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P u b lis h e d b v th e S tu d e n ts ’ S o c ie ty o f M c G ill U n iv e r s ity
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Presence of Objects offers an alternative to IKEA B y C a b b y J a k u b o v i t ? _______________
T ak in g ad v an tag e o f the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is as easy as flashing a student card. But apart from the huge abstract pain tin gs, the an cien t art from m any p arts o f the w orld and A lb erto G ia c o m e tti’ s skinny bronze figures, is an often-missed sign bearing the words “Montreal M useum o f D e co ra tiv e A r ts .” Typically, one imagines a gallery o f the decorative genre as a sort of over-glorified IKEA or an exhibit o f fine je w e lle ry . And y et the m useum 's new e x h ib it, T he P re se n ce o f O b je cts: G aetan o Pesce, consists of more than just o b jects artfu lly p resen ted in a room. T he co lle ctio n re fle cts the work of the Italian-born architect over the past ten years, and since a decade is a long time to span, the show truly is a medley of materi als, styles and, as the title suggests, objects. The many skin-like tex tures and intense colours give the objects a unique character; each is a breathing and talking creature, be it a door handle or the schematic plan for a house. The abstraction that has become the major archi tectural trend o f this century is alm ost an tag o n ized in P e s c e ’ s work. His use of recycled materials — cardboard boxes and rags — makes this tangible medium the focal point of the show. The archi tect describes this materiality as “a defining trait of a new century that will be more flexible, more sensual and, certainly, more female.” This brings up another characteristic of Pesce’s designs — their feminini ty . A lth ou gh not im m ed iately apparent, the shapes and forms represented a step away from the
T h e tr e k th ro u g h M o n t r e a l c o n tin u e s a t th e B o t a n ic a l G a r d e n s
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Outstanding bill leaves students without texts B y A ndrew Ro ss
B iology students were with out textbooks for weeks after a corp orate m ix-up prevented the M cGill Bookstore from ordering the required books. Nearly 5 0 of the 2 2 0 students re g is te re d in P ro fe s s o r D erek R o ffs "Evolution" course had to go w ith o u t th e ir p rim a ry te x t w hen the p u b lish er refu sed to sen d th e b o o k s to the M cG ill B ookstore. M assachusetts-based Sinauer A ssociates withheld the te x t , A P r i m e r o f P o p u l a t i o n G e n e tic s , b ecau se a n o th e r unidentified C hap ters ou tlet in Canada had not paid a bill to the publisher. Chapters took over the m a n a g e m e n t o f th e M c G ill Bookstore earlier this year. A c c o r d in g to M cG ill B o o k s to re M anager H o rst Bitschofsky, this kind of "credithold" problem is not uncommon, but the s to re o n -c a m p u s did everything it had to do. "C redit-hold problems have always existed," he said. "In this c a s e , we sen t o u r p a p e rw o rk
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through. If there is a problem, its the responsibility o f [C hapters] central accounting in Toronto." H e co n tin u e d to say th at p ro b lem s su ch as th is u su ally happen during the summer when initial textbook orders are made. T he p rob lem with the b io lo g y te x t o c c u r r e d d u rin g th e fa ll sem ester because the Bookstore was forced to reord er the book when their initial supply ran out. In this case, Bitschofsky told the T rib u n e that the problem with this text was solved the same day it was brought to the attention of the B ook store, A new shipment o f books arrived at M cG ill ten days later and is now available to s tu d e n ts . B u t stu d e n ts in the c la s s , h o w e v e r, a re n ot im pressed. Their first m id-term exam is on October 2 3 , and even though the professor did provide handouts to fill in som e o f the gaps left by the m issing book, some students feel they will still not be prepared. According to Christie Young, a U1 environmental science stu dent in the class, the Bookstore's
m anagem ent should have taken the student needs into account. "It's pretty ridiculous. It's a required textbook for a required course," she said. "No one in that class is in that class as an elec tive, especially because it is such an intensive p rogram ...T h ere is no e x cu se for the B ook store to not have it." P ro fe sso r R o ff did not see th e m issin g te x tb o o k as an extremely severe problem. On the whole, the missing book did not d ra stica lly e ffe ct his ability to teach the class. He said that stu dents could refer to other sources w ith the sam e in fo rm a tio n to keep up, as well as borrowing the textbook from their classmates. "Each student still had access to the material, through the mate rial in the handouts and the book on reserve in the library," he said. "It was a considerable in con ve nience, but it would not prevent th em fro m u n d ertak in g th e course." B ut to add insult to injury, the textbook was originally not on reserve in the library, due to a
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m iscom m unication betw een the professor and the library's reserve d esk. S in ce th en , R o ff put his ow n co p y o f the te x tb o o k on reserve, which "iron ically went missing" according to Young. Roff did not dismiss the stu dents d iff ic u ltie s , th o u g h . He does feel that the Bookstore man agement should have noticed this problem earlier and taken action to m ak e su re it did n ot ca u se problems for students. "I think it's unfortunate," he said. "This problem should have been recognized, given the length o f tim e that C hapters has been around. It might be regarded as teething problems [with the new management.]" W h e th e r or n ot sh ip p in g delays will be a recurring prob lem under the new Chapters man a g e m e n t re m a in s to be seen . B o o k s to re m an ag em en t m ain ta in s, h o w e v e r, th at w h ile the recent problem with the biology text is an isolated incident, it is not uncommon for these types of difficulties to occur.
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