News

News, off and on campus.

CAMPUS: Ants in tenants’ pants

Ant poison was applied to Greenbriar apartments last Wednesday after three weeks of ant infestations. The Student Housing Office decided to apply ant poison to every room of the residence, one of two apartment-style dormitories McGill University offers students.

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.

CAMPUS: New campus service for safer drug use

The Students’ Society has developed a new service to provide resources for drug and alcohol education as well as activism on drug policy. SSMU’s Harm Reduction Centre aims primarily at ensuring the safe use of drugs and alcohol among McGill students, said Floh Hera-Vega, vice president clubs and services.

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: 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.

MUHC and unani.ca launch patient self-management platform

Last Monday, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and a medical-technology company launched unani.ca, an innovative new personal health record (PHR) system. The interface allows patients to store all of their medical information in one place, and its developers hope that it will contribute to a growing trend of patient self-management.

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