Appeal results

Without further delay, allow me to inform you that I lost my appeal to the U of M. I was not given an explanation as to why.

The lead up time to the actual appeal was quite nerve-wracking, with a lot of insomnia and bad feelings in the pit of my stomach. Win or lose, I am glad that it is over.

A few days before the appeal I had a realization (revelation?) that what I said at the appeal would probably not matter. All over Canada there is a changing landscape in post-secondary education where more and more smaller institutions are offering bachelor's degrees. Some (like mine) are from very academically strong schools, some are more applied degrees that may not prepare someone for graduate studies. The bigger universities, by and large, have just chosen to stick their heads in the sand and rely on tired formulas (such as membership in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) to decide who gets in and who doesn't. These tired formulas, however, leave out many deserving schools and deserving students (such as myself).

What is needed is structural change, a change in how universities look at degrees so that the academic qualifications of the candidate are judged accurately and fairly. My realization was that if the U of M is ready for structural change, I would win. If it is not ready, I would lose. The rightness or wrongness of my appeal really was never the issue. The issue is whether or not the university is ready to make necessary adjustments. It is not.

The most interesting thing about the appeal is even the person opposing me, the dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, admitted that I was a highly qualified candidate.

I am walking away from this with a sense of peace and satisfaction - really. Peace because I did everything I could do, and I am right, and I faced this whole situation with dignity. Satisfaction because I got a lot of people talking about this issue, and I sense that both of my alma maters are now pursuing the issue of degree recognition with a tad more effort than has been true previous to my raising a stink. Government ministers have had this issue in front of them, and one of them visited one of my former colleges and discussed degree recognition shortly after my letter to her. The new U of M president may be a person willing to seriously consider the issue as he had theological training at one point in one of those non-AUCC schools. So what great timing to have this issue being discussed.

It could be that within a year or two I'll be able to apply again and not have my acceptance questioned.