The McGill Tribune Vol. 41 Issue 22

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, MARCH 5 2022 | VOL. 41 | ISSUE 22

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

EDITORIAL

FEATURE

ENDORSEMENTS

SSMU executives set a low bar for next year

On justice and mathematics

SSMU Executive Candidates

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PGs. 8-9

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(Anoushka Oke / The McGill Tribune) PG. 16

McGill track team impresses at Redbirds Last Chance meet

SSMU presidential candidates discuss plans to address structural issues at virtual executive candidate debate Candidates stressed importance of transparency, accountability Maya Abuali Managing Editor The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) hosted their executive candidate debate virtually on March 9.

Each candidate presented their platforms and took questions from the current SSMU executives, the SSMUnion, the audience, and an online form. While there are three candidates running for president and vice-president (VP) Internal and two candidates running for VP Student Life, the remaining

positions––VP External, VP University Affairs, and VP Finance––are uncontested. After a tumultuous year for SSMU, presidential candidates drew particular attention to themes of transparency, accessibility, equity, and accountability during their responses.

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QPIRG-McGill’s panel on labour exploitation ‘The Batman’ is DC’s very own horror at McGill discusses ongoing contract blockbuster negotiations and unionization efforts The event was part of a broader ‘Social Justice Days’ series Ella Fitzhugh News Editor The annual Social Justice Days event series, organized by the Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill University (QPIRG-McGill) and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), was held from March 7 to 12. Centred on themes of harm reduction and sustainability, the series featured interactive workshops and panel discussions such as “Building care

into anti-violence advocacy that sustains us” and “Supporting prisoners and parolees in their transition as returning citizens” with the purpose of engaging McGill students in community activism.

“The labour crisis at McGill” panel on March 9 underscored key issues that McGill’s labour unions have faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel brought together Evan Fox-Decent, McGill law professor and interim president of the Association of McGill Professors of Law

(AMPL); Simon Deverson, chair of the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) solidarity committee; and Christian Tonnesen, U4 Science and vice-president (VP) for the floor fellows at the Association for McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) Unit B. The featured guests each gave 10-minute speeches highlighting the changes their respective organizations are rallying toward, among them contract negotiations and unionization.

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Reeves delivers the most ominous take yet on the caped crusader Karthikeya Gautam Staff Writer Scattered whispers and occasional chuckles echo hollowly through the cinema’s depths, jittery in their disposition and nervous in their delivery. Excited eyes dart back and forth between

the screen and the faces surrounding them. A nearly three-year anticipatory build-up is culminating into a gentle frenzy—a feverish apogee. This is the scene my friends and I hurriedly walked in on for a Friday night screening of director Matt Reeves’ long-awaited The Batman.

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NEWS

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ENDORSEMENTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

2022 - 2023

SSMU Executive Candidates President Bryan Buraga

If elected, Bryan Buraga’s 2022-2023 term would be his second––he served as SSMU president during the 2019-2020 academic year. His experience is, unsurprisingly, extensive: He has in-depth knowledge of SSMU’s structures, and is well-equipped to fix the problems he sees in the society’s bureaucracy and workplace environment.

Since his departure from office, he has gotten involved in various activist groups on campus including Divest McGill and the broader Divest for Human Rights campaign. Buraga, U3 Arts, also heavily contributed to the McGill Student Union Democratization Policy Initiative. If elected, his main priorities would be to democratize SSMU, faculty associations, and university governance, and to create a McGill Tenants’ Union to support student housing rights.

Julian Guidote

Julian Guidote, BA&Sc ‘21 and first-year law student, has experience as a mental health counsellor for Kids Help Phone and as a mental health advocacy coordinator for SSMU. Throughout his campaign, he has stressed the importance of listening to his staff and strengthening relationships within SSMU by increasing the budget and staff of the Social committee. To improve institutional memory, he plans to maintain open communication with the prior SSMU executives and implement a translation and transcription service to make SSMU website information and meetings available in different languages. Guidote also promises to create a green space and to promote student artistic talent. With his combined knowledge of law and mental health advocacy, Guidote is versed in listening to and caring for others, and hopes to turn this experience into meaningful action for students.

Risann Wright

Risann Wright, U3 Arts, has staked her campaign on reforming SSMU from the inside, out, to make it a more effective and supportive governing body. The commissioner for both Black Affairs and External Affairs, as well as an Arts senator, she has considerable experience in student governance. She has also served on numerous other clubs and committees throughout her time at McGill. Her platform has three major pillars: Advocacy; Equity and Governance; and Leadership and Support. Wright is strongly committed to reforming equity and leadership policies within SSMU to help the organization operate more effectively and better support students. If elected, she plans to create an interactive online advocacy platform to connect students with resources, and to establish an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) plan within SSMU.

Our endorsement: Yes to Risann Wright Wright’s campaign combines extensive and relevant SSMU experience with practical, realistic goals that will help both encourage a safer work environment at SSMU and more effective student advocacy. While Buraga may have the obvious advantage of having previously served as SSMU President, the society would greatly benefit from a fresher face, especially in the midst of ongoing internal conflict and drama within the executive team. Additionally, while Buraga’s ideas are exciting and his clear commitment to society inspiring, his platform lacks in-depth explanations of how he will ensure that massive, structural projects are maintained long term. While Guidote evidently cares deeply about mental health, his relative lack of SSMU experience and few concrete policy points fail to prove his readiness for the role.

VP Internal Catherine Williams

In their platform, Catherine Williams, U3 Arts, conveys that she is just like any other student—someone who, like many voters, had limited knowledge of the inner workings of SSMU, but felt motivated to get involved. Their experience in event planning as a Frosh Leader for two years, coupled with communications roles in student clubs and a corporate internship, is relevant to the VP Internal portfolio. She plans to provide equity packages for those participating in SSMU events, emphasizing that as in-person events make a return, their main priority would be to put on events that are safe and accessible to all students. Williams’ other ideas include creating a SSMU app to promote student engagement with SSMU, and to increase transparency when communicating with the student body.

Jaz Kaur

Jaz Kaur, U2 Arts, is currently active in many areas of SSMU—as parliamentarian, she serves on the Legislative Council and chairs the Nominating Committee for the Judicial Board and Board of Directors. She is also involved in a multitude of campus initiatives and clubs, occupying three executive positions. If elected, Kaur promises to facilitate more effective and transparent communication between SSMU executives, staff members, and the student body. Indeed, her platform pushes for greater accountability for SSMU, which she hopes to get started on as soon as possible. She also wants to make SSMU more equitable by identifying systematic patterns of oppression, whether found in policies or the structure of SSMU itself, that create an unsafe workspace. Other promises include improving the relationship between SSMU and student journalists, and increasing advocacy for bilingual rights and non-Western cultures on campus through event planning.

Ananya Seth

Ananya Seth’s platform revolves around making communications at SSMU more accessible, transparent, and accountable. If elected, Seth, U1 Arts, plans to improve SSMU’s social media presence and engagement with the student body by creating a feedback section in the SSMU listserv. She shows great ambition for event planning, which she has ample experience with in her capacity as co-president of the Indian Students Association, among other executive roles. Some of her other ideas include introducing same-day counselling at the Wellness Hub, as well as creating a food bank for students, though both lack concrete blueprints for implementation.

Our endorsement: Yes to Jaz Kaur Kaur shows a deep understanding of the VP Internal portfolio and the inner workings of the SSMU bureaucracy. Her experience on Legislative Council and the BoD will not only prepare her for the role, but also hopefully allow her to fulfill her campaign promises of increased accessibility and transparency with students. Kaur’s ideas for student events are engaging, practical, and not overly ambitious, placing her a cut above her opponents. If elected, Kaur would bring a wealth of experience and surefooted commitment to governance. Seth’s limited understanding of SSMU’s inner workings and her lack of concrete action plans for her sweeping ideas hinder her promises. Similarly, Williams also fails to provide action plans, and her lack of SSMU experience reflects her misunderstanding of the scope of the VP Internal portfolio.

ENDORSEMENTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

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VP University Affairs Kerry Yang Kerry Yang, U3 Science, comes to the VP University Affairs position already familiar with the Senate, having been an Associate Senator in his first year, the incumbent Science Senator this year, as well as being involved in the SSMU Senate Caucus. Some of his platform priorities include overseeing the implementation of the Academic Wellness Proposal and pushing for an S/U policy that gives students the choice to include a course grade in their GPA if they end up doing well. Yang also hopes to expand the autonomy of the Black Affairs, Indigenous Affairs, and Francophone Affairs portfolios, primarily by opening up communication channels and connecting student representatives to the university’s Action Plan on EDI and the Action Plan on Anti-Black Racism.

VP External Val Masny

Val Masny, U3 Science, is running for VP External on a platform that centres acces-

Our endorsement: Yes to Kerry Yang Given that a major responsibility of the VP UA is to represent student interests at the McGill Senate, Yang’s prior experience navigating the governing body is a key asset.

Self-described as a pragmatic idealist, his campaign promises comprise a healthy mix of new ideas and pre-existing, ongoing projects—all of which fall neatly, and realistically, under the UA portfolio. Yang has a strong grasp of the scope and limitations of the VP UA portfolio, and his prior knowledge and experience make him a strong candidate for the position.

VP Finance sibility and supporting communities within the larger McGill community. They have experience as the External Affairs coordinator for SSMU, they have worked with neurodivergent communities and people with disabilities for several years, and they are a member of the Citizen Committee of Milton-Parc and QPIRG McGill, among many other community groups. These connections would lend Masny a significant advantage in the role of VP External. Masny plans to continue fostering their previously established relationships with groups like the Mohawk Mothers to expand SSMU’s support for marginalized groups at McGill and within Montreal. While Masny falls short of providing clear plans of action beyond engaging with their community connections, their strong belief in and dedication to increasing accessibility, democratization, and accountability will hopefully guide their term in office.

Our endorsement: Yes to Val Masny

Marco Pizarro

Marco Pizarro pledges to bring an engaged, political perspective to the finance portfolio, including strongly supporting the McGill Student Union Democratization Initiative Policy and campaigns to divest from fossil fuels. With re-

spect to finances, he aims to learn more about the transparency issues clouding the financial processes at SSMU and to streamline processes accordingly. However, a point of concern is his complete lack of experience in the organization—its deeply complicated governance structure and large budget will prove challenging for Pizarro if he catapults up to this executive position. If elected, he faces a steep learning curve when it comes to balancing the budget and navigating the governance structure. Unfortunately, many of his proposed initiatives—like democratizing SSMU, decentralizing power, and creating a tenants’ union for students—are unrealistic and fall well outside of the scope of VP Finance.

Although Pizarro is clearly passionate and sincere about improving SSMU, his ambitions are not suited to the VP Finance portfolio, and his lack of understanding of SSMU and its finances hinder his chance of success.

Our endorsement: No to Marco Pizarro

VP Student Life Hassanatou Koulibaly

Olivia Bornyi Our endorsement: Yes with reservations to Hassanatou Koulibaly Both candidates appear passionate about the role and are committed to expanding initiatives such as the daycare centre and its associated volunteer program.

However, each also faces pitfalls that hinder their preparedness for the role. Koulibaly lacks formal SSMU training, and many of her action items are relatively vague beyond implementing the SRA program. Bornyi offers more experience, bringing up ideas to streamline internal SSMU processes, but elements of her platform are overly ambitious and absent of any larger equity dimension. However, Koulibaly’s experience as a highranking club executive, along with her commitment to bolstering equity and accessibility to student life, ultimately sets her apart from Bornyi.

The Editorial Board’s Endorsement Process:

Koulibaly’s portfolio is centred around three pillars: Clubs and services, mental health, and family care. As president of the McGill African Students’ Society, with two prior years on its executive team, Koulibaly understands the frustrations felt by student club leaders and plans to advocate for their demands. As for students’ mental health, she wants SSMU to move away from a diagnosis-led approach to mental health, instead recognizing its fluid and fluctuating nature. Accordingly, she intends to introduce self-reported absences (SRA), a new academic consideration that is not dependent on medical notes, to support more students. In regards to family care, Koulibaly aims to expand the SSMU daycare and better address the needs of student caregivers on campus.

As SSMU’s current mental health outreach coordinator, Bornyi, U1 Arts, is versed in navigating the inner workings of the organization. Her platform, anchored on accessible and efficient mental health services, also aims to rebuild the relationship between SSMU and its students, and to increase liaison between VP Student Life and student groups on campus.

She plans to continue and expand current initiatives, like the SSMU minicourses and daycare volunteer programs. Consistent across each goal is a general effort to improve the flow of information within SSMU. One notable idea is to centralize this information in a shared database to alleviate the burden of communicating and organizing across committees, which she hopes will translate into better experiences for all.

In order to present the most informed endorsement decisions possible, select editors and managing editors conducted remote interviews with all of the candidates, and examined each platform in detail. The endorsements are the product of an Editorial Board meeting in which we addressed, debated, and voted on every candidate. In order to earn the Tribune’s endorsement, a candidate had to receive a majority vote. Reservations could also be appended to any “Yes” endorsement with the approval of a majority of editors. Any questions or concerns about our editorial process or its outcomes should be directed to editor@mcgilltribune.com.

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NEWS

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

news@mcgilltribune.com

QPIRG-McGill’s panel on labour exploitation at McGill discusses ongoing contract negotiations and unionization efforts

The event was part of a broader ‘Social Justice Days’ series Ella Fitzhugh News Editor Continued from page 1.

Fox-Decent kicked off the event with a presentation detailing the ongoing effort of many law faculty professors to unionize. He traced the origins of the movement to the memo Provost and VP (Academic) Christopher Manfredi sent to faculty deans and department heads on Aug. 29 requesting the names of professors who did not want to return to in-person teaching. The memo came after a group of law professors penned an open letter demanding that the university implement a campus-wide vaccination mandate soon before the Fall 2021 semester.

After receiving the memo, law professors agreed that they wanted a union to represent them in their relations with the administration moving forward—which would be a more specific unit than the broader, non-unionized McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT) currently representing them.

“The most difficult part of this for us so far has been that unfortunately, McGill is fighting us tooth-and-nail,” Fox-Decent said.

“They’re challenging our bargaining unit, saying with a straight face that it should be all professors who unionize at McGill [...] and that it should not be a single faculty, the Faculty of Law.”

Quebec’s Ttribunal administratif du travail (TAT) will determine whether the union will include all professors at McGill or solely law professors, with two days of hearings already completed and two more hearings dates set for this coming May. Following Fox-Decent’s presentation, Deverson spoke about MUNACA’s contract negotiation standstill with McGill. MUNACA is a union that represents non-academic workers, such as clerical workers, librarians, and technicians. Deverson explained that the union’s contract expired in Nov. 2018, and that since Sept. 2019, MUNACA has met with McGill representatives a total of 48 times, —which Deverson noted was “a large number” for such negotiations.

Some changes MUNACA would like to see in the new collective agreement include a retroactive wage increase—since employees are still being paid the salary scales stipulated in the expired 2018 agreement—pay increases that keep pace with inflation, and the maintenance of the top of workers’ salary scales.

Deverson also mentioned that McGill did not provide MUNACA workers with a COVID-19 bonus, despite the gesture becoming commonplace in Quebec throughout lockdown periods.

“Given the labour crisis that exists in Quebec, wouldn’t it be better to have a fair and just collective agreement for its workers?”

Deverson askedsaid. “Wouldn’t that retain staff? I mean, we have people at McGill whose job title is talent acquisition advisor, wouldn’t

SSMU presidential candidates discuss plans to address structural issues at virtual executive candidate debate

Candidates stressed importance of transparency, accountability Maya Abuali Managing Editor Continued from page 1.

All three SSMU presidential candidates emphasized the need for structural change within the student government. The first, Risann Wright, U3 Arts, who currently serves as the SSMU Student Rights Researcher and Advocacy Commissioner, Black Affairs Commissioner, External Affairs Commissioner, and Faculty of Arts Senator, explained that addressing deepseated systemic issues is a focus of her platform.

“The structural and systemic issues that I can identify [within the SSMU] include structural and systemic misogyny and racism that runs rampant within our student government and is frankly unacceptable and makes the student government unsafe for all of its students,” Wright said. “I have built my platform on concrete actions, including the development of an equity, diversity, inclusion plan, and also a comprehensive HR and governance review at the SSMU for a new conflict-resolution process and complaints process and bolstering other students within it.”

Julian Guidote, BA&Sc ‘21 and 1L Law, believes that the reason behind the SSMU’s workplace tensions lies in a fundamental lack of empathy and understanding among the entire community.

“I think that one structural issue

that currently exists at SSMU is that it’s very easy for us to lose touch and connection with each other, to demonize the problems that are going on, and to villainize the people behind the politics,” Guidote said. “And what this does is it creates an atmosphere so tense that we’re tempted to take down everything and rebuild from the ground up.”

Bryan Buraga, U3 Arts, who served as SSMU president in 20192020, highlighted a different structural problem: The lack of student representation on the McGill Senate and Board of Governors.

“I’ve seen how debates go in those positions and very often administrators already have their minds made up,” Buraga said. “[...] In addition, McGill student services are very underfunded.

So as president it would be my top priority to [...] ensure that students get what they need and deserve.”

Buraga stressed the urgency of repairing the relationships and structural issues within SSMU to maintain a united front against the university’s administration.

“Now more than ever, it is clear that our student unions are broken,” Buraga said. “Our university doesn’t give a damn about us and our landlords raise rents for mediocre housing year after year. That’s why I’m running to democratize SSMU and faculty associations, to democratize university governance, and to create a McGill tenants’ union [...] Let’s stop the bullshit, together.”

it make their lives easier if we had good working conditions?”

The panel then turned to Tonnesen for his presentation on AMUSE. Tonnesen explained that AMUSE comprises two units:, Unit A, which represents front desk staff workers, library workers, and other similar positions, and Unit B, which represents floor fellows.

While Unit A’s new collective agreement is set to be signed soon, it has been 18 months since Unit B’s previous collective agreement with McGill expired. Tonnesen explained that the money floor fellows make is insufficient as a living wage, so among other requests, AMUSE is bargaining for a pay increase.

“As it currently stands, the money we make is not enough to cover the rent in taxes, so floor fellows are essentially working for free,” Tonnesen said. “So, the next steps as we go are to attempt to get some sort of a better pay and get our collective agreement hopefully signed such that we have full retroactivity [...] and also to bring in hazard pay for those that worked during covid.”

During the question and answer period, when asked about how McGill students can support the workers in the various ongoing campaigns, Tonnesen suggested that speaking to those with financial influence to induce change.

“McGill very much loves money,” Tonnesen said. “So, if you are dissatisfied with the way things are running, talk to someone who is paying the bill and McGill will [...] respond to you [much faster].”

SSMU Board of Directors hears property proposal for Affordable Student Housing Plan, approves stipend for Divest McGill occupation Building would be ready for move-in by 2024 or 2025 Kennedy McKee-Braide Managing Editor

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uring the March 10 meeting of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Board of Directors (BoD), vice-president (VP) External Sacha Delouvrier presented an update on the Affordable Student Housing Plan.

Adopted by the Legislative Council in February 2020, the plan includes a partnership between SSMU and L’Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant (UTILE) to create an affordable student housing development with units at costs 15 to 30 per cent lower than market rates. The Affordable Student Housing Plan as a whole represents SSMU’s efforts to advocate for its constituents who, according to a 2019 report by UTILE, pay the highest rent amongst students on the island of Montreal. “[The project] fits into our constant combat against landlords and the exploitation of a vulnerable student population,” Delouvrier said.

After a two-year search, UTILE has landed on a potential site for the project. The plot at 1635 Saint Laurent Boulevard––a 17 minute walk from campus––would cost around $7.6 million, with current zoning laws allowing buildings erected on the property to reach a maximum of 15 metres, or five storeys high. These restrictions would allow for the creation of 115 rooms, rather than the 200 to 300 originally agreed upon. Delouvrier said there was potential to submit a special building, renovation, and occupancy project request to the borough, which could allow for the creation of an extra 75 rooms. Otherwise, UTILE would look for another site to create a second building, allowing them to fulfill the agreed upon room numbers.

Without the regulatory modification, UTILE estimates that construction would finish by the end of 2024.

If the request for modification is submitted and accepted, construction would extend to the end of summer 2025.

Delouvrier explained that the project would be similar in design to Concordia’s Woodnote housing cooperative. “[The project is] aimed at maximizing the space and

maximizing the amount of initiatives we can put in place to benefit the students and foster a community environment not only between McGill students, but really between McGill students and this part of downtown Montreal,” Delouvrier said.

While the presentation was part of the BoD’s public session, Delouvrier noted that the motion to approve the purchase of the building would be voted on as part of the confidential session, which lasted over four hours. The results of this vote have not yet been released.

MOMENT OF THE MEETING During a debate surrounding Legislative Council representative Yara Coussa’s motion to provide Divest McGill with a $500 stipend to help cover costs related to food and hygiene during the group’s ongoing occupation of the Arts building, several directors questioned whether the BoD was the most appropriate venue for a “political” motion. Emphasizing the urgency of the motion, Coussa argued that it was an appropriate matter for BoD to discuss given the SSMU’s mandate to support Divest McGill. The motion passed with only VP Student Life Karla Heisele Cubilla and Council representative Wan in opposition.

SOUND BITE “The training materials and presentations that we give to new employees like casual staff and full time staff need to be a lot more comprehensive and touch on a variety of topics including your avenues for making complaints and [...] the little details that people really don’t understand until they’re in an urgent situation where they need to understand them. Because you shouldn’t work here for two years and not know how your accrued vacation works.”

- VP University Affairs Claire Downie during a discussion regarding the potential for SSMU to organize trainings to help employees know their rights.

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

SSMU Legislative Councillors take issue with Society’s increasing confidentiality Councillors attempts to access information about President Daryanani’s absence is the most recent trigger for frustrations Elena Lee Staff Writer

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nother turbulent Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) administration nears the end of their tenure as the Winter semester draws to a close and students head to the ballot boxes once again. From March 14 to 18, students will get the chance to vote on a new SSMU executive council and on seven referendum questions. Though each executive position specializes in different areas, there were common threads throughout all candidates’ platforms and pen sketches: Accessibility, communication, transparency, and accountability.

Criticisms levelled at the SSMU’s increasing privacy and alienation from the student body have been slow to changemet with inaction and have been met with repeated deference to internal regulations and policies. Recent events, such as the return of SSMU President Darshan Daryanani, saw the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD) and executive officers meet increasingly in confidential sessions. In the Feb. 17​​ Legislative Council meeting, the words “confidential” or “confidentiality” were mentioned at least 24 times over the course of the announcement and question periods alone.

Legislative councillor Andrés Pérez Tiniacos believes the bureaucratic roadblocks he witnessed in past Legislative Council meetings are deep rooted, but not beyond reason.

“It was frustrating for us [councillors] to ask and not be given any information, but we do have to understand that this confidentiality is there for reasons,” Tiniacos said in an interview with the Tribune. “[The SSMU] simply cannot break the law. All of these decisions are made following the advice of the SSMU legal advisors.”

The SSMU’s confidentiality policy protects any and all information disclosed to the Human Resources committee (HRC), their appointed

The Councillors were united in their appeals for McGill students to stay aware of SSMU proceedings and exercise their democratic rights by participating in public meetings and referenda. (fairviewmedicalcentre.co.uk)

ENDORSEMENTS

NEWS

representative, and the general manager, unless otherwise authorized by the individual involved. Section 12.1 of the SSMU’s BoD policies further stipulates that ultimately SSMU’s general manager has final say on the decision to disclose information on matters like financial statements, ongoing legal action, and negotiations with SSMU employees.

Tiniacos explained that confidentiality is meant to safeguard everyone involved in an investigation— such as those who came forward during the investigation into the doxxing and harassment of Palestinian students at McGill. In this case and others like it, SSMU legal counsel bars executives from sharing any information that could lead to further targeting. Though the SSMU has dealt with legal proceedings in the past, Nathaniel Saad, a management representative on the Legislative Council, believes that SSMU’s increasingly corporate mindset has overshadowed its basic foundation as a student union.

“The things that SSMU does are important and affect us, but I feel as though a lot of times people take SSMU too seriously,” Saad said. “Lawsuits are a dangerous thing, and I understand that the executives and SSMU want to protect themselves and the funds that SSMU has. But there has to be some way to avoid the political toxicity that we are completely embedded in right now, and just tell people what happened [....] At the end of the day, student government is not supposed to be this ridiculous.”

Asma Khamis, U2 Science and Legislative councillor, has hope that SSMU will work toward improving its workplace dynamics from the inside out to address its myriad of issues before they escalate to independent investigations or litigation.

“The issue of confidentiality itself is a difficult thing to address, especially since it pertains to a legal framework that SSMU has to follow as a legal entity,” Khamis said in an interview with the Tribune. “However, I do think it is within our grasp to address the underlying issues before it leads to confidentiality becoming a stumbling block—for example, trying to prevent circumstances from happening that would necessitate these types of confidential investigations or information.”

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Winter 2022

SSMU Referendum Endorsements Creation of French Accessibility Fee: NO The stated goal of this semesterly $0.25 non-opt-outable fee is to promote advocacy, accessibility, and student rights for both Quebecois and international francophone students. If passed, an additional annual $12,000 would be added to the Commission des affaires francophones’ budget—but only five per cent and 20 per cent would go toward advocacy and promotion of francophone student clubs, respectively. An overwhelming 40 per cent would go toward the promotion of French culture on campus, which would primarily include a French culture week and Francofête, a week-long celebration of the language. Should the referendum question fail, services under the Commission des affaires francophones would still be able to run, albeit with more difficulty in the case of hosting those larger events. The distribution of the new budget is idealistic at best; with the largest cut of the budget going toward French events instead of promotion of student services and student accessibility, the Tribune has chosen not to endorse this fee.

Increase of the SSMU Membership Fee: YES If approved, this non-opt-outable fee increase of $1.20 each semester will help fund fair wages for legislative councillors and student senators. The SSMU Membership Fee had remained the same from 2007 to 2019, and in 2019 the Society increased the fee in order to hire more staff, citing SSMU’s growing scope. By offering fair compensation for labour, leadership positions will become more accessible to a wider range of students in SSMU, potentially encouraging more diverse student representation. As well, the fund sustains vital student safety programs like WALKSAFE and Drivesafe, reasons that further support upholding and increasing the fee.

Creation of Dialogue Telemedicine Service Fee: YES If passed, this question would create an opt-outable fee of $44.85 for full, year-round access to Dialogue’s 24/7 telemedicine services. It would also ensure the longevity of the program, securing the fee’s existence through 2027.

Dialogue’s services were first made available to those on the SSMU health plan in 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, according to the referendum motion, have been heavily used. Considering the demonstrated inefficiency and unreliability of the Wellness Hub over the past few years, the stress the pandemic has placed on the health-care system, and the high out-of-pocket expense of medical care for those without a RAMQ card, this fee would make basic essential medical care more accessible to students. Further, those who do not feel they would benefit from Dialogue’s services can simply opt-out of the fee.

Creation of the MUTBUS Fee: YES McGill University Student Transport (MUSTBUS) is a student-run transit cooperative offering trips between Montreal and New York at a reduced cost. While MUSTBUS became a SSMU Independent Student Group in Winter 2021, they do not currently receive any funding from student fees. The proposed opt-outable fee of $2.00 per semester would be used to help subsidize trips and ensure the co-operative can remain in service long-term. With the help of the funds, the group plans on expanding to include Toronto, Boston, and Ottawa routes in the future. Considering the high cost of VIA Rail and Amtrak train tickets, this service would help keep trips affordable for students wishing to travel to see family and friends, to seek professional opportunities, or simply to spend a weekend outside Montreal.

Creation of Student Support Fee: NO If passed, this opt-outable fee of $9.99 would provide students access to Calm, Grammarly, and Udemy for one year through Student Support—a for-profit start-up. This fee would remain in place for one year only to test usage rates and gauge whether or not to put the fee up for a five-year term at next year’s referendum. Student Support has come under scrutiny for a lack of transparency with their finances, promotional strategies, and usage rates at various Canadian universities. Given the company’s spotty track record, it is not worth the risk. In addition, there is a free version of Grammarly available and the Calm app’s features are not universally suited tools for mental wellness. Instead of being outsourced to large for-profit corporations, this money could be better invested in academic and mental health support services at McGill.

Creation of Black Affairs Fee Levy: YES This referendum would create an opt-outable fee of $1.50/semester ($0.75/semester for part-time) to enhance and fund the institutional capacities of the recently-formed Black Affairs Committee and the Black Affairs Commissioner position to advocate on behalf of Black students on campus. The fee would allow for a budget that would pay new and existing staff members, support student initiatives in and beyond Black History Month, help open a Black student space, and bolster relationships with community organizations and businesses that serve Black and racialized people.

This feeWhile this fee should be non-opt-outable, it is an important financial step forward to ensure SSMU can support and advocate for Black students and an anti-racist McGill.

Palestine Solidarity Policy Referendum Question: YES If approved, the Students’ Society of McGill University would adopt the Palestine Solidarity Policy. This policy mandates that SSMU publicly condemn the harmful surveillance of Palestinian and pro-Palestine students, issue at least one statement every semester affirming solidarity in the fight against apartheid in Palestine, and create a Palestine Solidarity committee. Additionally, it mandates the boycott and complete divestment of SSMU from all corporations complicit or participating in settler-colonial apartheid in Palestine and directs SSMU to demand the same from the McGill administration. Considering the documented difficulties student organizations face in passing motions supporting Palestine—such as the five-month delay approving the Divest for Human Rights Policy—SSMU’s commitment to longterm support is necessary. This policy is imperative to institutionalizing SSMU’s support for Palestinian students and concretizing their stance against settler-colonial apartheid.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The McGill Tribune is situated on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka; a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst many First Nations, including the Kanien’kehá:ka of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Huron/Wendat, Abenaki, and Anishinaabeg, among others. The Tribune honours, recognizes and respects these nations as the traditional stewards of the lands and waters.

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OPINION

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

opinion@mcgilltribune.com

SSMU executives set a low bar for next year The McGill Tribune Editorial Board

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n the latest scandal in a long line of occurrences that have kept elected student officials from fulfilling their duties, an anonymous Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) director spoke out about blatant racism within SSMU. More concerned with drama and airing out personal grievances, the 2021-2022 SSMU executive team not only failed to achieve their goal of addressing SSMU’s toxic culture, but have actively contributed to it.

As a predominantly white institution, sexism against white executives has been taken much more seriously than allegations of racism.

The clear double standard in their approach to tackling racism versus sexism signals that SSMU remains an unsafe space for racialized people. This year’s mistakes place a heavy burden on the next executive team to prove their commitment to protecting marginalized students.

The newest accusations against an unnamed white male executive carry eerie similarities to the experiences of rampant sexism revealed in the fall. Despite the degree of anonymity and the detailed accounts of sexism and racism rife within SSMU, only the article regarding sexism received a statement from the executive team pledging to call out toxic behaviour. On the other hand, no acknowledgement has been made of the article about racism at SSMU. Disappointingly, this piece details that other

OFF THE BOARD Adam Matthews-Kott Science & Technology Editor

One year into my degree, in Fall 2021, I became aware that I spent more time studying at the university of YouTube, or the university of free online textbooks, than McGill itself.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m., a despicably early time, to watch my 8:30 a.m. lecture all the way from Vancouver Island. As I crawled out of bed and logged into the Zoom session, I made a resolution to myself that I would get my life together and start paying attention to class— unlike how I spent most of my time in previous educational institutions. I did not even make

executive members were allegedly aware of the racist remarks made by their colleague–– and no consequences were implemented.

That racist comments were tolerated without action is indicative of their internal values.

The lack of accountability for racism paired with the outspokenness about sexism reveals a wider issue of executives prioritizing issues based on their lived experiences. . Meanwhile, in their silence, the almost entirely white executive team reinforces its deep-seated presence in SSMU. When executives focus on their personal grievances with SSMU as well as the optics of their every decision without considering the impacts of SSMU’s toxic work environment, they alienate members whose identities exist at marginalized intersections.

SSMU has not only jeopardized but, arguably, lost student trust. Between the silencing of SSMU employees, the mysterious disappearance and reappearance of president Darshan Daryanani, a repeated track record of poor communication and transparency, and even fumbles with Activities Night, this year has seen attempts and subsequent failures.

Further, VP Finance Eric Sader’s apology to arts councillors for unprofessional comments show how executives are oblivious to power dynamics at play. Even students who choose to attend Legislative Council to understand the workings of the society frequently endure sessions where executives laugh and joke in response to conversations about racism and sexism. Though investigations occur, and a

EDITORIAL

standard of discipline was, to some extent, set with the suspension of Daryanani, directors do not write anonymous pieces out of fear of retribution when policies are expansive and meaningful. This year has shown that issues are not addressed unless they are made public through the media, and even then, it is often only the issues that affect executives that are acknowledged. As it stands, executives are more worried about maintaining a positive image than actually enacting long-term changes that would benefit present and future employees and students.

SSMU executives have degraded their roles as student representatives, blaming these recurring issues on a preexisting culture problem. This year’s executive team has taken students’ distaste for SSMU and turned it into a repugnance for these students who are paid upwards of $30,000 to argue amongst themselves. Rebuilding any level of trust between students and SSMU will likely take years.

SSMU executive roles come with major responsibilities but, unfortunately, this year, the team has chosen to allocate its time to obsessing over scandals and disputes–– executives have spent hours at Legislative Council meetings talking around all the issues that they do not want to confront.

Rhetorical commitments to equity are not, and have never been, enough. This team’s term is coming to a shaky close and the next executive team will need to work hard to repair the damage done within SSMU.

Changing the norms of university instruction it through the first lecture of the day before I exited the class so that I could watch the lecture later at 2.5x speed.

This pattern of trying to attend lectures endured—an endless loop of getting bored watching a professor ramble on, interspersed only by two or three tidbits of information that I would actually need to pass the class..

I realized that it was McGill’s efforts toward my education that were lacking, not mine. Since there has not been a concerted effort by the university to update its outdated method of teaching, if McGill wants its students to succeed, it will need to reevaluate the actual functionality of its pedagogy rather than rely on the prestige associated with its image.

By the beginning of the following semester, I felt frustrated, overworked, and confused as to how I should be learning at McGill. This sort of frustration is common amongst many arriving at university, a transition made more difficult since it coincides with many pivotal moments of personal growth. Everyone has already spent over a decade in the school system and learning feels like it should be easy. Instead, arriving

at university feels like you’re repeatedly rolling a boulder over a large mountain, only for the boulder to disappear into the aether of MyCourses.

The attachment to systems that prioritize profit and prestige over student interest makes no sense as the technological landscape has completely changed since then.

We do not need to be reliable on typical techniques of inperson instruction when other methods are viable as a result of new technology. Although we received a taste of what education could be during the global pandemic, most professors seem adamant in keeping their teaching format as close to the original as possible.

This inability to adapt is not necessarily professors’ faults. A PhD does not always come with a teacher’s college diploma. Yes, they know the material in and out, but they may not necessarily have the skills to adequately share that content with other people.

Since professors have a responsibility to disseminate their research to the public, having good public relations skills is doubly important. This means that the environments that emphasize research skills over

teaching abilities in which they were able to become professors are to blame, not the professors themselves.

McGill should perhaps consider putting more emphasis on the support component of professors’ jobs as opposed to the teaching component. One way to achieve this might be to use standardized videos or curricula for the general instruction of a course and allow professors to focus on providing tutorials.

I am sure some people enjoy lectures and I believe that the teaching materials are extremely important. As a second-year science student, I do not need to sit in a room for an hour. Arts students, please do not harass me, as the need for in-person lectures may vary from faculty to faculty.

Instead of radically rehauling the system, steadily improving pedagogical methods would push universities in the right direction. The pandemic made us slow down and recognize what education strategies work, and which do not. Let's hope that instead of returning back to normal, we embrace a future that prioritizes student success, rather than the model perception of success that McGill attempts to exude.

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EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Sequoia Kim editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Ruobing Chen rchen@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Kennedy McKee-Braide kmckee-braide@mcgilltribune.com Madison Mclauchlan mmclauchlan@mcgilltribune.com Maya Abuali mabuali@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Lily Cason, Ella Fitzhugh & Madison Edward-Wright news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Sepideh Afshar, Aubrey Quinney & Matthew Molinaro opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editors Shafaq Nami & Adam Matthews-Kott scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Life Editors Holly Wethey & Wendy Zhao studentlife@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Tasmin Chu features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Lowell Wolfe & Michelle Siegel arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Sarah Farnand & Sophia Gorbounov sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Jinny Moon & Xiaotian Wang design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor Anoushka Oke photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editor Wendy Lin multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Abby de Gala & Sneha Senthil webdev@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Jackie Lee copy@mcgilltribune.com Social Media Editor Taneeshaa Pradhan socialmedia@mcgilltribune.com Business Manager Joseph Abounohra business@mcgilltribune.com

TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sequoia Kim, Reem Abdul Majid, Matthew Molinaro, Shafaq Nami, Joseph Abounohra, Namrata Rana, Shreya Rastogi

STAFF Ghazal Azizi, Valentina de la Borbolla, Léa Bourget, Tillie Burlock, El Bush, Elissa Dresdner, Mika Drygas, Sébastien Géroli, Saumya Gogte, Suzanna Graham, Bronte Grimmer, Karthikeya Guatam, Charlotte Hayes, Rose Kaissar, Arian Kamel, Leo Larman Brown, Shani Laskin, Elena Lee, Louis Lussier-Piette, Dima Kiwan, Abby McCormick, Adam Menikefs, Zoe Mineret, Juliet Morrison, Sara Chiarotto O’Brien, Mikaela Shadick, Erin Smith, Courtney Squires, Niamh Stafford, Dante Ventulieri, Corey Zhu

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arts@mcgilltribune.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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The young adult dystopian genre is too close for comfort

Reflecting on a dead genre 10 years after ‘The Hunger Games’ made its successful film debut Suzanna Graham Staff Writer

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hen many think of the young adult (YA) dystopian genre, both in literature and in film, The Hunger Games immediately comes to mind as one of the defining trilogies of the category. The Hunger Games hit the big screen 10 years ago and made nearly $700 million in worldwide sales. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, the YA dystopian genre reached peak popularity, and

as a young tween in its target demographic, I remember just how captivated my friends and I were with tales of teenagers sparking revolution.

Books like The Hunger Games caught our attention for more than just their flashy book covers. For one, the protagonists were young kids and teenagers, just like us. But they had the power, through ability or circumstance, to change the world. As young people who just wanted to find a place where we fit in, we looked up to these characters

Despite ‘The Hunger Games’ being insanely popular 10 years ago, the media distortion and genre market flooding have contributed to the genre’s death. (vox.com)

who played vital roles, who were heroes that saved society from injustice. The characters were brave in their dangerous fictional worlds: While Katniss Everdeen competed in a deadly competitionin the Hunger Games, Tris from Divergent jumped out of trains for thrills, and Thomas from The Maze Runner sprinted for his life through a murderous maze. Each protagonist found themselves in life and death scenarios, which kept young readers and adults alike flipping the pages in suspense.

Despite the surge in YA dystopian novels during the 2010s, the genre is nothing new.

Novels such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1931), George Orwell’s 1984 (1949), Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953), and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) laid the groundwork for this 21st-century fad. All of these stories follow protagonists navigating oppressive systems that use systems such as surveillance and social pressures to force conformity.

Unfortunately, many YA dystopian books that capitalized on the success of their more thoughtful predecessors dumbed down their dystopian elements to attract young readers. This surface-level writing in terms of world, plot, and character-building caused the genre to lose what little critical respect it had.

Series such as Divergent copied the idea of splitting society into groups called “factions” from The Hunger Games’ “districts” and Harry Potter’s “houses,” where characters belong to a group based on a single value or skill. Main character Tris leaves her family’s faction, Abnegation, to enlist in the exciting yet dangerous faction, Dauntless. Unlike The

Hunger Games, where Katniss’ involvement with war is a result of self-sacrifice and need for rebellion, Tris has little motivation or character development throughout the series.

The Hunger Games challenges young people to question the systematic oppression around in a way that realistically explores corruption and injustice – a domain these copycat novels tend to gloss over.

The YA dystopian genre now seems less far-fetched, with young people becoming more politically active in the face of real threats of climate change, tyrannical politicians, and global conflict. These activists are applying the original YA dystopian message— that young people have power to change the world they live in. Novels have always incorporated political messages, whether to destigmatize mental illness, challenge racial biases, give voice to 2SLGBTQIA+ characters, and more. Nonetheless, YA dystopian literature so clearly reflects social oppressions in the world that it becomes difficult to enjoy the “fiction” as we could when we were younger and more ignorant. Fantasy no longer sugarcoats these books; the similarities between fact and fiction are more obvious.

The YA dystopia genre may be less popular than it was 10 years ago, but it truly shaped what my generation was reading in adolescence. Now older, we can no longer see The Hunger Games as fantasy—oppressions endorsed or even enacted by governments around the world are an inherent part of the world we live in. Yet young adults can still look to literary figures, like Katniss, as inspiration in the fight against injustice in our world.

‘The Batman’ is DC’s very own horror blockbuster Reeves delivers the most ominous take on the caped crusader yet Karthikeya Gautam Staff Writer Continued from page 1.

His take on the Dark Knight (Robert Pattinson)—vengeance personified—features a horrifying storyline captured through staggering cinematography and a chilling score. Released on March 4, the film takes a grim approach to the beloved character, making him anything but the classic superhero archetype. In fact, the movie would be more aptly categorized under the bracket of “action/thriller” than “action/adventure.” Its stern and steely Bruce Wayne personifies Gotham’s ruin through his disheveled appearance and stony demeanour. The story revolves around him investigating a series of mysterious deaths, each connected by a trail of riddle-filled letters addressed directly to The Batman. With Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy’s legacy serving as a Goliathan precedent, The Batman surely serves as strong proof that the future of DC’s most icon-

ic character is in safe hands.

The filming locations of London, Glasgow, and Liverpool create a noir backdrop with sweeping grandeur that ironically contrasts with Gotham’s crumbling morale and murky back alleys. Colossal aerial cinemashots beautifully capture the city, gripping the audience with every fast-paced camera-flight along Gotham’s night-slash-sky-line.

The symphonically chilling musical score complements the film by darkening every scene with a cold and calm tone, warning of dread with every note. These storytelling elements conjure up a horrifying iteration of Batman, turning him into the perfect anti-hero—a character just as terrifying and unpredictable as the movie’s villains, if not more.

The movie pits some of DC’s most recognizable antagonists against the Bat, such as the Penguin (Colin Farrell) and the Riddler (Paul Dano). The complex personalities channeled by these bad guys present a harrowing depiction of Gotham’s decaying underbelly, fleshing out its frac-

tured social setting. They are the result of everything wrong with the city, giving reason for Batman’s vengeance to rise.

Other supporting characters include some fan-favourites: Bruce’s butler and father-figure Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), good-cop James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), and the mysterious Catwoman/Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz). Each of these characters have their own personalities, flaws, and motivations, much like Batman himself. These complexities make The Batman about more than just Bruce Wayne.

The film celebrates its secondary characters in a Shakespearean manner, ensuring that they offer more than just development for the troubled protagonist.

That being said, rest assured, the film’s three hours offer more than enough Batman.

With unbridled commercial success—opening up with a global box office chart of $258.2 million in its debut week—The Batman translates the hype into reality. The film’s neo-noir theme keeps audiences on edge, pro-

Robert Pattinson follows in the footsteps of Christian Bale in the role of Batman. (ign.com) viding them with a gloomy and rain-battered setting for potential future installments. Notwithstanding early casting criticism, Pattinson’s gripping performance

makes him a deserving inheritor of the dark cape. With such a forceful film, it is difficult to wait for the next sighting of Gotham’s Caped Crusader.

On justice and mathematics

What does it mean to study in a field defined by inequalities?

Tasmin Chu, Features Editor

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here is a passage in Plato’s Meno that goes something like this: The well-born Meno asks for proof of Socrates’ claim that no one is ever taught anything, and instead they recollect things they already know. Socrates calls over one of Meno’s enslaved attendants and asks the boy, who has no mathematical experience, to solve a geometry problem. With Socrates’ guidance, the boy discovers how to double the area of a square, and Socrates suggests to Meno that what appears to be learning, then, was merely recollection: “These notions have just been stirred up in him, as in a dream.”

It’s a strange and interesting thought experiment, one that neatly crystallizes a belief agreed upon by most mathematicians—that math is a priori, meaning that mathematical truths come from theoretical deduction rather than experience. But in recent years, the more I think about this anecdote, the more the social context stands out to me rather than the philosophical argument. After the dialogue ends, the boy’s chance to engage in mathematics is over. He goes back to serving his master. What he is intrinsically capable of is philosophically interesting, but realizing his mathematical abilities is never considered.

In some ways, math can feel like the most apolitical subject of all. Its theorems proceed from axioms, not empirical data; it’s easy for, say, a pure mathematician to feel insulated from the world. But the field’s demographics reflect the stark inequalities of the society we live in.

Despite an influx of initiatives in the past few years, women remain underrepresented in STEM—and the problem is particularly severe for fields like mine.

While women have made significant gains in some areas of science, like psychology and life science, mathintensive fields remain behind in increasing female faculty representation.

Racial minorities face the same problem: Data from the United States’ National Science Foundation reveal that only 4.5 per cent of mathematics PhD recipients in 2017 were Hispanic or Latino, and only 2.8 per cent were Black. Census data from the same year suggests that Black people accounted for 12.3 per cent of the whole population, while Hispanic people accounted for 18.1 per cent.

Unfortunately, not everyone believes that there’s an obligation to change this state of affairs.

University of California, Berkeley’s Rob Kirby has maintained that the mathematical community

is “generally fair” to women and minorities. On his website, he wrote, “Our society is focused towards paying attention to (and believing??) charges of sexism against women, (but not towards examples of men treating men badly or treating women particularly well).” In 2019, the topologist Abigail Thompson condemned what she called “mandatory diversity statements” in a piece published in Notices of the American Mathematical Society. She was referring to the statements about “contributions to diversity” that some universities solicit from job applicants—a hiring practice which she compares to a McCarthy-era loyalty test. Recently, she and Kirby, among others, founded a new organization for promoting mathematics called the Association for Mathematical Research (AMR).

The AMR’s website is frustratingly vague; little distinguishes its purpose from pre-existing associations, like the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The number theorist Michael Harris, who was invited to join, saw the organization as a possible reaction to the AMS’s increasing focus on equity. As the AMR’s letter of invitation to him read, “Though individual members may be active in educational, social, or political issues related to the profession, the AMR intends to focus exclusively on matters of research and scholarship.”

The AMR has been met with backlash— including by Louigi Addario-Berry, a math professor at McGill. Addario-Berry has criticized the organization on his blog, writing, “The mathematical community is impoverished by its lack of diversity! A professional society that doesn’t share that view is not one that I see a great value in.”

When I talked with Addario-Berry, I asked him why there was so much backlash to diversity initiatives. He told me that empathy tends to be asymmetrical. For example, while I might think a lot about why white tenured academics find diversity initiatives unfair or censorious, they probably don’t think about someone like me before they pen their next op-ed.

“I think a lot of AMR signatories, or at least the founders, are really people who fundamentally haven’t spent very much time building empathy or putting themselves in the shoes of people who don’t feel welcome by the mathematical community,” h e told me. “If you have never given serious credence to the idea that the mathematical community is unwelcoming and discriminatory, and you

really do think that it’s a level playing field, then you’re going to be resentful of programs that are designed to level that playing field.”

In truth, Kirby or Thompson’s statements don’t particularly offend me. But I do find what they say stupid. How can math be apolitical?

The great mistake I see in the AMR is the unconsidered assumption that certain human pursuits can be isolated from the material and social conditions of the society in which we live.

All human activities are bound up, inevitably, with the normative. Even the surge of research into machine learning, for example, reflects the fact that companies are invested in using these tools for profit. And more generally, racial and gender minorities who endure discrimination outside the classroom are not instantly insulated from those experiences within it.

At the undergraduate level, gender representation in math is relatively decent at M c G i l l .

According to McGill’s official enrollment statistics, there are

currently 308 undergraduate female students and 508 undergraduate male students in math. (No other category for gender identities is listed, so it’s possible some of these students are non-binary or genderqueer as well.) But things change as you go up the ladder. This year, only nine of McGill’s 45 master’s students in mathematics are women, and the gender breakdown of the PhD students is even worse. In Fall 2020, only 11 per cent of the math department’s 61 PhD students were women. Even more startling is the fact that this percentage represents a drop from recent years. In 2016, 24 per cent of PhD students were female, but by 2018, it was down to 15 per cent.

Despite a surge in equity initiatives in recent years, the gender gap has only widened. The lack of female representation is certainly something that Shereen Elaidi, a master’s student in mathematics, notices in her program.

“You walk into the grad lounge,” Elaidi said.

“And I wouldn’t think about this [normally], but you realize at some point: ‘I’m the only female

here in the grad lounge.’”

It’s a depressing thought. I’m often grateful, at the undergraduate level, that so many of my classmates—and a handful of my professors— are women. At the same time, though, resolving inequalities has to go beyond diversity training and increased representation. Cost is a huge barrier for graduate studies at McGill. In order to maintain full-time studies, graduate students are only allowed to work 180 hours per term, or 12 hours a week, while completing their degree— something that can leave self-supported students with few solutions. For instance, Elaidi receives an $18k stipend, which also comes with the obligation that she works as a teaching assistant for two classes. At the same time, though, she pays $20k in tuition as an international student, meaning she studies in Montreal at cost.

“I’ve had to work so many jobs just to pay,” Elaidi said. “It sucks. It’s mentally exhausting.” She added, “The funding kind of assumes that you have another source of income to help you live.”

While graduate students will probably remain overworked for a long time, McGill could at least give international students a livable stipend.

Cost is just one reason that the pipeline is leaky, a metaphor for that way that women and racialized minorities gradually disappear from STEM the higher up you go. But I also wonder if earlier interventions, like better undergraduate teaching, could draw a greater diversity of people into math. After all, bad teaching, especially in math, can end up testing for academic background, rather than ability—and a student’s high school background in math will obviously intersect with race and class. Reaching people with less mathematical maturity is worth the struggle.

“Giving a talk where you get across the interesting and new ideas from a subfield in a way that gives some inkling of what they’re about to a broader audience is a real challenge,” AddarioBerry said. “Frankly, a lot of mathematicians don’t like to put in the time, and I understand it. We were almost all, in some sense, chosen for this, in the sense of having succeeded in getting a job based on a very narrow set of skills, which is almost exclusively the ability to write papers that get into good journals.”

Maybe it’s time to broaden what we look for in the mathematical community.

It’s always struck me as somewhat perverse that in a field where it is unusually hard to distill and transmit information from one person to another, we still don’t seem to care that much about good teaching. And while I understand the idea behind making academics teach—giving back to the scientific community, putting students in touch with current researchers—I also wonder if it’s time to separate these professions more fully, at least for introductory classes.

As Gavin Barill, a PhD student in the mathematics department, put it to me succinctly: “If you’re not investing in teaching, then you are using undergrads for their tuition.” He would know. Barill himself was turned off from math in undergrad by what he described as a “gatekeep-y” first-year analysis course; he ended up majoring in computer science. Speaking to him reminded me of all the people I know who are driven away from mathematics by courses that are rigorous but, frankly, taught poorly. Who gets excluded by this kind of pedagogy?

In many ways, I have an unusual level of privilege when it comes to mathematics. My father is a category theorist by training, and growing up, he would show me the odd proof here and there, demonstrating that √2 was irrational or that an infinite series converged to √2. Usually, I didn’t understand these proofs, and I would feel frustrated and mystified. At school,

I excelled in math, which meant I was forced to write math contests. But there were upsides, too; in seventh and eighth grade, I was placed in a small, collaborative math class. It felt like a class where I did puzzles all day with my friends.

By high school, though, things became more computational. Deep down, I often felt like an imposter: One who could easily take a derivative but lacked the creativity necessary to do real mathematics. So I started my degree in biology, and later, philosophy (with a minor in math). My image of a real mathematician was that of Carl Friedrich Gauss, who derived a beautiful summation formula as a child—or maybe it was Terence Tao, the youngest person to ever win a medal in the International Math Olympiad. Personally, I found mathematics contests stressful. As soon as I could avoid them, I did.

“We have explicitly and implicitly quite narrow ideas about who counts as a mathematician and what counts as mathematics,” AddarioBerry said. “On the spectrum, competitive problem solving is kind of the epitome of that, right? If you can solve tricky mathematical questions quickly, then you’re good at math.

Other kinds of thoughts that are slow and involve a lot of analogy, which is super important for advanced math—that’s very much not selected for reward at the primary, secondary, or university levels.”

In my second-year algebra course, though, I got lucky. During the pandemic, I worked through the details of rings and groups with the help of a supportive TA. Alone in my bedroom, I began to wonder if it had been a mistake to give up on math. And I had the startling realization that I was good at math—or maybe good enough at math. I knew I wasn’t exceptionally talented. But I didn’t need exceptional talent to keep doing math.

The imposter syndrome I had was insidious— but in many ways, it was also something that was culturally reinforced. The stereotype of a mathematician is still just “a lone man” in his ivory tower, as Elaidi put it pithily. Like me, she came from a humanities background first—something that can make you particularly vulnerable to feelings of not belonging.

“This is something I’ve noticed about the math department compared to other departments at McGill: Effortless talent is kind of rewarded,” Elaidi told me. “That culture thing made me dread it. Because none of this comes easy to me.”

Yet she stuck with math. During her undergrad, Elaidi participated in the math department’s Directed Reading Program (DRP), which pairs undergraduates with graduate student mentors.

With the guidance of her mentor, she researched special relativity and differential geometry. “That was literally what made me think I want to do math research,” she recalled.

Now Elaidi helps organize the DRP along with the graduate student who founded it, Peter Xu. The DRP gives students an opportunity to explore research and topics of their interest with a mentor. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to the NSERC or SURA research awards, which are highly dependent on GPA. The application for the DRP doesn’t take into account your transcript—a choice which Elaidi explained to me was intentional.

Talking with her reminded me that making the field more equitable doesn’t only look like diversity training. That’s an important part, to be sure, but increasing equity can be as simple as good pedagogy, dropping GPA requirements, and increasing the accessibility of research projects. Another thing that instructors could

model is a growth mindset—something Agnes Totschnig emphasized to me. Totschnig is one of several math students who founded Diversity in Math, a student group that aims to inspire people from all backgrounds to discover mathematics. “If you see math as something that you’re good at or not and everything comes easily to you, the first time you get stuck, it can be really scary,” Totschnig said.

So far, Diversity in Math has held workshops on mental health and imposter syndrome, as well as a panel demystifying the process of finding research projects. In many ways, Diversity in Math owes itself to the work of Rosalie Bélanger-Rioux, a faculty lecturer who has done enormous work for equity in the math department.

In 2020, BélangerRioux began the Math Equity Reading Group, giving faculty and students a chance to discuss issues of equity in the field and academia more generally. Right now, she’s thinking about organizing a training session for TA’s to get them thinking about pedagogical techniques and equity.

“The two of them actually really mesh together,” she explained to me. In fact, the same pedagogical techniques that have been shown to be good for underrepresented minorities are also “good for everyone, basically.” It was a refreshing thing to hear at a time when so often the needs of marginalized groups are pitted against the needs of everyone else. In the same vein, Bélanger-Rioux hopes that accommodations necessitated by the pandemic—generous grading schemes, optional midterms—might become more commonplace in the future.

“Whether or not COVID is over or almost over or whatever, bad stuff happens all the time,” Bélanger-Rioux said. “Yes, there was more bad stuff happening for everybody. But bad stuff happens all the time. Being more accommodating to students doesn’t mean being easy on them or giving them higher grades. It just means giving them a better opportunity to show us that they do know the stuff after all.”

These days, as I write my proofs and correct my notation, I think about my great-aunt, Diana Yun-dee Wei. She wrote her PhD thesis on torsion theory at McGill in the late 60s, a fact that was mundane as a child but became more extraordinary as I grew up. I can’t imagine earning a degree at that time and place with the background she had, but nevertheless, she survived difficult supervisors and grueling courses. After her was my father, who immigrated here from Taiwan when he was 14. He didn’t speak English before he came; as he told me once, “Math was the only subject I was good at.” But a bachelor’s became a master’s, and a master’s became a PhD. As for myself, I still wonder whether I can contribute at all to this field—if I have the ability or the discipline. But I’m reminded that improving the state of mathematics can be so much more broad than doing research. Doing math can also look like teaching my friends about the Cantor space and remaining critical of the status quo.

The academy is not paradise, as bell hooks wrote in Teaching to Transgress in 1994. But, she went on, “Learning is a place where paradise can be created. The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility.”

Designed by: Xiaotian Wang, Design Editor

10 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

arts@mcgilltribune.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

While some see comedic actors as uncut, their dramatic performances can become gems Posthuman Feminism Book Launch with Rosi Braidotti

Acclaimed academic and writer Professor Rosi Braidotti will discuss her latest book Posthuman Feminism.

Wednesday, March 16 at 1 PM On Zoom RSVP on Polity Publisher’s Facebook page.

Free

“Art For Charity” silent auction benefiting the Just For Kids Foundation

Attend a silent auction of amazing paintings donated from Montreal Artists for the benefit of the Just For Kids Foundation.

Wednesday, March 16 at 6 PM Allégorie Art Gallery RVSP at rsvp@allegorie.ca Free

Oh Snap! Open Mic and Snaps Launch

Join Mcsway Poetry Collective to the launching of their online journal Snaps. Come hear the poets read their work or join the open mic to share a piece.

Thursday, March 17 at 7PM On Zoom Sign up on Mcsway’s Facebook page Free

Myriam Gendron and L’Orchestre play Bob Dylan Attend Myriam Gendron & L’Orchestre’s revisiting of Bob Dylan’s classics translated to French at Cabaret Lion d’Or. Saturday, March 19 at 6:30 PM. Cabaret Lion d’Or Tickets on sale on lepointdevente.com 15$ online / 18$ on-site

COMIC Ruobing Chen / The McGill Tribune

Surprisingly good film roles come from devaluing creative labels Charlotte Hayes Staff Writer

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omedy is said to stem from tragedy, so it isn’t too far of a stretch to suggest that a great comedic actor could be an equally great dramatic actor. In fact, many performers have proved this hypothesis, from Adam Sandler’s tremendous performance in Uncut Gems to Steve Carell’s captivating role in Little Miss Sunshine. While some would expect skilled comedy actors to have little talent when it comes to serious dramas, many have delivered phenomenal performances that would rival some from the all-time greats. When artists subvert expectations in their performances, it demonstrates how creative labels can block actors from breaking out into great roles in different styles of film.

While not all of the more serious performances from comedy actors are successful—see Amy Schumer in Thank you for Your Service—others have surprised audiences with their impressive dramatic acting. Like Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting, some of comedy’s biggest names have prospered and been warmly received by critics and audience members alike.

But this should not be surprising: Comedians and comic actors often make light of their own tragedies or suffering to fuel their comedic work. This,

Adam Sandler won several awards for his dramatic role in ‘Uncut Gems.’ (ew.com) in combination with the need for a strong sense of performance timing and awareness, makes many comedic actors particularly adept at working in more dramatic settings. The natural instinct for knowing when a comedic beat will hit parallels a seasoned actors’ instinct for recognizing when a particularly tense emotional beat should hit. Many comedy actors also have a deep commitment to their bits, no matter how ridiculous or melancholy the subject matter. Translating that into a dramatic performance cre-

ates mesmerizing characters that are often magnetic to watch.

However unsuccessful some may be at transitioning into dramatic roles, comedic actors seem to do drastically better than one group in particular: Musicians. Countless musicians have found their way onto the big screen, with varying levels of success. Occasionally you end up with electric performances like those from Lady Gaga in A Star is Born or Justin Timberlake in The Social Network. These musicians play off of their strengths as stage performers to deliver exhilarating performances on screen. Although they are by no means the same thing, the ability to entertain an audience at a concert can translate well to charming audiences on the big screen. However, for every good transition into Hollywood, there are a thousand bad ones: Artists like Taylor Swift in Cats and Adam Levine in Fun Mom Dinner maybe should’ve just stuck to working on their next albums. Some musicians, even with prior acting experience, seem almost too famous to play anyone other than themselves—a category that doesn’t really have a comedic counterpart. Ariana Grande’s appearance in Don’t Look Up and Harry Styles’ in Dunkirk, although not necessarily bad, could sometimes distract from the plots of the respective films.

Although many actors could be considered mixed bags, comedic actors generally fare better than dramatic actors in delivering good performances against type. With such great performances in multitudes, it is beyond time to stop putting performers in creative boxes. Although seeing a performer act against their usual type can be wonderfully surprising, putting too much stock in labels can prevent actors from accessing breakout roles in different genres. Audiences are missing out on fresh and innovative performances by pigeonholing and typecasting performers and artists as either funny or serious, rather than a more important trait: talented.

scitech@mcgilltribune.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2021

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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Six McGill undergrads win UofT international artificial intelligence competition

Winning submission uses AI to design new hospital ventilator model DeepVent Mikaela Shadick Staff Writer

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team of six undergraduate McGill students placed first in the International Artificial Intelligence Competition ProjectX, which ran from Sept. 1 to Jan. 31. Hosted by the University of Toronto, the annual competition challenges students to develop new models of machine learning with practical, real-world applications. Of the three categories open for submissions, including clinical practice, epidemiology, and genetics, the group placed first in clinical practice and received $25,000 in prize money.

The team worked to create DeepVent, a patient ventilator model that operates through reinforcement learning (RL)—a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that aims to recognize patterns in data to improve subsequent decision making.

Reinforcement learning is a small, yet rapidly developing subfield of AI and machine learning. When provided with a dataset the algorithm can begin to recognize patterns so that it can learn which decisions are more beneficial to reach a certain goal, similar to the way humans learn a new skill. Reinforcement learning is the same type of AI which now holds the title for best chess player in the world.

“It’s really impossible to [teach] all the different moves in chess,” Flemming Kondrup, U4 Science student and member of the winning team, said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “So what you do instead is you play the agent against itself, and [...] it learns a general pattern of how to play. That’s how humans learn as well, [because] they develop an intuition of what’s a good move and what’s a bad move.”

With this type of ‘intuitive’ analysis, RL can be used in medicine to learn from historical health data so that doctors can find the best, most personalized long-term treatment

There was global participation in the U of T Artificial Intelligence Competition, including teams from Poland, Chile, and Brazil.

(McGill Reporter) for individual patients.

“RL also looks into the future, and predicts how the treatment it’s going to give now is going to affect future treatment options,” Kondrup explained. “A really good chess player doesn’t just do a move that’s good now, but sometimes they might sacrifice a move now for a better move later. And the same thing applies to health care.”

The DeepVent team plans to use their model to regulate the dynamic ventilation needs of patients in hospital intensive care units. ICU doctors, who are often overworked and overwhelmed, may find it difficult to monitor the ventilation settings of multiple patients at once. DeepVent provides a solution to this through its personalized ventilation system that would adjust to changes in a patient’s breathing.

Their results have shown a 59 per cent expected enhancement in overall treatment quality.

“As a disease evolves, you need to adjust the settings on the ventilator,” Kondrup said.“Doctors have to constantly monitor patients and adjust these settings, and that can be pretty challenging.”

The average hospital ventilator settings include functions to manage the fraction of oxygen inhaled from the

surrounding environment (FIO2), the expiratory pressure when a patient breathes out (PEEP), and the volume of air inhaled (tidal volume), all of which can impact a patient’s respiration—and as a result, their overall health. DeepVent envisions a ventilator with a built-in feedback mechanism that self-adjusts the settings without doctors having to intervene.

Another challenge the team addressed is the extensive training and experience health-care professionals need to effectively manage ventilated patients.

“In order for a health-care practitioner to treat patients well, they need [...] years of experience,” Kondrup said.

“You can train AI on data of tens of thousands of patients [and] on what a real human being would need years to experience.”

As ventilators have been so central during the pandemic, it will be important to continue advancing the field of respiratory technology, both to help our intensive care units now, and into the post-pandemic future.

“The idea of DeepVent is that instead of just focussing on the present, it tries to promote long-term health and survival,” Kondrup said.

The astronomical discovery of a new star

Astronomers identify a new star coated in helium-burning ashes

Chloe Gavrilovic Contributor

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recent discovery among the stars has caught the global attention of many astronomers and astrophysicists, as its existence challenges the fundamental theories of stellar astronomy.

The new star is coated in oxygen and carbon, elements that form when helium is burned, as discovered by German astronomer Klaus Werner and his team at the University of Tübingen.

Their findings conflict with the previous understanding of stellar evolution and the formation of white dwarfs.

When larger stars that have exhausted their nuclear fuel collapse inwards on themselves, they form small dense bodies of carbon and oxygen known as white dwarfs. Typically, stars are covered in layers of hydrogen and helium and only become coated with carbon and oxygen after undergoing a nuclear collapse. However, this new star has layers of these elements on its surface—the “ashes” of helium

burning. It also has temperatures and radii that are indicative of continuous helium burning at its core, meaning that the surface of the star is somehow expressing the products of a nuclear reaction occurring within its core without having to use the rest of its helium fuel.

Scientists speculate that this strange occurrence is a result of a rare stellar merger event between two white dwarf stars. White dwarfs in close binary systems tend to shrink their orbit as a result of emitted gravitational pull and eventually crash into each other, causing a stellar merger event. But these events don’t usually lead to a carbon and oxygen-covered surface like that of the star discovered by Werner.

Professor Victoria Kaspi, an astrophysicist at McGill, researches highly magnetized and rapidly rotating neutron stars. In an email to The McGill Tribune, Kaspi explained the novelty of this new star and the theory behind its formation.

“Seeing heavier elements in more than merely trace amounts is unexpected because they are

thought to be created only deep in the interior of the star, and not easily escape from there,” Kaspi wrote. ”How do you turn a star inside out? The idea here is that if a merger had happened, it would have torn apart the star so the interior would mix with the exterior, then settled into a new configuration with some of the insides on the surface.”

This phenomenon further muddles scientists’ current collective understanding of stellar

merger events, since they cannot be explained by current stellar evolution models. Discoveries like Werner’s, then, can help develop new theoretical models and lead to breakthroughs in the field.

“Interesting stars like these reveal the full range of possibilities in the structure of stars, and how they evolve and interact in binary systems,” Kaspi wrote.

“They show that nature is capable of a very rich phenomenol-

Stars can have a lifespan of a few million years to a trillion years before burning out and consuming all of their fuel. (Nicole Reindl)

ogy.”

New technologies, such as high-performing telescopes, are allowing astronomers to record the temperature and size of these stars using their emitted radio waves or X-rays. Recording these waves is a critical component of stellar observation and is necessary for any analysis of the structure and formation of stars. Werner’s lab used a Large Binocular Telescope for this particular discovery, allowing the researchers to identify the high abundance of carbon and oxygen instead of hydrogen and helium.

Beyond piquing the interest of many astronomers, the hydrogen-deficient star could also be a key piece of evidence explaining newer stellar theories of star formation, especially when combined with previous discoveries.

“These observations also give us a new angle with which to understand stellar mergers; computer simulations of merging stars will now have to sometimes result in this sort of configuration,” wrote Kaspi. “This will help us understand the physics of the merging process.”

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

scitech@mcgilltribune.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2021

Socio-economic factors affect a country’s ability to cope with extreme temperatures Developing countries more vulnerable to the negative effects of heatwaves Sonja Soo Contributor

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ith the steady rise of global temperatures on Earth, many countries are experiencing more intense and frequent heatwaves—periods of extremely high temperatures that can last from several days to several weeks.

A new study conducted in collaboration with researchers from McGill found that people in lowincome countries are more likely to be exposed to heatwaves, and in turn, will likely suffer worse consequences in the years to come. Although it is known that heatwaves impact various communities differently, this study is the first to quantify these effects by analyzing historical data and using climate models to project future temperatures.

Different socio-economic factors, such as the availability of electricity needed to cool buildings down, were incorporated into the estimate of how well a country can adapt to heatwaves.

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, a McGill PhD candidate in bioresource engineering and lead author of the study, explained

that heat exposure is unequally divided between countries with different socio-economic statuses.

While some countries with more resources are able to combat the heat, many lower-income ones lack the infrastructure necessary to do so.

“Water supply, housing technologies, and cooling systems [...] all compound and exacerbate the difficulties associated with heatwaves,” Alizadeh said.

The researchers found that in the last decade, countries with lower per capita gross domestic product (GDP) had more than 40 per cent higher exposure to heatwaves compared to countries with higher individual economic output.

This is largely due to a comparative lack of resources—including capital, infrastructure, and policies—all of which can be put toward mitigating climate change risk. Looking ahead, the study projects that many of these lower-income nations will experience up to five times more exposure to heatwaves by 2060.

It comes as no surprise that countries with more access to water and electricity to power fans and air conditioning are better-situated to deal with heatwaves. In contrast, many developing countries lack

these resources, resulting in higher mortality rates during extreme weather events.

High temperatures can cause heat exhaustion and heat strokes— conditions that can damage major organs in the body. During this past summer alone, nearly 600 people died in British Columbia from heatwaves, and countries like Argentina and Paraguay experienced temperatures rocketing up to 45 degrees Celsius. Sustained periods of exposure to extreme temperatures can also cause the loss of crops and livestock, further straining food security. Moreover, hot and dry conditions often encourage wildfires, which impact air quality with their release of ash and smoke—irritants that can damage the lungs and exacerbate heart conditions.

Although lower-income nations are most affected by heatwaves and other natural disasters produced by climate change, wealthier nations such as China and the U.S. are responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions. To address this inequality, developed countries have pledged to provide $100 billion USD a year to help developing countries. These funds could help low-income nations invest in the infrastructure

Heatwaves not only put a strain on water and energy resources but can cause severe health conditions and death. (Alizadeh et al. / Heatwave Inequality Infographic.) and technology needed to adapt to extreme temperatures such as cooling systems. But so far, this goal has not yet been reached—most developed countries have failed to meet their own emissions targets, let alone implement measures elsewhere.

“We need to reconsider the infrastructures, urban design, systems, policy options [...] to be adapted to the pace of climate change that is getting faster and

faster,” Alizadeh said.

According to Alizadeh, solutions such as heatwave warning systems can allow communities to prepare for extreme heat events, thereby minimizing their harmful effects. Because early season heatwaves in particular are hard to predict, it is essential that governments raise awareness and design systems to allow those in high-risk areas to prepare for extreme weather conditions.

Excavating Earth’s history through ancient rock formations

Scientists use rocks to create a more accurate picture of oxygen levels millions of years ago Adam Matthews-Kott Science & Technology Editor

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caling mountainous terrain or keeping an eye out for grizzly bears and moose while wading through the flowing rivers of the Yukon may not seem typical of academic work. But these were

only some of the many challenging conditions McGill researchers endured while conducting a recent study looking at oxygen levels on Earth before they started rising roughly 2.43 billion years ago.

Maxwell Letche, a postdoctoral researcher in Earth sciences at McGill and lead author of the study, explained that the

A new study works to determine a clearer picture of what the earth’s atmosphere looked like millions of years ago. (Huffington Post)

redox state of iron-rich sedimentary rocks can tell us about atmospheric composition long ago.

“When the earth first formed, we didn’t have photosynthesizers around, so the atmosphere must have been anoxic,” Letche said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “We’re trying to look at the transition from no oxygen to lots of oxygen on the earth.”

Nearly all of the life on Earth owes its existence in part to oxygen. If a human doesn’t receive enough oxygen, they will die. If the grizzly bear currently stalking that human doesn’t receive enough oxygen, it will also die. Understanding the oxygen levels at different points in the Earth’s history, coupled with the evolutionary timeline of life on Earth, provides valuable insight into the development of life as a whole.

“When you’re looking at sedimentary rock, you’re looking at a collection of minerals and rocks that have accumulated in a depositional environment that has been influenced by a number of different surface processes, like weathering, transport, and changes that can occur as that sediment was converted […] into rock,” Letche said.

This aggregated collection allowed Letche and his team to simultaneously study a variety of different minerals and their reaction to oxygen levels at their time

of formation. Such an analysis required gathering a variety of samples, which is why Letche found himself in remote, untarnished parts of the world such as the Eastern Yukon.

The study gives us a more accurate understanding of the relationship between oxygen levels across the planet and the formation of early life forms. One finding was that the Earth experienced a period of low atmospheric oxygen levels. Previously, scientists had assumed that the Earth either had no oxygen or a large abundance of oxygen later on, in response to photosynthesis.

“What we argue is […] if the earth was capable of maintaining a small but non-zero level of oxygen, this could be completely consumed by surface reactions [and] these oxygen levels could be below what is detectable by telescopes,” Letche said. “Another potential suggestion being made is we could instead look for ozone.

We only need a small amount of oxygen in the atmosphere in order to produce ozone.”

As ozone is more detectable than oxygen, searching for this compound could allow scientists to screen more planets for potential signs of life. Understanding of the relationship between the development of life on Earth could even prove useful in the ongoing search for life on other planets.

studentlife@mcgilltribune.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

STUDENT LIFE

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Themed dinner parties for McGill students

Dress up the McGill way Holly Wethey Student Life Editor

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hen gatherings themed as The Great Gatsby or dress-as-your-favouriteSpotify-artist start to feel old, why not take a distinctly McGill spin on things? The Tribune has you covered with 10 McGill-inspired themes that are sure to wow your guests.

1

Dress as your favourite Redpath cafe salad

Are you a caesar salad with chicken slices? Or are you a $15 Mandy’s salad because you’re not cheap? The diversity of salads provides a plethora of options from which guests can choose.

2

Everyone dresses as Big Suze

Spotting Big Suze on campus is the ultimate McGill Where’s Waldo.

Imagine if there were 10 Big Suzes parading around your apartment!

Ask guests to don a blond bob and red jacket to replicate our favourite principal’s look. That being said, costumes aren’t the most important

part of this party––it’s essential that you communicate all of the details about the party only through vague, passive-aggressive emails.

major from an alternate universe— there’s nothing like seeing Derek from Management with safety pin earrings and black nail polish.

3

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Everything but adequate mental health services party

You’ve heard about everything but clothes parties, but have you ever been to an everything but adequate mental health services party? This one hits different.

4

Toga party but host it at a Classics Wine and Cheese

Take your toga party to the next level by holding it at the ultimate venue: A Classics wine and cheese!

Everyone there will be thrilled by your ultra-realistic interpretation of their major.

5

Tote bag party

This one’s for the Arts students who refuse to carry their belongings in a backpack like everyone else.

Encourage guests to create outfits made up only of tote bags––for added effect, fill the tote bags with

For a Gerts-themed party, place a pool table in the corner, but don’t let anyone use it. (mcgill.ca) various objects that clang around incessantly as you walk, like keys, loose papers, juul pens, and cigarettes.

6

Office Hours party

Ask half of the participants to dress as professors and the other half to dress like students. Replicate the excruciatingly awkward moments of office hours by pairing guests off with random people you know they have nothing in common with.

Bonus: Admit only one person every 10 minutes and encourage them to form an ambiguous line in the hallway so they end up entering out of order.

7

Dress as NOT your major

We’ve all been to parties where we’ve had to dress as our major, but how many of us can say we’ve attended a dress as NOT your major party? Tell attendees to dress as their

Birks entrance themed party

Tell party-goers to take their shoes off at the door and encourage the first person who leaves to take someone else’s shoes in order to create confusion. Bonus points for slippery tile floors or outside detritus. To further replicate the Birks experience, start hiding shoes throughout the apartment periodically when no one is looking.

9

Gerts party

Divide roles among guests to recreate the atmosphere of Gerts with its many groups of bar-goers.

Examples include a group of first-years loudly singing Taylor Swift and taking up three tables, management bros discussing their latest bitcoin acquisitions and jaded fourth-years who have been there since 2 p.m. Pour beer on the floor beforehand for the ultimate stickiness.

Student experiences of the ongoing invasion in Ukraine from Montreal Ukrainian and Russian students call on McGill for support Ghazal Azizi Staff Writer Content warning: Mentions of war and violence.

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n Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine after months of military buildup along its border. Since then, Russian forces have been invading and bombing major cities in Ukraine, claiming 636 civilian lives and forcing 2.8 million people to flee as of March 14.

In response to the invasion, Canada and numerous other countries have placed sanctions on Russia, including banning Russian fuel imports and freezing foreign assets held by Russia’s central bank and oligarchs. Meanwhile, police forces have detained more than 5000 protesters in Russia as anti-war demonstrations break out across the

As unsolicited footage of the war flood social media platforms, Ukrainian international students struggle with the duality of being physically safe but mentally at war. (boredpanda.com)

country.

As the invasion unfolds, Ukrainian and Russian people across the world have been overwhelmed with both mental and financial stress.

Kateryna Tyutyunyk, U1 Engineering, was born and raised in Ukraine. She has been watching the invasion rage on and endanger the lives of her immediate family members and friends who are currently in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. For Tyutyunyk, it has been heart-wrenching to be distanced from her loved ones while knowing their lives are at risk. “[My friends and family] would go to sleep sometimes and not be able to answer [calls or texts] and for me that would cause an anxiety attack, because I’m not sure if they are sleeping or if they are just no longer there,” Tyutyunyk said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “It’s been very distressing for me to see things go on normally here while I’m in full awareness that my family and friends are fighting for their lives. It almost disassociates you from your reality, because you are mentally experiencing a war too, even if you are not physically there.”

For Russian international students, the economic impact of the war and sanctions are causing uncertainty.

Canada, the European Union, United States, and the United Kingdom have banned many Russian banks from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). Credit card companies Visa and MasterCard have suspended the operations of foreign cards in Russia and Russian cards outside of the country amid sanctions.

As an international student, Daria Rybina, U1 Arts, is financially cut off from her parents in Russia. She has even been facing difficulty accessing funds that her family is trying to transfer to her through Chinese banks. With the value of Russia’s ruble falling due to foreign sanctions on Russia’s economy, Rybina has to find a part-time job in Canada.

“I’m working as an English tutor for Russian kids, but [clients] have been paying me on my Russian card which no longer works in Canada,” Rybina said. “The money that I was getting before was not much, but it was enough for me as a student. Now with ruble going down, it wouldn’t even be enough when converted, so I’m looking for a job here to get paid in Canadian dollars.”

Oleksandra Vydysh, U0 Arts, is a Ukrainian international student at McGill. The invasion has been mentally and financially taxing for Vydysh, whose family resides in Dnipro, a city 80 kilometres north of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine. In addition to her fears for her family’s safety, Vydysh says that the financial hardship has been debilitating. She urges the McGill administration to provide a program of financial aid for those affected by war.

“I’m glad that officials at McGill are acknowledging what is going on, but I do find their statements to be impractical,” Vydysh said. “I think what the majority of students need is financial support from McGill [...] It would be a good idea, for example, to have bursaries for Ukrainian students.”

Gregory Kosoy, a Ukrainian U3 Science student, denounced the political theatre that has formed around the invasion. Recently, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra cancelled a performance by Alexander Malofeev, a Russian pianist. Kosoy finds these anti-Russian stances to be performative, and criticized those who demand only statements from the administration or the Student Society of McGill University (SSMU).

“I think statements are performative unless something concrete is being done,” Kosoy said. “Sure, it’s noble of McGill to provide mental health counseling to people being affected by this, but in reality what McGill needs to do is to start raising money.”

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STUDENT LIFE

studentlife@mcgilltribune.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

Spring break diaries

Students re-energize for the last few months of the semester Sabrina Nelson Contributor

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fter an intense period of midterms and deadlines, reading week always comes as a much-needed break.

Some take advantage of the break as an opportunity to catch up on any missed lectures or readings. Though the week off can be a good time to get a headstart on upcoming work, it’s also always important to get adequate rest and unwind from the stress built up throughout the school year. The McGill Tribune caught up with several students to see what they got up to over the break.

Lucille Applegate (U1 Arts) Feeling exhausted and burnt out from midterm season, Applegate needed a real break from school to unwind and gain back her energy in order to tackle the semester’s last leg with strength. She wanted a change in environment, so Applegate decided to leave Montreal for a few days and visit some family members in Chicago.

“I rested for most of my time in Chicago by binge-watching Grey’s Anatomy, wandering around the city, catching up on some books, and working on my extracurriculars,” Applegate said. “After midterm season and a lot of uncertainty since the start of the semester because of covid, this was a much-needed break for a lot of people.

I feel energized and ready to take on March, with a lot of very fun stuff happening over the month as [COVID-19] rules ease down.”

Tracy Berbari (U1 Management) As most of her friends stayed in Montreal and a few had come to visit from Vancouver, Waterloo, and Toronto, Berbari felt she should stay in Montreal for the week. Over the break, Berbari focussed on finding a balance between seeing her friends, going out, binge-watching shows, and studying for her midterms. With the majority of her midterms scheduled for after reading week, she spent a lot of time studying.

“Reading week did not really feel like a break, but then at the same time, it kind of did,” Berbari said. “Due to the amount of work that my professors had given me for the week, I felt overwhelmed. Yet, this break was much needed and enabled me to get back in the right headspace to focus on my work and re-energize.”

Overall, she enjoyed the break, as it allowed her to follow her own schedule by prioritizing things that she wanted to do, such as hanging out with friends and family, all whilst working hard.

“These past few months had been pretty overwhelming and exhausting due to study and work,” Berbari explained. “But, I was able to relax this week and get back some strength to tackle the rest of the semester.”

Héloise Kissel (U2 Management) Kissel made use of the break to hang out with friends and relax. She spent her days wandering around Montreal, exploring cafes and restaurants with her friends, and watching movies with her roommate.

“We kind of have a movie theatre set up at our apartment, and every night we would either watch a movie or catch up on a series,” Kissel said. “After a couple of intense weeks of studying, it felt good to unwind and relax with friends over small things.”

Despite still having to work over the

break, Kissel managed to find a balance between relaxing and studying. As she usually sticks to a fixed schedule for each day of the week, it felt freeing to be able to make spontaneous plans with friends. An avid lover of Korean food, Kissel visited DaDashi during the week, a Korean restaurant on SaintCatherine Street.

“One evening, my friends and I decided to go out and eat at a Korean restaurant, and oh my God, it was so good!” Kissel said. “It felt really nice to be able to just peacefully eat out with some friends and not have to constantly think about assignments.”

A week of freedom from school schedules comes each March, and students show there’s no one correct way of spending it, with some escaping the city and others staying home to rest or catch up with friends beyond campus. (Kellyane Levac / The McGill Tribune)

Five small habits to reduce your digital ecological footprint Double click and help the environment Lillian Borger Contributor

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ven though the internet is not a space we associate with physical resources or landscapes, it very much affects it.

It is an unfathomably large resource and therefore requires resources to sustain it, even if it seems as simple as opening your laptop. Studies estimate that digital technologies are responsible for around four

per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Thanks to the pandemic, our online presence has increased dramatically, driving up our energy use along with it. While there’s no use in worrying about the environmental impact of every text you send, digital technology is undeniably becoming an increasingly substantial part of the world’s energy usage. Our digital footprint is part of everything we do

Though the internet may seem like a nonphysical, floating presence that powers our lives, carbon dioxide is needed to run our devices and wireless networks. (istockphoto.com)

online, but there are small internet habits you can incorporate into your daily routine to help reduce it.

Unsubscribe from spam emails

the use of solar panels, it is also carbon-negative, which means the organization actually offsets more carbon than they produce. You can add this extension to any search engine by searching up “Ecosia.”

estimate that data centres represent over one per cent of the world’s energy usage, and this is rapidly increasing as the internet receives more and more traffic. If you can avoid downloading documents you don’t need to keep (think of all those school readings…), this will also help decrease your digital footprint.

While emails don’t produce the same physical waste as paper mail does, each still has a carbon footprint of roughly four grams of CO2—which rises to 50 grams when accounting for any attachments. This is because of the energy needed to send emails and store the content in physical data centres. If you get 30 spam emails a day, that’s the equivalent of burning 19 litres of diesel gas a year. Multiply this by everyone you know, and that’s a lot of carbon emissions. And really, who needs that many emails from Facebook and Aritzia, anyway?

Websites like unroll.me can make unsubscribing super quick and easy.

Watch videos in standard definition instead of 4K

Delete old files from your “cloud”

Leaving your tech charging all the time, or leaving certain chargers plugged into the wall, is a rarely-considered way many waste energy every day. This is especially true for plugged in devices that actively use energy (either through staying updated, blinking lights to signal being on, etc). Getting in this habit of unplugging will also save you money down the road by gradually decreasing your electricity bill.

Download the Ecosia search engine

Your content in the “cloud” is actually being stored in data centre servers all around the globe, not just on your local computer. These data centers require a lot of energy to operate, whether to help transfer data over long distances, or keep the computers cool. Organizations

Individual action won’t save the planet—tech corporations also need to fix their structural environmental degradation.

Nonetheless, simple lifestyle changes are a sure way to decrease one’s personal ecological footprint.

Ecosia is an environmentally friendly search engine extension that uses a portion of its ad revenue to plant trees, instead of lining the pockets of CEOs! Through

Watching a video on your phone in 4K resolution leads to eight times more carbon emissions than watching the same content in standard definition. Make sure to change those video settings, especially when downloading videos or movies to watch later. If you are sending videos to others, try to send them using links instead of file downloads, as this takes much less energy, and will probably be less annoying to your friends as well.

While you’re at it, check your chargers!

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

sports@mcgilltribune.com

SPORTS

15

Women’s volleyball defeats Sherbrooke to secure first-ever RSEQ championship title Iannotti and Robitaille awarded RSEQ all-star first-team honours Madison McLauchlan Managing Editor

most talented team cohesion-wise [....] When we play together as a team, we’re invincible.”

Teammate Iannotti emphasized the immense team effort that went into their road to victory, both on and off the court.

“I think [this win] really meant everything because this team is not led by one or two people,” she said. “What you see here today is the tip of the iceberg of the group of people that was working toward this.”

The Martlets are now slated to compete for a national title in Calgary the weekend of March 22.

L

ove Competition Hall was packed shoulder-toshoulder. It was March 12—the day Quebec ditched vaccine passports and a slew of other COVID-19 restrictions, two years after the pandemic began. While many across the city were celebrating the move, at McGill, the Martlets volleyball team (14-5) were rejoicing as they defeated the Sherbrooke Vert et Or (11-6) in four sets to win a best-ofthree conference championship series. The victory marked the first RSEQ title in the team’s history.

The opening game on March 11 saw the Martlets win 3-1 on visiting turf, but the teams were neck-and-neck in points and blocks.

“I think our biggest challenge was that we won yesterday, so we had to [...] start again from zero, not to sit on our victory and just go all-out,” said Clara Poiré in a post-game interview on March 12. The third-year right-side hitter racked up 10.5 points and four digs in game two.

In the first set, the top-seeded Vert et Or quickly gained a lead, while the Martlets faltered, taking an early time-out to regroup. Yet, team spirits were high—with every lost point, the girls would band together for a quick word of encouragement.

“Coach always gives us cues as to what we can improve, and [...] we had a model of one point at a time,” Poiré said.

“We [would] look each other in the eyes to remind each other of that model during the time-outs.”

Sherbrooke was a force to be reckoned with—their sheer strength of will could be felt behind every spike, kill, and serve. Their blocks were their strongest suit in the first set, with gasps of disappointment making their way through the McGill crowd as shot after shot was denied at the net. Three out of McGill’s first four points were on Sherbrooke’s service errors alone. The first set went to the visitors, 25-13.

“This was never going to be an easy match, and we dropped that first set, and we had to pick ourselves back up,” said co-captain Victoria Iannotti. “For a young team, that was the biggest challenge—showing maturity in a stressful

Star player Charlene Robitaille iced Sherbrooke out with three of the nine total aces in Saturday’s game.

(Matt Garies / McGill Athletics) situation.”

McGill spent most of the second set still lagging behind, but the momentum switched when they managed five points in a row to catch up to their opponents. The team painstakingly rallied for the lead, with fourth-year libero Catherine Verchevel tallying a whopping 16 digs against Shebrooke’s lethal hits.

“Sherbrooke is just a fantastic team,” Iannotti said. “We were very evenly matched. They’re fighters, we’re fighters, so it was about who can dig deep and keep fighting even when times were tough, even when you’re down a few points.”

The third and fourth sets saw the Martlets playing their best volleyball of the evening. Power hitter Iannotti and allstar middle blocker Charlene Robitaille led by example on the court with their infectious enthusiasm. Iannotti, as usual, led the team with a game-high 15 kills.

Up by nine points in the final set, McGill’s final serve was a nail in the coffin for Sherbrooke’s defeat. As the ball hit the floor, the spectators, staff, and team went wild. As for how it felt to win this title with this team after two seasons lost to the pandemic, Poire was unequivocally happy.

“Honestly, it’s amazing,” she said. “Personally, it’s the

MOMENT OF THE GAME

Coming back from a five-point deficit in the second set, co-captain Victoria Iannotti slammed the ball into the back left corner of the court before Sherbrooke could even react, bringing the score to 21-21.

QUOTABLE

“To bring this win to Rachele, our coach, in her 30th season, for everything that we sacrificed and worked through in the pandemic, really means everything, and it’s a testament to our resilience and perseverance.”

—Third-year power hitter Victoria Iannotti

STAT CORNER

Charlene Robitaille, fifth-year middle blocker, was named the RSEQ women’s volleyball player of the year. She played in every single set this season—a total of 46—and has the second-best hitting percentage in the league (.335).

‘Drive to Survive’ Season 4: A pit stop before the 2022 season

Netflix series highlights roster shakeups and promising teams to watch one week before season kickoff Erin Smith Staff Writer

O

n March 11, Netflix released the fourth season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive (DTS), a 10-episode docuseries on the 2021 F1 season. With most episodes highlighting a different team or race, the series draws in avid fans and curious newcomers alike to explore the ups and downs of the intense world of F1. Despite criticisms of the series’ deceptive dramatizations, season four only adds to the hype surrounding F1 as the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first race of the 2022 season on March 20, quickly approaches.

The starting grid of the 2022 season features some changes from the 2021 lineup. One of the biggest changes is the roster for Mercedes, the winner of the 2021 Constructors’ Championship. In Sept. 2021,

George Russell announced that he would be leaving Williams and instead signing a contract with Mercedes, joining seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Depicted as a promising young driver dealing with a struggling Williams team, Russell has been a member of the Mercedes junior programme since 2016. This move left Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas without a team for the 2022 season, until he announced that he had signed with Alfa Romeo. Bottas will be joined by Guanyu Zhou, China’s first ever F1 driver, at Alfa Romeo. Filling in the gap for Williams is the ex-Red Bull driver Alex Albon.

Apart from these changes, the majority of F1 teams are maintaining the 2021 statusquo. Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, AlphaTauri, and Aston Martin have kept the same roster of drivers. The most notable difference is also the subject of the season’s

The new season of Drive to Survive highlights the intense rivalry between Redbull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. (Netflix)

fourth episode: Haas dropping driver Nikita Mazepin, the son of Russian oligarch Dimitry Mazepin—the owner of fertilizer company Uralkali, a former sponsor of Haas. F1 and Haas’ decision comes amidst a growing movement in the world of professional sports to prevent the participation of Russian athletes and Russian events following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Haas broke ties with Uralkali, removing its logo from its cars and merchandise, and designed new livery without the colours of the Russian flag. With a new vacancy on the Haas team, Mick Schumacher will be joined by Danish driver Kevin Magnussen. Eyes will be on this team as they hope to bounce back from a disappointing 2021 season by attempting to build the perfect car as per the new 2022 regulations. As it stands, Haas remains optimistic after outstanding times in recent practice events in Barcelona and Bahrain.

The new season of Drive to Survive also reminds viewers of the fiery rivalry between 2021 World Championship winner Max Verstappen and runner-up Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen refused to appear on the show, leaving Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to speak for him and his team. The drama climaxed with the championshipdeciding Abu Dhabi GP. F1 race director

Michael Masi elected to speed up the end of the procedure, and a controversial safety-car restart toward the end of the race resulted in a frantic final lap where Verstappen pulled ahead. The situation left Hamilton disheartened with the sport, stating that he lost faith in its ability to police races fairly. He has since stated that he is “coming back stronger” and is ready to reclaim the championship title.

Verstappen’s blistering practice times and Hamilton’s reinvigorated spirit indicate that this rivalry will be very much alive for the 2022 season.

Practice times, however, are not necessarily an accurate prediction of how the season will play out. The 2022 season will see a new fleet of cars transformed in light of some serious regulation changes that were curated to ensure better and more exciting racing. In short, the changes feature an aerodynamics overhaul that creates a vacuum beneath the floor of the cars, facilitating passing and leading to a drastic increase in downforce that permits drivers to closely follow other cars.

With Mercedes dominating previous seasons, it is expected that these changes will shake up the standings. As F1 embarks on a new era with its latest cohort, next week’s race in Bahrain marks the beginning of a new season of drama and intrigue.

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SPORTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 15 2022

sports@mcgilltribune.com

McGill track team impresses at Redbirds Last Chance meet

Jorden Savoury broke her own school record in the 60m with a time of 7.47 seconds Sarah Farnand Sports Editor

O

n March 10 and 11, the McGill track team hosted the Redbirds Last Chance meet, their final competition before the RSEQ Championships this upcoming weekend. On Friday, McGill’s Jorden Savoury finished first in the women’s 60m, and Matthew Beaudet finished first in the men’s 1,000m. Savoury ran a blistering 7.47, dominating the race and beating her personal best by 0.03 seconds. Beaudet led a McGill one-two finish in the 1,000m, with a time of 2:26.70, edging out teammate Markus Geiger by less than a second.

After breaking four minutes in the mile earlier this season, Beaudet was less worried about his splits and more focussed on using this weekend’s race to improve his pacing and positioning in preparation for the RSEQ and USports championships.

“The goal was to close the last 400[m] pretty quickly, but I had some trouble with getting boxed in at that point, so I had to find a way to take the lead with 300m to go before accelerating into the last lap,” Beaudet said.

In addition to Beaudet, McGill’s distance squad had several other impressive performances. Jack Stanley and Felix Bedard went second and third for McGill in the 1,500m race, with Stanley breaking four minutes and Bedard outkicking Miles Brackenbury of Queen’s by 0.3 seconds.

Chloe Fleurent-Gregoire also had a strChloe Fleurent-Gregoire also had a strong race, placing second in the 3,000m on Friday night with a time of 10:00.28. However, on Saturday, the 1,500m had a rabbit who paced the start very poorly, eventually leading

Fleurent-Gregoire to drop out of the race around halfway through. Nevertheless, Fleurent-Gregoire was grateful for the chance to compete again. “[It] was really nice to get back into the competitiveness of racing again,” she said.

“I feel like my confidence is slowly building back up from the cross-country season, after the break [due to COVID-19]. I am happy to be racing again and excited for the 1,500 and the 3,000 at provincials.”

On Saturday, McGill dominated the men’s 600m race, with Nicholas Bernard, Alexander-Jullian Bimm, and Sebastian Danson placing first, second, and third, respectively.

McGill also put in a strong showing in relays, with the women’s 4x400m team, composed of Marianne Djigo, Chloe Morrison, Audrey Gilmour, and Eden Muyard, coming from behind in the last leg of the relay to finish first, beating out the University of Montreal by half a second.

Savoury led off the Martlets 4x200m relay to finish second, just over two seconds behind the University of Laval. The men’s 4x200m relay, consisting of Diego Dorantes-Ferreira, Jonas Schweiger, Jeremi Kolakowski, and Asad Bilal, also finished second overall.

Schweiger finished second in his 300m race with a time of 36.76 seconds—the only male McGill athlete competing in that distance.

Vanessa Lu Langley, a second-year engineering student, narrowly took second to Carleton’s Alexandra Telford in the 60m hurdles after beating Telford by 0.08 seconds in qualification.

Next up for the track team is the RSEQ Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 20 and 21 at Sherbrooke University.

MOMENT OF THE MEET After slipping to nearly last place during the women’s 4x400m relay, Eden Muyard passed the competition to win in the last leg of the race.

QUOTABLE “A lot of us have made personal bests this season, so I’m really proud of what the team has accomplished. I think performance aside, the highlight for me this season is definitely being around my teammates. I’ve found everyone to be so incredibly supportive and I’m beyond grateful for such an inclusive and positive atmosphere and training environment.”

— Second-year high jumper Emily Roest

STAT CORNER Jorden Savoury ran the 60m in 7.47 seconds, breaking her own personal best and the school record.

(Anoushka Oke / The McGill Tribune)

The McGill Redbirds earned 16 medals and the Martlets earned seven, with two golds apiece (Sarah Farnand / The McGill Tribune)