Monday, June 24, 2013

R.I.P. Post-Grad "Social Justice"

I can't help but see this as a positive development:
A decade ago, at the University of Windsor, social justice was the future. 
Popular, under-studied and interdisciplinary, the academic analysis of racism, sexism, colonialism and other oppressions seemed like a promising investment for a cash-strapped school keen to demonstrate its business savvy by leveraging some campus synergies. 
Thus was born the Centre for Studies in Social Justice, one of three “pinnacles” that would display the UofW to the wider world, along with automotive and environmental sciences. 
In two weeks, on Canada Day, the centre will close after eleven years, and join the ghostly ranks of obsolete academic departments, which haunt the quadrangles of campuses across North America...
"Social justice" may make you feel all virtuous and tikkun olam-y, but it won't pay the bills. Far better to acquire a useful trade--say like plumbing.

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