I lost the only bet I ever made on the Super Bowl. I am frequently branded ‘a jinx’ by office lottery pools. And I have never walked out of a casino with more money in my pocket than I had when I walked in.
Needless to say, I don’t do predictions.
However, with 2014 just settling in, there are a few stories on this campus I will enjoy watching play out over the next 356 or so days. How they’ll turn out, well, I have no idea. I’ll leave that to those with better prognostications skills.
COPYRIGHT
As the relationship between Western and Access Copyright (AC) headed toward breakup at year’s end, AC executive director Roanie Levy couldn’t pass up a petulant parting shot: “The way it’s going to affect students is there’s going to be fewer Alice Munros to read from and learn from.” Classy. Of course, rejection is always difficult. As a new copyright landscape plays out in court, more and more universities are dropping AC. Western was just the latest.
On a campus of creators and consumers, copyright can be a sticky issue. There will be challenges this year. But Western has a plan. Perhaps the story of this story will be the fact there is no story by year’s end.
STRAT PLAN
Strategic plan rollouts all suffer from the same challenge when the final document was signed off on: Sustained relevance.
As Western launches its new plan, I am excited to see how various parts of the campus bring it to life. By nature, strategic plans are broad, written in generic language, making them almost interchangeable with one another. For example, Western’s plan is going to say similar things as other Canadian universities, because we’re in the same business, serving the same masters and customers.
The key to making these plans special – unique, even – is in the translation. And that’s up to every person in every corner of the university.
PARK IT ANYWHERE
With the Strategic Plan getting its final spit and polish this month, an update of the Campus Master Plan should soon follow. A lot has changed on campus since the last plan was adopted in 2007; heck, a lot has changed in the last year. Marquee construction projects from corner to corner of this campus dominated 2013, and changed the face of Western, perhaps more dramatically than any year in recent memory. Now, where are we going to park everyone?
More than a year removed from a campuswide parking survey, the issue remains a top concern – or irritant – for the campus community.
But, we cannot hide from addressing it. In a city with substandard public transportation, and housing pushing families farther and farther out, it is unreasonable to assume walking, biking and other sustainable options are a reality for most employees. No one answer will make everyone happy. But we are a campus in a car-based city; so a plan will be developed.
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
As student protest movements reemerged on campuses across the globe in 2013, I continued to be amazed similar movements, even on a much smaller scale, never surfaced with any consistency in North America, outside of Quebec. Students here face the same pressures, but remain a comfortable lot.
What unfolds this year, however, will have a lot to say about how comfortable they remain. As an election looms over Ontario, and midterm elections are just around the corner in the States, students will start to get a clearer picture of the priority governments will give universities.
How students react might be one of the biggest stories of the next few years.
SPIRIT OF COOPERATION
As external screws have tightened on universities, one positive byproduct has squeezed out – teamwork. Although an organization can never end all internal bickering, acknowledging we are ‘all in this together’ makes for a stronger organization. With faculty labour negations, as well as a new four-year budget cycle, on the horizon for 2014, it is comforting to know the last few years have laid the groundwork for teamwork.
Here’s to a positive and successful 2014, Western.