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‘A collective student-faculty department would ,stand in opposition to the present ’ concept of the university.
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by Renzo
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To fully understand institutions one must examine them within the socio-economic framework of their existence. The political science department as an institution can only be viewed as part of the larger institution: the university. The university can only be fully understood as-part of the larger society within which it exists and for which it performs many integrative functions
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Attitudes and institutions represent nothing more. than the patterns of action that have become predominant through the multitude of times that they have been repeated by human beings. They are not axioms, just well socialized ha.bits; and like all habits they can be altered through conscious human activity. Another aspect of the same social content is that society is the object as it requires the activity of the human subject for its operation. Man and his social activity are one and the same. Internal consciousness -can only exist to be externalized into conscious human activity and vice-versa. Thus when roles come into.play they cannot be devoid of the people that play with them. If weexamine the role of the faculty we should get a fair idea of what the people that play those roles are all about. The faculty’s role in the complicated hierarchical structures of the university and of society is that of an administrative bureaucracy. The faculty has in its possession the affairs of the department, they belong to it as its private property. This concession has been handed down to them by the university administration who acts as its overseer to make sure that the department will not1 step beyond its boundaries of bureaucratic property. Political consciousness is antagonistic to- the bureaucracy. Authority thus becomes the principle of the department’s knowledge, and the deification of authoritarianism the credo to its existence. This highly unprincipled ideal can only turn into the coarse materialism of dumb I obedience. The individual bureaucrat becomes the mouthpiece of’ other bureaucrats. The goals of the in’stitution become his private goals: a hunting for higher~,3 jobs, the making of a career, the production of many needed mediocre intellectuals whose business it will be to further the goals of society. Bureaucrats, by definition of their role, must always behave towards the university, and in turn towards society, as their managers and preservers. In doing so, they best serve their own individual needs and interests. For the bureaucrat the world only exists to be managed by him, even if in managing it he works contrary to human principles. ,
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This social content lies in the premise that society is not a given datum, but an outcome of human agency. The patterns of action that become the foundation not only of our attitudes but also of our institutions ;are the result of conscious human activity.
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The demand for a department based on collective co-operation from students and faculty in the allocation of resourses stands in an antagonistic position vis-a-vis the faculty’s role in the university and society. It also stands in an
antagonistic position in relation to apathetic students. Many people are going to object to this classification on the grounds that they are aware of their contradictory cposition. But wait! lf such were the case, why have they not taken proper measures to break through, the relationships based on roles? Why did they not help when there was a general movement towards reforming the department in a meaningful way? tias thehprospect of living a life based on role relationships between people suddenly become so attractive that it has overshadowed human principles? Have even the most radical been bought out by the system? Practice is the only way to answer these questions. Practice’s answer to date is yes!
Changing consciousness The philosophy of a collective department would of necessity stand in opposition to the position of the university as a working institution in present society. It would stand in opposition to the premise that human behavior must be dictated by the axioms of prevailing institutional structures. The institutions are there to serve man; not the other way around. A meaningful educational experience is one where all are active in determining that experience. Under this framework students and faculty have equal access and equal responsibility in the allocation of resources. The individ’ualist approach to education is not a mere reflection of societal process, it is an active and important part of that process. In a similar way, the collective approach to education cannot simply reflect a radical critique of society. It must be an active element in reshaping that society. The reform of consciousness means nothing more than acquainting the world with its consciousness, waking the world up from the dream it is dreaming about itself, explaining to the world the nature and import of its own actions. Consciousness must be reformed not through dogmas but through an analysis of the web of mystifications into which it has been entagled be they religious, political, social, economic, cultural, or psychological. Once the realm of imagination has been revolutionized, reality cannot hold out. If some individuals feel that their imagination has been revolutionized, then their job becomes one to revolutionize other people’s imaginations and to change reality. * But watch how problems are solved. Are-these solutions going to strengthen the power ant consolidate the position of privileges in the department of are they going to break down privileged positions? Once the intial steps have been taken, the ball will only be kept rolling at the price of constant mobilization around issues that uncover the contradictions of society. This position places th.e students in an antagonistic position with the faculty. The only way to change this position is for the faculty to forego its privileged position in favor of uniting collectively with the students. It is the real human activity of individuals who are actively -involved in the process of determining their own experience, people who work, play, think, suffer, enjoy, and in every way act as human beings in control of their own destiny will determine through praxis, the outcome of history.
Renzo Bernardini is a third-year political science department.
student
in the