The Insiders
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Jun
9
The Fallacy of Absolute Grading
Posted by: Alex Lougheed | June 9, 2010 | 25 Comments
There seems to be a common assumption many students, media, and parents hold. It’s an assumption that’s flat out wrong, and only those who don’t understand how academic institutions work hold it. It runs wild in the media, in parents’ minds, and is abused by many for cheap political gain. That assumption: that a grade […]
Jan
5
Impeachment Petitions Being Circulated, Plus Riders
Posted by: Alex Lougheed | January 5, 2010 | 5 Comments
A copy of the petition currently being circulated made it’s way into my hands. There are six questions being asked: 1. The removal of Blake Frederick 2. The removal of Tim Chu 3. Creation of a $5.00 “Engagement Levy” 4. A code change to implement slates 5. Indexing all non-indexed AMS fees to CPI 6. […]
Jul
23
What can the endowment do for us? The Berea college example.
Posted by: Neal Yonson | July 23, 2008 | 6 Comments
UBC Student Senator Alfie Lee posted this New York Times article on facebook a few days ago. I think it’s worth thinking pretty hard about. Berea College, which outwardly looks like a typical New England private school, uses it’s 1.1 billion dollar endowment for students. From the Berea website:/ Berea continues to build upon a […]
May
6
Welcome to the University club
Posted by: Neal Yonson | May 6, 2008 | 10 Comments
News and analysis by Tariq Ahmed, UBC law graduate and former Senator. Depending on how deeply buried in the library you’ve been for the last few weeks, you may have heard about Premier Campbell’s trip around the province waving his magic wand and turning everything short of a high school into a “university”. If you […]
Mar
31
UBC Farm politics, elaboration of.
Posted by: Neal Yonson | March 31, 2008 | Comments Off on UBC Farm politics, elaboration of.
If you’ve voted in the current student referendum, you may have noticed that there is no question about the UBC Farm. Most people of course, wouldn’t have expected one, but it is a surprise to some. The Friends of the Farm started a campaign to get a question on the referendum ballot which would see […]
Mar
25
Budget "cuts" are a pretty good idea.
Posted by: Neal Yonson | March 25, 2008 | 12 Comments
As Tim mentioned below, the BC government had decided to reshuffle this year’s post secondary education money, as reported in the Vancouver Sun. The result is that universities lose out on a percentage or two of funding and smaller colleges and professional schools get a boost. UBC specifically is losing 8.7 million dollars from its […]
Mar
9
Financial Aid and Tuition
Posted by: Neal Yonson | March 9, 2008 | 2 Comments
I have been meaning to post about this for quite some time now, being heavily subsidized by a european government to study one of the most expensive programs in a college (medical) for a registration fee (covering a half year buspass as well as heavily discounted warm lunches) of 200 Euros (300 CAD) a semester. […]
Mar
2
UBC Farm: Why they aren't taking a referendum question to students this March
Posted by: Neal Yonson | March 2, 2008 | 20 Comments
Due to a hole in WordPress, this post’s author is misattributed. The follow was written by AMS VP Academic ’07-’08 Brendon Goodmurphy. Most students know by now that the future of the UBC Farm is shrouded in uncertainty and controversy. This year strong student supporters of the Farm (particularly Friends of the Farm), wanted to […]
Feb
8
Sterling example of effective advocacy – Universities Allied for Essential Medicines
Posted by: Neal Yonson | February 8, 2008 | 7 Comments
Students spend alot of time agonizing over how to be effective advocates for change. Emma Preston, a founding member of UBC UAEM, and this year’s BC Rhodes Scholar, tells of how this group made the university fall head over heals for them. Billions of people, primarily in poor countries, lack access to lifesaving medicines; millions […]
Oct
11
UBC Faculty Association has a bad week: part 2
Posted by: Neal Yonson | October 11, 2007 | 5 Comments
Israel Boycott debate re-opened Also in the September’s Faculty Focus newsletter (click!), is an article calling on faculty and UBC to open up a debate on an academic boycott of Israeli academia. The article is authored by some familiar faculty members, including the head of the undergraduate biology program, Martin Adamson, and Arts AMS councilor […]
