Volume 55, Number 19 www.themuse.ca Gynecologist cries foul over office tnove the dean of medicine. centre, which mainly sees materni­ ther of her employers - the Faculty "As an oncologist, I know what Problems plague Dr Popadiuk is a women's cancer ty patients. of Medicine nor the Healthcare special resources my patients re­ doctor, a gynecological oncologist, Dean of Medicine Dr Jim Rourke Corporation - answered her con­ quire, and I have never been asked department after who specializes in the treatment of says the decision to move the office is cerns. or consulted about what is needed for ovarian cancer. not unusual, since Dr Popadiuk has "I am very disappointed and sad­ their comple:x gynecologic oncology accreditation In January, the Canadian been on sabbatical since September. dened by the deliberate action tak­ problems," said Dr Popadiuk. Association of University Teachers He was unsure if the move is perma­ en to move me out of the cancer cen­ Dr Rourke said the move was sim­ struck a committee to investigate nent, as arrangements will have to be tre away from the other oncologists. ply an issue of space and resource al­ downgrade complaints of violation of academ­ made when she returns. This will severely impact on my abil­ location, and all faculty members ic freedom in Memorial's medical However, Dr Popadiuk said that ity to deliver seamless patient care," need to work out the best arrange­ BY NADYA BELL faculty. her new office in women's health she said. ments within these limitations. After The Muse published a sto­ does not have access to a nurse fa­ Dr Rourke said the move was a joint John Strawbridge from universi­ A week after Dr Cathy Popadiuk ry highlighting Dr Popadiuk's case miliar with treating cancer patients agreement between the Healthcare ty relations said departments should came forward as a complainant in an against the faculty as one of the or a secretary trained to deal with Corporation and the dean's office, and notify staff if an office is to be moved, investigation of Memorial's medical most serious, on Feb u her office work in her specialty. all parties discussed it. The Healthcare but do not need the staff member's faculty, she claims to have been re­ space was moved out of the cancer Dr Popadiuk says she specifical­ Corporation was unable to comment moved from her area of specialty by centre and into the women's health ly opposed the move because nei- before press time. SEE 'ABILITY' ON PAGE 5 Fixed link feasible but costly Tunnel to Labrador would take 11 years to complete, cost $1.7 billion BY ALEX BILL The provincial government's feasibili­ ty study on a fixed link to Labrador has been released, but there is slim likeli­ hood of construction beginning any­ time soon. The study cost approximate­ ly $35o,ooo, mostly paid by the fed­ eral government; it was contracted to Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development in conjunc­ tion with Hatch Mott MacDonald, SGE Acres, and IBI Group. It considered eight options for the fixed link, centred on the three main ideas of a bridge, a bridge/causeway, and an underground tunnel. Federal budget chickens out Due to costs, risk, and mainte­ nance, it was decided a bored un­ derground tunnel was the best op­ ANALYSIS ty's support. NDP leader Jack Layton cutbacks to fisheries science funding, tion, with an electric train shuttle to called the budget a "betrayal," but in­ he thinks it is important for his party transport vehicles across. BY NADYA BELL AND OWEN GASKILL dicated his party would look closely at to support the Liberal's budget. The cost of such a tunnel would fall the budget in the coming days. "What we are trying to do is at least around $1.7-billion. With a budget focused on health care "I don't know if some kind of deal put a couple ofyears between election "The study clearly shows that the and the military, the federal govern­ has been made or what, but Stephen day. and the next election, so that peo­ fixed link is technically feasible; how- ment ramped up spending and cut Harper had a little grin on his face ple in ~he country can have a chance taxes last Wednesday in an attempt the entire time, and the questions that SEE ' Q UEBEC' ON PAGE 3 to please the opposition parties. came from the Conservative benches SEE 'TORIES' ON PAGE 4 The Liberal minority government today had nothing to do with the bud­ needs opposition support in the House get," said Nick Cullen, NDP critic for of Commons to pass the all-important environment and youth, the day after document. However, they appear to the federal budget was presented be­ have succeeded with only the largest fore the House. of the three opposition parties. The Conservative's support for the Even before Finance Minister budget is, on some fronts, unsurpris­ Ralph Goodale ended his budget ing. With $12.8-billion for the military' speech, Conservative leader Stephen and a cut in both corporate and per­ NADYABELL Harper left the floor of the House and sonal income taxes, Harper labeled it Prime Minister Paul Martin deliv­ told reporters his party would vote for "a Conservative budget." ered the Atlantic Accord agree­ the budget. Although Norm Doyle, the ment last week in St. John's, which Minutes later, Bloc Quebecois leader Conservative MP for St. John's East, preceded the national budget. Gilles Duceppe flatly refused his par- said he was disappointed about the Page2 News March 3, 2005 To dissect or not to dissect, that is MUNSU debates student choice in laboratory dissections BY NADYA BELL AND KATIE ]ACKSON Getting up to the elbows in rat guts does not immediate­ ly come to mind when thinking about important aspects of learning. The Memorial University of Newfoundland Students' Union (MUNSU) recently discussed a motion to lobby the university for a student choice policy when it comes to animal dissection in lab courses. Robynn Dicks is the first-year biology student who brought this issue to the attention of council. Dicks said she is morally against dissecting animals. It was in her first-year biology class she realized she had to dissect an earthworm, and fish and rats in consecu­ tive labs. STEWART CHURCHILL/ MUSE ARCHIVES "It's highly against my morals [and] my values to dissect A debate has come up within the undergraduate stu­ something I don't believe I should even eat," she said. dent union council over the dissection of animals as "It's just a big value judgment for me. I believe there's part of academic classes. a lot of other people out there who also don't want to do [dissections], but they won't speak up.... They just sit back dent will learn through the experience of dissection. and end up doing it anyway." "If we didn't have that mode of action, we would simply Throughout her time at Foothills Composite High School be able to learn from a textbook," he said. in Alberta, Dicks took advantage of her choice to opt out "I think most people realize you can only really learn of animal dissections. But once in university, she found by doing, and that's the point that we're trying to make Memorial did not offer the same alternatives. -that you're required to actually have experience in or­ Rather than do the dissection, Dicks decided to bring the der to really gain the appreciation for what you're try­ issue to MUNSU, seeing if there anything could be done. ing to learn." VP Internal Terry McDonald brought the choice policy Leslie Fox is a self-proclaimed animal rights activist in motion to council. He said university senate should strike British Columbia, and a member of a support group for a subcommittee to further investigate this issue. students seeking alternatives to dissection called Frogs "It's MUNSU's job to advocate on behalf of students, Are Cool. and this to me seems to be a clear issue of student choice," Fox is lobbying the B.C. school board to pass a similar he said. motion on student choice policy. Some alternatives to dissection are already used at Many veterinary schools have already moved to al­ Memorial. The Centre for Nursing Studies uses a rubber ternative options. Guelph University has a large vet pro­ arm to find veins; psychology students use a fake rat. gram with many alternative options to dissection, such McDonald said the new programs are much more so­ as the Glass Horse computer program for large agricul­ phisticated than the programs used in high schools. tural animals. "If students honestly feel that it is against their per­ A master's of biology at Guelph can be attained with­ sonal belief system - religious or otherwise - to use ani­ out animal use. mals for the purpose of their education, and viable alter­ "It is possible to have a degree as a vet or be a doctor or natives are readily available, then the student should not have a huge education in biology without ever touching an be forced," he said. animal," Fox said. Two-thirds of all U.S. medical schools including Massachusetts University is a large vet school that uses Harvard, Stanford, and Yale have eliminated tradition­ no animals, only computer programs and models. UBC al laboratories in favour of modern, cost-effective, hu­ has one option where students can operate on a pig's foot mane alternatives.