All Posts Tagged With: "University of Saskatchewan"
Student unions fret over potash deal
BHP takeover could cost the Sask treasury as much as $6 billion
I wouldn’t think that the pending takeover of Potash Corporation by BHP Billiton would peak the interest of student union representatives, but apparently when they’re riled up everything becomes a post-secondary education funding issue
Student leaders at the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina are asking students to support Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall’s vehement opposition of the takeover. Wall is currently lobbying the federal government to stop the $36.8 billion deal that would see Potash Corp handed over to BHP.
The student’s concerns stem from the hit the Saskatchewan treasury stands to take, at at estimated $2 – 6 billion over the next decade, if the deal goes through. According to a report from the Conference Board of Canada, the deal could mean a near $200 million loss in revenue per year over 10 years, considering BHP will likely take advantage of their more favorable tax benefits as a US company.
The students are nervous about the affects that less revenue for the province could have on the generous amount of funding Saskatchewan universities have received over the past few years from the provincial government.
Both unions have sent letters to federal industry minister Tony Clement, asking him to support Wall’s efforts.
Although Potash Corp. has also been very generous in their donations to the U of S, university administrators are not taking sides on the issue of the potential takeover, despite the awkwardly timed pep rally organized by the university held on Friday at the U of S to recognize the substantial donations from Potash Corp that exceeded the $10 million mark in 2005, according to the Star Phoenix:
“I would hope that it does not look like we’re taking a stance on that,” said Heather Magotiaux, vice-president of university advancement.
“We’re certainly not in a position to make any kind of comment on what’s happening in terms of the business of potash.”
While Potash Corp is indirectly a very important contributor to the financial well being of universities in Saskatchewan, and employs hundreds if not thousands of students after graduation, I find it funny that student union leaders would take such a strong stance against the hostile U.S. takeover of the company because it may mean a potential hit to provincial funding for post secondary education.
These students should be more concerned by the fact that their universities’ financial stability has to indirectly rely on the well being of a private company by relying so heavily on the well being of the province’s budget. I would think that after universities everywhere were hit hard this year by slashes in government spending due to the economic recession, student unions would loosen their loyalty to the idea that public funding is alway the answer to all of higher education’s problems. Apparently not.
Getting into med school
High marks aren’t enough
Even with high marks and impressive extracurricular experience, there are no guarantees when it comes to getting into med school. At least, not in Canada. The harsh reality is, there are far more highly qualified applicants than there are available seats.
The statistics vary from province to province, but as a med school hopeful living in Ontario, my chances are about 19 per cent (or 1 in 5). Yes, this is just a raw number–it doesn’t take grades, extracurricular activities, or MCAT scores into account. For applicants with high (or low) marks, or applicants who are involved in some sort of incredible medical research, the chance of success isn’t 19 per cent. But there are lots of students with impressive GPA’s, great MCAT scores, and plenty of medically-related volunteer work, and they’re all competing for the same number of limited spots.
How can an applicant stand out?
A few years ago when I interviewed Dr. Evelyn Sutton, assistant dean of admissions and student affairs at Dalhousie University, in an article for Maclean’s Professional schools issue, she remembered one successful applicant whose “unique” extracurricular activity made her stand out from the pack: she was a champion skip-rope jumper.
Some med schools, including Dalhousie, still want to see medically related experience on an applicant’s transcript. The important thing to remember: med schools are looking for “well-rounded” applicants.
I’m not suggesting that a med school hopeful should volunteer or suddenly develop a “passion” simply because it might improve their chances of getting in. After all, the admissions board can see right through that kind of act. Trying to be a good Samaritan just because you think it’ll make you look good will probably have the opposite effect.
What does this mean for the rest of us? How can applicants present themselves in the best possible light?
“Don’t be just a computer geek,” advises Dr. Barry Ziola, of the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine, “because computer geeks do not make good physicians.”
-photo courtesy of RambergMediaImages
Want academic advice? Avoid USask
Study says students are being driven away by poor service
Students say they may be driven away from the University of Saskatchewan because of poor academic advising, a recent report from the university concludes. Gross under staffing and poor training has left academic advising inaccessible to students, some of who say “they may not come back to the U of S.” The study authored with the help of the U.S.-based National Academic Advising Association concluded that “the general sense is that students are pretty much on their own to figure things out and to succeed.” Academic advising is intended help students plan and manage their degrees. The student union says that the poor service can lead students to “end up wasting time and money — taking classes that you don’t need to graduate.” The university is taking the report “seriously.”
Your grades will drop
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.
Canadian university humour not dead
Our coast to coast review of campus satire
Last month, in true Chicken-Little style, I declared the death of the student newspaper satire issue.
I will admit that my panic was only partly a sincere response to an allegedly controversial spoof issue, which I will not name again here because I’ve already given them a hard enough time. My panic was also a very clever ploy, designed to goad writers and editors of student papers to send me their funniest articles and their best humour issues, so I can post them here to inspire future generations of student humour writers.
I was not disappointed by the goadability (Editor’s note: not a real word) of the student press. Our offices were inundated by responses from literally hundreds of thousands of Canadian student newspapers. We had interns working around the clock sifting through the submissions until my editor pointed out that they were not actually interns, but customers of the café next door who got lost while looking for the washroom and blundered into my office, where they were bullied into working for free.
As a result of the unfortunate emancipation of my interns, I was forced to research this article myself. It was an enjoyable task; it really was. You people are funny. But there was really a lot of stuff, and there are only so many jokes about Catholic sex scandals and the menstrual applications of iPads that a guy can read in a day. Consequently, there’s a chance that I didn’t read every word of every newspaper that was sent to me, nor did I use Wikipedia to puzzle through every pop culture reference and inside joke those newspapers contained.
So if you think your spoof issue was funnier than the ones I’ve posted below, please don’t organize a picket outside of the Maclean’s office at the Rogers Building, One Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto; there’s just the tiniest chance that I overlooked that one nuance of your humour issue that made it funnier than the ones I’ve posted below.
And if you’re easily offended, do both of us a favour and just close this window now. Seriously, there’s nothing innocuous to be had here. It’s pretty much all potentially offensive to those with delicate sensibilities.
Best Sex Columnist: Di Daniels at the Fulcrum.
She’s frankly filthy, but she never gives the impression that she’s saying dirty stuff to show off or get laughs. Her article on how to have better sex foregoes all of the foreplay and intimacy stuff and goes straight to bondage, exhibitionism and group sex. Absolutely filthy — but practical!
Best Shit Disturbing: The Athenaeum, Acadia University.
Their cover story for their April 1 issue this year announced that McDonald’s will be opening in the student union building and take over the food service for the campus pub. Wing night at the pub will be replaced by nugget night. In response to the new McDonald’s, student health plan fees will be increasing next year.
I can only imagine the knee-jerk uproar this caused among students who only read the first half of the article. Well done, Athenaeum.
There’s plenty more good stuff in this issue, and I’d love to send you a link, but the Athenaeum hasn’t updated their website since October ’09, so this one is just for me to enjoy. Or, you guys could wake up, update your website, and my editor will post a link here.
Best Cartoons: Nexus, Camousun College
I’m not going to try to describe these cartoons. You’ll just have to look yourself. The only good way to see them is to follow this link and scroll down to page 15. I first read those cartoons three days ago, and I’m still waking up in the morning, laughing about that cat. That cat made my week. Thank you, Shane Priestley and Cam Wright.
Best Photoshopping: The Gateway`s Metraux Spoof, University of Alberta
There’s actually a lot of great stuff in this issue, but the photoshop of Ann Coulter in a hijab on page 6 takes the cake for me. Too much. The photo is accompanied by an article quoting newly converted Islamic extremist Ann saying, “we should invade the west, kill their socialist leaders, and convert them.” Also worthy of honourable mention is the article, “You will always be a repulsive slob: study” on page 13.
The student editors among you will also want to take the time to admire the Gateway’s advertisers. I swear, these guys must have better ad revenue than Maclean’s.
Best Fake Ads: The Sheaf, University of Saskatchewan
Taking a more principled and independent stand on journalism, the Sheaf’s spoof issue contained no real ads at all, I hope. Instead, they squandered their potential revenue-generating space on ads for underage night at a pub, and the 19th annual skinhead picnic, down at good old Rotary park.
Best Spoof: Martha Student Living by The Fulcrum, University of Ottawa
To really appreciate the design work that went into this masterpiece, you have to download a PDF of the entire issue, and scroll down about a dozen pages to get to the spoof insert. I can only marvel at the discipline it must have taken to write an entire Martha Stewart-style spoof issue, without ever breaking voice or straying from the subject matter.
This issue contains advice on how to throw an elegant kegger, how to decorate your beer bong using stencils and beads, and how to make origami claws so you can unleash your inner Wolverine. To avoid looking haggard on your “walk of shame” home from partying the night before, Martha Student Living suggests placing “cucumber slices on your eyelids 10 minutes before passing out.” To spruce up your dorm, you’re instructed to put potpourri between your garbage bag and the can it sits in, so “your overflowing garbage can will smell like a cornucopia of flowers!”
The cartoon illustration of Martha Stewart with a beer keg dressed up in doilies, ribbons and flowers is reason enough alone to take a look at this one.
Thanks to everyone for submitting their work. There were many articles I laughed at, but didn’t have room to mention here. Keep on fighting the good fight against mediocre humour issues and tired, old jokes.
And if you’re procrastinating and you want more good stuff to read, try this. Or this. Or this!
Graphic courtesy of the Gateway
Former USask prof accused of hate speech free on bail
Terrence Tremaine has been ordered to stay off the Internet
A former University of Saskatchewan lecturer charged with spreading hate and breaching his bail conditions is being released from custody.
Terrence Tremaine appeared via video in a Regina court where he has been ordered to stay away from computers or any devices that can access the Internet. Tremaine was arrested earlier this summer for allegedly breaching previous bail conditions not to post messages online.
The conditions were put in place after Tremaine was charged with spreading hatred in connection with comments posted on the Internet between Feb. 2004 and Nov. 2007.
He has pleaded not guilty and is to be back in court for a preliminary hearing Oct. 19.
- The Canadian Press
Campus jail break
Cow escapes from uSask vet college
See story at:
http://academicagroup.ca/top10_page
U Sask joins with province on isotope-producing reactor
University has been studying the nuclear project’s feasibility for the past year
Building a small reactor that focused on nuclear research and medical isotope production would be costly, but it could also be the answer to the isotope shortage, says Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.
Wall put a price tag on the idea for the first time Wednesday, saying such a reactor could cost half a billion dollars or more.
“It depends on the sort of reactor you’re proposing,” he said.
“If we wanted to test other reactor technology that comes along you get into some pretty big numbers. My understanding – and it’s a very general sort of 50,000-foot-view understanding – is over a billion, but maybe half of that if you’re looking at a research reactor that focuses on nuclear materials science and isotope production.”
The premier said Saskatchewan will pitch a plan for medical isotope production to an expert panel appointed by the federal government to look at supply options.
A new partnership will make the proposal by the end of July.
“I learned this morning that progress is being made in a new partnership between the (University of Saskatchewan) and the government to have a submission from our province to the federal government to provide long-term solution to medical isotopes.”
“A research reactor could make us a leader in nuclear materials research, materials science and isotope production.”
But Wall was quick to note that if a research reactor were built, it would need some federal funding and public approval. Public meetings were held across Saskatchewan last month to give people a chance to comment on uranium development, but a report on the findings isn’t expected until the end of August.
The premier said the proposal can’t wait.
U Saskatchewan in the lead? Check your iPhone
With new iUSASK app, students will have access to marks, maps and campus webcams
Programmers at the University of Saskatchewan have designed a new iPhone application that could revolutionize how some students get their school-related information.
The iUSASK app is set to launch in August, and will allow students to check their marks, feedback from professors, campus news, maps and even search the library catalogue.
Although the program, a first at a Canadian university, still needs to be approved by smart phone manufacturer Apple, the university is aiming to have it available — for free — by the time school starts in September.
USask’s computer science department will also be the first Canadian university to offer an iPhone programming course within the year. The class will be open to students and members of the public, who will learn how to build applications for the popular smart phone.
The iUSASK application, which can also be accessed on the iPod Touch, can currently be used to check class schedules, assignment due dates, marks and other academic notifications. The university’s athletics department has a feed, as does the students’ union and the school’s learning centre. The program even has access to a real-time campus webcam.
As they continue to develop the software, the app’s programmers plan on including a real-time map, made with Google Maps, that can track a user’s location at the university.
A spokesperson for the school recently told The StarPhoenix that the programming code used in the software could ostensibly be sold to other universities. “Yes, we could make money off of the application.”
Tuition at USaskatchewan to increase
Fees will go up by 3 per cent, all departments will suffer budget cuts
Tuition at the University of Saskatchewan is going up by an average of three per cent.
The Saskatoon-based university also says it’s cutting costs to help slash an estimated operating budget shortfall of $10 million. The reduction means almost all academic and administrative departments will see cuts in their budgets.
Brett Fairbairn, a university spokesman, says the reduction is necessary because of the global economic downturn which has led to income shortfalls.
The university says tuition fees would have increased regardless of its financial situation.
Between 15,000 and 20,000 full and part-time students attend the university.
- The Canadian Press
USask turns down $500,000 “race-based” donation
Says request for scholarship for “non-aboriginals” violates university policy
The University of Saskatchewan turned down a donation of $500,000 because the donor wanted the funds used to support scholarships for “non-aboriginal” students, reports the National Post.
The university states a race-based scholarship would violate both university policies and human rights legislation.
I’ve always been bothered by race-based scholarships because they do not directly target the factors that disadvantage students.
Yes, students of aboriginal backgrounds are more likely to be social-economically disadvantaged. Yes, the history of how we treated (and continue to treat in some cases) aboriginals has resulted in a lot of the disadvantages that aboriginal students face.
That said, the problem is not their race and I’ve always seen scholarships that use race as a determining factor leaving the impression that race may be the problem.
Bursaries should be targeted to the actual disadvantages they are supposed to address. I find it perfectly acceptable to have bursaries designed to assist students moving from a rural reserve into a university town. There are plenty of bursaries that have geographic restrictions. Having funds with the criteria of being a descendant of someone who was put in residential schools is acceptable. The trauma of those schools continues to be passed down generation by generation. It is actually targeting a real problem. A scholarship based purely on need would be even better.
Unless race is the problem then why do we use it as a criteria to find a solution? Simple: because it makes things easy. Why go further than the skin layer of the problem?
(Hattip: Dale Kirby)
Want to be a lawyer? Go down under
If you don’t make the cut in Canada, Bond University wants you
It was 3 a.m. as Warren Beil tried to toss a garbage bag into a dumpster and it burst over his head. At that moment, the Vancouver kitchen manager decided that it was time to explore other career opportunities. “I don’t want to be a chef,” he said to himself. “I think I’m going to go to law school.” It was December 2003, and he had already missed application deadlines at every Canadian university. Yet just a week later Beil, then 23, was on his way to Bond University, a law school in Australia that actively targets and recruits Canadian students.
Five years later, Beil — now completing his articling at a Vancouver law firm — is one of a growing number of future lawyers who are going abroad for their legal education. In 2007, 562 foreign-trained graduates applied to the National Committee on Accreditation, requesting the right to practice in Canada, up from 225 in 1999. If current trends continue, that number could grow by 200 applicants in as few as three years, according to Vern Krishna, a University of Ottawa law professor and former Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada.
Bond is, by far, Canada’s most popular overseas law program. Since its founding in 1987, Australia’s first private university has geared its law program to attract Canadians. More than 140 are currently enrolled—making Bond’s population of Canadian law students almost as large as that of the University of Calgary’s faculty of law. Students meet fellow Canadians through the Canadian Law Students Association and study with visiting profs from the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Manitoba, and the University of Western Ontario. They can even study Canadian constitutional law (Canadian corporate law courses are in the works, too) and get credit from the University of Manitoba. To top it off, it all takes place on a campus in the suburbs of Gold Coast, Queensland, a lush paradise that is a hybrid between Miami Beach and Waikiki.
Victoria Heron, a manager with student recruitment agency AustraLearn, says there are three primary reasons students choose Bond: to get through law school faster (a law degree at Bond takes only two years, not three), to gain international experience—and because they weren’t accepted at a Canadian law school. Eric Colvin, a Bond professor and former dean who used to teach at the University of Saskatchewan, says that two-thirds of graduates return to Canada to practice law and most have no problem finding jobs and articling positions. “The students say that they are able to get employment,” he says. “The fact that they have got their law degree from somewhere like Australia makes them somewhat exotic and interesting creatures and law firms are very willing to see what they’ve got to offer.”
Beil thinks his global outlook gave him an edge when applying for articling positions. “A lot of the Canadian law grads have never worked. They have never done anything,” he says. “In this market, employers just want to see something different. I got out there and saw the world and it makes me way more interesting.” But among his peers at the University of Toronto where he later completed a second law degree, Beil had to fight Bond’s stigma as Last Chance U. “The appearance of Bond to a lot of people in Canada is that the school will let anybody under the sun in,” he says. “People say, ‘You went to Bond because you couldn’t get in anywhere else. You’re not as smart as the rest of us.’ It’s simply not true.”
University of Saskatchewan – Marquis Hall Cafeteria
“It’s prison food” said one student. We found no reason to dispute that
To pronounce the “Marquis” in Marquis Hall in anything like the French way (marquis, silent “s,” connoting nobility) is to mark oneself out as an outsider on campus. Markwiss, they say here, and it’s a good thing too, since no one should mistake the food in the Garry Room, which serves the nearby residences of Saskatchewan and Qu’Appelle halls, with anything of noble or superior taste. “It’s prison food,” one student complains, and we found no reason to dispute that judgment, even if the 1964-vintage building offers plenty of natural light and delicious views of the greystone Gothic campus.
But onward and food-ward. A serving of the kitchen’s garlic pork balls—deep-fried, with trans-fat aftertaste and that unmistakable bouquet of factory floor—was awful. A plate of pasta primavera, swimming in a packaged, paste-like roux with bits of tasteless carrot and deflowered broccoli (who knew green stuff could taste so unwholesome?), proved almost inedible. A rice side dish managed the Zen feat of white grains looking just like regular gohan but tasting like sawdust.
In the lasagna bolognese, at last, we found a tasty, generously portioned balm, with flavourful tomato and beef sauce and a passable melted-cheese roof. The jambalaya chicken was also not too offensive, with a nice little Creole heat. A side of corn, however, recalled the multiplex’s sickening I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-real-butter aroma. We were immediately diagnosed with diabetes after a bite of the Nanaimo bar, featuring a cracker base apparently made of real hardened artery. With the 10-meal-a-week plan going for some $2,600 a semester, food quality at the Garry Room is a disaster.
Yet, just a few doors down from Marquis, in the Arts Building—with a view of the stunning, castle-like Thorvaldson building—is one of the university’s many buffeterias, little gatherings of deli, salad and burrito counters dealing in the currency of ultra-fresh veggies and otherwise real food.
Though not on the meal plan, the fare is inexpensive, tasty—and a much better bet.
USask closes last 24-hour building citing safety concerns
Students say those who can’t afford a computer, printer or Internet will suffer
According to The StarPhoenix, the University of Saskatchewan will limit access to its last 24-hour building out of concern for student safety.
Starting Monday, the university’s arts building will be closed between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
David Hannah, vice-president of student and enrolment services, says people with no connection to the university are sometimes found sleeping in the building. A student was also reportedly assaulted in the washrooms a few years ago.
Although doors will be locked at night, students who are in the building before it closes will be allowed to stay as long as they’d like.
The decision has angered many students who say the university should handle these safety concerns differently. One graduate student says this is a huge loss for those who can’t afford their own computers, Internet access or printers. The school’s student union says this is just another case of inadequate consultation.
USask’s Sheaf at the centre of another controversy
Student newspapers are about making mistakes and learning from them
The University of Saskatchewan student newspaper, The Sheaf, is at the centre of another controversy related to its editorial content. (PDF version page 10)
Last Thursday, an editor of the paper wrote the editorial page opinion and stated “Remembrance Day is a depraved celebration of war, violence and death.”
While the opinion piece made very valid points about the reasons why Canada became involved in World War I and World War II, it showed a lack of understanding of the true purpose of Remembrance Day. Instead of making a fully meaningful opinion, the piece degraded into a typical anti-military rant.
The piece fails to note that Remembrance Day is a solemn occasion. Veterans and military personnel do not celebrate war, do not like violence, and never celebrate death.
An editorial is supposed to challenge the reader and make them think. This piece had a great deal of potential to do exactly that, but went too far in what appeared to be an attempt to capture the reader’s attention.
This is not the first editorial controversy to occur recently at The Sheaf. Two and a half years ago, the paper was engulfed in scandal after running a cartoon depicting Jesus Christ engaging in the act of fellatio on a cartoon pig representing capitalism. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper resigned over the cartoon.
In the November 13th issue, hitting newsstands today, the editor who wrote the piece apologized “for not choosing my words more carefully.”
While I strongly disagree with the opinion piece, I’m reassured that it ran. The student press is one of the few places that one can challenge ideas which society holds to be sacred.
Student newspapers push the limits with inexperienced writers. The result is some good ideas go bad and outrage follows.
I know I’ve had to learn the hard way as well.
USask student paper looks to increase fee
The University of Saskatchewan student newspaper The Sheaf is hoping to increase their student levy to $6 per term from the present inflation indexed $3.36 per term. This amounts to $12 per academic year from the present $6.72. There is no doubt The Sheaf is one of the better student newspapers in the country. I [...]
The University of Saskatchewan student newspaper The Sheaf is hoping to increase their student levy to $6 per term from the present inflation indexed $3.36 per term. This amounts to $12 per academic year from the present $6.72.
There is no doubt The Sheaf is one of the better student newspapers in the country. I enjoyed reading it online back in the day when they uploaded a copy onto the tubes.
Based on the news story I linked to, it’s also clear The Sheaf is in need of an infusion of new revenue.
However, they are attempting to get this new revenue too quickly. They need to implement a phrased increase. To almost double their fee in one year is too much.
Reading the story, I’m surprised to learn there are no protections in place to prevent the creation or increase of ancillary fees. Students at the University of Saskatchewan should be lobbying for an ancillary fee protocol which requires all new fees and increases to present fees be approved by a student referendum.
Peak student
We all know about "Peak Oil." What about "Peak Student?" For a few years now, it has been predicted that the number of young people in traditional university demographics will peak. This will result in either declining enrolment numbers or universities reaching out to non-tradition groups to maintain their enrolments.
We all know about "Peak Oil." What about "Peak Student?"
For a few years now, it has been predicted that the number of young people in traditional university demographics will peak. This will result in either declining enrolment numbers or universities reaching out to non-tradition groups to maintain their enrolments.
Budget 2008: New funds for university research
But critics say that the targeted funding announcements hurt basic research
The relatively thin federal budget released today did have some treats in it for research funding, including direct funding to the University of Calgary and University of Saskatchewan and a major funding announcement for Genome Canada.
Canada’s research granting councils will receive $80 million in new funding. $34 million will flow to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, $34 million to the Canada Institutes of Health Research, and $12 million for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
But critics are concerned that the funding announcements have too many strings attached. James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Federation of University Teachers, said that while the new funding announcements were welcome, they missed the point by targeting the funding.
For instance, the money for the Social Sciences and Humanities is earmarked for environment related or northern development research. “That excludes maybe 95 per cent of the professors from having access to that money,” Turk said. By targeting funding, very little is left to basic research that often leads to important breakthroughs for industry, he said. “Our ability to predict what is going to pay off is very bad.”
Turk also criticized the government’s move to set aside $15 million in new funding to support the indirect costs of research, such as infrastructure, arguing that it is not enough.
Budget 2008 created 20 prestigious Canada Global Excellence Research Chairs that will receive $21 million over two years. The research chairs will be focused on key areas identified by the government, including the environment, natural resources and energy, health, and communication technologies. Each chair may receive up to $10 million over seven years.
The Conservative government increased research funding to some universities, targeting the funding on key priorities including health and engineering research. Calgary got $5 million for carbon capture research. Saskatchewan got an additional $10 million to maintain the Canada Light Source.
But the most significant funding announcement was $140-million for Genome Canada, a not-for-profit corporation that funds genomics research. In previous years, the organization has received $700 million from the government of Canada, according to the Genomics Canada website. The budget claims that this latest batch of funding will “build on Canada’s knowledge and people advantage in genomics.”
The budget also promises to create a new Automotive Innovation Fund, valued at $250 million over five years, to help the automotive sector “develop innovative, greener and more fuel-efficient vehicles.”
-with a report from Joey Coleman
