Campus Catch-Up

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Grocery delivery service launched

Two recent graduates from the University of Toronto have started ZippMarket, a grocerydelivery business that will provide groceries, cleaning products and other essentials to university students on and around Toronto university campuses.

The business was started by Anthony Darcovich and Anila Akram in an effort to make grocery pickup more accessible. The project developed out of an entrepreneurial course both students took at U of T as undergraduates.

“We always joke about getting stuck in the turnstile with toilet paper—it actually happened to me in first year; the TTC attendant had to go pick up the bags that got left behind. That’s why we designed a service around campus essentials,” Darcovich told the U of T campus newspaper The Varsity.

ZippMarket’s inventory list is still growing, but currently they offer an extensive array of nonperishable food items, coffees and teas and dish detergents. Delivery on orders over $50 is free, and next day delivery is available if students order from ZippMarket’s website by noon. The company currently delivers all items themselves without using a courier company.

The project is currently funded by personal savings, earnings from summer employment and a joint government-non-profit youth small business loan from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation. The co-founders said that the business has received mixed reception so far.

“We’ve had top business and technology executives tell us that the idea is great — and then rip into it, from a logistical and operational point of view,” Darcovich told The Varsity.

Some students have said that their need for grocery-delivery is very low because they tend to eat out a lot due to time restrictions. Others have congratulated the co-founders for their ingenuity.

Katherine Fernandez-Blance

Facebook Controversy Resolved

A long running dispute between the University of Calgary and their students over Facebook ended with an overturning of a previous court ruling on Oct. 12.

In 2007, Keith and Steven Pridgen took a law and society course with instructor Aruna Mitra. The creation of a Facebook page called “I no longer fear hell, I took a course with Aruna Mitra” resulted in over a dozen students being charged with non-academic misconduct at U of C, their student newspaper, the Gauntlet, reported.

Inititally, Kieth Pridgen received a sentence of a 24 month long academic probation. Following an appeal, this was shortened to six months.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Jo’Anne Strekaf found the Facebook page and the Pridgen brothers’ comments on it didn’t cause harm to instructor Aruna Mitra and didn’t necessitate charges of non-academic misconduct.

Strekaf’s ruling established the brothers’ Charter right to freedom of expression were infringed upon by the U of C’s review committee decisions.

“The judge actually quashed the decision of the dean and the General Faculties Council and criticized the Board of Governors for denying our right to appeal,” Keith Pridgen told The Gauntlet.

Clare Clancy

Creation of new degree in Animal Health

University of Alberta has established a BSc in Animal Health, the only degree of its kind in Canada. The degree will give students wishing to pursue veterinary science a chance to concentrate their studies in animal biology and behaviour.

“There’s no Bachelor of Science in Animal Health to our knowledge anywhere in Canada,” Program Chair Craig Wilkinson told The Gateway, U of A’s campus newspaper.

“Other universities have animal science degrees, but without the ability to focus on all the aspects of animal health we have,” he told The Gateway.

The program will be organized within the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences. The soft-launch was in January for transfer students but this September saw the enrollment of the first full class of students.

First-year student Larkin Joevenazzo told the Gateway she has so far been impressed with the program.

“The topics we cover are fascinating,” she said. “It’s the type of stuff I want to learn about as opposed to say, bio or chem.”

Clare Clancy

Dalhousie students filmed without knowledge

Female students at Dalhousie University have been secretly filmed on Studley Campus, Dalhousie’s largest of three campuses, reported CBC News on Oct. 25. The videos were posted to YouTube and show women walking around campus from behind.

Dalhousie has reported the issue to Halifax Regional Police who are now investigating.

Director of Security at Dalhousie Mike Burns sent an email to students warning them of the situation.

“The videos were taken without consent of the subjects and appear to have been taken in a manner where the subjects would have been unaware that they were being recorded,” he said via email. “The nature of the video is an invasion of individual privacy, as well as being offensive in its content toward the subject of the recording.”

Const. Brian Palmeter said the videos are disconcerting in a statement Tuesday.

“It appears that the video camera is obscured from sight, possibly in a kitbag,” he said.

Palmeter told CBC News in two instances, the camera appeared to be aimed up a woman’s skirt.

“Certainly that’s a little more invasive than the other videos,” he said.

Clare Clancy

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