Editor’s Note: On November 1, 2019, most alcohol services were restored on Dalhousie University’s Halifax campuses. Update follows original story. After two weeks of suspended alcohol services on Dalhousie’s Halifax campuses, some questions have been answered, but students still have concerns. “In terms of their responses, I still don’t think it’s enough,” said student Maddie […]
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NS government to give loan forgiveness to university students who stay in province
S tarting August 1, Nova Scotians undergraduate students attending universities within the province will not have to pay back provincial student loans. The Nova Scotia Loan Forgiveness program promises Nova Scotian students graduating from Nova Scotia universities can have 100 percent of their provincial student loans forgiven. According to the Department of Labour and Advanced […]
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Sometimes a bad professor is just a bad professor
Higher learning institutions have become central to the current debate around freedom of expression. The issue arose in Nova Scotia with the controversies around Acadia psychology professor Rick Mehta and has now been reignited after Dr. Mehta’s termination last week. The university cited a number of factors, including failure to fulfill academic responsibilities, unprofessional conduct and […]
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Oh word, Rick Mehta was fired
Congratulations to Rick Mehta on what will surely be a windfall for his personal brand. The associate psychology professor has been fired by Acadia University after an investigation into multiple complaints about his sexist, racist and transphobic comments. Scott Roberts, spokesperson for Acadia, confirms to The Coast that the professor has been let go. “We […]
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Richard Florizone leaving Dalhousie for quantum super-position
Richard Florizone is leaving Dalhousie for a “once in a lifetime” opportunity in quantum computing. The university president’s resignation was announced Monday in a memo from the school’s Board of Governors. Board chair Lawrence Stordy writes that the news comes “with mixed emotion.” “We have benefitted greatly from his leadership and vision these past five years,” […]
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History lessons and white academia
“White teachers taught in residential schools, why shouldn’t white profs teach about its history?” It’s a satirical headline from Walking Eagle News, written about the recent controversy at Mount Saint Vincent University and the lack of Indigenous voices in academia. But the joke also speaks to the uneasy and ongoing tradition of white Canadians taking […]
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Liberals pay lip service to feminism while failing survivors on campus, again.
As I sat in the gallery of the provincial legislature and heard Patricia Arab, MLA from Fairview-Clayton Park, paying lip service to feminist ideals while simultaneously arguing against legislation that students have been demanding for years, I felt sick. On the eve of International Women’s Day, the Liberal government had once again stonewalled legislation that […]
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Student-led campout put divestment back on the table at Dalhousie
A few days ago I addressed the Dalhousie board of governors on an issue that hasn’t been discussed in that room for three years: fossil fuel divestment. Students made it impossible for the university to ignore the issue any longer by staging a week-long campout on the quad in front of the iconic Henry Hicks […]
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Masuma Khan isn’t letting Dal off the hook after complaint withdrawal
And then the glare of public attention around the whole Masuma Khan discipline case got to be too much for Dalhousie University. The school’s vice provost, Arig al Shaibah, this afternoon posted an “Important message” formally announcing that the complaint against Khan has been withdrawn. The full message is here, but the bottom line comes […]
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Dal to students: It’s not about white fragility or reverse racism
Adding to whatever homework they received in classes today, Monday afternoon Dal students were emailed a 900-word memo about white fragility and the Code of Student Conduct. The email came from the university’s vice-provost for student affairs, Arig al Shaibah, who just a week ago sent a similar note responding to the homecoming street party. But unlike […]
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Dalhousie faculty pen letter in support of Masuma Khan
Professors, students and staff at Dalhousie law are speaking out in support of Masuma Khan, as hate speech and violent threats against the student leader flood in. Since The Coast first reported on Khan’s case last Thursday, the story—and a firestorm of response—has broken open across the country. The vice-president academic and external for the […]
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First in its divest class
Laval got the headlines, but it turns out Halifax’s smallest university was actually the first in Canada to divest from fossil fuels. The Atlantic School of Theology made the historic decision more than a year ago. The Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia and PEI—which controls the school’s investments—quietly passed the resolution at a diocesan council […]