In an unprecedented move, the University of South Florida is asking the courts to rule on the constitutionality of a controversial plan to fire a tenured professor accused of having ties to terrorist organizations.

Since Sept.11, 2001 the Canadian government has introduced several pieces of legislation dealing with national security. The content of this legislation runs so counter to traditional Canadian notions of democracy that a broad coalition of religious, academic, labour, legal and community groups has risen up in opposition. This dissent has met with mixed success. The centrepiece of the government's initiative, Bill C-36, the Anti-terrorism Act, underwent minor amendment and was passed into law. Bill C-42, the Public Safety Act (a companion piece to Bill C-36), was withdrawn.

This September marks the first anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center by terrorists. Like the Kennedy assassination and the Challenger explosion, the memories associated with that event will forever be with us. Years from now we will be able to recall with clarity where we were and what we were doing when we first heard the news of the attack and the subsequent bravery of those who plowed through the rubble in search of survivors.

Creation of the Millennium Scholarship Foundation was announced in the 1998 budget, a belated acknowledgement by the federal government of the student debt crisis. In the face of average debt levels of $25,000 the foundation was to be the centrepiece of the government's debt reduction strategy.

A partnership announced last month between Microsoft Canada and the University of Waterloo has unleashed a torrent of criticism from students and faculty.

Liberal MPs attending a national caucus meeting in Quebec last month were warned that years of federal underfunding have seriously undermined the country's universities and colleges.

CAUT is stepping up its campaign to educate its members about the overuse and exploitation of contract academic staff.

In response to criticisms of Canada's system of awarding research grants through a peer review process, CAUT has established a task force on peer review, chaired by CAUT past-president Tom Booth.

Blue Lake, a PhD student at Memorial University of Newfoundland, is the recipient of CAUT's 2002-2003 J.H. Stewart Reid Memorial Fellowship.

Most of Canada's university students will have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for tuition fees once again this year, according to the latest survey of fees released by Statistics Canada.

CAUT is exploring a closer working relationship with the American Association of University Professors. CAUT president Victor Catano and executive director James Turk met with their AAUP counterparts in Washington last month to discuss ways the two organizations could work together.

CAUT's new task force on academic freedom for faculty at university-affiliated health care institutions held its inaugural meeting in Ottawa at the end of August. Task force chair, Dr. Philip Welch, characterized the task force's goal as trying to assure that faculty at affiliated institutions have the same protections for academic freedom as traditional university academic staff.

Nearly 170,000 academically qualified high school students in the United States will be unable to attend a post-secondary institution this year because they cannot afford to so, according to a report prepared by a government advisory body.

The article, "Quebec's Bill 84 to Allow Same-Sex Civil Unions" (Bulletin, June 2002), accurately describes Project Interaction's harassment campaign against us. It was undertaken because we agreed to act as expert witnesses in the same-sex marriage case in defence of the traditional definition of marriage.

An international human rights group is warning that the U.S. government's investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks has been marred by arbitrary detentions, due process violations and secret arrests.

Recent amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act bar students from declaring bankruptcy on student loans until 10 years after the completion of their studies