In response to the Quebec Minister of Education Michelle Courchesne’s recent hint that tuition may increase in Quebec, a small group of McGill students gathered in protest at the Roddick Gates on February 18. Some carried signs reading, “Courchesne I can’t afford your lies” while others passed out flyers explaining that since the 2007 deregulation of tuition fees for Quebec and out-of-province students, tuition has increased by approximately $100 per year.

The First Nations University of Canada, North America’s only fully accredited Aboriginal university, has had a rough year. The school’s future is up in the air after losing over $12 million dollars in provincial and federal funding cuts in late January and early February.

Jennifer Plotnick, a recent graduate from the McGill Faculty of Dentistry, has found herself with an unenviable commute due to Quebec’s language requirements. After failing to meet the French language requirements for out-of-province professionals, Plotnick now drives nearly two hours every morning to practice dentistry in Plattsburgh, New York.

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.

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.