All Posts Tagged With: "Carleton University"

Faculty at UWO to cast ballot on whether or not to strike Sept 30

Barely a month into the school year, and professors at the University of Western Ontario are already pondering a strike that could cancel classes for students. At a meeting of 200 members of the University of Western Ontario Faculty Association (UWOFA) last week, a motion was passed to give the union’s board authority to call a strike vote, which it will be doing. The ballot will take place between Sept 29 and Oct 1, it was announced today.

At issue is a proposal from the university that the union says threatens academic freedom by weakening tenure. In an effort to improve “performance management,” Western, the union says, has proposed that several related clauses be linked together in their contract. They include the linking of academic responsibilities, conflict of interest and conflict of commitment, annual performance evaluation, sabbatical leave, and discipline.

According to UWOFA president James Compton, the university wants to implement a centralized review committee for evaluating and reviewing faculty job performance. “It would be staffed by senior administrators and not peers in those fields, so that’s a problem,” he said. Compton added that the proposed language amounts to  “a continual tenure review” for faculty, who, he says already have to go through a rigorous process to attain tenure, and who are already continually evaluated by their home department. He called the university’s proposal “a weakening of the tenure system.” He added that the university has yet to make any proposal regarding wages.

In a media release, Helen Connell, associate vice-president communications, did not address any of the faculty association’s specific concerns, but did note that even if the union is given a strike mandate after next week’s vote, that doesn’t mean professors will be heading to the picket line. “It is important to note that holding a strike vote is normal in the process of collective bargaining and does not necessarily mean there will be a strike,” she said.

A conciliator appointed by the province has met with both sides, and talks are set to resume Oct 5. The faculty association represents 1,400 academic staff who have been without a contract since the end of June.

A strike vote is also scheduled to be held at Carleton University.

Textbook rentals have stormed onto Canadian campuses, but not without some opposition

Shocked by the nearly $1,000 you dropped on textbooks this fall? Maybe it’s time to rent. Big business at American universities, textbook rentals have stormed onto Canadian campuses, but not without a little opposition. While the idea may prove popular with some students, a limited number of titles available for rent could see the program unavailable to many others. As for publishers, many are squirming from what they say could be an administrative nightmare that will eat into their finances.

Six university and college book stores, run by Follett of Canada, are participating in a pilot textbook rental program, called Rent-a-Text. They include stores at Carleton University, the University of Winnipeg, Humber College’s Main and Lakeshore campuses, and St. Clair College campuses in Windsor and Thames. Michael Clark, who runs the U of W bookstore says students who decide to rent can expect to save at least 50 per cent per title. With about a quarter of the store’s titles being eligible for rent, he estimates that could translate into $200 or $300 in savings for the average student. “I think once it catches on, it’s really going to catch on,” he said. Students will typically rents books on a per semester basis.

Stores say they are choosing books for rent that are popular and that have put out recent editions, to ensure they will be used for several semesters. “We’re hoping the professor will use it for three years,” Ed Kane, Carleton’s assistant vice-president (university services) explained. Even if professors won’t commit to a rental title, or change their minds, Follet will be able to rent the book at one of its other stores.

The company, which runs 35 stores in Canada, piloted the program at seven American campuses last fall and has since extended that to more than 750. According to numbers released by the company yesterday, Follet stores have rented more than one million books over the past three weeks, a savings to students of $45 million the company claims.

The market for rented textbooks has been steadily growing in the U.S. since at least 2001 when Chegg.com, a book renting website modeled off of Netflix, launched. Bricks and mortar retailers are only now starting to catch up with their online counterparts.

The National Association of College Stores (NACS) estimated that only 200-300 of its members were renting books last September. They now peg that number at more than 1,500 American campus stores. Barnes and Noble, which operates 636 campus bookstores, also piloted a rental program, beginning with three stores last September, and expanding to 25 by this past winter.

However, renting textbooks is still relatively rare, even in the United States. A May survey of 500 students by the NACS, found that only 12 per cent had rented textbooks, though about 44 per cent said they would consider it. Another 36 per cent were unsure, and 20 per cent said they would not choose to rent. Of those who rented, 72 per cent said they would rent again.

Although textbook renting is new to Canada, Carleton and the U of W won’t be the first universities to enter the market. Last fall the University of Manitoba Students’ Union started a book rental program, and is continuing it this year. Although the UMSU plan is on a much smaller scale—renting only three titles—union president Heather Laube says it is still saving students thousands of dollars. “We had a high success rate last year with very positive feedback and a smooth return process overall,” she said.

In the spring, the University of Toronto Bookstore put six books up for rent, and has now expanded that to more than 100 titles. When the program was first launched, the bookstore rented one book for every four sold. The non-profit bookstore will be renting textbooks for a little more than Follet stores, at around 60 per cent of the retail price.

Campus bookstores will also be facing competition from book renting websites geared towards the Canadian market. Brad Dolan, who graduated with a business degree from Carleton in 2008, started an online rental company called BookMob. Dolan says students will save between 50 and 80 per cent off the retail price.

BookMob boasts being “the first service of its kind,” but another website, textbookrental.ca, also launched this summer. Michael Stock, who completed his business degree at York University in the spring, started the company with the help of Toronto accountant Gershon Hurwitz, to capitalize on the budding textbook rental market. “We identified that no one was doing it in Canada,” Hurwitz said.

While renting may prove to be a boon for retailers, who can rent the same title over and over, some publishers are concerned that rental schemes could hurt their finances, if they are not compensated. Paul Cercone, executive director of McGill-Queen’s University press, told industry magazine, Quill and Quire in June that he is worried about author royalties. “I would want to know exactly what they have in mind to see if it’s advantageous for me,” he said.

Colleen O’Neill, of the Canadian Publishers Council, told the magazine that rental programs have been an “administrative nightmare” for publishers down south.

Follet didn’t consult with publishers prior to offering books for rent and does not pay additional royalties. “Rent-A-Text is driven by our own inventory of both new and used books. We purchase new from publishers,” Elio Distaola, Follet’s director of campus relations, stated via email.

However, profit sharing and royalties agreements, to compensate publishers when a textbook is rented, are not uncommon. Cengage Learning pays publishers a royalty for every time a book is rented, and McGraw Hill supplies Chegg with a limited number of titles for rent in exchange for a portion of revenues.

Despite potential savings to students, renting will not always be the optimal option. An internal U of T survey did reveal that 66 per cent of students were interested in renting textbooks, but 81 per cent indicated they would be interested in buying second hand. Owning a book is often desirable because it can be used for future reference. In other cases, a book may be required for multiple terms rendering the renting option uneconomical.

There is also some dispute about exactly how revolutionary the idea is. Students have always been able to sell their used books back to bookstores, in what amounts to a “quasi-rental” exchange. One bookstore manager pointed out to the Chronicle of Higher Education that if a book has a retail price of $100, a student may be able to rent it for $40, or buy it used for $75. The buy back option may see $50 returned to the student. Although, there are usually only a limited number of books that stores will buy used.

Because only a fifth to a quarter of textbooks may be available for rent from any given store, not all students may even have the option. Zach Janzen, a second-year environmental studies student at the University of Winnipeg, was hoping to rent three books this year. “But it ended up that none of them were for rent,” he said. Instead he purchased two books second hand, one for $80 and the other for $90. Another he purchased brand new for $150. A fourth book Janzen wanted was available for rent, but it cost only around $20 to buy, so he bought it.

Distaola admits that renting will never fully supplant the market for new and used books, nor is it intended to. “It’s about creating options for students.”

Related: Why textbooks are so expensive

How to download your textbooks for free

On the bright side, no Canadian journalism graduate that I’m aware of has voluntarily starved themselves because they couldn’t get a media job.

As a graduate of the Carleton School of Journalism, I get a little e-mail in my inbox every Tuesday, which is appropriately titled Tuesday Topics. Yesterday’s edition was fronted with a little piece of news I found interesting, which was later written up for public consumption by a couple of Carleton profs:

Applications to Ontario’s degree programs in Journalism are down compared to this time last year, according to data released last month by the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre in Guelph . . . According to the OUAC website, www.ouac.on.ca, 3,576 applications were received as of July 8 for first-year admission to Journalism programs across the province.  That figure is 13.2 per cent lower than the equivalent last year.

Now, if you couple this with the fact that overall undergraduate applications to Ontario Universities has been steadily rising, it seems as though a reasonable inference here is that interest in an undergraduate journalism education is waning. And why might that be?

“I suspect the drop reflects to some extent the uncertainty in the journalism business as a whole, ” [Carleton journalism undergraduate supervisor Klaus] Pohle says.

The acting chair of Ryerson University’s School of Journalism, Suanne Kelman, agrees the poor job market is responsible for the drop in interest in journalism programs.  In an email she wrote: “Surely fears about future employment would be the major factor. That would explain why applications are down across the province – if it were just us and Carleton, I might assume that the wider range of choices played a more importance (sic) part. I think that students and their parents are being affected by the concerns over the future of journalism.”

Well, no kidding. Since I graduated in 2007, I have worked for three major daily newspapers and not once did I have an actual job with things like benefits. Moreover, I was extremely lucky to be able to score that many internship positions, which are rare and getting rarer. Just to draw from newspapers I worked at, when I was a summer intern at the Edmonton Journal there were seven summer intern spots; now there are four. The Ottawa Citizen used to have six year-long interns at a time, I believe they are down to either one or two. The vast majority of the friends I made in school didn’t even try to work in the journalism industry or, if they did, have already given up and pursued another career path, which, I would be remiss not to mention, they were all aided in by their journalism degree.

To be clear, I loved pretty much everything about my undergraduate experience. The profs at Carleton were fantastic both for imparting knowledge and having working-journalist connections, I made amazing friends, I learned skills of both life and work varieties, etc. So to say all those things and recommend against taking an undergraduate journalism degree would be a pretty dick move, which is why I’m not going to do it. What I am going to do is proffer some advice to people who want to be journalists and are considering an undergraduate journalism degree.

What a journalism undergraduate degree will get you are amazing memories, good connections with profs who know hundreds of working journalists, marketable skills in the form of writing and communications abilities. What it will not get you, and what no one ever promises it will get you, is a job in journalism.

To be clear, in my recollection, no one at j-skool ever lied about this, either. I’m pretty sure that from literally day one, lectures included messages from profs that, if you wanted to get a job in journalism on the other side, then you were going to have to hustle outside of class. A journalism degree on its own is never, ever going to get anyone a job in media. Students newspaper experience, community radio, working for small-town media, free work placements, academic exchanges and, at this point, extra curricular web experience are basically mandatory if you’re interested in hunting for a job.

Now, this was all made clear to us. An interesting counterpoint to that strategy, appropriately enough for this blog, are law schools in the United States. The legal job market in the States tanked during the recession and, accordingly, recent grads are extremely hard pressed to find work, not unlike journalism grads in Canada. There are several key differences, though, particularly that there’s a large movement in the States that put forward that American law schools actively lie to potential students about hiring rates to “trick” them into paying exorbitant, six-figure amounts for their degree. (Another key difference there being that  you can get a whole undergraduate journalism degree for less than the cost of one year at an American law school.) Some people view it as so bad that they are apparently willing to go on a hunger strike in a bid to get American law schools to be more transparent about hiring figures and job market realities.

So, you know, on the bright side, no Canadian journalism graduate that I’m aware of has voluntarily starved themselves because they couldn’t get a media job and felt that it was their school’s fault. But that doesn’t mean it’s not exceedingly challenging to score a media job. This doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t apply for undergraduate journalism degrees, it just means that, if they want to be a journalist, they should be aware of what’s in store and adjust expectations appropriately.

How universities and high schools are setting students up for disappointment

Scott Penner was a model high school student. With a grade 12 average of 93 per cent, and with math and science as his strongest subjects, he was poised to be a successful engineering student. That is, until he started at the University of Manitoba. Penner was not expecting to glide through university, though he “was still expecting to do fairly well.” Even by these lowered standards, his first year was less than encouraging. Not only was he receiving an uncharacteristic assortment of Bs and Cs, he failed first-year calculus, a prerequisite to continue on in engineering. “It was a bit of a shock,” he says.

Penner is not alone. The vast majority of students see their grades fall, often dramatically, once they get to university. What is sometimes called “grade shock” can have devastating consequences for students, as they struggle to cope with the fact that they are no longer at the top of the class.

Within the course of a semester dreams can be easily whisked away. “The business program or engineering program that they thought they were going to pursue [is] not an option for them anymore,” says Brock University economist Felice Martinello who recently co-authored a study on the changes in grades between high school and first-year university.

There are also financial repercussions. In 2008, Maclean’s surveyed the rate at which students who received entrance scholarships kept the requisite grades to maintain their funding going into second year. At York University, where fully 60 per cent of incoming students received an entrance scholarship, only 10 per cent kept their funding. At McMaster the rate was 21 per cent. At Ryerson, seven per cent.

As grades have long been known to predict whether students will complete their program, significant grade drops may be contributing to dropout rates, suggesting that students coming in, even with an A+ average, may become discouraged and simply give up. In fact, the best evidence we have suggests that it is the highest achieving students that are most at risk for being disappointed in university.

In his paper, Martinello, and coauthor Ross Finnie, find–consistent with previous research–that on average students see a 10-point drop in their grades once they are in university. Using data from Statistics Canada’s Youth In Transition Survey, the study concludes that nearly half of all students surveyed saw their marks decline by one letter grade. About 23 per cent saw their grades plummet by two letters or more. Only 2.5 per cent of students saw their grades improve, and about a quarter maintained averages consistent with their high school marks.

But, what is novel about Finnie and Martinello’s paper, and pertinent for high school academic stars like Penner, is that the economists determined that “the highest achieving group (in high school) has the largest decrease in grades.” Students entering university with a 90 per cent or higher experienced a drop of 11.9 points. Students with high school marks in the 60-79 per cent range had only a 4.4-point drop. Prior studies tended to assume that even with a drop, that there was a linear relationship between high school and university grades. Finnie and Martinello’s research challenges that assumption.

“You’d think that maybe, oh, it’s the weaker students, that once they go to university, they’re really going to get killed, but it turns out that’s it’s the 90 plus group,” Martinello says.

Recent trends suggest that the challenges of grade shock are only going to become more widespread. That’s because students with average entering grades, in the B or B+ range, are slowly disappearing. And when all, or most, of the students come in with an A or A+ average, many will have nowhere to go but down.

At the University of British Columbia average entrance grades across the university are expected to be 87 per cent this year, a two per cent increase from last year, and up from 80 per cent ten years ago, and 70 per cent twenty years ago. Andrew Arida, UBC’s associate director of enrolment says higher entering grades are simply a matter of supply and demand. “Because students are presenting higher grades, we’ve had to raise our admission averages to avoid over-enrolling,” he explains.

Only a few years ago, UBC was admitting around 15 per cent of students with grades below 80. That number is dwindling fast. Although Arida didn’t have final figures for the fall, he says only a “small number” of students will get in with less than an A. Students entering the two largest faculties, science and arts, will need a minimum high school average of 86 and 85 per cent respectively.

Similarly, the University of Waterloo increased by seven per cent this year over last, the number of entering students with an average of at least 85 per cent.

Schools like Waterloo and UBC, already considered prestigious, are joining an elite club of universities that are inaccessible to all but the highest achieving students. With an average entering grade of 88.9 per cent, Queen’s University rarely admits students with less than an A average. At McGill, the median average entrance grade for Canadian students is 92 per cent.

Understanding academic probation, what it means and what to do about it

As exams wrap up across the country, most students are looking forward to patio nights and a stress-free summer. But some students are dreading their final grades after a not-so-perfect year.

A failed class, a flunked exam, or a mediocre grade-point average are outcomes no student wants to have come May. But what are the actual consequences of an ‘F’ on your transcript? Or missing required credits to move on to your next year or to graduate?

While most students may have heard of “academic probation,” not everyone knows what it entails. The first thing to remember is failing a class doesn’t mean you need to pack up your textbooks and join the circus, and getting put on academic probation won’t necessarily cripple you academically, if you seek help.

“The whole point of academic standings is to identify students who are at risk and then make them aware of the services that are available in obtaining better academic grades,” University of Calgary’s associate vice-provost (enrolment) and registrar David Johnston said. “When we admit a student, we want them to graduate.”

Academic probation is just one of many possible academic standings a full-time student can be assigned at the end of the year. In many cases the bad outweighs the good. At most schools, the only desired outcome is “In Good Standing,” which means you’re in the clear. There are varying degrees of unsatisfactory standings that come with conditions for the following school year, ranging from meeting benchmark grade-point averages, to withdrawing for a year.

In addition to “In Good Standing,” most universities include “Academic Probation” and “Failed” as the three possible standings. And the conditions of these standings are typically outlined in the university’s academic rules and regulations. Students receive notice of their standing in the summer, after grades are calculated through a mailed letter or an online transcript.

At a school like Calgary’s, when a student’s grade-point average is less than 1.70, the equivalent of a C-, students are put on a probationary period. This is typical of most schools, though the grade-point average threshold varies.

“The purpose, of course, of the first warning is to get them on track academically,” Johnston said. He said it’s normal for first-year students to come into university unprepared for the heavy course-load and higher academic standards than they are accustomed. First-year students, he said, are the largest group his school sees placed on academic probation.

Since grades are dealt with at the faculty level, it’s not clear exactly how many students each year are put on academic probation at each school.

It’s often just a matter of showing students their current learning styles aren’t working, associate dean of the faculty of science at the University of British Columbia Paul Harrison said. “Universities are pretty selective of who they invite in,” he said. “Students deep down have the skills if they apply themselves. Unfortunately some of them don’t.”

He said students also usually come out of high school with limited exposure to their chosen program or knowledge of the university’s expectations for them.

Manager of the Student Academic Success Centre at Carleton University, Kathleen Semanyk said besides academics, there could be any number of circumstances that prevent students from meeting program requirements. “We hear everything from ‘We’ve had a serious illness in my family,’ ‘I’ve lost a loved one,’ ‘I had to find a second job,’” Semanyk said. “It’s really common for students to think they’ve hit the end of the academic road.”

Johnston said, what also tends to happen is students may find their chosen program is not as well suited for them as they had hoped. “It’s aptitude and interest,” Johnston said. “If you don’t have an interest it’s hard to apply yourself.” Just the same, students may find their skill set doesn’t match what their program asks of them.

Attackers shouted ‘Zionists’ and ‘Jew’

Nick Bergamini, Vice-President Student Issues at Carleton University, says he and roommate Mark Klibanov were attacked early Monday morning by a group of men yelling that they were Zionists and Jews.

Bergamini, who is not Jewish but is a vocal supporter of Israel, was leaving a downtown bar around 1:45 a.m. when he responded to the shouts. “I said I love Israel because I support Israel’s right to exist,” Bergamini told the Ottawa Citizen. That’s when he and Klibanov found themselves surrounded by about 10 men. Bergamini says he was then struck in the back of the head.

Bergamini and Klibanov ran to the bar entrance where the bouncers were stationed. About 10 minutes later, as they were walking home, a car up alongside them. According to  Bergamini, who described the incident in a Facebook post, there were three men inside and the driver rolled down his window and said, “I f——g hit you, you Jew.”

As the men got out of the car, Bergamini says he heard one of them say, “Open the trunk,” as another reached in and allegedly pulled out a machete. The men began to run, being chased by a machete-wielding attacker. Klibanov told the Citizen that the weapon was nearly a foot from hitting Bergamini’s neck. “These people must have been Carleton students because I recognized one of them,” Bergamini told the paper.

A report has been filed with Gatineau police. Lt. Gilbert Couture confirmed that police are investigating.

With six months left at university, even trivial things now seem to have a much greater significance.

In the spring of my final year of high school I got a little bit stir crazy. I could not wait to move on to bigger and better things. My last fall semester as an undergrad is half over, and I am starting to feel a grasping at straws hysteria. It is a nostalgic longing for the fleeting best days of my life. If I had the chance to go back to freshman year and do it over again, I would do it in a heartbeat. And I would gladly repeat these past years at university many times over, because it does not get much better than this.

When I was a freshman, I measured my first year at Carleton University in all my different firsts. I remember my first lecture, the first time checking out a book from the library, handing in my first essay, writing my first exam in a cold gym and as nerdy as it sounds, it was always exciting for me to cross my next post-secondary hurdle.

I realized something a few weeks ago while I was packing for Thanksgiving. Sadly, as a graduating student in my fourth year, my outlook has changed. I no longer see things as brand new and exciting; instead I’m looking at every milestone as a last. That was my last Thanksgiving long weekend as a university student; my last Halloween at Carleton, and that midterm on Tuesday was last test I have to write for the fall semester.

I know how gloomy this all sounds. I’m trying to stay away from the 2012/end of the world fear mongering, but my clock is ticking. The cure for Senioritis is not to slack off! You have to keep pushing forward. When you only have six months left of university life, you have to make every second count.

Will cover four years tuition, one year residence for children of soldiers killed in the line of duty

Carleton University is the latest school to provide financial aid for children of Canadians Forces personnel killed while serving in an active mission.

The scholarship, called Project Hero, pays tuition for four years and residence for one year. The scholarship is open to students who live in Canada, are 25 or younger and registered as a full-time student at the university.

“Joining Project Hero is a fitting way to honour the memory of the brave Canadian men and women who have lost their lives in combat and to support their children,” said Carleton University president Roseann O’Reilly Runte.

The Carleton University Students’ Association has also taken an active role in bringing Project Hero to the school through talks with administration.

“I am very proud to be a student at a university that values the contributions and sacrifices of the Canadian Forces members so highly,” said Nick Bergamini, the association’s vice president of student issues. “We want to show the students who are in the military or have family in the military that we support them.”

Project Hero is now available at seven schools. The others are the University of Ottawa, the University of Calgary, Concordia University, the University of Windsor, McMaster University and Memorial University. Retired Canadian general Rick Hillier founded the project, and lieutenant-colonel Kevin Reed has been working to bring it to as many schools as possible.

“Carleton is a valuable link in the national network of universities that continues to expand,” said Reed. “I am delighted they have come on board.”

New instructor says it became “difficult” to have Diab in the classroom

Carleton University says Hassan Diab, an Ottawa professor who was released on bail after being arrested in connection with the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue, has been relieved of his teaching duties of a summer Carleton course.

On July 30, Karen March, a sociology professor at Carleton, took over as the summer sociology course’s class instructor. She and students addressed the controversy surrounding Diab’s dismissal as part of their class discussion on “social problems.”

Some students enrolled in the first-year sociology class Diab taught since mid-July say they are not happy he has been replaced

“They knew who he was when they hired him. What’s the point of changing it because the media found out?” said one student in the July 30 class, the first scheduled class since the professor’s dismissal.

“Three weeks of class, three profs and I need this courses to graduate,” said another former student.

Diab started teaching the class after the instructor who was originally scheduled to teach, George Pollard, became ill one week into the summer course, which started the first week of July.

For complete OnCampus coverage of this story, including commentary, click here.

March says she took over from Diab because it became “difficult to have him in this class,” but that she was “not coerced” into teaching.

The reasoning for the professor’s dismissal, according to Carleton’s release, was “in the interest of providing its students with a stable, productive academic environment that is conducive to learning.”

The announcement came following reports from several media sources, including the July 27 Ottawa Citizen article, concerning Diab’s new teaching assignment, and criticism from the Canadian national office of B’nai Brith, an international Jewish human rights advocacy group.

The group issued a statement July 28, saying, “the conditions of Diab’s bail do not even allow him to leave his home alone or to own a cell phone, but Carleton officials believe that it is fine for them to make him a member of their faculty? The last place in the world where this man belongs is in a university classroom, in front of impressionable students.”

CUPE Local 4600, the union representing Carleton teaching assistants and contract instructors, said in a open letter addressed to Carleton president Roseann Runte, obtained by the Charlatan July 29, that they are “extremely concerned” about Diab’s dismissal.

“Mr. Diab has the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty,” it read.

In the letter CUPE also raised the fact that Diab was fired after he had already been teaching the course under contract; his sudden dismissal may go against the collective agreement the union has with the university.

CUPE 4600 said they are urging the university “to balance public opinion with the law and a sense of professional integrity.”

The Canadian Association of University Teachers also said in a release July 29 that it “condemns in the strongest possible terms” the change in professors.

It goes on to say that Carleton’s actions “represent a serious violation of basic rights and procedures” and that they are calling for the school to reinstate Diab.

The department of sociology and anthropology at Carleton has said they will not be releasing the name of the course’s new professor until July 30, after the class is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.

On Carleton Central — Carleton’s course registration website — the instructor for the class has changed from Hassan Diab, who was still listed July 28, to “TBA.”

Diab was arrested in November 2008 and accused of killing four as a result of the 1980 terrorist blast which was blamed on the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations after no one claimed responsibility.

As part of his bail conditions granted on March 31 of this year, Diab has been outfitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet, is under house arrest when not attending work and must obey a curfew and refrain from owning a cellphone, among other impositions.

According to the Citizen, Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger said the strict conditions were necessary to prevent the risk of Diab fleeing the country before he is to appear at an extradition hearing to face murder and destruction of property charges in France.

The Citizen also reported Diab was to be allowed to travel to Carleton accompanied by court-appointed surety and his common-law spouse, Rania Tfaily, also a Carleton sociology professor, to teach the course that is scheduled twice a week.

Diab told French newspaper Le Figaro during an interview in 2007 (as translated by the Citizen): “I am a victim of mistaken identity not based on anything . . . I have never belonged to any Palestinian organization, nor have I been militant politically.”

Diab has previously taught courses at both Carleton and the University of Ottawa.

The university has said it is not commenting further on the issue.

Neither Diab’s lawyer or Tfaily, were available for comment.

Diab faces his extradition hearing Jan. 4, 2010.

— a version of this story appeared in the August edition of the Charlatan, Carleton University’s student independent newspaper

OnCampus blogger tweets live from former professor’s classroom

One of my colleagues at Carleton University and fellow OnCampus blogger, Jennifer Pagliaro, is live-tweeting from the former classroom of Hassan Diab, a professor accused of bombing a French synagogue nearly 30 years ago. Diab was hired to teach introductory sociology at Carleton University, then quickly replaced following public outcry. This is the first class being taught by his replacement, and they reportedly will discuss Diab’s situation as part of the lesson.

You can follow the updates at http://twitter.com/CharlatanLive

For background, you can also see Pagliaro’s piece that appeared in today’s edition of The Charlatan (Carleton’s independent newspaper) at http://charlatan.ca