ERIC Number: EJ1473756
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0380-2361
EISSN: EISSN-1918-5979
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Repurposing the University in Times of Social and Ecological Breakdown: From the Ivory Tower to the Nurse Log
Sharon Stein; Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti
Canadian Journal of Education, v48 n1 p120-144 2025
This article considers how universities might be repurposed to fulfill their responsibilities to future generations in the context of accelerating social and ecological breakdown. To do so, we invite readers into an inquiry about how educators might prepare ourselves and our students to navigate current and coming disruptions in ways that interrupt enduring cycles of violence and unsustainability through processes of redistribution, reparation, restitution, and regeneration. We propose shifting metaphors from universities as elitist ivory towers to humble nurse logs that could support the composting of the current system and nourish emerging possibilities for education and existence. To illustrate this possibility, we consider two experimental efforts to repurpose higher education toward intergenerational and interspecies responsibility.
Descriptors: Universities, Institutional Mission, Role of Education, College Role, Social Responsibility, Educational Change, Violence, Sustainability, Educational History, Colonialism, Decolonization
Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE). 260 Dalhousie Street Suite 204, Ottawa, ON K1N 7E4, Canada. Tel: 613-241-0018; Fax: 613-241-0019; e-mail: csse-scee@csse.ca; Web site: http://cje-rce.ca/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A