Beyond the Palewall (7)

["Beyond the Palewall" is the title of this series because "Beyond the Paywall' is taken. Information for which you are not willing to pay, along with information you may not wish to know, is presented in abbreviated form without charge. What has caught my eye may sometimes feel like a poke in yours and, in that sense, be beyond the pale. Items will appear weekly, or perhaps monthly, or maybe semi-annually, if I can get started and the weather is bleak.]

   Another dreary day as we begin the new year and I have been reading rather than writing. This means I will be copying again rather than creating, but the result for you is higher quality content. The first of the two items relates to the "culture wars", so you may wish to skip to the second which is about Northern Ontario. A slight warning, however, there are also skirmishes up there. 

1. Day of Epiphany
   A note appeared at the top of my screen informing me that today is such a day and when I read two stories about the same subject, I thought that some might be having one, an epiphany, that is. The articles are about the situation at Harvard and the departure of the president, Claudine Gay. The one in the Globe & Mail by Adrian Morrow offers a basic overview and this quotation which suggests the squabble is about larger issues:

“This really isn’t about plagiarism and antisemitism – although those issues are real and they are serious – what’s really going on is a conversation about race and diversity and anger on the right wing against the direction that elite universities have taken,” said Derek Penslar, a history professor and director of Harvard’s Center for Jewish Studies.

Later, one of the consequences of the dispute is noted:

"Billionaire donors held back their contributions. Chief among them was Bill Ackman, who alleged Dr. Gay got her job because of her race. Mr. Ackman and other opponents of DEI said Dr. Gay’s publication record of 11 articles in two decades was too thin for the job she held."

   The article in the National Post, is much longer (two full pages) and it is authored by the Mr. Ackman quoted right above. The large issue to him is DEI and one might conclude from it that perhaps we are witnessing a "Christine Gay Moment", somewhat like the "George Floyd" one. Here is a small portion of what he wrote:

"I came to learn that the root cause of antisemitism at Harvard was an ideology that had been promulgated on campus, an oppressor/oppressed framework, that provided the intellectual bulwark behind the protests, helping to generate anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate speech and harassment.

Then I did more research. The more I learned, the more concerned I became, and the more ignorant I realized I had been about DEI, a powerful movement that has not only pervaded Harvard, but the educational system at large. I came to understand that diversity, equity and inclusion was not what I had naively thought these words meant.

I have always believed that diversity is an important feature of a successful organization, but by diversity I mean diversity in its broadest form: diversity of viewpoints, politics, ethnicity, race, age, religion, experience, socioeconomic background, sexual identity, gender, one’s upbringing and more.

What I learned, however, was that DEI was not about diversity in its purest form, but rather DEI was a political advocacy movement on behalf of certain groups that are deemed oppressed under DEI’s own methodology."

He is a Harvard guy, by the way, and here is his answer to the question he raised, "What should happen?" His answer, in addition to Gay, all members of the Harvard board should also resign.

"The ODEIB should be shut down, and the staff should be terminated. The ODEIB has already taken down much of the ideology and strategies that were on its website when I and others raised concerns about how the office operates and who it does and does not represent. Taking down portions of the website does not address the fundamentally flawed and racist ideology of this office, and calls into further question the ODEIB’s legitimacy. [Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.]

   Some Canadian readers may be experiencing an "Epiphany Moment" after reading that. Although "DEI" is still being nurtured here and HR departments expanded, the enthusiasm south of here has been replaced by outrage and DEI departments are being dismantled. The Chronicle of Higher Education even created a tool to keep a record of state legislative efforts to restrict or shut down DEI programs and there are many of them. Last month, a legislative proposal was introduced in the House "that would strip colleges of federal funding if they require employees, students or applicants to write diversity, equity and inclusion statements." (At some universities, faculty members and job candidates are required to write diversity statements as part of the promotion or hiring process.)

  Perhaps the most important part of that article is the link to another Ivy League university, the University of Pennsylvania, whose president also was forced to resign. The link is to, "A Vision For a New Future of the University of Pennsylvania", which is a proposed new constitution for that university and it is supported by over 1,700 university faculty. If you go through the list, you will see some names from Canadian universities.

   If one assumes that the fervour in favour of DEI initiatives at Canadian universities subsides and student protests continue, those on the northern campuses might benefit from having a look at Penn's "A Vision For a New Future...". As well, a document written almost 60 years ago at the University of Chicago, "The Kalven Report", is useful. In both, to put it simply, it is suggested that the universities remain neutral and speech free. If you borrow from them, do so carefully. 

2. Ring of Fire
  I will now have to keep this short. If the phrase above rings a bell, it probably was in relationship to a Johnny Cash song, not the area well north of Thunder Bay. That Ring encircles a lot of minerals, the extraction of which is, or may, be problematic. Perhaps not for the Ontario government which "has thrown its weight behind the Ring of Fire, and has committed to paying roughly half of the at least $2-billion that is needed to fund the roads. Premier Doug Ford has even said that he’s willing to “jump on a bulldozer,” if that’s what it will take to get construction underway." There are other Nations up that way, however, and "One big concern raised by environmentalists about development in the Ring of Fire is that pollution may destroy fish habitats in the rivers around Marten Falls, and disturb carbon-storing peat that is ubiquitous in this part of northern Ontario." An added complication: although it was remembered this time to consult with the Nations up there, they disagree about whether the resources should be developed or the Ring of Fire extinguished. All of this information should be read as it originally appears in:
"In Remote Ontario, Marten Falls First Nation Hopes to Move Past More Than 100 Years of Subjugation, As It Opens the Doorr to Critical Minerals Development and an All-Season Road That Will Change Their LIves," Niall McGee, G&M, Dec. 31, 2023. [Some of those among the Neskantaga Nation, don't agree.]

A portion of boreal forest in northern Quebec

   Here is another piece which should be read with the one above. While one often sees articles against old-growth logging out west, those about tree removal north of us are rarer. Now a study from down-under has raised some issues. This article is based on that study:

   "Canada’s Logging Industry Devours Forests Crucial to Fighting Climate Change: A study finds that logging has inflicted severe damage to the vast boreal forests in Ontario and Quebec, two of the country’s main commercial logging regions," Ian Austen and Vjosa Isai, New York Times, Jan. 4, 2024.

"Canada has long promoted itself globally as a model for protecting one of the country’s most vital natural resources: the world’s largest swath of boreal forest, which is crucial to fighting climate change.

But a new study using nearly half a century of data from the provinces of Ontario and Quebec — two of the country’s main commercial logging regions — reveals that harvesting trees has inflicted severe damage on the boreal forest that will be difficult to reverse.

Researchers led by a group from Griffith University in Australia found that since 1976 logging in the two provinces has caused the removal of 35.4 million acres of boreal forest, an area roughly the size of New York State.

While nearly 56 million acres of well-established trees at least a century old remain in the region, logging has shattered this forest, leaving behind a patchwork of isolated stands of trees that has created a landscape less able to support wildlife, according to the study. And it has made the land more susceptible to wildfire, scientists say."

The Study:

   "Assessing the Cumulative Impacts of Forest Management on Forest Age Structure Development and Woodland Caribou Habitat in Boreal Landscapes: A Case Study from Two Canadian Provinces," Brendan Mackey et al.

Land 2024, 13(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/land13010006.

The Bonus:

For information about Canada's "Maple League Universities."

For a Canadian example of perhaps over zealous DEI training.