University

by Katie Cox

University is an inherently curious word. It comes from the Latin word “universitas,” which means “the whole” (“Universitas”). When one thinks of “the whole,” one might think of something that is universal, or perhaps of the universe that we all live in. The whole indicates that this word comprises everything, that it is not fragmented or in parts, that it can be present in any location, culture, or setting, and it doesn’t need to conform to a traditional definition or way of thinking. Often, “university” brings to mind a campus with libraries, classrooms, dorms, dining halls, and perhaps even a picturesque wide open green space where people can sit and do homework or throw frisbees with their friends. It is thought of as a place where 18 to 22 year olds spend four years of their lives before entering the “real world.”

The first physical university was created in Bologna, Italy more than a thousand years ago, but what universities represent has been around much longer (“Universitas”). Universities are places of learning, where old knowledge is passed on and new knowledge is discovered. They are sanctuaries for current leaders, inventors, and thinkers, and they help shape the next generation. They are gateways to learning and growing. Everytime you learn something new, come up with an original idea, or teach a concept to others, you associate yourself with the word “university.” Even before they could attend universities, women and certain racial and ethnic minorities were learning, thinking, and teaching, underscoring the fact that one does not have to attend a university to associate themselves with the word. Modern universities typically teach “Western knowledge,” which “favours analytical and reductionist methods as opposed to the more intuitive and holistic view often found in traditional knowledge,” which is passed on from one generation to the next in indigenous communities (Mazzocchi). But this “traditional knowledge” is just as important as any Western approach to education, as “allowing science to be the final arbiter of the validity of knowledge, and to establish the threshold beyond which knowledge is not worthy of its name, would create the conditions whereby an astonishing cultural heritage is transformed into a monolithic structure” (Mazzocchi).

Perhaps then, modern universities are merely a limited aspect of “the whole,” only one part of the picture. After all, many attend institutes of higher education in order to make themselves more employable, rather than as a means to expand their intellectual sphere. As Premesh Lalu argues in his essay “What is the University For?,” the purpose of universities can be both important and vague, saying “the question of what the university stands for seems to take precedence over the question of what the university ought to be doing now,” especially when considering “the university in the image of capital and its drive to accumulation” (Lalu). In apartheid South Africa, decolonizing universities lead to a revisitation of their roles. Complex subjects like race led to discussions of whether the university's supposed competing roles of “preserving tradition and serving the public good” would be hindered as culture changed, and could “leave the university uncertain not only about what it ought to be preserving, but also about which public it ought to be serving” (Lalu). As such, universities must not be stagnant, but must be able to change as cultures change and power dynamics shift.

Often, this change comes in the form of decolonization efforts, where departments, especially centered in the humanities, expand their curriculum to beyond a eurocentric vision.Specialties such as Women’s Studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies, Latin American Studies, and African American Studies have allowed for more marginalized groups to be represented in institutions of higher education, and it has been found that “hegemonic investments in minority difference and culture” are more prevalent after “period[s] of social unrest,” highlighting how these departments would likely not exist if it weren't for student and community action and protests (Ferguson). Society needs social unrest in order to progress and expand its understanding of the intricacies of different peoples, places, and cultures in the world.

In fact, universities can be centers for social movements meant to give power back to those who lack it. In 2015, protests on the campus of the University of Missouri, Columbia over concerns about police violence toward black people highlighted how universities can often fall short of student expectations and PR statements (Kelley). Frequently, measures that institutions take to make their spaces more equitable can seem theatrical, as “the fully racialized social and epistemological architecture upon which the modern university is built cannot be radically transformed by ‘simply’ adding darker faces, safer spaces, better training, and a curriculum that acknowledges historical and contemporary oppressions” (Kelley). Actual change is much slower, but even if universities fail to enact effective decrees that somehow achieve decolonization, they allow for the exchange of contemporary ideas and movements that can bring society one step closer to this ideal. “Social movements generate new knowledge, new theories, new questions” and “the most radical ideas often grow out of a concrete intellectual engagement with the problems of aggrieved populations confronting systems of oppression” (Kelley). Institutions like universities have become central to intellectual engagement and organized protests.

It can be argued that universities have a “duty to” marginalized groups because of their central role in social movements. However, this task can prove to be gargantuan especially since decolonization can be so convoluted. In Aotearoa, New Zealand, government acts meant to be more inclusive to the Maori have been repetitive and uninfluential. Te Kawehau Hoskins and Alison Jones explore the difference between Maori inclusion and Maori indigenization, where inclusion “focuses on equity” and indigenization refers to the “normalization of indigenous ways of being and knowing” (Hoskins & Jones). The authors support indigenization, highlighting the ways that even seemingly little events like conversations, representation, and building relationships, can lead institutions to enact real change. In this way, it is the people within these institutions who can make the difference, rather than any sweeping policy action the university itself can take.

These ideas underscore one of the great challenges of the university. How can universities represent “the whole” without forgetting about some pieces along the way? Many of them exist to make money, and in order to do so, they must protect their public image, leading to acts that appear as though they could be influential, but end up falling flat. In this way, the people who associate themselves with these institutions, when working together, have much more power than the institutions themselves. Thinking of “university” as a concept that can be embodied by individuals through study and a willingness to learn and share knowledge demonstrates how “the whole” can be made up of many parts that all have the potential to come together and deliver real change.

This idea is embodied by Boğaziçi University in Hungary. When an authoritarian government illegally placed loyalists into positions of power at the university in 2021, students, academics, and administrative staff protested, leading to a police siege of the campus, but the protests ended up gaining national and international attention (Gambetti & Gökarıksel). Similar events have taken place in other parts of Europe and the Americas, and people have risen up, challenging the powerful governments that overstep on issues like democracy, privatization, gender and sexuality, civil rights, abortion, and colonization (Gambetti & Gökarıksel). Many governments see universities as stepping stones to gaining more power over their citizens by controlling their access to higher education and preferring to allow loyalists into top institutions and positions. But student and faculty resistance that brings attention to the unlawful and unjust actions of powerful establishments forces their hand. At Boğaziçi, a midnight decree led to the removal of Melih Bulu, a Hungarian loyalist, from his appointed position, though he was quickly replaced with a similar figure (Gambetti & Gökarıksel). Despite this, the university was not only a means to an end for the Hungarian government, but also a battleground where students, faculty, and staff could protest and gain widespread attention in defense of justice and democracy.

But sometimes it isn't a faceless government or nondescript establishment that enables injustice in universities. It may very well be the actions of fellow students and university staff that turn hostile. Indigenous students in Canada can face daily microaggressions when in pursuit of their studies, so much so that it limits their willingness to advance to higher education despite the economic benefits (Bailey). Nowadays, the “traditional racism (openly expressed prejudice and discrimination) has been largely replaced by ‘modern racism,’ which is more subtle, indirect and difficult to detect” (Bailey). Often for indigenous students “isolation is experienced both socially and academically,” and this isolation can follow them even when they go back home to their families and communities, as a university can also add distance between them (Bailey). They are not accepted at their university because of their indigenous origin, and they are no longer accepted by their community for moving away to study.

Universities, then, are a struggle for power on multiple levels. They are used by governments to control their citizens, by academics to influence what is learned, by communities to exclude those who don't conform, and by individuals to meet others and fight for the rights that have been withheld from them. Thinking of a university as a physical place where students live, go to classes, and participate in extracurricular activities makes them seem like self-contained bubbles with limited influence. As if, when you graduate from your university, you are no longer in the bubble, but in the “real world,” able to influence your community in “real” ways. But the influence that people have through universities could not be more “real.” Being able to meet others from across the globe who are eager to learn, to witness pivotal events take place, and to practice personal autonomy highlights the ways that a university never truly stops affecting its students.

In short, “university” is more than just a place with classrooms, libraries, dorms, dining halls, and wide open green spaces. In fact, “university” is more than a place. It's a representation of change, whether from one stage of life to another or from one phase of society to another. Social movements meant to combat inequalities are born from universities as people from different walks of life meet each other, discuss complex ideas, and take action to protect themselves and their friends from oppression.

Some people attend a university. Some don't but know someone who has. Some graduate in three, four, or five years, or not at all. Some go to online universities, some go in person, or perhaps had a hybrid Covid-19 experience. Some go at 18 or and some at 58. Whether or not one takes the so-called “traditional” path to higher education, university affects their life. It's inherently a way to be exposed to new people and ideas, for social movements to form and force society to do better, to expand its horizons, and to progress. Universities represent the many steps that have been taken to create “the whole.” “The whole” does not exist without remembering the pieces that have been excluded along the way and the many battles and protests that it has taken for those pieces to claim their rightful place. Universities change society not just by teaching classes, but by allowing people to picture the world that they want to live in and by giving them a platform to take concrete steps toward that ideal world.

Works Cited

Ahad, Badia, and Habiba Ibrahim, “Against the Day: Universities as New Battlegrounds.” South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol 121, no. 1, 2022, https://read.dukeupress.edu/south-atlantic-quarterly/issue/121/1#5922-293849

Bailey, Kerry A. “Racism within the Canadian University: Indigenous Students’ Experiences.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 39, no. 7, 2016, pp. 1261–79, https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2015.1081961.

Ferguson, Roderick A. The Reorder of Things: The University and Its Pedagogies of Minority Difference. University of Minnesota Press, 2012. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/book/24877.

Hoskins, Te Kawehau, and Alison Jones. “Indigenous Inclusion and Indigenising the University.” NZ J Educ Stud, 2022, pp 305–320. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40841-022-00264-1

Kelley, Robin D. G. “Black Study, Black Struggle.” Boston Review, 1 Mar. 2016, www.bostonreview.net/forum/robin-kelley-black-struggle-campus-protest.

Lalu, Premesh. “What is the University For?” Critical Times, 2019, pp 39-58, https://doi.org/10.1215/26410478-7615003

Mazzocchi, Fulvio. “Western science and traditional knowledge. Despite their variations, different forms of knowledge can learn from each other.” EMBO reports vol. 7,5 (2006): 463-6. doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400693. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1479546/

“Universitas: the original meaning of the term” Cabinet. https://www.cabinet.ox.ac.uk/universitas-original-meaning-term