Campus Bulletins

Further to Bulletin No 1 issued on Friday, January 29, 2010, the UWI is updating our stakeholders on progress made with regard to providing assistance to the people of Haiti. We remain committed to helping in the most effective ways that we can and will continue to work with the CARICOM Secretariat and CDEMA to ensure that our efforts are coordinated at the regional level. The University has been working at several levels to provide assistance – humanitarian, sensitising the various stakeholder groups about Haitian issues and positioning ourselves to help with mid to long-term recovery and reconstruction.

In terms of humanitarian assistance, staff and students continue to participate in collection drives for clothing, food items and toiletries. These items are being shipped through national collections drives in the campus countries. The Hill Guild of Students spearheaded the Haiti initiative at Cave Hill. They worked with the Government of Barbados in this initiative and to date have provided 125 barrels, 868 bags of clothing, 133 cases of water, 32 boxes of medical supplies and BDS$5,000 to support staff for the Starcom radiothon and CBC telethon. The Guild under the guidance of President Carl Padmore embarked on a drive to every parish and collected food, clothes and water for the people. The Guild’s contribution to date is the single largest non Governmental contributor to the Haiti relief in Barbados. 

Bank accounts were also set up in our campus countries and contributions, though slow, have been coming in. The collected amount stands at approximately US$12,600 and the funds will be transmitted through an appropriate agency to be used to directly assist persons in Haiti.

With regard to sensitising the general public and our internal community about not just the current situation in Haiti, but also about Haiti’s vibrant history and culture, our campuses have hosted several events over the past few weeks with more planned in the future. These include

• A forum hosted by the Institute of International Relations at the St. Augustine Campus on January 26 under the theme “Haiti: The Crisis and Beyond.” Panellists included Professor Norman Girvan of the Institute of International Relations; Dr. Riyad Insanally, OAS Representative in Trinidad and Tobago; and Dr. Richard Clarke, Civil Engineer who visited Haiti in the days immediately after the earthquake to participate in infrastructure assessments.
• Professor Valerie Youssef’s Professorial Inaugural Lecture on “Language, Education and representation: Towards Sustainable Development for Haiti,” held on Thursday 28^th January at the St. Augustine Campus.
• The UWI Arts Chorale and the National Sinfonia Orchestra presented a benefit concert titled "Songs for Haiti" on Sunday February 7^th. Funds raised from this Concert were deposited to the UWI-Haiti Assistance Fund.
• The Mona Campus hosted a forum on Haiti during its annual Research Day activities on January 27 and 28. Dr. Matthew Smith who has done extensive work on Haitian history moderated the discussion which was attended by staff, students and visitors to the Campus.
• On February 24, the UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia Students' Guild will present a Panel Discussion on the topic: “Haiti: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”, at the Castries Central Library at 6:00 p.m.

The Open Campus has also embarked upon a programme of sensitization of students about Haiti – this programme began before the disaster and efforts are being made to develop a collaborative link with Florida International University (FIU) to include film footage and other material developed by FIU in the modules already developed by the UWI in order to broaden the programme being run by the Open Campus to include other stakeholders.

For the mid- to long term, particularly with recovery and reconstruction, the UWI is working on several fronts. A significant event will be the hosting of a UNICA Symposium on March 14 at our St. Augustine Campus. Most of the agenda will be dedicated to intense discussion with some of the Rectors of Universities in Haiti to determine how best we can work with them to reconstruct the Tertiary sector. A proposal for accommodating students and possibly lecturers from the tertiary sector is being prepared for discussion with potential donors.

Office of the Vice Chancellor

March 8, 2010