On March 29, the Ontario government unveiled guidelines for universities to follow in order to comply with the “Student Choice Initiative” policy, which allows students to opt out of paying ancillary fees.
According to the document, students will be allowed to opt out of fees that are allocated towards clubs, student organizations and programs that do not fall into the government’s criteria for essential fees.
Services considered “essential” in the guidelines include “athletics and recreation, career services, student buildings, health and counselling, academic support, student ID cards, student achievement and records, financial aid offices, and campus safety programs.”
As such, much remains unclear about what the student opt-out fee mandate means for the funding of MSU clubs and services next year.
Sean Van Koughnett, McMaster associate vice-president (Students and Learning) and dean of students, confirmed that the opting out process will occur online through the Mosaic system and be part of the regular tuition payment process in September.
McMaster Students Union vice president (Finance) Scott Robinson is working on a final memo to submit to the university student fees committee, outlining exactly what services the MSU wants to deem “essential.”
The government has given each institution the autonomy to determine what falls under the “essential” categories, but there will be penalties if universities are deemed non-compliant with the SCI come this upcoming fall.
“We've been working closely with the university to determine as many of our fees as possible as essential fees,” Robinson said. “The priority for me again has been that students voted at large that we should have a mandatory MSU fee.”
Complicating the budget submission is the fact that the union will not know how much they will receive in student fees until September.
Robinson is basing the official operating budget on the estimate that 35 per cent of students will opt out of non-essential student fees.
At this point, the framework is such that students will be able to choose which “non-essential” individual MSU services to opt out of, but club funding will fall under one fee item.
A source of funding that will help mitigate the loss of student fees is a ‘significant’ MSU reserve fund, which Robinson said has enough to keep the MSU running for two and a half years.
“Things like funding decreases and scale-backs are being planned right now for the budget, but it isn’t like we’re in total doomsday,” Robinson said. “How much money goes towards things will shift, but the MSU is still in a financially safe place to operate.”
The reserve fund will be used primarily to help fund services and clubs.
Robinson says there will not be ‘significant cuts’ planned for student-run services such as the Pride Community Centre and the Food Collective Centre.
The MSU executive board continues to advocate against the SCI.
MSU vice president (Education) Stephanie Bertolo said she and the board have met with nine Conservative and New Democratic Party MPPs so far.
“We don’t want the Student Choice initiative to go forward. That’s our ideal scenario,” Bertolo said. “We’ve asked if they do move forward with the Student Choice Initiative, to delay it a year, because it’s such a crunched timeline.”
Robinson will be submitting the 2019-2020 operating budget to the Student Representative Assembly for approval at the SRA meeting on April 14.
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Omar Khadr is a polarizing figure, considered by some to be a terrorist and others a child soldier. But English professor David L. Clark sees a deep connection between the young men and women he teaches at McMaster and Mr. Khadr, one that he hopes to foster.
Mr. Khadr was born in Toronto in 1986, and spent his early life between Canada and Pakistan. He was captured at the age of 15 in Afghanistan following a firefight with the American Military in which Mr. Khadr allegedly killed a medic. He was held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he became a victim of torture.
But he was also busy working to upgrade his middle school level education with help from a team of professors from The King’s College, a private Christian university in Edmonton, Alberta, who devised a curriculum and visited him in Guantanamo. Since his extradition back to Alberta in 2013, the visits have increased to at least once a week and Mr. Khadr has reached a Grade 12 level education.
In May 2015, McMaster’s Prof. David L. Clark wrote a letter to President Patrick Deane, requesting that the university hold a spot for Mr. Khadr. The letter received little response from the university until the request drew the attention of the media, and Prof. Clark was invited to meet with President Deane. That meeting, described by Prof. Clark as “a very robust conversation to say the least,” resulted in an invitation to Prof. Arlette Zinck of The King’s College, one of Mr. Khadr’s primary tutors, to visit campus. Prof. Clark regarded this as a promising first step in a larger process.
This letter also had another kind of response: hate mail. “There’s nothing like opening up your email in the morning and having someone scream at you,” said Prof. Clark. “The letters that came to me demonstrated that a whole lot of education needed to take place first,” a challenge Prof. Clark is taking on.
He has devised a second initiative, “The Hospitality Project”, that aims to address that issue by asking students to write five hundred public letters to Omar Khadr in the spirit of “hospitality, friendship, dignity, respect and solidarity.”
He is optimistic about the relationship between young people and Mr. Khadr.
“99 percent of positive responses I got to the first initiative came from students, and that’s what lead to the second initiative,” said Prof. Clark. The website was launched on Sept. 9, and already Professor Lisa Farley at York University has tweeted an invitation to her first year class of about 300 students to take part in “The Hospitality Project”. The reaction at McMaster remains to be seen.
“I’m holding my breath,” said Prof. Clark. While he anticipates a great response from students, he admits it is possible that their letters, which will be signed and published, may attract backlash. “They won’t have a return address [but] of course it’s quite possible that… students who write [the letters] will be subjected to criticism.”
In the age of the internet a return address is hardly needed to identify a writer, but Prof. Clark believes that this risk is outweighed by the benefits to Mr. Khadr, and the overall role of the university in building peace.
“I want the Canadian public to see that students too are part of this work towards a more democratic and humane polity,” he said.
Photo Credit: David L. Clark
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Farzeen Foda
Senior News Editor
“What haven’t we done that we could do if we were just a bit more creative?” said Susan Denburg, associate vice-president academic for the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Denburg was recently appointed Strategic Advisor for the Forward With Integrity initiative.
In response to the letter written by University President, Patrick Deane, addressed to the McMaster community, a Steering Committee has been installed to lead the transformation of the University with respect to four key areas, outlined in the letter as the student experience, community engagement, excellence in research and internationalization.
To tackle each of the four areas in the most comprehensive and creative way, four task forces have been developed, comprised of faculty members, staff, undergraduate and graduate students.
The Time Limited Task Forces, designated to each of the four areas of concentration, will be meeting regularly until April, after which their ideas, termed “deliverables,” will be examined carefully in an effort to fuel some of the change that has been in scattered discussion across campus.
The Advisory Committee, also comprised of faculty, students and staff across all disciplines, aims to oversee the work of the task forces and consolidate the ideas that sprout from the discussion that will surface over the next three to six months.
Membership in the Task Forces and the Advisory Committee are limited to include individuals who can act as a critical liaison for their respective disciplines, actively engaging their faculties in the Forward With Integrity initiative.
In the coming months, the Task Forces, charged with the goals outlined by President Deane, will adopt a problem-based approach to tackling the issues central to teaching, research and community engagement at McMaster, noted Denburg.
Although in the preliminary phase at this time, the Forward With Integrity initiative is a work in progress. The Task Force members are encouraged to think creatively, without ignoring the limitations and implementation of their ideas.
Concerns have been raised about the inherent obstacle in implementing a personalized educational experience for every student as McMaster’s enrollment continues to climb.
Central to a well-rounded education is “human contact,” Denburg acknowledged, though developing repetitive small-scale systems or having a lot of very small programs is simply not feasible. Considerations on this front have explored the possibility of bridging the gap between undergraduate and graduate students to facilitate mentorship and teaching, with appropriate training.
Ideas pertaining to the student experience may further examine policies in need of revision, scheduling of terms, prerequisites for courses, the granting of academic credit for co-curricular activities or even re-examine what constitutes a degree.
“This is not the first time we’re thinking about what we’re doing,” said Denburg, noting previous strategies aimed at transforming education. Refining Directions was initiated in 2002, under the direction of former McMaster president Peter George.
Under a similar premise, the initiative aimed to bring down the barriers across the University and stimulate cross-disciplinary teaching and research. Among others, Refining Directions sparked the development of the Controversies in Health course, which ran for two years and garnered significant acclaim for its multi-disciplinary approach. It brought students together from every faculty to develop skills in critical thinking through the lens of healthcare. The course was discontinued due to resource limitations, but the concept remains fresh in the minds of those behind Forward With Integrity.
The work of the Task Forces will “tell us what we need to think about,” said Denburg. Following consolidation of the ideas between April and June, forums will be held to discuss the progress, and pilot projects may be established to experiment with the ideas on a small scale prior to university-wide implementation.
“Big classes are not going to disappear overnight,” said Denburg, and much of the current teaching practices adopted at McMaster are based on historical principles about teaching and learning, which may be preserved as necessary, but also call for revision.
The positive feedback around the letter and the project has been tremendous, noted Denburg, leaving hope that this approach to the transformation may be more fruitful than previous attempts.
Farzeen Foda
Senior News Editor
The Engineering Technology Building (ETB) came as a new addition to the McMaster campus last year, and as the Faculty of Engineering continues to grow, it is now spearheading another campus construction project – the ExCEL building.
The new building aims to exhibit sustainable technologies and provide space for numerous student groups and projects through the Faculty of Engineering, while maintaining a net-zero energy rating, a concept relatively new to building design.
The McMaster Engineering Society will be holding a related referendum in March along with the Society’s presidential elections. The vote will gauge student support of a levy to fund the construction of the building.
The annual levy will be $50 for undergraduate Engineering students and $30 for graduate students in the Faculty, explained Kelton Friedrich, a current Masters in Engineering student and ExCEL Project Coordinator. The impact and use of the building will be more concentrated at the undergraduate than graduate level, he explained.
Significant government funding has been allocated to the ETB project, “so government funding will support the green initiatives implemented in the [ExCEL] building, but not the construction,” said Friedrich.
And to guarantee benefit to all students contributing to the building, the levy, if approved, will not be implemented until all of the funding is secured and construction is set to begin, he explained.
The levy will be implemented for a period of ten years, and while students will contribute financially to the project, consultations on the design and planning for the building are to be conducted by undergraduate Engineering students, and student involvement is expected to continue once the building is completed as well.
The funds raised by the student levy are expected to provide approximately 30 per cent of the total capital required, while additional funding will be sought from external sources, such as alumni donations and government funding.
The building is estimated to cost between $7 million and $8 million.
If all things follow the expected timeline, McMaster University may see the new “living laboratory” by 2015. The new building is expected to be a branch of the John Hodgins Engineering Building, facing the Psychology Building.
When ETB was built, the intention was to include the student space needed by the Faculty and Engineering student clubs.
Due to funding limitations in the Faculty of Engineering, the remaining funds needed to complete the construction of ETB came from the Bachelor of Technology program, which now houses its activities in the building.
The issue of inadequate student space for engineering student groups remains an unresolved issue.
The new building, estimated to be approximately 20,000 sq. ft. – much smaller than ETB – will, by virtue of its size and sustainable technologies, be much less expensive, explained Friedrich.
The need for student space for Engineering projects and clubs was recognized by the Dean of Engineering, David Wilkinson, who proposed the construction of another space, while asserting a belief in the need to engage students in the process.
After proposing the idea to students in 2010, several approached him in support, and momentum on the project began.
As part of the capstone project completed by all senior Engineering students, the opportunity to contribute ideas and a sustainable plan of action was presented.
Numerous considerations were addressed by students in the Engineering and Management program, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering.
The planning for the building has employed an Integrated Design, which describes the use of student input to design a student space.
“Often, following construction of a building, many changes need to be made, as the space does not work for the people using it,” said Friedrich, explaining that the approach implemented in the constrcution of the ExCEL building bypasses that possibility entirely.
While student input has already begun with respect to the planning of the building, it is expected to continue after the building has been constructed through the Sustainable Building Operations Club, which will monitor the building’s energy usage and analyze the data.
Dina Fanara
Assistant News Editor
The Student Life Enhancement Fund is making a new leap this year in order to provide students with services and campus improvements to better suit their needs.
The change was set in motion by Student Affairs and the Student Services Committee this academic year. The Fund gives students an opportunity to propose improvements that can be made on campus to improve student life and well-being. Additionally, an initiative of this sort will give students a chance to take an active role in the change they envision.
This Fund has been used in the past, but making it more accessible for students this year stands as a testament to the fact that students’ voices are not only valuable, but necessary in order to improve the quality of education that each student at McMaster is entitled to.
A strong driving force behind the implementation of this program is the improvement of the quality of education for McMaster’s full-time undergraduate students.
Applicants whose projects are chosen can partner with either an MSU service or a sub-section of Student Affairs that best suits the needs of the proposed change.
Students who submit their idea will be given the opportunity to suggest services which may be beneficial as partners in the initiative. If no suggestions are made, the student will be recommended partnering services upon acceptance.
The partnership with a campus service is beneficial to those applying and the entire student body, as it promotes the use of services already in place.
There will be essentially no upper limit for the funding of a project, noted Matthcw Dillon-Leitch, president of the McMaster Students Union (MSU). Submissions may be of any size and may require anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars to complete.
According to Dillon-Leitch, “no matter the size of your project, there are funds for this,” as long as it is seen as something that will benefit the student body at McMaster as a whole.
Previous student-lead initiatives funded by the Student Life Enhancement Fund include the creation of study space on the second floor of the Student Centre, the addition of new couches in the David Braley Athletic Centre, additions to the Queer Students Community Centre (QSCC) library and the development and implementation of the Residence Information System (RIS), among many others.
By utilizing student input to such an extent. the hope is to not only listen to students and offer something that appeals to them directly, but to also give students an opportunity to come up with solutions to problems currently facing undergraduate education at McMaster that are perhaps often overlooked.
A strong supporter of student input and the power of the student voice, Dillon-Leitch explained that, “it will make us aware of all the ideas that students have to make this university better.”
Applications are being accepted until Feb. 17.
Roy Campbell
Silhouette Staff
Vendors and restaurants across campus are considering how their products are manufactured as McMaster implements a new fair trade policy on campus. The new policy requires all vendors serving coffee, tea or chocolate to make available, fair trade certified options for these products.
This fair trade certification process comes as a result of efforts by several groups on campus, including the McMaster Students Union (MSU).
The movement to certify the McMaster campus as fair trade began last spring when the University of British Columbia became the first campus to be certified as such.
Members of the McMaster chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) decided to push for the same certification at McMaster as a result of this initiative. They proposed the idea to the MSU and subsequently pitched the idea at the MSU’s 2011 General Assembly.
“We were definitely on board,” said Katie Ferguson, Vice President of Administration for the MSU. “It’s something that students really wanted.”
The MSU was responsible for ensuring that its two food vendors, the Union Market and TwelvEighty, met the requirements for certification.
“At Union Market we already offered the majority of our coffee as fair trade,” she said, as well as fair trade chocolate, leaving only tea as a point of concern.
As of Jan.1, the Union Market carries only fair trade coffee along with a selection of certified teas and chocolate. The majority of products did not need to be changed to meet fair trade standards.
Along with the MSU and EWB, McMaster’s Office of Sustainability, Hospitality Services, SRA members and other interested groups have also been involved in the effort.
McMaster’s Hospitality Services is doing its part to ensure that it meets fair trade requirements, while other independent vendors and cafes on campus are also following the trend.
On-campus franchises such as Tim Horton’s are exempt from fair trade regulations.
Ferguson noted that the availability and price of products and services at Union Market and TwelvEighty are not expected to change because of this process. “We’re not offering any less than we were offering previously,” she said.
Along with making fair trade products available, the certification effort further aims to spread awareness of the choices students have when purchasing products and the social issues related to fair trade initiatives.
An application was submitted to an independent fair trade certification board to recognize McMaster as an official fair trade campus. It is currently under review and is scheduled to be determined later this month.
Ferguson, however, is confident: “Regardless of whether the [certification] comes through this year or not ... I can see this being something that starts to create a little bit of buzz around campus.”
