Vancouver Community College • Volume 2, Number 2- January 17,1993

Outpouring
of ideas
at Futures
Conference

The only shortage at VCC's Futures Con¬

through a very intense process and we're quite

outpouring of ideas which flowed from the 125

impressed with the kind of input you have come

participants.

up with."

The values, visions, mission and goals for

"I think a good start has been made on

a new VCC—well over a thousand at a quick

moving the process toward the steps that will

count--covered sheet after sheet of poster pa¬

make it real. You have set some very exciting

per, which in turn covered every spare spot of

and interesting targets which I hope will be

space at the front and back of the KEC Audito¬

integrated into the total package."

rium.

Added Board member Bob Matthews: "I
"There were times when I was afraid that

was impressed by how well people understood

we might fall flat," said Nina Kozakiewicz, a

the issues and the similarities in the ideas that

member of the VCC Planning Team which or¬

they expressed."

ganized the two day conference. "But I was
amazed at how well it went. People were enthu¬

siastic and they really took it seriously."
Another Planning Team member, Lor¬

raine McKillop, put it this way: "There were
times when making the arrangements for the
conference were torturous, but the end result
was well worth it."

The conference ran Thursday night and all
day Friday. The participants periodically met as
a whole, but it was in the small group discussions

For

that they produced the concepts of what they
hope VCC will look like for years to come.

daily

Concepts that took the form of values,

From poster to poster it took little inter¬
pretation to spot one common thread: people
want to bury the divisiveness of VCC's past.
"I was impressed by the level of coopera¬
tive spirit which was expressed," said Syd Hartley,
who served as one of the small group facilitators.

"Whether it was faculty or staff, people seemed
less entrenched. The demand for collaboration

and participatory decision making seemed very
strong."

The next steps in the process will see a
synthesis of the conference results by the Plan¬
ning T earn, followed by the issuance of a "green"
consultation paper directed to everyone in the

such as quality, co-operation, mutual respect,

VCC community, both internal and external.

news

opportunity and diversity for both students and
staff. Or goals, like articulation of programs,

This will result in confirmation of values, vision,

updates
phone

better funding, openness to entrepreneurial ven¬

underpin a strategic plan.

7099
after
2:30 pm
I'AilV I

the closing plenary session that "you've hung in

ference was enough wall space to tape up the

tures, full involvement in decision making, a
harassment free environment. And vision state¬

ments depicting VCC as a place "where people
give of themselves, each recognizing that we
need to teach and be taught, nurture and be
nurtured..."

Wayne Penney, the conference facilitator

from Pacific Leadership Inc., told the group at

mission and goals, all of which will eventually

One participant raised concerns that the
College's best-laid plans may again be obstructed

by funding problems.
Answered President John Cruickshank:
"The response I've seen over the last two days is
awfully impressive. What we have produced is a
coherent direction, which is exactly what's

V

needed to overcome those obstacles. I really

For example, Aird all but disregarded the

believe that we have our future in our own

educational element of Ron MacDonald's disci¬

hands."

pline. The reasoning behind our decision not to

Added Cruickshank: "Every one of the
approximately 900 staff in the new VCC will
thank you for what you've done at this confer¬
ence. And I also thank you."

Cruickshank replies
to Aird column
The following is the Jull text of a letter from
John Cruickshank which ran m the Vancouver Sun in
edited form on January 15:

If we expel that angry person, do we not just
make him even angrier? And if so, what might
that person then be capable of doing in return?
Surely, the only approach for an educational
institution is to keep that young person in an
environment where he can be educated.
In addition, our vision needs to go beyond
just this one incident. How much can our coun¬

sellors, who are a little bit new to this kind of

Elizabeth Aird column regarding Ron

situation themselves, learn from their experi¬

MacDonald, the Vancouver Community Col¬

ence in hopefully guiding MacDonald to a differ¬

lege student who mimicked a machine gunner

ent point of view? Is it possible to improve our

during the December 6 remembrance ceremony

counselling techniques? I hope so. Is it possible
to leam something that might help us avoid even
one repeat of this kind of an incident in the
future? And if we could, wouldn't that be good
justification for the actions which have been
taken?

I've heard a number of my colleagues

remark that the media has blown the incident
way out of proportion. But given both the mag¬
nitude of the response from people who have
been phoning radio talk shows, TV viewer polls
and the college switchboard—and given the al¬
most red hot intensity of their opinions-it could
be that the media quite correctly identified an
issue that's really striking at the core of our

I believe that there are tens of thousand of
Ron MacDonalds in B.C. And I think we must

find a way to help those people understand that
values have changed. Institutions we have long

relied on, such as the church and the family, have

emotions. I think that in a few thoughtless sec¬

changed too. Maybe there is now a role for a

onds back on December 6, Ron MacDonald
simply and unwittingly became a symbol of what

community college to take up the cause.

is obviously a much larger issue in our society.

this issue. We've heard thousands of people do

For the college, it raised a fundamental

it over the past two weeks. But a much tougher-

question: namely, what role can or should an

-and a much more meaningful challenge for us-

educational institution such as VCC play in such

-will be to help bring those sides just a bit closer
together. As a College, I think that's one of the

a batde of misinformation, misunderstanding

and mistrust? I was particularly disappointed in
the Aird column because I spoke with her for

ager of The Exchange,
in care of College Ad¬

almost an hour about these considerations, and

ministrative Services.

she chose to take the easy, one-sided way out.

Page 2

tnes to make a joke out of the Montreal Massacre
is an angry person, particularly angry at women.

I'm writing in response to the January 11

for the Montreal Massacre.

If you have any com¬
ments or questions,
please send them to
Chuck Poulsen, Man¬

impose an expulsion was this: A person who

It's been easy for people to take sides in

most important reasons for our being here.

John Cruickshank
President, Vancouver Community Colle^ ^