Beginning in September 2006, over 20 Canadian universities, including several of the most prestigious and largest universities such as the University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, Concordia University, McMaster University and Dalhousie University, jointly refused to participate. University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera wrote that "Maclean's" initially filed a "Freedom of Information" request but that it was "too late" for the universities to respond. Samarasekera further stated, "Most of universities had already posted the data online, and we directed "Maclean's" staff to our Web sites. In instances where the magazine staff couldn't find data on our Web site, they chose to use the previous year's data."