The McGill Debating Union had its most successful performance on the national stage in years, winning the 2010 Canadian National Debating Championships in Edmonton just over a week ago. Half of the quarterfinalists, three-quarters of the semifinalists, and both of the finalists were McGill teams.
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News, off and on campus.
CAMPUS: SSMU delays handbooks
A recent controversy over the content of the SSMU handbook has resulted in a three week delay in its realease due to the firing of the two original editors. Genevieve Friesen and Sara Kipp-Ferguson, the original editors for the handbook, were let go in August when the finished product was deemed unacceptable by Students’ Society executives, said Vice-President University Affairs Finn Upham.
Glazer discusses segregation, immigration, and education
Nathan Glazer, the prominent sociologist and professor emeritus at Harvard, delivered two lectures at McGill last week. Glazer is perhaps best known for Beyond the Melting Pot, a pioneering study of different ethnic groups in New York City that he co-authored with Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1963.
CAMPUS: Mercury takes over
The course evaluation process will move one step closer to transparency and accessibility this fall. After first being explored in the fall of 2003 and pilot tested in the winter of 2004, McGill Online Evaluations will be launched campus-wide in December under the name “Mercury.
Barghouti postpones Canadian tour due to visa complications
A speaking tour of Canada by Mustafa Barghouti, a well-known peace activist and member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was cancelled last week due to delays in the Canadian visa application process. Barghouti, who finished second to Mahmoud Abbas in the 2005 Palestinian presidential election, had been set to visit Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal – where he was scheduled to speak at the University of Montreal on March 21 – in a tour organized by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East.
CITY: Conference hopes to bring religions together
Five years after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, a McGill professor is hoping that he can help the religions of the world address and challenge the negative perceptions that have sprung up following the fall of the World Trade Center. This week, Montreal’s Palais de Congrès will play host to World Religions after September 11: A Global Conference.
BASiC hosts Lander and Huh at annual Ampersand Conference
The Bachelor of Arts & Science Integrative Council hosted the second annual Ampersand Conference last week, which focussed on creativity in the digital age. The four-day event featured addresses by Christian Lander, the founder of the popular blog Stuff White People Like, and Ben Huh, the internet entrepreneur who popularized Lolcats, as well as workshops on digitial innovation.
EDUCATION: University of Toronto moves towards higher tuition fees, fewer undergrad spaces
On Thursday, members of the University of Toronto’s highest governing body voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting a long-term policy framework that is closely modeled on research-intensive universities in the United States. The policy document, entitled ‘”Towards 2030,” was first tabled by U of T President David Naylor.
CAMPUS: Controversy over travel directive continues
After working to send McGill student teachers to Indonesia for over a year, professor Fiona Benson was “gobsmacked” to learn that the university’s new travel directive would force the trip’s cancellation less than a month before departure. “I was given a green light to go to Indonesia by [Faculty of Education Dean Hélène Perrault] and by the administration,” said Benson, who is also the director of the Faculty of Education’s Office of Student Teaching.
CAMPUS: MUNACA still without contract
The McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association’s negotiation committee rejected McGill’s latest contract offer last week, informing the administration that they would not lower their salary demands. MUNACA, a union representing non-academic employees like nurses, librarians, and administrative assistants, wants a 13 per cent salary increase over four years.
