Archive for March, 2011
More women professors at MIT
Science and engineering faculties have become more welcoming
The number of women in science and engineering faculty positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been on the rise. An internal report, released earlier this week, found that there are 112 women in science and engineering, or 17 per cent of all faculty. That is up from 46, or seven per cent of all professors, during the mid 1990s. A pair of reports released in 1998 and 2002 revealed that women felt marginalized at the university, suggesting that MIT has greatly improved supports for female professors in the decade since. “I chaired the study 10 years ago for engineering, and if you had asked me then how much better I thought it could get for women faculty, I never would have thought that we would get this far in 10 years,” engineering professor, Lorna Gibson said.
Carleton still doesn’t recognize student run hotline
Volunteers offer support to sexual assault victims
A student sexual assault crisis centre at Carleton University celebrated its one year anniversary Tuesday evening, but the group still has yet to be officially recognized. According to a report in the Ottawa Citizen, the university does not permit the Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre to advertise its services and that campus security removes their posters. The group is made up of 25 volunteers who take shifts fielding calls from 8am to midnight, using their own cellphones. While the students’ union supports the group, university spokesperson Beth Gorham says “Carleton already offers a range of counselling and medical support.” Calls for the creation of a crisis centre followed a sexual assault that took place on campus in 2007, and students supported the idea in a 2008 referendum.
Thanks for the cash
Education sector reacts to federal budget
It might all be irrelevant at this point, given that the federal opposition may take down the government, but reaction from the education sector to Tuesday’s budget has been mostly positive. The budget included a boost to the operating budgets of Canada’s three federal research granting agencies, money for the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, another 10 Canada Excellence Research Chairs, and Genome Canada.
For students, tweaks to Canada Student Loans and Grants will see more money flow to part-time students, and allow full-time students to earn a higher income without incurring a penalty to their loans. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget also included $10 million to develop an international education strategy, and debt relief for doctors and nurses who promise to practice in rural areas.
Among those cheering the Tories was the Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada, whose president, Paul Davison said: “This budget represents tremendous progress for the university sector: more funding for the research councils, promotion of international educational marketing, additional support for students, and a range of measures to foster innovation and research.”
Similarly, Sheldon Levy, chair of the Council of Ontario Universities, released a statement that read: “These investments will generate positive results, both short and long-term, for our universities and for our province and most importantly for our students.”
The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations issued a response that was somewhat more tepid in its support of the budget. “The plan the Conservatives tabled will take some strain off the pocketbooks of working students, but there is still a long way to go if we are to truly create an accessible post-secondary education system,” National Zach Dayler said. CASA wanted to see more money put into student loans, relief for the cost of textbooks and measures to help aboriginal students access education.
More critical was the Canadian Federation of Students. In a statement titled “Federal budget fails to deliver affordable education for Canadians,” the CFS criticized inadequate funding for education transfers to the provinces that remain “approximately $800 million short of 1992 levels when accounting for inflation and population growth.” National Chairperson David Molenhuis called the lack of a “national strategy” for higher education, a “recipe for disaster.”
James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers bemoaned the government’s emphasis on targeted research initiatives when combined with only a “small increase” to the federal granting councils. “Research priorities are best set by the scientific community, not by politicians,” he said.
UBC medical prof wins prestigious Gairdner award
Researcher excels in research into Huntington’s disease
University of British Columbia medical professor Michael Hayden has won the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award, a prestigious annual prize awarded to a Canadian who excels in health research. The Canada Research Chair in human genetics and molecular medicine won for his work on preventing the development of Huntington’s disease. Other Gairdner winners included health researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Hebrew University in Jerusalem who each won a Canada Gairdner International Award. A professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore won the Canada Gairdner Global Health Award. Hayden is one of the most cited researchers in the world in Huntington’s research.
New brunswick ends tuition freeze
Students to pay $200 more for university and college
Tuition fees for New Brunswick university students will rise for the first time in three years, Finance Minister Blaine Higgs, announced in his Tuesday budget. Reversing a policy implemented by the previous Liberal government, students will see annual increases of $200 for university college. “Tuition fees have not increased over the past three years at universities and the past five years at colleges,” the minister said. Higgs also announced that parental income will be reintroduced as a consideration into the province’s student loans program, saving the government $1.6 million a year.
Trial for former U of S prof charged with hate speech
Court date not yet set for Terrence Tremaine
On Mar. 11, Regina Provincial Court Judge Bruce Henning decided that the crown had provided enough evidence at a preliminary hearing to proceed to a trial. A court date has not yet been set.
In the past Tremaine has declared himself to be the leader of the National-Socialist Party of Canada, an unregistered political party which is dedicated to white sovereignty. Tremaine was fired from the U of S in 2005 after the school was informed of comments he’d posted on a white supremacist site.
Budget sees modest support for students
Flaherty announces new support for research, and tweaks to student loans and grants
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced $155 million in new spending for research and innovation for the coming year, as part of his budget that was released this afternoon. As with previous years, funding will be concentrated in the physical, engineering and technological sciences, with little new money for social science research.
As for students, little in the way of new funding has been announced, but tweaks to Canada Student Loans and Grants programs will see more money flowing to part-time students.
The budget includes $37 million in additional funding for Canada’s three research councils, plus $10 million to cover operating costs. However, extra funding for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council (NSERC) was listed separately, including $35 million, over five years, to support climate and atmospheric research, as well as the creation of an additional 30 Industrial Research Chairs.
The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, in Waterloo, is to receive $50 million over five years, beginning in 2012-13, while funding will be provided to the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute in order to build a cyclotron to produce medical isotopes.
The Canada Excellence Research Chairs program will see 10 chairs added to its current roster of 19, and an extra $65 million will be allocated to Genome Canada.
“In supporting research and development our goal is to promote innovation—and ultimately to create good, new jobs for Canadians,” Flaherty said in his speech to the House of Commons.
The government will also be spending $60 million over three years to “promote increased student enrolment in key disciplines related to the digital economy,” such as in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs.
The budget also included measures to entice doctors and nurses to practice in rural programs, a proposal that was released on Monday as part of the government’s unsuccessful attempts to sway the NDP to support the budget.
The government will forgive up to $40,000 of the federal portion of student loans for doctors and $20,000 for nurses who choose to work in underserved areas.
“The number of doctors and nurses in Canada has increased in recent years, but Canadians in some regions of the country continue to experience a shortage,” Flaherty said.
A change to income thresholds will see more part-time students eligible for student grants.
Tweaks to the loan system will allow part-time students to retain eligibility as their family income rises, while full-time students will be permitted to earn $100, up from $50, a week while in school without incurring a penalty to their loans.
Other measures targeted at students include, allowing professional and trade workers to claim certification exams under tuition tax credits, and $10 million in “tax relief” and Registered Education Savings Plan “assistance” aimed at increasing the number of Canadian students who study abroad.
“Our goal is to help Canadian workers reach the next stage of their careers and to seize new opportunities in the years to come,” Flaherty said.
Student drops out after backlash to racist video
Claims the rant was an ‘attempt to produce a humorous YouTube video’
Alexandra Wallace, the third-year political science student from UCLA who posted a video on YouTube in which she complained about Asian students speaking on their cell phones in the library, recently announced that she would no longer attend the university. The announcement was part of an apology letter released to the Daily Bruin on Friday.
“In an attempt to produce a humorous YouTube video, I have offended the UCLA community and the entire Asian culture. I am truly sorry for the hurtful words I said and the pain it caused to anyone who watched the video,” her statement said.
Wallace says that her “mistake”- which included mocking students who were trying to reach family members the day of the disastrous tsunami and earthquake in Japan- has “lead to the harassment of my family, the publishing of my personal information, death threats, and being ostracized from an entire community,” prompting her to no longer attend classes at UCLA. Earlier on the same day, UCLA announced that it will not discipline Wallace for the video.
At one point in the YouTube video, Wallace speaks in a fake Asian language, saying “Ching, chong, ling long, ting tong.”
Fortunately, someone has recently attempted to explain what “ching chong, ling long, ting tong” actually means in a new YouTube video.
Poll: Canadians’ view of science influenced by education
Least educated are most likely to shun expertise
A new Ekos Research poll shows that even though the Conservatives have a hold on traditionalist voters who value morality and decency over science, they need to reach out to voters who value scientific knowledge and expert civil service advice if they want to get the 15 percentage points needed to form a majority government. The poll shows that anti-expertise and skepticism of science rise with socioeconomic vulnerability and age. For example, new Canadians are less committed to knowledge and expertise in government decision-making than the native born. Also, those who responded with less marketable experience and skills were more opposed to scientific knowledge and other forms of expertise, with the biggest tension being between the college-educated and wealthier university-educated elites. The poll suggested that showing a bit of respect for science and expertise may help win university-educated voters, since most Canadians lean toward the view that knowledge, expertise and evidence are crucial to societal decision making, and that science and expertise are undervalued in the country.
Women’s hockey could be saved at Saint Mary’s
After protest, university puts decision to cut team ‘on pause’
A decision to cut women’s hockey at Saint Mary’s university is being put “on pause,” athletics director Steve Sarty said Monday. Sarty was addressing a crowd of more than 300 that had been rallying in support of the team. The university also says that it has been bombarded with emails and phone calls criticizing the initial decision to discontinue the program, including from Olympic gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser. Sarty said that if the women’s hockey program continues, it will need support from the community. “Be here when we have our games on,” he told the crowd. Head coach Lisa Jordan told the Chronicle Herald that she is “optimistic” about keeping the team but noted that a financial solution is badly needed, and that coaches will be looking to make cuts to the program. The team placed first in the 2010 Atlantic University Sport championship, and fourth in national competition.
Photo: By RicLaf
McGuinty criticized over gay-straight alliance bans
Opposition says the government allows too much interpretation
When asked about the government’s position on Catholic school boards banning gay-straight alliances, premier Dalton McGuinty appeared to suggest the practice runs against provincial rules. “We are making it perfectly clear to all our school boards, all our schools, all our principals, all our teachers and all our students that it is unacceptable in Ontario to discriminate based on race, gender, religion or sexual orientation,” he said in Question Period on Monday. However, McGuinty also said that “boards can find different ways to ensure that they adhere to those policies.”
Critics are charging that the premier is ignoring the question, and implying that his government’s equity policy allows for some ambiguity.
The debate is in reference to Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board’s policy against forming GSAs. When student Leanne Iskander asked the principal of St. Joseph’s Catholic Secondary School to form an alliance, she says her request was refused. Iskander was critical of the premier’s response, the Globe and Mail reported. “It is time for him and the government to actually do something about it,” she said. The NDP’s Rosario Marchese was also critical of the government, stating that “There is absolutely no ambiguity” in provincial policy.
A 2009 memorandum sent from the education department to school boards reads: “boards must also help school staff to give support to students who wish to participate in gay-straight alliances and in other student-led activities that promote understanding and development of healthy relationships.”
Aboriginal students see substantial increase in cliches
MOU is DOA.
Recently, there was something of a buzz here in Atlantic Canada over a new memorandum of agreement among universities and First Nations. Media reports called the MOU “historic” and implied that it would begin a new era that would see a swell of participation in higher education among Aboriginal Canadians in the Atlantic region.
If the reports could be believed, the news would be very good indeed. It is no secret after all, that while many aboriginals have excelled at the highest levels of education, as a group, Aboriginal Canadians are less likely than Canadians in general to attend university and to earn university degrees. According to this AUCC report, only 8 per cent of aboriginals complete university, and this Statscan report shows how aboriginal women have educational attainment rates well below non-aboriginal women. And since university education has the real benefits of broader knowledge and sharper skills, as well as other vaguely imagined values that might also sway an employer or lending agency, higher education can be one way to ameliorate the poverty that disproportionately affects many aboriginals.
But look more closely at the news reports and you realize that amid all the smokey, shop-worn rhetoric, there is no mention of actual programs or policies. Indeed, nowhere could I find any indication of any concrete programs designed to tackle the problems of aboriginal higher education. Instead, the news churns out a series of cliches that are as soporific as watching someone yawn. For instance:
The deal is “is designed to open the door to higher education.” (Chronicle Herald)
The deal represents a “new start” for Aboriginals (Daily Gleaner)
It’s a “unique partnership” that is “innovative.” (CCLA)
The deal “will contribute to fundamentally changing our communities for the future.” (CBC)
All of this is fine. I’m not in against opening doors or starting anew, but real changes require real solutions. Real change means specific policies and targets. It means hiring people with specific job descriptions and offices and resources. What is actually going to be done? Is there to be more money to fund bursaries and scholarships for aboriginal students? Will there be extra tutoring programs to help students stay in high school and better prepare for university in the first place? Will there be additional academic advisors hired at universities to help students cope with cultural differences and the expectations of university life? Or are there other programs based on needs that haven’t occurred to me?
In the hopes that the problem was with the media reports and not the agreement itself, I started looking around for a copy of the actual MOU. When I first encountered it, on the APCFNC web site, I literally did not recognize it based on the descriptions I had read. Where every media account that I have read suggests that this is an education inititaive (variations on the phrase “opens doors to education” are in almost every article), the actual MOU makes scant reference to education. In fact, the full title of the document is “Memorandum of Understanding with the Atlantic Region Universities Covering collaboration in Research.” That’s right, it’s an agreement whereby universities promise to do more research on economic issues relating to Aboriginal Canadians.
Still, the universities have committed to doing more work in this area, so that’s good right?
It would be if the MOU actually committed universities to anything. But it doesn’t. The language of the agreement includes so much vague and conditional language that the agreement really doesn’t bind any university to anything. Consider, this key passage, for instance:
This MOU does not require any of the Universities to fund research projects and related initiatives, but the Universities are expected, subject to financial and operation constraints, to assist with the implantation of the AAEDIRP where possible.
In other words, if, in three years, the university signatories have done nothing, they can, in all honesty, say they have not broken the understanding, because it did not require them to do anything in the first place. And any frustrated expectations can be explained away as being impossible because of ”operation constraints” which could be any reason at all.
Still, the MOU would be a nice gesture towards a worthy goal, except for the fact that it is being presented as a great step forward in getting more aboriginals into universities. The MOU specifies four objectives, and all are related directly to research on economic development. There is nothing there about getting more undergraduate aboriginal students into Atlantic universities. In fact, the only mention of students in the MOU is in the context of students working on research projects, and even then, every reference but one is specifically to graduate students. Again, I have nothing against getting more aboriginal grad students involved in research, but since grad students, by definition, have already graduated from at least one program, research help for grad students won’t help improve aboriginal participation in the system overall.
Universities should work with First Nations in the areas of research and higher education. What they should not do, however, is create vague agreements that commit themselves to nothing and then pretend that they are going to make a big difference. It gives the false impression that something is actually being done about one of our most pressing national issues.
Doctors, nurses to get student loan breaks
Tories meeting at least 2 NDP budget demands
Ottawa has lifted the veil on two measures that will be included in Tuesday’s federal budget a day early, both of which were on the NDP’s list of demands. Along with reviving the EcoEnergy retrofit program, the budget will also include money to entice doctors and nurses to work in remote areas. Under the terms of the new federal program, doctors will be eligible for up to $40,000 in student loan forgiveness if they relocate to rural or remote areas, while nurses can receive up to $20,000 if they do the same. According to a Globe and Mail report, the budget will also include a Children’s Arts Tax Credit, a program to help Canadian Forces members find jobs in the construction industry, $50-million for the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo and $4-million for the Thunder Bay Regional Research Institute. It’s still not clear, however, whether the measures will be enough to convince the NDP to support the government and avert an election.
CFS wins URegina referendum
Outcome released more than 3 months after vote
More than three months after University of Regina students voted in a referendum on whether to remain members of the Canadian Federation of Students, the results have been finally released. By a vote of 1,414 to 1,326, U of R students voted to reject a proposal to deferedate from the CFS and will remain members.
The source of the delay was over whether votes from First Nations University of Canada students should be counted. FNUC is a federated college at the U of R and students pay union dues both to URSU and the FNUC students’ union, while both organizations hold separate CFS memberships.
URSU had claimed that an agreement had been made that FNUC ballots would only be counted in the event that the results were close enough that those ballots would settle the outcome. The two sides, which met in court at one point, settled the issue by Dec 17 and agreed to include FNUC ballots after all.
However, URSU retained reservations about releasing the results, the Canadian University Press reports, but on March 11, the CFS made the outcome of the vote public, without the students’ union consent.
UAlberta posts deficit of $4.9 million
For the second year in a row, the university is in the red
For the second year in a row, the University of Alberta board of governors has approved a deficit budget. For 2011-12, the university will be $4.9 million in the red, but that figure is down significantly from last year’s $14.8 million deficit, the Edmonton Journal reported. Provost Carl Amrhein, says the U of A was able to improve its finances because of a combination of staff layoffs, furlough days for faculty, government approved tuition increases, and provincial funding for operating and utility costs for new buildings. When asked if there would be layoffs this year, Amrhein said it was a possibility, but could not say for sure. “There are too many sources of change in big faculty budgets to be able to predict at this point,” he said.
Mounties kept file on Ignatieff during student days
Liberal leader organized conferences and teach-ins when at the U of T
The RCMP kept a file on Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff when he was a student at the University of Toronto. According to a memo obtained by the Canadian Press through a freedom of information request, the Mounties monitored Ignatieff as he organized a conference on religion and international affairs in 1967. In an interview, Ignatieff was cautious not to criticize the RCMP but said there was nothing subversive about his activities. “They may have had some idea that we were all subversive radicals, but we were anything but,” the Liberal leader said. Parts of the memo, which include a news clipping from student paper the Varsity, remain redacted.
Ontarians worried about education quality
New survey says education should be ‘high priority’ for the province
Ontarians are concerned about the quality of education in the province, according to a survey released today. While close to half of the 1,800 adults polled agreed that education quality had not changed since premier Dalton McGuinty took office, nearly a third said that quality is worse than under the previous Tory government. Additionally, 74 per cent of Ontarians said they believe education should be a “high priority” for the province, and two thirds said that tuition fees are too high, including almost 90 per cent of those aged 18-24. The survey was conducted in January and was jointly commissioned by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, and the Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students.
VIU strike continues
Weekend talks breakdown, no further bargaining scheduled
Vancouver Island University faculty are still on strike after a resumption of talks on Saturday failed to produce an agreement. Both sides had initially been optimistic about returning to the table, in part because the VIU Faculty Association had modified its bargaining position to remove demands for a “no-layoffs” clause. According to a VIUFA statement issued after negotiations had stalled, the union is now requesting that if the university is contemplating layoffs, both sides should examine alternative ways to reduce costs, and if program delivery is impacted by layoffs, sufficient notice “must be given such that no student is materially affected by the cuts.” The two sides had failed to reach a compromise and no further talks are scheduled. Faculty have been on strike since March 10.
Photo: By Sherry Wota, courtesy of the Navigator
McGill MBA students support high tuition according to a new survey
Students back university, criticize lack of provincial bursary support
The majority of McGill MBA students support the program’s high tuition, according to a survey released by the MBA Student Association on Friday.
The release comes just days after the provincial government announced it would be fining McGill $2.1 million for raising MBA tuition without permission. Fees in the program rose from $3,400 to $29,500 last fall. The university has refused provincial funding for the program since the increase.
According to the student association, 70 per cent of those surveyed said that “the program is at a reasonable or below reasonable price.”
Students in the program are no longer eligible for provincial bursaries, in an interview about that issue last month, the president of the MBA Student Association, Pat Tenneriello, told me that the majority of students support the increase “because we see the investment.”
According to the student association, new professors have been hired and the program has already improved in international rankings.
The student association also used the release of the survey to criticize the lack of bursary support. “Our decision to pay the market price for our education should not affect our ability to receive funding in support of our endeavours to become future industry leaders within Quebec,” the release says.
While the Quebec government continued to thaw the tuition freeze in Thursday’s budget, tuition fees for provincially funded programs will still be assessed at a standardized per-credit rate.
Take my advice: don’t follow my example
Free trials come with a price
For the past seven months I’ve had a stalker. It’s called “McAffee VirusScan.”
I stupidly signed up for a 30 day free trial back in December. It seemed like a good idea at the time- when I was studying in the library, I couldn’t connect to my school’s network until I downloaded some sort of antivirus software, and a 30 day trial was just long enough to get me through exams. And I wouldn’t have to pay anything.
30 days later, my anti-virus software transformed into a virus. It’s waiting for me every time I turn on my laptop, popping up on my screen to remind me that “Your computer is unprotected! Without McAffee VirusScan, you’re susceptible to annoying pop up messages that cover half your computer screen and refuse to go away!”
Every time the message pops up, there are only two options for me to click on: “Renew subscription now,” and “Remind me later.”
There isn’t a choice for, “I’m not interested. Buzz off. Don’t make me get a restraining order.”
I think McAffee is misunderstanding our relationship. It was a one time thing. Now the 30 free days are up, and it’s time for me to move on.
It’s not you, McAffee. It’s me.
