McGill University

McGill University

Shield of McGill University
Motto	Grandescunt aucta labore<br\>(By work, all things increase and grow)
Type	Public
Established	1821
Endowment	$760 million
Principal	Heather Munroe-Blum
Undergraduates	21,765
Postgraduates	9,160
Location	Montreal , QC , Canada
Campus	Urban/Suburban Downtown: 32 ha (80 acres) Macdonald Campus: 650 ha (1,600 acres)
Sports teams	Martlets, Redmen
Website	www.mcgill.ca

McGill University (Université McGill), is a publicly funded, research-intensive, non-denominational, co-educational university located in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

McGill's main campus is set upon 32 hectares (80 acres) at the foot of Mount Royal in Montreal's downtown district. A second campus—Macdonald Campus—is situated on 650 hectares (1,600 acres) of fields and forested land in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, 32 km (20 miles) west of the downtown campus. McGill has 21 faculties and professional schools and offers degrees and diplomas in over 300 fields of study. The university also has field research stations in Mont-Saint-Hilaire and Schefferville, Quebec; Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut; and Holetown, Barbados.

McGill was founded in 1821 from a bequest by James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant, who left an endowment in addition to the property on which the university now stands. McGill would become the first non-denominational university in the British Empire.

McGill's Redpath Museum, commissioned in 1880 and opened in 1882, is the oldest building built specifically as a museum in North America. Its natural history collections boast material collected by the same individuals who founded the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum and the Smithsonian.

History

The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning

James McGill, the original benefactor of McGill University

The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning (R.I.A.L.), McGill's predecessor institution, was created in 1801 by an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, which called for the "Establishment of Free Schools and the advancement of Learning in this Province." The institution's initial purpose was to administer the provision of elementary education in Quebec, but the R.I.A.L. spent most of its early years trying to get funds from the government to enable it to establish and operate these schools, which were primarily for the protestant English-speaking inhabitants of Lower Canada (now largely comprising modern-day Quebec).

In 1811, James McGill, a Scottish immigrant and successful merchant, drew up a will leaving a 19 hectare (46 acre) tract of land—his estate, which he called Burnside— in what was then rural land. In addition, he bequeathed the sum of 10,000 pounds to the R.I.A.L. As a condition of the bequest, the land and funds would have to be used for the establishment of a "University or College, for the purposes of Education and the Advancement of Learning in the said Province." When he died in December 1813, this task became the responsibility of the R.I.A.L. The will specified that, if a college was not established within 10 years of his death, the estate and the money would revert to the heirs of his wife, Charlotte Desrivieres. As an added condition, the new institution would be required to bear his name.

In 1821, after protracted legal battles with the Desrivieres family, McGill College received a Royal Charter from King George IV, establishing it as a university. In fact, due to the lawsuits—which did not finally end until 1835—and because the college had little money (the government was not funding the institution at the time), classes were not held until 1829, when McGill College was officially inaugurated. That same year, the Montreal Medical Institution became the college's Faculty of Medicine, which would be the school's first academic unit. This remained the college's only functioning faculty until 1843 when the Faculty of Arts commenced teaching in the newly constructed Arts Building and East Wing (Dawson Hall).

In due course, the R.I.A.L. lost control of the 84 grammar schools it had administered. At that point, its sole purpose was to administer the McGill bequests on behalf of the college. Interestingly enough, the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning continues to exist and is the "legal person" that runs the university and its various constituent bodies, including the former Macdonald College (now Macdonald Campus), Royal Victoria College (the former women students' college turned residence) and the Montreal Neurological Institute. The Trustees of the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning comprise, since the revised Royal Charter of 1852, the Board of Governors of McGill University.

Early years

In 1885, the university's Board of Governors formally adopted the use of the name McGill University, which had already been in use informally. Between 1885 and 1920, the university saw a significant period of expansion. A number of buildings were constructed including the Macdonald Engineering Building, the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Strathcona Medical (now Anatomy and Dentistry) Building, the McGill Student Union Building (now the McCord Museum), and the Percival Molson Stadium. The McGill Daily, one of the oldest student newspapers in North America, was first published in 1911.

In 1905, the university acquired a second campus when Sir William C. Macdonald endowed a college in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, 32 kilometres west of Montreal. Macdonald College opened to students in 1907, originally offering programs in agriculture, household science, and teaching.

McGill established the first post-secondary institutions in British Columbia, to provide degree programs to the growing cities of Vancouver and Victoria. It created Victoria College in 1903, a two-year college offering first- and second-year McGill courses in arts and science, which was the predecessor institution to the modern University of Victoria. The province's first university was incorporated in Vancouver in 1908 as the McGill University College of British Columbia. The private institution granted McGill degrees until it became the independent University of British Columbia in 1915.

McGill français movement

The 1960s represented an era of big nationalist and labour mobilizations in Quebec; at the time, the Quiet Revolution was quickly becoming more and more radical. It was said that "capital speaks English, labour speaks French," illustrating the overlap of language and class divisions. At the time, English was seen as the privileged language of commerce, and McGill, with francophones comprising only three percent of the student population, was seen as a bastion of anglophone domination in a majority francophone city. In addition, there was only one French-language university in Montreal at the time—the Université de Montréal. McGill was largely out of reach to the 10,000 francophone graduates of the newly-created CEGEP system, who had nowhere else to go, locally, to continue their studies.

The McGill français movement began in 1969, clamouring for a new McGill that would be francophone, pro-nationalist, and pro-worker. The movement was led by Stanley Gray, a political science professor from Ontario whose French was, ironically, very poor. It was argued that, since McGill received the lion's share of government funding, paid by a taxpayer base that was largely francophone, the university should equally be accessible to that segment of the population. He led a demonstration of 15,000 trade unionists, leftist activists, CEGEP students, and even some McGill students, at the university's Roddick Gates on March 28, 1969, with protesters shouting McGill français, McGill aux québécois, and McGill aux travailleurs (McGill for workers). Of course, the majority of students and faculty opposed such a position, and many of the protesters were arrested.

McGill never became a francophone university, nor did it open its library doors to the public. However, francophones now make up approximately 20 percent of the student body.

Academic profile

File:Mcgill-u.jpg

The Arts Building, built in 1843, is the oldest building on campus

McGill's student population includes 21,765 undergraduate and 9,160 graduate students in over 340 academic programs in eleven faculties (as of 2004-2005). Its students represent a diverse geographic and linguistic background. 49.6% of undergraduates are from Quebec, while 31.9% come from the rest of Canada and 18.5% come from abroad. 53.8% of students speak English as their mother tongue, while 19.6% speak French and 26.6% speak a first language other than English or French. About 90% of students ranked in the top 10% of their high school graduating class. In 2004, the entering first-year class had an average high school grade of 89%, one of the highest in Canada. McGill has produced 126 Rhodes Scholars, more than any other Canadian university. It has also produced four Nobel Laureates.

Nearly 30% of undergraduate students are enrolled in the Faculty of Arts, McGill's largest academic unit. Of the remaining faculties, the Centre for Continuing Education enrolls 18%, the Faculty of Science enrolls 16%, and the Faculty of Engineering enrolls 10%. The remainder of undergraduate students are enrolled in McGill's smaller schools, including the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Law, Desautels Faculty of Management, Faculty of Medicine, Schulich School of Music, and the Faculty of Religious Studies.

McGill has a higher percentage of international students (mostly from the United States, who make up 33% of all foreign students and 53% of all undergraduate international students) than any other Canadian university. This is partially due to an admissions policy that reserves a quota of spaces for international students. The Quebec government has long favored international students from selected countries (such as some members of La Francophonie) to attend their universities over students from other Canadian provinces. Since 1996, it is more expensive for an out-of-province Canadian student to attend McGill than it is for many foreigners from countries that have special agreements with Quebec (e.g., France).

A growing number of American students are attending McGill, with such students representing 8.7% of undergraduates and 6.1% of all students at the university. Many are attracted to the culture and dynamism of Montreal, the university's reputation, and the relatively low-cost in comparison to many top public and private universities in the United States. However, this trend is being repeated at many other Canadian universities, particularly those close to the Canada/U.S. border. In turn, many Canadian universities, including McGill, are stepping up their recruitment efforts at U.S. high schools.

There are nearly 1,500 tenured or tenure-track professors, plus another 4,300 adjunct and visiting professors teaching at the university. McGill consistently leads the rest of Canada in terms of research dollars per full-time faculty member and number of refereed publications per full-time faculty member. According to a study by Research Infosource, research funding represents approximately $381,100 per faculty member, the highest in the country. McGill also has the most per faculty research dollars nationwide from federal and provincial sources of funding (including the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council). McGill professors have won 26 Prix du Québec, 14 Prix de l'Association francophone pour le savoir and 13 Killam Prizes.

McGill is consistently in the top ranks of Canadian universities and is among the best universities worldwide. It tied for first (with the University of Toronto) in Maclean's "2005 Canadian University Rankings". McGill ranked 24th worldwide (first in Canada and 13th in North America, after Columbia University) in the Times Higher Education Supplement. Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranked McGill 67th in the world and third amongst Canadian universities.

McGill is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization of research-intensive universities in North America. It is also a member of Universitas 21, an international association of research-driven universities.

Campus

The Roddick Gates, the university's "main entrance" from rue Sherbrooke. The gates were erected in 1925 in memory of Sir Thomas Roddick, former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, who established common standards for medical practice in Canada. Burnside Hall, the tower in the background, houses a number of science departments.

rue McTavish on a foggy day, looking towards Mount Royal. The street is the formal western boundary of the downtown campus (although some McGill buildings are located west of McTavish).

The main campus is situated in downtown Montréal at the foot of Mount Royal. Most of the buildings are situated in a park-like campus north of rue Sherbrooke between rue Peel and rue Aylmer and south of Avenue Docteur-Penfield west of rue Peel (near Peel and McGill metro stations).

The downtown campus reflects an eclectic mix of old and new buildings, reflecting the various periods in which the buildings were erected and a variety of architectural styles. All of the major university buildings were constructed using local grey limestone, which serves as a unifying element.

The university's athletic facilities, including Molson Stadium, are located on Mount Royal, near the residence halls and the Montreal Neurological Institute.

A second campus, the Macdonald Campus, in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue houses the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Science, the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition and the McGill School of Environment.

Student life

Residential life

Unlike other large schools, many McGill students do not live in residence (known colloquially as "rez"), even if they are not from the Montreal area. This is due to the fact that McGill's residence system is relatively small for a school of its size, housing approximately 2,400 undergraduate students and a handful of graduate students. With the exception of upper year students returning as "floor fellows," the majority of McGill residences are for first-year undergraduate students only. Upper-year students are expected to find off-campus housing.

Residences at McGill come in a variety of forms. Most first-years live in "Upper Rez," a series of dormitories on the slope of Mount Royal. Royal Victoria College, once a women's college, is a dormitory for women and is the closest to campus. McGill's newest residence, aptly named New Residence Hall, was converted from a four-star hotel and is perhaps the most luxurious of the residences at McGill. Solin Hall, an apartment-style residence four metro stops from campus, is the furthest from campus. The university also maintains apartment style housing around campus.

Second-year students are expected to transition to off-campus apartment housing, and apartment hunting is sometimes seen as a "rite of passage" for McGill students. In recent years, finding affordable housing has been challenging because of the the city's tight housing market, particularly in neighbourhoods close to the McGill campus. Many students end up living in the "McGill Ghetto," the neighbourhood directly to the east of campus, although students have, in recent years, begun moving out to other areas because of rising rent prices in the "Ghetto."

Activities

There are hundreds of clubs and student organizations at the university. Many of them are centred upon McGill's student union building—the University Centre—known unofficially as the Shatner Building. During the 1990s, students held a referendum and named the building after actor and McGill alumnus William Shatner, although the university administration refuses to accept the name. Traditionally, the administration names buildings in honour of deceased members of the university community or for major benefactors (of which Shatner is neither).

McGill has two English-language student-run newspapers: the McGill Tribune, which is published by the Students' Society of McGill University, and the McGill Daily, the university's independent publication. The Délit français is the Daily's French-language counterpart. CKUT (90.3 FM) is the campus radio station and is operated almost entirely by volunteers.

Student government

The campus has an active student government represented by the undergraduate Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) and the Post-Graduate Students' Society of McGill University (PGSS). In addition, each faculty has its own student governing body.

Athletics

The university is represented in Canadian Interuniversity Sport by the McGill Redmen (men's) and the McGill Martlets (women's).

It is a little known fact that the inventions of hockey, basketball and North American football are all related to McGill in some way. The first game of North American football was played between McGill and Harvard in 1874. McGill Alumni James Naismith invented Basketball in early December, 1891.

There has been a McGill competitor at virtually every Olympic Games since 1912. Gold medallists include swimmer George Hodgson (2 gold medals) at the 1912 Stockholm Summer Games and ice hockey goaltender Kim St. Pierre at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games.

Facts and trivia

• McGill is the alma mater to two Canadian prime ministers.
• In the motion picture arts, McGill has produced 7 Academy Awards winners.
• McGill's Bellairs Research Institute, in Barbados, serves as Canada's only teaching and research facility in the tropics. These facilities are used by the Canadian Space Agency for research.
• Established in 1871, McGill's mining engineering program is the oldest in Canada. It is the second oldest program of its kind in North America, behind the one offered at Colorado School of Mines.
• In terms of contributions to computing, MUSIC/SP, a piece of software for mainframes, once popular among universities and colleges around the world at its time, was developed at McGill. A team also contributed to the development of Archie, one of the pre-WWW search engines. A 3270 terminal emulator developed at McGill was commercialized and later sold to Hummingbird Software.
• McGill students maintain a friendly rivalry with Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. Nevertheless, the two share a successful publishing house (McGill-Queen's University Press).
• Most exams and papers at McGill University may be written in either English or French, provided that the class is not a class where the objective is learning a foreign language.

Person Photcopying

One recent development at McGill has been that of "person photcopying". A little known phenomenon, it appears to be taking place principally in the biology faculty, although there have also been recent reports of it from other locations on campus. The process occurs when students and faculty attempt to use one of the several "beta-photocopiers" which have been placed in some of the various libraries on campus. The precise process is shrouded in mystery, but the effect of using one such beta-photocopier is that, while the document remains uncopied, an genetically exact replica of the user spontaneously materializes at wherever the user had been five minutes earlier. This causes undoubted confusion in the replica person, whose route to existence is via a small portal which appears as the underside of a squirrel at the appropriate location. A number of problems have arisen, most notably accusations of dishonesty in examinations, when the photocopied individual and his replica both submit copies for the same assessment. The academic disparity between the two persons is inevitably enormous, as in most cases the replica has had little time to prepare summaries and is often still unsure as to how he or she could possibly have been brought, spontaneously, into existence through the underside of a squirrel. Added to his/her lack of knowledge is the residual background confusion caused by being born via a squirrel-portal, rather than the traditional means. A trained eye can easily spot the writing of such a confused individual. Most squirrels are very small when compared with humans, but not all. As yet, no light has been shed upon exactly how the beta-photocopiers arrive on campus and who is responsible for their existence. Eat more pies sometimes.

Symbols

The university's symbol is the martlet; its motto is Grandescunt Aucta Labore (by work, all things grow). Inscribed in its arms is In Domino Confido (I trust in the Lord), James McGill's personal motto. Its sports teams are named Martlets (women) and Redmen (men), and its school colours are red and white. The school song is entitled "Hail, Alma Mater." The lyrics to the song are as follows:

Hail, Alma Mater, we sing to thy praise;

Loud in thy Honour, our voices we raise.

Full to thy fortune, our glasses we fill.

Life and Prosperity, Dear Old McGill.

Hail, Alma Mater, thy praises we sing:

Far down the centuries, still may they ring.

Long through the ages remain — if God will,

Queen of the Colleges, Dear Old McGill.

Hospitals

McGill University is affiliated with seven teaching hospitals in Montreal, four of which compose the McGill University Health Centre:

• the McGill University Health Centre, made up of
  • the Montreal General Hospital,
  • the Royal Victoria Hospital
  • the Montreal Children's Hospital,
  • the Montreal Neurological Hospital;
• the Jewish General Hospital,
• the Douglas Hospital, and
• St. Mary's Hospital Centre.

See also

• Osler Library of the History of Medicine
• List of McGill University people
• List of universities in Quebec
• G10 (Canadian Universities)

External links

• McGill University
• McGill's Macdonald Campus
• TV McGill
• CKUT Radio McGill
• McGill University Professor and Course Reviews - written by students, ad-supported