences for academic freedom. This isn’t news to Laurie Adkin, an ecological economist and associate professor of comparative politics in the U of A’s department of political science. “The more this government pushes us to being reliant on private funding for research, the more this is going to stifle the public intellectual role of academics,” Adkin says. One specific way Adkin described this playing out is with funding from the oil and gas industry. While the research undertaken might be accurate, Adkin says the kinds of questions that are researched are “determined by the funders,” and therefore what academics will say publicly is also shaped by concerns about the involvement of industry. If industry controls what research gets funded, and who gets funded to do it, it’s easy to see how this could stifle its detractors. Adkin added that one question she is asked a lot is why the public doesn’t hear more about
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“Universities are in a strategic bind... they have all of these demands placed upon them in creating good citizens, people who are equipped to go out into the world and get jobs and make a difference, but their ability to do so is hindered by a lack of funding. They start to look for how to fill those gaps, and begin to imbibe things like new public management.”
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alternatives for a post-carbon economy. She says that she and others working in her field have a lot to say about alternatives, but often their voices don’t get the reach that they need because of how media is similarly tied to industry interests. “What's the value of free speech if you don't have the capacity to be heard?” she asked. Adkin argued that the threat diverse voices pose to traditional authority is one reason conservative governments like the UCP have
edge,” she said. Like D’Orazio who traced the current climate surrounding free speech to the 1960s, Adkin also looks to history to contextualize some of the debates surrounding free speech today. Specifically, she mentioned the 1980s, where political correctness discourse emerged in reaction to social movements that demanded equal rights for groups like women, LGBTQ2S+, and racialized people. “These affirmative action programs were
“What's the value of free speech if you don't have the capacity to be heard?” taken up the rhetoric of protecting academic freedom. She gave the example of UCP policies that remove education about the history of residential schools from elementary curriculums as indicative of these values. “To me, this is evidence that what they think of as threats to freedom of speech is threats to the historical colonial construction of knowl-
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meant to try to redress historic and systemic injustices, but they were seen by those who held those privileged positions as threats to what constitutes legitimate knowledge and knowers,” Adkin said. While the U of A can be a space where people can come together to challenge the status quo, this potential is not just undercut by the
systemic aspects of the university that are tied to capital and dominant colonial ideology, but by the physical space where this learning happens. Rob Jackson, an english and film studies PhD student, highlighted how the Humanities Centre itself — which was built after a wave of student mobilizations occurred in 1968 — is constructed in a way that would make it especially difficult for students to organize. “It's an important thing to keep in mind that our spaces are political spaces and they're designed for particular purposes,” he said. “They're infrastructures that act below the surface of our perception that direct how we move, act, and orient to space.” On some floors of the Humanities Centre the hallways are so narrow that it’s impossible for more than two people to walk side-by-side. Additionally, there is a big hollow in the middle of the building, allowing those on the upper levels of the building to watch over what’s happening below. When we think of the role the social sciences and humanities play in examining power structures under a critical lens, the
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humanities building’s architecture seems even more telling. Further, the truths revealed by this old structure are compounded by the fact that it’s still standing, demonstrating another key aspect Adkin explored: the selective underfunding of the humanities. Shama Rangwala, an assistant professor at York University’s department of humanities, noted that underfunding means that fewer professors hold tenure. As more contract instructors are hired, the lack of job security inherent
within these positions means that university workers will be increasingly more hesitant to “rock the boat.” She argued that the way capitalism limits free speech is still an unacknowledged contingency, a fact that makes the free speech principles adopted by the U of A read as hollow. “Free speech is a fantasy to begin with,” she said. “What we need to do is actually extend the framework of academic freedom to more people, not make statements like, ‘we are an
“To me, this is evidence that what they think of as threats to freedom of speech is threats to the historical colonial construction of knowledge...”
institution that's here for free speech,’ as if everybody within capitalism has access to be able to say whatever they want.” For Rangwala, the conversation surrounding free speech currently is “symptomatic” of something else, specifically a crisis in the liberal ideology that shapes our society. Liberalism typically upholds policies that centre around individualism and freedom. Rangwala added that she views liberalism as a kind of ideological bridge between the “fundamentally incompatible” systems of capitalism and democracy, arguing that if capitalism is defined as the exploitation of workers to create surplus value, and democracy is defined as the power of the people, these forces “are fundamentally incompatible.” “Liberal ideology has been that bridge
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between those two fundamental things, but that bridge is collapsing because of all kinds of crises like financialization, climate and COVID-19,” she said. “When that happens, the struggle between the power of people and power of capital is going to be fought in every terrain, and the university is just one of those terrains.” Some academics who are dubious of free speech being labelled a “crisis” by conservatives have argued that we are actually facing a crisis of discourse, meaning that there is widespread unwillingness to engage with one another, and that culturally, we no longer agree on reliable sources of information. These arguments often imply that if all sides could make concessions in order to come together and find common ground, many of the problems we face as a society could be solved. Rangwala, however, sees the matter a bit differently. “Polarization is not bad if the bridge that was connecting the two poles [of capitalism and democracy] was just serving as obfuscation for systemic oppression,” she said. “The impeachment of Trump was the perfect example of this, because it actually did not matter what the
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evidence was … It matters what side you are on when that bridge collapses.” She highlighted that often, advocating for a middle-ground involves overlooking the unchecked racism inherent in certain stances. “My research is on adaptation,” she said. “Things that we think are new are often just adaptations of older times … If you listen to some speeches from Malcolm X from the 60s, he's saying the same thing. He's like, ‘why are you asking me to be nice to somebody who thinks that I am subhuman.’” Ultimately — like the strategy Ronald Reagan used to mobilize Californians — Rangwala believes the narrative surrounding academic freedom is politically expedient. "This focus on free speech and academic freedom is its own kind of smokescreen for the systematic dismantling of the academy in general because of austerity politics,” she said. “The desired outcome is the same, which is to neutralize the academy as a force for critique for all kinds of systems and power.” By thinking through the ways that academic freedom is in some ways an illusion, we can
think more expansively and critically about what the words “campus free speech” actually entail. It’s easy to believe any campus tumult — either real or perceived — is an isolated product of our time, but looking towards history can help contextualize and deepen our understanding of these issues. By looking to the past, we can learn that the university is simultaneously at a crossroads of great social change, but also primarily an institution that upholds systems of power such as capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy. Before we can consider whether academic freedom is in danger, we should instead ask whether it has ever been truly safe, and if so, who it has protected. There is a crisis at our university — one that significantly imperils free speech — a crisis of government imposed austerity. Perhaps those who claim they are concerned about academic freedom should put their money where their mouth is and invest in empowering those who are marginalized. After all, speech that only fits within the rigid confines of the status quo is not free speech at all. g
FEATURE
"This focus on free speech and academic freedom is its own kind of smokescreen for the systematic dismantling of the academy in general because of austerity politics... the desired outcome is the same, which is to neutralize the academy as a force for critique for all kinds of systems and power.”
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THE STUDIO
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THE STUDIO
VI S
UA L
S
SO
FIA
CA
PE
T
TI NI
A set of three poems that reflect on our self perceptions, our sense of being and our relationship with our surrounding world.
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THE STUDIO
My Friend, You Are Not A Monster
Found poem using words from Alone by Chaboute
This is a found poem with all words and phrases taken and rearranged from Alone by Chaboute, a graphic novel with a minimal amount of text about a man who lives alone in a lighthouse. He is scared about what other people will think of him but, over the course of the book, eventually builds up the courage to leave his self-confinement. The poem is a reflection of the ideas and themes in the book, taking the form of a dialogue between the man from the book and an unspecified, benevolent being. It’s about difference, belonging, and selfesteem and the juxtapositions of courage/fear and comfort/sadness.
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THE STUDIO
TEXT AVERY BIRD VISUALS SOFIA CAPETTINI
the horizon is frightening.
I was born deformed
I know.
and sacred.
I’m not going to leave you here.
you’ve never known anything but solitude a stationary stone ship that never docks.
I don’t even know my real name my friend,
is there anything special you would like? you are a labyrinth: an intricate garden difficult to understand you are a voyage a kind of nerve impulse traveling from one secluded place to another: the state of being alone prison, inherited.
images of the outside world. my friend, you are not a monster and there is no reason for you to be confined. to set foot on land is to get back onboard. here, take the helm. good luck, you’ll need it. g
a single embryonic secret coiled into a circle that hides whenever anyone approaches
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THE STUDIO
A Portrait Of Seasons
This poem is an exploration of what it means to be in a body and how embodiment connects with seasons, allowing selfesteem and confidence to ebb and flow through the years. The interpretation is up to the reader.
TEXT AVERY BIRD ILLUSTRATION SOPHIE WEI
flesh-soft secrets all huddle together in winter, where cold becomes mercy and the bottoms of conversations reach farther down that you thought. winter forgets in a forgiving way, offering you a sweater-fort to hide in and never asking for a reason. spring is a question, seeking your attention from somewhere on the other side of new growth. come summer, come vulnerability, come the inevitable. a chlorophyll beauty soothes your heart in the most embryonic of ways, as if the sun doesn’t peer down at skin with a look that feels like judgement. autumn is a step in both directions that don’t cancel each other out. maybe next summer will be a braver one, maybe none of this is about bravery, anyways. g
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THE STUDIO
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THE STUDIO
This poem uses an experience I had during a summer job as a metaphor for the hypocrisy of exploiting the environment while also trying to save it. I was painting picnic benches outside and a bee landed in the paint tray; I held out my hand so the bee could climb out but the bee’s wings were already covered in paint and it is likely that it didn’t survive. As humans, we continue to destroy the environment while also trying to save it. While I am hopeful that things will change for the better soon, this poem is about the futility of this dynamic.
TEXT AVERY BIRD VISUALS SOFIA CAPETTINI 26 GTWY.CA
THE STUDIO
see how we kill what we’ve saved, see how we save what we’ve already killed. summer heat is sour and raw, now, like stomach acid: we breathe in the atmospheric, smoke-thick euphemisms as if this burning, tear-gassed climate simply changes, a sweetly soporific greenhouse. in the languid hush of small-town summer, acrylic splatters bloodlike in the grass, collateral blades that bend and crack in the way that organic beings shouldn’t. there is a bee in the paint tray, small limbs swimming for the sky, weighed heavy by industry. when I hold out my hand, I wonder if help is only symbolic: a self-congratulatory amnesia of the present we call history. see how we hold ourselves captive, thoughts stained myopic by the colonizer mind: we are the tooth that hungers for the tail, our intelligence too artificial to see that there has never been anything powerful in the pursuit of power. capitalism lies undead in its alleged grave, plastic bottles rattling against bones in the chthonic esophagus of time. the earth questions whether to take it all back, the end doesn’t recognize the beginning, anymore. but what does it matter? we’re the prison gods. so we cut our own umbilical cord, blood-drunk on eagerness to escape the planetary womb. and still, we wonder why the earth bleeds. how will we tell the children they can’t climb the memories of trees, that desertification is just a sandbox, but bigger, and the sand smells like decay. that you can’t save the soul already dead by your hand. sometimes, I wonder how far the bee walked before it couldn’t, how fast the paint dried onto its gossamer wings, too soft to fight back. I wonder if the bee regrets trusting the paint-splattered hand. see how we save what we’ve already killed, see how we kill what we’ve saved. if there’s a hand that waits to pull us from greed, I hope that it’s patient, and doesn’t let our mistakes dry onto our skin. g
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THE GALLERY
TEXT & PAINTINGS COLETTE NADON
"Untitled", 2020
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"Heartbeat", 2021
THE GALLERY
"Summer", 2021
"Evening Orbit", 2021
These four paintings are a part of a larger series I’ve done over the last school year exploring how I could represent abstract feelings that have occured due to prolonged periods of isolation due to COVID-19 pandemic. Primarily video games and other digital media have been a guiding source in terms of topic matter and visual aesthetics. g
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ILLUSTRATION JILLIAN CONNOLLY
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DIVERSIONS
HOROSCOPE TEXT EMMA JONES VISUALS SOFIA CAPETTINI
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
You’re always looking for a challenge, but it’s ok to take a break. Make this summer’s challenge how to have the most fun and maximize your good vibes.
Get a popsicle, get a book, and find a spot in the River Valley you can sit in until your heart rate goes down.
Next time you’re walking outside, try to find a bird. You don’t have to know what kind of bird it is. Just look at it.
Candles. (I know, they’re a cliché, but have you ever just sat in a room with some beautiful scented candles?) Get candles.
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DIVERSIONS
LEO
VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
Turn up the heat and cook something you’ve always wanted to eat. It doesn’t matter if it’s bad, it matters that you tried. (You can always give up and order takeout after, no one has to know.)
Go to bed early tonight. Like 7pm if you’re feeling it. It’s been a hard year. You deserve it.
If you haven’t already gotten completely obsessed with yoga, try some stretching today. If you can’t touch your toes, that’s ok. No one’s watching.
Just slow down. Whatever that means to you. Give it a try.
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
You’re doing the thing. You’re making it happen. Go buy yourself a cake.
I know you think self-care is for nerds, but you still need to do it. Have a bath or something.
Just remember that lofi hip hop radio beats are always there to get you through hard times.
The thing you’re worried you can’t do? You can do it. You got this. g
NEWS • OPINION • ARTS & CULTURE • PHOTOGRAPHY • ILLUSTRATION
gtwy.ca/volunteer
DIVERSIONS
ADVICE WITH
Parker the Pepper VISUALS SOFIA CAPETTINI
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DIVERSIONS
Hi friends, Parker the Pepper here, reporting for duty one last time... for now. It’s been a full year of “unprecedented times” and our campus has undergone so many changes. Some of us have gone through an entire year of university without ever knowing what in-person university classes are like. Some of us have finished our degrees and quietly left the campus, not knowing a year ago that we wouldn’t be returning for graduation parties or bid farewells to beloved professors in person. Some of us have been struggling and simply exist in a limbo-like state, unsure of when the haziness will be over. For avid readers, The Gateway has also undergone changes this year. Our operating capabilities will look a little different next year, but rest assured that our staff will be doing our best to continue upholding our core value of bringing campus-relevant information to students, by students. We are always adapting, so different columns may come and go, but The Gateway will always be a place for curious volunteers to showcase their passions and talents. Continue to be compassionate and keep making healthy choices — we look forward to seeing you on campus in the near future. g Stay spicy, Parker the Pepper
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