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Volum e 26 Issue 3 • S eptem ber 1 9 ,2 0 0 6
R e lig io u s ta lk s d is a p p o in t C o n fe r e n c e b y
p r o b le m
p la g u e d s
Jo sh Stark
F e r r is B u e l l e r d i d it, w h y c a n ' t w e ? S la c k e r s y n d r o m e
a t M c G ill has asked fo r his n a m e a n d m a jo r to re m a in a n o n y m o u s ), s u g g e s t in g th a t g re a te r s o c ie ty d o e s n o t fo s te r e th ic a l b e h a v io u r, m a k in g c h e a tin g a n e ce s sity fo r su rvival in th e N o rth A m e ric a n e c o n o m ic clim a te . "N o o n e cares h o w y o u d o it, ju s t th a t y o u d o it w e ll. If g e t tin g an e x te n s io n is th e w a y to g e t th e b e st grade , th e n y o u k n o w w h a t, so be it. I'm n o t sa ying it is s o m e th in g I d o . . . b u t if I n e e d e d to , I guess, I w o u ld n 't b e a g a in st it o r a n yth in g ." S o m e s tu d e n ts e v e n o ffe r a d v ic e fro m th e ir p e rso n a l m e d ic a l n o te successes. "D o n 't e a t th e e v e n in g a n d m o rn in g b e fo re y o u g o in to th e clinic," ad vises a U i H is to ry s tu d e n t. “ Use th e w o rd s 'v o m it' a n d 'na use a ,'a n d sp e a k as little as p o ssible. T h e less w o rd s y o u use, th e m o re b e lie v a b le y o u are,"she c o n tin u e s a n d la u g h s."S ick p e o p le d o n 't w a n t to speak, th e y w a n t to sleep!"
E lizabeth Perle
M o s t s tu d e n ts w o u ld n ’t m in d ta k in g a d a y o ff fro m sc h o o l, à la Ferris B ueller, b u t b e a tin g th e syste m in u n iv e rs ity re q u ire s m o re c o m p le x ta c tic s th a n th o s e u sed b y th e q u in tis s e n tia l h ig h s c h o o l slacker. For s o m e u n d e rg ra d u a te s , a m e d ic a l n o te is a c a d e m ic p a y d irt; a d e v ic e th ro u g h w h ic h th e y score e x te n s io n s o n - o r e v e n e x e m p tio n s fro m - c o m p le tin g a s sig n m e n ts , exa m s a n d o th e r aca d e m ic re sp o n sib ilitie s . A s u rp ris in g ly h ig h n u m b e r o f s tu d e n ts a t M cG ill a d m it o p e n ly to a b u s in g th is system to th e ir o w n b e n e fit, s h ru g g in g o ff th ë id e a th a t it c o u ld b e a t th e e x p e n se o f tru ly ill s tu d e n ts , s o m e o f w h o m c la im to fe e l m a rg in a liz e d b y th e g ro w in g g ro u p o f "fa k e rs "'clo g g in g u p th e clinics.
H ardy, har, har...
A cheating culture
"T h e system is all a b o u t g ra d e a n d n u m b e r va lu es - a n d th a t d o e s n o t s tric tly a p p ly to un iversity," asserts a U2 A rts s tu d e n t (w h o
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See FAKING on page 16
M c G ill R e d & M
Organizers had high hopes for last week's World Reli gions conference, which aimed to combat the increasing ly negative perceptions surrounding religions. However, the event fell far short of expectations according to most attendees. The event was organized by McGill Professor Arvind Sharman, and brought together speakers of all faiths to discuss the role of religion in today's world and to pro mote the adoption of a United Nations-style Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the world's religions. Dr. Anis Malik Thoha, an assistant professor from the International Islamic University of Malaysia, agreed in his speech Wednesday that different religions must commu nicate with each other, but added that he did not see this happening effectively in the near future. He later spoke about the low turnout to the event. "Unfortunately, the organizer didn't organize the pro gram properly.... so not enough people showed up,” said Thoha. "When I was in Japan, in Tokyo at a similar event, there [was] a larger number of people, so we [had] more interaction.” Less than eight people attended Dr.Thoha's session, which was given in a room built for over 100. Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Islamic studies scholar, also spoke to a sparse audience. "Considering how famous a scholar he is, it was fairly poorly attended," said Heather Empey, a fourth year PhD student at the McGiil Institute of Islamic Studies. "It was maybe a quarter full." Empey added that she thought the conference orga nizers aimed too high with their goals. "I think that the objective was too lofty and too com prehensive,"she said. "An intelligent public could handle a more in-depth talk on religion. It was good intentioned, but what was the point? It would be better to have a more honest, more real conversation about these things." Empey said that she found the conference was preaching to the converted, as the people who were will ing to sit down in dialogue with other religions are not the people who needed to go to a conference to be encour aged to do so. Professor Arvind Sharman, chair of the organizing committee for the conference, said that although there were problems, many of them were out of his control particularly the low attendance. "This is something I naturally regret; that there were
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