On the recent budget the Conservative Government announced that they are giving funding to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), which gives scholarships to graduate students. This is great—except that they put a stipulation on the funds: it must go towards students who are doing research in business related fields, which really puts Arts students like me at a disadvantage. SSHRC funding is a valuable resource for current and potential graduate students. Funding for the Humanities is very limited as it is so there is a huge outcry across the country against Harper’s stipulation on this money. This means that students will no longer get SSHRC funding based on merit, but on what program s/he is in, which is not right. The business-orientation of the SSHRC violates academic freedom. Research in the Arts is equally essential to the success of our society as is business related research. The study of the Arts teaches students how to think critically, write persuasively, as well as critique and understand society and humanity—all skills that benefit the business, political, and economic sectors of the workforce.
Below you will see the letter template from the Canadian Federation of Students that is being circulated among universities on online. Students and professors are urging people to send this letter or a version of it to James Flaherty, the Minister of Finance, as well as their local Members of Parliament.
MP Niki Ashton has an online petition against Harper’s stipulation on SSHRC funding. I’ve included the link below. I encourage you to sign this petition and either email or mail the letter below to Minister Flaherty and your local MP. Let your friends and family know about this. Send the letter as it is or feel free to adjust it so that you can let Flaherty know what SSHRC funding means to you or to someone you know.
Petition links:
English: http://nikiashton.ndp.ca/sshrc
Aussi, on a maintenant la version française sur le site : http://nikiashton.ndp.ca/crsh
Email:
Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance: jflaherty@fin.gc.ca
To find your local Member of Parliament visit:
Address for Minister of Finance:
The Honourable James Flaherty, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Finance
Minister\'s Office - House of Commons
Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
CFS Letter Template:
Dear Minister:
The federal budget presented on January 27, 2009 proposes to increase graduate student funding through the Canada Graduate Scholarship program by $87.5 million over three years. While I am pleased this government appears to be making graduate students and our contribution to the future economy a priority, it is completely inappropriate to intervene in the awarding process by directing social science and humanities scholarships exclusively to a small number of graduate students in business-related degrees.
I am writing today to call on you to withdraw the targeting of Canada Graduate Scholarships. Simply put, it is not the government's role to direct the granting agencies as to what research projects it may or may not fund. This is precisely the reason why such bodies are independent from the government. Each of the granting councils allocates funding based on peer-review of applications. As such, each proposal is judged according to its merits. There is no good reason to discontinue this practice.
In light of the American economic stimulus package—which includes not only billions of dollars for research, but also for student debt relief—there is good reason to believe that the Government of Canada's weak investment in university research will not only hamper Canada’s ability to effectively manage the global economic crisis, but will also precipitate the emigration of some of our best young researchers to the United States.
In closing, withdrawing the business-related stipulation on new scholarship funding is a small but important step that you can take to restore some good faith with the university research community.
I look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
YOUR SIGNATURE
YOUR NAME
cc. COPY YOUR LOCAL MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
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