SUNDAY 6 AUGUST, 2017 – UWI TODAY
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“At the time we put forward the view that the university
would look to abolish the term ‘non-campus territories’ and
we advocated that it should be called a fourth campus. It
became the Open Campus,” he said.
He feels that was a good move.
“The main thing out of that of which I am particularly
pleased is the idea of a more visible presence in every one
of the contributing territories, and the idea of them coming
together under one. I am pleased to be part of the genesis
of that idea,” he said.
While the University’s brand as a regional institution
remains strong, the increased autonomy of each campus and
the reduction in themovement of students among campuses
have diminished the “West Indianizing” experience that
shaped earlier alumni. Despite its claim, does he think the
University actually functions as one entity?
“I have agonized about this. You have to think about
what you lose and what you gain. There is no doubt thatThe
UWI could not retain its function as a small, elitist campus
inMona. It could not retain its function. [Sir] Arthur Lewis
was very clear on that; the massification of education had
to be the route to go. And once you take that route, it is
inevitable you lose that closeness that comes from a small
campus where everyone lives together.”
Even though the intimacy has practically gone, he
has still found evidence of regional spirit, citing a paper
presented by students to the Council a few years ago
asking that the WI be put back into UWI. “That was what
the students themselves were articulating for: more West
Indianness in the institution,” he said, and it is expressed
as well at graduation time.
“I have sat and listened to valedictorians at all our
graduations and when you hear some of the valedictorians
speak, still speak, of the extent to which it is a West Indian
experience, it really does my heart good.”
In spite of the spread, he said the experience of the
students in their formative years is “leading a lot of them
toward the belief that they belong to a regional entity.”
“So I applaud the effort of the present Vice-Chancellor
when he says there is one UWI, and I point out that we have
always had one UWI, so how I interpret that initiative is to
make some of the structures, the processes to facilitate the
oneness – cause you’re not creating one university, there’s
never been anything but a one university – but I make the
point that you are trying to create the structures that will
facilitate that oneness. That is how I have interpreted this
initiative which is being put forward. And I am all in favour
of having structures and processes in place that will facilitate
this oneness of the institution.”
One of the concerns about educational institutions
is that the focus is on certification and students do not
demonstrate the kind of civic-mindedness so vital for the
development of the region. Sir George feels that by the time
students enter The UWI, their characteristics are already
formed by their environments and culture, and it would be
tough to reshape them radically.
“That is very difficult,” he said, “Yet we cannot dissociate
ourselves from the responsibility to try to inculcate some of
the values that would lead to a better citizen.”
He has heard many good reports about graduates,
particularly from his medical community, and he stoutly
defends the quality of the students generally.
“I’ve heard the comment being made on many
occasions about our graduates not being job-ready when
they come out. I think that is absolute nonsense. I say no
graduate will ever be job-ready. None. What we hope is that
they will be job-prepared, to have the basic skills, attitude,
competence to adapt to the job they’re going to do.
Every good employer has a responsibility to help the
person who comes in to adjust.
I believe this is something we should push back hard
on,” he says indignantly.
It is a measure of how strongly he feels because he is
characteristically unflappable.
As we wound up, I asked him what he thought was
his legacy, and his response was immediate and emphatic.
“I shall never answer that. You know why? Because I
always believe it is arrogance to say that you leave a legacy.
It is for other people to say what they think of what you’ve
contributed. I think it is pompous arrogance. My legacy is
so and so. I never answer that. No one ever does anything
alone. If I say I am pleased to have contributed, and I use
the word contributed, because you could not do it unless
you have support.”
It was the position he took in a speech he gave at Mona
in 2005, which he called Listen to the Chimes of the Bell,
where he celebrated the growing number of students coming
from the poorer stratum of the society as a sign that “we
have moved frombeing the university of the elite to become
the university of the many.”
Andhe threwout a question, andoffered anobservation.
“How do we maintain excellence and at the same
time, increase access? I have found that there is remarkable
commonality in the requisites for personal and institutional
excellence. There is self-discipline, the capacity to listen
and hear, and avoid the sinister hubris. Perhaps the most
difficult is the capacity for honest self-criticism, the
acknowledgement that you can and will be wrong often
and the understanding that the seal of excellence is never
given by one’s self.”
They are words that resonate with wisdom and grace
– the mark of a man who has done The UWI the honour of
being its Chancellor.
Vaneisa Baksh is editor of UWI TODAY.
Former Chancellor Sir George Alleyne is well known as a stickler for doing things by the book, but always with grace and good humour.
Presiding over his final round of graduation ceremonies last year, he stepped off the platform to present the scroll to Mr Anthony Williams,
ORTT, who was conferred with the Honorary Doctor of Letters by The UWI. The pan pioneer, who also contributed to the Percussive Harmonic
Instrument (P.H.I.), was unable to mount the stage.
PHOTO: ANEEL KARIM
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