When is $15 million really $10 million, but actually only $5 million?

Welcome to the world of higher education in which “gift” and “gift commitment” can be parsed so billionaires can claim to give what they haven’t, and dictate whatever they want. On this Makeover Monday, let us pretend—because there will be more than a little smoke-and-mirrors pretend in this column—that it is actually the morning of […]

Masuma Khan and the issue of freedom of speech

(This column originally appeared in the Halifax Examiner on October 30, 2017.) Should the vice president of the Dalhousie Student Union have faced even the whiff of disciplinary action from the university’s administration for a less than genteel Facebook exchange she had with some constituents? The short answer is no. The long answer is still no. […]

University, government, CEOs: let the students pay

So this is embarrassing. For whom? Well, it should be shame-making for everyone involved. Back in April, Dalhousie University’s Board of Governors approved a three per cent across-the-board tuition fee hike — even higher for students in engineering, pharmacy and agriculture — and squeezed faculty budgets to achieve its goal of a balanced budget. At […]

The great dentistry scandal of 2014, 2015… and counting

What to make of last week’s latest twists, turns, ins, outs and roundabouts in the never-ending root canal that is Dalhousie’s Great Dentistry Scandal of 2014, 2015… and counting? Who knows? The better answer, perhaps, is that (slightly) fewer social media posters and media pontificators seem so keen to rush to instant pre-judgment, conviction and […]

Restorative justice? Yes, but also…

After a brief holiday respite, Dalhousie University must try — again — to reset a raveled, roiling mess that may have initially focused on one secret Facebook group but has now morphed into broader, thornier and out-of-the-university’s-control debates about restorative justice, public safety, crime, punishment, education, rape culture, life and who gets to decide how […]