All Posts Tagged With: "University of Windsor"
Job search panic, fat acceptance & birth control scare
What students are talking about today (April 9th)
Working retail (Walmart Corporate/Flickr)
1. It’s panic time for new university graduates, at least according to newspapers across the country, which are printing reports about students who apply to hundreds of jobs and get few interviews. Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente decided to add to the angst by pointing out how the unemployment quickly turns into underemployment. She spoke to a 29-year-old English and Women’s Studies graduate who hands out towels in a gym for a living because she can’t find a white-collar job. But, hey, there’s a bright side fellow BA-holders. “People who can’t find the jobs they want are settling for something less, pushing the less qualified down the ladder,” writes Wente. “The biggest losers are the people at the bottom, who get pushed out.” So at least you’re not among the biggest losers. And if you’re really desperate for work, you could always try a Computer Science degree. The University of Windsor Comp Sci program told CBC it has low enrollment despite a perfect placement rate for graduates.
Continue reading Job search panic, fat acceptance & birth control scare
The Lance stops printing, Rick Ross & law school
What students are talking about today (April 8th)
No more Lance newspaper? (garryknight/Flickr)
1. For the second time this semester, the uneasy relationship between a student newspaper and its student union overlords is front-page news. The Windsor Star, the local daily newspaper in Windsor, Ont., reports that The Lance student paper at the University of Windsor has been ordered to shut down their presses immediately. The outgoing board of directors of the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance voted last week—with no warning—to force The Lance to go “only online” because the paper was $24,000 in the red in February. The last printed issue had a cover story called “Electile dysfunction: Multiple allegations of corruption plague UWSA election,” which asked questions about possible corruption and incompetence in a recent UWSA election. Shutting down the print edition prompts questions about freedom of the press and whether the board has been vindictive. Kim Orr, the outgoing UWSA president, points out that the critical coverage was directed mostly at executive members and the chief returning officer, not the board of directors. Still, the timing is suspect. The Lance will be expected to operate on a third of its current $180,000 budget, which would leave it a shadow of its former itself. (Trust me, just because your publication is online doesn’t make it free.) The story is reminiscent of when Western’s student government decided to take away The Gazette‘s offices in January. A backlash caused them to retreat. Let’s hope this follows the same path.
2. American colleges are talking about a crisis in law schools. In 2011, nearly half of U.S. law graduates failed to find work in law, applications to law schools fell 38 percent since 2010 and, despite the poor prospects, graduates now finish with an average debt load of $98,500. Well, it looks like market economics are starting to have an impact in the other direction. The University of Arizona’s law school is cutting tuition up to 11 per cent. In Canada, most new lawyers can still find work, though articling positions are becoming harder to come by and tuition has risen a fair bit.
Continue reading The Lance stops printing, Rick Ross & law school
McGill called ‘too white,’ Drake & an illegal rooming house
What students are talking about today (February 11th)
From Drake's Shoppers Drug Mark shot music video "Started From the Bottom"
1. After Drake won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album on Sunday night he released a video for his new single, Started From the Bottom. Much of the video was filmed at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Binbrook, Ont, according to the Hamilton Spectator, and it also features his mom standing outside his childhood home in Toronto, reports Canada.com. Why do we care? My guess is because Canadians love to see Canadian things in videos they think Americans will watch. For more Grammy coverage see Macleans.ca.
2. City of Toronto inspectors have found what they say is an illegal rooming house near U of T Scarborough and Centennial College. Officials told the Toronto Star it was probably full of foreign students. Eleven people were living in rooms in the majorly renovated house. Real estate agent Yixuan (Jessica) Wang has been accused of arranging the leases. The city says there are 120 active files stemming from complaints over suspected illegal properties in Scarborough where there is just one 765-bed student residence (at UTSC) for nearly 15,000 post-secondary students.
Continue reading McGill called ‘too white,’ Drake & an illegal rooming house
6 stupid ways student unions used your money
You won’t believe what they’re spending it on
JalilArfaoui/Flickr
It’s the time of year when most students in Canada ignore posters imploring them to vote for student government executives. Although student unions may seem irrelevant, they’re not. They collect millions of dollars each year in mandatory student fees and spend it, sometimes on things most students wouldn’t support—if only they knew.
Here are six stupid things Canadian student unions did with your money. If this doesn’t motivate you to research the candidates and vote in your campus elections, I don’t know what will.
1. Spent it on big parties you didn’t attend
Avicii, one of the top electronic acts in the world, doesn’t usually show up in places like Windsor, Ont. Snoop Dogg doesn’t often party in St. John’s, Nfld. It should be no surprise then that the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance lost about $40,000 on their show in September and that the Memorial University of Newfoundland Students’ Union lost $100,000 on Snoop. The Kwantlen Student Association may hold the record though. They lost $128,000 on Jay Sean. Jay… who?
Continue reading 6 stupid ways student unions used your money
Mandatory Idle No More, Facebook shower curtain & Obama
What students are talking about today (January 21st)
marygkosta/Flickr
1. Student newspapers across Canada are still focused on Idle No More, having covered Aboriginal protests from coast to coast again this past week. A teach-in at Dalhousie University in solidarity with the movement drew more than 400 people, reports The Dalhousie Gazette. Guest speakers included Tayla Paul, an Aboriginal woman who told the audience about her experience being homeless. Halifax New Democrat MP Megan Leslie was there. So were many students. Some didn’t have a choice. Professor Marguerite Holland told the Gazette attendance was mandatory for her Canadian Studies class.
2. Holland may support the movement, but a new poll by Forum Research for the National Post reports that 49 per cent of Canadians do not support Idle No More while 39 per cent do and 12 per cent are unsure. Surprisingly, 52 per cent of those with First Nations ancestry did not support the movement. The big divide is along party lines with 60 per cent of NDP voters offering support compared to only 13 per cent of Conservative voters.
Continue reading Mandatory Idle No More, Facebook shower curtain & Obama
What students are talking about today (December 11th edition)
University dean suspended, Christmas cards for criminals and more Ikea monkey
1. Your obligatory Darwin the monkey news roundup: In a little over two days since his spontaneous romp through a Toronto Ikea parking lot, the rhesus macaque monkey has achieved international celebrity, even getting the Daily Mail treatment usually reserved for footballers’ wives. Darwin is headed for a sanctuary northeast of Toronto, but the Canadian Press reports that his owner wants him back. Enough monkey business – get back to studying.
2. The University of Windsor announced Monday that education dean Clinton Beckford has been suspended “in recognition of an academic integrity breach involving plagiarism.” University of Windsor president Alan Wildeman told the Windsor Star Beckford will return as “a contributing member of the faculty,” though not as dean, but wouldn’t say how the incident came to the university’s attention. Beckford’s unpaid suspension will last until June 30, 2014.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (December 11th edition)
What students are talking about today (December 3rd edition)
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)
What students are talking about today (November 19th edition)
A Nicki Minaj t-shirt at Harvard, football & bike-sharing
Harvard State
1. As the deadly Israel-Gaza conflict continues, CNN has footage of Anderson Cooper ducking from rocket strikes on repeat while Maclean’s Michael Petrou explains what to watch for next and Nick Taylor-Vaisey analyzes the headlines.
2. Proving that Harvard is still a refuge for the world’s foremost intellectuals, the student-run clothing store Harvard State is selling t-shirts with singer Nicki Minaj’s likeness and the words “Yale You a Stupid Ho.” The photos have offended some (at Yale I assume), but they need not worry. Unlike the shirts that proclaim “Veri Drunk Since 1636,” these ones aren’t yet sold out online.
3. McMaster University’s Marauders football team beat the Calgary Dinos on Saturday at the Mitchell Bowl held at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton in front of nearly 6,000 fans. That means the 48th Vanier Cup on Nov. 23 in Toronto will be a rematch of the 2011 final when McMaster barely beat Laval’s Rouge et Or. Read more in The Silhouette.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (November 19th edition)
What students are talking about today (November 2nd edition)
Smart elephants, aggressive panhandlers & the Whitecaps
1. An elephant in a South Korean zoo is using his trunk to mimic human words. Koshik can reproduce five words by tucking his trunk inside his mouth to modulate sound. He can mouth, in Korean, hello, sit down, no, lie down and good. It’s not clear whether he understands the words.
2. Unlike in the past, students at Kwantlen University will now only be allowed to vote for a single student association “constituency representative” that they self-identify with, according to the student association’s chief returning officer, Corey Van’t Haaff. The KSA has positions reserved for “seven groups who have historically faced unique challenges.” The seven groups are mature students, queer students, international students, students of colour, those with disabilities, aboriginal students and women. Read up on the latest in identity politics in The Runner.
3. Alcohol has been linked to deaths and assaults on Canadian campuses. Ken MacQueen goes deeper into what universities are doing to fight risky drinking, like butt-chugging (which is no joke).
Continue reading What students are talking about today (November 2nd edition)
Mike Thompson, 25, takes care of fans
What it’s like to work at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
Thompson (University of Windsor)
Your Job Makes Me Jealous is an interview with a young Canadian whose career is so cool that people at parties crowd around to hear about it. We discuss the ups, the downs and the pay.
This week, Mike Thompson, a 25-year-old from Oshawa, Ont., talks about his job as coordinator of fan services at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, based at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. It’s his job to oversee customer service at events from Raptors basketball games to last week’s Barbra Streisand show. When something goes wrong, he’s the one who makes it right.
Thompson holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Human Kinetics in sport management from the University of Windsor. He’s worked with MLSE since 2010. The hours are long, the pay is fair ($45,000 to $55,000 per year), but he can’t imagine doing anything else.
Click to listen to Mike Thompson talk about his job as coordinator of fan services at MLSE.
What students are talking about today (October 23rd edition)
UBC change room creep, Windsor fashion police & iPad Mini
Menage a Moi/Flickr
1. Police at the University of British Columbia are looking into whether there is a link between a man charged with secretly recording nudity in a women’s change room at the Osborne Centre gym on campus and other complaints received both at UBC and at an institution across town, the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). Jay Forster, 42, was recently charged after women reported him in the shower area of the gym at UBC, reports The Ubyssey.
2. In Italy, six scientists and one government official have been sentenced to six years in prison for manslaughter after failing to properly predict the L’Aquila earthquake in 2009, which killed 306 people. Unsurprisingly, the decision is sending chills though the scientific community.
3. Queen’s University’s Alma Mater Society may reconsider a 78-year-old ban against members joining fraternities or sororities, reports The Queen’s Journal. The issue is whether the ban is supported by students and whether it’s enforceable, considering there’s is already at least one frat.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (October 23rd edition)
What students are talking about today (October 16th edition)
A fake medical student, a fake gun & Dalton McGuinty
McGill U. medical students (Andrew Tolson)
1. After nine years as premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty stepped down last night and prorogued the legislature. By 9 p.m., the newspapers had stories suggesting he’ll run for the federal Liberals against Justin Trudeau. Paul Wells writes that he would be astonished by that. “But then, McGuinty has already astonished me once tonight,” he adds. Wells explores the Teflon Premier’s legacy and examines a (possibly) telling recent speech.
2. A man rejected from medical school at New Zealand’s Auckland University decided to go anyway. He spent two years attending classes, labs, and hospital placements and was only caught when a classmate put his name on a group assignment.
3. A 28-year-old woman who was walking to the University of Windsor Monday was told by a man carrying a fake gun to hand over a computer bag. The woman described the gun as “two sticks taped together.” The University of Windsor Campus Police arrested and charged a 21-year-old.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (October 16th edition)
What students are talking about today (October 11th edition)
A fraternity shut, a prayer dropped and a mullet banned
A Mulleted Man in Ontario (Danielle Scott/Flickr)
1. The University of British Columbia chapter of Kappa Sigma has been suspended for “code of conduct violations.” What the fraternity is accused of doing hasn’t yet been made public.
2. An Australian man is speaking out after a Perth bar told him to leave because of his mullet. I reckon that’s discrimination.
3. The president of the University of Windsor has approved removing a Christian prayer from convocation ceremonies. The request came from a student club, the Windsor-Essex County Atheist Society. The prayer had referenced an “eternal God” as “the source of all goodness, discipline and knowledge.” Read more here.
4. A Montreal police officer who was already accused of excessive force for pepper-spraying protesters during a student march earlier this year is under investigation again. Stéphanie Trudeau, who wears badge 728, faces scrutiny for an incident that started with a man holding a beer on a sidewalk and ended with four charges of obstruction of justice, assault and intimidation. An accidental audio recording on someone’s phone captured the officer calling the four arrested “a bunch of red square types,” a reference to the symbol of the student protests. More here.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (October 11th edition)
What students are talking about today (Sept. 20 edition)
Flying futons, Carly Rae Jepsen & where students want to work
The futon: more dangerous than it appears (d3b...*/Flickr)
1. We knew futons were bad for your back, but apparently they can be even more dangerous than that. A New York City college student was walking to class when he was hit by a flying futon mattress that fell 30 floors from an apartment building. It rendered him briefly unconscious and injured his neck. Worst of all, the poor schmuck says he can’t afford both tuition and medical bills.
2. Yesterday, we learned that 42 per cent of 20- to 29-year-old Canadians live with their parents—higher than ever. Today, the Edmonton Journal points out that booming Alberta is bucking the trend. In Lloydminster, just 20 per cent live at home. In Fort McMurray, it’s 22 per cent. Compare that to economically-depressed Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. and Cornerbrook, N.L., where the number of 20-somethings at home is—yikes—52 per cent.
3. Universum asked 7,234 Canadian post-secondary students where they want to work after graduation. In the top 100 list, Apple is #1 (duh), Google is #2 (obviously), the Government of Canada is #3 (not surprising if you know anything about their pensions), #4 is the Bank of Canada, #5 is Microsoft and #6 is Royal Bank. My benevolent employer, Rogers, is a respectable #40.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (Sept. 20 edition)
Should articling be scrapped?
A shortage of positions in Ontario forces a reevaluation
Mezciems (Blair Gable)
From the Maclean’s Professional Schools Issue.
Mathew Mezciems thought he was doing everything right. He got into one of the country’s premier law schools and set his sights on extracurricular activities that would set him up for a job on graduation. Big firms look for leaders—or so goes the conventional wisdom. So at the end of his first year at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., Mezciems ran for a junior position on the law students’ society, and won. The following year, his peers elected him president.
The job consumed a surprising amount of time. “There are meetings during the week with faculty,” says the 27-year-old, “and office hours where students can come and talk to you.” By the end of his second year, his grades had slipped into the Bs, and Mezciems found himself without one of the all-important summer student positions that serve as entryways to articling. After graduating this spring, he still couldn’t find an articling job—a predicament that not long ago would have been unthinkable for such a prominent student. “I’m trying not to be worried,” he said last June from his home outside Kingston, the strain audible in his voice. “You have those moments of panic, but I’m trying to stay positive and not get too overwhelmed.”
What students are talking about today (Aug. 30 edition)
Helena Guergis, student housing, Obama and Occupy
Helena Guergis (Darren Calabrese/CP)
1. The University of Alberta’s class of first-year law students will include Helena Guergis, a former junior cabinet minister who had a very public spat with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Perhaps she’s studying up for her appeal after her lawsuit against the PM was dismissed last week.
2. Students in Fredericton, N.B. have their pick of where to live, due to declining local enrollment.
3. Students in booming Saskatchewan have trouble finding anywhere to live. Vianne Timmons, president of the University of Regina, says a student stopped her on the street to ask if she knew any rentals. New residences are coming.
Continue reading What students are talking about today (Aug. 30 edition)
Three women sexually assaulted at York U.
Update: 20-year-old man charged
Update on July 10: Police say Oshane Leach, 20, of Toronto, was charged on Monday evening with three counts of sexual assault, two counts of criminal harassment, and two counts of assault. Police say there may be more victims.
York University has boosted security after three women say they were sexually assaulted last week outside Vari Hall, the campus student centre.
The first victim, aged 33, says she was assaulted after getting off a bus by man who engaged her in conversation. It happened on July 5 at 3:30 p.m. The second victim, 21, said she was assaulted at the same time apparently by the same man. She says a second man was with the perpetrator. The third victim says she was followed after leaving Vari Hall and assaulted at 3 p.m. on July 6.
Didn’t get what you wanted? Lawsuit! Lawsuit!
Students sue their schools and employers
Australian schoolgirl Ja'mie King (HBO.com)
An 18-year-old in Australia is suing her former high school because she says it’s their fault that her marks were too low to land her a seat at the prestigious University of Sydney law school.
No, it isn’t Ja’mie King of Summer Heights High, although it does sound like something she’d do.
Rose Ashton-Weir says she didn’t get the support needed to excel while at Geelong Grammar, a private boarding school. Darren Ferrari, a Geelong representative, points out that she could have studied law at several other universities. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough.
Continue reading Didn’t get what you wanted? Lawsuit! Lawsuit!
Interactive graphic: the online ballot boost
Voter turnout (%) in campus elections from 2009 to 2012
U. Windsor stabber turns himself in
23-year-old man charged with aggravated assault
The man suspected of stabbing at least three people outside The Thirsty Scholar pub at the University of Windsor turned himself into police on Sunday afternoon, reports The Windsor Star.
According to Windsor Police, at approximately 2:10 a.m. on March 9, an altercation occurred between a group of men outside the campus pub. Emad Adel Ben-Abdellah, 21, then stabbed a 20-year-old and a 19-year-old before running toward a group of people in a parking lot and stabbing a 23-year-old man in the right leg. That man was found by police with serious injuries, but is now in stable condition. A fourth male may have been stabbed, but fled.
Abdellah faces three counts of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and breach of probation.
