A Brief University Visit

There is more GOOD NEWS IN THE WORLD THAN BAD

A short time ago while in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, (S.E. of Montreal) with some friends, we took the occasion to pop into Bishop’s University in Lennoxville (a  borough of Sherbrooke).

None of us had ever been to Bishop’s, but knew many of their graduates.  

Bishop’s is a small university (2900 full time students) founded in 1843. They offer a wide range of courses in the Arts, Humanities, Social and Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Business and Education. 

The average class size is 40. Bishop’s also has graduate programmes, as well as continuing education programmes.  

Their alumni includes 15 Rhodes Scholars. 

At the centre of the campus there is a quadrangle of grass, surrounded by a number of red brick buildings.  

When we were there, along the edge of the grass there were pairs of shoes spread out covering about half of the perimeter of the quadrangle, each with a sign made by students. The signs had comments showing concern and understanding about the difficulties other students were having in their lives and in particular, adjusting to campus life. The rest of the area was ringed with a number of small stalls which, in fact, were part of a Farmer’s Market.

As it turned out the idea of the signs and Farmer’s Market were the brainchild of a second year female student.  

Her idea was to provide students with an opportunity to express their understanding and concern for the difficulties of fellow students, host a small market for other students and the public to connect, and also sell some environmentally-friendly produce.  

One sign expressed concern for students who were down in the dumps, to the point of being depressed.

Another showed concern for students who were having trouble meeting and connecting with other students, and another felt for the students who were transitioning and having to explain this to others.   

The expression of concern and understanding of other students was very touching to all of us.  

While there were a number of booths, two of them in particular caught our attention. 

The first booth was run by two young women in a sustainable agricultural programme. One grew up in a rural area, the other in a city. They were both very excited about the new environmentally friendly happenings in agriculture and their opportunity to participate in it. 

I bought 2 small organic squash and was told each would be enough to make two cups of soup. I love homemade squash soup. 

 About 25 feet away was another group of mainly women hosting a fair trade booth. They too were excited about their opportunity to contribute to the world through the Fair Trade movement: i.e. ensuring small farmers were treated justly and obtaining a proper share of the income generated by the produce they grew.   

Fair Trade, according to the Canadian Fair Trade Network, is designed to change the way trade works through better prices, decent working conditions, and a fairer share of the income for farmers in the developing world. 

We learned there are over 1000 Fair Trade products, the best known being bananas, cocoa, tea coffee, sugar, and cotton.  Each Fair Trade product carries with it a certification sticker.

We also found out there are Fair Trade groups at 45 Universities in Canada. Their purpose is to ensure all of a university’s food services have Fair Trade products, and the products must be well-displayed. They also are required to educate fellow students and university staff about Fair Trade.

They also promote Fair Trade to local governments and certify those who meet the Fair Trade criteria. 

 There are over 2 million farmers and workers in the movement in 70 countries, and according to the students and the Canadian Fair Trade Network, farmers and workers who are members feel  their belonging to this movement gives them a real sense of control over their future, greater power and louder voice.  

Their booth was well organized. As part of their education programme, they had a “Wheel of Fortune,” which when spun created a question for you to try to answer about Free Trade. 

My question was, “What percent of Free Trade farm workers were women?,” 8%, 17% or 25%.  I guessed 25%. I was wrong. It is 17%.  

A friend had to guess which product was most advanced in Free Trade. He was correct – it is coffee.  

We chatted for a few more minutes and had our picture taken with a young woman dressed up as a Free Trade banana.  

As we continued on our way to see the rest of the campus we all thought, “What a wonderful  initiative!” 

It demonstrated their concern for and understanding of fellow students. They were able to put into action their altruism by helping people both locally and around the world.

In the process of creating and running their booths, they connected with other people which was difficult for some of them. They also had to use their creative talents, learn about the free enterprise system and how to use it to create a better world. 

As we hopped in the car we were all inspired and happy to see enthusiastic young people in action. We all noted that most of the participants were young women. We also all agreed what we saw was evidence that much of what you learn at university is learned outside of the classroom

It was a great way to spend an hour.

Till next time,

Chris Snyder, Climate Optimist 

Email: snyderchris74@gmail.com  

Stories of Good News and Hope: http://chrissnyder.ca/