It’s been a rough few years for Capilano University, its employees and students.
Program cuts, student protests, court battles, labour disputes and now most recently, a damning report concluding the university violated art instructor George Rammell’s academic freedom.
Rammell’s satirical sculpture depicting university president Kris Bulcroft was seized by the university board and returned to him in pieces.
It’s true that as a society we’re much more sensitive to the issues of harassment and bullying now than we once were, and rightly so. The sculpture was grotesque, mean spirited and we’re sure, very hurtful for its intended target.
But, as a piece of protest art, that’s what it was meant to be and people in positions of power have to accept that criticism of their leadership comes in many forms, whether it’s a nasty editorial or an unflattering, quadruple-chinned, acrylic polymer effigy.
Whether it was fair to Bulcroft or not, it accomplished its goal of provoking reaction and focusing attention on the issues at hand.
Now the school faces a choice: Apologize to Rammell or face censure and further damage to its already-bruised reputation.
We urge Cap’s leadership to apologize — for the good of the school, its faculty and students who haven’t yet enrolled. This is an opportunity to help cap off an acrimonious chapter in the life of the North Shore’s only post-secondary institution. Perhaps when we’ve done that and the infighting is behind us, we can all refocus efforts on trying to answer why Capilano University remains one of the worst-funded schools in B.C.
