Hello Linguists,

SLUGs is happy to announce that TULCon 9 will be held on March 4-6, 2016. A call for abstracts has been sent out, and it can be viewed on our website here or at linguistlist. We invite papers from all fields and subfields of linguistics including (but not limited to): theoretical, applied, cognitive, and neurolinguistcs. We're excited to see what everyone has been working on!

Exec elections are over! Congratulations to your new 2015-16 SLUGS Executive Committee:

External President: Kinza Mahoon
Internal President: Angie Rajani
Social Events Coordinator: Mariaelisa Polsinelli
Academic Events Coordinator: Neil Banerjee
Secretary: Cedric Ludlow
Design and Marketing Coordinator: Lina Nguyen

We look forward to lots of exciting things from you guys next year!

Hi all,

We finished our General Meeting earlier today, and an updated SLUGS constitution was passed as a result. Thanks to all who came to the meeting to vote and provide input on these changes. The new constitution is available here.

The constitution is now largely faithful to the proposed changes circulated a couple weeks ago. Any amendments are mentioned in the meeting minutes, found here.

A reminder that ballots for the SLUGS Executive Election can still be submitted in the Lounge until tomorrow (Friday March 20th) at 11:30 AM!

To Whom it May Concern,

As the University of Toronto undergraduate linguistics course union, the Society of Linguistics Undergraduate Students (SLUGS) would like to take this opportunity to express our solidarity with the members of CUPE 3902, in light of recent striking action.

We are deeply disappointed that the University of Toronto administration continues not only to abstain from further bargaining, but also to carry out a campaign of misdirection and misinformation in an attempt to propagate the idea that the effects of the CUPE 3902 strike are negligible. As undergraduate students, it is clear to us that this is not the case; many of the courses offered by the Linguistics department are taught by our talented Masters and PhD students. At present, these classes are either cancelled entirely, or otherwise profoundly impacted by the lack of tutorials. It is a shame that the administration seems to entirely undervalue the contribution of graduate students to the quality of education that has provided this university with its prestigious reputation. The long term, gatekeeping effects of underpaying graduate students ensures that academia is only available to those who can afford it. Education should be open to everyone. Scientific research should be open to everyone.

Although the SLUGS executive committee regrets the (temporary) negative effects of the strike on the undergraduate linguistics community, it is our belief that our graduate students deserve to be paid fairly for their work. Therefore, we encourage our membership to respect the CUPE 3902 picket lines by minimizing their use of university facilities, in order to send a strong message to the administration.  As for our part, it is with great remorse that we have no longer been able to offer facilitated study groups (FSGs) or tutoring resources of any kind: these services were never meant to replace the invaluable assistance of the graduate student teachers, and to continue to offer them now would constitute strike breaking.  That being said, we remain committed to providing our membership with up-to-date information on the strike, and we encourage the use of SLUGS-run social media for the purpose of facilitating discussion around these issues. As always, we are accessible by email (slugs@chass.utoronto.ca), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/6016112602/) and through our website (http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~slugs/).

In Solidarity,

Society of Linguistic Undergraduate Students,

Angie Rajani
Victoria Peter
Shay Hucklebridge
Kinza Mahoon
Zoë McKenzie

Hello, linguists!

Two (related) reminders:

1. SLUGS is holding a General Meeting this Thursday March 19th from 1 to 3 PM in SS 2119 to discuss and vote on changes to its constitution. The proposed constitutional changes may be found here: http://goo.gl/OQdwlT The existing constitution may be found here: http://bit.ly/1zm9BQ1

WHAT: General Meeting
DATE: Thursday March 19th
TIME: 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
LOCATION: SS 2119
FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/1574205279503375/

2. SLUGS is holding its Executive Elections this Thursday starting at 3:00 PM! Help make next year's SLUGS the best year ever by voting or running!

POSITIONS THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE:
-External President
-Internal President
-Social Events Coordinator
-Academic Events Coordinator
-Secretary
-Design and Marketing Coordinator
For position descriptions, see the list of proposed constitutional changes here: http://goo.gl/OQdwlT

TO VOTE:
-There will be a ballot box during the election period in the Linguistics Lounge (Sidney Smith 4th floor), accompanied by a pile of ballots and a list of candidates for each executive position.
-Fill in your name, student number, and one linguistics course you are taking on the ballot, rank the candidates for each position or write "SPOIL", and slip your ballot into the ballot box. If you are running for a position, you cannot vote for that position.

WHAT: SLUGS Executive Election Voting
WHEN: Thursday March 19th, 3:00 PM until Friday March 20th, 11:10 AM.
WHERE: Linguistics Lounge (Sidney Smith 4th floor)

TO RUN:
Vicki Peter is your CRO for this election!
-Let her/me know by email (slugs[at]chass[dot]utoronto[dot]ca) or FB message what position(s) you'd like to run for, or announce your candidacy at the General Meeting on Thursday. Or announce it in the University of Toronto's SLUGS FB group. Just make sure I have written confirmation somewhere that you intend to run for what!

WHAT: SLUGS Executive Election Running
WHEN: Before Thursday 3:00 PM
WHERE: Online communication OR At the General Meeting