The University of Alberta has suffered from inconsistent funding from the government; and the faculty of arts has suffered the most as a result(10 faculty positions). One student from the political science department running for the position of art councilor advocated for corporate/private sponsorship to help the arts; similar to how the faculty of engineering which has not experienced felt the cuts, due to their private sponsors.
Faculty of Arts councillors are running on various platforms many require money, of which arts does not have. The reason other faculties have money is they provide a service to the community that people want to buy and do not have to be forced into. Government only has so much funds that they force people to pay. I am trying to show that Arts Students are leaders and can provide a valuable service to the community outside of the government realm.
-- Ken Shanks Undergraduate at the University of Alberta.Candidate for Arts councilor
Is it wrong for the Arts faculties of universities to take corporate sponsorship or is this the only way they can survive rough economic times. Can government step up to plate. Would this take universities away from the public good and realign them to private interests? Please discuss this issue.
Personally, I think the concept of privatizing university funding would be anathema to arts students, a significant amount of whom - not necessarily a majority - are quite opposed to corporate intervention. I believe a solution more acceptable to arts students would be to simply increase government funding. We are, after all, living in the wealthiest of provinces. But that's a whole other kettle of fish, so to speak.
ReplyDeleteAlso, which corporates would be willing to fund Arts? I'm sure there are some, but it's not as readily apparent as Business or Engineering, who would obviously benefit from, well, business and oil/gas corporations.