Archive for July, 2011
Wanted: dead coons (and other things)
University of Calgary student’s strange research project
Photo courtesy of MikeWu on Flickr
A University of Calgary veterinary student is collecting dead raccoons and their feces, she told the Calgary Herald. And she wants the public’s help.
Dayna Goldsmith is researching what kind of parasites the animals carry. ”I’m interested in the animals that live in close proximity to people,” Goldsmith said. “They’re the ones that tend to run into problems with people.” Coons have been in Calgary for roughly thirty years, but little is known about what diseases they carry. Goldsmith’s research is a partnership with the Canadian Co-operative Wildlife Health Centre and Alberta Fish and Wildlife.
Chinese dissident artist offered university post
Must first fight $2-million tax evasion charges
The Chinese artist and dissident who disappeared for more than two months has been offered a post at a German University.
But it’s unlikely Ai Weiwei will be able to take the job at Berlin University of the Arts anytime soon. He must remain in Beijing to fight nearly $2-million worth of tax evasion charges, he told The Telegraph. Authorities allege he hasn’t paid corporate taxes since 2000.
Ai was secretly imprisoned by Chinese officials in April and then released on June 22 under strict conditions following world-wide political pressure. Many asserted that his imprisonment was the result of his criticism of the Chinese government for covering up the deaths of schoolchildren following the Sichuan earthquake of May 2008. He alleged that officials stole school funds and then built shoddy buildings. His blog listed the names of 5,000 children who died.
Majority of Canadians aged 20 to 29 live with parents
Huge social differences between Gen X, Gen Y and Boomers
Photo courtesy of h3nr0 on Flickr
Generation Y Canadians (those born between 1981 and 1990) are experiencing a very different life in their twenties from what Generation X (those born between 1969 and 1978) and the Baby Boomers (born 1957 to 1966) experienced. It’s all laid out in a new study in Canadian Social Trends that used data from Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey.
The most strking change is that a slim majority of Gen Y twenty-somethings now live with their parents (51 per cent). In 1998, fewer than a third (31 per cent) of Gen X twenty-somethings were living at home. In 1986, only 28 per cent of twenty-something boomers were with mom and dad.
Considering how many are living at home, it’s not surprising that far fewer are now married or in common law relationships. For the Boomers, 48 per cent were in a serious relationship during their twenties. It was 37 per cent for Gen X and 33 per cent for Gen Y.
Continue reading Majority of Canadians aged 20 to 29 live with parents
The grading system needs a rewrite
Professor Pettigrew proposes an entirely new system
Photo courtesy of j / f / photos on Flickr
A few years ago, a colleague told me that when he was a TA, he was told never to give a grade below 45. The reason was that students earning a very low grade would dig themselves into a hole and wouldn’t be able to pass the course. At the time, I scoffed at such a practice. After all, it’s unfair to give a student who did next to nothing a 45 when another student who just fell short the same 45. And what if the student doesn’t turn in the paper at all? A 45 for nothing?
Another way to view this problem, as Douglas Reeves has argued, is to note that the standard A, B,C, D, F grading system over-punishes missed assignments which get graded at zero. Actually, it’s worse: any serious failure is systemically unfair because the F range is, compared to other grades, huge.
Still further, the traditional scale forces professors to grade with a very narrow range. Most papers are somewhere between D- and B+, a range that uses only thirty points (50-79) out of one hundred.
The solution is to revise the percentage system to equally distribute grades over the whole range from zero to one hundred. We change to old system:
A=80-100
B=70-79
C=60-69
D=50-59
F=0-49
to a new system:
A=80-100
B=60-79
C=40-59
D=20-39
F=0-19
Now, I’m not suggesting that a failing paper that used to deserve a 40 under the old system would now pass. What I mean is that the paper that deserved a 40 under the old system would now be given a 16 in the new system. The numbers are different but represent the same thing, just as 0 Celsius is no colder than 32 Fahrenheit.
The new system means that one disastrous failure or one missed assignment in an otherwise decent performance doesn’t cause a student to fail the whole course. For instance, imagine a student, Mishrump Middleton, who has four equally-weighted assignments in his course and earns a C- on the first three but fails to turn in the last one.
Mishrump is no Rhodes Scholar, obviously, but he probably doesn’t deserve to fail the course. But, under the old system, Mishrump gets a 45 as his final grade — an F — and fails because that single zero drags him down. But under my system, Mishrump gets a 30 which, remember, is now a D and so still gets credit for the course, which, intuitively, he probably deserves. Put another way, Mishrump gets the equivalent of the old 55 instead of the old 45 because the grades are more logically distributed.
But how can I use my new system? I can’t simply give a C- student a grade of 40 and expect everyone else at my university to know that what I mean by 40 is not the same as what they mean by 40. And even if I could get my whole university to switch over to my system, it might be confusing to others if Cape Breton University’s transcripts showed a middling student with a 45 average instead of a 62. The whole country will have to make the switch.
In the meantime, I have a solution for my own classes. I will give students letter grades but calculate their grades using my new scale. Then, at the end of the course, I will translate those grades back into the standard percentages. It will be more work, but it beats giving every failing paper a 45.
Student’s hunger strike
After human rights complaint, profs don’t want to supervise him
Photo courtesy of Aaron Yeo
A graduate student at the University of Alberta is going to desperate measures in a bid to find a new graduate supervisor.
Salah Rahmani, who was asked to leave the Department of Cell Biology — which he filed a human rights complaint against earlier this year — is on a hunger strike because he says no one in his new department, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, is willing to supervise him.
“[Professors] are not co-operating. Some of them told me, ‘we don’t have space,’ or ‘we don’t have funding’,” he told The Gateway newspaper from the tent outside the university’s student union building where he has supposedly been living food-free since June 27. He alleges that fellow students got responses from professors about potentially supervising them, while he heard nothing back from those same professors.
On a blog set up to defend Rahmani, it is written that in a meeting with administrators on May 11, 2010: “Psychologist, Dr. Lorraine Breault who was their [sic] friend told that the chair can make any decision. Salah’s understanding was that this was absolutely wrong.” That meeting was set up after he accused a professor of likening him to a dog and saying he was too old to be a student. (Those are similar allegations to those he eventually made in January, 2011 human rights complaint.)
Rene Poliquin, vice-dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, said the faculty is concerned for Rahmani’s health and they are working to find a solution to his issue.
More than 20 supporters have left comments on the Help Salah Rahmani blog.
New major in Weapons of Mass Destruction
School partners with FBI to offer master’s
Photo courtesy of Marshall Astor on Flickr
The Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s newest offering is the Master of Science in Strategic Studies in Weapons of Mass Destruction. Students will cover dirty bombs, biological attacks, possible power grid disruptions and more, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
For now, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) will select all of the students from within its own trusted ranks. Eventually, law enforcement agencies will be able to enroll their own recruits for a fee. It’s unclear whether the program will ever be open to the general public.
Simon Fraser student society locks out employees
Union says $30-per-hour average wage is fair
Photo courtesy of stephenrwalli on Flickr
Labour disputes are common at Canadian universities. And when they happen, student unions often take the side of the workers. But at Simon Fraser, the dispute isn’t between the university and a labour union — it’s between the labour union and the student union itself.
The Simon Fraser Student Society locked out its unionized office workers on Monday. The sticking point is wages — $30.48 per hour on average — which the Student Society wants to lower by as much as $10 per hour, according to a union representative. The average hourly wage for all Canadians aged 25 to 54 in June was $24.71 in June, according to Statistics Canada.
Continue reading Simon Fraser student society locks out employees
College grads outraged that Nova Scotia won’t hire them
Students feel $22,000 tuition was wasted
George Dean, a graduate from Eastern College in Dartmouth, N.S. told the Chronicle Herald that he feels he has wasted two years of his life and $22,000 because he can’t apply for the type of job he planned to apply to when he signed up for the program.
The Nova Scotia Community Services Department, where he had hoped to work, recently informed students that their child and youth care credentials from the private college aren’t good enough to apply for jobs working with behaviourly-challenged children and youth.
The policy against hiring grads from private colleges has been in place since 2000, according to Janet Nearing, the province’s acting director of child welfare. But that it only applies only to 23 specialized facilities and that students may apply there after they gain some job experience, she said. There are more than 500 other childcare centres in the province where they are qualified to apply.
Police crack down on drinking at UBC beaches
Students and prof want RCMP to leave them alone
Photo courtesy of ST33VO on Flickr
Students — and at least one professor — are disappointed that the usually laissez faire campus hangout Wreck Beach is being targeted by the University of British Columbia’s RCMP officers.
“Invariably, the people who cause trouble on the beach are drunk people,” Corporal Robert Ploughman told the Ubyssey, explaining the recent crackdown. “When the weather’s good, we’re giving out ten to fifteen, twenty tickets a day,” he said, referring to $230 open alcohol fines. He says the tickets are justified because alcohol causes fights, plus falls up the steep stairs to campus.
Carellin Brooks, a UBC professor and author of the book Wreck Beach wishes the police wouldn’t ticket drinkers. “Last night I had a bottle of wine on Wreck Beach and I did not drive drunk, set fire to any cars, or have to be hospitalized,” she told the Ubyssey, pointing out that Europeans often enjoy alcohol in public places without police interference. ”Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could take the same approach at places like Wreck Beach, rather than be punitive with everyone?”
Others feel the same way. Corporal Ploughman said he sometimes gets a standing ovation when he exits the beach.
$38,000 scholarship for one Tweet
Essays are unoriginal, says student aid official
The University of Iowa is offering a $38,000 scholarship to its business school for the best tweet by a prospective student who explains why he or she will make a good MBA hire, reports USA Today. That’s right, it’s a 140-character application that pays $271 per letter.
Jodi Schafer, the University of Iowa’s director of MBA admissions and financial aid, told the newspaper that application essays were “becoming unoriginal,” She explained that, “we’re hoping that incorporating social media in the process will help bring back some of that creativity.” Students can include a link to anything they like in their tweet, including blogs, videos or Facebook accounts.
The University of Iowa isn’t the first school to eschew the 800-word entry essay in favour of the Tweet. Kentucky Fried Chicken received 2,800 applications for it’s $20,000 Twitter scholarship last year. To enter, students explained why they deserved the cash. The $20,000 winning entry was by a student who didn’t even use all 140 characters. She wrote that the scholarship “is the secret ingredient missing from my recipe for success.”
Summer job market improves
But some students fare better than others
Photo courtesy of EthanLong on Flickr
Unemployment for 17 to 19 year-old students in Canada is 2.2 per cent lower this June than it was last June, down from 16.0 per cent to 13.8 per cent, reports Statistics Canada.
But older students, those 20 to 24 years old, aren’t having a much easier time finding jobs this summer than last summer. Their unemployment rate remains unchanged from twelve months earlier at 11.0 per cent.
Still, Canadian youth face much lower unemployment than other countries. As of last month, the youth unemployment rates were 29 per cent in Italy, 32 per cent in Ireland, 24 per cent in Sweden, 20 per cent in the United Kingdom and 44 per cent in Spain.
Statistics Canada collects data specifically about students who are planning to return to post-secondary studies in the fall in its Labour Force Survey from May to August.
Toronto student earns 100 per cent average
What’s David Marrello’s secret to success?
A Toronto high school student has earned a 100 per cent average in his high school courses, reports the Toronto Star.
David Marrello says his academic success is the result of constantly asking questions and being a perfectionist. He also makes time for extracurricular activities, including watching the famous quick show Jeopardy, playing the piano and heading up The Bishop Allen School’s Reach for the Top team.
Although he had his pick of schools, he chose to enroll close to home at York University’s Schulich School of Business. He will, of course, be attending for free thanks to a four-year scholarship.
Girls should not be segregated on public school property
TDSB is breaking its own gender discrimination policy
Photo courtesy of Zainub on Flickr
The Toronto District School Board has gotten a lot of flak this week for its decision to allow weekly Islamic prayer sessions in one of its school’s cafeterias. While supporters and critics have been relentlessly debating the existential question of prayer in public schools, one group caught in the middle has garnered only a fraction of the attention. I’m referring to the female students who participate in Friday prayers at Valley Park Middle School, relegated to the back on the cafeteria and not permitted to participate when menstruating. Indeed, the TDSB itself has mostly skirted (no pun intended) the issue of gender segregation during prayers at Valley Park, absolving itself of responsibility by stating, ”We do not have the authority to tell faith groups how to pray.”
Indeed, the Board is not of such authority in most situations, but here the prayers are happening during school hours, on public school property. Based on sheer geography alone, the TDSB has an obligation to see that the values and provisions outlined in its own Human Rights Policy are upheld within its school walls. The policy states that the Board has, “a duty to maintain an environment respectful of human rights and free of discrimination,” and may not “allow or condone behaviour contrary to this policy.”
How is it that the TDSB can call for instruction on sexism and gender inequality in its Social Studies classes, yet look the other way when girls are facing active discrimination within its walls?
The TDSB’s position is clear. It allows for the differential treatment of girls within its walls by insisting that the services are a community-run initiative, solicited by Valley Park parents and run by a neighbourhood imam. Indeed, according to a statement released by Chris Spence, TDSB director of education, :The division of the sexes which occurs during the service is a part of the Islamic faith.”
But faith or not, and supposed autonomy or not, the TDSB has an obligation to its students to provide a safe space free from discrimination. And it is all clear in writing; all persons operating on TDSB premises much adhere to Human Rights Policy. It states, “This policy applies to all Toronto District School Board students, employees, trustees, and other users such as members of consultative committees, clients of the Board, parents, volunteers, permit holders, contractors, and employees of organizations not related to the Board but who nevertheless work on or are invited onto Board premises.” (Emphasis mine.)
But the problem is more significant than just an inherent contradiction in rules. Indeed, the more important issue is that when a public school—a supposed beacon of equality—suddenly tolerates discrimination within its four walls, it compromises its status as a safe space for all students. Religious accommodation in public schools should exist as a means for equity, not a medium of exclusion. And it should only be enforced insofar as the individual rights and freedoms of all students may still be upheld. The TDSB must practice what it (literally) preaches if it hopes to give any authority to its lessons on gender equality and discrimination. It cannot stand idly as its female students are sent to the back of the room, especially when that room is just down the hall.
Report misses mark
Does Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism want to curtail free speech?
Antisemitism has been a black mark on human civilization for centuries, from early Christian condemnations of Jews to modern-day conspiracy theorists, with countless acts of violence on every imaginable scale in between. And since the natural enemies of irrational ignorance are reason and knowledge, it follows that universities would be one venue where antisemitism can be confronted, understood, and ultimately defeated.
I was heartened, therefore, to see that the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat antisemitism recently released its final report, and that a long section of the report dealt with Canadian universities. But my keen interest increasingly turned to dismay as I read. The Coalition owed Canadians a much better discussion of antisemitism at universities than the authors of this report delivered.
First, there is the problem of the evidence. Reports such as these — which gather testimony from witnesses — already have a built in difficulty because the people they hear from naturally tend to be those who already have strong views on the subject. Invite people to come and talk to the Coalition Against Something, and most of those who show up are going to be people who already pretty upset about Something. Those who think they might be misconstrued as in favour of Something are less likely to appear. There is nothing wrong with activists having their say, of course, but it is incumbent on anyone trying to get a clear picture of the situation to search out other views and to corroborate, as best they can, the things that they are hearing.
In this case, of the sixty footnotes in the university section, many cite only the testimony of individuals with no corroboration, and, by my count, thirty-seven of them — the majority — cite Jewish advocacy groups and Jewish publications. Only eleven of the notes cite other articles and sources. This doesn’t make such testimony wrong, of course, nor does it make the perspectives invalid. But it seems clear that if the Coalition relies primarily on Hillel of Greater Toronto, Queen’s University Hillel, the Jeruselem Center for Public Affairs, and so on, they will probably be getting a particular slant. And if a report is to influence public and university policy, the policy makers should have every assurance that all sides were heard and heard clearly.
The second problem is the thorny issue of free expression: how do we promote tolerance without stomping on free speech? Here again, the authors fail to work out a convincing position. Indeed, while the report claims to value free expression, it simultaneously gives multiple indications that its authors would like to see free expression and academic independence curtailed. For instance, the report calls for “student spaces” that would be free of advocacy, but such a proposal raises all sorts of problems. How large would such spaces be? And how central? And how many? And what would count as advocacy? What if I advocate a particular position in a private conversation and am overheard? Do we really want to start sectioning off universities into zones where controversial discussion is allowed and zones where it isn’t?
More ominous is the final recommendation in the university section wherein professors are to “be held accountable” for the “rigour” of their courses. I am all in favour of rigour, of course, but universities already have mechanisms for that, and explicitly citing rigour in this context could pave the way for unfair restrictions of academic freedom whereby the content of a course — say a critical stance on Israel — could be challenged on the pretext that the course isn’t rigorous enough.
Israel and the criticism of it feature prominently in this section of the report. In a list of anti-Semitic events at Canadian universities, for example, the authors list a number of incidents that are obviously illegal and outrageous, such as threats and violence directed towards Jewish students; but they also list incidents which might have been cause for offence, but are, arguably, expressions of political, philosophical, or historical ideas, however clumsily they might have been stated. Calling for boycotts against Israel for perceived wrongdoing by that country is not in itself necessarily antisemitic. Likening Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid, similarly, may be shocking, and may, in the final analysis, be a bad analogy. But ad hominem arguments and bad analogies are things to refute with reasoned rebuttals, not things to ban by law or policy. The report says that using apartheid in the context of Israel is antisemitic, but by its own definition, criticism of Israel is only antisemitic if it singles out Israel in a way that other countries are not. But the very term apartheid comes from South Africa, another country. And Israel is not the only country to be accused of apartheid: a few minutes of searching turns up the term applied to women in Saudi Arabia, African Americans in the United States, and First Nations people in Canada.
The CPCCA was a good idea, and its members are, no doubt, well-meaning public servants. But at least as far as universities go, they need to start over. We need to have this conversation and it needs to be a thoughtful one. This report is not a good start.
What if your roommate is transgender?
American schools allow transitioning students to pick dorms
Photo courtesy of celesteh on Flickr
Ashley Gunn, the president of the University of South Florida’s (USF) gay student alliance, is applauding her school’s decision to allow transgender students to choose whether to live in a single room, with a friend of their choice, or be assigned randomly to a dorm room with a man or a woman.
But other students aren’t happy about the idea of sleeping next to someone who is physically the opposite sex, or whose gender is otherwise ambiguous. “I can’t imagine going into a room where I think that there is a woman, but it’s actually a man,” student Mohammad Noore told Miami TV station WTSP. “I’d be freaked out by it, creeped out by, maybe even a little disgusted.”
USF is not the first American school to make special provisions for GLBTTQ students who feel uncomfortable living with roommates of the same sex. Rutgers University in New Jersey began allowing students to live with the opposite sex if they so choose after Tyler Clementi, a gay student, committed suicide after repeated taunting from male roommates who exposed his homosexuality. Genderblind, an organization that advocates for gender-neutral campuses, lists 14 American universities with similar policies.
Would you attend Whistler U?
Developer envisions tourism and business programs
Photo courtesy of Morisawa81 on Flickr
A developer who owns land in the world-famous ski town of Whistler, British Columbia wants to build a new university just kilometres from the slopes. Whistler University would house 1,200 to 1,500 students studying tourism, environmental sustainability, leadership and business. Doug Player, the developer, has support for the plan from the University of Victoria’s former president, David Strong.
But he doesn’t have support from the current mayor — a problem because the 31-hectare property would need to be rezoned, reports The Pique. A municipal election in November could improve the odds. If the next mayor and council support the university concept, Player would present a formal application to them as early as the end of this year.
Mystery of the disappearing artwork
Why would someone steal a student’s prints?
A Unversity of Saskatchewan student says that 72 pieces of his art disappeared from the campus printmaking shop. Kevin Bishop, 23, doesn’t know who would have wanted the work that he’s spent six months producing for his Master of Fine Art thesis. The most money his work has sold for is $750, making the stolen collection worth $54,000 “in an ideal world,” he told the StarPhoenix newspaper. ”It was a year of my life,” he said. “I just want it back.”
UBC student died of cocaine-induced heart attack
Coroner concerned by head injuries during police custody
Photo courtesy of andronicusmax on Flickr
A University of British Columbia student died from a cocaine-induced heart attack three days after being released from police custody in Whistler on Feb. 23, 2010.
Silas Rogers, 20, was arrested for public intoxication during the Vancouver Winter Olympics after taking heroin, alcohol and snorting a crushed-up anti-anxiety medication. He was then taken to the local RCMP detachment, where he stayed for 11 hours. Following his release, he went to a friend’s house in Vancouver and continued to take drugs, including cocaine. He was found unconscious by friends a few hours after retiring to bed, during which time he experienced the deadly cocaine-induced heart attack, reports Metro News.
During his time in jail, recordings showed that Rogers struck his head eight times against the floor and the walls. The jail guards didn’t notice because the video monitor at their workstation was broken. Owen Court, the regional coroner, said in his report that although the falls were not the cause of death, he found it troubling that “an obviously intoxicated individual fell and struck his head numerous times while in police custody, yet received so little attention.”
Tory proposes $20,000 for students who stay in province
Interprovincial competition for graduates heats up
An Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership candidate says every Albertan graduate should be given $20,000 in tax credits if they live and work in the province for at least seven years after graduation, reports the Calgary Herald.
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan all have similar schemes aimed at stopping the best and the brightest from moving to Toronto or Vancouver after their post-secondary educations are complete. Those provinces have good reasons to try and stem the brain drain. Manitoba had a net outflow of 1,000 residents in the first-quarter of 2011, according to Statistics Canad, while Saskatchewan lost 600 people and Nova Scotia shed 1,000.
But Alberta? They gained 5,300 people. Do they really need a tax credit program to keep students from jumping ship?
Ted Morton, the candidate, says they certainly do. “It’s a win-win-win,” for the province, its young people and employers, he said. The $160 million program would pay for itself through taxes paid by the students who get jobs or start businesses in the province, he added.
The Alberta Tories, who have governed uninterrupted for 30 years, are facing a challenge in the next election from the upstart Wildrose Alliance. A recent poll showed that 29 per cent of voters are leaning toward the Wildrose, compared to 34 per cent who would vote Tory. (Note: the survey of 2,400 was commissioned by the Wildrose Party itself. )
Carleton University gets its football team back
Former player rescues team with $2.5-million gift
Football fans in Ottawa will soon have one more team to cheer for. Carleton University will launch a new varsity team in 2013.
It’s all thanks to a philanthropist — entrepreneur and former Carleton Ravens defenceman John Ruddy — who gave the proposed team a $2.5 million boost, matching other fundraising for a total of $5-million in start-up capital.
The Carleton Ravens were axed in 1998 due to financial shortfalls, which came after a poorly played season.
The new team will be controlled by an alumni association called Old Crows Football Inc., which will include community members and the university’s administrators. The university plans to refurbish the old stadium, add new seating, a new press box, a new locker-room and fitness facilities.
