NEW UNIVERSITY COOPERATIVE

April/May
IN THIS ISSUE ....
The New University Cooperative presents at the International Conference on Ecology and Professional
Helping | May 9th 2009, University of Calgary

Wilma Van Der Veen and Laird Herbert, both Board of Directors of the New University Cooperative, will be
presenting at the International Conference on Ecology and Professional Helping, on May 9th, in Calgary,
Alberta. The Conference brings together a variety of professionals and practioners, to build a dialogue to
engage the challenges and opportunities that we face by growing ecological decline.

Wilma and Laird will be introducing conference attendees to the New University Cooperative, and
gathering participants input into the project, and their vision for a sustainable and socially just higher
education system.

You can visit the conference website at www.ucalgary.ca/oikos/ecoconference.

Riki Bowden, Board of Director of the new University Cooperative returns from India

Riki Bowden, another Board of Director from the New University Cooperative, returns from India, after a
two month visit to India this winter. For the first five weeks, she lived and did volunteer work at the
Garden of Peace, a project of Buddha Smiles, that 5 years ago was transformed from barren land into a
gathering space for peace workers and sustainability activists. Also, the Garden of Peace serves mainly as a
safe and accessible school for a hundred children of Kanyambadi, a small rural village in Tamil Nadu, South
India. In the village, Riki was part of a group of international volunteers that renovated an earthen
sustainable school building, dug a swale for a food forest, designed rainwater capture solutions, and
created a food mandala garden. Everyone working on the project was personally invited to attend a talk
given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who recently donated 250 000 rupees to the Garden of Peace. It was
good hard work so the karma payed off as she had an amazing journey around India by herself for the
following 3 weeks, including a visit to Auroville (www.auroville.org), an
international eco-town of 2000 people devoted to realizing human unity
in diversity, alternative education, and practical research into
sustainable living with respect to environmental, cultural, social, and
spiritual needs. This experience enriched her with many possibilities and
much inspiration for the New University Cooperative. Photos can be seen
at http://picasaweb.google.com/monad.riki

She is now moving to Peterborough, Ontario for a 20 week Fleming

program run by Chris Magwood called Sustainable Building Design &
Construction. Good Luck Riki.

A List of Reading Materials

In this issue, we have a list of interesting reading resources, something which we hope to continue in
our future newsletters.

Schmidt, Jeff, (2000), Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals

and the Soul-Battering System that Shapes Their Lives, Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers: Lanhan, Maryland
#4

Trout, Paul, (2000), Student Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing Down of the
University, http://mtprof.msun.edu/Spr1997/TROUT-ST.html

Noble, David, (2005), Private Pretensions: The Battle for Canada’s Universities,
September/October issue, Canadian Dimension,
http://canadiandimension.com/articles/2005/08/30/53/

Sterling, S (2001). Sustainable Education: Re-Visioning, Learning and Change, Schumacher

Schumacher Society/Green Books, Dartington.

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