Last Tuesday, Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi listened to students’ concerns about cuts to arts courses, during a Town Hall hosted by the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS). AUS Vice-President Academic Tom Zheng invited Manfredi to speak about the faculty’s decision to cut up to 100 courses and reduce the number of temporary lecturers teaching in the faculty for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Manfredi said he would pass students’ concerns along to department chairs during the next step in the process, where individual departments will decide which courses they can cut without affecting students’ ability to complete their programs. He announced the reductions to professors and students at a faculty meeting on Jan. 15.

According to Manfredi, the restructuring is intended to increase the proportion of courses taught by permanent teaching staff, and to get rid of classes that are typically under-enrolled. With the remaining funds, the faculty intends to hire more teaching assistants (TAs). The goal is to hire one TA for every 60 students, rather than the current ratio—one TA per 80 students.

Some students, however, expressed frustration at the implication that full-time faculty members provide a better educational experience than part-time lecturers.

“A lot of course lecturers are better at teaching courses than fulltime professors,” Arts Senator James Gutman said. “I know a lot of full-time professors who are great at research but aren’t so good at talking to a crowd of 200 people. Course lecturers are great at that, so why, I ask, are we cutting them?”

Manfredi said consultation on the subject took place with teachers and students in 2008, and a dean’s working group on academic program delivery was held in 2010-2011. He expressed surprise at recent student criticism of the decision, saying that he had already discussed the upcoming course reductions at faculty meetings in September and November, although he and the AUS were unable to plan a Town Hall until last week due to exams.

“There’s nothing secret about it,” Manfredi said. “We did these consultations, and we learned that students were dissatisfied with the level of teaching assistant support, [and that] students were concerned that there was a disconnect between research and teaching in the faculty.”

Although the cuts will target courses with fewer than 20 students, Manfredi emphasized that the intention is to cut courses that are under-enrolled, and not simply small.

“If a course is small by necessity … [or] because pedagogically it has to be small, no problem,” he said. “However, some courses are small by design because the professor doesn’t want to teach more students … and some courses are small because their topics are so esoteric and uninteresting to students that they don’t enroll in those courses.”

Associate Dean of Arts Gillian Lane-Mercier, who also attended and spoke at the Town Hall, emphasized that relatively few courses will be “retired.” Options include offering courses every two or three years, and creating new courses that combine the topics of several smaller courses.

Manfredi said funds from courses that are no longer offered would be reallocated towards teaching assistantships, internships, and advising. However, some students expressed skepticism that the additional funds created by reducing courses will lead to an improved learning experience.

“We’ve been told to get less with a very whispering promise of ‘more,’ ” Gutman said. “What we do know is that course lecturers [and] small courses are going to be cut.”

Manfredi responded to the claim that students may not see “more.” He estimated that the faculty will be able to reallocate $500,000 towards teaching assistantships and $200,000 towards advising and internships.

Students also questioned TAs’ ability to compensate for smaller classes taught by temporary instructors.

“I’ve heard from TAs that they feel ill-equipped when they go into conferences because they’ve never facilitated conversations before or they’ve never really learned how to teach,” Talitha Calder, president of the Political Science Students’ Association, said. “If there are more resources that are being put into the number of TAs … will they also receive the adequate training that is needed to fulfil that position?”

Manfredi encouraged students  like Calder to submit their general feedback about the quality of teaching at McGill by completing course evaluations, and by reaching out to the undergraduate representatives of their department.

“We don’t want to offer a low quality educational experience,” Manfredi said. “We’re trying to deliver the best programs we can deliver with the resources we have, and none of us benefit from doing that poorly.”

Zheng said the AUS is committed to preserving the diversity of courses offered by the faculty of arts, and will try their best to ensure that student consultation continues to be part of the process.

“There were a lot of questions that were answered [at the Town Hall] … and there was some good rationale on his side of the story,” Zheng said. “But the changes are going to occur, and people still aren’t going to be happy about it.”

Severe flooding from a 48-inch water main break Monday evening caused widespread damage to buildings on campus, confirmed Doug Sweet, Director of Internal Communications of McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO).

“[The damage is] very extensive to James Annex, where water broke windows in the back of the building and rushed through the main floor,” Sweet said. “That building requires significant repairs.”

According to Sweet, McGill staff and a cleaning firm worked through the night to clean up debris and complete repairs.  Water continues to flow near the Wong and James Administration Buildings, but according to a message from the MRO, the water does not pose a threat to the buildings and is being diverted into the sewer system.

Classes reopened on Tuesday in most buildings following the cleanup operation.  Classes in Wilson Hall and Birks Hall were cancelled, and those at the Wong Building were relocated. Additionally, Service Point and the James Administration Building were closed.  Sweet noted that Wong will likely be closed for a few more days and that administrators are trying to determine when other buildings may be reopened.

The flood began at 4 p.m. when a water main burst under Doctor Penfield Ave. in front of the McTavish Reservoir. Campus buildings were evacuated and all evening classes were cancelled.

The flooded area stretched from Dr. Penfield Ave. to Ste. Catherine Street, and from Union Street to Peel Street, causing pedestrians and traffic to be re-routed in downtown Montreal. At about 9 p.m., the MRO announced that the City of Montreal had shut off the water from the burst main.

The Reservoir is in the middle of the second phase of renovations, which aim to replace the surrounding tank and water mains. The repairs, conducted by the City of Montreal and estimated to cost $16.4 million, began in October 2012 and are expected to be completed in August 2013. Built in 1852, the Reservoir provides drinking water to 500,000 Montrealers in seven boroughs of the city.

A McGill Fire Prevention Crew worker who chose to remain anonymous said that, despite the harsh weather conditions of the past week, the cold was probably not the reason for the break.

“[The construction workers] were working with the big machinery,” he said. “They hit the seal, it broke, and they thought there was no pressure in that pipe, but there was pressure in the water.”

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President Clubs and Services Allison Cooper said the flooding was a great inconvenience for SSMUfest, the Winter semester’s Activities Night. The event was planned for the evening, but had to be rescheduled for Tuesday night, the day after.

“It’s the worst possible timing,” she said. “We told the club leaders to get here at 3:30 p.m., and now they are trapped with no people to greet.”

The MRO sent out a series of emergency emails throughout the evening. One message referred to the flooding as “a serious situation,” and mentioned that “a number of buildings” on the downtown campus had been flooded.

“We are trying to assess damage as best we can, but it will be extensive,” read an MRO message from Monday at 4:55 p.m. “We will provide more information as it becomes available.”

Following the evacuation of the SSMU Building, SSMU President Josh Redel said that there were no signs of flooding in the building.

“We’ve been checking the basement, and everything’s good to go,” Redel said. “We haven’t seen any leaks in areas where we’ve noticed them before.”

In Sept. 2011, a leak in a 16-inch water main at the entrance of the pumping station of the Reservoir

flooded Service Point, McLennan Library, and Wilson Hall. In 2009, a burst in a 42-inch pipe at the top of Dr. Penfield Ave. flooded many of the same buildings.

“We continue to assess damage and costs and will work as hard as we can to get our teaching and research spaces reopened,” Sweet said. “Our prime consideration, of course, is the safety of the members of our community.”

McGill’s downtown campus suffered severe flooding after a 48-inch water main burst under Doctor Penfield Ave. in front of the McTavish Reservoir on Monday. Campus buildings were evacuated and all evening classes were cancelled.

The flooded area stretched from Dr. Penfield Ave. to Ste. Catherine Street, and from Union Street to Peel Street, causing pedestrians and traffic to be re-routed in downtown Montreal.

The Reservoir is in the middle of the second phase of renovations, which aim to replace the surrounding tank and water mains. The repairs, conducted by the City of Montreal and estimated to cost $16.4 million, began in October 2012 and are expected to be completed in August 2013. Built in 1852, the Reservoir provides drinking water to 500,000 Montrealers in seven boroughs of the city.

A McGill Fire Prevention Crew worker who chose to remain anonymous said that, despite the harsh weather conditions of the past week, the cold was probably not the reason for the break.

“[The construction workers] were working with the big machinery,” he said. “They hit the seal, it broke, and they thought there was no pressure in that pipe, but there was pressure in the water.”

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President Clubs and Services Allison Cooper said the flooding was a great inconvenience for SSMUfest, the Winter semester’s Activities Night. The event was planned for the evening, but had to be rescheduled for Tuesday night, the day after.

“It’s the worst possible timing,” she said. “We told the club leaders to get here at 3:30 p.m., and now they are trapped with no people to greet.”

McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) sent out a series of emergency emails throughout the evening. One message referred to the flooding as “a serious situation,” and mentioned that “a number of buildings” on the downtown campus had been flooded.

“We are trying to assess damage as best we can, but it will be extensive,” read an MRO message from 4:55 p.m. “We will provide more information as it becomes available.”

Following the evacuation of the SSMU Building, SSMU President Josh Redel said that there were no signs of flooding in the building.

“We’ve been checking the basement, and everything’s good to go,” Redel said. “We haven’t seen any leaks in areas where we’ve noticed them before.”

In Sept. 2011, a leak in a 16-inch water main at the entrance of the pumping station of the Reservoir flooded Service Point, McLennan Library, and Wilson Hall. In 2009, a burst in a 42-inch pipe at the top of Dr. Penfield Ave. flooded many of the same buildings.

McGill could not be reached for comment.