Final Report of the University and Academic Affairs Coordinator

Well, this is it. My last report to Council. Allow me to say that it's been a pleasure working with Council this year- we've had a packed agenda and have accomplished a great deal of business. Here's the low-down on happenings this past month.

Elections

The highlight of May Council will be the elections of officers of the society and our external committee reps. Please come prepared to nominate thyself. :-)

Dean's Honour List

This month we ran an email survey of grad students concerning the Dean's Honour List. Specifically, we asked you whether or not you thought the list should be abolished. Of the roughly 200 replies we received, about 60% of those who expressed an opinion indicated that they want to retain the DHL. I received a great deal of written feedback as well, which I took the Grad Faculty Exec and Grad Faculty Council for discussion. The issue has been tabled, and will probably not disappear in the immediate future.

Failure Policy Clarifications

Be advised that Grad Faculty Council passed a policy this month indicating that failure of any course REQUIRED BY YOUR DEPARTMENT (including your supervisor and/or committee) counts towards the failure policy. Be sure that you know which of your courses are merely suggested and which are required.

Senate

Last Senate saw the passage of the Environmental Policy. Unfortunately, only the policy statement and not the accompanying principles were passed, a decision that will certainly stir up further controversy. I expect that this issue will be prominent at future meetings of the cttee on Physical Development.

Appointments

Be advised that Interim VP-IST Tony Masi is no longer interim. We're optimistic that VP Masi will restore some sanity to the Banner implementation process.

Be further advised the Professor Bruce Shore is the new Dean of Students. We're counting on him to resist the downloading of academic responsibilities onto the Student Services budget.

Budget

Like last year, the budgetary process is extending well into the spring. This poses serious problems for the undergraduate cohort, who aren't around to take part in serious discussions about international student tuition hikes. I hope to raise this issue with VP Yalovsky at the next BPG meeting.

Radiation Safety

Many people are unaware that seven on-campus laboratories have been closed for serious breaches of federal regulations concerning the handling of radioactive materials. While these situations pose no public threat, there is reason to be concerned about the safety of grad students working in these labs. We expect to see the power and resources of the radiation safety office expanded in the near future. In the meantime, we're concerned that these issues have not been disclosed to the Board.

Principal Selection

On April 23 I presented this statement on behalf of the PGSS to an open meeting of the Selection Committee for a new Principal.

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.

April Meetings

Busy month!

Robert Sim, UAC