philosogator

I am just finishing my undergrad at UVic -- as a general warning, our graduate students are not sufficiently funded. The GSS has been posting leaflets all over campus all year protesting the fact that funding for grad students at UVic is below tuition and cost of living expenses by a decent amount. I suggest that (unless you have a SSHRC) you ask some polite, but probing questions of the department about funding opportunities. UVic is a wonderful school and Victoria is a beautiful city (I'm typing this from my girlfriend's suite in Fernwood), but you really should be aware that money will be tight for you should you accept the offer of admission.

And on a side note, I've officially accepted SFU's offer of admission for an MA in philosophy over Dal/Waterloo/Alberta. Just got a (very polite) rejection letter from U of T's PhD program today.

Going to the Dean skips like 3 intermediate steps.

If you felt it needed to be eacalated, you'd go to the director of graduate studies for your program, then a department chair, then the office of graduate studies, then an assistant dean (likely the one in charge of graduate programs) and then maybe the Dean.

There is almost no situation in which it would be proper to bring something like this straight to the Dean, and doing so would make you look clueless and like you were over reacting, even if it was a serious and major problem.