As a graduating student of Glendon, I am devastated by the proposal to close Glendon as a faculty. Glendon's charm extends far beyond its noteworthy bilingual education model, and the reasons why I chose to study here lies in characteristics which will possibly be lost if Glendon is absorbed into Keele, such as its intimate class sizes. True to my reasoning, I feel that I have bonded with many of my professors here at Glendon, and it is harder to say if I could have had the chances to optimize my learning experiences at Keele that I had at Glendon with incredibly supportive educators and close-knit peers.
Furthermore, in this age of anti-intellectualism, where the current sociopolitical culture is systemically waging a war on academia, it is important that universities do not shrink in on themselves; there is something so special in Glendon that will be lost if it is absorbed into Keele, if we give into what is essentially an emerging cultural hostility (or perhaps even worse, an indifference) towards education. It is no coincidence that Ford's appalling OSAP cuts are happening concurrently to the proposal of closing Glendon as a faculty, and effectively shrinking the academic world; both of these things are a consequence of a world that is largely coming to see education as a luxury exercise decided by what is most convenient for capitalistic interests at the moment.
If we were to let Glendon be absorbed into Keele under the pressure of currently prevailing anti-education cultural sentiments propelled by capitalists with vested interests, then this decision will become a pessimistic forecast of what is to await the academic world in the coming years. Some decisions once made are hard, or perhaps even impossible, to go back on. I feel that once Glendon has been lost as a faculty, that will only spell similar tragic futures for all educational institutes which will find themselves shrinking under capitalist whims. Education is one of the most important things we must fight to prevent from shrinking, especially in these turbulent times; I hope as an educator, or as someone who works with educators, that this sentiment is something that resonates with you strongly.