Daily News

President addresses complaints about video board

McMaster President Peter George takes full responsibility for the installation of the state-of-the-art video board, known as the "Mactron," adjacent to the Ivor Wynne Centre, as well as the controversy that has followed. In recent weeks, a number of members of the University community, including staff, faculty, and students, have lodged formal complaints about the structure. Complaints range from the appearance of commercial advertising on the board to the light pollution caused by its illumination at night. "I didn't fully understand our commitments under contracts to advertisers," said George at the April 27 meeting of the Board of Governors. "I didn't give high priority to the issue of the videotron's installation. "Quite frankly, I took (the installation) too lightly."

Popular learning tool, Learnlink, won’t be shut down

The diverse possibilities of the LearnLink computer-based academic support system has changed the way a large portion of McMaster's faculty and students interact. The system was supposed to provide a glimpse into the future of university learning. Instead, according to Carl Cuneo, a professor of sociology and co-founder of the program, an old problem - money - threatens to shut it down. Cuneo posted a notice on the system during the week of April 10 stating that, if a source of additional funding can't be found in the near future, the initiative could disappear before September. "We've come up with nothing," Cuneo says. "We're more or less at our wits' end. If we don't get financial support by the summer, we'll have to close it down." Harvey Weingarten, provost and vice-president academic, says there is no cause for concern. "The Learnlink system has grown significantly," says Weingarten. "Now, many Faculties use it. The issue we've had to grapple with is: What do you do in the case of something that was used and budgeted locally originally and is now used throughout the University?" Weingarten says the support and budgeting of Learnlink will be moved from a single department, biology, to a centralized location in the University. "This move reflects the widespread use of Learnlink throughout the University. Support for this university-wide learning technology will come from the Quality Enhancement Fund created this year."