Articles by author: Brock University

• University deplores ‘abhorrent’ social media outburst

  Monday, August 13, 2018 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 10 August 2018 – R00154

  Brock University condemns the inflammatory statements that have appeared on a personal social media account under the name of a former professor who retired from the University in 2012.

  The comments, which include vulgar statements about Canada’s Indigenous Peoples, appeared on a Twitter account in the name of Garth Stevenson, a former professor of Political Science.

  Tom Dunk, the University’s Provost and Vice-President Academic, said that Stevenson retired more than half a decade ago, is no longer employed by Brock and any comments he makes on social media or elsewhere are solely his own.

  “Brock has no connection whatsoever with his views, and abhors comments that have been posted on his social media sites,” said Dunk.

  Social Sciences Professor Scott Henderson, who is Chair of the University’s Senate, said he expects a meeting by Senate in the coming days to discuss the honorary title of Professor Emeritus that was given to Stevenson when he retired. The title does not involve active participation on campus, and is routinely conferred upon full professors at their retirement.

  Brock President Gervan Fearon said the University is appalled, and shares the pain and frustration felt by many members of the campus community, and in particular members of the Indigenous community, caused by the online posting.

  “Brock remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing an inclusive and respectful work and learning environment, and calls upon all members of the campus community to respectfully engage each other with kindness and humility,” said Fearon.

  “The abhorrent online comments emphasize why it is important that efforts continue to be made across Canadian society and all communities to advance the Calls to Action established under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as well as equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives.”

  Fearon said Brock is a leader in advancing inclusivity and human rights on campus, and is committed to following the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

  Initiatives to advance reconciliation at Brock include the creation of the President’s Advisory Committee on Human Rights, Equity and Decolonization (PACHRED); hiring a Vice-Provost of Indigenous Engagement; hiring a Director of Human Rights and Equity; and the creation of the Two Row, One Dish, One Spoon Council, a special committee to advise the University Senate on issues related to Indigenous education.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases

• Ontario lake to be studied by Brock-led team as possible geologic time reference site

  Thursday, August 09, 2018 | By Brock University

  Media Release: 9 August 2018 – R00153

  A group of researchers are hoping Crawford Lake in Milton will help confirm a new episode in the world’s geological time scale.

  The Brock University-led team of scientists has identified the Halton region lake as a possible location to define a new geologic epoch called the Anthropocene.

  On Tuesday, Aug. 14, Professor of Earth Sciences Francine McCarthy and researchers from Brock, Carleton and McMaster will collect sediment layers spanning the last millennium from the basin of Crawford Lake.

  If they find what they’re looking for in these sediments, the research team will make a submission to the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), an international group charged with evaluating proposals on where evidence of the Anthropocene can be best seen.

  To define a new geologic epoch, scientists must establish a “golden spike,” an internationally agreed-upon location with a reference point in a section of rock or sediment layers that signals the beginning of a new episode in the geologic time scale.

  McCarthy and colleagues are setting out to prove that the 22-metre-deep Crawford Lake should be that “golden spike.”

  “The lake is small but very, very deep,” says McCarthy, who has been conducting research at Crawford Lake for decades. “The waters don’t get oxygenated all the way to the bottom and that lack of oxygen makes preservation ideal.”

  Because the lake is in a protected conservation area, it has been an ideal location for other studies over the years. Having the core recovered from the lake on Tuesday be designated as a golden spike would mean “scientists from around the world would come to Crawford Lake to see the defining area,” says McCarthy.

  If the AWG were to vote in favour of using the lake, the proposal would then be evaluated by the International Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, chaired by Brock Professor of Earth Sciences Martin Head.

  Head, who is also a member of the AWG, says the calm and anoxic bottom waters of Crawford Lake have produced layers each year that give a very clear geologic record.

  These layers result from the accumulation of dark organic matter after organisms in the upper water column die and tiny calcite crystals that gradually sink to the lake bed.

  “This is essential for any site being considered in defining the base of the Anthropocene,” says Head. “The big question is whether Crawford Lake has a plutonium fallout signal.”

  Researchers use the presence of plutonium 239 — an isotope released during the detonation of nuclear weapons — as a mark of time.

  “The rise of plutonium 239 in the early 1950s seems to give the best global signal,” says Head. “It arises from increasing aboveground nuclear weapons testing at this time and declined in the early 1960s with the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963.”

  The AWG considers some point during the mid-20th century to be the best starting point for the Anthropocene, a suggested new geological epoch distinct from the Holocene in which we are currently officially living.

  This distinctiveness arises from the fact that human activities have shifted the way our planet is now behaving as an integrated system, says Head.

  This shift is known as the Great Acceleration, a mid-20th century phenomenon associated with global industrialization, commercialization and energy use.

  “Plutonium 239 could be a very convenient geological marker for this Earth systems shift,” says Head.

  NOTE: Members of the media are invited to join the researchers at Crawford Lake Tuesday. Please RVSP to ddakin@brocku.ca as soon as possible.

  What: Drilling of bottom of Crawford Lake by Brock-led geological research team

  When: Tuesday, August 14, noon to 4 p.m.

  Where: Crawford Lake Conservation Area, 3115 Conservation Rd., Milton. Ask for directions at the interpretive centre.

  Who: Brock Professors Francine McCarthy, Martin Head and Michael Pisaric; Carleton Professor Timothy Patterson; McMaster Professors Joe Boyce and Eduard Reinhardt.

  Why: To investigate and potentially propose a site that would define the Anthropocene epoch.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases