Occupation shuts James Admin Building
Headline NewsIf the Nov. 10, 2011, occupation of the Principal’s office in the James Administration Building and protest outside felt like a volcanic eruption, the five-day occupation of sixth-floor offices in James that began last Tuesday, Feb. 7, seemed more a moderate earthquake with a series of aftershocks. Both events revealed fault lines in the McGill community on a number of issues, including what is and isn’t tolerable when it comes to expressions of dissent on campus.
Update on McGill Reporter publishing schedule
Headline NewsDue to the closing of the James Building brought about by the occupation of parts of it by a group of student protesters, we were unable to to produce this week’s issue of the McGill Reporter. We will have a new issue on newsstands Friday, Feb. 17.
Supersoldier ants provide clue to evolution
Headline NewsIt took just eight ants for biologist Ehab Abouheif and his team to know they were onto something unusual. After 15 years spent in fields beside a highway in Long Island looking at ants from the Pheidole morrisi species, the researchers came across a number of specimens with huge oblong heads and giant vicious mandibles.
2011 Year in Review
Headline NewsIt’s a busy place at the best of times, but 2011 was an especially active year at McGill for a number of reasons. The McGill Reporter looks back on the year that was, highlighting some of the key happenings over the past 12 months in words and pictures.
Tentative deal reached in lengthy strike
Headline NewsAfter a strike that lasted three months, McGill and MUNACA, the union representing 1,700 support staff, reached a tentative agreement Wednesday afternoon on a new five-year contract when both sides accepted a conciliator’s report that recommended the deal. Details will remain confidential until the union meets for a ratification vote. Before that can happen, a back-to-work protocol must be negotiated. Talks were continuing on that yesterday.
Teaching assistants approve new three-year contract
Headline NewsTeaching assistants at McGill approved a new contract that includes pay increases over the next three years and a guarantee of three hours of paid pedagogical training for first-time TAs. The TA bargaining unit of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) voted 77.6 per cent in favour of the agreement at a special general assembly on Nov. 24.
Police presence rocks campus
Headline NewsIn between the guttural chants and raucous cheers, the silence spoke volumes. Approximately 1,000 people were paying very close attention to speaker after speaker at a student-organized event Monday designed to let people tell their stories and voice their opinions about traumatic events of the week before.
McGill 11th in Times Higher clinical, pre-clinical and health education rankings
Headline NewsMcGill has made an impressive jump to 11th place among the world’s top universities for clinical, pre-clinical and health education in the 2011-2012 Times Higher Education (THE) rankings. Last year, McGill placed 19th in the same category.
McGill tops Maclean’s ranking for seventh straight year
Headline NewsFor the seventh year in a row, McGill is ranked first in the medical-doctoral category in Maclean’s magazine’s annual issue devoted to Canadian universities. The Maclean’s ranking measures a number of aspects of a university’s operation, and McGill was a leader in a number of areas, including student awards, scholarships and bursaries as a percentage of budget, and the reputational survey.
Famine in Horn of Africa highlights threats to global food security
Headline NewsWhile the media continue to show images of starving children in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia and governments and aid agencies renew their pleas for help, the solutions to help the drought-ridden region known as the Horn of Africa are far from simple.