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THREE REVIEWS OF MATHEWS AND STEELE The Struggle for Canadian Universities. Edited by Robin Mathews and James Steele. Toronto: New Press., 1969. $3.50. The Dossier as Hornet's Nest Professors Robin Mathews and James Steele of Carleton University have compiled a dossier of material relating to the recent controversy they precipitated when they raised the question of the increasing number of non-Canadians teaching at Canadian universities. This material is conveniently assembled in this volume under the rather dramatic and certainly value-laden title, The Struggle for Canadian Universities, but the title should not deter any reader, for within these pages is expounded a problem which is of fundamental importance to the future of Canadian higher education. Professors Mathews and Steele have assembled those documents which they feel present both sides of the story, and thus they include letters and statements which in many cases are violently opposed to their own views. For this they are to be commended; however, the authors' viewpoint is stated over and over until the reader knows beforehand what their answer will be to a particular dissenting viewpoint . If this was an intentional ploy used to refute opposing views, the authors have succeeded in making their own views seem the stronger. Still, the authors have put together a book that enables the individual reader to come to his own conclusions. The dossier opens with a detailed statement of the problem confronting Canadian universities as interpreted by the authors. Their analysis of the current situation reveals that, according to statistics they have compiled, there has been an increasing trend toward the appointment of non-Canadians to vacant teaching positions in Canadian universities. (These statistics are hotly disputed in some quarters; however., the absence of more authoritative data forces us to consider them in presenting the authors' argument.) Their basic claim is that "there is reason for believing that between 1963 and 1965 roughly 58% of new appointments in Canadian universities went to non-Canadians; between 1965 and 1967, this figure appears to have risen to 72 %; in 1968, it may have been as high as 86%.-" Denying xenophobic tendencies, the THE CANADIAN REVIEW OF AMERICAN STUDIES, VOL. 1., NO. 1., SPRING 1.970 authors then observe that if this trend is allowed to continue unchecked the truly ucanadian" scholar will become an almost extinct species. Mathews and Steele feel that Canadian universities' responsibility to theCanadian community is being abrogated, and if allowed to continue, willmean that "one of the most important centers of national definition will be sapped of its relevance, and will lose contact in almost every meaningful cultural way with the rest of the nation." They suggest that if the trend toward hiring increasing numbers of non-Canadians is not changed then the Canadian university will become a truly "alien" university , staffed by a majority of scholars whose primary focus lies outside the community which they supposedly serve. The authors claim that this situation is manifested in that many Canadian matters are "pushed aside and considered parochial," and if this were to continue, "the Canadian university will become a force to divide Canadians one from the other, to suppress the Canadian past and to prevent the development of a uniquely excellent Canadian future." The historical truth of this last statement is of course open to debate, but the authors have nevertheless raised serious questions to which serious answers are needed, preferably free from emotionally-tinged outbursts accusing themof "chauvinistic patriotism." If we agree that their serious charges do have some validity, then two questions immediately arise: How did such a trend develop unchecked, and should anything be done about it? In answering the first question, the authors assert that the old argument that employment of university teachers from abroad has been necessary in order to obtain scholars with doctoral qualifications for Canadian universities, does not stand up under scrutiny. Government figures reveal that only 27% of all Canada's newly appointed university teachers hold a PH.D. degree. Even if all Canadian appointees were in this non-degree category, the vast majority of those remaining would still be without PH.D. degrees. The problem seems to stem from the poor job done in...

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