14 Deliver the promises of the public university
…they’re a public university, so they should be accessible right?” – ML (Student)
Students want institutions to follow through on their promises for inclusion and access for “all”. Most universities in Canada are public universities. However, students and faculty who are familiar with the accommodation system indicate that their institutions function with a corporatized and bureaucratic approach to education, disability, and access. This business model of higher education takes the shape of a transactional approach to services i.e., treating students as basic income units for the university and customers of services provided by the institution.
Public institutions have the power and agency to deliver public services. While public universities do operate within the constraints of a capitalist economy and neoliberal welfare state with austere and shrinking budgets, they do exist to serve the educational aspirations of the public and are not without agency in this regard (Kirby, 2009; Milln, 2022). Administrators of public universities can choose to support access for their students in creative ways with the resources at their disposal.
“…you talk to some of the administrators, ‘Hey, it would be really cool if some of these empty residential halls, if you could, give it to free for some of these students for 10 days, 2 weeks, so they can find another place to live or just rest or concentrate on work’. They’d be like ‘we can’t do that’.”
– Fady Shanouda (Faculty).
In sum, we heard from access leaders that supports and services must be re-imagined and re-built to support access for students who are unable to navigate existing academic accommodation processes (usually due to structural reasons). The kinds of support offered can and must be expanded to support the right of all students to postsecondary education.