News

News, off and on campus.

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.

CAMPUS: Web site offers alternative to traditional text

Going back to school may be becoming less painful on your wallet with the introduction of free online books. Freeload Press Company is offering online versions of textbooks, workbooks and study guides in the popular PDF format at no cost. The catch? The pages also contain advertisements, making textbooks appear more like magazines and causing controversy within the academic world.

CAMPUS: Wireless worries

As early as the nineties, McGill was at the forefront of developing a wireless network. Today that network provides over 2,500 wireless access points, each covering 250 square feet, and the university is in the process of upgrading its coverage and launching a three-year project to better integrate users around the campus.

CAMPUS: SSMU ditches room fees

Making good on a central campaign promise, Students’ Society executives announced last week that rooms in the Shatner Building can now be booked free of charge. Beginning last Friday, internal clubs, faculty associations, media, SSMU recognized groups and others are now able to use the rooms without the customary bill.

Gross talks physics and the history of the universe

Can you construct a machine with free will? Will the universe accelerate forever? And how will the universe end? These were the questions that David Gross, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, addressed during his lecture at McGill on Thursday. Born in Washington, D.

Read the latest issue

Read the latest issue