Whilst Prof Max Richards was allowed to deliver his political speech at the commencement of the new law term on Wednesday he demonstrated how clearly out of touch he has become with our society when he refers to Debe as Penal. And he did so while also pleading the case for the academic staff, which may very well be the smallest stakeholder in the campus population.
Prior to the opening of the UWI Debe Campus, all students who enrol at the UWI, St Augustine to read for their degree in law would have to attend their first year classes at that campus but would then have to travel to the Cave Hill Campus in Barbados to complete their remaining courses.
This put a large financial and emotional toll on the students, who may have been separated from their families for the first time, in a foreign country, while still burdened with the stress of their studies.
As a result of this, at the beginning of each academic year, both the Department of Law and the Office of the Campus Principal would be inundated with requests from students and parents alike who would beg and plead for any alternative that would allow them to continue their degree at the St Augustine Campus.
It was therefore a welcomed and well-received initiative of the UWI, in collaboration with the PP government to construct a campus within our shores that would accommodate our law students throughout the entirety of their degree programme.
I am also aware of many UWI staff members who have been eagerly awaiting the opening of this campus to provide them the opportunity to work in a destination closer to their homes. While I am sure that there are members of the academic staff who may reside close to the St Augustine campus, these people are far outnumbered by administrative and support staff who, similar to the student populace, reside throughout the island, and have long complained about their own travel woes. And many of these people who live in south Trinidad embrace the new campus for the relief it now brings to them.
Further to this, it is surprising to hear Prof Richards speak on how the UWI can unite and meld the cultures and customs of the Caribbean, but refuses to think that a campus constructed in a semi-rural part of our island cannot do the same. While in the past many students who resided in rural villages would commute to St Augustine and get acclimatised to our urban culture, in the process sharing their own experiences with their new colleagues, the Debe campus now presents an opportunity for people who were born and raised in the city and urban areas to now travel to the rural district and have first-hand involvement and understanding of the country life.
Not only would this benefit our society by blending and fusing our urban and rural ethnology, but it also provides a better perspective and appreciation of the challenges and conventions of people who live in our rural districts to persons who may not have discovered it otherwise.
Development, whether it be urban or rural, should not be limited to infrastructure, but should incorporate all sectors of advancement and improvement, including education.
As such, the decision to construct a UWI campus in Debe was as progressive as it was necessary. And while it may inconvenience a few at its commencement, that should neither outweigh the benefits that it will provide to the majority of stakeholders, nor should it prevent future projects of its nature.
Ravi Maharaj