September 16, 2020
Time for Maori to lead universities
Thirty-six Māori professors from around the country have signed a letter calling for a review of the tertiary education system in light of the Treaty of Waitangi.
It follows controversies about Waikato University’s decision not to renew the contracts of some of its leading Māori scholars, and a proposal to limit the Māori and Pacific admission scheme at the University of Otago medical school.
Otago law professor Jacinta Ruru says while some there are doing excellent work, universities still need to admit pervasive racism and commit to working with Māori to solve it.
She says other universities around the world are leaving those in Aotearoa behind, with the University of British Columbia in Canada this week releasing a new indigenous strategic framework.
"Their leaders like the president of the university is using the language of wanting to dismantle mechanisms of oppression and wanting to work together with their indigenous scholars to build new structures at that university, and that's exactly what we wish for here in Aotearoa," she says.
Professor Ruru says universities prioritise western knowledge, and they need to make room for Māori knowledge and Māori empowered leadership.