Last time I checked.....

...getting into a university was about marks going in and earning a degree going out.  You sent your marks in, were accepted, took your courses and, if you passed, enjoyed your graduation celebration.  Now?  Apparently it's all about "equity services". 

Really?

Yes, really.

'The Globe and Mail' had a recruitment ad today looking for a "Director of Equity Services".  It was shockingly ridiculous.  The position calls for someone to promote..."leadership in all areas of equity and human rights, including developing and implementing policies, programs and practices and the management of informal and formal complaints.  As the University's spokesperson on human rights and equity services, the Director will promote equity, diversity and inclusion with a variety of internal and external groups, including students and student associations, campus unions, provincial and federal representatives and the media.  The Director is responsible for the budgetary planning of the Department of Equity Services, including the Ojigkwanong Centre for Indigenous Initiatives and Sexual Assault Support Centre."

(p.s  I thought "sexual assault support" was saying "no" before you said "yes".)

And speaking of "special-ness", there was also an ad for the position of principal at Havergal College.  "The ideal candidate is a visionary, forward-thinking leader with a deep affinity for the unique aspects of girls' education, positioning Havergal for the next generation of learners.  Havergal is committed to equity in its policies, practices and programs, supports diversity in its teaching, learning and work environments and ensures applications for members of under-represented groups."

I kid you not. Now the assumption is that unless you have all these support networks, you will be discriminated against.  When I went to Carleton, none of the above mattered.  It was a given that everyone was treated equitably.  And they were.  Didn't matter your gender, ethnicity, background or sexual orientation.  These were your business, but now we have to have a special director to oversee and protect this dog's breakfast of "special-ness". 

OMG.  I thought we had fought for the right to be treated equally -- not "specially" or "apart from". 

Francis Fukuyama, senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford and a renowned author, has written a brilliant article in 'Foreign Affairs' magazine in which he talks about "The New Tribalism and the Crisis of Democracy".  He's dead on.  He argues against "identity politics" and says it promotes "a road that leads only to state breakdown and ultimately, failure.  Unless liberal democracies can work their way back to more universal understandings of human dignity, they will doom themselves and the world to continuing conflict."

You bettcha.  This is exactly what I was talking about with Concordia's "Queer Homecoming", but it applies equally to the "Black Lives Matter" movement and others, such as the feminist, Muslim and disabled movements.

"People will never stop thinking about themselves and their societies in identity terms.  But people's identities are neither fixed nor necessarily given by birth.  Identity can be used to divide, but it can also be used to unify.  That, in the end, will be the remedy for the populist politics of the present."

Are you listening Perry Bellegarde?  Did you get that Carolyn Bennett?  Justin?  Alan Shepard?