Chowdhury and Nurmodhamed resign from SUS
In a moving speech to the Science Undergraduate Society’s general council, Arif Chowdhury announced his resignation from the organization’s presidency. He stated that his reason for standing down was that he felt that he had lost the confidence of the general council. He urged fellow executives and councilors not to believe the allegations that lead to his disqualification from the Students’ Society of McGill University’s presidential race. Chowdhury described the events of the past week as very hard to bear, and thanked his friends and colleagues for their support during the turbulent period. He said that walking away from SUS was one of the most difficult things he has had to do. Councilors and executives expressed their thanks to Chowdhury for his invaluable contribution and leadership to the organization.
SUS VP Internal Nadir Nurmohamed also resigned, stating that he believed that he would not be able to complete his duties to the best of his abilities. The SUS has yet to name successors.Legault to keep post
Decision on Chapters due March 30
The McGill Administration will decide by the end of March whether Chapters Books will continue to run the McGill Bookstore.
According to Alan Charade, director of ancillary services for McGill, the administration has set a deadline of March 30 for Chapters to state how they will improve service at the bookstore, which they have managed since March 1998.
Students and faculty members have expressed anger that textbook shipments were delayed because of Chapters’ problems with book distributors.
Within the five-year contract, the first deal of its kind between a university and a bookstore chain in Canada, is a clause that allows McGill to end the relationship with compensation and 90 days notice.
Geoffrey Swift, the director of college stores for Chapters, said last week that his division has “the full support of the company,” and stressed that McGill has not yet pulled out of its contract.
However, the recent purchase of Chapters by Trilogy Inc., owner of Indigo Books, as well as Chapters’ failure to take over other university bookstores, raise many unanswered questions about the division’s future.
Kerry McSweeney, an English professor and the chair of the Senate Bookstore Committee, wouldn’t be sorry to see Chapters go, but is not sure what will happen next.
“I would not be unhappy if Chapters ceased to operate the bookstore,” said McSweeney. “Right now, it’s all up in the air.”
— James Grohsgal
Motion to reconsider academic amnesty rejected
A motion to reconsider a request for academic amnesty failed last week at senate, as it did not receive the two-thirds majority vote it required to be reconsidered.
At last Wednesday’s Senate meeting, Dr. Martha Crago asked the governing body to reconsider the motion for academic amnesty. The senate had originally voted against the motion in a 32-31 vote in a previous meeting on February 14. If passed, the motion would have allowed students to defer their exams until August in order to attend a Peoples’ Summit Rally held in conjunction with the Free Trade of America’s Agreement in late April. Crago wanted the motion reconsidered for a number of reasons, citing that during the original debate, a “last minute addition of amendments” left some members of senate confused about how to vote. Also, Crago believed that the senate and the student body could have made some sort of compromise.
“I personally believe in seeking all possible ways to resolve divisions in the community,” said Crago, “so I felt it would be worthwhile to see what, if any, changes could be made that would be acceptable to more people.”
Although troubled by the Senate’s decision, Crago was not surprised the motion was rejected.
“…[It] is very hard to get a 2/3 majority vote,” she said, and then later added that, “My disappointment is that I found the debate on this issue very interesting, and I think more of it — regardless of the outcome — would have been most enlightening. The relationship of universities to societal issues is a very important topic and one that it would have been interesting for the community to think about more.”
Despite the outcome, Crago was pleased with the student involvement on the issue.
“I have been extremely impressed by how the students asking for accommodation have conducted themselves,” she said. “This issue has been dealt with adult to adult.”
