Crime on campus
Campus police kept busy in December, investigating crimes from theft to arson.
There were 40 counts of trespassing, 32 thefts, 19 emergency calls, and one report of elevator entrapment. Out of thefts reported, six laptops were stolen.
There were several reports of mischief. On Dec. 14, campus police investigated damage inflicted on a door at the Graduate Students’ Union pub and damage to a vending machine.
On Dec. 1, campus police responded to a complaint of a suspicious package at 222 College St., which turned out to be a charging battery pack. They also investigated a report of arson at the Koffler Student Centre.
Campus police responded to two complaints of indecent acts, one at St. George and Hoskin, and the other at St. George and College.
The St. Basil’s Church parking lot on Bay St. had the highest number of reported incidents, followed by Robarts and the Bahen Centre.—Nikki Rozario
College students fear strike
A strike has been a possibility ever since talks between Colleges Ontario and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents 90,000 teachers, broke down in December. The union has set a strike vote for Jan. 13.
Mature students enrolled in Ontario’s Second Career program fear potential campus strikes across Ontario.
The program offers training and financial support to laid-off workers, and has approved 21,000 people since 2008. Now many of these people are worried about their situation should the strike take place.
“A lot of us, after getting laid off and going through all that uncertainty, looked to the education system as a place of safety,” said Don DeSchutter, 44, who is in his final year of a human resources program at Fanshawe College in London, Ont.
“People who are getting ready to get into second careers may not be able to do that now, [and] their life is in the balance.”—Ryan Tuzyk
Source: Canadian Press
Language changes how Canadians see university
A national poll of Canadians over whether a university degree is a minimum requirement for success shows a wide gap between French- and English-speakers.
The survey of 1,500 Canadians found that fewer than 20 per cent of French speakers between the ages of 18 and 24 said a degree was required, whereas 40 per cent of the English group maintained it was. Notably, more than two-thirds of respondents whose first language is neither French nor English agreed that a degree is necessary for success.
Michel Perron, a professor at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, pointed out that the results of the survey may be affected by the importance placed on technical degrees by many in the province. In a poll conducted this spring for the Ménard group, when college training was included as an option, nearly 90 per cent of respondents said post-secondary education was important.
Jack Jedwab, executive director of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies, worries that there will be a growing incongruity between the groups unless action is taken to change the attitude that education is insignificant to success.—Carolyn Arnett
Source: Globe and Mail
Separation of church and philosophy
Plans at the University of Winnipeg to merge the philosophy, classics, and religious studies departments into a singular humanities department have been postponed. Dean of Arts David Fitzpatrick formally revealed the amalgamation plan early this November, arguing that amalgamating the departments would effectively save the school close to $30,000 in its Arts budget. He maintained that each program would still remain a separate unit within the merger to maintain its academic integrity. However, there was immediate backlash from the would-be affected communities, and the project has been moved back for at least another academic year. Nevertheless, students and faculty continue to express concern over the recent disintegration of the philosophy department in particular, and what the merger could mean for the department’s future at the university.—Gina Shin
Source: Winnipeg Free Press
