UBC ignores residents in population count

UBC has decided to not include students who live on campus in a population count of the university to be passed on to Metro Vancouver. The decision was made for the university’s Regional Context Statement, a document meant to outline how UBC’s and Metro Vancouver’s development plans are in sync.

Associate VP Campus and Community Planning Nancy Knight defended the decision, saying that the university is not including the students in their populations projections because the city doesn’t require them to, and calling the statement a “technical exercise.” Kiran Mahal, Alma Mater Society VP academic, pointed out that excluding students from the population count could affect planning for emergencies.

With files from The Ubyssey

U of M bans Israeli Apartheid group

The University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) has voted to officially remove student group status from campus group Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA). The ban comes from a motion tabled this past April to “remove [SAIA’s] student group status, and ban it from operating in UMSU spaces, citing that the group and its campus events, such as Israeli Apartheid Week, make self-identified Zionist students “fear for their safety” while on campus.

The motion was highly contested, and passed with a vote of 19-16. Critics claim that banning the group is effectively banning the SAIA’s freedom of speech, but advocates of the ban say that a respectful workplace and student safety is the primary concern that motivated the decision.

With files from The Manitoban

MUN students targeted by instant messaging scam

Memorial University students have been warned of a current internet scam in which students’ families are contacted by scammers impersonating members of MUN faculty. The scammers are targeting users of the Chinese-language instant messaging site QQ, where they compromise students accounts and then use their information to contact student’s families and ask for money.

MUN sent out a mass email warning of the scam to students earlier this month, and so far there has only been one confirmed case of a student’s family being defrauded by the scam, with reports of several other attempts.

With files from The Muse