All Posts Tagged With: "McGill University"
Students continue to occupy McGill building
Protesters want radio station and QPIRG fees reinstated
It’s day three of an occupation of the sixth floor of the James Administration building at McGill.
It appears protesters didn’t plan for it to last so long. On Wednesday night, occupiers sent down a bucket on a rope to try and haul up food from supporters below. Security guards cut the rope.
Doug Sweet, Director of Media Relations for McGill, told the Montreal Gazette that, “hauling stuff up by rope to the sixth floor is potentially dangerous,” and could potentially “break windows.”
Students took over the building on Tuesday when about 60 showed up to protest the administration’s decision to not honour a referendum over the continuation of funding for two campus groups. Most protesters were in the lobby of the building and have since left.
The Quebec Public Interest Research Group, a social justice organization, and CKUT, a campus radio station, were funded mainly by student fees. Two-thirds of voters appeared to support continued student funding of QPIRG in the Fall 2011 vote, but the university’s deputy provost for student life and learning, Morton Mendelson, invalidated the question due to confusing wording.
In addition to reinstating student funding to both groups, protesters want Mendelson to be fired or to resign. They’re calling their protest Mendelson’s “surprise resignation party.” Twitter is abuzz about the “party” with the hashtag #6party. A blog claims to offer “communiques from the sixth floor.”
McGill Daily published a letter today from QPIRG that thanks protesters and demands that their funding continue. However, they will not run a question about funding in the upcoming referendum.
CKUT, on the other hand, will not only seek affirmation of funding, but will ask students to make their fee mandatory. If passed, students who don’t support the station will not be able to opt-out.
Public Interest Research Groups have been controversial lately. Conservative students don’t want their student fees funding causes of the left, such as Israel Apartheid Week and anti-capitalism initiatives. Queen’s University students recently voted to stop collecting fees for a PIRG.
Canada’s first gay fraternity faces critics
You won’t guess who’s upset
The crest of gay fraternity Delta Lambda Phi
McGill University has a new fraternity and it’s facing criticism from a surprising corner.
On Saturday, Delta Lambda Phi (DLP) became the first Greek society in Canada that markets itself to “gay, bisexual, and progressive men.”
But while the members report no homophobia toward them, they told the Toronto Star that they’ve faced criticism from activist group Queer McGill. Elyse Lewis of Queer McGill says that by reserving itself only for “men and those who identify as men,” the fraternity implies that transgender men aren’t real men.
Continue reading Canada’s first gay fraternity faces critics
The Cougars? The Redmen? Oh, how offensive!
The naming of sports teams is now fraught with peril
The Human Beings Mascot from Community on Citytv
One of the best running gags in the TV show Community is that Greendale College’s teams are called “The Human Beings”—an absurdly bland moniker designed to insulate the school from complaints and controversy—the sort of complaints levied periodically against the Cleveland Indians or the Washington Redskins.
The fictional school’s feckless Dean might have a point, though, because naming sports teams, at schools especially, is now fraught with peril.
This danger was underscored last week when Utah’s Corner Canyon High School had to do away with its team name “Cougars.” The term, which, in some circles has come to mean an older woman sexually interested in younger men, was the subject of complaints. Canyon teams will now be “The Chargers.”
Continue reading The Cougars? The Redmen? Oh, how offensive!
Weird ways Canadians are coping with exams
Don’t end up like the angry library girl at California State
Studying at Waterloo. By Colin O'Connor
We all know exams cause stress. That explains the reaction of this student in a noisy library at California State University, Northridge.
Personally, I’m with the angry girl.
But that level of stress is better avoided. Last week, we offered readers 10 ways to study stay sane while studying. It was a pretty traditional list. But students across Canada have found a few more creative ways to procrastinate, ahem, study. I thought I’d share them with you.
At McGill University last week, hundreds of students showed up for pet therapy with animals from Therapeutic Paws of Canada. This may sound bizarre to the uninitiated, but there’s reason to believe it works. Petting dogs releases oxytocin in humans. Oxytocin, the so-called “love drug,” reduces anxiety and engenders calm.
At the University of Windsor, Bernarda “Bernie” Doctor, the 78-year-old director of the Organization of Part-Time University Students, offered peers surprise “cookie therapy,” handing out 360 sugar rushes. It’s not the healthiest snack, but Bernie knows how to study: she’s been doing it 50 years.
Leave it to Canada’s computer science mecca, the University of Waterloo, to offer a virtual snowman building game as a study tool. Students can build and share their own Mr. or Mrs. Frosty while snowflakes fall gently down their computer screens. By the way, try typing “let it snow” into Google.
Finally, the award for the weirdest—and smartest—way to cope with exam stress goes to Uytae Lee, a first-year student at Dalhousie University. Lee turned his boredom while studying for a Sustainability 1000 exam into a stop-motion music video with a soothing soundtrack based on his study notes. That’s more fun than traditional studying—and I bet he did well on the exam too.
A nativity scene on campus?
A simple solution for the Christmas controversy blues
Photo by kevin dooley on Flickr
Last year around this time I was startled to notice a small nativity scene set up in our university cafeteria. I considered making a formal complaint to the effect that at a public university such overtly religious symbols should be avoided. But it was only a little one, and even my great and growing peevishness has its limits.
Still, it’s easy to see why Christmas poses such a problem for educational institutions. On one hand, it is a venerable annual tradition for millions, with a seemingly endless store of symbols and songs to draw upon. On the other hand, for many, it is among the holiest days of the year, and one still hears a phrase like “the true meaning of Christmas” where “true meaning” is meant to suggest the religious meaning.
And so it is no surprise that controversy and indignation has become one of our new favourite holiday traditions.
McGill reaches tentative deal with workers
But the bitter strike is not quite over yet
McGill University and representatives of striking support workers have accepted a tentative agreement put forward by a provincially-appointed conciliator, both sides announced on Wednesday.
While both sides have said they won’t be revealing the details of the tentative agreement until it is presented to union members, MUNACA president Kevin Whittaker told the Montreal Gazette that: “The agreement does contain a number of the main objectives we wanted,” including a pay increase that is “well over” the university’s original offer.
Bloggers prove that not all students support McGill strike
Union says they’re a “small minority”
McGill students. By shahk on Flickr.
In the war of words between McGill’s administration and MUNACA, the union representing 1,700 support staff who have been on strike since Sep. 1, a new battalion of students has emerged— and they’re fighting for Principal Heather Munroe-Blum.
Since the blog Exposing MUNACA went online Nov. 9, it has been viewed roughly 25,000 times.
The bloggers are physics student Peter Guo and English student Kayla Herbert. Their critique of MUNACA fills a hole in the public debate, considering that both the Students’ Society of McGill University and the McGill Daily newspaper have sided with the union.
In response to the popular blog, Joel Pedneault, SSMU’s vice-president of external affairs, told the Montreal Gazette today that he will send an e-mail to all students with more “objective” facts. “When they see the conditions at other universities, they will see MUNACA’s side,” he said.
Continue reading Bloggers prove that not all students support McGill strike
Canada’s best cycling schools
Two-wheel transport speeds ahead on campus
Cyclist at Dalhousie. By Andrew Tolson.
From the 21st Maclean’s University Rankings—on newsstands now. Story by Jason McBride.
If you were to design the perfect bicycling environment, it would include safe, well-maintained and lit streets. It would have almost no car traffic, dedicated bike paths and ample secure parking and storage. It might even have showers purpose-built for sweaty commuters and a well-equipped repair shop where cyclists can get help fixing a flat tire. In short, it would look quite a bit like the campus of McMaster University.
McMaster is located in blue-collar, largely car-centric Hamilton, Ont.—an unlikely champion of the bicycle. But in the past two years, the city has been in the vanguard of sustainable travel, expanding cycling infrastructure, improving regional transit and adding carpooling programs. Municipal support has, in turn, emboldened the university, and encouraged both students and faculty to take up, in great numbers, alternative modes of transportation. According to Kate Whalen, manager of McMaster’s office of sustainability, a 2010 campus survey revealed that 37 per cent of students walked or cycled to school. “We have a very engaged population,” she says. And the university is very responsive to the needs of that population. Just one example: after a civil engineering student did a systematic geographic information survey of the use of university bike racks, underutilized racks were relocated to more optimal spots on campus. Ten additional racks are installed each year, Whalen says.
McGill student wants apology
Student was accused of misconduct related to protest
Two McGill University student leaders have been cleared of misconduct accusations related to their support of the ongoing strike at the school, says one of the two accused. Joel Pedneault, a vice-president for the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU) told the Montreal Gazette that the accusations were dropped on Friday after he met with associate dean of arts André Costopoulos.
Pedneault says he wants a public apology from administrators for what he calls “harassment.”
Pedneault and colleague Micha Stettin received letters Oct. 14 suggesting they violated the Code of Student Conduct related to a demonstration held on Oct. 11 where students calling themselves the “mob squad” sat in an entrance to the university to show their support for McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) employees. Pedneault didn’t even attend the protest.
The relationship between McGill administrators, MUNACA employees and some students has been strained by the strike, with allegations of thrown objects, the arrest of a 63-year-old employee, picketing that shut down a construction site and more. To read about the acrimony, click here.
McGill strike turns nasty
Threats, injunctions and allegations fly. What’s next?
Photo by shahk on Flickr
Two members of McGill University’s student government face a disciplinary hearing related to a rally in favour of striking support staff. One of them says he wasn’t even there.
Meanwhile, McGill principal Heather Munroe-Blum has issued a statement accusing strikers of throwing objects at senior administrators and threatening elderly alumni at homecoming.
And those are just two of the recent confrontations between strike supporters and McGill officials.
The two students facing discipline are Micha Stettin and Joël Pedneault, who are both elected to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU). They allegedly took part in an Oct. 11 demonstration at which 30 protesters calling themselves the “Mob Squad” (short for mobilization) sat in an intersection at an entrance to the Montreal university’s pedestrian-only campus.
OpenFile reports that the pair is accussed of contravening two sections of the university’s code of conduct, which state: “No student shall, by action, threat, or otherwise, knowingly obstruct University activities,” and, “No student shall, contrary to express instructions or with intent to damage, destroy or steal University property or without just cause knowingly enter or remain in any University building, facility, room, or office.”
Both dispute the charges. Pedneault, vice-president external of SSMU, told McGill Daily that he was not at the protest. McGill admin. told CBC Radio that they will not comment on the details.
The McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) has been on strike since Sept. 1. They want, among other things, a “proper pay scale.” McGill said on Oct. 20 that strikers are asking for too much money: a 28.9 per cent pay increase over three years, they say.
The Mob Squad discipline is only one recent controversy. After the university won an injunction earlier this month limiting picketing near campus, members of MUNACA began picketing outside the homes of senior administrators and the workplaces of board members. Strikers also picketed at events during McGill’s homecoming weekend. At one event, 63-year-old Joan O’Malley was arrested for refusing to leave an alumni dinner at a hotel. She was ticketed and released.
Munroe-Blum released a statement saying striker tactics had “moved from reasonable, civil free speech into threats and vandalism.” On Oct. 21, the university won another injunction limiting the size and noise created by pickets near private homes, workplaces and off-campus events.
The previous day strikers had picketed the construction site of a McGill-affiliated hospital. Construction workers refused to cross the picket line, shutting down work for the day. An injunction was issued ordering strikers to remain more than three metres from site entrances and exits.
The university has been especially critical of the hospital construction site picket. Michael Di Grappa, the university’s vice-principal for administration and finance, told the Montreal Gazette that the move was “a contemptible strategy that will bear no fruit.”
MUNACA president Kevin Whittaker fired back, saying the university is more focused “on getting injunctions from the courts to limit our freedom of expression than… on finding a fair resolution.”
Despite the public rancour, the two sides continue to meet frequently with a conciliator.
So what’s next? Possibly more labour strife. The General Assembly of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill, which represents teaching assistants, voted on Oct. 19 to initiate pressure tactics after five months of negotiations failed to result in a new work contract.
Gender-neutral washrooms are the way to go
Prof. Pettigrew explains his support for more open urination
Photo by daveynin on Flickr
If you want evidence that universities are places where basic assumptions are questioned, check out this story about students in Regina and Winnipeg pushing for gender-neutral washrooms.
The point of such gender-neutral facilities is to provide a place for those who do not fit neatly into the normal divisions of male and female. If this seems confusing, consider the case of an old undergraduate buddy of mine who I will call “Andy.” Andy was, genetically speaking, female, but had her hair cropped short and liked to sport a Greek fisherman hat with a men’s shirt and jeans. She was tall and fit and if you were just passing by her on the street you would be hard-pressed to fit her into the usual categories of men and women. That, of course, was sort of the point. Once, a mean-spirited store-owner mistook her for an effeminate man: “You look like a girl,” he sneered.
Montreal MBAs jump in Economist rankings
Where does your business school stand?
John Molson School of Business by Canuckistan on Flickr
The Economist has released its annual ranking of full-time M.B.A. programs. Below, we show you all the Canadian schools on the list, with their 2010 ranks in parentheses. The thing that jumps out here is how much Montreal’s two primarily English-language programs have climbed. After winning a long fight with the Quebec government to charge tuition in line with what other schools charge, McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management leaped onto the list at 64th. It’s unclear whether those two facts are related, though the upped tuition did begin in 2009-10. Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business also made a significant gain. Congratulations to all.
McGill scientists dance for cash
Innovative fundraiser video is taking off online
Photo by McGill University on Flickr
A video meant to draw attention to a university campaign is a hit online (unlike the get-out-the-vote campaign videos we reported on last week.)
The magic key to hits—122,000 so far—seems to be having researchers to do silly things on camera, like dance to Taio Cruz’s song Dynamite while wearing a leather jacket and shades.
The video features McGill University scientists, students, lab techs and volunteers who break out into choreographed routines. Viewers get to peer inside the labs where they see people working hard to find treatments and cures for cancers. Some scientists hold up signs to remind us that although it’s fun, it’s still a fundraiser. One says “Today’s knowledge for tomorrow’s cure.”
The video was created by McGill’s Rosalind & Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre. For each hit the video gets, Mediacom, a private partner, will make a donation to research.
McGill accused of illegal replacement workers
Injunction forces smaller, quieter picket lines
McGill student courtesy of Evan Shay on Flickr
The union representing striking support staff workers at McGill University has filed a report with the Quebec Labour Board alleging that the university is using illegal replacement workers, reports Canadian Labour Reporter.
The report followed an investigation by the Quebec Ministry of Labour that found 15 of the 110 workers filling in for striking staff were not managers or otherwise eligible replacements.
Michael Di Grappa, vice-principal of administration and finance for the university, disputes the accusation. “All the contingency actions taken to keep the university operating in its core mission of teaching and research during the MUNACA strike are fully within the law,” he said.
Meanwhile, the university has obtained an injunction to force McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) workers to reduce the size and volume of picket lines in order to allow more access to the school, at least until a hearing on Oct. 3.
Di Grappa told the Montreal Gazette that the school asked for the injunction because of concerns that students were forced off sidewalks by picketers and that the delivery of perishable research items had been impeded.
MUNACA went on strike since Sept. 1. and is seeking what they call “a proper wage scale.”
Classes must be held on campus: McGill
Prof. moved class to living room to avoid picket lines
A McGill University professor who moved her Islamic studies class to her living room to avoid crossing the picket lines of striking workers has been told to get back to campus or lose her pay.
Prof. Michelle Hartman said she was told by Christopher Manfredi, the Arts Dean, that she can’t do her job properly off campus. “I told him I’m moving it back under protest,” she told the Montreal Gazette. She wanted to avoid campus as a symbol of solidarity with the strikers.
Provost Anthony Masi wrote to all professors on Tuesday to clarify the school’s position: “A professor’s right not to cross a picket line does not confer any right to move classes away from campus,” he wrote. Students had complained of inconvenient off-campus classes, he said.
McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) employees have been striking since Sept. 1. MUNACA has asked McGill for a 3 per cent wage increase each year for three years, plus a wage scale where employees reach maximum pay in six years. Negotiations continue.
McGill top Canadian school in global rankings
Canada’s top two improve showings, but the rest fall down
McGill student courtesy of Evan Shay on Flickr
QS World University Rankings has released their Top 300 schools of 2011. This year, Canada’s top two schools, McGill and Toronto, each edged up a notch. So did McMaster and Western Ontario. But every other Canadian school dropped down from their 2010 standing (offered in parentheses) and one school, Laval, fell off the list.
17. McGill University (19)
23. University of Toronto (29)
51. University of British Columbia (44)
100. University of Alberta (78)
137. University of Montreal (136)
144. Queen’s University (132)
157. University of Western Ontario (164)
159. McMaster University (162)
160. University of Waterloo (145)
218. University of Calgary (165)
234. Dalhousie University (212)
256. University of Ottawa (231)
260. Simon Fraser University (214)
292. University of Victoria (241)
About the methodology:
The rankings were derived mainly from a survey of 34,000 academics who ranked the schools from those producing the most world-leading research in their fields to those producing the least. That survey was weighted at 40 per cent. Reputation among employers, derived from a survey of 17,000 managers who hire university grads, counted for 10 per cent. Citations per faculty counted for 20 per cent. Faculty-student ratio (lower is better) counted for 20 per cent. Proportion of international students counted for five per cent. Proportion of international faculty counted for five per cent too.
The Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities, which uses only objective data, like citations per faculty — no reputation surveys were included — found in August that Toronto is the best in Canada, the University of British Columbia is second and McGill University is third.
Click to see how other Canadian universities made the World Top 500 in 2011.
For a complete ranking of Canadian universities, click for the Maclean’s 20th Annual Rankings
Watch for the 21st Annual Maclean’s University Rankings — on newsstands in November.
Dalhousie abandons anti-plagiarism software
Victory for student groups
A majority of university presidents in the U.S. (55 per cent of them) say that plagiarism has increased in the past 10 years. Of those, 89 per cent blame the Internet, says a new study by Pew.
Many universities have fought back by using software like Turnitin, which forces students to upload their papers to be scanned against a database of published works, before their professors grade them. If passages appear to have been copied, the professor is informed and may investigate.
But profs at Dalhousie University learned this week that they no longer have access to the software, in part because papers were being stored on U.S. servers against the school’s wishes, Dwight Fischer, the school’s Chief Information Officer told the Toronto Star.
“We’re moving quickly to replace that system with something else,” said Fischer. “We’re not bailing on our academic integrity strategy. Students should not think that this is a retreat on what we hold dear and valuable here.”
Dalhousie University’s Student Union has long opposed Turnitin, partly because it presumes students are guilty before proven innocent. Some students were concerned that their intellectual property was being stored in the U.S. or copied and stored against their will.
McGill University student Jesse Rosenfeld won the right to submit his paper in person, instead of through Turnitin, after the university punished him for refusing to use the software in 2003.
Ryerson University uses Turnitin, but students can opt out if they make alternate arrangements.
Seven students at the University of King’s College were found guilty of plagiarism in December after fifteen papers had been flagged by Turnitin.
McGill non-academic support staff on strike
Classes will go ahead as planned: university
McGill University’s 1,700 non-academic employees went on strike at 6 a.m. this morning. The employees provide course registration, laboratory support, clerical support, record keeping, student residence management, IT support and more.
University classes will go ahead next week. ”You have the right, as a student or an employee, to cross the picket line to get to class or to your work,” the university wrote in a statement. “McGill will ensure that you can enter the campus safely.”
The collective agreement expired in Dec. 2010. MUNACA wants a three per cent wage increase. McGill has offered 1.2 per cent.*
The workers say they also want more secure benefits. ”Unlike other university workers in Quebec, there are no protections for our pensions and benefits at McGill,” wrote McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) president Kevin Whittaker. “The time has come for the university to recognize our hard work and our contribution to the quality of life students enjoy.”
*This post has been updated to remove salary data that was incorrect. Maclean’s On Campus regrets the error.
McGill workers could strike
Union represents student affairs, lab support and housing
McGill University’s student affairs, course registration, lab support and residence management workers have voted in favour of a strike mandate, meaning a strike would now be legal. More than 1,700 workers belong to the Non-Academic Certified Association, which has been without a contract since 2010. They want pension and benefits protection, scheduling rights and a “proper wage scale,” according to their union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada. They will meet with McGill negotiators today.
Quebec government accepts McGill MBA tuition hike
School raised price by nearly 90 per cent
Photo courtesy of bagriton on Flickr
McGill University will be allowed to charge $32,500 this fall year for its MBA program after the university struck a deal with the Quebec government last week.
Before the 2009-10 school year, the program had cost only $3,400. Last year, they raised the price by nearly 90 per cent to $29,500, prompting the Ministry of Education to fine them $2.1 million for breaking regulations. Quebec requires universities to charge domestic (Quebec) students a uniform rate, which is currently just over $70 per credit for most programs. A typical 30-credit school year costs roughly $2,100.
The new deal redefines the program as a “specialized MBA” with a focus on international business and a “mandatory study trip abroad.” Specialized MBAs are not subject to the same strict regulations. Concordia offers an EMBA with tuition at $34,000. McGill and the HEC Montréal offer a joint EMBA that costs $72,000.
Some student groups have criticized the decision. The Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, the province’s largest student lobby group, and the McGill Post Graduate Students’ Society issued a joint statement describing it as a step towards two-tiered education.
However, another student group — McGill’s MBA Student Association — supports the school. They condemned the government’s fine and released a survey claiming that 70 per cent of students in the program supported the increase.
Line Beauchamp, the Minister of Education, wrote that McGill is not getting special treatment. “This isn’t an exception, because there are other institutions in Quebec that already offer programs with a similar status,” she said.
McGill’s new price may allow it to better compete with other schools. The University of Toronto charges residents $40,000 per year for its MBA program; the University of Western Ontario’s one-year MBA program has a price tag of $73,500 for Canadians.
Wilfred Zerbe, Memorial University’s Dean of Business, suggested in May that tuition fees there should climb too. Currently, Memorial charges MBA students $4,400 per year. He says the school could attract better students and offer more support with tuition fees closer to $10,000 per year.
