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THE Mc GILl TRIBUNE Volume 5, Number 6
Published by the Students' Society of McGill University W ednesday 16 O ctober, 1985
S care
K eeps A w ay
B lo o d
by Brian Todd The McGill Blood Drive fell far short of its goal of 3000 pints last week. The organizers of the event attribute this short-fall to a combination of factors in cluding inclement weather and a rash of sickness but in particular they cite an AIDS scare as the main cause. The Blood Drive, an annual event sponsored by the Students' Society rais ed 2285 pints, a drop of 12% from last year's total of 2603 pints. According to Jo-Anne Limoges, Co-Chairman of the Drive, "The main reason for people not giving is that they were afraid of getting AIDS, even if that fear is stupid." There is absolutely no risk of contracting AIDS or any other disease for that matter when giving blood. "The nurses told me, " continued Limoges, "that for the first time in years donors asked if they change the needles after each person gives blood. If the people who are giving are that afraid then imagine what the general popula tion is thinking." The drop at McGill may reflect a similar drop in Ontario where dona tions are off hy 20 percent. In a recent editorial in the Gazette, the Medical Director of the Toronto Red Cross Blood Transfusion Center, Jacob Nusbacher is quoted as saying that the AIDS fear is to blame for the dramatic
drop in donations in Ontario. The Gazette editorial goes on to say that in contrast with Ontario, blood donations in Québec have not dropped. Jo-Anne Limoges disagrees, " I don't think it hasn't affected Quebec. Usually we have no problem acheiving 2600 pints. This is even a 12% decrease from that." A record of donations for each faculty was kept by the Drive to encourage inter-faculty rivalry, however the results w ere disappo in tin g. The vario us faculties and the donation record as A per cent of faculty enrollment is as follows: Science (23.1%), Medicine in cluding P. and O T and Nursing (16.1%), Arts (15.7%), Management (14.2%), E n g in e e rin g (1 2 .8 % ), Ed u catio n (11.8%), Law and Dentistry (7.6%), Music and Religious Studies (4.8%), and Graduate Studies (4%). Says Limoges, "The smaller faculties are like families. They don't really care what is going on in the rest of the campus." Limoges feels that the efforts made by the Red Cross to counteract an AIDS scare are not enough. "They give out pamphlets at the clinic explaing that you can't get AIDS but that's to people who are already giving. They need to have a nation-wide campaign to dispel this myth."
Missionary Killian Holland speaks to anti-apartheid dem onstrators in front of the Arts Building Friday afternoon. Later in the day, dem onstrators occupied the Administration building to protest M cGill's investments in South African com panies. The issue will be discussed by Board of Governors O ctober 21.
Conservative Budget Passes by Patrick Hill Despite some procedural wrangling, the 85/86 StudSoc budget overview was approved by council on Tuesday night with a somewhat surprising lack of debate or even interest. Following Council guidelines, the budget is structured in such a way that no deficit is incurred. In all, it presents few surprises. The subsidies to clubs re mained consistent to those of last year, as did the amounts allotted to the upkeep of the Union Building and the
Plagiarism For Sale? by Michael Smart A very small advertisement that has caused a rather large fuss for two Ot tawa university newspapers may be about to inspire similar controversy for the M cG ill Daily, the Tribune has learn ed. The ad, which was published in the Daily's classified section as recently as last Wednesday, solicits students to buy research papers from a California-based
don't think we have the power," he said. But he did point out that "if a student were caught plagiarising who had read the ad in the Daily, then the disciplinary officer could charge the Daily (staff) under the counselling and aiding clause." Brendan Weston, the senior news editor of the Daily, said the company was presently "under investigation" by
Research papers! 306-page catalog... 15,278 topics! R u s t^ ^ O — Research, [ Idaho, Los Angeles 1(213) 4771
company called Research Assistance. M cGill Dean of Students Irwin Gopnik objects to the advertisement, which he feels is an invitation to plagiarism. According to Gopnik, a reporter for CJFM , a Montreal radio station, telephoned the company that it does sell research papers. The firm also per forms what it calls "custom research" on any topic, at a price of U.S. $16 pe page, Gopnik stated. Gopnik wrote to Daily editor-in-chie Melinda Wittstock last week, saying tha as editor, she could be subject 6 disciplinary action by the University for "counselling and aiding" plagiarism, which is illegal under the Code of Stu dent Conduct. Gopnik said he has received no response from Wittstock, although he noted the ad did not appear in last Thursday's Daily. "I'm just glad the ad has been stopped," he said. Gopnik cautioned that no direct ac tion on the part of the University was currently being contemplated. "There's none I know of that's possible. I just
his staff, but no decision to cease adver tisement had been taken. He said the issue of blacklisting the ad would even tually come before a staff meeting for decision. However, Weston expressed his per sonal opinion that "there are a lot more important things to boycott. After all, you can get essays in the library. You
can get them from anybody.” Wittstock concurs, "N o, the Daily does not support plagiarism in any way. But I see no logical connection between having them available and plagiarism." Wittstock also took another tack, arguing that plagiarism would go on, with or without the help of her paper. "If they're available anyway, they're go ing to be used. And there's nothing im plicit in the ad that says they're en couraging plagiarism," she added. Both Wittstock and Weston see the issue as insignificant relative to the op pressive social realities against which their paper fights. " If I had my way, I'd boycott just about every company" for their con nections with South Africa or the military-industrial complex, Wittstock said. The Daily presently does not place ads from the Department of National Defence, or major military contractors like General Electric, she said. The ad first became a public issue when it was printed in the University of Ottawa Fulcrum earlier this year. Its publication prompted U of O ViceRector Susan Mann-Trofimenkoff to write to the paper in complaint.
G r ie v a n c e
C o d e
P re se n te d
S e n a te
T o
by Michael Smart Changes to the University's code of student grievance procedures which would give the grievance committee more power to arbitrate disputes bet ween faculty and students received a mixed reception from Senate at its meeting last week. The proposed changes to the terms of reference of the Senate Committee on Student Grievances were intended primarily to streamline the committee's procedures and to expand the body's
mandate in conflicts over academic evaluation, according to the report of yet another committee created to study the matter. Due to its failure to reach quorum, however, Senate has tabled the report for further debate at its next meeting. The most substantive changes em bodied in the recommendations give the committee the power to excise a student's mark and engage an external examiner to assign a substitute grade. continued page 9
StudSoc office. The only major increase from last year came under the heading of Council and Committees: the monies allotted increased from $28,103 last year to $36,683. This large jump was explained by V.P. (Internal) Michael Orr. "A lot of the ex penses that were incurred by Council and charged to the General Office last year such as photocopying were transferred to the Council and Commit tees budget. As well, a couple of our committees are more active than last year." Orr went on to clarify, "The External Affaris Committee is going to con ferences this year in places like Québec City. In the past this group hasn't really reached out." The largest addition to the Council and Committees budget was the addi tion of summer salaries for all five of the Executive Committee members. According to Orr, "M arie Davis (V.P. Finance), was very happy because, even though this was a conservative budget, we were able to maintain all these services." Major items in the total $870,362 ex penditures include: • $336,468 for general office costs; • $276,120 for upkeep and manage ment of the Union building; • $62,243 for council services, in cluding elections, communications and council and committee expenses; • $72,750 for Society activities like Legal Aid ($17,170), the Student H an dbo o k ($ 1 2 ,2 4 1 ), speakers ($6868), and the Tribune ($5675); • $33,205 for functional groups, in cluding $9008 for Radio M cGill and $6978 fdr the Debating Union; • $9140 for the 28 campus interest groups funded by StudSoc. On the revenue side, the total of $879,712 will accrue primarily from stu dent fees ($750,000), food services ($71,000) and p inb all m achines ($30,000).
The sole opposition to the budget presentation came from Club rep Daron Westman, who opened the Council meeting by asking that the budget be removed from the agenda altogether. Westman said that the budget hadn't been presented to councillors the five days in advance as required by the stan ding rules of order. President James Green responded by stating that the secretary, due to illness, had been unable to type the overview in time; furthermore, the document had been available to councillors 5 days in advance, albeit not 5 working days. Council Chairman Keith Denman sup ported this view and overturned Westman's motion. During the short debate that follow ed, Westman stated that the lack of ade quate notice had prevented him from contacting the clubs which make up his constituency to get their views on a mat ter which could affect them directly. V .P. (Finance) Marie Davis responded to these concerns by saying that she had personally discussed the budget with all the clubs prior to its presentation to council, and that they had voiced no worries. The Tribune was unable to contact representatives of the clubs due to Thanksgiving holidays. The budget was then approved with the sole abstention of Westman. Asked about his reasons for abstain ing, Westman stated: "I need the five working days because as club rep I had to speak with as many of the cfubs as possible... to find out about any pro blems they are afraid might arise. Last year, for example, major changes were made to the Film Society's budget after the overview was presented to council. I abstained because it seemed to me ir responsible to vote for something which might negatively affect my constituents. "I'm tired of having to rush things through (Council) in the name of expe diency. If the system doesn't work, let's change it."
L Ç3 An Analysis of the Daily/Mag.........pg. 3 vJ-^A Joyce Biographer................. ........ pg. 5 u - j "Albertine in Five Times" Reviewed. pg.
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^ ^ Sp o rts Roundup........... ................. pg. 11