On a typical night, you won’t find Teddy Saull at a party or a rowdy get-together. He prefers a quiet night in with some ice cream and a few episodes of whatever TV show he’s watching at the time. But on Thursday, Jan. 30 he and a crowd of friends and supporters took to Snooty Fox for a night of celebration.

After three days of voting, and more than 8,300 votes cast, Saull emerged as the victor of a two-week race for next year’s MSU President, defeating early favourite Jacob Brodka by only 102 votes in the final round of voting.

Before mid-September 2013 Saull hadn’t thought much about involvement in MSU politics; he was just an average, self-described nerd.

 

Growing up

“I was a very late bloomer. I’m quite tall now. I was very short until the summer between Grade 11 and Grade 12,” said Saull of his high school days.

He continued “I had a buzzcut, braces, weighed about a hundred pounds and was about five foot two. And I liked science and math—not the most appealing combination.”

Saull grew up in Ajax—living in the same house for his whole life—as the third in a series of four brothers. His mom is an educational assistant with special needs children and his dad is a business owner in the fasteners industry.

In elementary school, Saull loved to learn and had a particular desire to study science and math, but also enjoyed English. He grew up thinking he would become a medical doctor.

He delved into athletics as well.

“I was part of the all the sports teams in elementary school, when they weren’t as competitive, and then in high school there was no way,” he said.

Despite the drop off in sports participation, high school was still a time of involvement for Saull.

“I did pretty much everything…I was in a lot of clubs: Social Justice Club, I was President of Student Council,” he said. “I was a nerd, it is what it is.”

“I think I even got a few carry-over votes from high school,” he said of this year’s MSU Presidential race.

“When I was campaigning, I talked to someone and they said ‘Yeah, you were President when I was in grade nine, so I already voted for you’.”

 

University

For university, it came down to McMaster life sciences or Western health sciences, still wanting to be a doctor, but after a tour of the campus, McMaster was secured as his first choice.

“Western seemed fun, but McMaster felt like home, right away. It even had that Hogwarts feel that you can’t replicate,” he said.

He moved into Edwards Hall in September of 2010 and began his life at McMaster.

After a year of life sciences and some time of reflection, Saull decided to switch to the psychology, neuroscience and behavior program.

“I realized that I loved psych, once I was in it. I was very lucky to find what I’m interested in. I am fascinated by the human mind,” he said.

Saull stayed on campus as a Community Advisor in Hedden, and then Bates, before moving off campus for fourth-year.

“I wanted to belong to something. First year was tough—I think it is for most people—I thought I could create an environment that would make people comfortable,” said Saull,

“You get to see people grow. You see people come in as their nervous, shy person, or the super-outgoing person and you watch them evolve into the person that they become.”

 

Journey to MSU President 

Sept. 2013 is when Saull decided he might make a good MSU President. His team worked throughout the year to construct a platform that could improve student life and a campaign that could convince them of its merits.

Coming from outside of the MSU was a challenge that the team knew could be a deterrent to winning the election.

“It was close. The success for us was that it was close—even if we had lost by a hundred votes, that would have been a success because of where we were coming from,” he said.

“Nobody expected that we would have a strong campaign because it was so clear that we did not have an overwhelming amount of MSU experience.”

“I was very thrown off, personally at times, at all of the negativity,” he said. “I had never been a part of politics before, except for watching The Ides of March.

His campaign attempted to use this lack of experience as an advantage.

“Not having that experience means that you can come at things as a student, and as a learner. Then you can provide insight where you think it’s best. People respond well to that,” he said.

When voting begun on Jan. 28, Saull and his team were unsure if his message had connected with enough voters to win. By the time the polls were closing on Jan 30, the doubts were even stronger.

“I genuinely had no idea. I had a feeling on Thursday night [Jan.30] that we had lost, but there was no way to tell,” said Saull.

“I had no idea if we were winning, or if we were in dead last.”

When all the votes were tallied, Saull had emerged the victor.

He was sitting at home, trying to catch up on homework and preparing a Facebook post to address what he thought would be an election loss, when his phone rang with a call coming from current MSU President David Campbell.

Campbell informed him that he had won and Saull joined his team to celebrate.

 

Going forward 

“The transition really starts now. I’ll start working with the Board [of Directors] and getting to know the role and preparing to start in the summer,” said Saull.

Barring any successful appeals from other candidates, Teddy Saull’s term as MSU President will begin on May 1.

“I will say this: I will not run for elected office ever again,” said Saull.

Photo credit: Eliza Pope / Assistant Photo Editor

An underwhelming MSU Presidential debate resulted in no clear winner and a missed opportunity for candidates to sway voters. The Silhouette hosted and live-streamed an hour-long debate on Jan. 23, allowing candidates to question and defend their platforms. Despite more than an hour of questions and answers candidates brought little to the table in terms of new messages or back-and-forth debate.

When given the chance to critique competitors' platforms, most of the panel questioned Jacob Brodka and, to a lesser extent, Teddy Saull. Brodka and Saull levied their harshest criticisms and most pointed questions at each other.

Candidates question Saull and Brodka 

Saull stood up well to the pressure. He knew his platform but had trouble remaining concise and getting his point across in a fixed amount of time. He also mixed in humour and light-heartedness with thoughtful comments.

Saull chose to focus his talking points on the pillar of his campaign—building community—along with touting his idea to freeze the MSU fee at its current rate.

“All of my platform points come down to community and how do we draw students in in a way that is easy and is exciting for them?” he said.

Saull demonstrated weakness, but also honesty, when he admitted to lacking in financial knowledge and experience. He made no mention as to how he could cope with that as the MSU President. He did, however, take to the opportunity to express pride in being out of the MSU and SRA bubble.

“I’ve spent my time at McMaster on the ground with students: as a CA, as a TA, and I think that will allow me to be sitting in that seat and to always be thinking ‘how does this come back to the student population,’” said Saull.

Jacob Brodka, composed and prepared, dealt with criticism with more tact than Saull, but perhaps in a less charming way. His statements never felt rushed and he consistently made his point within small windows of time.

As a panelist, Brodka seemed experienced, well-versed in the operation of the MSU, and comfortable on camera, but was less adept at engaging viewers and maintaining charisma.

Brodka’s message centred on his freedom credit platform point, participatory budgeting and allowing students to drive positive change.

“I want students to submit their concepts and ideas…I want them to share with us how we can improve campus…I think that’d be a great way to improve student life,” said Brodka.

When candidates pointed out what they believed were holes in his platform, such as the lack of a mental health platform point, Brodka responded strongly.

“Despite the fact that certain things may not appear in a candidates platform, that doesn’t mean that you’re not consciously aware of the efforts that are currently being put forward…The MSU is currently working on a mental health policy,” Brodka said.

Russell appeals to students

Jyssika Russell proved to be down-to-earth and personable in the debate. Though her platform faced criticism, she addressed students more personally and sounded less scripted than other candidates.

While most candidates address concerns that cater to the “involved” student, Russell made a concerted effort to appeal to those outside the MSU bubble.

“We need to be making sure that we have places where we can also make a lot of meaningful contact,” said Russell.

That proved to be a poignant statement, as both Wolwowicz and Saull jumped on board and agreed.

Russell’s most significant criticisms centred on plans that candidates saw as redundant. Other candidates pointed to her inclusion council and Art Crawl bus ideas as unnecessary, saying these needs can be met by other MSU bodies and the HSR.

Ali and Wolwowicz miss opportunity to make an impact

Israa Ali and Jason Wolwowicz each got their campaigns off to a slower start than other candidates and did not effectively use the debate to catch up.

Ali was, at times, lost in the speed of the debate and seemed the least confident of the candidates. Her speaking tone was professional but seemed stiff and rehearsed at times.

Ali was, however, the only candidate to address concerns of spiritual groups on campus, especially with regards to creating a spirituality centre.

“The spirituality centre has been a conversation starter ever since 2004 and it’s been needed for a lot of different faith groups on campus, even for those without faith,” said Ali.

Wolwowicz demonstrated confidence and charm but relied heavily on his notes, anecdotes and elaboration. He also tended to be long-winded in his answers.

His “Bright Idea” program fell under the radar among candidates at the debate. Brodka’s and Saull’s similar platform points saw much more talk time.

Wolwowicz's strongest moment came when lobbing criticism against the peer tutoring proposals put forward by Brodka and Saull.

“I understand we have a surplus, and we have money to spare right now. However, I don’t see how that’s affordable,” said Wolwowicz.

For both Ali and Wolwowicz equal speaking time did not result in equal impact.

Candidates address audience questions

To close the debate, candidates took questions from the live-streaming audience (beginning at 00:52:40 in the video). Many viewers wanted to hear the candidates weigh in on the scandal surrounding McMaster's engineering Redsuits organization and their "songbook."

The candidates agreed that the words found in the cheers are inappropriate but not representative of the engineering community as a whole.

Saull, Brodka and Ali supported the University's decision given the information that was available at the time of the debate. Russell denounced the songbook but did not directly comment on the decision to suspend the Redsuits.

Wolwowicz denounced the songbook but added, "having been a welcome week representative as well, I think we should have a little more discussion before condemning all engineering students who might be reps as well."

Going forward

An MSU-sponsored debate will take place on Monday, Jan 27 at 12:00 p.m. and take place in the atrium of the McMaster University Student Centre.

Online polling will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 28, Wednesday, Jan 28 and Thursday, Jan 30.

5) March 28, 2013:
A harassing phone call was received by the SWHAT office. Some people have nothing to do on a Thursday night.

4) January 12, 2013:
A fight broke out in McKay Hall over a missing iPhone. The fight was resolved when a GPS feature on the phone proved that it was not on campus. That escalated quickly.

3) January 18,2013:
A male punched and kicked a taxi after the driver refused to overload the car. Alcohol is believed to be a factor.  Lesson learned: no sharing.

2) December 12, 2012:
Commons Building staff reported being pestered by an individual with a laser pointer. Seriously, it’s true.

1) April 18, 2013:
 Individuals were seen attempting to carry chairs off campus. As constables approached, the individuals fled and left the ill-gotten furniture behind. Authorities are seeking information on a possible dinner party.

After months of negotiation with the HSR, the McMaster Students Union has reached an agreement with the transit organization to offer two options for service improvements to McMaster students.

With student electoral support, McMaster’s student bus pass could include extended service for Route 51-University, a 12-month bus pass, or both.

MSU President David Campbell and VP (Finance) Jeffrey Doucet represented students in the meetings.

Doucet wrote a memo to the Student Representative Assembly detailing the options.

“Our goal has been to negotiate fair options for service increased and then present them to students through referendum,” he said.

Current McMaster bus passes are included in student fees and cost each student $126.50—equivalent to 145 per cent of the price of a monthly adult pass.

Campbell said that discussions kept in mind the current bargain.

“Here at Mac we do get a pretty good deal on the bus pass, when you think about the cost,” he said. “We were just looking for add-ons and improvements.”

Two options will be voted on by students pending SRA approval, which would include additional costs voted into effect.

A motion will be brought before the SRA to add the issue as a referendum during the MSU presidential election in January. Whatever changes are voted in by students will be implemented in Sept. 2014.

One option is enhanced service on Route 51-University. For an extra cost of $6.50 per student, the 51 will increase its frequency between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. to every 10 minutes, rather than the current 15. Also included in this option is increased service between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Presently, the last 51-University of the night runs through campus around 11p.m.

Route 51-University would be the first bus in Hamilton to run until 3 a.m.

“If a student takes the bus once during their school year as opposed to taking a cab, they will have earned their money back on their investment,” said Doucet.

The other option is a 12-month bus pass. For an additional $6.00 per student the student bus pass would be extended from an 8-month to a full-year pass.

Regarding the summer extension, Doucet said, “We believe we have delivered incredible value for students as this represents just over two bus rides paying by cash.”

The per student cost of the service enhancements will be made possible because the HSR will contribute funds to the improvements as well.

Increased service of the 51-University will cost approximately $240,000. McMaster student fees will pay for $140,000 and the HSR will cover the other $100,000.

Once the issue comes to referendum, McMaster students will vote for one of several options moving forward.

Students can vote to keep the current eight-month pass at 145 per cent of the adult monthly rate, pay $6.50 more, per student for enhanced 51-University service, pay $6.00 more for a 12-month pass, or vote to adopt both changes and incur an extra cost of $12.50 per student. They may also vote to reject all agreements and have no bus pass in Sept. 2014.

Negotiations have been ongoing since before the start of the school year.

“We met almost once a month from August until now,” said Doucet.

He continued, “I think the reaction will be pretty positive…we’re going to be trying to educate students about the options, that we think are a really good value, and let them decide.”

Campbell agreed, saying “We tried to get the best deal to put in front of people, ultimately it’s up to the students, but I think the deals are really good.”

Political activist, author and five-time candidate for President of the United States Ralph Nader visited McMaster this week speaking at an event sponsored by OPIRG McMaster and Bryan Prince Bookseller. Among many other things, Ralph Nader was responsible for founding the PIRG movement. He sat down for a face-to-face with assistant news editor Tyler Welch.

 

The Silhouette: Why are you here? Other than selling books, what message are you trying to get across?

Ralph Nader: The message basically is Canadians have to learn why they have to remain independent of U.S. control. Which is swallowing Canada in so many ways—foreign military policy, corporate policy and so on. And this is why years ago we wrote this book Canada Firsts, it’s all the things Canada led the way with: the first daily newspaper is North America, first credit unions, on and on, science, technology. A lot of it would not have happened if, you know, Canada were just five states or something.

Also, it’s good for the U.S., because we look to Canada as rational to change things in the U.S., like Medicare.

After that, I want to talk about how citizens can become sovereign again, and redirect the country away from its downward slide. It’s almost following the U.S. except in the banking area.

The indicator is more poverty, exporting jobs, shredding public services, cutting back on necessities, giving more tax breaks and subsidies to corporations.

Power is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. That spells decay and decline, if not worse.

 

Are things like citizen sovereignty and maintenance of Canada’s independence really possible, or are they just wide-eyed ideas?

It’s easy. What if, suddenly, you were driving on the highway and all the cars stopped because there was a boulder blocking the way, and they all got out of their cars and nobody lifted a finger, and then someone said “Oh this boulder, it’s impossible to do anything about it.” Then everyone agreed except for one, who said, “Have you really given it a try?” Then he tries, and the big boulder doesn’t move. Then everyone says, “See, it doesn’t move!”

But then what if six or them try to move, or sixteen? And they all give it a shoulder, and the boulder rolls away.

See, it’s all about how many people get involved, how smart they are and what the agenda is.

 

How many people does it take for real change?

One per cent, for real change, that would be about 330,000 people in Canada, connected together, in all the ridings, with a full-time staff. They can raise for themselves a few bucks each and have a full-time staff coast-to-coast.

Then they’ve got to ask what institution can make the change the fastest, and seek to influence them. In our country [U.S.] it’s the Congress. In your country, it could be Parliament or Provincial Parliament. But one thing is certain, three hundred thousand people is a lot more than the number of MPs.

 

Let’s talk about the emotional change that is needed for that. Many students focus on earning something marketable and seeking a good career, but you got a law degree from Harvard—pretty marketable, if you ask anyone—yet you still chose the activism route.

There’s a certain immaturity that modern industrial nations ascribe into their citizens until they’re almost 30. In a more simple society, people become adults and take on adult responsibilities at a much younger age.

People have to unlearn a lot of things. Like the free market. Free? It’s rigged in all kinds of ways. Corporations are on welfare—tax breaks, bailouts.

You’ve got to ask: “Is it a strong democracy, a weak one, a middling democracy, or is it really just a democracy in name?”

They have to unlearn a lot of things that have been controlling them, controlling their expectations, teaching them powerlessness and encouraging them to wallow in cynicism.  There is nothing that the ruling classes need the most to stay in power than widespread public cynicism. Because that involves a withdraw.  The more you become cynical and powerless, the more power you give away to the few.

 

Many say that young people are the most withdrawn from public life. True?

People say “That’s for the student government to do” or “This other club will work on that.” They wallow in their own narrow routine, everyday. That tends to magnify personal problems, they don’t have a larger framework—they’re looking through a smaller lens—and that makes them more susceptible to addictions, distractions and to that lethal little thing in their hand called and iPhone.

You just have to talk to one another more, that’s how students rose in the 60s—they talked to each other. They didn’t send telegrams to each other. It’s personal, a conversation. It develops a maturity that develops self-respect. They have to believe that they can reshape their country, because they can.

 

Were you ever tempted by the other route? The good job, nice house, nice car, nice family?

No, it just trivialized your life, that route. So what, you get paid more, big deal. You want to make zillions? What’s the point? The price for that is to further the ruling class. Harvard Law School is like a finishing school for corporate supremacy.

 

There’s been a lot written about you living below your means, and giving away most of your income—living on a budget that many people think is impossible.

First of all, when you work as hard as I do, you don’t have time to squander all kinds of money. When you do buy all these extra things, is distracts from the focus. This is serious business, taking measure of these large corporations. A yacht, a fancy car, a fancy house, they’re not compatible with that.

I know somebody that had all these things and more and one day he sold them all. He said, “I bought a lot of things and they began controlling me.”

People are trapped in this pursuit. You know this Snapchat thing? It’s worth $3 billion and they turned it down—they think they can get more. In the meantime, the necessities of life and being ignored; people are going hungry, their housing is bad, their retirement security is shot. You’ve got to get serious, and when you do, you have an incredible increase in quality of life—gratification, joy, challenge, find a different definition of friendship, and by time you’re 65 you don’t have regrets when you look back.

 

You can’t do this forever. For the next generation of activists, what are the most important issues they will face?

There is too much economic wealth in too few hands, and the few decide against the interests of the many. And, of course, there are the global issues: war, peace, poverty, and climate change. There’s a lot of backlog here—centuries to catch up on.

But the biggest thing is to structure community and civic values so that corporate values are subordinate to them. Another way to put it is “Markets make good servants, but bad masters.” Markets need to be servants or a larger framework of human values and human livelihood.

 

Where do they start?

To do that, you have to start with young students. Give them civic values and civic skills. Teach them about town halls, how the courts work, elections and institutions. You’ve got to start at that level. Otherwise, education is just vocation—just trade school with different names.

 

What is something that you wish someone had told you in university?

I wish that people told me, or all the law students, that they were heading for highly rewarding, trivial and damaging work.

Instead, they were told that they were heading for highly prestigious law firms where they would be architects of a dynamic economy, and do all kinds of important and good things.

Many of them are now greasing the way for corporate criminals, allowing the exploitation of fossil fuels, blocking the courtroom door for negligently wounded workers, making us sign fine print contracts, stripping us of any semblance of freedom of speech.

 

Photo Credit: C/O Wikimedia Commons

Since the inception of e-books and other online resources McMaster’s library has been working to keep up.

One of the most practical modernization techniques, said University Librarian Vivian Lewis, is simply adding more electrical outlets.

“Outlets are huge for us. It is one of our main demands in study spaces. It is very different from when I started here 20 years ago,” she said. “We have to come up with all kinds of ways to get power to different study areas. We run power strips across tables…more and more this is what students are looking for.”

With the Library—Mills, Thode and Innis (The Health Science Library is run separately)—as the largest Wi-Fi center on campus, spaces within the actual buildings are forced to adapt to demand. That means, in some cases, allocating square footage once given to book stacks to study space instead.

In recent years, Mills has transformed much of the sixth floor into quiet study space and added the Lyons New Media Centre, allowing student to use resources like video editing software and green screen. Thode has also added more open study spaces.

The most significant player in the modernization of academic libraries is the move from print to electronic resources.

“The journals that we get have gone almost completely electronic because that is where the users are…where they can get the article they want at 2 o’clock in the morning, even if they’re on the other side of the country,” said Wade Wycoff, Associate University Librarian, Collections.

In 2001, the Library had around 11,000 journal subscriptions that were available to students and faculty only print. Because of the move to electronic publication, e-journals can be purchased in bundles and are more affordable than a decade ago. McMaster students can now access 80,000 different journal titles.

“It levels the playing field in a lot of ways. Now suddenly we’re getting subscriptions of volumes and journals available to our users, that rival U of T and Western,” said Wycoff.

The rise in overall journals does come at a cost, especially for researchers who seek a true print copy.

Wycoff said, “We still have about 2,000 print subscriptions, and those are mostly smaller publishers who just haven’t moved on to electronic versions of their journal yet.”

The same transformation is happening with books. In 2001, the Library purchased more than 40,000 books in print. In 2012, only 6,610 print books were purchased, in addition to 22,000 e-book titles. The combined total of 28,810 still falls more than 10,000 titles short 2001’s book purchases.

Wycoff says that this reflects a focus on serials that many libraries are making.

“More academic libraries are spending more on their journal collection. We have had to shift some resources around,” he said. “We are also seeing things, like in the sciences, how they are using those electronic resources, they are using journals more. So their usage pattern is changing, so the money changes to support what they actually want.”

Wycoff believes that the trend will continue.

“Ten years from now, we’ll still have a physical collection, but its footprint will be much smaller,” he said. “The longer-term trend in academic libraries is toward a collection that is almost fully electronic. In the near term, we expect that the Library’s collection will continue to be a blend of print and electronic materials.”

University Librarian Vivian Lewis sees a general move to a more service-based library on the horizon.

“It is also changing how we’re providing services in general. It’s not really just the collections—the libraries are places for service and so it is changing the way that we answer questions,” she said. “If students aren’t physically coming to the library to use the library, we need to support them where they are.”

She continued, “We have to be all about serving students now, even if they aren’t in the physical library.”

“Sometimes we hear someone say ‘I never use the library.’ Reality is that they are using the library all the time, even when they are just accessing Google Scholar,” she said. “Our students and faculty researchers use the library constantly, probably way more than they did a decade ago, when they physically had to put their hat and coat on and walk over.”

 

Photo credit: Yoseif / Photo Editor

 

McMaster University’s fine arts program has been given three million dollars—the largest donation ever made to the program—to renovate and expand existing studio space.

The benefactor is Robert Fitzhenry, a McMaster alumnus and philanthropist, who made the donation in honour of his late wife Andrée, who was a painter specializing in landscapes.

The announcement was made at an emotional ceremony, on Wednesday-the same day of Andrée's birthday-with administrators and art students in attendance.

“I believe that art is an essential component of a complete life. My wife Andrée’s devotion to art was a beacon for us, and continues to be an inspiration for sharing with others the value of art in all its forms,” said Fitzhenry.

Livia Tsang, a fourth-year honours art student, was at the celebration ceremony.

"He dedicated it to his wife and it was her birthday today. It was super emotional," said Tsang.

She continued, "It's just so generous the fact that he's donating so much money. We heard that he was giving something, but we weren't thinking anything so big. It is so exciting."

The gift will establish the Dr. Robert and Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry Studios and Atrium, an open space filled with natural light, set aside for painting, sculpting and other media.

The atrium will face Stearn Drive near the David Braley Athletic Centre and will act as a reception area allowing visitors, students, faculty and staff to view completed art as well as works in progress.

McMaster’s fine arts studios were first built in the 1960s in Togo Salmon Hall and were originally intended to house only 15 artists at a time. Since then, the program has expanded and the need for space has grown.

"The space does get cramped. Having an expansion will be helpful," said Lydia Santia, a second-year studio art student."

"The studio here has its own charm, and the tight quarters mean that we do often get close to each other, but at the same time, having not enough space can cause tensions," said Tsang.

In her first year, Tsang was one of 22 artists who entered the program. Current first-years entered into a class of 30.

Tsang said that, due to the cramped space, many artists have to work from home.

"The people who do work in the studio, they take over certain areas and other people get irritated when their space is impeded or when people use their things without permission,” she said.

The new atrium will cover a courtyard workspace, adding 1,700 square feet to the lower level of Togo Salmon Hall.

"They're going to bring in a lot of light. We're all stuck in a basement [now] all day and in the winter it gets kind of drab. Obviously natural light is optimal for when you're working with paintings and drawings and colour," she said. "Being in a basement can be tough. Especially in the winter when it's dark and it's cold."

Nikkie To, a fourth-year fine arts student, said she feels that space is integral to the artistic process.

“It allows us to present art properly and express our ideas. We can talk to one another, receive feedback and get help from our peers,” To said.

Second-year studio art student Mary Duncan could only think of "dingy" when asked to describe fourth-year studios upstairs.

"Most of them don't have indies and only have of them has a sink. They're essentially closets," she said. "There's no light up there. Having some natural light up there will be amazing."

McMaster president Patrick Deane expressed gratitude for Fitzhenry’s donation to the program.

“This critical investment will have an impact on the entire campus, altering the way our students learn and creating an environment that can support all their artistic endeavours,” Deane generic viagra price said.

Robert Fitzhenry grew up in West Hamilton and graduated McMaster in 1954 with an honours B.A. in political economy. As a student, he played football and served on the Board of Publications.

He holds an honourary doctorate from McMaster and has been a member of the McMaster Alumni Association board of directors.

Construction on the site will begin in 2014.

This article was originally published online Nov. 13 and was updated for Nov. 14.

Photo: An artistic rendering of new studio space planned for the fine arts program. C/O McMaster University.

A fire consumed a local Crabby Joe’s Restaurant in the early hours of the morning on Nov. 1.

Area residents report hearing what sounded like an explosion around 2 a.m. that morning. Fire-fighting crews were called to the scene, 1705 Main St. W, less than 15 minutes later.

Upon arrival firefighters initially entered the building to work on fighting the blaze. However, once the roof became unsafe, they were forced to pull out of the building and focus on containing the fire.

Shortly after, a large section of the roof over the kitchen collapsed.

Firefighters succeeded in preventing the flames from spreading to the building next door, holding a Baskin Robbins store, a World Gym and other businesses.

No injuries occurred and the building is believed to have been empty when the fire began.

Initial estimates suggest that damage to the property amounts to $500,000.

The Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office are investigating the fire and trying to determine the cause of the blaze.

Ray Pollard, working for the property’s owner Durndurn Property Management, told The Spectator that it is too soon to begin thinking about the future of the viagra canada location.

A local folk-tale suggests that the fire could have been a result of a curse.

According to the legend, a woman who lived in the neighbourhood did not want the property developed and cursed the land where Crabby Joe’s stood. Ever since, no business has been able to last more than a few years-always mysteriously closing up shop.

Michelle Leitch, an Ancaster resident who group up in Dundas heard about it growing up.

“The rumour in high school [graduated in 1992] was that the place was totally jinxed, like nothing would ever survive there and that something was going on,” she said.

The location first housed a Ponderosa restaurant and then a Glider’s Bar and Grill, in the 1980s. After that, Tony Baloney, Dimaggio’s, Players and Crabby Joe’s all opened and then closed soon after.

“You’d figure the location would be good, and everything starts out awesome,” she said, “but nothing survives. I sure wouldn’t put a business in there.”

An annual Globe and Mail survey has given McMaster University the highest grades in the country in some areas and deemed it worst in the nation for others.

The 2013 Canadian University Report was released by The Globe and Mail on Oct. 23, including the annual student satisfaction survey results.

McMaster University performed well in most areas and achieved an overall satisfaction grade of A, only being eclipsed by Western University—a consistent theme throughout most of the report.

Schools are graded and ranked in separate buy viagra made by pflizer groups according to size. This ensures that, for instance, McMaster, with a student body approaching 30,000, is not directly measured against Redeemer University College and its population of about 900 students.

In the large university category, McMaster tied for the highest grade in categories like research opportunity, campus atmosphere and academic counselling. The University was also near the top of the list for reputation with employers and quality of teaching and learning.

Mac was joined near the top of most grading categories by The University of Western Ontario, McGill, University of Alberta and University of Waterloo.

The report also shed light on some obvious areas of student dissatisfaction.

McMaster was graded worse than any university, of every size grouping, when it came to course registration. The locally well-known fact of SOLAR’s need for change is now nationally recognised.

The school is also tied for last, among large institutions, with York University in terms of city satisfaction, while other schools in Toronto and universities in Montreal and Ottawa received favourable grades and comprised of the top six on the list.

York fared the worst among large universities, acheiving an overall satisfaction grade of C+.

Medium sized University of Guelph and Queen’s University were given the highest grades in their catagory, while University of Windsor sits at the bottom of the preverbial barrel.

Grant MacEwan University and University of New Brunswick- Frederiction faired best and worst for small sized universities.

Schools termed “very small” did well for the most part. Every university in that catagory, with the exception of Brandon University, acheived a grade of B+ or highter.

The Globe’s report is different from traditional university rankings in that it is not just a ranking system. The Report gives grades to schools, and takes into account opinions for surveyed students.

Unlike the QS World University Rankings, Times Higher Education Rankings and the Shanghai Rankings, the Globe and Mail Student Satisfaction Survey is more focussed on things like university environment and how students feel their university is doing, in addition to quantitative data on research opportunities and the like.

Where the other ranking systems measure things like Nobel Prize winners, endowment account balances and income of graduates, the Satisfaction Survey attempts to grade things that are more difficult to measure.

Infographic credit: Ben Barrett-Forrest / Multimedia Editor 

A day that celebrated the achievements of Forward with Integrity initiatives left the overall state of the academy largely undefined.

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David Wilkinson, Provost and Vice-President (Academic), gave his State of the Academy address on Oct. 10 after presentations and receptions of various Forward with Integrity had taken place throughout the day.

"Forward with Integrity," an open letter by McMaster President Patrick Deane in 2011 was turned into an initiative allowing students to apply for funding to complete projects that would make Deane's vision a reality. 78 projects have been funded since, including the Learning Portfolio on Avenue and a psychology project studying how people can be perceived differently when conducting job interviews over Skype.

Beginning at 11:30a.m., presentations of numerous FWI projects filled the schedule at CIBC Hall, leading up to the State of the Academy. Wilkinson called his own address “window dressing” to a day of celebration.

“We decided this year’s State of the Academy Address, as it was originally called, to turn it into a whole day event of celebration,” said Wilkinson.

Wilkinson’s address, to a room filled with faculty and staff, highlighted academic research issues and remained vague regarding the overall state of McMaster University.

The Provost highlighted a few FWI projects with positive fanfare and video presentations. The Learning Portfolio received strong attention and was touted as a growing success.

“It really is an opportunity for students to integrate their learning into one place,” said Wilkinson.

With the address, Wilkinson said that he hoped to develop an identity for McMaster as both a research-intensive and student-centred school.

“Strong linkage between student centered-ness and research focus is really how we intend to define ourselves as an institution," Wilkinson said.

When it came to more technical matters, Wilkinson left a few questions unanswered.

He chose not to speak to the school’s budget in his address, instead referring the audience to the University Factbook for details.

“The State of the Academy can be all about budgets and numbers. I didn't want to do that last year and I’m not going to do it this year either. So we won’t talk a lot of budgetary situations,” said Wilkinson.

“The University Factbook…was released a couple days ago. It has an update of all of the numbers.” The document is available on the Office of Institutional Research and Analysis website.

Wilkinson was also vague with when it came the Ontario government’s push to have post-secondary institutions specialize further.

On the matter, he said “The government pays the freight, and when they want to change something, we have to pay attention to that.”

Wilkinson explained that McMaster will have to negotiate with the provincial government over the course of this academic year.

He was relatively unclear in what the school will be doing to prepare for this, saying, “One of the key things for us to do as an institution is to get our ducks in order and be prepared to state how we wish to be seen as a differentiated organization compared to other universities in the province.”

“I think, actually, we’re in pretty good shape to develop that process.”

With regards to McMaster’s internationalization, Wilkinson said, “This is the one area of Forward with Integrity that hasn't received the attention it deserves.”

 

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