About 85 participants attended the biennial CAUT Status of Women Committee conference held at the Windsor Hilton Oct. 26 ­ 28. Keynote opening speaker Maude Barlow set the tone for the conference with her address "Trading It All Away: The World Trade Organization and the Corporate Colonization of Higher Education." Barlow, who is volunteer chairperson for the Council of Canadians, warned there is a battle for control of public services such as health care and education. "As educators, activists and citizens we must fight for public education and we must build a new, civil society based on human rights and the recognition of inclusion," she said.

These remarks reverberated throughout the conference. Jenny Hornosty, recipient of the 1999 Sarah Shorten Award, argued we must reconceptualize the academic profession to make it more equitable and more inclusive.

Equity programs — specifically, the Federal Contractors' Program — must be reexamined argued two feminist scholars from the University of Saskatchewan.

Colonization, the theme set out so well in Barlow's address, was illustrated in conference panels on contract academic staff and women's studies. Strategies for dealing with discrimination, for organizing, for mobilizing women within faculty associations, and for coalition building were also addressed in conference sessions. Two activists from the Canadian Auto Workers union outlined the gains that had been achieved within their locals through concerted organization efforts.

Guest speaker Dr. Lowell Ewert from the University of Waterloo delivered a talk on human rights and the culture of peace.

The final afternoon of the conference included a workshop on equity issues, and an open forum with delegates and members of the status of women committee.

Jeanette Lynes is chair of CAUT's Status of Women Committee.

The status of women committee is very grateful to University of Windsor Faculty Association resource advisor Nancy Sennema and members Anne Forrest, Pam Milne, Christina Simmons and Janice Drakich for their help with the conference.