Back Issues

University of Toronto’s student unions announced Thursday that despite the University’s refusal to reverse its decision to shut down the downtown St. George campus during the G20 summit, student groups will continue to provide services and advocacy for students and the campus community. Earlier this week, students and faculty submitted an open letter to the University, arguing that the shutdown "contradicts the purpose of the university, reinforces harmful stereotypes of protesters, legitimizes police repression and violence and does not reflect the wishes of students, staff and faculty." During the summit, students will be barred from residences, exams will be postponed, parking garages will be closed, and meetings and events will be cancelled.  National Post  |  CNW Newswire 

Canadian Interuniversity Sport announced Wednesday it will allow members of the suspended Waterloo Warriors football team to transfer to another team without facing any penalities. According to CIS rules, transfer students are normally required to sit out a season before being allowed to play. Some parents fear, however, that allowing players to transfer will result in the "death knell of the program" and are recommending that the University "either solve the issue and let the kids play now, or the mass exodus starts Monday." A lawsuit to overturn the decision also seems unlikely. Richard McLaren, a law professor at the University of Western Ontario, notes that the players have no obvious lawsuit, as there was no contract in place.  Daily Gleaner  |  National Post 

Red River College announced yesterday that Stephanie Forsyth has been appointed the institution's new president and CEO, starting September 27. (She replaces Jeff Zabudsky, who left earlier this year for Sheridan College). Forsyth will come to RRC from Northwest Community College in BC, where she has served as president for 10 years. Prior to NWCC, she worked at Selkirk College, Vancouver Community College, Malaspina University College, and Capilano College. According to BCLocalNews.com, Forsyth has resigned from NWCC once before, in February 2009, when she was offered the presidency at Vancouver Community College, but she reversed her decision shortly thereafter. Forsyth, whose ancestry is Blackfoot and who is an adopted member of the Tsimshian Nation, says she is excited by RRC’s growing applied research program in sustainable technology, capital expansion plans, and focus on Aboriginal education. She has woven indigenous knowledge and traditions into the NWCC culture, and initiated an ambitious plan to make NWCC carbon-neutral.  Red River College News  |  Winnipeg Free Press  |  BC Local News 

A recent survey of 1,581 undergrads at 19 universities has found that young people anticipate greater global change than change to Canada itself. Almost all agreed that by 2040, Alberta and Quebec would still be part of Canada, and that universal healthcare and pension plans would still exist. About two-thirds anticipate that the polar ice caps will have melted, a nuclear war will have taken place, a human will have been successfully cloned, artificial intelligence will exist, and that China will be the world’s leading superpower. At the same time, most do not expect cures for cancer or AIDS, or peace in the Middle East, in the next 30 years. Overall, the students see the Economy (43%), Healthcare (34%) and the Environment (23%) as the top issues facing Canada today.  MyCanEd News Release (PDF) 

Two University of Waterloo researchers have conducted the first and largest study of co-op students, using StatsCan’s YITS (Youth in Transition Survey) data. Tracking 10,000 students from 2000-2006, it appears that co-op programs aid accessibility for lower-income students, and attract more females in college and males in university. University co-op students appear to be more studious and serious, and are more likely to be studying engineering, applied and physical sciences, or mathematics. College co-op students, on the other hand, are more likely in the fine and applied arts, or the humanities. After graduation, university co-op grads were earning 15% more than their peers, and were in more “prestigious” positions.  IEC Hamilton 

We’ve told you before about Camosun’s cheeky “next step” campaign in 2008, or their “scratch-and-sniff” website last April Fool’s day. Now, Camosun is displaying its distinctive personality in a series of silent video spots airing on monitors in high school hallways. The bright green animations declare that Camosun College is “now Bieber free,” “nearly Zombie free,” has “40% more Ninjas,” and is “Batman underwater fighting a shark with a lightsabre awesome!” David Sovka, Associate Director College & Community Relations, explains that the spots play to Camosun’s cornerstone values, “being ‘real’ and deeply rooted in community.” The videos are available on the MyCamosun YouTube channel, where you can also watch student submissions to the “MyCamosun” contest.  MyCamosun channel 

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education has released its Annual Review of Sustainability in Higher Education. The report provides an overview of the broadening and deepening commitment to campus sustainability across North America. Canadian PSE institutions mentioned in the report include Dalhousie University, Acadia University and Trent University for their involvement in the "One Million Acts of Green" program, which aims to mobilize Canadians to perform one million acts of green collectively. Simon Fraser University is noted for its business students' involvement in assessing and comparing the sustainability initiatives at SFU, UBC and uVic. York University is cited for its partnership with the World Green Building Council to develop an international education program in green building design.  AASHE News Release  |  Report Digest (PDF) 

As part of its pledge to contribute $500 million to the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, British Petroleum announced Tuesday three grants totalling $25 million for research on ecological issues around the environmental disaster caused by their drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana State University will receive $5 million, the Florida Institute of Oceanography at the University of South Florida will receive $10 million, and the Northern Gulf Institute, a consortium led by Mississippi State University will receive $10 million.  Inside Higher Ed  |  BP News Release 

SPP, the Student Partners Program, is the new buzzword among Indian PSE applicants considering Canada, says Mel Broitman of the Canadian University Application Centre, in an online opinion piece. Designed to help the Canadian visa office address the problems of high visa refusal rates in areas such as the Punjab, the SPP puts responsibility on select Canadian community colleges to sign off on a list of accountability in terms of how they admit and invite students to Canada. Although not a guarantee of visa approval, he says education agents in India are promoting SPP as if "it's a magic carpet ride to Canada." This perceived guarantee may have led to an increase in the number of Indian students applying to Canadian community colleges, and has some recruiters wondering "how many students applying under SPP [will] actually convert to registrants and how many [will] arrive only to request a refund."  Higher-Edge 

About a dozen US colleges and universities, including MIT and SUNY Canton, have begun establishing “pet-friendly dorms” in which students don’t have to settle for stuffed animals for stress relief. Stephens College, a women's institution in Missouri, is renovating a dorm dubbed “Pet Central” to accommodate 30 incoming freshmen and their pets, and to include a ground-floor kennel staffed by work-study students. Stephens College hopes that the new pet-friendly policy will help students make a smoother transition to higher education. Eckerd College even allows snakes, provided they are “less than six feet long and nonvenomous.”  New York Times  |  Boston Globe  |  Inside Higher Ed