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McMASTER UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWSPAPER / THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2010
Est. 1930
VOLUME 80, NO. 25
$1 million closer to liberal arts building
McMaster Association of Part-Time Students donates in Peter George’s name SELMA AL-SAMARRAI SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
On Mar. 23 during McMaster President Peter George’s tribute gala, McMaster’s Association of Part-Time Students (MAPS) announced their $1 million donation to the funding of the upcoming Liberal Arts Building at McMaster. The building is expected to follow the model of the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery, which opened in September of 2005. The Liberal Arts Building should provide space
for undergraduate, graduate and research programs in the faculties of social sciences, humanities and health sciences. Sam Minniti, the Executive Director of MAPS, explained that a large majority of MAPS students are enrolled in either the social sciences or humanities programs at McMaster. Therefore, according to Minniti, “With this most recent gift, the MAPS Board of Directors wanted to benefit the overwhelming majority of part-time students that are enrolled in the social sciences and
humanities.” “In particular, it is well known that it is more difficult to fundraise for the liberal arts given the understandable focus of many benefactors is on health sciences, engineering, science, or business.” MAPS is a service provided on campus since 1979 to meet the interests of McMaster’s part time students, meaning students who complete less than 18 units a semester. Prior to the donation, Minniti explained that he spoke with Charlotte Yates, the Dean of Social Sciences and Suzanne Crosta, the Dean
of Humanities in order to ensure that the funds would be able to provide students with higher learning opportunities such as on-line learning, podcasting and vodcasting. “This gift… comes at a time when the world is changing rapidly. Through this gift, part-time students have helped to ensure that our scholars are equipped with the analytical and research tools needed to engage our community and beyond, and to drive innovation in our teaching,” said Yates of this recent contribution. Crosta expressed her opinion
Spring is in the air: As March brings warm weather, Mac students take advantage of a green campus
of the recent donation, “This generous gift is a testament to our students’ and university’s commitment to liberal arts… We warmly thank MAPS for their exceptional investment and strong support of our disciplines.” According to the McMaster University website, the Liberal Arts Building is expected to provide space for a centre of global citizenship and culture, a learning language commons, centre for performing and visual arts and new media, and a research institute for the social sciences and humanities.
Dundurn Street stairs vandalized LILY PANAMSKY
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
CHRISTOPHER CHANG / SILHOUETTE STAFF
McMaster students breathe in some fresh air and relax outside of the North Quad, weeks before the semester ends and final exams begin.
Parts of the Dundurn Street Escarpment Stairs were damaged following an act of vandalism that occurred over the weekend. Al Dore, manager of parks and cemeteries in the city of Hamilton, explained that several concrete boulders were dropped on the stairs, which caused damage to approximately 50 treads. The 50 stairs will have to be removed and replaced. The steel staircase, which consists of 350 stairs, connects upper and lower Hamilton as it runs from the top of Dundurn Street, up the Escarpment, and to Beckett Drive/ Garth Street. Repairs commence on Thursday, Mar. 25, and are expected to last four or five days, depending on • PLEASE SEE ESCARPM., A5
Ann Coulter talk called off at Ottawa University LEN SMIRNOV THE FULCRUM
OTTAWA (CUP) — Chaos erupted on the night of Mar. 23 as hundreds of protesters clashed with police to prevent Ann Coulter, the radically conservative U.S. pundit, from speaking on the University of Ottawa campus. The dozens of spectators who had been admitted into the school’s Marion Hall auditorium and were waiting for Coulter to appear were eventually told that it was “physically dangerous” to proceed with the event and were evacuated from the building. “It is an embarrassing day for the University of Ottawa and their student body that couldn’t debate Ann Coulter and chose to silence her,” said Ezra Levant, a Canadian conservative activist who was to introduce Coulter at the event. “Never in my whole life [have] I thought I would have to tell people how to get out of a university safely.” The speaking event was part of Coulter’s three-city Canadian tour, organized by the International Free Press Society and the Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute, an American organization supporting conservative women in politics. Coulter was scheduled to speak on political correctness, media bias, and freedom of speech.
She is perhaps best known for making controversial comments that have included, shortly after 9-11, calling for Islamic countries to be invaded and all Muslims to be converted to Christianity. Students and local residents began lining up in front of Marion Hall several hours before the event. Shortly before the scheduled speaking time, though, the building’s fire alarm was pulled and the speech was delayed. After groups of people began to chant lines such as “No more hate speech on our campus” and “Coulter go home,” and crowded the doors to the building, Levant announced to those present in the auditorium that the event was cancelled, citing security concerns. While Levant indicated it was protesters who pressed against the doors to the building, witnesses outside claimed that police blocked the entrance to Marion Hall. A group of activists, including several members of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), the school’s students’ union, took credit for the protest. “We support a positive space on campus. We don’t tolerate hate speech,” said social sciences student Taiva Tegler, one of the organizers of the protest. The audience inside the auditorium consisted largely of Coulter’s supporters, but several protesters were able to get inside by regis-
MATT STAROSTE / THE FULCRUM
People gathered outside of Marion Hall at the University of Ottawa and waited to see Ann Coulter speak. According to the University of Ottawa, her speech was cancelled due to potential safety concerns. tering earlier with event organizers. “I think it is very disgraceful that there are so many people here that support a woman who has made very homophobic, racist [and] sexist comments,” said graduate student Samantha Ponting, one of the protesters who gained entry to the event. “By allowing her here on campus, it has created an unsafe space. That’s why we closed the event,” she said. Coulter’s supporters were upset with the cancellation of the event. Ottawa resident Bob Ward has fol-
lowed Coulter’s work — which has included several New York Times bestsellers and numerous television appearances — for five years and registered for her speech weeks in advance. “I think the University of Ottawa really should be quite embarrassed by what’s happened here tonight,” he said, suggesting that the university should apologize to Coulter and invite her back to campus. Frances Ladouceur, another Ottawa resident, was unable to get into the event after the protesters
pulled the fire alarm. “I’m upset that a bunch of punks . . . that obviously aren’t from this country, they’re Arabic or whatever — they ruined it for everyone else,” she said. “It is a communist university and I will never send my children to this university.” Last week, SFUO president Seamus Wolfe wrote an email to University of Ottawa president Allan Rock, asking him to ban Ann Coulter from speaking at the school after the event was moved from the • PLEASE SEE COULTER, A3