Social/Corporate Accountability: A University’s ‘Trek’ Towards Excellence

Abstract

This paper explores the concept of accountability as it relates to the University of British Columbia. It examines the discourse surrounding social accountability laid out in the university’s Trek 2010 vision and then juxtaposes this with the private accountability to commercial and government interests as evidenced in other documents and recent university decisions. The paper, thus, concludes that both private and public attempts at accountability are present yet the call to account to a wider social public gets muffled by the vagueness of the goals and, in particular, the appeals to excellence.