J-Source

Project Hero frenzy

The Project Hero scholarship program was rolling out smoothly across the country until it hit the University of Regina. In a letter to university administrators, 16 U of R professors questioned the language behind the scholarship and called for a university-sponsored public forum on Canada’s role in Afghanistan. In subsequent media interviews, the professors argued…

The Project
Hero
scholarship program was rolling out smoothly across the country until
it hit the University of Regina. In a letter to
university administrators, 16 U of R professors questioned the language behind
the scholarship and called for a university-sponsored public forum on Canada’s
role in Afghanistan. In subsequent media
interviews
, the professors argued Project Hero claws back from a federally-funded
legislated education entitlement for children of dead and disabled soldiers, while
providing a lesser university-funded scholarship wrapped in patriotism.

If they had an argument, it was quickly
lost in what signatories characterized as a media feeding
frenzy
, culminating in a national editorial slamming
the profs
for picking on orphans, and a Limbaugh-style Power Play
interview
with ex-soldier and professor Garson Hunter. “The media fell down on their job, failing
to investigate claims before broadcast and publication, and…contributing
initially to what bordered on lynch-mob hysteria,” charged signatory John
Conway in this
Calgary Herald commentary
.

Judging by a healthy mix of both positive and
negative comments from Herald readers, it seems the hysteria has cooled, leaving
some delicious irony in its wake: MP Tom Lukiwski, himself no stranger to calls
for public apologies, demanded
the professors
apologize. Meanwhile the Canada-Afghan Solidarity Committee
volunteered to organize a public forum, at the same time calling for censure
of the profs
who signed a letter requesting a forum.  

  


The Project
Hero
scholarship program was rolling out smoothly across the country until
it hit the University of Regina. In a letter to
university administrators, 16 U of R professors questioned the language behind
the scholarship and called for a university-sponsored public forum on Canada’s
role in Afghanistan. In subsequent media
interviews
, the professors argued Project Hero claws back from a federally-funded
legislated education entitlement for children of dead and disabled soldiers, while
providing a lesser university-funded scholarship wrapped in patriotism.

If they had an argument, it was quickly
lost in what signatories characterized as a media feeding
frenzy
, culminating in a national editorial slamming
the profs
for picking on orphans, and a Limbaugh-style Power Play
interview
with ex-soldier and professor Garson Hunter. “The media fell down on their job, failing
to investigate claims before broadcast and publication, and…contributing
initially to what bordered on lynch-mob hysteria,” charged signatory John
Conway in this
Calgary Herald commentary
.

Judging by a healthy mix of both positive and
negative comments from Herald readers, it seems the hysteria has cooled, leaving
some delicious irony in its wake: MP Tom Lukiwski, himself no stranger to calls
for public apologies, demanded
the professors
apologize. Meanwhile the Canada-Afghan Solidarity Committee
volunteered to organize a public forum, at the same time calling for censure
of the profs
who signed a letter requesting a forum.  

  

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Patricia W. Elliott is a magazine journalist and assistant professor at the School of Journalism, University of Regina. You can visit her at patriciaelliott.ca.