McGill’s faculty of arts plans to offer up to 100 fewer courses for the 2013-2014 academic year by reducing the number of faculty and course lecturer positions, according to an announcement at last Wednesday’s faculty meeting. The faculty offered 1,200 courses this year. Funds made available by the 8 per[Read More…]
News
News, off and on campus.
Statement of values to replace provisional protocol
The McGill administration will replace the draft protocol regarding demonstrations, protests, and occupations with a new “statement of values and principles” concerning freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly on campus. This plan was announced last Wednesday by Provost Anthony Masi and Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) Michael Di Grappa.[Read More…]
Douglas Hall to close for renovations during 2013-2014
Douglas Hall, McGill’s oldest student residence, will close for renovations during the 2013-2014 academic year. According to Robert Stanley, director of project management for McGill’s Facilities Operations and Development office, they are scheduled to begin in May, and should be completed in July 2014. According to Stanley, the project has[Read More…]
PGSS Council votes not to support permanent SEDE funding
The McGill University Post-Graduate Students’ Society’s (PGSS) Council voted against supporting permanent funding for the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) Office last Wednesday. Discussion centered on whether PGSS should send a letter lobbying the administration to ask that SEDE receives permanent funding for two positions previously funded by Student[Read More…]
Meet the McGill staff members recently elected to the BoG
Two members of the McGill community were elected and re-lected to McGill’s Board of Governors (BoG) in November for terms starting on Jan. 1. Juliet Johnson, professor of political science, was elected for her first term, and Ronald Critchley, president of the McGill University Non-Academic Staff Association (MUNASA), was re-elected[Read More…]
SNC-Lavalin vice-president discusses social responsibility
On Jan. 18, the Institute for Studies in International Development (ISID) hosted a seminar by Jean-François Gascon, the vice-president of capacity building at SNC-Lavalin. The first event in a speaker series organized by ISID, Gascon’s presentation focused on explaining the concept of “Creating Shared Value” (CSV). Specializing in project management,[Read More…]
What happened last week in Canada?
New HST in PEI to affect universities, colleges In April, Prince Edward Island will introduce a 14 per cent Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) that leverages a large amount of money from colleges and universities, according to media reports last week. Similar to the HST in place for Atlantic Canada and Ontario,[Read More…]
Budget cuts could increase McGill deficit to $30 million
On Dec. 6, the Parti Québécois (PQ) announced that it expects Quebec universities to cut $124 million from their cumulative operating budgets by April 2013. According to McGill Principal Heather Munroe-Blum, the cuts amount to 5.2 per cent of universities’ operating grants, but their introduction, two-thirds of the way through[Read More…]
Idle No More reaches Montreal
Approximately 1,500 people gathered in front of the Palais des Congrès last Friday to show their solidarity with Canadian First Nations and Chief Theresa Spence, who has been on a hunger strike for the past month in protest of the federal government’s stance on Indigenous rights. Following a traditional round[Read More…]
McGill student files grievance over protocol on protests
On Dec. 11, 2012, U3 Philosophy student Eli Freedman filed a complaint with the McGill Senate Committee on Student Grievances against the draft of a permanent McGill protocol on demonstrations, assemblies, and protests. The grievance calls for the draft protocol to be nullified immediately, and for Vice Principal (Administration and[Read More…]