Fundraising continues for people affected by devastating fire in downtown Sackville
Fundraising is ongoing to support people affected by a devastating fire in downtown Sackville.
The blaze destroyed Joey’s Restaurant and the apartments of four students and a university staff member that were located upstairs. No injuries were reported.
The fire began on Friday morning. Local roads were closed as firefighters fought the blaze, using water brought in water from Silver Lake in addition to municipal fire hydrants.
A newly-purchased excavator from local contractor Beal & Inch Construction was brought in to tear down the building to keep the fire from spreading.
Mount Allison said in a Facebook post that university officials were in contact with the people whose apartments were destroyed and would provide them with short-term accommodations and other necessities. The university also offered counselling on Saturday.
The university also said that about 20 students living in the area were affected.
They left their homes due to the smoke and it was unclear when they would be able to return home. The university said it was in contact with many of those students and would stay in touch to determine how it could support them.
The university set up an intake centre in the basement of the university chapel to accept donations from the community such as clothing, personal hygiene items and gift cards. … Continue
Investigate environmental factors potentially causing ‘atypical neurological decline,’ group tells province and feds
Patients and families struggling with symptoms of a neurodegenerative illness are calling for a new investigation into potential environmental causes of the condition.
Their demands come 13 months after the province announced that the “neurological syndrome of unknown cause” doesn’t exist.
The provincial Green Party held a news conference on Tuesday alongside people affected by the condition.
There are now 147 people “demonstrating a rapid onset of severe neurological symptoms,” according to the group. They said more than a third of those patients are under 45 years old.
Listen to the audio report:
Medical testing has shown that many of the patients were exposed to “multiple environmental toxins,” said Stacie Quigley Cormier, whose stepdaughter is among the patients.
In particular, she pointed to the herbicide glyphosate, which is widely used in forestry and agriculture.
“We want to confirm that in recent months, patients have tested positive for multiple environmental toxins, including glyphosate, with detectable levels between four and 40 times the average limit,” she told reporters.
Few details were immediately available, but she said “many patients have been tested.”
Her stepdaughter, former Mount Allison University student Gabrielle Cormier, is one of the youngest patients affected by what officials previously called a neurological syndrome of unknown cause.… Continue
Mount A’s ‘pandemic president’, Jean-Paul Boudreau, leaving this summer
Dr. Jean-Paul Boudreau will not be renewing his term as president of Mount Allison University.
Board of Regents chair George Cooper announced the news in an email to Mount Allison staff, students and faculty on Wednesday.
Cooper thanked Boudreau for, “his leadership over the past five years, and for his work advancing the university’s academic mission and strengthening our impact in the community, across the province, and beyond.”
Cooper called Boudreau the university’s “Pandemic President”, and credited him with, “agility, compassion, and a focus on bringing the community together at a time when we had to be apart. As we moved forward, he continued to focus on creating a strong community, with our students at the heart of this approach.”
Cooper continued: “His service to the life and well-being of the university and to our many collaborating partners is a great point of pride. In everything that he did in the role, he embodied an infectious spirit that put people first and always stood on values of care and compassion for our community.”
Boudreau followed up with his own email to students, staff, and faculty in which he confirmed his departure, saying “an important facet of leadership is picking the right time to move on.” Boudreau called his term as president, which started in 2018, a “dream opportunity”, and said he believed he was “leaving the place ‘better than I found it’.”
Mount Allison Students’ Union (MASU) president Rohin Minocha-McKenney agrees with that statement.… Continue
University finances under scrutiny as Mount Allison officials appear at legislative committee
Mount Allison officials told MLAs this week that university revenues aren’t keeping up with expenses, even as tuition continues to rise.
“This is true for most universities, and so the simple math is that tuition goes up every year, ” said Robert Inglis, VP of finance and administration, during a meeting of the Select Committee on Public Universities.
The all-party legislative committee routinely holds hearings where public universities report on their operational highlights and field questions from MLAs.
Hearings began on Tuesday morning with a presentation by Inglis, flanked by Jeff Hennessy, Mount A’s university provost and VP academic and research.
Listen to the report that aired on CHMA:
Altogether, Mount Allison has a $54.5 million budget for its current academic year. But with $55.7 million in expenses, it will run a deficit of more than a million dollars.
Fifty per cent of the university’s revenue comes from tuition and student fees, and this year’s budget includes a three per cent tuition hike.
That brings tuition fees to nearly $10,000 for full-time domestic students, and closer to $20,000 for international students.
Another 43 per cent of Mount A’s revenue comes from provincial grants. Compared to tuition, those funds have increased slowly over the years.
Minister of Post-Secondary Education Trevor Holder announced last year that universities in New Brunswick would receive a 1.5 per cent increase in operating grants, with an additional one per cent incentive linked to growth in enrolment. … Continue
‘The simple math is that tuition goes up every year’: Mount Allison officials talk finance at legislative hearing
Listen to Tantramar Report for Wednesday, March 1, 2023:
Fundraising for bursary ongoing two years after death of Mount A grad remembered for compassion and intelligence
When Mount Allison graduate Kavana Wa Kilele died unexpectedly two years ago in her home country of Kenya, a group of people came together to establish an endowment to honour her memory.
The goal is to create a needs-based bursary that will support Black students who are passionate about social justice activism. It will be Mount Allison’s first endowment meant specifically to support Black students.
Kavana has been described as a beloved friend known for her compassion and intelligence. She co-founded the Sackville Refugee Response Coalition, which helped resettle several families in the Maritimes.
“I know she was definitely an important part of the Sackville community and the Mount A community,” said Helen Yao, a Mount Allison graduate involved in the effort.
About $10,000 has been raised towards the goal of $25,000 for the endowment so far. Once that goal is achieved, the bursary is expected to become self-sustaining, producing about $1,000 per year.
During Black History Month, organizers are asking local businesses to pitch in, noting that Kavana held a number of jobs around town to afford her studies. Tuition for international students at Mount Allison is about $20,000, approximately double that of domestic students.
Kit Nicholson, who was a close friend of Kavana, described her as a natural leader who left a powerful impression. “She… Continue
‘He’s definitely going to be missed’: Nauman Farooqi leaves Mt A for presidency of St Thomas
The architect of student entrepreneurship in Sackville is leaving town.
Dr. Nauman Farooqi, Mount Allison’s Dean of Business and Social Sciences has been offered the position of president and vice-chancellor at St Thomas University in Fredericton, a job he will start on July 1 this year.
Farooqi has helped quite a few student businesses get started in Sackville through a class he has been teaching since 2002 called Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation.
One of the better known successes to graduate from that class is Bagtown Brewing, run by Mount Allison grad Anthony Maddalena. “I guess the entrepreneurship class is the sole reason why Bagtown exists,” says Maddalena. “If it wasn’t for that class, you know, I had no plans to start a brewery at all.”
Students pitch different ideas at the outset of the class, and then select one to work on. Maddalena says because he had been experimenting with brewing, and had a brother in the business in Halifax, it seemed like a venture that could work.
Maddelena recalls that Farooqi’s class was different right off the start, with a retreat for class members at Centennial Park in Moncton. He says that first experience set the tone for Farooqi’s class, which was very hands on.
When Bagtown was launching in 2016, Farooqi told CBC that he and the entrepreneurship students didn’t have classes, but rather meetings where the students run a company, and Farooqi provides advice.… Continue
Free ‘home flood risk assessments’ offered to homeowners with basements, as climate crisis fuels wild weather
Listen to Tantramar Report for Thursday, January 19, 2023:
Year in review: Student union president reflects on university life in 2022
Rohin Minocha-McKenney, president of the Mount Allison Students’ Union (MASU) and chair of the NB Student Alliance, joined CHMA this month to look back on the issues that affected students in 2022.
Topics included the latest round of tuition hikes, sexual violence prevention on-campus, mandatory masking, and the Higgs government’s sudden cancellation of EI Connect, to name a few.
Of course, no conversation about student life in Sackville would be complete without a discussion of New Brunswick’s ongoing affordable housing shortage.
Check out the interview here:
‘I hope it makes others feel more valued’: Diversity of faiths celebrated at Mount Allison chapel
Light amidst darkness is a theme among diverse faiths around the world at this time of year, something to keep in mind as people deal with the heavy realities of our time, such as war and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To bring people together and to share who we truly are, and to reflect on what gives us hope, I think it’s a beautiful thing,” said Reverend Ellie Hummel, multi-faith chaplain and spiritual care coordinator at Mount Allison University
She made the comments as members of the university community gathered for a weekly craft-making session in the chapel on-campus.
“Today’s gathering is different, because it’s an opportunity to make holiday decorations, but we’re not just talking about Christmas, we’re talking about all the beautiful holidays that are happening this time of year.”
She spoke to CHMA about diversity, faith and hope for a better world: