Archive for January, 2011

Province says plan will make paying tuition more predictable

New Brunswick’s public universities will move to a four-year funding model, the province announced on Friday. Although the plan is still in development, Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Martine Coloumbe says the plan will allow universities to communicate a long term tuition schedule. “This commitment to develop a four-year funding model will provide public universities with a predictable funding base to plan their activities over a longer period of time,” he said. Dennis Cochrane, president of St Thomas University, says he wants to see a broader arrangement reached with the government that goes beyond funding models. “I think everyone recognizes there are so many things in the post-secondary education area that are changing,” he told CBC. Details for the plan will be released with the budget in March.

Students protest teen pregnancy talk

Bristol Palin was removed from a sexual health panel at Washing University, in St. Louis, after students protested against paying her a speaker’s fee. The university’s Student Health Advisory Committee had requested Palin participate in the panel, to be held Feb 7, to discuss abstinence and preventing teen pregnancy.

Palin, daughter of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, was pregnant at 17 and has a two-year old son. A notice from the university on Thursday announcing that Palin would be pulled from the panel, stated that both the health committee and Palin had agreed “that the message that they intended on sharing would be overshadowed by controversy.” The students’ union had approved $20,000 to fund the event, though the specifics about how much Palin would be paid have not been made public.

When learning of Palin’s participation, the campus erupted in protest. Online petitions were signed, and Washington University College Democrats organized a Facebook group in opposition to the talk, and encouraged students to protest the event. The group’s organizers stated that it is an “irresponsible use of Washington University resources” to spend funds “on a fifteen-minute-fame speaker who contributes little to the intellectual fire of the university.”

At a student senate meeting last Wednesday students considered the possibility of holding a referendum to prevent Palin’s talk from being funded. One student held a sign that read, “Can I get paid for an accident too?”

Scott Elman, president of the health committee that initially invited Palin, has defended his group’s decision, stating, “As a young mother, Bristol Palin has turned her personal experiences into a positive by promoting abstinence on college campuses.”

The departure of Concordia’s president is one of several mysterious, high-level exits at Canadian schools

Concordia University, with its history of student conflict, has rarely been an easy place to govern. Yet when Judith Woodsworth took over in 2008, the school was in a tough spot even by this standard. Its deficit had swelled to $5 million following a lengthy construction blitz on its campuses. The university remained Montreal’s ground zero for tensions over the conflict between Israel and the occupied territories, with protests, boycotts and heated rhetoric on both sides hogging more than their share of oxygen. To top it off, Claude Lajeunesse, the previous president, abruptly resigned from the university two years into a five-year contract, taking over $1 million in severance with him.

Woodsworth was to be a salve for Concordia’s ails. Unlike Lajeunesse, an engineer by training, she had an arts background, and according to several Concordia staff was as approachable and collaborative—a kind of mother hen, some suggest—as he was stern and aloof. If her past record was anything to go by, she was also results-oriented: as president of Laurentian University in Sudbury from 2002 to 2008, she opened a medical school and introduced six new doctoral programs. At her public introduction to Concordia staff and faculty in February 2008, she spoke of the need for listening and consensus building. She insisted people call her Judy.

Woodsworth barely outlasted her predecessor. Shortly before Christmas, the board of governors announced Woodsworth was resigning “for personal reasons.” Board chairman Peter Kruyt, instrumental in recruiting and hiring Woodsworth barely 2½ years earlier, announced the sad news. “Concordia has thrived under her direction, with significant progress and an enhanced reputation on the local, provincial, national, and international scenes,” Kruyt said.

Yet there was a twist: in an interview with CTV News earlier this month, Woodsworth herself said she would gladly have stayed on as president but was asked to leave, and that her departure was forced on her in the days before Christmas vacation. As with Lajeunesse before her, the board refused to discuss the circumstances of Woodsworth’s resignation, sending the university into familiar terrain, with faculty, staff, and students furious at how the board conducted itself, and clueless as to why she was gone. Kruyt declined to answer questions regarding Woodsworth. “Dr. Woodsworth resigned,” responded Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota to Maclean’s. (Woodsworth herself spoke to Maclean’s, but not about the specifics of her situation.)

“There’s a climate of fear within the staff at the university,” says Concordia professor Lucie Lequin, president of the faculty association. “We think that there is an occultish power at the university, and that many of the decisions are taken outside of executive meetings or within the board.” And news of Woodsworth’s resignation has travelled well beyond Concordia, with more than one well-placed observer believing her version of the story. “That the board . . . would announce and attempt to conceal the truth of this dismissal in such a clumsy and ham-fisted manner does little to inspire confidence,” wrote Torstar chair John Honderich, who knew Woodsworth from her days at Laurentian, in a letter to Kruyt earlier this month, obtained by Maclean’s. “In short, I am appalled.”

Woodsworth’s exit caps a five-year senior management purge at the university that has seen the departures of Lajeunesse and Woodsworth, and of five vice-principals—including Concordia veteran Michael Di Grappa, who also briefly served as interim president, and recently debarked for crosstown rival McGill. And if it’s any consolation to Woodsworth, she appears to be in good company when it comes to Canadian university presidents who’ve suddenly and prematurely made for the exit signs. The past five years have been marked by nearly a dozen such high-profile dismissals or resignations, reflecting what Ryerson University president Sheldon Levy calls “an acceleration of the problem” of rapid turnover in senior management at Canadian schools. These include David Atkinson, who left Carleton university in 2006, 15 months into a six-year term; former St. Thomas University president Michael Higgins, who left in 2009 after an acrimonious labour dispute; and Don Cozzetto, who abruptly left the University of Northern British Columbia in 2008 because “he was tired of being a scapegoat,” as one sympathetic board member told the Vancouver Sun.

Many of the presidents are victim, say colleagues at other universities, of more business-oriented boards and government-imposed fiscal restraints. Ryerson’s Levy says he doesn’t know the particulars of Woodsworth’s case, but that exits like hers are often a result of the increased acrimony between business and the academic side brought on by a demand on universities to do more with less. “It’s easier to fire the coach,” he says.

He sees it partly as a question of divided loyalties. “The board might have certain business objectives it wishes the president would realize,” he says, “while the faculty, students and staff have a different set of academic objectives they want you to achieve. The tougher the fiscal situation is, the more pressure on presidents to balance expectations and do both the left and the right at the same time.”

The business community is certainly well represented on Concordia’s board of governors. Kruyt himself is president and CEO of Victoria Square Ventures, an investment firm owned by Montreal-based Power Corporation. His colleagues on the executive, nominating and senior salaries standing committees at Concordia include Montreal real estate mogul Jonathan Wener, BCE Emergis e-commerce founder Brian Edwards and Aéroports de Montréal president and CEO James Cherry. “Whoever controls those committees controls the university,” says Enn Raudsepp, professor emeritus of journalism at Concordia.

Yet, as Woodsworth herself points out, a business-minded board isn’t a problem in itself. “Having people from business on university boards, or the boards of other not-for-profit organizations, can be a good thing,” she told Maclean’s. “I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we still have a bottom line, and we have to balance the budget. You need people looking over your shoulder telling you that. They bring those qualities, but it is also important for them to be aware of the realities in a university and to try to understand the academic culture.”

Whatever her relationship with the board, Woodsworth did have her critics among students. Student union president Heather Lucas signed a letter of non-confidence in her leadership last fall, in part due to her support of tuition hikes. Nevertheless, the CSU issued a statement condemning “the abrupt dismissal of Concordia’s second president in three years,” which has caused “a serious crisis of confidence at our university.” In the long run, such acrimonious departures will mean universities will have difficulty recruiting top talent to fill the job without bulletproof contracts and huge pay increases, says William Barker, president of the University of King’s College. “Do people really want to go to a place that has had so much turnover?” he asked. “The universities themselves might not know what they want in a president, so you’re caught in a crossfire that you weren’t even aware of.”

Student union elections sweep universities across Canada

Walking through the halls at your university will become immeasurably more difficult in the coming weeks. What was once a five-minute stroll between classes will now be furiously drawn out as you attempt to dodge the hands of literature-waving student union hopefuls and their well-wishing accomplices. What was once a library is now debate headquarters. What was once a student lounge is now an easy target for just “a few minutes of your time.” And what was once your Twitter stream is now a forum of political squabble.  Yes, it’s OK to cry.

Most of the student body ignores these elections, which explains the consistently low voter turnout. But some, perhaps the inherently masochistic, actually pay attention and try play an active role in deciding their student government. Kudos to you, brave souls; may you never tire of Robert’s Rules. For the rest, who can’t bear to sit through an assembly where participants collectively and repeatedly renounce their united privilege, I have a few cheats to help you make an active decision while still maintaining some form of sanity.

Beware the Brash

The promises of “three-day weekends” and “no homework over holidays” don’t end in high school. But in university, these promises sound more like “seven weeks of Frosh,” “total elimination of meanness on campus” and “down with all fees.” It didn’t happen then, and it won’t happen now.

Rah! Rah! Rah!

There are always candidates who believe ostentatious demonstrations and boorish sit-ins, also called “occupations,” are clever and dignified forms of protest. Unless you have a particular affinity for rhyming couplets, avoid.

Don’t be Seduced by Swag

Remember, you pay union dues. So while free waffles during exams might sound deliciously enticing, it often amounts to just bribery with your own money. That said, at least you’re getting some back.

Do a Background Check

Sure, previous experience on a student union is great! Just check to see if previous experience includes being named on a lawsuit or formal sanction from the university for unacceptable behaviour. I’ll let you do the Googling.

Evaluate Online

Beyond how well they manage their Facebook page, consider candidates’ attitudes towards posting official budgets online and making information easily accessible to the entire student body. On another note, I tend to avoid candidates whose online profile pictures include photos of themselves screaming into megaphones–it’s a personal choice.

Decision follows complaints into lack of quality control and student involvement

Ryerson University’s campus radio station, CKLN, was stripped of its license, the CRTC announced today. The decision follows an investigation into complaints over the station’s management structure and purported lack of involvement from the Ryerson community. Last summer, “the station experienced significant infighting and the volunteers, staff and management were locked out of the studio premises by the building manager,” a CRTC press release stated. During the lockout that lasted seven months, CKLN “broadcast an intermittent loop of programming without any ongoing community involvement.” When the station resumed operations, there were concerns over “quality-control” and “little involvement from the Ryerson University student body despite its status as a campus radio station.”

Under no circumstances are grades changed ‘arbitrarily,’ says dean of science

University of Alberta dean of science Gregory Taylor recently issued a response to Gateway editor Jonn Kmech’s editorial on the grading dispute between the university and math professor Mikhail Kovalyov.

It should be recalled that Kovalyov was asked to resign after informing his students that their grades were lowered by administrators without his support. The changes made by administrators in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences resulted in the class average for the professor’s first year course to drop from 2.16 to 1.79, while the university’s grading policy suggests an average of 2.62 for courses at the same level.

In his editorial, Kmech argued that, “While it’s currently the department’s prerogative to approve the final grades, if they can lower the marks by bulk like this, there doesn’t seem much point to professors handing out grades at all.”

Science dean Taylor responds that Kmech’s editorial suggests that administrators change instructor’s grades at random to fit a grading curve, which Taylor argues, “is simply not the case.”

“There is no policy that requires a quota of As, Bs, Cs, and so on in a course or across sections of a course,” Taylor states.

However, as noted in our original story,  the explanation given by faculty services officer David McNeilly for altering the grades, was that Kovalyov awarded too many B grades and “failed to include any grades of C-, D+, or D,” which clearly suggests a grading curve.

The university’s grading policy posted on its website also outlines suggested distributions of grades for undergraduate courses. Although professors are not expected to follow the distribution “exactly,” guidelines suggest that in a first year class, six per cent of students will fail, nine per cent will receive a B and four per cent will be awarded an A+.

Judging by evidence presented in the Kovalyov case and the university’s grading policy itself, Taylor’s argument that a grading curve does not exist at the U of A is not a very strong one.

An enterprise that has the silliness baked right in

I’m vexed when it comes to the subject of Mary-Lu Zahalan-Kennedy’s world-first “graduate degree in the Beatles”, which has made the Canadian singer and future Sheridan College instructor an ephemeral worldwide celebrity. The sneerers are out in force on the net, which was predictable, if weirdly anachronistic in the year 2011. Apparently the souls of those who got huffy about “more popular than Jesus” and the Boer War pensioners who couldn’t tell if the Beatles were male or female have somehow transmigrated into the bodies of present-day philistines.

Put simply, the Beatles are one of the pivotal cultural phenomena of the 20th century, and if they are beneath the notice of the liberal arts, then anything is. Any argument against graduate-level study of the Beatles—whose compositions Deryck Cooke, one of the greatest of musicologists, thought worthy of his attention—would extend readily to cover any popular idiom, throwing its penumbra naturally over operetta and ballet and zarzuela and the blues. Before you could say “Bach’s your uncle,” there would be nothing left of musicology at all beyond the deconstruction of fugues.

Moreover, the actual stuff of Zahalan-Kennedy’s thesis, unmentioned in most reports, sounds fascinating. Who knew that the Beatles hit big here in Canada as early as 1962? That’s a story worth re-telling after half a century. Maybe even in Maclean’s magazine!

But on the other hand…there is a heavy thumbprint of marketing on this piece of news, and it’s tough to watch Ms. Zahalan-Kennedy defending the seriousness of an enterprise that has the silliness baked right in. It’s tough, in part, because one senses that she will have to do it for the rest of her life. But there’s also the issue that her degree from Liverpool Hope University is hardly groundbreaking in any real respect; surely it’s just a bog-standard cultural-studies/history credential from an otherwise undistinguished (albeit conveniently situated) institution? The academy doesn’t really give out degrees “in” the Beatles, any more than it gives them out “in” Christopher Marlowe or Greek koiné or leptons, or for that matter the Dave Clark Five. It’s the process and the standards, not the particular subject matter, that are supposed to be the point.

As an assignment editor could probably figure out if he sat down and thought about it for a moment, there are probably dozens if not hundreds of people who have already received advanced degrees on the basis of Beatle-related thesis content. As Hunter Davies noted in his authorized biography-cum-handbook The Beatles:

In the early 1980s, I was asked to be an outside examiner for a student at London University who was doing a Ph.D. on the Beatles. I thought it was a leg-pull at first. I’d heard that some minor American universities had introduced such studies, but not any British ones, certainly not one as distinguished and rigorous as London University. I can still remember her name, Melody Ziff. She was, in fact, American, but London University had accepted her to study for a Ph.D. Her thesis, as I remember, was called “The Beatles’ lyrics as poetry”.

Today, there are universities, colleges, and schools all over the globe, eminent and otherwise, offering courses that include a study of the Beatles…

The philistines will question the “cash value” of close study of the Beatles, and while that is beside the point, it still seems remarkable given the unquestionably enormous number of people, from the time of the Monkees to that of Oasis, who have made millionaires of themselves by raiding the Beatles’ bag of tricks. There have to be at least as many of those as there are rich economists or physicists.

This post originally appeared on Colby Cosh’s blog.

Many non-white students say they have been discriminated against on campus according to a new survey

Most McGill students are concerned about how well the university is preparing them for future employment, according to a new study.

The survey, commissioned by the student’s society, found that 33 per cent of fourth year students felt “well prepared,” while nine per cent felt “very well prepared” for the workforce.

The survey also found that 36 per cent of non-white students feel “or have been made to feel, uncomfortable on campus due to [their] race or ethnicity.”

The academic advising also scored low marks with only eight per cent of students in their final year reporting that they were satisfied with the program advising they received.

The one area where the school scored well was on its library, with 68 per cent of students saying that “the library is comfortable and inviting.”

The student’s society plans to bring the survey’s results to faculty councils and the university’s senate.

1,193 students, or five per cent of undergraduates, participated in the survey.

At least 45 schools offering degrees without government consent

The British Columbia government has published a list of 45 post-secondary institutions that have not been authorized to grant degrees, but nonetheless operate within the province. In a statement to the Vancouver Sun, the Regional Economic and Skills Development Ministry notes that B.C. is “the first jurisdiction in Canada” to compile such a list. The list is intended to aid students in making the right choices when pursuing an education. “With the internet, anonymity and multi-jurisdictional issues, unauthorized institutions are often able to operate under the radar. It takes significant resources to take action against them,” the statement read.

Time off in November to help students relieve stress

Ryerson University is the latest to approve an additional reading week to take place in the fall. On Wednesday, Ryerson’s senate voted to shorten the fall semester from 13 weeks to 12 beginning in 2012.

At the University of Alberta, the students’ union will be polling students in an upcoming referendum to gauge support for starting the semester a week earlier, to compensate for the break. The purpose of the break is to give students the opportunity to relieve stress. “Our student counselling services had last year the highest usage numbers in November so in recognizing that February winter reading weeks are established to deal with the mental health there, November seemed like another time to take a look at,” says Nick Dehod, University of Alberta’s student president.

Several universities have implemented fall breaks in recent years, including the University of Ottawa, Trent University and the University of Toronto. Wilfrid Laurier University is examining the idea and the University of Calgary has had a fall break for years.