Mount Allison University is currently in the process of hiring two faculty members for tenure-track positions in a new Indigenous studies program.

Seven candidates gave teaching and research presentations from April 16 to 24 in the Mawita’mkw, a designated place of Indigenous gathering on campus. The topics were diverse, addressing subjects like biopolitics and Indigenous subjugation, Indigenous perspectives in environmental studies, and colonial dynamics in New Brunswick.

“Indigenous studies covers everything. You have Indigenous law, medicine, education, literature, science, I mean Indigenous everything,” said Dr. Paulette Steeves, one of the applicants. Steeves is a Cree-Métis paleo-Indigenous archaeologist and currently a professor in Mt. A’s anthropology department. She presented her research and teaching talks along with the six other candidates, but said the University did not offer her a job.

Emma Hassencahl-Perley, former Indigenous affairs coordinator, said the candidates under consideration were varied in their research interests and ideas for courses and “what they thought a first-year Indigenous studies course might look like.… I was just thinking, ‘Wow, we should hire five instead of just two.’ ”

The program will eventually give students the option of completing a minor in Indigenous studies. However, the program currently has no set curriculum or courses, and the University will not begin to build it until the hiring process is over.

“This is not the last two [Indigenous studies] hires I hope the University does,” said Provost Jeff Ollerhead. “I hope it’s the first two hires.” New faculty members’ areas of specialty will likely shape Indigenous studies course offerings at least in the short term, said Ollerhead, but “The long term goal is to be broad and across the whole campus.”

Interdisciplinary courses were mentioned by a number of faculty and staff as a good way of accommodating the broad scope of what an Indigenous studies program might look like. Doreen Richard, former Indigenous affairs coordinator, said, “I definitely want to see different programs or departments involved in it, because it’s not a one-department job. That’s not the way Indigenous people work – we work through collaboration with each other.… I’d like to see people working together instead of apart.”

Actually building the program may take some time. New courses could be offered as soon as the fall semester under the X991 code for special topic courses. However, any new regularly offered course needs to be approved by the Academic Matters Committee as well as Senate, and the University’s current plan to formalize Indigenous studies as a minor would involve the same process. According to Ollerhead, expanding the minor into an Indigenous studies major would likely take several years.

The program will be guided by Universities Canada’s 13 principles of Indigenous education. These principles aim to increase representation of Indigenous people in Canadian universities and encourage Indigenization of campuses and curricula. They were developed by Universities Canada in consultation with Indigenous communities and include directives like “Ensure institutional commitment at every level to develop opportunities for Indigenous students,” “Continue to develop resources, spaces and approaches that promote dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students” and “Recognize the importance of providing greater exposure and knowledge for non-Indigenous students on the realities, histories, cultures and beliefs of Indigenous people in Canada.”

Groups like the Indigenous Student Support Group, the Indigenous Advisory Circle, MASU and the faculty council will also play important roles in building the program.

Steeves said she hopes to see Mount Allison work with local Indigenous communities to design the program. “Here in the Maritimes you have 15 Mi’kmaq communities.… If you want to plan a program, you reach out as nation to nation,” she said.

Richard expressed a similar desire for communities in the area to be involved in the process. “Someone out West will develop an Indigenous studies minor that’s totally different than the one we develop here,” she said, “because it depends on the territory you’re teaching it in, or that you’re building it in.”

The creation of an Indigenous studies program also fits into a long-term effort to decolonize and Indigenize the University in line with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee of Canada’s 94 calls to action. Richard hopes to see further small steps toward Indigenization on campus, as well as major ones like the addition of a new minor. She suggested more Indigenous artwork around campus buildings and more signage using Indigenous words as examples of simple gestures that will make a difference.

Ultimately, Richard said she thinks that reconciliation comes down to a sense of responsibility and eagerness to make it work on the part of University faculty and administration.

“The University has a responsibility to make those things happen.… It’s not going to happen overnight, I wouldn’t expect it to happen overnight,” she said. “But … they need to pull together and have dialogues.… If they don’t have them within their departments then they’re doing a disservice to their department and to the University.”

Undergraduate Indigenous studies programs have been implemented at other Canadian universities, including UBC in 2001, Concordia in 2012 and Dalhousie in 2015.

“Indigenous people themselves are at a place of recovering and healing where we do have people all over,” Steeves said. “You see schools now advertising not for one Indigenous scholar, but for two, four, five, which is fabulous.”

Steeves also spoke about the importance of Indigenous knowledge and scholarship. “Every school, every student should have an opportunity to hear Indigenous knowledge,” said Steeves. “Boy, if you really want to learn what all the excitement about Indigenous knowledge is about, read some Indigenous scholars! They’re fabulous! They’re great! It’s a whole new worldview.”

Hassencahl-Perley added, “It just makes me very excited for the next group of Indigenous students that are coming in, and for the Indigenous students that are here now to be able to see themselves in positions like that. I just think it’s very exciting. It’s a long time coming, that’s for sure.”

As someone who graduated high school in 2012, it feels like I’ve been in university forever. It’s not pleasant to watch old classmates delve into real life things – nursing jobs, pharmacy school, starting their own engineering businesses, getting accepted into Harvard Law and so on – while I continue to plug away at a comparably lame bachelor’s degree.

Starting out so hopeful, with a full tuition scholarship and a year’s worth of International Baccalaureate credits, I should have been able, in theory, to complete my degree within three years with no debt (rather than in six with student loans). But two drop outs, five program changes and two universities later … and I might actually graduate this spring!

While it has been a journey to get here, I know I’m not alone in this alternative undergraduate path. The term “victory lap” refers to taking an extra year (or years) to complete one’s degree, rather than following the traditional four-year route. Taking a victory lap often has a negative connotation, as it may imply that the student is less studious than their peers. However, many fifth- and upper-year students are completing honours degrees, working jobs while studying to pay for their degree, or wisely acknowledging their limits with heavy course loads.

Although money and time are limiting factors in the pursuit of education, remember that there are perks to running a victory lap if you find yourself in a position to need one.

First of all, how many high school graduates actually have a sweet clue of what they’d like to do with their lives? It takes time to figure this out. High school doesn’t expose us to all of the possibilities, and often students feel pressure to go straight to university afterward. Extra time provides you with an opportunity to learn what field truly interests you, and to gauge if this field offers the type of learning that you’re seeking.

Second, university is not an easy game to play. It takes time to figure out taking responsibility for yourself, living away from what you’ve been used to and adapting to such a fast-paced academic culture. Allowing yourself more time to immerse yourself into university is ideal.

Third, victory laps allow for life to happen. Most university students are at a delicate age of self-discovery, learning how to manage their mental health in a new environment and embracing an incredible stage of change in their lives. Sometimes a break from education may offer much more meaningful life experiences than university can.

University is a powerful journey that is worth extending. Each year builds onto the creation of your own personal empire, which includes the residence you live in, the clubs you are part of, the sports you engage in and the peers and professors you connect with. An extra year may bring about opportunities to take on leadership roles that you are passionate about, or even to take courses that actually interest you! Indeed, there is a reason we call them victory laps.

And we’re back! Everything is starting up again, and your student newspaper is no exception. A few points of business to start things off:

We are doing video! Like your happy grandfather, determined to stay relevant, we are belatedly and enthusiastically expanding our digital reach. Keep an eye out for videos long and short on our social media feeds and message us if you want to get involved with that.

Other positive news: the crossword is back! Your new humour editor Carly Penrose will be creating topical and local crosswords from scratch on a weekly basis. Also returning is Rev. Perkin’s enduring column, Through Stained Glass.

The covers will continue to exhibit the beautiful works of student art you have come to know and (hopefully) love. This year, as a step toward fairer compensation, we are paying non-staff contributors $50 for cover art.

Expect a renewed emphasis on columns and contributors. The newspaper will be drawing from a wider range of student voices to foster a more diverse and representative space.

Relatedly, an important focus this year is addressing and learning from past criticisms of the paper. Student voices should guide how we operate, so it’s worth taking time at the beginning of the year to look back.

Two main opinion pieces bookended this discussion last year: The first, a staff editorial at the beginning of the year, reorienting the paper from objectivity to fairness. The second, an open letter to the editors in chief from Willa McCaffrey-Noviss printed in the final issue. Her piece called for “less biased representation of student opinion in the Argosy,” specifically relating to the paper’s coverage of Divest MTA events.

Both pieces were created by writers I am personally close with who have established track records of seeking to better their community. This is my response to both, and my open letter to the community:

I stand with last year’s editors in their desire to “uphold fairness” and to “be a mouthpiece for student activity at Mt. A.” I disagree, however, that I get to choose what is fair or not, especially when we go to press on an issue that divides the campus, such as the Divest MTA events that Willa refers to.

Objectivity, neutrality, fairness and bias exist in a highly contested arena in journalism. And no one on this staff (made up of part-time, non-professional students) claims to have the answers.

Mount Allison and the Argosy are not alone in holding this conversation. This year we saw Desmond Cole’s attempts to negotiate what it means to be a journalist for the Toronto Star and an advocate for the Black Toronto community. Kovach and Rosenstiel, authors of The Elements of Journalism, are quick to point out that there are on record “nearly eight decades of skepticism about the notion of objectivity. What dominates the argument, however, is largely a confusion.” And just last year, Steve Woodward, Pulitzer Prize-winning UBC journalism instructor described to the CBC  how readers are seeking out different content and preferentially selecting “authentic” and “human” news.

Journalism is changing, and so are the rules. That said, there are straightforward practical solutions for improvement. This is what we are doing to be better:

Part of the issue last year stemmed from how politically homogenous the newsroom was. It’s hard to be unbiased when everyone selecting the stories and editing them falls on one side of an issue.

To address that, we have reached out on two fronts. First, we recruited aggressively over public platforms to applicants outside our social/political circles. Most of the staff are students I had not spoken with before this year. Second, we are heavily investing effort into getting contributors writing and/or getting them in the office. By diversifying the viewpoints of the people doing the pitching, editing and writing, we hope to be more representative.

At the end of the day, unlike the Globe and Mail, or the Tribune Post, or any publication in between, I think it’s irresponsible for us to editorialize in a way that alienates readers. Because unlike those papers, our readership can’t just get their news elsewhere. We’re directly funded by every student on campus and the only source of independent Mt. A news.

This is especially important now when it is easier than ever to filter out dissenting opinions. As discourse becomes polarized it becomes harder to view arguments as constructive instead of confrontational. And here it’s important to qualify. A lot of discussion is polarized because there is a wrong side to be on: white supremacists, climate change deniers and meninists can see themselves out. Let’s not make false equivalencies. But different ways of approaching social issues like student employment, environmentalism on campus  or housing in Sackville are helpful and much needed these days. We can be a good host to these conversations.

I think it’s important to point out that most articles are not directly political, but that coverage of issues that divide the campus tends to fall under the greatest amount of scrutiny and calls for more rigorous journalism. Politically speaking – meaning student politics, MASU politics and administrative politics – I would like for this paper to continue to strive to be a place where:

1. students can find relevant information and critical thought they would otherwise not have access to, and
2. all non-hateful voices can be heard in representative, open and helpful dialogue.

On a personal note: running a 146-year-old paper for 2,100 students is daunting. I’m nervous and excited. I’m very confident in our team and happy to be working alongside such a competent editor as Mirelle. I look forward to giving back to a community that has given me so much. I hope the paper informs, entertains and challenges you this year. As always, thank you for reading.

See you on campus,
Adrian Kiva

On Sept. 21, 2017, a condensed companion piece to this letter was published in print, signed by the entire editorial staff.

Edited by Mirelle Naud and Adrian Kiva, editors in chief