Letter of solidarity from York University
I am writing from York University, from the Department of Sociology, where we enjoy a most cordial relationship with the sociologists at St. Francis Xavier. Each year, we look forward to seeing whether any undergraduates from your institution will be joining our graduate program, where they have always shone; and each summer I look forward to conferences where I will see some of the finest alumni of our doctoral program, themselves now faculty at St. Francis Xavier.
————————-
| Subject: | Consternation from afar |
|---|---|
| Date: | Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:08:34 -0500 |
| From: | Kathy Bischoping |
| To: | [email protected] |
| CC: | [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] |
Dear Dr. Riley:
I am writing from York University, from the Department of Sociology, where we enjoy a most cordial relationship with the sociologists at St. Francis Xavier. Each year, we look forward to seeing whether any undergraduates from your institution will be joining our graduate program, where they have always shone; and each summer I look forward to conferences where I will see some of the finest alumni of our doctoral program, themselves now faculty at St. Francis Xavier. One of them is now a coauthor of mine, and so I’ve had the opportunity to spend some wonderful weeks in Antigonish — including one during which students received their “X” rings and happily showed them off to me.
The news of the labour dispute fills me with consternation. I’ve seen the York University community experience three strikes and their aftermath, in 1997, 2001, and 2008-2009. While the bonds I formed on picket lines are ones whose strength I still celebrate, I must also acknowledge that the divisions have festered. Once the mutual trust between students, faculty, and administrators is betrayed, it is incredibly difficult to regain. People cease to speak to one another for years at a time. To be sure, Toronto is known as a large and impersonal place; in a close-knit town such as Antigonish, where traffic halts so that a confused Come from Away like me can decide whether she wants to cross the road, the strife that follows a strike seems likely to be all the more painful.
I urge you to move swiftly toward a fair settlement, not only so that student learning and faculty research activities can be restored, but also so that the task of restoring community can begin.
Kind regards,
Katherine Bischoping
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
York University