Martlet weighs in on Access Copyright

The Martlet has weighed in on UVIC's change of heart regarding access copyright.

(previously reported on this blog - UVIC's earlier decision to leave the ACCESS copyright, along with many other Universities)

could it be true? a PhD Comics movie?

UPDATE: UVIC PhD Comics movie screening set for January 17, 2012, 7pm at the Grad House. 

Check it out here: facebook event page or  gss website event notice
 ----- original post follows---

Rumours have emerged on the PhD Comics facebook page that there will be a PhD Comics movie. !!!

Surely it is worth a travel grant to go participate (in California).

Not only that -- you could be an extra! Posted April 6th

Do you live in/near Southern California (or know someone who does) and want to be an extra in the PHD movie? Please e-mail movie@phdcomics.com

Original post here.


But I thought that post docs were too invisible to show on film.

UVic referendum on CFS membership attracts record turnout

UVic [undergrad] referendum on CFS membership attracts record turnout

UVIC undergrads follow GSS in leaving CFS. [Times Colonist report.]

The Martlet | Students asked to partially fund new facilities

The Martlet | Students asked to partially fund new facilities

The athletics fee issue is back. The GSS was active in the campaign to defeat this last year by calling on the Minister of Advanced Education (now Science and Universities) and the BC Tuition Limit Policy.

some past news on this issue:

Coverage of the campaign victory at UBC Insiders
Some past Martlet coveragae here.

And hey, here's the campaign info from the last time around.

UVIC GSS website

Hi all, we are experiencing some trouble with our UVIC Graduate Students' Society website in google since it migrated to the new site. It is being fixed, but for now, the link is the same: http://gss.uvic.ca/

UVIC graduate student health plan information can also be found at http://gss.uvic.ca/.

kick start you writing using online motivational tools

Beyond my life working for graduate students at the gss, I also have a secret life as a graduate student.

This term I am to submit my research proposal. Through my first two terms of graduate school, I have attempted to journal as a means to help my writing process, but with limited success.

Today I embarked on a new effort to ensure I do keep to my writing commitments, partly inspired by Joan Bolker's book, Write your dissertation in 15 minutes per day. (What an inspiring title!) Which advocates keeping a research journal.

But for those, like me, who need some prodding, some online tools may be of interest.

Do you forget to write every day? Oh, Life may be fore you. It is a simple system. you set up an account using your email, and then each evening Oh, Life sends an email asking about your day. You respond, and that is these emails become the substance of your journal. After you build up content, it will send snippets of past entries as reminders/starting points, selected at random. I wish I could choose its question to suit my purpose (not "how was your day" but "how's the research?" or something ... as long as it isn't "are you done your thesis yet?"). However, I can't fault the simplicity of the system, and the fact that an email prompt will likely be helpful for someone like me.

If goals and rewards are what you need, you might like the online journal, 750 words. With this site you are encouraged to login and write 750 words per day, and if you do this for five days in a row you get a little reward (penguin badge), and each month you get a score card with more points the more days you write. The site also assigns moods based on what you write (which unnerves me). There are challenges as well -- you could end up on the wall of awesome (or wall of shame) so think on that before choosing your pen name!

In both cases, the online journal can be downloaded for use elsewhere. Perhaps in your thesis methods section!

BC Student Activism goes waaaay back

In a tribute to the students around the world standing up for public post secondary education systems in past weeks, here is some archival footage of BC's first (I expect) student demonstration -- the UBC Great Trek of 1922, which demanded the campus finally be build so students didn't have to study crammed in old huts.

On a personal note, I recently learned my Great Aunt Eunice was a student on the Great Trek, as my cousin found a letter she wrote home describing the demonstration to her family. Guess I know where I get my activist streak!




Here is a bit of a history lesson in a bit of a bland but more structured and informative video about BC's history of establishing universities. Given the financial struggles we are having, it is good to learn from this mini-doc that BC's biggest university fought off closure during the great depression, only 7 years after it opened.



To learn about some current grad student campaigns visit the UVIC GSS at http://gss.uvic.ca

BC Cabinet shuffle creates ministry of science and universities

Ida Chong - a former Minister of Advanced Eduction - is to take the helm of the new ministry, something UVIC VP Research has described as positive. Denmark has a similar ministry. (Any Danish students have insight into this model?)

The Vancouver Sun has described the shuffle as uninspiring (and the cabinet as too large).

According to the Vancouver Sun

[Chong will] now be responsible for university financing, degree approval, student financial assistance and research, innovation and technology. Although universities are mainly self-sustaining, Chong will oversee annual university spending of more than $1 billion a year across B.C.

She'll also oversee millions in provincial research grants, matched by federal and private partners.

This is curious as when asked about BC's high rate of student debt and tuition, Chong asserted in an interview on CBC Radio Victoria that taxpayers (note, not citizens) pay 70% of the cost of the university, and that BC tuition is mid range. (Too bad they cut the BC Grad Scholarships, which would have made BC more competitive with Ontario).

UVIC's audited statements (2009) shows BC contribution to UVIC is 40% of UVIC's funding, and all government funding combined adds up to 54% of UVIC's funding- just enough to continue to be called "public" universities. Tuition accounts for 24% (up from 12% in my day) and almost as much comes from sales of services (books, residency and meals anyone?).

Hopefully this change will see an increase in graduate student support in the sciences - but won't indicate neglect of the other important fields of study in our universities.

Martlet Story: GSS responds to athletics referendum

Amy Cox and Mike Large have been busy ensuring grad students are heard on the referendum campaign with two recent op eds in the Martlet.

Newest is here:
http://www.martlet.ca/article/20376-gss-disappointed-with-referendum-information

My fave comment is "Why is the GSS so well run?" Thanks, "argh", it's because we have people like Amy and Mike!!

Stand up for quality childcare at UVIC

Like many graduate students, I'm a parent with a 9 year old in childcare. My son was lucky enough to be enrolled in UVIC's childcare--he has been at UVIC childcare since he was 16 months, and I believe the program is great.

All UVIC parents have friends (or have been ourselves) on long waitlists (2-3 years even!) to get in and know UVIC childcare needs to expand.

The UVIC Childcare Action group has been working to bring this issue to the attention of the university. I’m happy to report that our campaign has succeeded in its goal of gaining the attention of the administration, and of bringing awareness to the importance of the childcare crisis faced by UVIC students, faculty and staff. I work for the Graduate Students' Society and we have been active in this groups. We know childcare is a significant issue for our members.

However, we now face a new situation. In its response to our campaign and the need for more childcare, the Board of Governors is seriously considering engaging a private childcare corporation, Kids & Company. For a very low “membership” fee, Kids & Company asserts that they will set up childcare facilities to meet UVic’s demand. However, parents and early childhood specialists alike are raising the warning bell about privatized childcare. Without wanting to demonize Kids & Co. in particular, we can say that for-profit childcare must, necessarily, cut corners to make a profit, and that this inevitably means lower-quality care despite higher fees.

Large private facilities pay lower wages than not-for-profit organizations like UVic Childcare, which results in high staff turnover (not good for children). They also meet only the minimum provincial standards in both caregiver-to-child ratios as well as staff qualifications; in both these areas, UVic Childcare exceeds the standards. Kids & Company has not yet gained a foothold in B.C., but they have established centres in Calgary, Toronto, Waterloo and Halifax.

While information regarding the company’s performance is not easy to obtain, we have heard some disturbing stories from parents, and two incidents in which Kids&Co centres had their licenses put in jeopardy – once for mould and sewer drain issues (Toronto) and once for accidentally leaving a toddler behind in the building during a fire-drill (Calgary). While Kids&Co has not been operational for long enough to gain perspective on their success, the example of an analogous big-box chain, ABC Childcare in Australia, which expanded rapidly and experienced multiple problems with staffing and quality before going bankrupt, suggests that we may want to be wary of inviting privatized childcare to solve our problems.The Board of Governors is currently gathering information from Kids&Company about the nature of the services they would provide, and they are hoping to make a decision at their meeting on November 27th. In preparation for this meeting, the UCAG has been working to substantiate concerns about privatized childcare with evidence of potential problems.
In addition, we have clarified our objective: faculty members need quality childcare in order to allow them to do their jobs properly, not just any childcare.In support of this objective, we are asking that if you have not yet written a letter in support of our campaign – and we do understand, we’re all busy! – that you do so now, and that you stress that you believe that quality childcare is essential to the success of faculty members who are parents of young children.

***Letters must be sent by November 9 to be included in the Board of Governors agenda.***

Many of us have had – or know of someone who has had – experience with less-than-ideal childcare, and we understand that it is difficult to be productive when you’re uncomfortable with the environment in which you have left your child. We’re concerned that if Kids & Company supplies childcare services to UVic, it may create problems for parents at the same time as it solves them. Thank-you for taking the time to write a letter in support of our campaign.

You’ll find a letter template below; please add your personal perspective or experience, if you wish, and email it to Ray Protti usec3@uvic.ca; David Turpin dturpin@uvic.ca; and cc it to lsmarks@uvic.ca; provost@uvic.ca; and jdunsdon@uvic.ca.

If you are a graduate student, I would appreciate it if you cc the GSS on your letter and let us know if you are willing to have us publish it on the GSS website.

You can email me at gssmgr@uvic.ca.
Yours sincerely,
Stacy Chappel
University of Victoria Graduate Students' Society
University Childcare Action Group

SAMPLE LETTER FOLLOWS


To: Mr. Ray Protti, Chair, Board of Governors and Dr. David Turpin, President, University of Victoria dturpin@uvic.ca
Re: Childcare expansion
Dear Mr. Protti and Dr. Turpin:

I am writing to respectfully ask that you work towards immediate expansion of the UVic childcare system. The current situation is not working for UVic parents.



Through contact and discussion with other concerned parents, I have increasingly come to realize that my situation is far from unique. The UVic childcare is rated among the best in Victoria, but its waitlist times are are extremely long (over two years for students and averaging four to five years for staff and faculty).

This has caused serious hardship for UVic students, staff, and faculty. Impacts on productivity, retention, and recruitment are significant, and growing. This is reflected in the recent departure of a promising young faculty member, Dr. Katrin Meissner, who left UVic because she could not find care for her child.

Recent UVic initiatives to develop a home-based childcare network and part-time childcare in Center 6 are welcome and encouraged. However, these initiatives will not provide sufficient care to meet the demand, and will provide few permanent, full time spaces. This problem could be solved by expanding the UVic group childcare, to provide additional spaces without compromising the quality of the care.

Additional space is particularly needed for the infant and toddler age groups, where few facilities are available in the community, and waitlist times are particularly long. Recruitment, retention, and accessibility are strategic initiatives for UVic. These goals are currently threatened by limited access to high-quality childcare on campus and in the community.

Faculty and staff who cannot find childcare they are satisfied with are forced to either quit, reduce their work to part time, or struggle with multiple demands, resulting in greatly reduced productivity. Parent students without childcare are unable to access higher education.Given that the UVic childcare system is among the best in Victoria, significant expansion of this system is the best solution to the childcare crisis. I hope you will work together with the students, staff, and faculty towards this goal.

Thank you for your kind consideration.
Sincerely,

It’s your call: One click could save you $55 per term in athletics fees

Should students pay for a new athletic facility with a “new” $55/term fee (in addition to the current $73/term fee)?

You will be asked to vote on this question October 19-23, 2009 on webvote at https://webvote.uvic.ca

The Graduate Students’ Society is opposed to this fee increase. Here are some of our reasons:

Is this fee increase legal?

The GSS is concerned that the fee increase is not permitted under BC’s tuition limit policy, which caps increases of tuition and fees for current programs at 2% per year. This new fee will be a 75% fee increase for students.

The GSS has sent UVic a letter (PDF) asking UVIC to account for this, and will post any reply we receive on our campaign site here: http://gss.uvic.ca/2009athletics.htm

Who uses and who pays?

In the January 2009 term alone, contribution by students to the Athletics and Recreation budget was $1,082,939.00—without including additional fees paid by students for intramural, weight room, and program fees.

According to UVIC data for January – March 2009, which assumes average usage of 1-3 visits per week, about 30% of undergraduates and 8% of graduate students are using the Ian Stewart Complex (the most popular recreation facility on campus).

Athletics fees: the goal posts keep moving!

Until UVIC purchased the Ian Stewart Complex (ISC), athletic fees increased at a rate almost identical to inflation. Since the purchase of ISC, students have been paying a greater proportion of the cost for Athletics at UVIC each year. In the past decade, the proportion of the Athletics budget covered by student fees has risen from 20% to 38%.

Mandatory fees can be a benefit—if they are less than market rate

Compare this fee proposal to the U-pass... the U-pass costs one quarter the cost of buying a monthly buss pass. Every student pays in, but the cost is kept lower than market rate. In return, transit improves bus service to Victoria campuses.

Now compare the proposed athletics fee proposal to other recreation passes in Victoria *:

No. of terms	Current fee	New fee
One term	$73	$128
Two Terms	$146	$256
Three Terms	$219	$320*
COMPARE
Sannich Rec student pass	285/year
Oak Bay Rec annual pass	$345/year
YM-YWCA pass - family pass	$444/year $780/year

* graduate students will have the option to opt out of the summer term; summer term will be charged at 50%. 60% of graduate students and 20% of undergraduates pay 3 terms of fees per year.

What are the other options?

UVIC says mandatory student fees need to cover 36.7% of the cost of the building—but what are other options? UVIC’s consultation process suggested selling the Ian Stewart Complex as one revenue source. Other options include bigger donor campaigns, a stronger lobby for government support.

UVIC’s facility analysis indicates UVIC will seek to cover costs of the building with the following revenues:

1. New students Mandatory Fee

2. Program revenues

3. Donors

4. Government funding

5. UVIC contribution

What are the arguments in favour of the fee increase?

UVIC made a presentation to the GSS Grad Council about the proposal. It can be found here.

UVIC’s facility analysis (500 pages) can be found here.

UVIC’s/vikes website supporting the fee increase is here

Student facebook group in support of the fee increase is found on the vikes website here

Visit open houses

Help the campaign

Visit the GSS campaign site, download a poster, learn more: all here

Representation Campaign Victories

The GSS is currently campaigning to guarantee representation for graduate students in departmental meetings. Grad students in Sociology lost their long standing right to voice and vote in department meetings last summer. Philosophy students are similarly fighting to maintain their full rights, having been reduced from full representative status to attending the beginning of the meeting and speaking to items in the previous minutes.

Read the Grad Rep Council motion in support of graduate student representation here.

Come to the GSS and sign the letter to support grad students in philosophy who are fighting to save their seat at the table!

CAMPAIGN NEWS

• History in Art grad students have won a guarantee of representation in their department--including voice and vote.
• Physics & Astronomy grad students have increased their representation to include a grad student from each discipline at the table.
• Changes to Senate elections policy have been won. Previsouly, although no policy precluded their candidacy, graduate students had been refused the right to run as the senator from their home faculty and had been directed to run for the sole Faculty of Graduate Studies seat. Due to lobbying by the GSS the interpretation of the rules has changed and graduate students can now run for all student seats on the Senate.

Margaret Atwood on the importance of the Arts

I am thrilled to see the arts becoming a major election issue. Have a look at Margaret Atwood's excellent rebuttal to recent cuts to federal arts funding here.

UVic could take a cue from this article too. Where is our funding for fine arts grad students at UVic? Is it reflective of the huge contribution the arts makes to our community and culture? To our ways of thinking and perceiving the world?

What can be done about this? What should fine arts funding for graduate students look like at UVic?

For another take on the issue, check out this hilarious video.




See how fun politics can be when artists are in charge?

Has UVIC just elected its last chancellor?

Murray Farmer was just elected as UVIC's new chancellor in July.
According to the Ring, 3838 members of convocation voted. Convocation includes UVic alumni, current and former Board of Governor and Senate members, UVic current and retired faculty, staff who have worked at UVIC for 12 months and hold a university degree,

But if the BC government gets its way, Farmer will be the last UVIC chancellor who is elected by convocation. Deep in the University Amendment Act 2008, bundled in with the creation of about a billion new universities all at once, lies the amendment to make the Chancellor appointed rather than elected.

The Chancellor will be appointed thus:

(1) There must be a chancellor of each university, who is to be appointed by the board on nomination by the alumni association and after consultation with the senate or, in the case of the University of British Columbia, after consultation with the council.

(1.1) The chancellor holds office for 3 years and after that until a successor is appointed.

Granted, you could argue the Chancellor is a figure head. But he or she also represents the University all around the world, confers degrees, and is an ex-officio member of BOG and Senate. The right to elect the person who plays that role gives the convocation the ability to decide the "face" of UVic.

I do wonder what the motivaton is. It's not as if no one participates--3838 people just voted at UVIC at the peak of summer holidays! And it certainly seems like we have had excellent people elected in past. So what exactly needs fixing?

Chesterfields retire!

Renovations are about a million tasks. One of them is getting rid of stuff we are replacing. After many years of service, the ol' blue couches are off to a new life. Sadly for them, no Winnebago in Texas or golf tournaments.
Off they go! At the GSS we love these moving guys--some of the friendliest staff on campus. Even posed for my photo! They are taking the couches to Biochem and English. Happy lounging folks!

Coooooool

A surprise peak at what UVic might be using to transport staff and goods to various locations on campus. Electric cars and van!

That's campus live wire Sara Webb standing there with her fair trade organic coffee!
I even got a free ride around ring road. If "happiness" is to be measured in the cost benefit analysis in there, the amount of silly giggling from various UVic staff in the van definately weighs heavily in favour of purchase.

Referendum on Health and Dental Plan

Going to the polls... again. (This is it, I swear!)

Grad students will have the opportunity to vote on the coverage and cost of the GSS extended health and dental plans on April 22, 23, and 24th 2008.

The referendum will ask you to choose between the following options:

1. Keep premium at current level with benefit reductions.
2. Increase paramedical coverage to 100%, with $10 co-pay ($230/year, $19.17/month, an increase of $1.58/month
3. Add vision coverage of up to $200 every 2 years ($245/year, $20.42/month, an increase of $2.83/month)
4. Combine options B and C ($255/year, $21.25/month, an increase of $3.67/month)

Choice with the highest number of votes will be selected.

You will be able to vote on webvote and also by paper ballot at the GSS office.

Info on the referendum is here: http://gss.uvic.ca/Healthanddentalreferendum.htm

Info on the health and dental plan is here: http://gss.uvic.ca/health.htm