Tenth Report of the University and Academic Affairs Coordinator

The year is beginning to wind itself down, and a number of projects have been completed, or are nearing completion. As such, things have been pretty quiet this month. Here's the hot topics:

Coming Soon

Council elections will be held in May for the outstanding exec and senator positions, as well as the Equity Commissioner and our representation on External Committees. We need candidates for everything! Spread the word!

Dean's Honour List

The issue that won't go away. I have received no feedback from anyone saying that they want to keep the DHL. I suspect that most students are indifferent. The grad studies policy committee (GSPC) has reiterated its position that the DHL should be abolished, and their reasons are sound. If you want to keep the DHL, please let me know.

Failure Policy Clarifications and Progress Reports

GSPC has also recommended some clarifications concerning the failure policy. The failure policy will apply to courses that departments require their students to take- be aware that if your committee asks you to register for a course, that is a required course and the failure policy applies.

On the same note, GSPC is recommending a progress report mechanism for documenting students' progress (or lack thereof). It will only be a recommendation to departments, and not required. However, I have made the case that these progress reports should be applied uniformly- either for every student as a means for keeping the program objectives salient, or as a warning mechanism for students who are not progressing. I am concerned that we'll see a mix of these approaches across departments, which may be cause for confusion.

Adjunct Professors

It has become clear that in some departments adjunct professors are supervising grad students and postdocs as the students sole supervisor. Adjunct profs are not currently bound by university regulations, and, as such, their students are in a vulnerable position. In fact, according to the FGSR Red Book, adjunct professors are not even entitled to co-supervise. We are addressing the regulatory issues, but I would like to hear from students in these situations for their comments on their working environment and the protections offered by their departments.

Academic Integrity

The university has a new web page (drafted by yours truly) addressing issues related to academic integrity. It can be found at www.mcgill.ca/integrity. There are some particularly useful resources for avoiding plagiarism, as well as some articles discussing the issues in classrooms and exam environments. If you'd like to contribute anything to this page, please let me know.

Senate

Please take a moment to read my senate report from the last senate (http://www.mcgill.ca/pgss/senate_6.html).

The first big item was the announcement that Prof Bruce Shore is the new Dean of Students, which took me a bit by surprise. The second item was the opportunity I had to query the VP Finance about the stalled environmental policy. It appears that the policy will never see the light of day, as the VP has assumed the responsibility for addressing environmental issues in view of the university's "traditions".

Also, out of province Master's students should be warned that you will likely be hit by a tuition hike next year. This is a provincial decision and is beyond the control of the university. Note also that the university will not see any benefits from the hike all the money goes to Quebec.

Academic Issues Committee

The academic issues committee has not met for some time. I plan to call a meeting in early April to start looking at priorities for the end of my term and next year.

Feedback

As always, I can be reached by email at academic@pgss.mcgill.ca. Feel free to contact me with any and all of your feedback.

March Meetings

A light schedule this month..

Robert Sim, UAC