by Ian Bushfield

In 2004, Paul Welke couldn't attend his convocation ceremony. The avowed atheist was in Bosnia at the time, serving for the Canadian Peacekeeping forces that were deployed there. The University offered him the ability to attend a convocation at a later date, but upon reading the Chancellor's charge to use his degree "for the glory of God and honour of you country," he pledged not to attend until the ceremony reflected his belief system.

He filed a complaint with the President's office, who put it forward to a convocation committee. That committee briefly debated the issue and subsequently brushed it aside as frivolous. They suggested that Welke could define "God" in any way he chose. Welke's response to his fellow atheists was that using God in a non-religious fashion was akin to shooting a three-pointer without a basketball.

Fast-forward four years, and the goal of a secular convocation has been revised by the University of Alberta Atheists and Agnostics. The group, headed by Ian Bushfield, was made aware of the convocation charge through a graduate student, John Douglas (JD) Crookshank. The group decided to submit a letter requesting the word "God" be removed to the President's Office in July of 2008.

After some delay the Office decided this issue had been dealt with "recently" and the issue was closed. The recent meeting was apparently the meeting regarding Mr. Welke's complaint, three years prior.

The group then created a Facebook group and started circulating a print petition. By the time the petition was submitted, 189 signatures had been collected among students, staff, faculty, and alumni.

Bushfield authored an opinion article in the student newspaper, The Gateway, which stirred several weeks worth of controversy in back and forth letters. The article, and subsequent letters, made there way to the Provost's office, who decided to pursue the issue.

Bushfield was invited to a one-on-one meeting with Dr. Carl Amrhein, the Provost, who laid out that all stakeholders would be able to present to the General Faculties Council Executive Committee at a special meeting. The committee would then decide, one week later, how to deal with the issue.

Just before the convocation meeting, Bushfield was interviewed by the Edmonton Journal, in an article that made the front page of the city section of the local paper. That article sparked a blitz of media attention, from local print, radio and TV, to national press. Bushfield was even interviewed on the issue against Rev. Charles McVety, one of the most vocal lobbyists in Canada's Christian Right.

The first article was acheived through a contact Bushfield had made who temporarily wrote for an online version of the Edmonton Journal. After the Journal published the first story, all subsequent press contacted him.

During the meeting with the GFC Exec Committee, many faculty members and students spoke in favour of some change to the convocation charge. The chaplains, Muslim, Christian and Mormon representatives spoke in favour of retaining the current charge. The committee also received a large number of emails between that meeting and their next from concerned stakeholders.

At their next meeting, the committee was unanimously in agreement that it was due time for a change to the charge. They agreed to form a subcommittee that would propose alternative charges that would be more inclusive. The Provost did request that the subcommittee suggest one charge that retained the word "God" even if it required "complex wording" so as to acheive inclusivity.

The GFC Exec Committee reconvenes on December 1, at which time they will likely suggest that a number of the potential charges be put forward to the main General Faculties Council with the recommendation that the Council vote to adopt one of the charges to replace the traditional wording.

The main Council likely won't see the proposals until January, but if it passes there the convocation can be changed for June's, and Bushfield's, convocations.

The U of A was founded on secular principles, and it's fitting that 100 years after its founding, it could continue to exemplify those principles.

Ian Bushfield is a fifth-year engineering physics student at the University of Alberta. He founded the U of A Atheists and Agnostics in 2007 with some friends. The group has over 120 registered members and has attracted national media attention for their attempt to achieve an inclusive convocation.