On November 12, it was reported that 28-year-old activist Kareem Marcelle had been successfully admitted to the Bar and qualified as an attorney-at-law. His community celebrated with him. For those who know this outstanding young man, it is a moment of shared celebration. Kareem dedicated himself to the task of uplifting his community of Beetham Gardens while pursuing his academic and professional credentials in one of the most exclusive and challenging fields – the law. His efforts have culminated in this victory, one for both himself and his community.
Kareem is a relentless advocate for Beetham Gardens. Since his early teens he has been working to advance the community. He is a member of several community groups that provide opportunity for the residents through sport, cultural activities, mentorship and counselling, educational access, and funding for school books and uniforms. He is regularly featured in both the mainstream and social media speaking on behalf of Beetham Gardens, an area that faces both marginalisation and stigmatisation from the wider society.
Kareem even leads his own initiatives to raise funds for the community for various causes, such as providing Christmas gifts and meals or much-needed supplies during the pandemic. What a remarkable young man.
As Campus Principal, I wish to congratulate Kareem as one of our graduates from the Faculty of Law, St Augustine. However, my relationship with this inspiring young man goes back to my position as Dean of the Faculty of Law. Kareem is the very first recipient of the faculty’s Makandal Daaga Law Scholarship, an extremely exciting initiative which represents a potential paradigm shift in how we think of higher education and access to education.
The Makandal Daaga Law Scholarship was created in 2017 as an alternative opportunity/access scholarship open to CARICOM nationals of any age, race or gender. The scholarship is named after one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most prominent political activists and revolutionaries, Makandal Daaga.
The scholarship widens access to the Law (LLB) programme by adding a criterion for entry, social activism. Applicants who satisfy the basic UWI matriculation requirements, but who would not normally gain a place in Law due to the fiercely competitive requirements, based solely on CAPE and similar academic qualifications, now have an opportunity to access a legal education.
Scholarship applicants must therefore have a strong record of advocating for positive social change in their communities through work on issues of justice, equality, or democracy, whether in an NGO, governmental, regional, or individual capacity. Daaga himself was a deeply engaged student of The UWI St Augustine, who in his time on campus was a student leader that balanced his academic work with anti-colonial and anti-racist protest action, making a huge positive impact on society.
While the Makandal Daaga scholar enters without the stratospheric academic requirements for admission, we have never doubted that the scholarship student who applies themself can and will achieve the necessary academic record. Kareem shows the merit of that belief, graduating with second class honours. Speaking on this achievement in a 2019 interview, he said:
“If you know that you have been working hard continuously for your community, and it does not have to be a physical community, it could be a community of so many different diasporas of persons and groups that you would want to fight for, a law degree can definitely help you to make that one step closer to achieve that.”
Standards are important. Excellence matters. Healthy competition is a fine mechanism to bring forth the best in people. But there are structural deficiencies built into society that operate contrary to standards of fairness, and lead to sometimes severe inequality and a lack of access to opportunity. The Makandal Daaga Scholarship is an initiative that not only confronts this problem by granting access, it also encourages recipients by rewarding the path of service.
We look forward to the outcomes of our second scholarship winner, Suana Sookdeo, a young activist and writer from Chaguanas.
In my own career, I have placed a major emphasis on community service and outreach. That includes encouraging my students to see the law as a tool for helping others, uplifting society; and working to ensure that underserved people are given access to an education in the field of law and other disciplines. It is an ideal that The UWI St Augustine has embraced.
One of the greatest illustrations of this effort (but far from the only one), is our contribution to the success of Kareem Marcelle. The Students’ Guild and the Freedom Hall Management (Dr Michael Sutherland) and even law alumni Vaughn Thomas, who helped mentor Kareem, also contributed to the success of this scholarship.
When service is encouraged, we create an ever-growing pool of citizens dedicated to serve society. I sincerely hope that our graduates will look at Kareem’s example and be inspired to serve – in their own ways of course. Good citizenship can take many forms. Finding new ways to make a positive contribution is part of the adventure.
