SFSS-CFS dispute must be resolved in full trial

Those who were involved in the referendum in which the GSS left the Canadian Federation of Students have been watching the trial resulting from the Simon Fraser vote on the same issue with some interest. Simon Fraser students voted 66% in favour of leaving 2008, but the CFS contests the validity of the referendum. The SFSS tried to get a summary judgement (judgement without trial) affirming the vote was valid, but lost this month--not because they were wrong, but because the jude decided the issue needs a trial to be resolved. The judge's ruling makes for interesting read. And it seems not only SFSS will be paying (part of?) the CFS costs for the summary judgement proceedings but SFSS students are paying CFS fees with their tuition and it seems unclear what is happening to them. Is SFU holding them in trust until this is resolved?

The GSS referendum to leave the CFS (in which our members voted to leave) has not been contested. GSS members voted 57% in favour of leaving the CFS.

Bike Kitchen cooking up near you

UVIC is doing well by their cyclists, I must say.

In the past year, cycling commuter showers have been included in every new building.

The Spokes bicycle program helps students who have just arrived get a bike for a year-- free! And Spokes also lets you rent bikes for visiting family and friends (oh, and visiting scholars too!) at dirt cheap prices.

There are even charging stations for those with electric batteries on their bikes.

And now, lucky me, right outside the Grad Centre, UVIC plans to install a "Bike Kitchen". Four stands to fix your bike, and tools and compressed air all right there for you. For students, a bike is a great way to get around. Minor repairs are much easier with a stand, but investing in that sort of equipment is out of reach. A bike kitchen is a fantastic bonus for all the cyclists on campus. The Bicycle User Committee intends to use it as a meet-up spot for rides as well.

Kudos to all involved in this project, and to the Bicycle Users Committee for all their work improving UVIC for cyclists.

So many ways to tandem

I was trying to figure out a way to include this on the grad student blog, but I can't--except it qualifies as thesis distraction. Or perhaps there are some interesting kinesiology or physics questions that arise..

Anyway, as mentioned, I do love a tandem bike, so here are some interesting variations on the theme!

Back to back



three wheeler



what the hell? wild rowing machine tandem...with disco soundtrack and 1950's (norwgian?) documentary voice commentator that reminds me of my grade 10 PE teacher...



I want this one:


This one is great--hand crank and cycle tendem combo--called the "handem tandem" !

Couldn't get it to embed, but it is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whD86tuujxE

Perhaps a new project for the grad house... the beer bike (10 riders, two bartenders!)




And finally, a side by side sitting up

SSHRC campaign presents 17,000 signatures to the house of commons

I just received this email from the campaign to stop the changes to SSHRC. Congratulations to the organizers of this campaign.

-----------------

Hello, Thank you for being one of more than 17,000 people who have signed the written petition in opposition to the government's earmarking of Canada Graduate Scholarship funding within SSHRC.
Once we started our campaign against this earmarking, petitions flooded our office from every province and territory in Canada, as well as the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan.
It was an incredible response.
In this last legislative session, I had the honour of presenting this petition in the House of Commons on your behalf. Together, we have made a powerful statement in opposition to the government’s attack on the social sciences and humanities and its overall disregard for the fundamental principle of academic freedom.

(Featured: Arati Sharma and Rick Theis of CASA, Hon. Niki Ashton, and from CFS Graham Cox, Federico Carvajal and Gaétan-Philippe Beaulière)
We must continue to work together. The battle continues in the face of ongoing actions and interference of the Minister of Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear. In advance of the next budget, we will continue to make it clear that not only is discipline-related earmarking unacceptable but that social sciences and humanities research in Canada is vital. The contributions made by students, researchers, academics and people working in the social sciences and humanities are integral to moving our country forward.
Thank you again for joining me, and the thousands of others who have spoken out in opposition to the actions of this Government.
I invite you to watch the embedded video link of my presentation to the House: https://mail.uvic.ca/owa/redir.aspx?C=856195e385fa4f9aaab6b65e26669bdb&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fwatch%3fv%3d-ms6o_LlUc0
I look forward to staying in touch!
Niki

The Graduate Student's Society is no more

Because we are now the Graduate Students' Society.

Hurrah for punctuation!

Tandem Heaven!

As a tandem rider, I am excited the Northwest Tandem Rally is at UVIC this weekend. And I'm finding it hard to sit at my desk because from here I can see hundreds of tandems taking off for a lovely ride to Butchard Gardens!

I was especially jealous of this:


... the rare three-seater! I have heard rumours someone in town has a tandem big enough for my whole family, but have never seen one.


I wish I was out there too... look how friendly the tandem folk are:


Wait a minute, is that my old English teacher from high school?



Can't wait for the weekend!

Conference Board should have used Turnitin!

Looks like the Conference Board of Canada should be using Turnitin to check their work, and to avoid this embarassing situation.  Kind of a bummer to withdraw three reports that were proposing tougher copyright legislation due to "failing to meet research standards"--or "plagiarism" as Dr. Michael Geist bluntly puts it.

Michael Geist, who blew the lid off this story, is a University of Ottawa prof and a Canada Research Chair. He is a regular commentator on intellectual property issues in the digital age. Geist has been a critic of the direction copyright legislation in Canada is moving, and of the Conference Board report recommendations. But he went one further than his criticism of bias, and stated  the Conference Board had plagiarized text from a lobby group in the US for their report! The lobby group  promotes business interests in copyright legislation, making even cited use of the work questionable. Whoops! Or I suppose I should say, Gotcha!

Hmmm. How does UVIC define plagiarism? Yup, inadequate or missing citation of others' work meets UVic calendar's definition of plagiarism. Now, a student in this situation wouldn't get to withdraw three reports, but stubbornly stand by their "results". And students' work isn't likely to shape federal policy on copyright. 

You may be wondering, what exactly is this Conference Board? Until now, I always thought they were some branch of Stats Canada and never really gave it a thought--I've heard them quoted as a source of information about Canada many times on CBC radio.

The Conference Board is actually non profit society, and is self described as independent (though linked to the Conference Board of New York), non-biased, and undertaking applied research. 

But a look at who is in charge at the Conference Board gives a different sense. While their Board of Directors does include the President of one co-operative (the cooperators), that board member sits amongst the CEOs of Microsoft Canada, CGI, Merk, Debeers, and the Business Development Bank. Not a bad lineup for a business lobby--but questionable in an impartial research group. Give me the Chamber of Commerce any day. 

Well, I say chalk one up for truly independent university researchers like Dr.Geist. As noted a few days ago, academia is under lots of pressure from business too, not to mention that shift in SSHRC grants toward funding business-focussed research. There is a reason universities need to be independent and publicly funded! 

No doubt this is all fodder for gossip at Congress (of the Humanities). With Geist as a member of a keynote panel Friday night on copyright, this should make for a flivelu discussion! I propose Geist perform a rendition of Tom Lehrer's take on plagiarism, Lobachevsky, in honour of this schadenfreude-filled moment!!