|MUGS| Results from last night's GA, great summer opportunity, and more!

*** mcgillgeography@gmail.com *** http://mcgillgeography.blogspot.com ****

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Hi Everyone,

I apologize for how late in coming this e-mail is...ideally it should have been out last night, and at least this should have been sent before today's strike committee meeting. Mea culpa!

i) LAST NIGHT'S GA: As you all may have heard by now, last night's General Assembly, the agenda of which is attached, passed a motion to declare a "general strike of indefinite duration"...however, this by no means implies that classes are cancelled (they aren't and will not be) or that students can bar other students from attending classes. That being said, here is the MUGS Executive's official stance on the matter:

Fellow Geographers,

The results from the GA are in. Two motions were passed. The first was in favour of a 1 day boycott of Geography classes on Thursday the 22nd. The motion passed with 33 voting for, 6 voting against and 1 abstention. Although this vote was passed at the meeting, we can now say that it did not meet quorum and therefore is invalid.

The second motion (see attached) that was passed was in favour of an indefinite general strike to begin Thursday the 22nd at 8:00am. This motion is set to be renewed every 5 school days, therefore we will be holding another GA Tuesday March 27th at 6:00pm. The motion passed with 21 voting for, 15 voting against and 7 abstentions. One of these votes has been invalidated but the quorum was still met and therefore, the vote was officially passed.

We recognize that while quorum was met, not all geographers necessarily stand behind the final vote in the GA. We ask that everyone please consider the potential for differing opinions to divide a community, and instead hope we proceed from here with the main goal in mind: education. We need to educate ourselves, and allow others to do the same.

At this time, there are no set parameters for what a strike will entail for Geographers. A strike committee has met tonight in the MUGS lounge to continue this discussion. Everyone is welcome to participate in this discussion. MUGS will also keep you updated as we communicate with faculty and staff in the department to determine how a strike will affect our position as students in the Geography department.
This is the link to the McGill Geography Strike Committee Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/375421075824341/?notif_t=group_r2j

Class announcements will be made in all Geography classes in order to inform our student body of the vote. In addition, we will send the results out via listserv, Facebook group and posters.

MUGS would like to thank everyone for your participation in the GA. It was a good place to start the discussion of the issues that face us all today. We hope these discussions continue into the future with respectful dialogue.

Finally, if there are any questions, please feel free to email us or post in the Facebook group, as there are probably many others with similar questions or information to share.

Thank you again,

MUGS

Hope to see you all at next week's GA!

ii) SUPER GREAT SUMMER OPPORTUNITY (Application due by Friday): This summer at Georgia State University in Atlanta, we are pleased to host a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site: Addressing Social and Environmental Disparities through Community Geography and Geographic Information Systems. The project is funded by the National Science Foundation. The program runs June 18th – August 2nd.

Research Interests: Working with faculty mentors in one of three research tracks, 10 selected undergraduates will engage in community-based research and fieldwork to quantitatively and qualitatively examine neighborhood change, property markets, air and soil quality, urban green spaces, and neighborhood visioning in partnership with neighborhood residents and community groups.

Compensation: Each REU student will receive a competitive funding package, including: a $3000 stipend, up to $250 in travel support to/from Atlanta, up to $750 for conference presentations, free room and board at GSU, and 3 required texts.

Application Process: Applications are due Friday, March 23rd @ 5 PM EST. Complete application instructions and the application form can be found at http://csaw.gsu.edu/nsf-reu/application-instructions/

To Learn More: Visit http://csaw.gsu.edu/nsf-reu/ or contact Dr. Timothy Hawthorne at thawthorne@gsu.edu<mailto:thawthorne@gsu.edu> or Dr. Katherine Hankins at khankins@gsu.edu<mailto:khankins@gsu.edu>

iii) MUGS ELECTIONS: Get your nomination forms (attached) filled out and submitted to the box in the 3rd floor lounge by this Friday...look for information on campaigning and voting early next week!

iv) MAP OF THE WEEK: Using geographical distribution to understand political events, here's a very timely map of ethnic groups in Syria - http://i.imgur.com/LYLj8.jpg

v) PIC OF THE WEEK: In Chicago, they dye their river green for St. Patrick's day...here's a photo by a man named Seth Oliver http://www.flickr.com/photos/setholiver1/6990381885/lightbox/ . A cool fact about this is that they use green, not orange, dye in order to make it happen!

Have a great rest of your week!
MUGS

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