SUNDAY 1 OCTOBER, 2017 – UWI TODAY
3
EDITORIAL TEAM
CAMPUS PRINCIPAL
Professor Brian Copeland
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
Dr Dawn-Marie De Four-Gill
EDITOR
Vaneisa Baksh • email:
CONTACT US
The UWI Marketing and Communications Office
Tel: (868) 662-2002, exts. 82013 / 83997 or email:
needs and provide some guidance as to the
specifics of what would be necessary for
clearing up, restoring power, and the grim
task of rebuilding. Resources are scarce; we
know this. The islands have already been
facing shrunken economies and while an
optimist will see an opportunity for building
stronger infrastructure, no one can deny
that this is something that can be achieved
without significant support.
The UWI has been offering its technical
support, and each campus has organized its
own activities to raise funds and to collect
supplies to send to the stricken islands of
Dominica and Barbuda. While there have
been several initiatives on small scales, there
are also campus-driven ones, like the Disaster
Relief Fund at St. Augustine. What has been
striking is the way in which staff and students
have become involved, how they have taken
it upon themselves to link up with external
groups who are more structurally organized
to deal with relief efforts. They have been
helping Dominican students at the campus,
because they have to do without family
support and are anxious about the wellbeing
of their relatives.
There is something about giving that is
immensely gratifying to the spirit. This is
how we reinforce our sense of belonging;
because what goes further towards making
you feel that you belong to something than
being able to lend a hand towards sustaining
and developing it? This is how we build
resilience; because what can lift the spirit
of the despondent soul more than knowing
that there are people who care enough to
drop what they are doing to come to your
rescue? Does it not give thema sense of solace
that they are not alone, that people who are
strangers in one sense, regard themas family?
This is how we build community; a true
West Indian community.
VANEISA BAKSH
Editor
CAMPUS NEWS
They say that it is times of crisis
that really
test our mettle, show us our strengths and
reveal our weaknesses.The region’s mettle has
been severely tested by the forces of nature
as hurricanes of unprecedented scale ripped
their way through the islands.
The level of devastation has been
unimaginable and the consequences can
still not be truly assessed as the immediate
task has been to salvage lives and to find some
way to provide the basics of life: food, water,
shelter, and so on.
For our brothers and sisters, our real
neighbours, the horror and despair must
be overwhelming. How do you find the
wherewithal to reconstruct your life?
How do you summon even tiny shreds of
optimism when everywhere you look there
is devastation? Where collapsed houses
and useless vehicles languish alongside
mud, fallen trees, debris, and the place
you comfortably called home has erupted
overnight into a wasteland? How do you go
without potable water and electricity when
you have no idea when it will be restored?
Everything has been turned upside
down, and life has assumed the quality of a
surreal and cruel nightmare. It is more than
enough to sink one to the deepest level of
hopelessness.
Crises test our mettle. For the most part,
the people of the region have put up their
hands and joined in the efforts to help their
neighbours. We have seen an avalanche of
relief efforts coming in all different forms
from a wide range of sources. People are
almost falling over each other to find ways to
sendmoney and supplies, to use social media
to activate consciences and encourage others
to rally around our region.
One of t he prob l ems mi ght be
uncoordinated efforts that could result in
a surfeit of one kind of relief item, and not
enough of another.That is why it is important
that people pay attention to those on the
ground who can identify the most urgent
FROM THE EDITOR
WEST INDIANMETTLE IS BEING TESTED
At The UWI, matriculation
refers to the criteria establishing the
educational requirements for entry into any programme offered by
its Faculties.
“Applicants who have been accepted to a programme of study
at The UWI would have exceeded the matriculation criteria and are
therefore said to have “matriculated” into The University of the West
Indies. Matriculation, as described above, should not to be confused
with the matriculation ceremony, which in true Caribbean style is
often abbreviated to just “matriculation.” This is held every year at
The UWI and, unlike its Oxford counterpart, is not mandatory,” said
the St. Augustine Campus Principal, Professor Brian Copeland, in this
space in our last issue.
The matriculation ceremony, nonetheless, was held on September
21, 2017, at SPEC (Sport and Physical Education Centre). Among the
rituals, is the symbolic signing of the student register, witnessed by the
Campus Registrar, and a general welcome to students as they begin
their journey at The UWI.
PHOTOS: KEYON JAMES
Matriculation
Moments
