Is “Social Sustainability” Subservient?

Sustainable Development. Author : Johann Dréo, 2006. From Wikimedia.

I’ve been pondering the usage and implications of the term “Social sustainability.” In this post, I provide my reflections on the social and political challenges implied by an econo-centric view of the term in which social sustainability directly and indirectly serves to maintain the economy. I also add my thoughts about the use of the 3-sphere model in the university context.

 

Establishing a network of Peer Mentoring programs

Telemachus and Mentor (public domain from Wikimedia Commons)

In January of 2008 I and two colleagues were awarded funding from our Student’s Union for $112,800 to sustain and develop “curricular peer mentoring” programs at the University of Calgary. (The link sends you to our current peer mentoring program website in the Faculty of Communication and Culture.)

In this blog post I describe peer mentoring and the mandate of the funding, and provide a timeline of events in the first year of establishing the Campus-wide network.

 

Social Sustainability

Herrad von Landsberg, "The seven liberal arts" c. 1180. Wikimedia commons.

At our university we have established an Office of Sustainability, and recently faculty members were asked to fill out a survey about their knowledge and participation in sustainability initiatives.

Of course, the sustainability discourse emphasizes environmental values and economic values; much of the discourse focuses on trying to harmonize and coordinate these values. See the Talloires declaration — this is a major document that is shaping the discourse of sustainability at universities.

I have been troubled lately by the extent to which there is a hierarchy in this discourse: Economic and Environmental sustainability vie for first and second place. Social sustainability is always third, like an afterthought. Why is this?

 

Peer Mentors in Courses

Telemachus and Mentor (public domain from Wikimedia Commons)

I wrote the message below in response to a Summer 2008 listserv request for information on courses for peer tutors of writing who are assigned to particular courses.

Here, I briefly explain the model of “curricular peer mentoring” and how it is practiced in the program that I developed at the university of Calgary.

 

(Un)Clarity in Scholarly Writing

the scribe "Gundohinus" (c. 755 AD), Monastere de Vosevio. from Wikipedia Commons

“Writing Differently” by Christopher Gray and Amanda Sinclair is an insightful and humorous 2006 article that discusses pretentious academic writing (and why we should avoid it).

 

Sustainable Service-Learning

Calgary Downtown, 2006, from Wikimedia Commons

Q: What is the basic unit of Community Service Learning (CSL) in the university-community context? — What is the smallest social unit that contains all its necessary ingredients for its success and sustainability?

A: The basic unit of CSL is not a course or a student project, as teachers and administrators might think it is. … The basic unit of CSL is a “partnership” between one or more teachers, people in the community, and the students/citizens they currently mentor and work with.