In her letter to the Trent community concerning the latest plan to get rid of P.R. and Traill, Bonnie Patterson refers to Trent as a "house divided". It is unclear, in this case, whether Ms. Patterson sees herself as Abraham Lincoln or as Jesus Christ when she makes her bid to save Trent from its own uniqueness. What is clear is that the divisiveness she names is the result of her own efforts and of the efforts of others like her.
Patterson's idea is that Trent should centralise and become like every other university or else run the risk of financial ruin. What she may or may not know is that she is reinventing the wheel. In fact, every few years this efficiency bogey man is trotted out by the administration and every time it is refuted. The end result of the administration's confrontational attitude is that tension is created between the priorities of teaching/learning and the priorities of administrating. Every few years, as well as teaching and learning, the professors and students must take time to refute the proposal to simplify our university because, though it looks good on paper, Trent would be much the poorer if it were enacted.
All this to say, it isn't the first time that Trent has been asked to choose between some panic scenario and centralisation. In most cases, those who favour centralisation would like to turn the school into a nice tame little degree factory with a parochial emphasis. "Aim low," they say, "these are tough times." On the other hand, those who support the downtown colleges would like to ensure the university's future international reputation, because a good reputation is worth millions of dollars.
No one doubts the fact that Trent's financial situation is important. The question is: What difference does it make if Trent survives financially, if it is no longer Trent? Should we care if it hobbles along pathetically as a smaller less popular Brock or Lakehead? Or should we say - why bother? Let it die a noble death.
It is ironic that B. Patterson refers to Trent as a "house divided," since the latest instrument of divisiveness is the SuperBuild programme itself. By ignoring the school's specific history and by attempting to do violence to it over the figurative dead bodies of most of the professors in Senate, Ms. Patterson is only adding to the tension. If Trent is divided, she has only herself to blame.
Lisa Howard
B.A. 1995, M.A. 1999, currently in Hungary.