CELEBRATING 20 1 0
1910
YEARS
volume CII summer issue 1
inside
the official student newspaper at the university of alberta
www.thegatewayonline.ca
monday, july 11, 2011
Grad student commits to hunger strike Aaron Yeo News Editor
CCIS ... the final frontier The campus observatory is getting a new home atop CCIS, and now has space to permanently house three telescopes. The Gateway checks out their new digs. Feature, Page 8
A graduate student is on a hunger strike and has been camping in front of SUB for almost two weeks, claiming that the University of Alberta refuses to take him back as a graduate student. Salah Rahmani has been trying to find a professor to be his supervisor after he transferred last fall to the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. He has since been contacting professors, but has been consistently turned down. Rahmani believes that it’s because of his removal from the Department of Cell Biology last summer. “The situation is getting worse. They are not co-operating,” Rahmani said. “Some of them told me, ‘we don’t have space,’ or ‘we don’t have funding.’ ” Rahmani has spent days outside of the SUB east entrance, where he has pitched a tent. Signs say he is a victim of social undermining, dehumanization, aggression and bullying, among others, and he accuses the U of A of discrimination and “denial of opportunities.” Accompanying the signs is a list of signatures of those showing support for Rahmani. Rahmani asked some of his friends to apply to the same professors who refused him, and said they received positive and enthusiastic replies. “I found out they have hired new students. So how come they have funding for other students, but no
Aaron Yeo
LEFT BEHIND Salah Rahmani has accused the U of A of discrimination, and refusing him a PhD supervisor for months.
funding for me?” Other professors he asked exercised their right of “academic freedom,” and refused Rahmani without citing a reason. Rahmani called their actions “discriminatory” and “dishonest,” and an abuse of academic freedom. “I’ve contacted other departments as well, but unfortunately I still couldn’t find any supervisors,” he explained. Vice-dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Rene Poliquin
said that the faculty has been working on his case and are trying to find a solution, though he is concerned for Rahmani’s well-being. “I hope he’s alright. A hunger strike is a very serious thing,” Poliquin said. While standing outside SUB, Rahmani said he also saw Associate Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research Joanna Harrington and Safe Disclosure and Human Rights Advisor Wade King, who both assured him that they wanted to find a solution as soon as possible.
Rahmani was originally in the Department of Cell Biology until he was removed last summer. He had complained to the department after a faculty member on his supervisory committee allegedly made racist comments directed at him. The department chair Richard Rachubinski then allegedly asked Rahmani to sign an apology letter to the university for the accusations, but he refused, and was asked to leave the department. Please see Strike Page 3
Ex-dean on leave after allegedly plagiarizing speech Aaron Yeo News Editor
Compulsion never smelled so good Teatro La Quindicina’s newest play offers an irresistible theatrical experience, rich with witty writing and ace acting. A&E Page 10
Following allegations of plagiarism, Philip Baker has resigned from his position as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta, but will retain his position as a faculty member. Baker gave a speech at the faculty’s graduation banquet in June, which contained striking similarities to one given by Atul Gawande, which was published in the New Yorker, and is available online. The key phrase that gave it away for those in attendance was the “velluvial matrix,” a term that Gawande had fabricated to illustrate that doctors are always afraid of not knowing the latest medical vocabulary. When Baker used the same phrase,
it caught some people’s attention, and the news spread through the crowd via text messages and emails, and later through Facebook. Students present at the speech described Baker’s speech as almost identical to Gawande’s, with only small changes such as substituting the University of Alberta for Stanford. Over the following weekend, Baker sent an apology email to the graduating class, and said he made the mistake of not properly attributing parts of his speech. “When I was researching for the speech, I came across text which inspired me and resonated with my experiences,” Baker wrote. He also said that he’d apologized to Gawande, and that the Stanford doctor was “flattered” by his use of the speech.
The University of Alberta launched an investigation after receiving formal complaints, and within a week of the speech, Baker tendered his resignation. “As dean of the faculty, this incident made it difficult for him to maintain his moral authority,” University President Indira Samarasekera said in a press conference on June 17, explaining that Baker will continue as a faculty member after he returns from a four-month leave of absence. Baker and Provost and VicePresident (Academic) Carl Amrhein met the day earlier, where Amrhein requested that the dean give his resignation. Samarasekera said that the decision was mutually agreed upon as being beneficial to all the parties involved.
“[Baker] will retain his faculty position, following a brief administrative leave, with assignments consistent with his academic expertise,” Samarasekera told reporters. “A resignation from a senior position as dean is a very serious step.” Samarasekera said that the investigation is still ongoing, and any further outcomes are considered a separate matter. “I think that with anything like this, one lets the process unfold,” she said. Vice-dean of Faculty Affairs Verna Yiu will serve as interim dean until the university finds a replacement for Baker. The university will follow regular procedures in the search for a new dean, which according to Samarasekera, is a process that usually takes nine to 12 months.