Sixteen professors at the University of Regina have signed a letter asking the institution to withdraw from Project Hero, a scholarship fund for the children of fallen soldiers.
According to the letter sent to U of R president Vianne Timmons, the professors feel that the project “represents a dangerous cultural turn” by “associat[ing] ‘heroism’ with the act of military intervention.”
Joyce Green, a professor of political science and one of the 16 to sign the letter, said she and the other professors disagree with the university’s alignment with this project for several reasons.
“First, It duplicates an existing program [Children of Deceased VeteransEducation Assistance Act C-28]. It glorifies militarism and heroism, making it more difficult to discuss as public policy. And it’s not a good idea to introduce special programs at a time when we have students paying higher tuition and an important university [First Nations University of Canada] forced into bankruptcy,” Green said.
Project Hero was launched in September 2009 by honourary Lt.-Col.Kevin Reed and retired Gen. Rick Hillier to provide support to the children of deceased Canadian soldiers. It waives tuition fees for the duration of a four-year undergraduate period, as well as provides an additional $1,000 for books.
To be eligible for the scholarship a student must be a dependant of a member of the Canadian Forces who lost their life in active duty, be under the age of 26 and maintain a 75 per cent average.
Since its launch, in 2009, dozens of universities and colleges across Canada have adopted the project including Carleton University.
U of R’s executive only recently decided to participate in the program and the program will come into effect at the university in September 2010.
According to the government website, the Children of Deceased VeteransEducation Assistance Act C-28 is an existing program that helps the children of deceased soldiers pay for their education and provides them with a monthly allowance.
“We think this is appropriate because it is public money used for a public purpose by the relevant department,” Green said. “Project Hero is a program that each university can choose to sign on to and then effectively subsidizes, so it essentially comes out of our existing revenue.”
Barbara Pollock, a spokeswoman for the university, said U of R encourages debate and diverse opinions and the administration appreciates the professors’ perspectives. However, Pollock said the university is continuing with the program as it is.
Along with their request for the university’s immediate withdrawal from the program, the professors call for greater pressure on the government for scholarship and bursary funding for all students and they request the university hold a public forum to discuss Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan.
Pollock said the university already lobbies the government for more funding, both through the annual budget as well as through their government relations program. Pollock also said it was well within the purvey of the professors to organize their own public forum, but that the university would not be organizing any discussion on the issue.
According to the CTV, 141 Canadian soldiers have lost their lives in the mission in Afghanistan, but only four students across the country have received this scholarship so far.