March 22, 2001

Sporting the type of garb one rarely sees at a Board of Governors meeting, student models recently took to the runway for Phassion, the Management Undergraduates' Society's annual fashion show fundraiser. For more details, see On campus.
Photo: Owen Egan

Shore's a dean, Masi continues
Daniel McCabe
The Board of Governors approved two more senior administrative appointments. Gifted children expert Bruce Shore will be McGill's next dean of students, while Vice-Principal (Information Systems and Technology) Anthony Masi will be the man to lead McGill's technological developments over the next few years.

Head start in English for non-anglos
Daniel McCabe
McGill wants to attract the brightest young minds in the province and throughout the world as its students. Problem is, many of those students don't have the English to perform the way they want to in their courses. A new initiative, offering subsidized, carefully crafted language classes to new non-English undergraduates, aims to make a difference.

When ending a life makes sense
Sylvain Comeau
Is it ever all right to pull the plug on someone existing on life support? Eminent philosopher Peter Singer says, "Of course."

Night and the city
James Martin
An ambitious conference probes urban matters of all sorts after the sun sets. Its worn-out organizers now need a good night's sleep.

The calamities of climate change
Mark Reynolds
The world's top expert on climate change, the World Bank's Robert Watson, says there are plenty of reasons to worry about the weather changes in store for us.

Doctors in tune
Mark Reynolds
Every Monday evening, a group of McGill doctors and medical students set aside their stethoscopes to pick up violins and clarinets. I Medici di McGill's enthusiasm for orchestral music provides good medicine for their audiences.

Giving his take on a titan
Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins
Law professor Jean-François Gaudreault-DesBiens's new book examines the impact of one of the most influential figures on the North American legal scene, feminist legal scholar Catharine MacKinnon, a woman whose stark views have had a profound effect on the thinking surrounding pornography and sexual harassment.

Preparing the ground for a promising medicine
Bronwyn Chester
Dr. Mark Ware, a research associate in the McGill Pain Centre, is anxious to probe the health benefits of a plant that has been making politicians and police authorities nervous for decades -- marijuana.

Building the peace, step by step
Daniel McCabe
Some might call social work professor Jim Torczyner's Middle East Program in Civil Society and Peace Building quixotic, but Torczyner and the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian students who comprise the heart of the program are determined to make the Middle East a better place.

Also in this issue Kaleidoscope Réal Del Degan, McGill's number cruncher; The women of Wellesley and their libidos; A meal fit for a (14th century) king Know comment Nuclear weapons expert T.V. Paul shares his thoughts on George W. Bush's proposed missile defence shield On campus Can prayer combat pain?; Tap a tree, the sap's running!; Don't look up the number, just ask your phone; Macdonald's farm closes the barn doors to visitors; This Phassion show delivered

Queer McGill recently kicked off Queer Pride Week with an appearance by performer Jess Dobkin, a popular figure on university campuses for the manner in which she uses an assortment of imaginative props to explore themes of fantasy, sexuality and community. Owen Egan