Totally not thinking impure thoughts: Morning File, Wednesday, December 17, 2014

News
Views
Government
On campus
Noticed
In the harbour
Footnotes

News

1. Dentistry school

CBC continues its thorough coverage of misogyny at the Dalhousie dentistry school. The ceeb had already reported that members of the “Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen” Facebook page had a poll about which female student they wanted to “hate fuck” and had joked about using chloroform on women. Today, there are more details about the Facebook posts:

In one post dated May 2013, a member defines a penis as “the tool used to wean and convert lesbians and virgins into useful, productive members of society.”

Another member responded, “And by productive I’m assuming you mean it inspires them to become chefs, housekeepers, babysitters, etc.”

Citing stress to students and the on-going investigation, Dalhousie President Richard Florizone has delayed fourth year dental class exams until January, and promises some sort of action by the end of the week, with an update on the situation today:

“We talked about being victim-centred, or student-centred, and that’s very important,” [Florizone] said.

“What that means is whatever reaction we take today in response to this is that it really takes the interest of those students affected — the women students affected — to understand how they’ve been impacted and to understand the best route forward to meet their needs.”

Punishments set out in university policies around such issues could result in student expulsion, he said.

Additionally, the CBC interviewed Stacie Saunders, a dentist and part-time instructor at the school:

Saunders said her time as a student at Dalhousie University was the best four years of her life. The school only accepts up to 38 students a year to its dental surgery program, meaning classes are small.

She said that made for a very positive and supportive environment when she was a student. Everyone got to know each other well by the time they were in fourth year, Saunders said.

She said that must make it especially devastating to the female students who are now in the class.

Saunders said if she was a dentistry student right now, she would feel betrayed.

Also, Executive Producer Nancy Waugh has released a statement explaining why the CBC isn’t naming the students involved with the Facebook posts.

2. Jail workers suspended

For their involvement in the mistaken release of prisoner Eliahs Knudsen Kent last month, four workers at the Burnside jail have been suspended without pay. “The suspensions range up to five days each and more than a dozen disciplinary letters have been placed on workers’ files,” reports CTV.

3. Homophobic U.

Trinity Western University is challenging the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society to deny accreditation to the school. Trinity Western bans students from having sex outside heterosexual marriage, which the Barristers say is discrimination based on sexual orientation.

4. Pedestrian struck by car

Tuesday morning:

Halifax Regional Police has laid charges against a woman who hit another woman in a Damascus Road parking lot earlier this morning.

At 11:50 a.m., a woman called police after observing two children who were left unattended in a parked vehicle for approximately 20 minutes. While officers were making their way to the area, the owner of the parked vehicle exited a nearby store and was advised that police would be attending and that she would have to remain at the scene. The woman placed items in the trunk of her vehicle and proceeded to get in the driver’s seat and strike the caller in the leg, forcing the woman up onto the engine bonnet. The driver then made a sharp exit from the parking lot, driving towards Highway 102 and the caller fell to the ground but did not suffer injuries. 

Based on the vehicle and suspect description, the vehicle and driver, along with the two small children aged 1 and 2, were located by police on Highway 101, near exit 3. The driver, a 25-year-old woman from Newport Station, was arrested without incident and is facing charges of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and assault with a weapon. She will appear in Halifax Provincial Court at a later date.

Councillor Waye Mason wants a crosswalk on Spring Garden Road, from the new library to Brunswick Street. I noticed this problem myself Monday, when I checked out the library. The natural pedestrian path from the library is across Spring Garden and then diagonally in front of the old library towards Argyle Street, but to cross on a walk you either have to go one block west to Queen Street or one block east to the crosswalk in front of the courthouse.

5. Constable Ryan William Morris

Police release:

The investigation into a motor vehicle crash involving an off-duty police officer last month in Dartmouth is complete and no further charges will be laid against him.

On November 17 at 3:33 a.m., police responded to a report of a single vehicle crash in the 0-100 block of Prince Albert Road. Witnesses reported that a car travelling east on Prince Albert Road hit a power pole and the driver left the scene of the collision on foot. The responding officer identified the suspect as an off-duty officer and noted signs of impairment. He was arrested without incident and the subsequent investigation resulted in impaired driving charges being laid against 24-year-old Constable Ryan William Morris who has been with the Department for just over one year. He is scheduled to appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court on December 23, 2014.

Halifax Regional Police has completed the follow-up investigation into the single vehicle crash, including consulting with the Crown, and determined that no offences were committed under the Motor Vehicle Act.

Constable Morris remains suspended from duty with pay. Under the Nova Scotia Police Act, officers suspended must receive pay and allowances for at least 60 days during their suspension. After 60 days, the Chief of Police can make a determination as to whether the suspension will be with or without pay thereafter.

Views

1. Misogyny

The Chronicle Herald is against it.

2. Chloroform

“Somehow discussions are continuing online about whether it’s cool for medical practitioners to joke about raping unconscious patients,” says Jacob Boon.

3. Cranky letter of the day

To the Chronicle Herald:

Re: George Briand’s Dec. 11 letter. Comparing condo buyers who’ve felt the sting of shoddy workmanship to abused animals is like comparing apples to bowling balls. Animals have zero “buyer beware” afforded to them; they are utterly defenceless. I would think this an easy determination to make, if not for Mr. Briand, then certainly for whichever editor this letter passed by on the way to print.

Scott LeBlanc, Antigonish 

Government

City

Audit Committee (10am, City  Hall)—the glaring omission from the agenda is Auditor General Larry Munro’s report on the Washmill underpass fiasco. Munro completed his work in April, and here we are eight months later and the report still hasn’t been made public. I’m told that the report is being held up by the city’s legal department. This is simply outrageous.

Province

No public meetings.

On campus

Dalhousie

Today

Magic Trip (Wednesday, 8pm, Dalhousie Art Gallery)—”the definitive end of the Beat Era and the beginning of the1960s counterculture is documented in this extraordinary film about Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters’ cross-country bus trip in 1964; Neal Cassady was literally at the wheel.”

Tomorrow

Thesis defence, Mechanical Engineering (Thursday, 11:30am, Room 3107, Mona Campbell Building)—PhD candidate Al-Mokhtar Omran Mohamed will defend his thesis, “Investigation of Circumferentially-Grooved Grinding Wheels for Creep-Feed Grinding.”

Planetarium show (Thursday, 7:15pm, Room 120, Dunn Building)—”The Christmas Star —Fact or Fiction?” presented by Quinn Smith. “If demand warrants there will be a second show at 8:45 pm.”

Noticed

I don’t really have anything much to say this morning, so here’s a picture of a dog, taken by Robert Norwood some time in the 1950s, and now in the Nova Scotia Archives’ collection.

In the harbour

(click on vessel names for pictures and more information about the ships)

Fusion, ro-ro cargo, Saint-Pierre to anchor
Zim Tarragona, container ship, Valencia, Spain to Pier 42
Zim Savannah, container ship, New York to Pier 42, then sails for Kingston, Jamaica

America’s Spirit sails for New York

Footnotes

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