vivian belik

Scenes from a studio-In: NSCAD students protest their right to 24 hour access

vivian — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:43:38 +0000

To view a slide show of the evening, click on any one of the photos above.

Its 1:00 in the morning and there's more than a hundred students milling about NSCAD.

Some students are working hard on their final projects. Others are piled into the NSCAD student lounge listening to music, sharing food and discussing the administration's proposal to restrict 24 hour access to students.

"Any way you divide it up, this proposal just doesn't make sense," says Emily Davidson, Student Union President of NSCAD.

Currently, NSCAD is the only art college in Canada that provides students with around-the-clock access to studio space. Davidson says international and out-of-province students choose this university because of this selling feature.

The University hasn't formally announced it will be removing 24 hour access, it has only been discussed in a finance and property committee meeting that a student representatives sits on.

"There has been no communication about this," says Davidson who was upset by the university's decision to not engage students in the process.

The decision to restrict overnight access will save the university $140,000 a year, a nominal amount according to Davidson. It's part of a larger set of cuts to the university that will see fewer student assistants on campus, reductions to the library budget and the closure of the Dawson Print Shop, a for-profit print studio that was opened only ten months ago.

The university attempted to restrict 24 hour access last year but students' efforts last year prevented it from going through.

On April 30th the NSCAD Board of Governors will vote upon the issue. If the vote carries, access will be restricted as of May 1st, 2009

Women's studies program spared from chopping block

vivian — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:24:26 +0000

Mount Saint Vincent University decides to keep program after receiving feedback from the community

The women's studies program at Mount St. Vincent University was spared from the chopping block on March 19th.

The first university in Canada to create a women's studies program, MSVU almost canceled its program due to low enrollment numbers.

The program will remain for now but will be up for academic review in two years.

On February 23rd, the university's committee on academic policy and planning released a document stating that it needed to shift from “supporting small, isolated costly academic programs to supporting larger, better integrated and more sustainable academic programs”.

The administration's plans were to remove the major component of the women's studies program while maintaining the 'minor' and 'concentration' components.

Several weeks after the document was released, a group of women's studies students on campus began organizing against the administration's decision.

“They speak of this commitment to women on this campus but then they decide to remove women's studies program from a women's university. It doesn't make sense with the historical context and future goals of this university in mind,” said Magan Alisha one of the lead organizers of 'Save Women's Studies at the Mount'.

The group met with several administrators and deans on campus in the hopes of convincing the administration to reverse their position. They also rallied the support of other non-women's studies students and professors from universities in Halifax and abroad.

A facebook group was created that listed more than 500 supporters on its site.

Meredith Ralston, chair of the women's studies program at MSVU was quite happy to see that the program was not discontinued.

Ralston says that one of the reasons the university reversed its decision is because the women's studies program hadn't had a proper external review for five years. In her mind, enrollment numbers don't tell all the facts.

en lire plus

Chronicle Herald lets go of nineteen reporters

vivian — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:48:47 +0000

March 19th was the last day of work for 19 staff writers at the Chronicle Herald.

Earlier this week management announced it would lay off 10 news room reporters and give buy-outs to another nine in an effort to shave off $1.5 million from its budget.

“The mood today in the newsroom is subdued. It's sad to be leaving; some of us are not going to be unemployed because we've reached retirement age, but lots of young people will be,” said Peter Duffy, longtime writer for the Chronicle Herald and president of the Halifax Typographical Union.

Kristen Lipscombe, former education reporter at the Herald had only worked at the paper for five years before she learned this past Monday that she would be laid off.

“I'm disappointed that its come to this...it's a dark day for journalism in Nova Scotia,” said Lipscombe, who along with most of the staff in the newsroom, was dressed in black.

Initially, there were 24 jobs on the chopping block, but through negotiations with the union, this number was pared down to 19.

“A lot of the proposals to save jobs, came through at the eleventh hour. We recognize the economic situation, but even so, we think there was a better way than to come around with an axe and lop off 24 heads,” says Duffy.

Duffy believes that management could have resorted to more “creative tactics” such as seeking out federal funding for modified work weeks and offering unpaid vacation time to staff.

On March 14th, the Halifax Typographical Union held a rally at the Grand Parade. About 150 showed up to the event and speeches were given by members of the union, politicians from all three levels of government and Stephen Kimber, professor of journalism at King's University.

According to Duffy this is the first time in the history of the Chronicle Herald that the paper has resorted to mass layoffs to reduce its budget. Duffy believes it likely will not be the last.

A Global Gaza

vivian — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:45:40 +0000

Jeff Halper Speaks to a Packed Crowd at Dalhousie this Week

Outspoken peace activist, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Coordinating Director of Israel's Committee Against House Demolitions, Jeff Halper spoke at Dalhousie University on Tuesday January 13th..

More than 500 people were packed into the small Potter Auditorium that evening. The room was so full that the audience was spilling into the aisles and some people were even standing on the stage just to catch a glimpse of Halper.

In his one-hour talk, entitled, 'Global Gaza', Halper spoke about Israel’s current offense on Gaza where more than 1000 Palestinians have already been killed.

en lire plus

Gaza, We Will Never Let You Die

vivian — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:08:55 +0000

Halifax's Palestinian and Arab community took to the streets in protest on Friday, January 8th

A crowd of about 150 people pushed out the doors of the Dalhousie Student Union Building early Friday afternoon waving large Palestinian flags and holding signs that read 'Stop the massacre' and 'Down with Zionism'. At the front of the procession was a young student wearing a keffiyeh around his neck, brandishing a megaphone and leading the crowd in a set of chants.

'Gaza Gaza, don't you cry. We will never let you die!'

'One, two, three, four – occupation no more. Five, six, seven, eight – we don't want a racist state. '

en lire plus