All Posts Tagged With: "Ryerson Students Union"
Ryerson students says “yes” to campus radio
$10.35 fee added
Students at Ryerson University in Toronto have approved the addition of a $10.35 per year fee to support a new campus radio station, after CKLN was shut down by the CRTC earlier this year. A referendum was held on campus earlier this week. Although some students organized in opposition to the new fee, the vote wasn’t even close, with the “yes” side winning 2,773 votes, 448 opposed and 18 spoiled ballots, reports the Ryerson Students’ Union. Quorum rules require that 10 per cent of full-time undergraduate and graduate students vote. Ryerson has 20,006 full-time students.
Undercover RCMP officer kicked out of Ryerson
Officer in plain clothes tried to monitor 10 G20 protesters from the student paper’s office
If you are planning to protest the G20 meeting being held in Toronto, and you want to make plans from the Ryerson University Student Campus Centre, be warned that the RCMP may be watching you. Late Wednesday afternoon, officer Leslie Tull, who was wearing plain clothes, was using the office of student paper the Eyeopener, to observe 10 protesters in the student run building. According to the paper, Tull “refused requests to leave while asking several people in the office if they knew how many exits were in the building and if the protesters could be kicked out.” After Eyeopener staff contacted security,students’ union president Toby Whitfield had Tull escorted off campus.
Cheat and you shall be rewarded
Ryerson student charged with academic misconduct files $10 million class action suit
Sigh. It is hard to get through a week without reading about a university student somewhere suing their university. Some cases are unabashed, and ridiculous, in the sense of entitlement demonstrated by the suing student. The University of Winnipeg was once brought to court by a student who was angling for an A in one class, over the B+ he was actually assigned. Other cases demonstrate clear misconduct on the part of the university. In Sept 2008, Laurentian University was found liable after it was concluded to have mislead students over whether they could transfer their Laurentian courses elsewhere.
The case of Chris Avenir, who has filed a $10 million class action lawsuit against Ryerson University over an academic misconduct hearing he faced in 2008, on first blush appears to fall into the category of just another self-entitled student looking to escape accountability for his own actions. And yet it raises important questions of a university’s academic misconduct policies.
Avenir gained international attention in March 2008 after he faced expulsion for administering a Facebook study group the previous semester. The Facebook group invited students to provide answers: “If you request to join, please use the forms to discuss/post solutions to the chemistry assignments. Please input your solutions if they are not already posted.” A professor who had mandated that course work be done individually noticed the group and changed Avenir’s grade to an F on the assignment. Ryerson’s academic misconduct policy very clearly states that “working collaboratively on an assignment, and then submitting it as if it was created solely by you,” is prohibited. In other words, work that is to be done independently, must actually be done independently.
Avenir, who was then a first-year engineering student, was forced to face a faculty appeal panel, which could recommend his expulsion. The panel ultimately gave him a slap on the wrist, and ruled only that he should receive a grade of zero for the assignment in question, which was worth only 10 per cent of his mark for the class. He might have left it at that, comforted in the fact that he didn’t get a zero for the entire class, or that he wasn’t recommended for expulsion. Lesson learned.
Instead, Avenir is alleging that the faculty appeal process caused “significant emotional and/or mental stress,” and has filed a Statement of Claim on behalf of all students who have gone through a similar appeal process in recent years.
The point of contention appears to be, according to the Toronto Star, is that at the panel Avenir was not permitted to be represented by a lawyer. At Ryerson, preliminary hearings, like this one, only allow a representative from the student union to be present. While the panel can recommend more serious sanctions, like expulsion, such cases must be heard by the university’s senate, in which case, a lawyer may be present.
As the Star reports, “The statement of claim suggests Ryerson violated a policy that states all hearings will be consistent with the Statutory Powers Procedure Act, which guarantees a person the right to be represented by a lawyer.”
Whether Ryerson will be found to be in contravention of its own policy will be decided by the courts, but it is not exactly an easy question. A student union executive told the Star that a representative from the union might actually be better suited, at least for preliminary hearings, than outside legal representation. Then again, other universities, like the University of Toronto, allow students to be represented by legal counsel through the entire hearing process.
As for the question of “emotional distress,” any law students or lawyers reading, your insights in the comments would be helpful. But it seems to me that having to go in front of an academic misconduct committee, charged with cheating, is likely to be “emotionally stressful” whether a lawyer is present or not. Reviewing Ryerson’s academic misconduct policy is probably a good idea, but I can’t help but think that filing a class action lawsuit is excessive.
Ryerson goes bottled water free
Plastic containers condemned
On March 11, 2010, I was duped.
Yes, the collaborative efforts of the Canadian Federation of Students, the Sierra Youth Coalition, and the Polaris Institute got me.
Apparently, “Bottled Water Free Day” is nothing as it sounds. I know; I was shocked too! Not only did I not get my free bottle of water, but I found out that the very cap I untwist to seek refreshment can unearth a Pandora’s box of campus sin!
Defeated and embarrassed, I went home to mull over my misstep.
What was I missing? Clearly, Evian and Nestle were up to something dire; why else would student leaders be using my fees to campaign for something completely not student related?
Then I saw the press release: “Ryerson pledges to be first bottled water free campus in Ontario.”
OK, OK, something’s definitely going on; or else, why would my university pledge to eliminate all bottled water from campus? A band-aid move that reeks of appeasement? When everyone knows that prohibition will only create resentment? And that the way to get people to really align with your views is through reasoned argument and persuasion, not mandating its acceptance?
I stared at my half-empty Dasani. Oh, you’re trouble, aren’t you? That’s why my university has decided to stunt one of our few healthy consumer trends. Why the Ryerson Student Union has suddenly been granted the right to decide what others can purchase on campus?
Finally, after hours of reflection, I’m down to three possible conclusions:
Either:
• Bottled water was the root cause of the 5-3 upset suffered by the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team to the United States in Vancouver this past February
Or:
• The grooves on many water bottles somehow serve as capitalist symbols
Or:
• Bottled water is responsible for high tuition fees
You decide…
-Photo by Cesar Vivas
More student elections: StFX, UBC, and Ryerson
Two more elections to note. Voter turnout at UBC was only 1214.4 per cent. The winner of the presidential race, Blake Frederick, was disqualified by the Elections Committee for “slate-like” behaviour. The Alma Mater Society at UBC banned slates a few years ago, a good background article on the ban was published in The Ubyssey [...]
Two more elections to note.
Voter turnout at UBC was only 1214.4 per cent.
The winner of the presidential race, Blake Frederick, was disqualified by the Elections Committee for “slate-like” behaviour. The Alma Mater Society at UBC banned slates a few years ago, a good background article on the ban was published in The Ubyssey this week. (I’m planning to write on the slate-ban this weekend)
Turnout at Ryerson was up, but still very low by national standards at 14 per cent. (Thanks to Cassandra Jowett for noting this in a comment on my blog)
Voter turnout at St. Francis Xavier remains the envy of every campus in Canada with an amazing 60.24 per cent.
Students take a stand on York U strike
Classes are still canceled for more than 50,000 students, tensions are rising
It almost felt like a regular academic day at York University, with multiple rallies occurring at suburban Toronto campus. However, instead of the usual Israeli/Palestinian rallies, students were rallying against or for a strike by CUPE 2903, which has kept 50,000 students out of classes for the better part of two weeks.
RELATED VIDEO:
[display_podcast]
In the morning, about 200 York undergraduate students held a rally calling for government-imposed binding arbitration to end the strike and get them back in their classes.
The rally, organized by a student group that calls itself YorkNotHostage.com, was designed to give students the opportunity to make their voices heard.
“We don’t really have a say,” says Catherine Divaris, a fifth-year kinesiology student who helped organize the rally. “We are not at the table.”
Divaris, like many students, is concerned about what the consequences of a long strike may have on her future.
“I’ve applied to law schools already. I’m in my final year. I have to work in the summer to make money to be able to afford my future education,” she says. “It’s not fair for a union of 3,200 members and an administration of 10 or 11 people to decide the fate of 50,000 students.”
Students were encouraged to write their stories on a large banner placed on a wall. Many students expressed apprehension about finding summer jobs if the strike results in classes being pushed back into May.
The students have succeeded in garnering the attention of at least one provincial politician. Peter Shurman, Progressive Conservative MPP for Thornhill who is calling on the provincial Liberal government to pass back-to-work legislation, spoke to the students.
“My office was besieged telephone calls and emails as this strike has unfolded,” said Shurman. “People have very long memories: they remember there was a 11-week strike seven years ago and they don’t want to see a repeat.”
Buying insurance, why not get a quote?
The Eyeopener reports the Ryerson Students’ Union is deciding on its next health and dental insurance contract. The RSU is divided between a pro-CFS Executive and a pro-independence Council. Many issues at the RSU involve some element of the CFS debate and insurance is no difference. The pro-CFS side wants to sign with the CFS [...]
The Eyeopener reports the Ryerson Students’ Union is deciding on its next health and dental insurance contract.
The RSU is divided between a pro-CFS Executive and a pro-independence Council. Many issues at the RSU involve some element of the CFS debate and insurance is no difference.
The pro-CFS side wants to sign with the CFS insurance plan, the pro-independence side wants to sign with Gallivan and Associates.
I’m not a fan of either insurance plan.
Frankly, with how lucrative student insurance plans seem to be, I question if students are actually receiving enough return on the money they put into these plans.
The amount of back scratching that occurs with these contracts is disgusting.
However, if a student union is going to sign a contact, the least they can do is get a quote.
The fact that the pro-independence side is pushing for a non-tendered agreement reflects poorly on them and they should immediately reverse their position.
Ryerson Students’ Union needs to reform electoral procedures
Yet another students’ union in need of a better electoral process
Yet another students’ union in need of a better electoral process
Let’s go to McMaster
When you can’t find student protesters locally, you just call the “solidarity” movement and they will bus the professionals in
This Friday, McMaster University will be the scene of a Toronto-organized protest in favour of useless rhetoric.
McMaster University denied the Palestinian “solidarity movement” the ability to hang banners screaming “Israeli Apartheid.”
This attack on inflammatory and inaccurate words cannot be tolerated. How dare the university require truth in advertising!
Not to worry, the York Federation of Students (Canadian Federation of Students Local 68) and the Ryerson Students Union (Canadian Federation of Students Local 24) will not tolerate this action.
They are paying for buses to ship protesters from Toronto to McMaster University on Friday to let the administration of McMaster know what they think.
Great, just what McMaster needs, outsiders coming in and spreading their intolerant rhetoric.
This year has been different from past years in terms of the actions of the “Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights” group. In previous years, they stuck to spreading their literature, hosting nights condemning Israel, but always maintained a level of decorum.
This year, the leadership is more radical and in your face. It’s a shame, I used to be able to respectfully disagree with them. I used to be able to accept them spreading their propaganda as they were careful to not make other students uncomfortable. This year, that seems to be their goal.
In terms of the decision by the university Provost to not allow the display of the phrase “Israeli Apartheid,” I believe it was the right decision. Israel is not an apartheid state. We all know that. There must be some standard of truth on a campus.
What effect did the decision have on the “solidarity movement” – none. They were still able to hold their event, they were still able to rant and rave, their funds were not cut. In short, beyond having a requirement for some level of honesty, the university did not stop this group from holding their event.
The group appealed to the campus human rights office. The campus human rights office stated of the university decision: “The university has taken the position that literature which refers to “Israeli apartheid” and activities promoted under the banner, “Israeli Apartheid Week” are unacceptable. The university takes the position that this phrase is in violation of the university’s efforts to ensure that all people will be treated with dignity and tolerance.”
In short, the human rights office agreed that they were not being discriminated against. The McMaster office is extremely independent of the administration. This should have told the “solidarity movement” that this time they were in the wrong.
Instead, they have gone out and requested that other “solidarity” groups come to McMaster to help them. (The radical element on campus is small and most students at McMaster prefer respectful tolerate debate.) So, this Friday, they will ship in protestors by the bus load. Rant and rave about how horrible everyone else is. Demand the privilege of being intolerant and call all kinds of people names. Should be an interesting show to watch.
All of this will be made possible using student fees paid by students at Ryerson and York. It’s nice to know that Locals 24 and 68 are looking after their students.
