Archive for December, 2010
Rob Ford dropped out of university. How dare he?
What’s really stunning is that he went to York
Toronto mayor Rob Ford dropped out of university in 1991 and it is apparently a scandal. There was some confusion over whether or not he graduated but that was cleared up months ago. He attended Carleton University for 1989-1990 and we now know that he later attended York University for 1990-91 taking distance education courses.
Bouncing off an Open File Ottawa story that looked at whether or not, and by how much, Ford embellished his time as a member of Carleton’s football team, the Toronto Star writes:
Mayor Rob Ford took courses at university — that much, at least, is clear.
Normally, a mayor’s post-secondary education is an easily confirmed thing, a line or two in an official biography.
But Ford is no ordinary mayor.
So, an ordinary mayor would list himself as a university dropout on an official biography? Or would an ordinary mayor simply list the education institutions he attended in order to imply he graduated, when he did not? Or is it that ordinary mayors have university degrees? It’s not really clear what the Star is implying. Are official biographies not usually a list of a politician’s accomplishments, and not their list of failures and incomplete or half-hearted measures? Should Ford’s official City of Toronto biography also list how many times he’s been arrested?
The Star also writes that: “Ford’s official biography makes no mention of university.” Well that is not entirely true. The biography does mention his experience playing “university-level” football, which is just the sort of passing reference one might expect from a politician who attended but did not complete university. The emphasis on football, and not, say, the courses he took in political science also seems to be typical Ford.
Besides, the Star appears to have buried the lead all the way in paragraph nine. Rob Ford went to York!?
New statistics show the enrollment crunch is coming
Elementary and high school enrollment has been declining since 2002
In October, I wrote about the coming enrollment crunch, how Canada’s changing demographics will lead to a decline in university enrollment. Well, a new study, released yesterday by Statistics Canada, suggests that this crunch is already hitting elementary and high schools.
According to the report, enrollment rates at public elementary and secondary schools declined in 2008-09 for the seventh year in a row, after peaking in 2001-02.
Well-known Canadian economist and demographer David Foot has said that he expects university enrollment to start falling off between two and four years from now. And these new numbers suggest that his prediction is probably on the mark. Given the 2001-02 peak, we should see the number of high school graduates start to decline in 2014.
If there’s any silver lining, it’s that these declines have been rather small; between 2002-03 and 2008-09 enrollment at public elementary and secondary schools declined by less than 300,000 students. During that period, most years saw a decline of just under one per cent.
So while the statistics do back up the predictions that enrollment will start to decline it does look like, at least at first, these declines will be small.
Medical students help the poor
UAlberta course takes students to inner city
University of Alberta medical students are working in Edmonton inner-city clinics, shelters and the remand centre, as part of a new course designed to help doctors better understand problems like homelessness, addictions and mental illness. “I think it’s really important for physicians to understand where their patients come from,” Kathryn Dong, assistant professor in emergency medicine, said in the CBC. One student says the course is giving residents the chance to offer better care. “Just as you use an interpreter for someone who speaks a different language, you just need to figure out a way to elicit the information you need to help these people,” the said.
Suspended York student on the run from police
Anti-Semitic website relaunches using a host in Switzerland
An anti-Semitic Islamic website setup by an Ontario student who is on the run is now back on the Internet after being shut down earlier this year by a Canadian web-hosting provider.
The web site entitled Filthy Jewish Terrorists was banned earlier this year in Canada after the Ontario Provincial Police said its founder, Salman An-Noor Hossain, used it as a platform to incite genocide against Jews.
The York University student was suspended in March from his studies.
An international arrest warrant for the 25-year-old Bangladeshi-Canadian has been posted on Interpol. The anti-Semitic website relaunched this week using a host in Switzerland and Hossain updated his blog today from an unknown location.
Canada’s spy agency says in a statement it is aware of terrorist web sites based in Canada and continues to monitor individuals and groups who pose a threat to Canadians.
The Canadian Press
Prof says he was denied job for being Christian
Lawsuit filed against the University of Kentucky
An astronomy professor is suing the University of Kentucky over allegations he was denied a job running an observatory because he is an evangelical Christian. C. Martin Gaskell alleges in papers filed in a Kentucky federal court, that he was asked about his religious beliefs by the selections committee. The lawsuit states that Michael Cavagnero, chair of the physics and astronomy department, said that he “had personally researched Gaskell’s religious beliefs,” and warned that “expression of them would be a matter of concern.” A departmental staffer who had discovered online lecture notes where Gaskell apparently drew links between creationism and recent astronomical research, wrote in a 2007 email to the chair, “If we hire him, we should expect similar content to be posted on or directly linked from the department Web site.” Another candidate was awarded the position, and Gaskell currently works at the University of Texas. A trial is scheduled for February.
All I want for Christmas
A university student’s wish list
5) Free textbooks
It just seems wrong to pay hundreds of dollars for a bunch of books that you’ll want to throw into a bonfire by the end of the semester. And why is my Organic Chemistry textbook almost a hundred bucks more than my biology textbooks? At the very least, a textbook’s price should be proportional to how much you enjoy the course.
So the Organic Chemistry textbook should not only be free, but also come with a $30 gift certificate for EB Games.
4) A hands-on course that explores the advantages and disadvantages of several tactical approaches to team slayer in Halo Reach.
3) A professor whose policy on classroom attendance is… they have no policy on classroom attendance.
2) 10,000 extra med school spots
It could happen.
1) A take home final exam. With multiple choice questions. And bonus points for spelling your name right.
-Photo courtesy of placid casual
Baby, it’s sexist outside
Another song ruined by actually listening to the words.
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about how the critical thinking engendered in higher education can be a curse. Being trained to read deeply into texts — as we English profs are — is a variation on that same curse, and one that I noticed recently as I listened to a holiday standard playing on a TV music station.
Most of you are probably familiar with “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” In case, you aren’t, here is a recent version by Lady Antebellum.
A quick trip to Wikipedia (hey, they should call it “Quick-a-pedia”!) tells me that the song was penned in 1944 and became a huge hit (for numerous artists!) in 1949. The first time I remember hearing it was in the 2003 movie Elf, and its enduring popularity was shown (or perhaps guaranteed) by the fact that it was recently featured in the Christmas episode of Glee.
I’m the first to admit that this little ditty is as clever as they come with its elegantly overlapping melodies. Plus, I love duets. But I really have a problem with the values implied in the lyrics. In case you haven’t heard it (didn’t you click on the link provided? Sheesh…), the premise of the song is that a woman wants to go home but her male date wants her to stay — presumably to have sex — and makes the excuse that the weather outside is too frightful for her to leave. So why not stay (and, again, presumably do it while she’s there)? No matter how many times she insists that she has to go — she refuses sixteen times by my count of the Dean Martin version, but the exact number is a matter of interpretation — he insists that she stay. That her whole family is waiting for her at home is of no consequence, nor is her reputation, nor, for that matter, her own choice. Come on, baby, it’s cold outside!
The more you listen, the harder it is to believe what you’re hearing. Whether she is interested in his advances or not, he keeps after her, plying her with alcohol, moving “in closer,” insisting that she not “hold out” because it will hurt his male ego: “what’s the point in hurtin’ my pride? he asks, and “how can you do this thing to me?” He won’t even lend her a coat!
Even if we set aside the possibility that the man has slipped her a mickey (“what’s in this drink?” she asks and then claims to be under a “spell”), the whole song is based on an out-dated and very sexist notion that if a woman refuses a man’s sexual advances, she cannot possibly mean it. To be sure, her part in the song indicates that she may be willing to be persuaded, but that’s just the point: no really means yes. The sexism might be excused by the period in which the song was written, but the song is not quite old enough to seem like a period piece, and the never-ending parade of modern versions (see above and add James Taylor, Jessica Simpson, Vanessa Williams…) only increases the feeling that this is a modern song.
Of course, songs are just songs, and people can listen to what they want. I just wish these date rape carols weren’t so catchy.
SFU’s new president flying under the radar
Andrew Petter’s role is not to innovate but to simply manage
I just finished up my work for the Christmas holidays by interviewing Stephen Toope, UBC’s President, for a good hour or so. He conducts an annual interview with the student media each year, and it’s always a valuable opportunity to examine the mindset of a man leading of one of Canada’s largest universities.
Right now, UBC is moving forward on a number of “big picture” items: governance of lands, a new strategic plan, sustainability partnerships with Vancouver , and Toope is going about it confidently. But that’s to be expected. He’s been President for nearly five years, and having been reappointed to another five-year term in the summer time, is intent on seeing his vision for the university come to fruition.
The conversation made me think of Metro Vancouver’s other university—Simon Fraser University—and its new President, Andrew Petter, a former provincial NDP cabinet minister. Despite 35,000 students and a good reputation for a institution only 45 years old, SFU plays York to UBC’s U of T—not so much second fiddle as not part of the national conversation. Petter’s arrival at SFU merited a small story from the Vancouver Sun, but otherwise, his first few months have merited little attention.
Will this change? The university is well suited for growth in the next few years: With a recent move to the NCAA, and the development of satellite campuses throughout the lower mainland, SFU is in a strong position, so Petter’s job in the coming years may be more of a managerial one than anything else.
I asked Sam Reynolds, an SFU journalist, about what effect, if any, Petter’s first semester as President has had on the Burnaby campus, and here’s what he had to say:
Petter steps into the shadow of former SFU President Michael Stevenson. Under Stevenson, SFU continued to move away from relative isolation on Burnaby Mountain to being a vibrant part of the Metro Vancouver community with the extensive expansion of the University through openings of three new campuses. Stevenson inherited a University plagued with problems after a tumultuous decade, from academic program cutbacks and budget shortfalls to a long running sexual harassment case involving a swimming coach and a Science undergrad turned Fox News contributor.
Overall the student body of SFU as a whole has been rather blasé about the change in guard.
The only real challenge Petter has faced in his inaugural term is that of a negative response by student activists to a donation to SFU’s Woodward’s campus by Vancouver based gold producer, Goldcorp. These activists claim that Goldcorp has a rather sordid history of human rights abuses through their mining operations in the Global South and this donation is merely an attempt to distract the public and repair their image. Despite this manufactured activism, the student body as a whole is rather indifferent and nonchalant about the subject.
Petter has inherited a University that substantially redeveloped itself during the last decade. Petter’s role will not be to innovate, but to manage. SFU will face considerable, though not serious, financial pressure during the next decade and if Petter brings the University through this turbulent time unscathed he can call his term a success.
Second-class students
Munk School of Global Affairs sends students to the side doors
Move to the back of the bus. Give your vote to your husband. Let them eat cake. Now, use the side door only, please.
History is littered with examples of the powerful using their wealth and influence to push the little guy to his knees. Now the University of Toronto is falling in line. U of T is accepting tens of millions of dollars in private donations to create the Munk School of Global Affairs. But in so doing, they are letting Canada’s elite decide how the university’s lowly everyday students will be treated.
Tucked away on the on the bottom half of page 14 of the agreement between the U of T and the Munk Charitable Foundation, sits this paragraph:
“The main entrance of the Heritage Mansion will be a formal entrance reserved only for senior staff and visitors to the School and the CIC. Usual and customary traffic for any occupants of any future developments adjoining the Heritage Mansion will be through one or more entrances on Devonshire Place.”
The agreement also notes that the building will be the headquarters for the new school and at least 75 per cent of the building is to be reserved for that purpose.
This paragraph of the agreement makes the Munk Foundation seem more interested in the appearance of austerity, than the delivery of a high quality academic program. But that could be too generous. They could be more interested in the significant tax breaks their donation offers one of Canada’s wealthiest couple.
Either way, by reserving the gilded front entrance of their new school for senior staff and guests to be impressed, the school is sending a very clear message to students: This is now a class-based system, and students are at the bottom of the pile.
Alone, the move could seem innocuous. But so did asking a segment of society to move to the back of the bus. The University of Toronto needs to make sure that, in accepting the donation from the Munk Foundation, they are not also allowing donors to dictate how students should be treated.
McGill MBA students penalized by province for tuition hike
Less financial aid for students in privately funded programs
McGill MBA students are being penalized by the province for the university’s decision to hike tuition from $1,700 to $29,500. Pat Tenneriello, president of the MBA students’ association, told the Globe and Mail that before the hike he was promised around $9,000 a year in financial aid, more than two thirds of which would have been an outright grant that did not have to be repaid. After the tuition increase, that number was clawed back to $7,600 because McGill’s MBA program is now privately funded, meaning its students are not eligible for the same level of support as students in public programs. When the tuition increase was first announced, Quebec education minister Michelle Courchesne threatened to reduce McGill’s operating grant by $28,000 for every student enroled in the MBA program, but Line Beauchamp who replaced Courchesne in the summer has yet to follow up.
Australia refused entry for Saddam scientist
American government wanted WMD biologist to work at Victoria University, Wikileaks
The Australian government resisted pressure from the United States to relocate Ali al-Za’ag, a professor of microbiology and former Iraqi biological weapons expert under Saddam Hussein. The U.S. government wanted Za’ag to take a position at Victoria University in Melbourne as part of a program to find employment for Iraqi scientists to prevent them from offering their expertise to countries like Syria, Iran or North Korea. According to 2008 diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks to Australian newspaper, The Age, the government refused Za’ag’s entry because of a ”range of compelling security, immigration and legal reasons.” Za’ag applied independently for entrance into the country as a “visiting academic” a year later, but it is not known whether that application was successful.
Is higher education a scam?
Forget ‘investment,’ a better way to describe a degree might be ‘gamble’
Is higher education a scam? If the goal is for graduates to become gainfully employed and contribute to economic productivity, then it just might be. Writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Innovations” blog, Ohio University economist, Richard Vedder, mines through American employment data for college graduates available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), for a post titled “The Great College Degree Scam.”
What he found was that “approximately 60 percent of the increase in the number of college graduates from 1992 to 2008 worked in jobs that the BLS considers relatively low skilled—occupations where many participants have only high school diplomas and often even less.”
To put it another way, between 1992 and 2008, there were roughly 20 million employed graduates added to the American workforce, but only 8 million of that increase were employed in college level jobs, while 12 million, or 60 per cent of the increase, were working in low skilled occupations.
So, while in 2008, 65 per cent of total, or 49.35 million, employed graduates were working in college level jobs, Vedder’s analysis demonstrates that the chances of landing such a job with a college education has been steadily declining over time. In 1992, roughly 82 per cent of the 28.9 million employed college graduates were working in college level jobs.
To illustrate what is considered a low skilled job, Vedder uses waiters and cashiers as examples.
In 1992 119,000 waiters and waitresses were college degree holders. By 2008, this number had more than doubled to 318,000. While the total number of waiters and waitresses grew by about 1 million during this period, 20% of all new jobs in this occupation were filled by college graduates. Take cashiers as well. While 132,000 cashiers possessed college degrees in 1992, by 2008, 365,000 cashiers were college graduates. As with waiters and waitresses, 20% of new cashiers since 1992 are college graduates.
Of course, people can pursue an education for reasons other than employment or economic gain, but that is not how education is marketed either in the United States or in Canada, and creeping credentialism has long been flagged as a problem on both sides of the border.
The obvious beneficiaries of ever increasing enrolment in college and universities are, of course, the institutions themselves, who gain tuition and funding for each student they admit, but also businesses who can use the holding of a degree as a signal device without having to invest resources into properly vetting job candidates. And, as Vedder notes, the trend points to growing inefficiencies in the education system. Whereas not that long ago, it took the system 12 or 13 years to prepare most people for adulthood, it now takes 17 or 18 years.
Not exactly the type of information to find its way into university recruitment pamphlets, is it? Students and parents might fairly ask: at what point is pursuing a degree no longer an “investment” but a “gamble”?
UPDATE: A more complete study based on Vedder’s research was released Thursday.
McMaster business dean resigns
Report describes ‘dysfunctional’ faculty
McMaster University’s dean of business, Paul Bates, has resigned after a presidential report revealed a nasty work climate in the faculty that has existed since before Bates took the top job in 2004. The report, authored by a President’s Advisory Committee, described a culture of “bullying, harassment, mean-spirited sarcasm, intimidation and disrespect.”
The committee was appointed in the Spring by former McMaster president, Peter George, after an investigation by the university’s office of human rights and equity services discovered a “dysfunctional work environment.” Faculty members were divided over Bates’ management style with many raising concerns that the dean, who does not have a university degree, was running the faculty like a corporation. Supporters pointed out that Bates had raised the profile of the business school and that he was was well liked by students.
However, in a non-binding 2008 poll, organized by the faculty association, more than 80 per cent of business professors voted against reappointing Bates to a second five-year term. The university reappointed Bates anyway.
While this latest report concludes that the faculty is “dysfunctional” and that there are hardened positions between critics and supporters of Bates, it also found that the bitterness goes back as much as 20 years. Bates will step into a new strategy and development role at the Ron Joyce Centre at McMaster’s Burlington campus. An interim dean will be appointed in March.
Interest-free student loan grace period comes to Ontario
Province overhauls OSAP
Beginning this year, Ontario graduates will have six interest-free months to start paying back their student loans after they complete their program, the province announced Monday.
The change is part of an overhaul of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) that also promises to reduce the number of forms applicants have to fill out, and lower how much time students spend in line ups to get their loans. When students apply for OSAP, they will also be automatically considered for Student Access Guarantee funding.
According to a government media release, additional support will be provided for increased assistance for tuition, living costs, books, supplies and equipment, as well as for students with families. Students will also be able to retain more earnings from part-time work and a new grant for part-time students was also announced. The province says $81 million in new funding has been earmarked for student assistance.
The Canadian Federation of Students released a statement applauding the introduction of an interest-free repayment period, but argued that due to rising tuition, students will continue to face growing debt. “With these changes to OSAP, students graduating this December will have six worry-free months to find a job and start their careers, but current and future students can expect to struggle with more debt as rising tuition fees and loan amounts threaten to make their post-graduate burden significantly heavier,” the statement read.
Bomb threat at York
Hundreds of students briefly evacuated
Between 400 and 500 York University students writing exams on Sunday were evacuated after a bomb threat. The students were rushed out of Curtis Lecture Halls at 11am, but police ruled the building safe and students were allowed to return at 12:20pm. It was the second time in a week that York’s exam schedule was disrupted. Last Monday, a fire that knocked out the power caused the university to cancel exams until Wednesday.
Promiscuity on campus
Promiscuity defined
When I was studying for my Evolution exam last week, I noticed something strange in the textbook: it referred to female prairie dogs as “promiscuous.” Seriously.
Apparently, by mating with multiple partners in a short period of time, they increase the chances of pregnancy. It’s an evolutionary adaptation that’s been in the making for millions of years.
The word “promiscuous” just seems like a weird way to describe the behavior. It’s just such a loaded word. Like the textbook is calling these prairie dogs skanks, or something.
-Photo courtesy of cliff1066™
The danger of laptop theft
More than just a financial loss
With so many students crammed into the library studying for final exams, I’ve been hearing lots of stories lately about students getting their laptops stolen.
On the University of Waterloo’s website, there’s a page about laptop security that advises students to “assume the worst” if their laptop has been stolen. “Your password has been compromised, your files have been compromised. Change passwords everywhere, watch your bank accounts carefully.”
I’m sure it’s not any worse at Waterloo than it is at any other school, but it’s horrifying to even imagine my laptop suddenly disappearing.
Never mind the whole financial side of things. Even if I could push a button and get a new laptop for free, at any given time during the semester, my laptop contains a lab report in progress, maybe a draft of an essay, a chemistry assignment, and lecture notes for an upcoming test. Not to mention all the non-school related stuff.
I’ve heard enough horror stories about hard drives crashing that I do keep a backup of most of my files. But if I’m working on a biochemistry assignment that’s due in three days, I rarely bother to save a backup. And I’m sure there isn’t a backup of every picture, video or document on my laptop, either.
And according to these stories I’ve been hearing, the thieves are other students.
-Photo courtesy of Pink Sherbet Photography
Banning British protests will only fan flames
Britain’s top police chief considers prohibiting student protests if violence continues
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson is considering banning student protests after a series of violent demonstrations have erupted across Britain.
British Parliament approved tuition fee increases about a week ago, meaning that tuition fees across the country could triple in the coming years. Predictably, many students weren’t happy with the move and some took to the streets to demonstrate their displeasure.
Among the gestures of disapproval were students throwing objects at police, lighting benches on fire, and urinating on a statue of Winston Churchill. According to the Independent, Stephenson says police have the power to ban students from marching adding that, “If we think it is the right thing to do then we will do it.”
He did acknowledge that the move could cause more trouble, however. “When you have got people willing to break the law in this way, what is the likelihood of them obeying an order not to march or complying with conditions on a demonstration?” he said.
That point, of course, is at the crux of why such a prohibition will ultimately fail. Undoubtedly, the statue-soiler, for example, will not suddenly decide to zip when police move to outlaw peaceful protest. Those determined to break the law will do so anyway.
It seems these students feel disenfranchised by a government deaf to their concerns, so banning protest of any kind will surely just inflame their feelings. I suspect punishing the peaceful will result in the same type of vehement backlash faced by Toronto police following the G20 summit this summer. And indeed, the situation seems quite similar; a group of violent protesters get away with wreaking havoc, and the police, in turn, overcompensate. It is the peaceful protesters who get stuck in the middle.
While I suspect a few fluorescent signs won’t move British Parliament to retract their decision, taking away that right for students will just exacerbate the feeling that they are voiceless.
Coming ‘home’ for the holidays is always a strange experience.
Young Winnipeggers seem to have different attitudes towards post-secondary education than people in Montreal
I moved to Montreal a little over five years ago and at some point, I’m not quite sure when, it became the city I call “home.”
Winnipeg will always be my “home town” but every time I return I feel a little more detached. It’s probably not a surprise considering I’ve hardly been back since I left, usually just a couple weeks around Christmas.
Winnipeg hardly changes and when anything does, it always seems to be for the worse. When I lived here I hated that, now I find it nice to have something so consistent to come back to.
Something struck me yesterday, most of the people I know in Winnipeg have very different attitudes towards university than most of the people I know in Montreal.
Now, I know this is purely subjective but it seems to me that people tend to take a little more time with their degrees in Montreal, that they feel the student experience is something to be savoured, not rushed.
Most of the Winnipegers I know either finished their degrees quickly, dropped out, or are in medicine or law.
My perceptions may be shaped by who I know in each city, most of the Winnipegers I know grew up here while most of the people I know in Montreal moved there from somewhere else.
But it really does seem to me that young people, broadly speaking, have different priorities in each city. In Montreal I hear a lot of talk about careers, in Winnipeg I hear a lot of talk about marriages.
I think it may have to do with the nature of the two cities, Montreal is a city of students. In Montreal people ask if you’re a student, in Winnipeg people ask what you do.
Even though I don’t think I’ll ever live in Winnipeg again, it’s always nice to come back. And it’s always nice to be home with your family.
Post-secondary is closing the wage gap
Are single, educated women driving this change?
New Statistics Canada data shows that the wage gap between men and women is shrinking. It’s not closed yet, but it’s shrinking is certainly cause for some celebration.
Not surprisingly, though, once you break down the data, education is at the heart of the change.
A few months ago, I wrote about the rising female enrollment in post-secondary education and how that was being mirrored in how long people are delaying marriage.
Now, Statistics Canada is also correlating that trend with rising women’s income levels in comparison to men.
In 2008, men could more than double their average annual income by attending a post-secondary institution. For women, the difference between high school and post-secondary education was more than triple annual income levels.
And as more women than ever are attending post-secondary institutions, they are choosing to achieve their life goals on their own terms. To do this, they’re demanding equal wages to their male peers.
This equalization is happening quickly. Between 2000 and 2008, the average man’s income rose seven per cent. In the same period, women’s income rose 13 per cent.
Men still out-earn women by a considerable margin. For every dollar a post-secondary educated man earns, a woman can still only hope to earn $0.68.
But so long as women’s economic gains continue to outstrip men’s on the order of 85 per cent, the difference will shrink quickly. With any luck, my children will look on the wage gap with the same incredulity as we now look upon resistance to the suffrage movement.
