Third Report of the University and Academic Affairs Coordinator

Well, I've had a great summer vacation and it's time to get back into the swing of things. There is very little to report this time around, but here are some of the activities you can look forward to.

PGSS and External Committees

The new year means we need new representatives to fill more than 107 positions on committees dealing with everything from the libraries to the university alcohol policy. There will be a special meeting of council to fill these slots on September 20, 2000. If you're interested, please pick up a nomination form from myself or from Johanne upstairs. Forms are also available on the web. For a list of open committee positions, please refer to the committee webpage. Evolve.. get involved!

Intellectual Property

Some of you may have heard about the Contentville.com sale of academic theses on the web. As of today, Canadian theses will no longer be sold by Contentville. Here is the resolution of that issue, as explained by Dean Crago.

On a related front, the battle for control of Intellectual Property at McGill continued over the summer. The most recent development is that students have been practically written out of the policy. This is a two-edged sword- we can control our own IP, but we also risk being snubbed by our supervisors. I will make this a high-priority item for discussion with Dean Crago.

Other Business

Some of the other goals I have for the year include maintaining momentum from the successful Pump up the Volumes library campaign, raising awareness about last year's report by the Task Force on Student Funding, and moving forward on a proposal for a PGSS Equity Commissioner.

Meetings

Robert Sim, UAC