James Admin Occupation at McGill, Day 2

Things you need to know:

1. Students are occupying the James Administration building in protest of Deputy Provost Morton Mendelson’s efforts to de-fund CKUT and QPIRG.

2. For reasons that will have to be considered in another post, all McGill faculty, staff and students will now apparently receive an email any time anyone at a university protests anything.

3. This morning’s email announcing the closure of James Admin (reproduced below) actually links to the Milton Avenue Revolutionary Press (yes, that’s MARP for short), which is liveblogging the occupation. If you follow the link, you will understand why I find this to be surreal.

I worry MARP may not be all that legible to people who aren’t already familiar with the local campus politics. I’m flying away soon, so if nobody else explains it clearly, I’ll try tonight or tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can follow the occupation on twitter via @6partylive and @miltrevpress

Today’s official communiqué:

Message to the McGill community
Update on the James Bldg occupation
From Michael Di Grappa, Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance)

We would like to bring you up to date on the status of the occupation of the offices of the Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) on the 6th floor of the James Administration Building and in the building’s first-floor lobby.

The James Building remains closed today, so alternate work arrangements have been made for the people who work there. James Building staff are relocated or working from home, continuing to provide services as best they can under the circumstances. Services normally provided to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the James Building have been relocated to Service Point, on McTavish Street in the ground floor of the McLennan Library Building. Graduate program offices should contact their normal GPS staff contact by email today. Students, faculty and staff who need to access other services can contact people or offices via email. If you cannot reach anyone, please send a note to info.mcgill@mcgill.ca, and someone will respond as quickly as possible with the appropriate information. Again, we regret any inconveniences or interruptions in service you may experience as a result of the occupation.

As yesterday’s email mentioned, the occupiers were given a notice from Provost Masi (found at http://www.mcgill.ca/channels/announcements/item/?item_id=213952). Yesterday, Professor Jim Nicell talked several times with designated representatives of the occupiers in an attempt to get the protestors to leave the building. The protestors are refusing to leave unless their demands are met, as listed on this blog (please note that the blog does contain profanity): http://miltonrevolutionarypress.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/live-partyblog-from-mendelsons-surprise-resignation-party-welcome-back-ckut-qpirg-party/

We will continue to attempt to talk to the occupiers about them leaving the building peacefully. We hope for a rapid, peaceful end to this unacceptable situation.

Message à la communauté mcgilloise de Michael Di Grappa, vice-principal (administration et finances)

Mise à jour sur l’occupation du Pavillon James

Voici une mise à jour concernant l’occupation des bureaux du premier vice-principal exécutif adjoint (études et vie étudiante) au 6e étage et dans le hall du rez-de-chaussée du Pavillon de l’administration James.

Le Pavillon James demeure fermé aujourd’hui, et des dispositions ont été prises afin que les employés qui y ont leur bureau puissent poursuivre leur travail. En dépit des circonstances actuelles, le personnel s’efforce de maintenir les services offerts en temps normal. Les services normalement offerts aux étudiants des cycles supérieurs et boursiers de recherche postdoctorale ont été déplacés au Point de service, situé au rez-de-chaussée de la Bibliothèque McLennan, rue McTavish. Aujourd’hui, les responsables de bureaux d’études supérieures doivent communiquer avec leur personnel régulier. Étudiants, professeurs et employés qui désirent obtenir l’un ou l’autre des services offerts peuvent joindre le personnel en charge par courriel. S’il vous est impossible de joindre quiconque, veuillez envoyer un courriel à info.mcgill@mcgill.ca, et l’information demandée vous sera transmise dans les meilleurs délais. Sachez que nous sommes désolés des problèmes et des retards causés par cette situation.

Tel que mentionné dans le courriel d’hier, les manifestants ont reçu un message de la part du vice-principal exécutif Masi, que vous pouvez consulter à : http://francais.mcgill.ca/channels/announcements/item/?item_id=213952. Hier, le professeur Jim Nicell s’est adressé aux occupants à plusieurs reprises afin de les amener à quitter les lieux. Comme vous pourrez le lire sur ce blogue — qui comporte des propos offensants — les manifestants refusent d’obtempérer tant que l’Université n’aura pas répondu à leurs demandes. http://miltonrevolutionarypress.wordpress.com/2012/02/07/live-partyblog-from-mendelsons-surprise-resignation-party-welcome-back-ckut-qpirg-party/

Nous poursuivons nos tentatives visant à convaincre les occupants de quitter les lieux dans le calme. Nous espérons mettre rapidement un terme à cette situation inacceptable, et ce, de manière pacifique.

Who owns notes from professors’ lectures?

Today’s Gazette has a story in which I’m quoted about a new online service called Notesac (a rather unfortunate name).

While it is mostly a banal case of a) students sharing notes and b) someone skimming profits off something at universities that wasn’t previously fully monetized, the real story here isn’t reported.

The unfortunately-named “notesac” site claims ownership of the notes in a most problematic fashion:

All documents (including the organization and presentation of such material) included in this web site (the “Documents”) are the property of NoteSac and its licensors and may be protected by intellectual property laws including laws relating to copyrights, trade-marks, trade-names, internet domain names, and other similar rights.

The Documents many not be uploaded, sold or redistributed through any other mediums, specifically other websites, which are available to, or used by the public.

The Documents may only be used for non-commercial personal or educational purposes. Copyright and other intellectual property notices must be observed at all times. Exploitation, modification, and creation of derivatives of the Documents are prohibited.

The lectures are in the first instance the lecturers’ intellectual property, I don’t see how the company can claim exclusive property rights over their creation, distribution and sale, since their contributors may already be violating the IP terms of the courses they are attending.

The War of 1812: A Comparative Study in Nationalist Mythology

After having an anxiety dream last week about Tuesday morning’s citizenship exam, I got serious about studying for it. We’ve made flash cards and are practicing on a daily basis. It’s probably overkill, since immigrants who have English as a second language and not much schooling also have to be able to pass the test, but still.

The entire Citizenship Guide is incredibly ideological. Of course it is, it’s a nationalist document. It’s full of very different versions of stories I learned growing up in the US (or later). But my favourite part is the war of 1812, because it so directly contradicts what I was taught in US grade school.

US version: the British were still bugging us, most by trade restrictions and by arming the native American population. So we took advantage of their being engaged with the French and attacked. It didn’t work out because in the end they burned Washington, but we kicked them back and out and reasserted our independence and control over the American continent, and ended the threat of a Native American confederacy supported by the British. The war made General Andrew Jackson’s career, and he would later be president. it also inspired the national anthem.

Canada version: American aggressors invaded Canada in an attempt to annex it. The English, French and Aboriginals banded together to repel the foreign invaders. We burned Detroit. They burned York (Toronto). In revenge, we marched down from New Brunswick to Washington DC, kicking ass all the way and burned their capital. This war established Canada’s independence.

There’s tons of stuff in there like that. Also,

Number of mentions (by page) in the new Canada Citizenship Guide: Queen: 17; military: 14; Tommy Douglas: 0.

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Don’t even get me started on Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison.

This will be on my reading list, after I take the test (and assuming I pass it).

Why You Shouldn’t Publish with Lap Lambert, German Publishing House

This one’s mostly for the search engines as I’m sure most of my readers don’t need to hear this.

I keep getting this spam email sent to me:

Begin forwarded message:

From: Yasmine Watson
Date: February 2, 2012 2:15:30 AM EST
To:
Subject: Our Publication Offer: Your end-of-studies work

Dear Essam Hallak,

Some time ago I offered you the possibility of making your academic paper
entitled «Beyond Boundaries A Philosophical Mapping of the PreModern City of
the Levant» submitted to McGill University Montreal as part of your
postgraduate studies available as printed book. Our publishing company is
interested in your subject area for future publications. Since we did not
hear back from you, I am now wondering if you received my first email.

I would appreciate if you could confirm your interest in our publishing
house and I will be glad to provide you with detailed information about our
services.

I am looking forward to receiving a positive response from you.

Best Regards,
Yasmine Watson
Acquisition Editor

LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. KG
Heinrich-Böcking-Str. 6-8
66121, Saarbrücken, Germany

Fon +49 681 3720-310
Fax +49 681 3720-3109

y.watson(at)lappublishing.com / www.lap-publishing.com

Handelsregister Amtsgericht Saarbrücken HRA 10752
General unlimited partner: VDM Management GmbH
Managing directors: Thorsten Ohm (CEO), Dr. Wolfgang Philipp Müller, Esther
von Krosigk

They keep sending me this bizarre spam email. If I’m going to take OUP to task for their restrictive IP policies, I should also say something about these much more dangerous presses.

Lambert is a print on demand publisher, not exactly vanity press in the sense that they don’t charge authors up front. But in terms of advancing a young scholar’s career, they might as well be a vanity press. They claim your intellectual property and publish it without proper peer review or academic editorial process, which means that they have just devalued your thesis that you might otherwise have revised, improved, and published in a more appropriate scholarly outlet (in whole or in part). This is no small thing, as your thesis is the cornerstone of the next few years of your academic career, at least in disciplines where theses appear as books.

Do not publish with Lap Lambert or other self-publication schemes. It won’t help your career, it won’t impress hiring or postdoc committees, and it won’t get you read by your peers. Though you might get a nicely bound book.

Some other threads on the topic:

http://chrisnf.blogspot.com/2010/06/lambert-academic-publishing-continues.html
http://littlecomputerscientist.wordpress.com/2009/06/04/investigating-lambert-academic-publishing-with-google-square/
http://sandcountyfrank.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/academic-spam-redux-lambert-academic-publishers-responds/
http://www.writingnetwork.edu.au/content/email-lap-offering-publish-my-masters-thesis

Public Speaking 101b

Okay, so I’ve been going to the speech therapist to see if there’s a way I can get back to giving talks while standing without my head spinning after a few minutes. Last time we worked on breathing, which helps but not enough.

Today, I learned that I still use volume for verbal emphasis. Which is stupid because my voice just breaks up and it’s as if my breath is leaking out of my head, and my voice doesn’t get a whole lot louder. If I switch to pitch, I do a lot better. But it sounds a lot easier than it actually is. You don’t just will yourself into another style. I’m not really a sing-songy talker. Also? I try and avoid that Canadian guy uptalking thing?

Not being able to “turn it up” is also a problem at work and in my social ife. People get conversational space by speaking up — whether we’re talking about dinner parties or meetings. I used to be right at home in that milieu but now I can’t do that, even though my voice “sounds” normal. So when a person facilitating a discussion in a formal setting like a meeting says “let’s just be cool and talk” it’s actually a real problem for me. So I have taken to raising my hand even when nobody else does. It sort of works. As for dinner parties, there have been a few nights where I just wear out and listen instead of talking.

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Other news forthcoming.

A “Tipping Point” Just Happened Inside My Throat

Well, that was fun. As predicted in October, the voice lift I had was temporary, and it’s pretty much gone now as far as I can tell. I’ve noticed it in my voice, which has lost strength, low end and is more hoarse (the guy at our local fruiterie asked if I had a cold as I was checking out the broccoli and mozzarella last night). More like what it was in the early fall. But the place I really notice–and miss–is swallowing. After paralysis, I relearned to swallow. Then I relearned again after the voice lift but it was much easier. Now I am relearning my original relearning. Especially not fun with pills and, oddly, long pasta noodles.

I phoned ENT at the General yesterday for my next one. I don’t have a date yet, but this time, I will be ready.