Dining with the Ax

Got a beef you want to take directly to the top? Do it while eating your roast beef sandwich!

University of Winnipeg’s president and vice chancellor Lloyd Axworthy will be dining in Riddell Hall today (Thursday, Jan. 15), and you’re invited to join him.

He’s making himself available to students in hopes of creating an “atmosphere of dialog,” U of W’s communications department said.

Axworthy will eat with the students once a month. The next lunch is scheduled for Feb. 25.

No word on whether he’ll brown bag it or if he’ll eat cafeteria food.

Budget cutbacks hitting Canadian universities

Post-secondary institutions across Canada are feeling the pinch as bleak economic times begin to take effect on the world at large.

Maclean’s On Campus reported that budget cuts necessary across the nation threaten everything from scholarship handouts to staffing levels in universities.

The Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario, for example, had to cut its three-year budget by an estimated $31 million.

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada requested a $2.4 billion provision from the federal government to post-secondary institutions to avoid further cuts.

Professor booted for overly-generous grading

A physics professor at the University of Ottawa was recently put on suspension, threatened with a dismissal and escorted from campus by university police on Dec. 10 after he gave all the students in his class an A+.

The perfect grades were awarded after the university denied the professor’s request for a pass/fail grading system, reported the Chronicle of Higher Education.

The professor in question is Denis Rancourt, a noted physicist who has been a professor at the U of O for 22 years.

Rancourt reportedly had 18 grievances filed against him during his tenure.

Busted

A university student faces a disciplinary hearing that could result in expulsion after allegedly faking her way into York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School.

The student, Quami Frederick, is accused of submitting a phony online degree to the university, reported the Toronto Star.

Frederick was accepted into the school’s law program on the basis of this degree, prompting the university to tighten its admissions process.

The student later used inflated transcripts to successfully apply to a law firm.

Gaza protest commandeers university entrance

Students returning to McMaster University found it hard to move past a Free Gaza demonstration outside the university doors.

The demonstration was organized by Defend Gaza, a committee formed just before the start of the new year who support the Palestinian cause in the Gaza Strip and condemn the Israeli missile strikes taking place for the past few weeks.

The Silhouette reported Jamila Ghaddar, a McMaster alumni and Defend Gaza supporter, said the group has two demands: an end to Israeli aggression in Gaza and an expression of Canadian support of Palestinians.

Published in Volume 63, Number 16 of The Uniter (January 15, 2009)