The grounds crew
Last night and this morning, I walked from my place to McMaster University. It is normally a 20 minute walk in the summer, it presently takes at least 30 minutes. Last night, I travelled to campus in the middle of a snowstorm. Getting there was very tough, nothing…
Who’s responsible for native education?
The federal and Ontario government, in a show of how dysfunctional our country can be, are fighting over which is responsible for funding native post-secondary education institutes. Specifically, they are arguing over funding to the First Nations Technical Institute. FNTI is located on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near…
$9.5 for Ontario Veterinary College
The Ontario Veterinary College, Canada’s oldest, is receiving $9.5 million dollars from the province of Ontario to develop a primary-care teaching hospital for small animals. The college, one of only four in Canada, will use the new hospital to give students more practical experience in caring for household…
CFS looks to spread into CEGEPs
The Canadian Federation of Students is looking to expand into Quebec’s Collège d’enseignement général et professionnel. The first stop in their campaign to gain members in this sector is Dawson College in Montreal. The CFS “referendum” is being held this week with voting today and tomorrow. A large…
St. Thomas’ students look for compensation
Students at St. Thomas’ University are negotiating with their university for compensation related to a month long faculty lock-out/strike which ended with the resumption of classes February 5. Canadian University Press reports the university is assuring students there will be some form of compensation for students who incurred…
Canada eyes World University Games
At least three Canadian cities have submitted bids to host the World University Games in 2015. The University of Alberta and a group of five Montreal universities have each aimed their sights on the summer games, while Laval University in Quebec City is hoping to host the winter…
Powerful photo from Housing Not War protest
The Torontoist site did a photo essay about Thursday’s "Housing Not War" protest in Toronto. The lead photo is very powerful. Each time I look at it and it forces me to think about the issue. Hamilton, my hometown, and Toronto both have a housing crisis. I have…
Getting good at predicting CFS litigation
I wrote the other day that the Canadian Federation of Students* (or Canadian Federation of Students – British Columbia or Canadian Federation of Students – Services) likes to play a game of semantics. My exact words were: * (CFS legal threats usually revolve around claiming that the three…
A little tearful navel gazing
Education reporters are becoming an endangered species, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. A recent commentary lamented cutbacks to higher education staff at newspapers and makes a case for sparing the beat when facing difficult funding and coverage decisions. The article argues that reporting on colleges is…
Final vote on Oshawa housing bylaw tonight
Oshawa City Council is holding a special meeting tonight where they are expected to pass a controversial bylaw targeting student housing. The bylaw is the result of a rough year of town-and-gown conflicts that culminated in police raids on student houses in the fall. The new proposed bylaw…