Anyone, that has gone to the University of Victoria in the last 30 years knows Peter Verin, maybe not by name, but by his presence. Last week the university banned him from campus.
Last night for the first time, I saw something interesting in the left ad space on Facebook, “Petition for Peter Verin“.
I recognized the photo.
Searching the web I could find a headline from the local Victoria paper the Times Colonist “UVic’s resident ‘philosopher’ banned from campus” and a thoughtful response letter “Give Peter a warm place to sleep” from Professor Daniel Bryant in Monday’s paper.
Peter is a “Peter Verin is a professional salvager and the self-professed campus enviro-intellectual.”1 Although, he claims he does not reside on campus, he did like me reside there when I was at UVic (working all hours of the day and night on my Computer Science degree).
Daniel’s letter includes “By virtue of his constant presence and openness, he is surely remembered by more of our graduates than any other person they have encountered on campus.”
His letter continues “If I were on campus 24/7 and barred, as he has been for years, from entering the buildings, which is where the restrooms are, I’d tinkle on the grass too.”
The rest of the letter is well worth reading.
I have no doubt that Peter’s activities create work for many, are upsetting to many, but …
“The moral test of a [society] is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick and the needy, and the handicapped.” - Hubert Humphrey
Besides, he seems to be a valuable member of the community!
To overcome this reality, students need to grasp the concept of empowerment and apply it to their lives. Empowerment is very distinct from power. Power usually involves a few people who are consumed with self-interest, while empowerment consists of students acting together, as an identity group, for the common good. Empowerment can serve to liberate students from oppression.2
There is a LiveJournal UVic community that has some interesting thoughts on Peter from early 2006.
I should have also searched Facebook last night (I forget about its walls), because today I found Peter Verin @ UVic, a group looking for the facts around Peter being banned, before deciding on their positions.
- Victoria Street Newz August/September 2005 [↩]
- Peter Verin, Student movement needed, Martlet [↩]
- Lifelong Wellness, A (New?) Approach to Physical Education
- Opening Imaginations with Peter and the Starcatchers
- Restoring National Parks for Our Feathered Friends Part 2
4 Comments
It’s a plague of university evictions!
http://scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=243 (and links therein).
Mike, that is an interesting story. I guess I have a romantic fantasy of universities being open, community centers of learning.
My question is why now? He’s been living at UVic for well over a decade (maybe longer). If the UVic PR department were smart they would have instead welcomed him with open arms (providing him with a bed, give him a job such as cleaning up the campus, etc) and received a load of good press. My guess is they thought this would encourage other homeless to follow his example.
Instead, they decided to give him the boot. The timing is interesting, they waiting until summer when all the students were gone. Also, what caused them to all of a sudden take this action? Is there a part of the story missing?
An institution that teaches the humanities has no interest in compassion or humanity. The letter by David Bryant in the op/ed section of the TC summed up my sentiments exactly.