Newsbites
Coke on campus
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McGill's Class of 2000 probably won't be joining the Pepsi Generation now that the University and Coca Cola Enterprises are on the verge of signing an "exclusive cold beverage agreement" granting campus-wide distribution of Coke products for the next 11 years. The value of the contract remains secret, but the deal is initially estimated to be worth well over $1.5 million for the University and should be worth several million more over the next decade. McGill will receive both an exclusivity fee and commissions on product sales, which include not only the most famous soft drink on the planet, but items such as juice sold under the Minute Maid name.
About half of the money will find its way to students through funding for residences, student associations, athletics, and the renovation of the University Centre. Though not part of the contract, Coca-Cola has already funded a lounge in the new Student Services building on McTavish Street -- the Coca-Cola International Students' Lounge -- to the tune of $300,000 (U.S.).
Remaining funds will likely be used to help reduce the University deficit. As McGill principal Bernard Shapiro told the McGill Reporter, "The University will explore every reasonable revenue-generating possibility that it has. There's no other way to sustain the quality of its programs in light of the budgetary compressions and frozen tuition."
McGill is a latecomer to the soda game, which can generate deals worth between $500,000 and $10 million according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, though none of the signatories are allowed to talk about dollar values since all the contracts include non-disclosure agreements.
The contract is now "in the hands of God and the lawyers -- mostly the lawyers," says director of ancillary services Alan Charade. Charade also points out that if the University received adequate funding from the provincial government, "we wouldn't have to make deals like this."
These latest cola wars are fueled in part by market research that suggests such campus exclusivity contracts can perpetuate brand loyalty as university kids grow up. The word is not yet out on the possible inauguration of a Kraft Dinner Theatre in Moyse Hall.
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Half of Canada's new First Couple is McGill graduate John Ralston Saul, BA'69, DLitt'97. Saul, internationally known author, historian and social critic, has been the partner of Governor General Adrienne Clarkson for more than 20 years. The two were married just before the official announcement of Clarkson's new position in early October. Whether she knows it or not, Clarkson's job also involves duties at McGill, since the GG is also the McGill Visitor, a responsibility added to the job description when the University's charter was amended in 1852. Originally, the Visitor acted on behalf of the public to ensure that McGill was administered honestly and in accordance with the purposes set out in its charter. The position is now largely a ceremonial one, and the last visits by the Visitor were for the installation of Principal Bernard Shapiro in 1994 (Ray Hnatyshyn) and the University's 175th Anniversary celebrations in 1996 (Romeo Leblanc).
Law professor Irwin Cotler, BA'61, BCL'64, is leaving McGill for a while to take on a tricky task. The man known for defending human rights and securing the release from prison of dissenters like Natan Sharansky is entering politics. He will represent the Liberal riding of Mount Royal in Ottawa. Can principles and politics co-exist? Cotler says even his 12-year-old son has doubts. In a McGill Reporter article, Cotler described a conversation with his son. "'Politicians are crooks,' he says. He says I have a great reputation as a human rights lawyer. Why do I want to ruin it?" What Cotler does want is to restore people's faith in their members of parliament. "At the end of two years, or whenever the government calls a national election, I'll see what I think. I might decide that I can do more for the cause of human rights as a law professor. If I feel that it's all about the pursuit of political power and not about the pursuit of principles, I'll be gone."
This year's winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics is Robert Mundell, a 67-year-old Canadian who taught at McGill in the 1960s, and also returned in 1989-90 as visiting professor. Mundell, currently at Columbia University, was deemed unconventional in his approach to economics. In his Nobel citation the Swedish Academy said his work "must have seemed like an academic curiosity" initially because he argued against closed economies with tight national borders, but with the development of various free trade zones and the European Community, his theories are now widely applied. Mundell's older sibling, Richard, who taught literature at McGill, has retired to Nova Scotia, but his kid brother says retirement is not an option. "There is no retirement age in the States," he says. "I can go on till I'm 100." Mundell will use some of his $900,000 (U.S.) Nobel Prize money to continue renovations to the Italian palazzo he owns outside Siena, purchased in 1969 as a $10,000 fixer-upper. |
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When we profiled McGill's new senior administrators in our last issue, we reported that Board of Governors chair Robert Rabinovitch, BCom'64, was top contender for the job of President of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Rabinovitch has wide government experience and served as Deputy Minister of Communications and Undersecretary of State in the 1980s. After months of speculation, the Prime Minister finally popped the question in mid-October, catching Rabinovitch on vacation in Hawaii. He agreed to take on the post (which in no way affects his commitment to McGill) although he had been heard to wonder "whether the job was doable." To some, it isn't. Patrick Watson, who served as CBC chairman from 1989-94, published an open letter to Rabinovitch in The Globe and Mail in which he warned of high-level sharks who would counsel that service-oriented, commercial-free broadcasting "is a recipe for suicide." According to Watson, the CBC "has already committed suicide. There may be time to bring it back from the dead," he added, "but if you go incognito onto the street and ask the question of people in the industry, you'll find few who think so."
