All Posts Tagged With: "Simon Fraser University"

What students are talking about today (April 5th)

A library at UBC by *_* on Flickr

1. A new database from the Vancouver Sun shows the salaries of all public sector employees in British Columbia who earned more than $75,000 in 2011-12. The University of British Columbia dominates the first few pages of the post-secondary salaries section. Stephen Toope, president of the University of British Columbia, was the highest paid at $531,088. The University of Victoria’s David Turpin was the second-highest-paid president on the list (and fifth overall) at $430,760. Simon Fraser University’s Andrew Petter took home $396,837. The University of Northern British Columbia’s George Iwama made $273,488. Ontario’s public salary disclosure recently revealed that the highest paid president in that province is Amit Chakma of Western University, who earned $479,600 plus benefits in 2012.

2. Montreal police are defending the decision to charge a 20-year-old student protester with criminal harassment after she posted an image of graffiti on Instagram. The image Jennifer Pawluck shared showed police spokesperson Ian Lafreniere with bullet hole in his head. The arrest drew outrage along the lines of, “arrested for taking a photo!?” Police say there’s more to the story.

Continue reading Big salaries in B.C., Instagram arrest & divestment

Five things students are talking about today (February 20th)

Elisa Lam (AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department)

1. Elisa Lam, a University of British Columbia student reported missing Jan. 31st, has been found dead inside a water tank atop a Los Angeles skid row hotel. A hotel worker discovered the body while investigating complaints of low water pressure, reports to The Canadian Press. Guests told reporters gathered outside that they were disgusted by the idea they were possibly drinking water from the tank, reports CBC News. Lam, who was vacationing alone in California, was last seen on Jan. 31st in the hotel elevator. There were reports she was acting strangely.

2. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs’ list of ways to deter a sexual assault includes the following tips: “Tell your attacker that you have a disease or are menstruating,” and “Vomiting or urinating may also convince the attacker to leave you alone.” The list was widely criticized by conservative and liberals pundits alike (finally—they agree!) on Twitter before the university took it down. The university says the list, which was first published in 2006 and provided to women who took a self-defense class, was taken out of context.

Continue reading UBC student dead in L.A., sexual assault & chicken wings

What students are talking about today (January 9th)

From UBCCVC on YouTube

1. A student newspaper blog has taken a swipe at a video parody of the MTV stunt show Jackass made by the University of British Columbia’s Chinese Varsity Club.”It’s mostly some dudes standing on a dock performing tame hijinks. Cinnamon eating! Purple Nerples! Syrup chugging! HILARIOUS. (The part where they shoot bare asses with a B.B. gun is a little less tame, I guess.),” wrote Andrew Bates of The Ubyssey. That might be a little unfair to these guys, who are trying hard to walk the fine line between funny and irresponsible. Then again, they deserve any criticism they get after uploading it to YouTube.

2. Sam Minniti, executive director of the McMaster Association of Part-time Students, was paid $126,151 in 2011, according to the provincial public salary disclosure list. (McMaster University included him on their submission to the Ontario government because they process his pay). The Hamilton Spectator newspaper notes that many of his counterparts are paid much less. Sandy Hudson, executive director at the much larger University of Toronto’s student union, told The Spectator she makes “less than half” as much. The university has withheld part-time student fees this year while it looks into MAPS more closely.

Continue reading A $120k salary, a cheating professor & Jackasses at UBC

Simon Fraser film student learns plenty from his quest

The elusive Mr. Freeman (CynSimp/Flickr)

Ian MacDougall’s cross-border odyssey to track down one of Hollywood’s premier heavyweights may have turned him into a short-term online sensation, but continues to prove that brushes with true stardom are far more fleeting.

Months after the 22-year-old film student teamed up with a friend to convince Morgan Freeman to narrate a class project, he’s still chasing the goal that sent him on his madcap adventure in the first place.

MacDougall plans to devote part of the upcoming year to sifting through the hours of footage he gathered last April on his quest to track Freeman down. He and collaborator MacKenzie Warner are ultimately hoping the 20-minute short film they cobbled together in less than a day can be turned into a full-length documentary, ideally featuring a voiceover from the film industry’s consummate narrator.

Continue reading B.C. student on the hunt for Morgan Freeman

Maple Batalia, 20 years of txts & another fraternity offends

Maple Batalia (CP)

1. Two men have been arrested in connection with last year’s shooting death of 19-year-old Simon Fraser University student and aspiring actress Maple Batalia. Gurjinder Dhaliwal, Batalia’s ex boyfriend, faces first degree murder charges. More here.

2.  Iman Siwalem was in the basement of her house near the University of Windsor on Saturday when she heard the footsteps of an intruder above. She locked herself in her basement room, but the man barged in, lunged and chased her up the stairs. She fled in bare feet and got her neighbours’ attention. More here.

3. It was 20 years ago today that the world’s first text message—Merry Christmas—travelled from a computer to a phone. Its inventor, Neil Papworth, was a 22-year-old Montreal man working for British telecom company Vodafone. To read more about how texts changed the world, see Maclean’s.

Continue reading What students are talking about today (December 3rd edition)

Elizabeth May, Black Friday, possible hate crime in The Soo

Elizabeth May (CP/Sean Kilpatrick)

1. Tomorrow is Black Friday, the annual sporting event during which Americans violently trample and pepper spray each other at Best Buy and Target, all for the thrill of scoring a cheap flatscreen TV. As a Canadian, I thought this was a day to look down on those south of the border with smug indignation, but, as Edward Keenan points out, 650,000 people from Ontario alone—more than the total number who watched Hockey Night in Canada during the 2010 playoffs—will head south looking for deals. And it turns out our own lust for bargains may be hurting our economy.

2. Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, has been voted Maclean’s Parliamentarian of the Year by her fellow MPs. Read this charming profile of May and then see who else won here.

3. Someone poured water on an international student from Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. and shouted “Go back to your own country,” reports the Sault Star. Police are investigating it as a hate crime. It happened, ironically, near a sign boasting of The Soo’s friendliness.

Continue reading What students are talking about today (November 22nd)

Millions could be generated by taxing marijuana

Yeshe/Flickr

It’s a bounty that almost does grow on trees.

A new study has rung in British Columbians’ pot purchases at about half a billion dollars each year, leading its pro-legalization researchers to argue current laws mean the province is missing an opportunity to harvest tax revenues.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University have quantified the retail value of black market marijuana sold only to British Columbians for the first time, pegging its value at between $443 million and $564 million annually.

“What’s important is to get a sense of how many people are using marijuana in B.C., and how much they’re using, and how much that’s worth,” said Dan Werb, the study’s lead author and co-founder of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy. “That data drives policy.”

Continue reading B.C.’s annual spending on pot: as much as $564-million

Happy Movember, #BaldforBieber & Save the Wesmen

Kelly Finnamore/Flickr

1. Movember, one of the most popular fundraisers on Canadian campuses, began today. Perhaps taking a cue from Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall, who challenged his fellow premier Robert Ghiz of P.E.I. to a grow-off, students at the University of Regina’s Carillon student newspaper are asking readers to bet on who can grow the best mo. $5 to vote. Proceeds fight cancer.

2. The 2013 Maclean’s University Rankings are finally here! The 132-page guide includes stories on class size, the viral videos phenomenon, expensive textbooks and, of course, the rankings. Who took home the gold may not surprise you, but the performance of schools like the University of Northern British Columbia, New Brunswick and Trent probably will.

3. A false rumour on Twitter that Justin Bieber had cancer caused a number of fans to shave their heads and tag them under #BaldforBieber. Rachel Herscovici of the Queen’s Journal disapproves.

4. More than 800 people have “liked” a Facebook page called “Save the Wesmen.” The University of Winnipeg is considering changing the name of its Wesmen athletics teams to be more inclusive.

Continue reading What students are talking about today (November 1st edition)

Drunkorexia, James Holmes and fake guns at U. Alberta

ARTSTARSTV/YouTube

1. Drunkorexia, a diet where students skip meals and load up on the calories in alcohol, isn’t an urban legend as some once thought. In fact, a Canadian clinical psychologist surveyed 230 York University students aged 17 to 21 and found that heavy drinking was more closely associated with dieting than other forms disordered eating, like emotional or impulse eating.

2. The University of Alberta Students’ Union Building was evacuated on Sunday after reports of someone carrying an assault rifle on campus. It turned out it was a paintball rifle and an airsoft gun that were part of a movie shoot. Considering this campus witnessed a triple murder earlier this year, we can understand why students reported what they saw.

3. Canadian electro-pop star Peaches performed to hundreds in a Berlin park to show support for the members of a feminist band on trial in Russia for performing a “punk prayer” against President Vladimir Putin in a cathedral.  Her new song is called “Free Pussy Riot.”

Continue reading What students are talking about today (Aug. 13 edition)

Asian Tigers and Australia dominate new ranking

#34. University of Victoria (Photo by Darren Stone)

University rankings often favour older institutions, because, in many cases, older schools have bigger endowments, more alumni and prestige.

The new QS Top 50 under 50 ranking takes the age-bias into account by removing all the universities founded before 1962.

Young schools are ranked on the same six criteria used in the QS World Top 300 ranking: academic reputation, employer reputation, citations per faculty, student/faculty ratio, international student ratio and international faculty ratio.

But the results are very different. In the World Top 300 rankings, the U.S. and U.K. dominate. Canada has 14 entries, but none are in the Top 50.

Continue reading Only three Canadian universities in “Top 50 under 50″