Last week, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) held “Work your BA Week” to orient soon-to-be graduates on their prospects after graduation. In contrast with other majors such as education, engineering or nursing which are occupation-based, the notion of being an “arts” student is often overcast with ambiguity, since there is[Read More…]
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
Accountability must come first in Access to Information debate
A fundamental pillar for the success of a publicly funded institution is the public’s right to know and understand where its money goes, and what is being done with it. McGill’s recent motion to the Commission d’accès à l’information seeking the authority to ignore Access To Information (ATI) requests threatens[Read More…]
Letter to the Editor
Much has been written about the faculty of arts proposal to enhance the connection between research and undergraduate teaching by increasing the proportion of courses taught by professors who devote their careers to advancing their disciplines, as well as increasing the availability of teaching-assistant support to professors and students. These[Read More…]
Letter to the Editor
Universities are not easy to run. Administrators are constantly under pressure to make ends meet. To balance the budget sheet they must pay thousands of salaries, manage millions of dollars in infrastructure, fundraise, lobby and beg to pay for it all. In an age of austerity, this is unimaginably harder.[Read More…]
Cuts and an inconsequential conversation
At the beginning of last term, I wrote that this year would—hopefully—be free of the sort of acrimonious student politics that characterized 2011-2012 at McGill. Recent events have put the lie to that hope. While much of the attention on campus is currently centred around The Daily’s fee referendum, a[Read More…]
Zero Dark Torture?
In an Academy Award season mostly bereft of controversy, Zero Dark Thirty has filled the void with its brutal and frank depiction of torture. The film, a dramatization of the American military operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, was written based on conversations with people who had first hand knowledge[Read More…]
Is Fantino making a mistake on Haiti?
This New Year began on a controversial note for Canada’s International Co-operation Minister Julian Fantino. According to a story published in La Presse, Ottawa froze aid to Haiti shortly after Fantino’s visit to the Caribbean nation in November. While some current funding will continue, funding on new projects will be,[Read More…]
Students do not want fewer courses
Over the next month, high school, CEGEP, and international students alike will submit their university applications to McGill. As these applications are finalized, however, the McGill to which they are applying will look less and less like the one that we have come to know. Last week, Dean of Arts[Read More…]
Co-operative education: a new kind of degree
October 1957 marked the start of the first co-op (cooperative education program) in Canada. The program started amongst 74 Waterloo engineering students and has since become a trend for university learning. Co-op programs are incorporated into compatible majors, such as architecture and engineering, to give students work experience, thereby making[Read More…]
A reflection on homelessness
It was Christmastime. The snow was falling, bells were ringing, and I was walking to Provigo to obtain my weekly family-sized box of Honey Nut Cheerios. Not too long before, a heart-warming news story had originated from just down the Hudson—New York policeman Lawrence DePrimo was spotted by a tourist,[Read More…]
