112 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus four countries, could be a valuable tool for faculty developers and university administrators alike. The popularity of certain approaches to faculty development, for example, could be used as supportive data for initiating such a program in one's own institution. Individual chapters, with their attention to the details of relevant research, context-setting, and practical applications, will be of value to those seeking to change their teaching, and wishing to know more of how to approach that change. And the faculty developers who come to know this book will be in a position to direct colleagues to relevant chapters. oooooooooooooooooooo McKinnon, Frank. (1995). Church politics and education in Canada: The P.E.I, experience. Calgary, AB: Detselig Enterprises. Pp. 128. Price: $14.95. Reviewed by Hugh A. Stevenson, University of Western Ontario (retired). In August 1963 the first Islander to visit our new home in Prince Edward Island was a representative of the Welcome Wagon. Her first question in the preliminary chitchat asked our religious affiliation. We demurred, not accustomed to such a personal intrusion from a stranger. "None" as in "none of your business" had no significant meaning on the Island. One was either Roman Catholic or Protestant; "other" did not exist as a category. Later we learned that the best that might be interpreted from our lack of response was the we were "Godless." In any event, the Welcome Wagon representative dropped her religious enquiries like a hot challis when she learned that I had been employed to teach history at Prince of Wales College. Unwittingly we had answered her question. With equal innocence my wife and I had experience our first encounter with the pervasive importance of religion in life on P.E.I. We soon learned that religion and politics were inseparable, and their combined forces influenced everything, both important and seemingly inconsequential, on the Island. All levels of government, public councils, boards and commissions, public education and particularly postsecondary education, public works from the paving of rural roads and the appointment of snowplow operators, to the construction of Confederation Centre were subject to the influence of both politics and religion. This environment combined with P.E.I.'s insularity, relative isolation and smallness created a fishbowl atmosphere where everyone knew everyone else's views, or thought they did. A tense excitement resulted characterising much of daily life on the Island, quite different from the impression of rural beauty and tranquility that tourists often bring away with their holiday memories. Canadian Journal of Higher Vol. XXV, No. 3, 1995 Education 113 B o o k R e v i e w s / C o m p t e s R e n d u s Rampant gossip, innuendo, ignorance, inexperience, incompetence, political stupidity, religious tenacity, less than candid journalism and outright prejudice spiced life on the Island. In this highly charged atmosphere, Frank MacKinnon lived "productively and dangerously" (p. 53) for 19 years from his appointment as Principal of Prince of Wales College in 1949 to his resignation on April 8, 1968. By then Prince of Wales College had disappeared and the dream to build it into a small, first-class nondenominational liberal arts and science college was dead. Prince of Wales College was swallowed in the governmentforced union with Roman Catholic St. Dunstan's University to create The University of Prince Edward Island. Not surprisingly, given the church politics involved, "St. Dunstan's was allowed to remain and act in its own name. It can pop up anytime, and neither the government nor the new university will be able to stop it when the circumstances permit" (p. 112). In MacKinnon's view the provincial government "gave the Catholic church everything it wanted and more. It let the Bishop's wishes and St. Dunstan's standards push Prince of Wales and its much higher standards right out of the subsequent politics and into oblivion" (p. 110). The saga of Prince of Wales College, "The P.E.I, experience" referred to in the title, in large measure is Frank MacKinnon's story. Since he was personally involved as a staunch advocate of the Prince of Wales College "dream," any responsible reviewer would wonder about some degree of personal bias creeping into the pages of a book where there is no happy ending for the author's cause. Let me put any such suspicions to rest forcefully. For the two years and several summers that I taught at Prince of Wales College, my experience attests to much that MacKinnon has to say about the College and the Island. It was a truly nondenominational institution. Careful attention was given to maintaining high standards and imaginative teaching. The "dream" of expanding Prince of Wales College was both real and realistic. Yet every development along that path was met by political obstruction from weak, none-too-clever elected officials often driven more by church politics than educational considerations and open democratic processes. MacKinnon's book is very well organized and clearly written. His narrative is an extremely candid, but dispassionate account, tempered by the passage of 25 or more years since the events on P.E.I, took place. Of even more significance is the care with which MacKinnon has documented his P.E.I, experiences, the story of Prince of Wales College and the influence of church politics. Ample academic footnotes are supported by appendices where the texts of several key documents are reprinted. Canadian Journal of Higher Education Vol. XXV, No. 3, 1995 114 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus Finally, the real strength of this book is that it is about much more than church politics on P.E.I. MacKinnon has carefully placed his case study of the Island in the broader context of the history of church politics as far back as Cardinal Richelieu, the Edict of Nantes of 1598 which protected the rights of Protestants in Roman Catholic countries and its revocation by Louis XIV in 1685. As well, MacKinnon discusses church politics and education in other Canadian provinces and the current context of the separatist issues concerning the future of Quebec and national unity. This is a strong book which deserves to be read widely - particularly by Canadians who wish to understand their country better. oooooooooooooooooooo Richer, Stephen, & Weir, Lorna, (Eds.). (1995). Beyond political correctness: Toward the inclusive university. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press. Pp. x - 272. Price: $55.00 (cloth), $19.95 (paper). Reviewed by Sharon E. Kahn, University of British Columbia. Beyond political correctness: Toward the inclusive university offers a timely sociological analysis of "political correctness" discourse in the current debate over equity policies and practices in Canadian universities. For better or worse, the sides in this debate are clearly drawn: Equity opponents argue that universities must preserve as inviolate traditionally defined standards of academic merit (for both the admission of students and the appointment of faculty), a traditionally conceived right of faculty to free expression in the search for knowledge, and a traditionally designed curriculum based upon works that have stood the test of time. Equity proponents argue that Canadian universities have a significant role to play in ensuring that Canadian society realizes the untapped potential of many groups of well-qualified people that have suffered discrimination in educational and employment opportunities, and to this end, universities must re-evaluate their hiring and admission practices as well as their curriculum and pedagogy. The essays in this anthology promote the expansion and enhancement of the principles of merit and academic freedom in admissions, hiring, and curricular decisions. Rejecting the neoconservative view that equity and human rights initiatives are forms of tyranny that destroy academic freedom and merit, these essays argue that equity and human rights initiatives complement and enhance academic freedom and merit: ultimately, then, true academic freedom cannot coexist with harassment and discrimination. Canadian Journal of Higher Vol. XXV, No. 3, 1995 Education