Only at Trent...

Trent University has a fairly progressive reputation. It is often compared to UC Berkeley, the United States' uber-hippie school. Hacky sack, bongo drumming and Birkenstocks are essentially pre-requisites to get in.

But our President, Bonnie Patterson does not quite share those feelings about Trent. As a former professor of business, Patterson has brought a more corporate approach to running Trent, which as you can imagine, leaves many students less than impressed. She is often the main target in the student newspapers and is less than popular among the student body. She recently elected to sell (and threatened to tear down) Trent's famed downtown college, Traill College. As my witty roomate Travis pointed out, it was quite appropriate she was later named one of Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women's Executive Network. After all, she got the award as part of the Trend-Setters and Trail-Blazers category (zing!).

But it appears Trent has had a powerful effect on our 'corporate fat-cat' President. A rumour began floating around last March concerning her involvement with the school's chancellor, famed biologist, photographer, medical doctor and astronaut, Dr. Roberta Bondar. Apparently the two were now an item. Talk about a power couple. Rumours, right?

Not quite. The rumours have now evolved into near fact, as I have had confirming conversations about their relationship with members of the faculty, administration and senior employees of the provincial government.

I think Trent is one of the only places in the world where the right-wing university President can leave her husband and fall in love with a photograph-taking, nature-loving, doctor that happens to also be an astronaut and the chancellor of the school. Man, what a school.

Perhaps we should open our own eyes...

I recently stumbled upon a rather amusing poster on campus. It read:

Scared? Lonely? Conservative? We are here to help.

It was an advertisement for the school's Conservative Campus Association, directly affiliated with the provincial and federal Progressive Conservative and Conservative parties. This didn't come as a shock to me considering the incredibly liberal reputation that is rightly associated with my school. We have numerous student groups on campus that address a variety of issues I hadn't seen addressed in such a degree anywhere else during my life. But almost all of them have fairly left-leaning political views.

The advertisement I saw was not only intended to be funny, but it was also an unfortunate and complete truth. Conservative-minded thinkers at this school are more often than not induced into hiding their true identity similarly to an atheist living in rural Utah. The environment at the school is overwhelmingly anti-conservative that any conservative views are usually blown straight out of the sky by a parade of angry, reactionary voices.

Although my politics may not be in line with those of the Conservative sort, I certainly respect any views they may have. Alienating individuals who share conservative ideals (of which there are far more here than people think) is by far one of the more dangerous approaches a school could take, especially considering the level to which conservatism plays a part in the global arena. If we're taught that simply denouncing and ignoring conservatism rather than understanding and working with it is the best way to save the world, we're in for one hell of a wake up call when we step out of our utopian undergraduate bubble.

It's a true shame that a school that prides itself on diversity and acceptance of others can so blissfully enjoy the ignorance of its own hypocrisy.