At Queen’s University, the Water Access Group, a group of students and professors interested in promoting public water and discouraging the use of bottled water, has completed a study of the school’s water fountains. The group found that 84 of 151 fountains were broken or dirty, and only 24 had gooseneck spouts for refilling water bottles, which prompted them to write an open letter to Daniel Woolf, the university’s principal.
Author: Sean Wood
Law Students’ Association considers cutting ties to SSMU
The Law Students’ Association Council recently voted to establish a committee that will evaluate its relationship with the Students’ Society, opening the door to the possibility that the LSA will disaffiliate from SSMU. The motion, put forward by LSA President Alexandre Shee, requires the new five-person committee make suggestions as to how its relationship with SSMU can be improved.
Students failing language exams
The University of Waterloo is one of the few institutions in Canada to administer a language proficiency exam as a degree requirement. Although the university has used the test since 1976, students’ writing problems just appear to be getting worse. “What we do know is that our pass rate is declining,” said Ann Barrett, managing director of the English language proficiency exam at Waterloo.
With H1N1 cases decreasing, McGill removes the red button
In response to a decreasing number of reported H1N1 cases, McGill is ending pandemic-related activities prompted by H1N1 influenza. The decision followed the announcement from the Quebec Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports, which stated that pandemic-related activities can now be discontinued.
MY POINT … AND I DO HAVE ONE: The shock doctrine in Haiti
Irony’s a funny thing. And whether it’s a minority-elected government preaching democracy to the global south or an American-educated, torture-supporting opposition leader speaking about returning Canada to its place of soft-power prominence in the world, Canadian politics is ripe with irony.
OFF THE BOARD: Class you can watch in bed?
PSYCH 213: Cognition is like most 200-level psychology courses: it’s straightforward, chock-full of interesting studies that explain human behaviour, and it’s in Leacock 132. But unlike most large science classes, it’s not recorded. Among the many redundant questions posted on WebCT, there have been well over 100 requests to record Cognition lectures – in addition to dozens of emails and in-class appeals about the same subject.
FRESH HELL: I never knew’d
Although I’ve played team sports since I was old enough to don a pinny, I’m usually quite awkward in locker rooms. Part of it has to do with my upbringing. My family was never a particularly naked one – we didn’t do a lot of topless sunbathing in the backyard or play nude family Monopoly – so nakedness has always startled me.
Understanding Wednesday’s General Assembly motions
Undergraduate students will gather tomorrow beginning at 5:00 p.m. in the Shatner cafeteria to participate in the Winter General Assembly. With seven new motions on the table there is a wide variety of SSMU policy to be decided. Motion Re: The Defense of Human Rights, Social Justice, and Environmental Protection Put forward by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, this motion has emerged as perhaps the most controversial Genderal Assembly motion.
STANDing tall against genocide
Since 2003, a reported 400,000 murders have taken place in Darfur, Sudan, at the hands of the state-sponsored militia, the Janjaweed, and their campaign of ethnic cleansing. While the main violence has ended – there are few villages left to burn – the atrocity has displaced over 2.
Om: a taste of Tibet
The prospect of a big, steaming bowl of noodle soup was what originally drew me to Om Tibetan restaurant on St. Laurent – a friend of mine boasted that he had found the best bowl of soup in the city. Initially sceptical, I finally tried it for myself and have many times since gone back for more.
