Begbie statue stolen

Someone stole the statue in the UVIC Law building. One evening last week, someone nabbed the bronze of BC's first judge, Matthew Begbie. The statue stood prominently in the entry of the Law building for many years. Known as the "hanging judge"--some say unjustly--Begbie has been the subject of much controversy over the years. The statue, which shows Begbie riding on a horse, was sawed off at the hooves and removed.

Honoring Begbie at UVIC has been the subject of much debate over the years--and the statue has been the subject of mild pranks. Until recently the UVIC Law building was also named for Begbie--now it is named for Fraser, UVIC's first law dean.

Given the controversy the Begbie statue has caused it would be easy to assume the theft is a student protest or prank, but Universities have been targets of art theives before. Notably the recent theft of Bill Reid's gorgeous gold carving work from UBC (now found, with some damage), and theives stealing bronze monuments for the melted-down value. The recently solved theft of a famous (and heavy!) Henry Moore bronze shows the thieves stole a multi-million dollar work of art to melt it down to earn a few thousand from the scrap. Apparently law enforcement can attend conferences on metal theft, and some areas even have metal theft specialists on their police force.

Corporate interference in academic journals

A worrisome case from Australia--where a pharmaceutical company sponsored publication of an "academic" journal through a medical/scientific publisher, Elsevier for a fee.

http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/print/55671/

hat tip to:
Therapeutics Initiative at UBC for the link: http://www.ti.ubc.ca/

The Terapeutics Initiative itself came under fire recently for refusing pharmaceutical influence:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2464479

punctuation plays part in first April Fool's newpaper prank

This was sent to us due to the apostrophe catastrophe:

1977: The British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic said to consist of several semicolon-shaped islands located in the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica.

The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Only a few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades

Pacific Leadership Scholarship being cut?

I heard the BC Advanced Education critic for (Rob Fleming, MLA) saying the Pacific Leaders graduate scholarship has been cut in the recent BC budget.

Please sign this petition to keep graduate student funding in BC!

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/pacific-leaders-graduate-student-fellowships.html

Grad students respond to recent business only grad funding

The letter, to Prime Minister Harper, was quoted in its entirety on rabble.ca:

The Federal Budget presented on January 27, 2009 contains a paragraph (page 106-7) laying out temporary increases in Graduate Scholarship Funding. The increases are welcome. However, the last sentence says that SSHRC scholarships "will be focused on business-related degrees."

This provision must be eliminated. It makes no sense to earmark scholarships for one discipline, rather than another. We need to allow students in all disciplines to further their learning opportunities, and excluding the majority from consideration for scholarships, limits our choices as a society that relies on new knowledge to prepare a better future.

Granting councils rely on peer review, and accord scholarships on the basis of merit, not on the basis of field of study. The main estimates are examined on a departmental basis by the appropriate standing committee, as set out in Article 81.(4) of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons.

When SSHRC spending comes forward to be discussed, we urge parliamentarians to remove the condition that scholarships be focused on business-related degrees. Should this earmark provision not be withdrawn, the 22 Council members of the SSHRC should ignore the earmark, or resign in protest. The SSHRC president should undertake a public campaign to explain why earmarking is not an acceptable practice in graduate student funding.

We urge all professional associations to write the leaders of the opposition parties urging them to maintain the independence of funding for graduate students in all disciplines by having the House of Commons pronounce itself against earmarking scholarship money by discipline.

Setting aside for a time the controversial -- did business-related programs, such as financial economics and business administration produce the people who put us in the economic mess we are now in -- all University faculty, graduate students and administrators should make it clear to members of parliament that the directing of funds entrusted to granting councils is not the role of the government of the day.

Yours truly,

Frances Abele, Carleton University,
Greg Albo, York University,
Jessica Alina-Pisano, University of Ottawa,
Caroline Andrew, University of Ottawa,
Feyzi Baban, Trent University,
Manfred Bienefeld, Carleton University,
Neil Bradford, Huron University College,
Andrew Biro, Acadia University,
Paul Leduc Browne, Universite du Quebec en Outaouais,
Doris Buss, Carleton University,
Duncan Cameron, Simon Fraser University,
Bill Carroll, University of Victoria,
John Paul C. Catungal, University of Toronto,
Ken Collier, Athabasca University,
Amrita Daniere, University of Toronto,
Serge Denis, University of Ottawa,
Matthew Farish, University of Toronto,
Christina Gabriel, Carleton University,
Emily Gilbert, University of Toronto,
Kanishka Goonewardena, University of Toronto,
Sneja Gunew, University of British Columbia,
Matt James, University of Victoria,
Dimitrios Karmis, University of Ottawa,
Roger Keil, York University,
Fuyuki Kurasawa, York University,
Charmain Levy, Universite du Quebec en Outaouais,
Fiona Mackenzie, Carleton University,
Stephen McBride, Simon Fraser University,
Rianne Mahon, Carleton University,
Dominique Masson, University of Ottawa,
Margie Mendell, Concordia University,
Lisa Mills, Carleton University,
Amina Mire, Carleton University,
Douglas Moggach, University of Ottawa,
Joshua Mostow, University of British Columbia,
Carlos Novas, Carleton University,
Leo Panitch, York University,
Martin Papillon, University of Ottawa,
Kate Parizeau, University of Toronto,
William Ramp, University of Lethbridge,
Katharine N. Rankin, University of Toronto,
Francois Rocher, University of Ottawa,
Cristina Rojas, Carleton University,
Stephanie Ross, York University,
Blair Rutherford, Carleton University,
John S. Saul, York University,
Mario Seccareccia, University of Ottawa,
Byron Sheldrick, University of Guelph,
John Shields, Ryerson University,
Amy Siciliano, University of Toronto,
Janet Siltanen, Carleton University,
Louis Simard, University of Ottawa,
Martin Skowronski, University of Toronto,
Malinda S. Smith, University of Alberta,
Donald Swartz, Carleton University,
Sunera Thobani, University of British Columbia,
Sarah Todd, Carleton University,
Wiliam Walters, Carleton University,
Rosemary Warskett, Carleton University,
Mel Watkins, Simon Fraser University.

See ya, Joe, and thanks!

GSS director of Communications Joe Kolthammer has stepped down. The Grad Council passed a motion to thank him for all his hard work, and I want to add my personal thanks.

Joe was first elected in Spring 2007 and worked tirelessly producing four issues of the source, largely without any assistance. To give you a sense of the immensity of this, the magazine to be managed by a part time staff person. However, Joe managed to pull off high quality work with limited resources.

Joe also led the GSS referendum campaign to leave the CFS, and prior to the referendum gave many (frustrating) hours to that dispute. What could have been largely unpleasant was fun because of working with Joe.

This year, Joe didn't stand for re-election. However, when no one stood for the position, he accepted nomination from the floor of the March 2008 SGM and undertook to revamp how the Director of Communications position works--partly with an eye to making it more do-able for a grad student with other full time commitments. Joe also knew that due to the enormous shift in communications, and the work required in producing a magazine, it was time to rethink how we managed our publication and communication strategy.

All this was an enormous amount of work, and I will miss Joe's contribution to the GSS.

Most of all, though, I will miss having Joe around: his always hilarious (but rarely sent) letters to the Martlet, his old green cardigan, and making me laugh (and increasing my vocabulary) with every visit. Oh! And wearing my son's crazy bird costume!

Hopefully all that won't have to change (except maybe the bird costume... that might not bear repeating!).

Ok, maybe once...

Here's to the kudzu of anarchy!

Stacy

CUPE 4163 Supports York University Workers' Right to Bargain

CUPE 4163 Supports York University Workers' Right to Bargain -
Calls Proposed Back-to-Work Legislation an Attack on Workers' Rights
Victoria, B.C.

At this moment the government of Ontario is taking steps to pass
back-to-work legislation aimed at undercutting the rights of workers,
ordering the members of CUPE 3903 to return to work and refusing them the
right to bargain. The members of CUPE 4163 stand by these workers in calling
on the government of Ontario to allow the constitutionally protected
tradition of collective bargaining to continue, and to instead require the
administration of York University to return to the bargaining table in good
faith.
We live in a time of economic uncertainty. As belts tighten, corporations
and governments are looking for ways to save money, to cut corners, and to
trim costs. We must resist the urge to let them do so over the bodies of
workers and that is exactly what this legislation supports. By undercutting
the rights of these workers to utilize their only tool of negotiation, that
of withholding their labour power in the absence of a just contract, this
back-to-work legislation threatens all workers.

The argument is being made that it is the rights of students which should be
thought of in this case. Students have been out of the classroom for 77
days, and the Ontario government is arguing that they must not be made to
pay the price of this conflict. This is obviously true, yet if the
university administration was truly concerned with the rights of students,
why is it that this administration couldn't be bothered to negotiate with
the union for 65 days out of that 77 day span, meeting on only 12 occasions?
The best interests of students must indeed be held foremost by all parties,
but to return them to classes without a resolution is not in their interests
at all. The fact that this resolution does not place students first is
further reinforced by the reality that graduate student TAs, who are also
being prevented from attending class as a result of this strike, voted
almost 2 to 1 to support the union in continuing this action in the absence
of a just offer.

The truth of the matter is that there is a growing crisis in our university
system. We face what has been described as an attempt to introduce the
policies of Walmart to our system of higher education. Each year, a larger
proportion of the teaching and research at universities is undertaken by
workers who are given little pay, and even less security. These contract
faculty do not know, from one term to the next, whether or not they will
even be teaching. This situation is not in the interest of these workers,
and it is certainly not in the interest of students.

It is this crisis which is at the heart of the struggle at York, and it is
an issue which back-to-work legislation will attempt to force out of sight,
and out of mind. For the sake of the workers and students currently at York,
and for the sake of future workers and students at universities across this
country, this crisis needs to be addressed. It needs to be addressed through
the system of collective bargaining, a system which the Supreme Court of
Canada has ruled is a constitutionally protected practice, in a ruling which
came in response to the last attempt, here in BC, by a provincial government
to enforce back-to-work legislation.

This attack on workers' right to bargain must be fought. If this
back-to-work legislation is allowed to pass unchallenged, it will have
far-reaching consequences for all workers. The university's knowledge that
they may have final recourse to back-to-work legislation in the face of
determined workers allows them to avoid negotiating entirely, and simply
wait for an imposed settlement. We stand in solidarity with CUPE 3903 in
opposing this tactic, and call for the administration of York University to
return to the bargaining table in good faith.

__________________________________

Educational Employees Union, CUPE 4163
University of Victoria
Technology Enterprise Facility, room 217
Box 1700, Stn. CSC
Victoria, BC
V8W 2Y2
Phone: (250) 472-4778; Fax: (250) 472-4806
http://www.cupe4163.ca