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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 23 APRIL, 2017
CAMPUS NEWS
St. Augustine recognises
ONEOFTHEREGION’S
GREATEST SONS
OnMarch 17, 2017, Sir DerekWalcott,
Nobel Prize-winning poet, playwright, dramatist,
artist, critic and cultural and political commentator passed away at his home in St. Lucia.
The St. Augustine Campus community joined with many others from around the globe to
recognise this Caribbean giant who had such a powerful and lasting impact on the region
and its art.
Campus Principal Professor Brian Copeland said Walcott was “a true Caribbean
man, whose ties to Trinidad and Tobago in particular are familial and collegiate.” He
also extended deepest condolences on behalf of the Campus to his family, in particular
his two daughters, Professor Elizabeth Hackshaw, Deputy Dean of Graduate Studies and
Research and Senior Lecturer, French Modern Languages and Linguistics, and Anna
Walcott-Hardy, former Communications Manager and Editor of the “STAN” magazine.
On April 3, the Alma Jordan Library launched a three-week exhibition, “A Glimpse
into the Derek Walcott Collection.” The exhibition includes his correspondences;
illustrations and paintings; and poetry, plays, essays and films.
St. Augustine students of the UWI Socialist Student Conference commemorated
Walcott and his work at a lunchtime gathering on March 20 titled “Derek Walcott and
Our Caribbean: Bring Yuh Poems Dem and Come”.
Walcott had an outstanding relationship with The UWI. In 2010 he was honoured
by the University through a showcase of his work at a conference entitled “Interlocking
Basins of a Globe.” In 2014 he launched the Derek Walcott Theatre Arts Scholarship, an
annual award for theatre arts students.
“A firm decision
with respect to what aspect of UWI teaching and learning will be
relocating to the Penal-Debe Campus has NOT yet been decided.”
These were the words in a statement from UWI St. Augustine. The statement,
issued onMarch 29, was in response to dissatisfaction from students of the LawFaculty,
which was designated to move to the South campus in January 2018. On March 20,
2017, Law students held a campus protest against the move.
The press statement acknowledged that the Penal-Debe project was three years
overdue but explained that the committee responsible for operationalising the
campus has been reconstituted. The new committee, it said, would be made up of all
stakeholders, including students:
“An Operationalisation Committee was reconvened which comprised
representatives fromall stakeholder groups, including key administrative departments
and the President of the Guild of Students.This Committee will be expanded to include
additional student representatives, for example, the Head of the Law Society, as well
as other faculty student leaders.”
The statement added that: “all students, by way of the Guild of Students, are
statutorily part of every decision-making body at UWI.”
Reiterating that students and staff were the primary stakeholders of UWI St.
Augustine, the official statement said any move to the new campus would take place
“when there is an appropriate academic ecosystem”, fully connected to St. Augustine
and fully equipped with student amenities.
“The final decision on what happens at the South Campus will be guided by an
assessment of howThe UWI could best utilise the South Campus to maximise return
on the public investment in its development,” it said.
UWI St. Augustine embarked upon the plan for the Penal-Debe Campus in
2011with the goal of increasing university access for under-served communities in
Trinidad and Tobago. Set on a 100-acre piece of land, the site was once used for sugar
cane cultivation and is accessible from the East, West, North and South.
Meetingwith theAgricultureMinister
Senator Clarence Rambharat, Minister of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries (right),
speaks with Campus Principal Professor Brian Copeland (centre) and Dr. Wayne
Ganpat, Dean of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture. The Minister paid a March
8 visit to the campus to discuss topics that included youth in agriculture, the cocoa
industry, land management and others. The meeting also included a team from the
Ministry, representatives from the FAO, IICA, CARDI and the Cocoa Development
Company of Trinidad and Tobago. The UWI team included senior administration,
deans, department heads and faculty members involved in the campus food and
agriculture-based study and research. In recent years UWI St. Augustine has intensified
its work in the area of food and agriculture, seeing it as a prime industry for innovation,
commercialisation and diversification of the economy. Professor Copeland has also
made engagement with the wider society and closer university-government-industry
cooperation a major priority of his tenure.
Campus LeadershipPromises
Student Representation in
Penal-DebeDecision
PHOTO: ANEEL KARIM
ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN JAMES
