All Posts Tagged With: "University of Winnipeg"

#IdleNoMore, dumping Instagram & fraternity horrors

Attawapiskat chief Theresa Spence on Dec. 6 Sean Kilpatrick/CP

1. You’ve seen the #IdleNoMore hashtag all over Twitter, but do you know what it’s all about? Wab Kinew, Director of Indigenous Inclusion at the University of Winnipeg, offers his take in The Huffington Post. “It is a loosely knit political movement encompassing rallies drawing thousands of people across dozens of cities, road blocks, a shoving match on Parliament hill between Chiefs and mounties and one high profile hunger strike,” he writes. The hunger striker is Chief Theresa Spence of Attawapiskat in northern Ontario. Kinew explains where the meme started and says the movement is about engaging youth, finding meaning, rights, the environment and democracy. His summary is worth reading. Also worth reading is The Charlatan‘s coverage of Carleton University’s panel discussion on the Indian Act with the Assembly of First Nations.

2. A lot of Canadians are deleting their Instagram accounts. The addictive photo-sharing service has changed its terms of service to allow it to sell users photos and data. “…you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you,” reads the new terms. The Guardian says it will give a boost to Yahoo-owned Flickr, which just launched a mobile app that doesn’t sell your photos.

Continue reading What students are talking about today (December 18th)

There are more options than ever, but they come at a price

Jessica Darmanin

This story is from the 132-page Maclean’s University Rankings, on sale now.

Katie Cvitkovitch, a second-year nutrition student at Ryerson University in Toronto, knows how to spot a healthy meal. One evening in September, she assessed the options in the dining hall on the first floor of Pitman Hall residence. For $13.25, she could buy a grilled chicken-breast sandwich, a side garden salad with fat-free dressing and a bottle of diet iced tea. It cost the same as the deadlier deep-fried version, with fries and a Sprite. As a former vegan, Cvitkovitch was pleased to see vegan shepherd’s pie beside the meat- and-potatoes version. Even the Tim Hortons on campus carries a vegan wrap. Cvitkovitch gives Ryerson’s food a high rating.

Her classmate Deanna Chong, also in nutrition, gives Ryerson decent marks too. She had no trouble finding a balanced meal: a turkey wrap, milk and a melon cup for $14.28. (Those with meal cards pay five to 15 per cent less.)

Still, neither student eats much at the campus dining halls or fast-food outlets run by Ryerson Food Services, the main food provider on campus. “Lunch is like 10 bucks and dinner is like 15,” says Cvitkovitch, “so that’s $25 a day that I don’t have.” A student who managed to spend $5 less daily for one academic year would save roughly $1,000.

Universities once had a reputation for offering unhealthy food, and not enough choice. But as the heat lamps and deep fryers are replaced with vegan alternatives and halal meats, some students say they have a new problem: it’s too expensive to eat on campus. Whether food is provided in-house (via a combination of school-owned franchises and old-style dining halls) or contracted out to a single institutional provider, universities are finding it difficult to meet the multitude of demands while also keeping prices in check. Continue reading The new beef with campus food

Dodgeball record, PETA billboards & Western homecoming

Dodgeball at Alberta (JeffreyNathaniel/Flickr)

1. Students from the University of California Irvine shattered the Guinness World Record for the largest game of dodgeball this week with 6,084 players. The University of Alberta, a four-time record-holder, lost its standing. It had 4,979 players on Feb. 3. I bet they’ll try to get it back.

2. Western University’s homecoming parade will be held on campus today, rather than downtown. It’s because London Police won’t provide extra officers pro bono. (They may be busy anyway.)

3. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will put up billboards near Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Ottawa schools this Thanksgiving holiday, reports The Canadian Press. The billboards will read: “Kids, if you wouldn’t eat your dog, why eat a turkey? Go vegan.”

Continue reading What students are talking about today (Sept. 28 edition)

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.

Continue reading Gender-neutral washrooms are the way to go

University of Winnipeg Students’ Association AGM sees deficit continue to grow

The University of Winnipeg Students’ Association (UWSA) saw it’s deficit continue to grow after its annual general meeting last Thursday, reported campus newspaper The Uniter.

In a comment posted on The Uniter’s website, UWSA president Jason Syvixay explained that UWSA originally presented a budget for the 2011-2012 year with a projected deficit of $63 000, but that it will be amending the budget to address the concerns raised by students at the AGM. However, he  wasn’t clear on what the budget would look like.

Tentative agreement reached between faculty and administration at 11th hour

After an intensive 14 hour round of negotiations between the University of Winnipeg faculty Association and the administration, a tentative agreement has been reached, narrowly avoiding the first faculty strike in the university’s history. A strike deadline of 12:01 am had been set by faculty.

The new agreement will be brought to members for ratification on Friday.

UWFA spokesperson Shannon Sampert said she would not be able to provide further details at this point. Classes will resume as usual Thursday.

The faculty association was seeking an 8.4 per cent increase over a three year contract, while the university was offering 3.7 per cent.

Deadline delayed 24 hours to facilitate conciliation from province

The University of Winnipeg has staved off a strike for at least another day.

Faculty members agreed to postpone their strike deadline to Thursday, a stretch of 24 hours from the original deadline of 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, to accommodate the entrance of a conciliator from the Manitoba Government. According to the university’s website, a conciliator has been named, with both sides set to meet Wednesday morning.

“While this is a positive development, the University’s administration is concerned that a 24-hour extension of the strike deadline is not an adequate time frame to allow for a successful conciliation process,” reads a recent post on the university’s website. “The administration has requested that UWFA reconsider this decision and allow the conciliator to set the time frame for this process.”

Shannon Sampert, a spokesperson for UWFA, told CBC News that though conciliation may be taking place, a strike is still likely. ”It’s just the only way, it seems, that we can get these guys to take us seriously at this point in time. We’ve been without a contract for almost a year,” she said.

A rally was held in support of UWFA members Monday afternoon, where a crowd of around 300 U of W faculty members, students, and staff marched from the university campus to UWFA’s strike headquarters, according to the union’s strike website.

Classes could be cancelled by March 9

University of Winnipeg professors could be on strike as early as next Wednesday, after voting overwhelmingly to set a strike deadline yesterday.

“There was huge turnout and 90 per cent voted in favour of authorizing strike action,”  University of Winnipeg Faculty Association president Kristine Hansen said in an interview, though she added that UWFA bargaining protocol prevented her from commenting on the issues surrounding the settlement. “I can’t guarantee anything or saying anything further than we’ve set a strike deadline. We’ve gone back to the table and bargaining is in process.”

Faculty members previously rejected an offer from the university that included wage freezes for the first two years of a four year contract, and increased pension contributions from senior faculty. The 350 members of the faculty association have been without a contract since March 2010.

“We’re doing our best and are committed to continuing to bargain with the UWFA main unit for as long as it takes to get to a settlement that’s agreeable for both sides that’s also fiscally responsible,” said U of W associate vice-president (external affairs) Dan Hurley.

UPDATE: Labour negotiations come to a halt a UWinnipeg

The union held an information session for students today, and has another scheduled for Friday, March 4, to answer questions from concerned students.

Hansen said UWFA decided to organize the sessions “because we’re concerned about student’s interests and because we’re concerned that students understand that we’re not oblivious to their concerns by any means, but we’ll do anything we can to minimize any impact that might result for them.”

Faculty members at the session explained to students that in the event of a strike, faculty members can’t perform services they were paid to perform, such as grading assignments, but UWFA won’t police individual contact between professors and students. It was also pointed out that students were welcome to talk to their individual instructors about settlement issues, as they would not be speaking on behalf of UWFA but as a faculty members of the university.

James Moore, a fourth year theatre and film major at the U of W who attended the presentation, said that he felt frustrated with the lack of communication from the university. “It’s frustrating trying to hear a two-sided argument, when you’re only getting one side,” said Moore.

Hurley said that the university is working as quickly as possible to get information out to students about the contract negotiations. “Things have moved quicker than I think we had expected [ … ],” he noted.

“We will have a better picture next week to see if we will have a strike or not, and we’ll have more information for students. The bottom line is we’re working to ensure that students are not impacted in any way or a very minimal way by any labour action.”

The university is now posting updates on it’s website on the contract negotiations with UWFA.

Photo by girlgeek

University of Saskatchewan, University of Winnipeg projects hoping to produce medical isotopes receive combined $14 million from feds

Two prairie universities are set to lead the way in developing new ways to create medical isotopes that are less wasteful and friendlier to the environment. Projects at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Winnipeg that aim to create medical isotopes without producing radioactive waste that a traditional nuclear reactor usually yields received a combined $14 million from Natural Resources Canada, with $4 million going to the U of W project and $10 million to the U of S, according to the Canadian University Press. The funding was announced Jan. 24.

Medical isotopes are microscopic particles that can be injected into the body to diagnose heart diseases and treat certain types of cancer, and are also used for detailed medical imaging. A large portion of the world’s supply is produced in Canada by the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River, Ont., which is currently the country’s only facility that produces medical isotopes. When the reactor was closed in 2007 for maintenance, it resulted in an international shortage.

The reactor was again shutdown in 2009 and not able to start up again until 2010. Since these problems occurred, the National Research Council has been searching for alternative ways for medical isotopes to be produced.

David Walker, leader of the U of W project Prairie Isotope Production Enterprises (PIPE), explained that the project already has a “ready-made facility”, as it will be using a former Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) facility outside of Pinawa, Man. Walker said the team hopes to be ready to produce the medical isotopes using their method by 2012.

The U of S Canadian Light Source (CLS) Medical Isotope Project may take more time than its Manitoba counterpart to get its research off the ground, as it requires a linear accelerator to be installed, and the space set to be used for the project to be made more accessible to the research team, said the project’s lead investigator Mark de Jong.

UWinnipeg valedictorian should have left her protest against an honourary degree for Vic Toews outside

The convocation ceremony at the University of Winnipeg this past Sunday became more than just an educational rite of passage when valedictorian Erin Larson took to the podium. “While I’m immensely proud to be an alumnus of the University of Winnipeg and extremely honoured to have been selected valedictorian,” Larson began, “I have to admit I’m not proud to share the stage with everyone who is on it today.”

Behind Larson sat Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, who was being awarded an honourary degree by the University of Winnipeg. Toews, who is staunchly opposed to gay marriage, abortion, and other positions sure to reckon him unpopular at a university, stared at his program while Larson continued her valedictorian address.

“I feel the University of Winnipeg has recently suffered a profound loss of integrity due to the actions of the administration,” Lawson continued. “The decision to give an honorary law degree to someone who is best known to my generation of students as being a vocal opponent of expanding human rights is questionable at best.”

The decision was indeed a dubious one for the liberally-reputed University of Winnipeg. Some students, in fact, chose to forgo their walk across the stage in favour of a protest outside the university, where about 40 people gathered holding placards condemning the university’s bestowment of the honorary doctor of laws degree on Toews. It was inside, however, in front of hundreds of alumni, students, family and friends, where Larson chose to make her beliefs known.

She had every right to do so, of course. As valedictorian, those few minutes were her own, to do with whatever she pleased. Though just because we have the right, say, to wave an aluminum rod around amid a lightning storm, it doesn’t mean the idea is suddenly a good one. Larson began her speech commenting on her desire to properly reflect the sentiments of the graduating body, yet continued by expressing her own profound disappointment with the university’s honourary degree decision. Was she speaking on behalf of the student body? Or momentarily abandoning her pledge to do so?

In any case, a valedictory address should not be a political soapbox. While it could be said that granting an honourary degree to a cabinet minister is a political statement in itself, the valedictorian’s speech is not the time to initiate forthright political debate, particularly in front of friends and family who have come to watch their graduate cross the stage.

Larson’s approach simply comes off as crass. She could have joined the group of protestors outside the convocation, or declined her role as valedictorian, a move that would have sent the same point without hijacking the event to tout her ideological message. While holding your breath and plugging your ears is sometimes championed as valiant political activism amid the cozy walls of the university campus, the real world expects some tact when trying to make a political statement. (Well, except in the House of Commons.)

Larson made a point of mentioning the university’s mission statement while drilling home her position, reading that it strives to “Offer a community which appreciates, fosters and promotes values of human dignity, equality, nondiscrimination and appreciation of diversity.” Yet Larson, trying to emphasize that the university has forfeited its integrity by bestowing an honour on a man who doesn’t represent its mission statement, inadvertently forfeits her own by resorting to a tactless, ill-timed public statement. Whether or not you agree with Toews politically, subjecting him to public humiliation certainly does not further any efforts to promote “human dignity.” Though compassion and tolerance for ideological diversity–maybe that’s something one picks up in post-grad.