Choppy video of OCAD Student Forum 2007 (first half)

FORUM CONTINUED ON AUDIO

Here is the presentation that I had projected for this Forum.

Here is the document from Student Forum 2006.

Here is the first email ever received during the summer (August 1) notifying us of a decision made (to rename) without our input or concerns. The subject line read “Call for Creative Input from the OCAD Community”

And here is another note attached in the same email as above from the Chair of the Board.

This is the audio from the Town Hall meeting on Monday September 10 (first week back from school) — the first chance we had to meet as bodies given the guideline to contribute more names and support suggested names. It wasn’t about discussion, it was about stepping up to the podium with 1.5 minute to speak. Halfway through, people begin to speak up and question this decision; I suggest you listen to the second half, it relates more to the reason why Forum 2007 was conducted ASAP.

Here is the list of schools that OCAD should be looking at “competition”, not at UofT, Ryerson, York, Guelph, Waterloo, Concordia etc etc.

Royal College of Art
Rhode Island School of Design
Art Center College of Design
School of Visual Arts
Basel School of Design
CalArts
Otis College of Art and Design
Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design
Minnesota College of Art and Design
Maryland Institute College of Art
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Parsons the New School of Design
Ringling College of Art and Design
Rietveld Academy of Art
Glasgow School of Art
College for Creative Studies
Laguna College of Art and Design
Savannah College of Art and Design
Pratt Institute
Academy of Art Univeristy (with 13 Schools)

I wrote this letter on Monday September 24th after I received an email from a member of the Communications Committee on the Board of Governors who wasn’t present at the Forum and wanted to know what had happened and have a better understanding of what the students brought up. She wanted to have more information before she stepped into the Board of Governors meeting later on in the day.

I thanked her for contacting me and I began to write her an email:

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…

I will summarize the majority of the content discussed at the forum on Wednesday.
I presented a lot of research that I had gathered from talking to countless amount of concerned and even apathetic students about the name-changing procedure that has been drastically dropped on us as students; we really felt like we are not having much of a voice in this decision. Students are concerned about the current state of the school. People who have a thorough knowledge on Art and Design education understand that we are not in competition with other universities in Ontario but we are in competition with other art and design institutions on an international level. Yes, the term “College” in US doesn’t mean community college — not to mention that US holds the majority of the Art and Design schools in the world.

I am representing students who are participating “vicariously” through me due to their high apathy and many other highly intelligent students who were present at the Forum and came out to really speak up about this issue.

You can easily fool first and second year students and the general public with the excuse that “since we are degree granting, we must enforce that in our name with the word ‘university’”. I see so much potential for this school and I have appreciated it even more when I did a study abroad, but with this decision to suddenly out of the blue come up with a solution to a problem that had never ever crossed my mind or any other student in this institution. The problems that have crossed our minds are, “hmm, the administration doesn’t give a SHIT about students”, and I say this harshly because this is the mentality of the majority of OCAD’s population (the one’s who’ve been around to see how things happen). — excuse the language.

What we really want is more attention to detail. We want more of a community; we want your attention when we say “fix this”, because ultimately we are right about what needs to be fixed. Part of the problem here is…there are lots of things that need to be fixed and doing something quite as drastic as RENAMING this historic institution that has NO need to RENAME itself but to learn how to MARKET itself better in every sense — due to lack of great marketing team, thought as to HOW to market and what caliber of students we want to attend this school. It’s about the students that do great work, the ones that graduate from here who will only come back if they love their school. They will only come back if they are proud to contribute to a school that contributed to their experience…and the only reason I see myself coming back is because of my amazing teachers; I would do anything for them.

We are worried about the MONEY, not the name. We’re worried about why the administration would make this decision without asking us if it’s a good decision in the first place. If you had ASKED us if we wanted to change a name, took a vote and actually CARED about what we think, then more students would actually appreciate the fact that you had done THAT at least.

Name change? If you’re going to do it, make it OCAD U. It’s stupid, there’s no need for it, it doesn’t change anything OCAD is and if you were to rebrand it AGAIN and remarket it again JUST BECAUSE of the “university” that is added to it, it’s even more stupid and a big shame. I will leave OCAD and say what a dumb decision and how sad it was that I tried to state the facts, do research, listen to people from all avenues, communicate to the public and take an intelligent, articulate stance on something and actually see NOTHING come out from it, I would be highly disappointed.

We are worried with that term “university” itself and how THAT itself is misleading…truthfully, from an international standpoint. I can support all that I say here if you give me more time to gather more students. I’m willing to do another forum before your next meeting, this time with more time to plan it and also more research. I don’t see a rush for a need to change OCAD’s name…period.

I just care too much about the future of Art and Design in Canada and what OCAD can really become because I have been here for FOUR YEARS and I have always LOVED school; I’ve always loved homework; loved learning; loved throwing myself into risks and I love the fact that I did not go to another generic “university” in Ontario, but I went to a specialized College (with studio based education and liberal studies) to become the creative power-house I am today. I have changed as a person at OCAD and I want the school to get credit for it. If I do big things, I want to tell everyone I went to OCAD: the best art and design school in Canada and I must say, it is at the TIP OF THE ICEBERG in international acclaim for it’s exceptional education IF WE DON’T SCREW UP and ask the right questions and LISTEN to our faculty, our students and INVEST time, money and energy into doing that.

Look INSIDE OCAD for your answers. It’s all there. THROW MONEY INTO OCAD, don’t go OUTSIDE looking for more students…they will come to you. I came to you, and so did everyone who is already here. It’s not about enrollment percentages, it’s about the quality of the student’s work once they get out of here. Why not help them more? Ask faculty what they think, I’m sure they have lots to tell you.

The forum is video-taped. I’ve yet had time to put it all content together and publicize it. (Mind you this is very valuable voluntary time of my own breath I am putting into this as a thesis student with a full course load).

I am also very confused for the making of this decision. It’s very twisted for me and I sure never want to be a politician. I never thought institutions were just as bad as the real world with their politics, systems and decision making.

If you have more questions, I would be pleased to answer.

Thanks for your time,

ghazaleh

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She agreed with a lot of the things I had mentioned and strongly supported my case.

Filed under: activism, art, creativity, design, politics, school, student life