rcrill t m b a o e Volume 4, Number 14
Published by the Students’ Society of McGill University
Tuesday 15 January 1985
Judith Blasser: The Neverending Story by Stephen Hum A new chapter is about to be added to the neverending story of Judith Blasser versus the McGill Faculty of Dentistry. On Wednesday, January 16 representatives for Ms. Blasser will at tempt to persuade the steering commit tee o f the Senate to place the Blasser case on the agenda o f items to be dealt with at its next full meeting scheduled for January 23. Blasser is the erstwhile McGill Den tistry student who maintains that she was unfairly ejected from the Faculty fo u r years ag o . T h o u g h la te r reinstated, Blasser was again denied a degree because the Faculty asserted that she had failed fourth year Operative Dentistry and Removable Presthodontics, and thus was “ in competent” . Blasser counters that she is a victim o f a vendetta carried out against her by members of the Faculty in retaliation for her earlier refusal to keep silent about a cheating scandal at the School. Blasser has spared no expense in terms o f either time or energy in her fight to have her case heard and to ob
tain her dental degree. In the course of her battle with the Dentistry Faculty, Blasser has been through the pro ceedings of numerous greivance com mittees, Senate meetings, the office of the Governor General (the Visitor to McGill University) and finally the courts of the land. But, just when you might think the exit of the maze was in sight, the Superior Court o f Québec, presented with an affidavit from Samuel O. Freedman, Vice-Principal (Academic) of McGill, stating that Blasser still had “ available to her convenient and alter native remedies to be heard” at the University which she had not yet ex hausted, sent Blasser’s case out of court and back into McGill’s vast grievance bureaucracy. Richard Janda, the President o f the LSA (Law Students Association) and one of Blasser’s strongest advocates within McGill, comments that “ the Blasser case is not unconnected to a larger set of issues in the Dentistry Faculty” . The F acu lty cam e u n d er the continued on page 2
Worlds Begin Here question, Jmday night? The Chromosomes, were they damaged?
RAEU Promises Improved Life by Michael Smart L e Regroupement des associations étudiantes universitaires du Québec has vowed to play a greater role in the lives of Québec students and in society and politics in general. The decision was taken as part o f a formal declaration o f political principles hammered out at a recent meeting of the organisation’s Conseil des associations. The statement promised that RAEU would work to ameliorate the condi tions of students, prom ote the accessability of universities and help develop a system o f education that will allow students to apply their skills in society. RAEU will also concern itself with promoting democracy and “ par ticipating in the progress o f society” , the statement said. No small task, certainly. But RAEU gives no indication what path they will follow to the Land of Milk and Honey. The document affirms only that the sudent organisation will strive for “ con crete gains through a pragmatic ap proach” . Paul Muller, RAEU’s attache de presse, admitted the declaration was vague about RAEU’s future objec tives. In a telephone interview last week, Muller said “ there’s nothing really new in the statement. But it’s
always a good idea to set out your political philosophy.” “ It’s a recognition of the fact that what we do has influence on people beyond the university milieu. We must take into account the consequences of our actions on others.” For example, in working toward a solution to youth unemployment, RAEU would consider the implications for older, already employed segments of the population, he said. But a spokesman for a rival student organisation complained that RAEU was not placing students first. M onon Blanchard, officiaire aux programmes of the Association nationale des étu d ia n te s du Québec (ANEQ) noted that ANEQ had no official position on the statement but said she felt it was too general. “ They don’t mention stu dent rights anywhere,” she said. “ There could well be times when RAEU takes positions against student interests.” ANEQ and RAEU have been engag ed in a bitter struggle for the leadership of the Québec student movement since 1979 when the groups split on ideological issues. Since then, ANEQ has been attacked by RAEU supporters continued on page 3
by Gopal Sreenivasan Hold your tongue! The world’s best talkers are coming to town. From the 16th to the 23rd o f February, McGill will be hosting the 1985 W orld Univer sity D e b a tin g C h a m p io n s h ip s . Debaters from all over the Englishspeaking world — including such far off places as Australia and New Z ealand — will vie for w orld supremacy in the same rooms in which we endure classes. In fact of the fifty teams par ticipating in the championships, fifteen will be coming from overseas. Univer sities such as Oxford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sydney and Wellington will be represented at McGill. The re mainder of the teams will come from Canada and the United States. Because entry is limited — North American schools may send only one team; overseas ones may send two — the teams we will see at McGill will un doubtedly be la crème de la crème of the international debating circuit. In deed, a number of former world cham
pions are expected to be among this year’s competitors. This is the first time that McGill has hosted this prestigious event and organizers have been working hard to make it the best W orld’s ever. The tournam ent boasts an impressive set of O fficial P atrons: H er Excellency Jeanne Sauvé, the Governor General, Chancellor de Grandpré and Principal Johnston. According to Debating Union Presi dent Ben-Zvi Cohen, McGill’s cham pionships will be notable for a number o f different reasons. Firstly, Cohen says, the judging will be of a very high calibre. The Debating Union is running a series of exhibition debates which are to serve as training sessions for judges. These debates will be held at noon on Thursdays, starting January 17th, in Union 310. In this way, it will be en sured that all judges will have some ex perience with parliamentary debating. People interested in judging are asked to call the Debating Union at 392-8909 continued on page 8
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