More than a Theme: McGill’s Neglect of Latin American and Hispanic Heritage Month
Flip to page 10 for a comic by Ryan Dvorak: Super (worm) Bowl weekend
FEATURE
Campus Complicity: Unpacking calls for divestment at McGill
OFF THE BOARD PGS. 8-9
Cross-section pollination enriches our writers and our paper
PG. 6 PG. 5
), PG. 3
Superior Court rejects McGill’s injunction request to extend restrictions on campus protests
Arts and Education unions and IJV McGill among intervening parties opposing the request
Eliza Lee News Editor
On Oct. 21, the Superior Court of Québec dismissed McGill’s provisionary injunction request to limit protest activities on campus. The request came after the university successfully obtained a 10-day injunction barring campus demonstrations under specific conditions following a protest on Oct. 7.
McGill and Concordia students organized this protest to demand their institutions divest from companies complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. The Oct. 7 rally ended when police used tear gas on protestors, some of whom smashed the windows of the Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute on Avenue des Pins. McGill also restricted access to campus from Oct. 5-7 in anticipation of Oct. 7 protests, and later extended these restrictions through Oct. 8.
Deanna Bowen discusses antiblack racism in the world of art history
EDITORIAL NEWS
Lecture part of McGill’s 2024-25 Art History and Communication Studies Speaker Series
Jasjot Grewal Editor-in-Chief
On Oct. 24, approximately two dozen academics gathered in Room W-215 of the Arts Building to hear Deanna Bowen, assistant professor in Concordia’s Depart -
ment of Studio Arts, speak about her research-creation practice and art exhibits, her family’s history with racism in Canada, and anti-Black sentiment in the art history world. The event is the first of McGill’s Art History and Communication Studies (AHCS) Speaker Series
2024-25, organized by department assistant professors Kenji Praepipatmongkol and Bobby Benedicto.
In an interview with The Tribune , Praepipatmongkol explained the department’s motivations for organizing this year’s speaker series.
PG. 3
Like the 10-day injunction, McGill’s injunction request named Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance (SPHR) at McGill as the defendant. The injunction request aimed to extend the same measures put in place with the 10-day injunction, which banned SPHR and “any person having knowledge of or having received service of the judgment” from actions such as obstructing entrances to buildings on campus, protesting within five metres of campus buildings, and disrupting academic activities. PG. 2
Selective storytelling sanitizes genocide
The Tribune Editorial Board
Content warning: Mentions of genocide, suicide, violence.
American news network CNN has sparked outrage over its recent article focusing on Israeli soldiers’ experiences of trauma and suicide risk after their deployment to Gaza. Crit-
ics argue it whitewashes perpetrators of violence while minimizing Palestinian suffering in an attempt to generate sympathy for the aggressors. The article’s framing is emblematic of western media coverage that perpetuates the dehumanization of Palestinians while manufacturing empathy for those committing heinous war crimes against them.
The piece details how a
former Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldier can no longer eat meat because it reminds him of the bodies he crushed with a bulldozer in Gaza, sadistically equating Palestinians to animals. While the original article included trigger warnings for mentions of suicide and PTSD, editors notably omitted any warning about the graphic description of violence against Palestinians.
(Zoe Lee / The Tribune
Superior Court rejects McGill’s injunction request to extend restrictions on campus protests
Arts and Education unions and IJV McGill among intervening parties opposing the request
Eliza Lee News Editor
Continued from page 1.
The hearing for the injunction request took place on Oct. 18, the same day that the 10-day injunction expired. In the ruling, Justice Gary Morrison wrote that he dismissed the request because McGill had not shown that SPHR’s past activities, such as its demonstrations, demanded an urgent need for the injunction.
In an email to The Tribune , the McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) explained that the university submitted the injunction request to “protect its academic mission and to defend students’ and instructors’ right to learn and work in an environment that is safe, stable, and suitable for teaching, learning, and research.”
A representative from SPHR, who wished to remain unnamed, argued that this injunction is one of several legal actions that McGill has filed against student activists protesting Israel’s attacks on Palestine and Lebanon. As an example, they cited the injunction the university filed in May requesting the removal of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment.
“This isn’t the first time that McGill has [filed an] injunction against the students,” they said. “This shows that the protests are affecting McGill and are working [....] So it’s more motivating than anything.”
As SPHR did not attend the hearing, Justice Morrison allowed four organizations to act as intervening parties in the case: Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) McGill, the Association of McGill Professors of Education (AMPE), the Association of McGill Professors of the Faculty of Arts (AMPFA), and Palestinian and Jewish Unity.
Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Interim President of AMPE, Dennis Wendt, told The Tribune that the union chose to be an intervening party because the injunction could restrict the union’s right to protest.
“Given the injunction’s broad scope to include anyone aware of the decision, we were concerned about a precedent [...] of clawing away at actions pertaining to protests or picketing [...] that unions or other groups would be involved with,” Wendt wrote.
Kyle Kubler, Interim Second VicePresident of AMPFA and Faculty Lecturer at the McGill Writing Centre, expressed concern that the injunction could act as a
way for the university to control the actions of those on campus.
“We’re worried about the type of precedent this behaviour could create where McGill simply turns to injunctions rather than dialogue to deal with dissent, be it from students, faculty, staff or the public,” Kubler wrote.
Kubler went on to claim that by banning protests within five metres of campus buildings, the injunction would also interfere with the union’s right to safely protest outside of their workplace. According to Kubler, this rule would mean some instructors—such as those working in Sherbrooke 680, like himself—would be forced to stand in the street rather than demonstrate on the sidewalk.
The MRO maintained that the 10-day injunction did not violate staff and students’ rights to freedom of speech or freedom of assembly, and that McGill supports commu-
SSMU VP Student Life Chloé Muñoz resigns
President says a by-election will be held to fill the role
Shani Laskin Managing Editor
The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) Student Life, Chloé Muñoz, announced her resignation from the role at the Oct. 24 Legislative Council meeting. Her resignation is effective Oct. 29. SSMU will run a by-election to fill the position and the remaining executives will share the responsibilities of the Student Life portfolio in the interim.
In an interview with The Tribune, Muñoz explained that her resignation was due partly to personal reasons and internal restructuring in SSMU which made her portfolio as VP Student Life particularly difficult.
“These roles take on a huge managerial role, which I don’t think I personally was prepared for, and I think the year-to-year transition makes it at times unfair for the permanent and casual staff that remain,” Muñoz said. “I just think there needs to be a remodelling of what is expected of executives, so that there is more support for people entering the role. The model right now makes the position very overwhelming and difficult for any real progress to be made in a way that can support student groups and students better.”
Muñoz also mentioned that the bureaucratic nature of SSMU was ultimately at odds with the action that she wanted to enact within the union.
“There were also a lot of structural pushbacks that made it really difficult to uphold the communication and transparency that students
deserve, and I no longer wanted to be a part of that dynamic,” Muñoz said.
While she is stepping down from the position, she expressed support to the remaining executives.
“Ultimately this was a personal decision and I recognize that SSMU just might not be the place for me at the moment and I wish all the remaining executives the best of luck in all that they [...] are doing,” she said.
The VP Student Life portfolio covers three main pillars: Student groups, mental health, and family care. As the process for a by-election gets underway, SSMU President Dymetri Taylor explained that he will take on responsibilities regarding services and family care, VP Operations and Sustainability Meg Baltes will take on the clubs, and mental health responsibilities will go to VP University Affairs Abe Berglas.
Susan Aloudat, VP Events for the Arab Student Network, told The Tribune she is concerned that the lack of a VP Student Life might pose a challenge to student clubs and services.
“It can be really hard working on a service with SSMU when they’re transitioning between execs because it makes already slow processing times go slower and then we can’t provide certain deliverables [...] on time,” Aloudat wrote. “It would be nice if SSMU removed a lot of the unnecessary communication that happened between services and SSMU execs, for example room bookings and financial affairs, because the wait and the back-and-forth is what makes it hardest to do
our job.”
The two-week nomination period for the by-election will begin on Monday, Nov. 4 and will be followed by a week-long campaign period. This timeline will be extended if there are no candidates for the role. In the event no one runs in the by-election, the executives will either continue to share the responsibilities, or SSMU will hire staff to help fulfill the tasks. Taylor estimates that if someone is elected, they will likely fully take on the role in January 2025.
To Taylor, this resignation is indicative
nity members’ rights “within the limits of the university’s policies and the law.”
For the SPHR representative, the court’s decision is a “victory” for the student movement for Palestine. They reaffirmed that SPHR would continue to pressure McGill to cut financial and academic ties with Israel.
“It’s [...] a really great time for the student movement to keep pushing for their goals of [ending] their academic institutions’ complicity in the genocide in Gaza.”
of a broader issue of a lack of student engagement with SSMU.
“In the past, the SSMU didn’t see as much resignation as it does now, and that is due to an abundance of reasons. One is simply just due to waning interest in the SSMU, which is predictable based on how things have gone for the past few years,” Taylor told The Tribune “Things remain relevant if they are [...] doing things for the student body. They don’t remain relevant when they’re doing things that aren’t really out there and engaging with the student body.”
In 2021, SSMU had a deficit of about $1.4 million CAD. (Holden Callif / The Tribune)
McGill restricted access to campus from Oct. 5-7 in anticipation of protests on Oct. 7 before extending these restrictions through Oct. 8.
(Anna Seger / The Tribune)
QPIRG Radical Walking Tour explores Milton-Parc and McGill through a critical lens
Communauté Milton Parc, SASSI, and New Vic Project site among tour stops
Mairin Burke Staff Writer
Content warning: Mentions of slavery, violence, colonialism
On Oct. 21, organizers with the Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG) hosted a Radical Walking Tour, stopping multiple times along Avenue du Parc, Avenue des Pins, and on McGill campus to offer a critical presentation of both the university and the Milton-Parc neighbourhood. QPIRG is a studentrun collective that seeks to engage students with the Montreal community and with social justice issues.
The Radical Walking Tour is one of the many events of Culture Shock, QPIRG’s annual free fall programming series on “anti-racism, migrant justice, and Indigenous solidarity.” The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) also provides organizational support for the event series.
The tour began at QPIRG McGill’s Office and Alternative Library, which shares a space with the headquarters of the Milton-Parc Citizens’ Committee, a grassroots collective working to preserve the neighbourhood’s spaces and its residents’ rights. Carl Bystram, Working Groups and Community Research Coordinator at QPIRG, spoke to the importance of showing McGill community members the history of the neighbourhood.
Other events in QPIRG’s Culture Shock this year have included zine-making with the Prisoner Correspondence Project and a panel on the “History of Montréal Activism.” (Yoojung Kim / The Tribune)
“We find that situating people in the wider community around MiltonParc and explaining the struggles that have happened here, as well as the broader struggles around McGill […] really fits in well within the Culture Shock agenda,” they said.
This site of intergenerational community and collaboration set the stage for the first half of the walking tour, which focused on the activist history and ongoing projects in the Milton-Parc community. The tour’s speakers described Communauté Milton Parc (CMP), the largest co-operative development (coop) in North America, housing over 1,000 low- and moderate-income individuals in its 616 residential units. The
tour guides explained how the CMP substitutes the conventional system of landlords charging rent for profit with a participatory housing arrangement, where residents support building maintenance and governance to cut down on rent-related costs for tenants. Further, the tour stopped at Co-op Bar Milton-Parc, a separate co-op that occupies commercial space from the CMP and acts as a bar and a solidarity space for community events.
Other Milton Parc resources spotlighted throughout the tour included food bank programs such as St. John’s Lutheran Church, Santropol Roulant, the Climate Justice Hub, and independent social-justice publisher Black Rose Books. The tour then moved onto McGill campus, starting at the Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute (SASSI)—a construction project commenced in 2022 upon a donation of $29 million CAD from billionaire Sylvan Adams.
Speakers on the tour criticized McGill’s choice to partner with Tel Aviv University on the SASSI project due to its development of Israel’s genocidal killing of Palestinians and the Dahiya doctrine for bombing civilian infrastructure.
McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) did not provide comment to The Tribune on McGill’s partnership with Tel Aviv University.
The Radical Walking Tour continued by passing the New Vic Project site. There, speakers discussed the MK-ULTRA experiments which took place at the site in the 1950s and 1960s—a project where the CIA performed research on mind control and brainwashing techniques on uncon-
senting patients, many of whom were Indigenous. Speakers went on to highlight McGill’s ongoing legal battle with the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) to search for unmarked graves they believe are on the grounds.
The tour concluded by pointing out sites on campus where student demonstrations have transpired, including the Bronfman Building—which students blocked on Feb. 22 to call for McGill to cut ties with Israel—and the spot where a statue of James McGill stood until July 2021, which students had long demanded to be removed.
The MRO affirmed the university’s commitment to social justice in light of founder James McGill’s enslavement of Black and Indigenous peoples and participation in the transatlantic slave trade.
“In the 200 years since its establishment, McGill University has evolved to become a worldclass institution of higher education marked by pluralism and diversity,” the MRO wrote in a statement to The Tribune
For SSMU Vice-President External Affairs Hugo-Victor Solomon, the tour’s focus on lived experiences beyond McGill promotes important avenues for community development.
“By participating in Culture Shock, we’re extending the invitation to SSMU membership at large to […] make connections that they wouldn’t otherwise make, and to be sensitized to issues that may really resonate with them that they haven’t had the chance to learn about yet,” Solomon said in an interview with The Tribune
Deanna Bowen discusses anti-black racism in the world of art history
Lecture part of McGill’s 2024-25 Art History and Communication Studies Speaker Series
Jasjot Grewal Editor-in-Chief
Continued from page 1.
“This semester in particular, there’s a few of us [including] myself [and] Reilley Bishop-Stall who are teaching courses on modern contemporary art and visual culture [...] with an interest in the histories of ethnicity in relation to art history [and the] racialization of art. So it felt particularly appropriate to invite Deanna,” Praepipatmongkol said.
After a brief introduction from Praepipatmongkol, Bowen explained that her work is largely motivated by her own family’s silence on the anti-Black racism they experienced in Canada. She then turned to focus on the story of her fluke discovery of a 1911 anti-Black petition from Edmonton, which had requested that former Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier limit the immigration of Black individuals into western Canada and called for a violent white mob rule. On the petition, Bowen found an unexpected signatory: Barker Fairley, a prominent Canadian artist and proponent of the Group of Seven, a collective of famed Canadian landscape painters. Bowen proceeded to reach out to the University of Alberta—which hosted many of Fairley’s works—to cross-check Fairley’s signature with that of his art pieces. She found the signatures to be a match.
“It begs the question: What does it mean? [...] What does it mean if this man was willing to sign a petition calling for mob killing of Black and Indigenous people, and then what does that say about the Group of Seven and the work that they produce?” Bowen asked the audience.
Bowen also discussed the violent settler-colonial history of Kitchener, Ontario—formerly called Berlin, Ontario— and how it led to her subsequent project: //Black Drones in the Hive.//
“It is a site-specific archive based project that looks at the overlapping Black, Indigenous, and white histories of the region surrounding the KitchenerWaterloo Art Gallery,” Bowen wrote in a statement to //The Tribune//. “The region is the site of numerous wars between the British and America, postwar German settlement, industrial innovation, anti-Slavery abolition, Black settlement and the Canadian terminus of the Underground Railway.”
Bowen’s next project, //Conceptions of White//, includes select artworks that illustrate white origin myths and how the historical foundation of the white man’s burden fuels white guilt and supremacy in the contemporary context. Bowen touched on the violent response she got when the project came out.
“I was just decimated in the press. I’ve never met any of the white people that came out against me,” Bowen said. “All that mattered in their white male
minds was that I blasphemed the Group of Seven [....] I’m telling you, the violence changed my life. I live my life differently now because of the amount of hatred that came at me in producing this work.”
Abigail Celis, assistant professor in decolonial Art History and Museum Studies at the Université de Montréal, was present in the audience. She spoke to // The Tribune// about what she hopes art history academics take away from Bowen’s talk.
“I think the whole questioning of what is the narrative of Canadian art history, who is it protecting, [and] who is it invisibilizing is something to take away,” Celis said.
Bowen will be the first tenured Black Studio Arts professor in Canada. She touched on the monumentality of the matter.
“The truth of the matter is that Blackness is a very late addition to Canadian
cultural discussions. Most of the new Black faculty entering Canadian institutions were hired in response to Dereck Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd,” Bowen wrote. “At the same time, I am thrilled to be the first Black professor to many of my students. I didn’t have that when I went to school, [but it] would have made a world of difference.”
Bowen found that those who signed the 1911 anti-Black petition were members of Toronto’s Arts and Letters Club. (Zoe Lee / The Tribune)
Recap: Queerness and AI roundtable
Speakers argue that AI can reinforce harmful representation
Amelia H. Clark Staff Writer
McGill community members gathered for a roundtable discussion on Queerness and AI organized by Web Services and Equity at McGill as part of Queer History Month (QHM) on Oct. 23. Three panellists—McGill’s Associate Director of Inclusive Excellence Kit Malo, Senior Employment Equity Advisor Ande Clegg, and Digital Communications Manager Joyce Peralta—led the talk alongside the roundtable’s emcee, Digital Communications Associate Jaylen Gordon. The goal of the event was to interact with and spread awareness about those AI misrepresents and discriminates.
The panellists led guests in an exercise, prompting Microsoft Copilot to generate an image of “Queer McGill University community members for a McGill website.” The resulting picture image showed a large group of people holding rainbow pride flags, many with the colours in the wrong order. Attendees observing the image were quick to point out the lack of diversity with Microsoft Copilot depicting the figures in the image as uniform in body type, ability, style, and identity. Throughout the discussion, many par -
ticipants expressed feeling offended, but not surprised, by the stereotypical depictions of queer communities by Microsoft Copilot.
The theme of this year’s QHM is visibility, with events and programming slated throughout the month of October. The roundtable also discussed journalist Reece Rogers’s Wired article “Here’s How Generative AI Depicts Queer People.” In it, Rogers discusses how AI’s depiction of queerness relies on and amplifies stereotypes around lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals while mischaracterizing the transgender community completely.
38 per cent of panel attendees described their comfort with AI as “not very.” Only 10 per cent described themselves as “extremely comfortable.” (Hannah Nobile / The Tribune)
skew the data that was used to train an AI tool […] resulting in content that reflects or amplifies those biases” in its general guidelines.
McGill offers a “secure version” of Microsoft Copilot to its student body with the disclaimer that “Human biases may
The group acknowledged that issues in AI’s depiction of queerness reflect society’s historic and present mischarac -
terization of 2SLGBTQ+ people. Panel members argued that for AI to begin generating fair representations of the queer community, it must be trained to reject biased and discriminatory images of queerness while embracing fair representation of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
The Tribune Explains: Final grade submission at McGill
Students have the right to receive final grades in “a timely fashion”
Olivia Ardito Staff Writer
Many students at McGill have faced the prolonged dread of waiting for their final grades to be updated in Minerva. Some have expressed frustration and confusion on the McGill subreddit r/mcgill over grades appearing on their transcripts well past the end of the semester. The Tribune brings you a guide to understanding the university’s rules for professors’ and students’ rights when it comes to grade submission.
What is the deadline for professors and lecturers to submit grades?
According to the McGill Charter of Student Rights, students have a right “to be informed, in a timely fashion, of their current academic standing or performance in a course.” McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) clarified in an email to The Tribune that the timely fashion depends on the nature of the assessment and the class’ grading scheme. Students may reach out to their instructors, the department chair, the associate dean of their faculty, or the Office of the Dean of Students if they have concerns about timeliness in a particular course.
The deadline for all instructors to enter grades into Minerva for the fall semester is by the start of the following winter semester. For the winter semester, a further requirement for final grades is that professors teaching classes without a final exam must publish final grades on Minerva two weeks after the last class. For classes with a final exam, this requirement is modified to be one week after the exam. The
The McGill Senate approved the latest version of the Charter of Student Rights on Oct. 25, 2017. (Zoe Lee / The Tribune)
deadline for the Fall 2024 semester is the beginning of the Winter 2025 semester, and the upcoming Winter 2025 semester is May 6, 2025; the final winter semester grade deadline date is around this same day every year. McGill also requires that professors give graduating students priority in receiving their grades before all other students.
How long does it typically take Minerva to update once professors and lecturers submit grades?
According to the MRO, the timeline for final grades to appear on Minerva depends on the faculty. For most, there is a two-to-threeday delay. For others, final grades are released
the day after Committee approval. The MRO explained that these Faculty committees are composed of “associate deans, chairs and program directors who review and approve the grades.”
Professors and lecturers may enter grades into Minerva in one of two fashions. First, they can input them manually. The other option is to export student grades from MyCourses to Minerva, which is the standard process. However, this option requires that the professor accurately update student grades in MyCourses.
In March 2024, the option to export student grades from MyCourses to Minerva broke. This means that all Winter 2024 semester grades were entered manually. McGill’s IT Services has stated it has been working on resolving this issue but has not provided any updates about how the issue may affect fall semester grades or if it will be fixed by the end of the semester.
Professors also have the ability to change
final grades on Minerva after they have been uploaded. For example, they may do this after a grade has been appealed. When professors do so, they are required to add a comment on why they changed a final grade.
What is the timeline for students to appeal grades?
The McGill Charter of Student Rights holds that students have the right to discuss feedback and grading for written assignments with professors, teaching assistants, or course lecturers. This means that all students have the right to view their final exams and papers after they have been graded and to receive justification for their marks.
Students also have the right to appeal their grades and ask for an impartial third party to review whether their grade was fair. McGill requires that students make grade appeal requests within a reasonable time frame of receiving their grades. The Policy on Assessment of Student Learning states that a reasonable time frame means students have ten working days after receiving their grade to request a reread. Students can usually expect to receive the results of their rereads within 20 days of the request.
The process of appealing a grade can vary between faculties. For more information on final grade submission and appealing grades, consult your faculty’s website. The MRO told The Tribune that the Code of Student Grievance Procedures allows students to ask the appropriate Senate Committee for redress if they believe any of their academic rights have been infringed upon by a member of the university.
Editor-in-Chief
Jasjot Grewal editor@thetribune.ca
Creative Director Drea Garcia Avila dgarciaavila@thetribune.ca
Design Editors Mia Helfrich Zoe Lee design@thetribune.ca
Photo Editor Rohan Khanna photo@thetribune.ca
Multimedia Editor multimedia@thetribune.ca
Web Developer Roberta Du webdev@thetribune.ca
Copy Editor Matt Adelberg copy@thetribune.ca
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Business Manager Sophie Smith business@thetribune.ca
Selective storytelling sanitizes genocide
The Tribune Editorial Board
Continued from page 1.
It is only in a world where Palestinian lives are dehumanized, reduced to mere numbers and statistics, that their genocide becomes normalized.
The fact that an IDF soldier’s trauma, which resulted from his conscious choice to bulldoze civilians, garners more concern than the innocent lives taken by war criminals, demonstrates how irresponsible journalism like CNN’s has the power to desensitize its audiences to Palestinian suffering. Such reporting represents a fundamental neglect of journalistic responsibility. When globally influential news organizations choose to give authority to those participating in genocide while rendering their victims invisible, they become complicit in the sanitization of state-sanctioned violence. Avoiding the explicit
term genocide in this article about violence in Gaza fails to accurately inform and provide context for readers, given that Israel’s actions in Gaza fit the legal definition of genocide, and international human rights organizations have categorized it as such. CNN’s article does not attempt to represent both sides— it is a conscious editorial decision to frame war crimes through the perspective of their perpetrators.
As Israel continues its deadly military campaign in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, mainstream media’s persistent negligence to adequately cover Israel’s abominable actions forces Palestinian journalists to risk their lives documenting their own ethnic cleansing. From denying journalists access to Gaza, killing and targeting Palestinian journalists, and propaganda campaigns, Israel has deliberately presented innumerable challenges to responsible reporting. Yet these obstacles do not excuse the mainstream media’s failure to
Eliza Lee News Editor
My first article for The Tribune was not for News, the section for which I’m now an editor, but for the Arts and Entertainment (A&E) section.
This is not an uncommon story. A&E is one of our most popular sections, and it attracts writers eager to share their takes on music, film, theatre, and television every week. It was this same love for the arts that compelled me to write a review of Human Resources in 2022 and to continue contributing to the section.
The first time I sat in on a meeting for the Sports section, I had originally been planning on
amplify Palestinian voices and explicitly call out Israel for its crimes against humanity.
Media institutions must aim for equitable and accurate coverage that tells the stories of the oppressed and speaks truth to power. This means recognizing that the trauma IDF soldiers face stems from the disproportionate violence and brutalization they actively choose to commit on Palestinians. Responsible journalism does not mean creating false equivalencies of suffering when the weight of truth is clear. It requires the courage to name genocide for what it is, to challenge systems of oppression rather than amplify them, and to recognize that objectivity in the face of atrocity serves only to protect the perpetrators.
When we passively consume media that sympathizes with oppressors while disregarding the victims of their violence, we, too, become complicit in the devaluation of Palestinian lives. Critical engagement requires questioning why certain stories
dominate headlines while others are disregarded, and examining which perspectives are granted authority and which are systematically silenced. Readers must challenge institutions––including McGill University— that claim to inform while serving as mouthpieces for state violence. This means actively amplifying voices from communities most impacted by violence, supporting independent Palestinian journalists who courageously document horrific realities, and sharing these perspectives with those misled by mainstream narratives. It means holding powerful media outlets like CNN accountable, and demanding equitable coverage that humanizes Palestinians rather than reducing their reality to a statistic on a screen. Through alternative media, campus organizing, and academic discourse, we have a collective responsibility to forge spaces for Palestinian narratives that mainstream outlets continue to suppress.
Cross-section pollination enriches our writers and our paper
How writing for
attending a Tuesday night A&E pitch meeting. That evening, I peered into The Tribune’s office to find that there was a particularly large group of contributors excited for the A&E editors to get started. Feeling a sudden rush of stress at the thought of joining the crowd, I sat down with the only other section meeting at the same time. This group was mercifully—sorry Sports, it’s just the truth—much smaller.
I walked out of the University Centre that night having picked up a pitch not on celebrity drama or a local poetry slam, but on Varsity Basketball. I attended the game, loved it, and covered another the following week. A couple of months later, I found myself a Staff Writer for Sports.
At this time, I had little prior knowledge of many sports that the section covered. I tried my best to arrive at games prepared, but there were moments during play when I had to split the screen of my laptop into two embarrassing halves: My notes on the left side, a diagram explaining rugby referee hand signals on the right.
I recount this to highlight that
Sports led me to the News section
complete beginners are welcome in all sections at The Tribune. Our paper seeks to not only produce high-quality articles that carry out our mandate and commitment to anti-oppressive journalism, but to foster a learning environment where students have the chance to grow as writers and reporters. Although I started as a beginner, the guidance of then-Sports Editors Tillie Burlock and Sarah Farnand helped me improve and gain confidence in my coverage.
Picking up the style and method of a new section also led me to unexpected skills and interests that I would have otherwise not discovered. Navigating post-game conversations with coaches and athletes taught me the basics of interviewing. From writing recaps of games, I learned how to summarize events and organize an article around the most crucial details. What started as a kernel of interest for sports coverage grew into a broader passion for reporting. Without Sports, I would have never started writing regularly for News.
I’m far from the only writer to venture beyond my go-to
section. By contract stipulation, every editor at The Trib must pen a feature, a governance piece for News, and, uh, an Off the Board for Opinion. Though the paper has a central style guide, each section has its own motivating questions, types of articles, and approaches to reporting that make it unique. To me, this means that when writers venture beyond their typical page of the paper, it’s a chance for them to bring different ways of writing and thinking about university life to other sections. Cross-section pollination enriches the hive as well as the bees.
To any contributors, staff writers, and editors who feel a spark of interest to write for a new section, I recommend following it—especially if it’s telling you to write for News! These days, our pitch meetings are looking very inviting to those afraid of crowds! That curiosity yields multifaceted approaches to student journalism that strengthen our paper, and for me, it led me to the section I now call home.
Split your screen into two embarrassing halves and see where it takes you.
Celine Li, Ella Gomes, Jasjot Grewal, Sophie Smith
TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
STAFF
Alex Hawes Silva, Amelia Clark, Asher Kui, Annabella Lawlor, Bianca Sugunasiri, Bianca Tri, Charlotte Hayes, Daniel Miksha, Daniel Pyo, Ellen Lurie, Ethan Kahn, Jamie Xie, Luken Castaneda Garces, Mahin Siddiki, Mairin Burke, Olivia Adrito, Reuben Noam, Samathar Senso, Sarah McDonald, Tamiyana Roemer, Zain Ahmed.
Aiqing Qiu, Anna Seger, Ariella Morgan, Eliot Loose, Hannah Nobile, Lilly Guilbeault, Nour Khouri, Ruby Reimer, Ryan Dvorak.
Alexandra Lasser, Anna Bistour, Clara Smyrski, Charley Tamagno, Simona Culotta, Sylvie Bourque, Uma Le Daca Jolicoeur
Abbey Locker, Bruno Cotler, Holden Callif, Jennifer Kim, Val Muñoz, Yoojung Kim
Uma Le Daca Jolicoeur Contributor
IMore than a Theme: McGill’s Neglect of Latin American and Hispanic Heritage Month
n 2018, Quebec’s parliament designated October as Hispanic Heritage Month, and Canada’s parliament recognized it as Latin American Heritage Month. Since then, many organizations and institutions have celebrated the rich cultures and contributions of Latin American and Hispanic communities in Canada. Yet at McGill University—where a diverse student body includes 30 per cent international students, with 599 holding passports from Latin America and Spain— there has been a blatant silence. This figure alone doesn’t account for the diaspora who identify as Latinx or Hispanic and hold other passports. A more accurate number can be achieved by looking at the Spanish and Latin American Students’ Association (SLASA), whose member count reaches over 1,900.
McGill offers two undergraduate programs that focus on Latinx and Hispanic culture, politics, and literature: The Latin American and Caribbean Studies program and the Hispanic Studies program. These provide the university with a wealth of academic resources, from professors and course lecturers to fellow students. Yet, while Dalhousie’s Human Rights and Equity Services wrote a broadcast message on their bulletin with resources
and reflections on the importance of uplifting the voices and experiences of Latinx and Hispanic groups, and Toronto Metropolitan University organized a Latin American Heritage Day last year, McGill refuses to tap into its resources. This is a gross oversight considering that the university directly benefits from Latinx and Hispanic knowledge production and culture. Such rich opportunities for proper recognition are clearly at McGill’s fingertips, if not in its grasp.
McGill’s librarians made a first effort in 2021 with a Redpath book display dedicated to Heritage Month, titled “Visions of Latinidad: How they see us and who we are.” The website is still up and has not been updated since. During a quest to find out where the annual display was, a librarian revealed that the ‘theme’ had been changed to Witches this year. This being the only attempt that the university itself makes around Heritage Month makes it all the more disappointing to students who walk through Redpath rightfully hoping to see themselves represented on the shelf, and instead see books on Salem. They could have at least thrown in a book or two on brujería . The understanding of Heritage Month and Latinidad as a simple theme to be used and displayed (or not) is reflective of McGill’s broader neglect and refusal to recognize marginalized groups.
While McGill’s behaviour is disheartening, it comes as no surprise.
The first Black student group at McGill was founded in 1940, and as of 2023, 4.4 per cent of McGill students self-identified as Black on McGill’s student census. However, it took McGill until 2017—10 years after the Quebec government legally recognized February as Black History Month—to host an official celebration. With similar numbers of Latinx/Hispanic students (4.7 per cent), and SLASA being founded in 1989, Latinx and Hispanic students at McGill should not expect to wait until 2028, or longer, for recognition.
With nowhere left to turn, McGill’s Latinx and Hispanic student body is made to rely on student groups such as SLASA and the Caribbean and Latin American Studies and Hispanic Studies Students’ Association (CLASHSA) for representation, events, information, and celebration. Student groups—consisting mostly of full-time undergraduates volunteering their time—put immense effort into organizing Latin American
and Hispanic Heritage Month events. The simple act of acknowledgement and support from McGill could greatly reduce this level of labour.
McGill is at a crossroads, with so many vibrant resources growing within its walls, and a future full of Latinx and Hispanic students who will become graduates of one of the most renowned Canadian universities and leaders in several fields. The administration’s lack of action during Latin American and Hispanic Heritage Month is a missed opportunity both for its own enrichment and for the elevation and inspiration of brilliant voices that would speak louder if they were afforded representation.
Happiness isn’t a formula—just ask The Little Prince COMMENTARY
Anna Bistour Contributor
When an existential crisis knocks at your door, avoidance feels impossible. In such moments, finding meaning and addressing inner conflicts becomes urgent, even though it may be painful. In The Little Prince , Saint-Exupéry explores this search for meaning, teaching readers to view life through fresh, unclouded eyes, and to appreciate its unique beauty. The book has a lot to teach us in adopting a ‘new set of eyes,’ to cherish the preciousness of life. This lesson is especially relevant in today’s fast-paced, efficiency-driven Western societies—where disregarding emotions and feelings has become common, especially among overworked and over-achieving students at McGill.
Amid the weight of adulthood, there’s a need to recapture the openness and curiosity that children bring to the world, embracing life as something to be explored and appreciated rather than merely managed. In this way, we become creators of meaning in our lives, painting each day with renewed wonder.
To “see” is to observe, to notice, to take in. It is with your eyes that you first experience the world each morning as you wake, transitioning between the dream’s fog and tangible reality. Yet, surprisingly, our eyes are not always the best tool to truly perceive our surroundings. The Little Prince teaches us to look at the
world through this “new set of eyes,” encouraging us to grasp the singularity and preciousness of life. So, why don’t we start by using the powerful human faculties Mother Earth gifted us to adopt a more holistic outlook?
Driven by a success-oriented mindset, many overlook their emotions, deeming them irrational or distracting from measurable achievements. However, they have the potential to reveal more about our inner workings if we’re open to listening. Sweaty palms betray the tension of an exam, a racing heartbeat reveals the thrill of a first date, and a shaking leg exposes the fear stirred by a horror film. Each of us carries around 10 million sensory receptors, constantly absorbing data about our inner and outer worlds. These signals are invaluable; they remind us to pay attention to the little things and align with our deeper selves. As The Little Prince teaches, noticing these subtle messages is a crucial step toward a more authentic and fulfilling existence. In essence, our body is constantly speaking to us, and true clarity lies in the mind’s willingness to listen.
In The Little Prince , the wise fox teaches readers to explore the external world and their inner selves, though this enterprise requires time, patience, and commitment. Following the fox’s guidance, the Little Prince embarks on a transformative journey, prompting him to appreciate life to the fullest, as he comes to understand the beauty of his planet— beautiful because of its uniqueness. After
comparing his life to that of a businessman and a lamplighter, who have been perverted by society’s vices, the Little Prince realizes he has nothing to envy. He has found true peace and fulfillment in his values and relationships with his friends: The fox, the rose, the volcanoes, and the nature on his planet, which he carefully nurtures.
The Little Prince epitomizes the everyman—excited about the sight of sunsets and shaken by the existential dread of loneliness. In the modern age, adults and young adults have gotten too serious. There is an urgent need to leave condescension behind the door and learn from children’s clarity to view the world and appreciate each piece of it. From the Latin, exsistere—as in ‘existence’— means to ‘come into being.’ On this account, life is a piece of art and you are the artist. No previous experience or fancy degree is required to build
something meaningful in one’s own life. Worrying about the length of your LinkedIn or the prestigious schools you will attend will not help in your quest for meaning. True fulfillment results from one’s ability to appreciate the small details of everyday life and to treasure what one already has. Life is a canvas where no mistakes can occur, as we each live within our own universe, viewing the world through our unique prism of perception.
Canada’s census categories make accurately counting Latinx populations challenging, often leading to underrepresentation.. (Val Muñoz / SLASA)
Behind the Bible, The Little Prince is the most translated book, with over 550 different translations. (Lilly Guilbeault / The Tribune)
Know Your Athlete: Zach Bye
From Junior Hockey player to Varsity Lacrosse star
Zain Ahmed Staff Writer
Zach Bye, a 21-year-old attacker for Redbirds Lacrosse, U0 Arts, has quickly made a name for himself in his first year at McGill. Hailing from Greenwich, Connecticut, Bye has started his McGill lacrosse career with a bang. The freshman has been named McGill Athlete of the Week twice this season and has been a driving force behind the team’s success this year.
Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, Bye began his career at the age of seven at Fox Lane Youth Lacrosse Club, later playing for The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. He played both hockey and lacrosse throughout his youth but initially chose to focus on hockey after graduating high school. Before coming to McGill, Bye spent two years playing junior hockey in the North American Hockey League for the Amarillo Wranglers. Realizing his passion for lacrosse, Bye decided to return to his sporting roots when he started university. The idea of getting back into the sport of his childhood was compelling, and he knew he had what it took to make it worthwhile.
The transition to student life was a big adjustment for Bye, who hadn’t been in a classroom for two years. However, he explained to The Tribune that he has found the balance between academics and athletics manageable.
“As long as you’re doing the right things, there’s a lot of time in the day,” Bye said. “Our coach is very understanding if you have class or something that overlaps with practice. He understands that school comes first and you’re here to be a student and an athlete. So that makes the whole thing a lot easier.”
On the field, Bye is a standout performer. He leads the league in goals this season with a remarkable total of 29 goals scored and has been instrumental to the Redbirds’ success in the conference, with the team currently 10–0–0. Looking ahead to their qualifier game against Bishop’s University on Oct. 26, Bye has high hopes that the team will secure a spot in the semis.
“We’re feeling confident. We’re a good team and have been strong all season, but we know that we’ve had a close game with Bishops earlier in the season— we won by one goal,” Bye said. “I think even though they’re in sixth and we’re in first, we know that the gap isn’t that wide, so we have to be ready to go all out to fight for a spot in that semifinal.”
All in all, Bye’s confidence paid off, as the Redbirds stormed over their opposition in a convincing 19-5 victory against Bishops on Sunday afternoon.
Beyond his on-field accomplishments, Bye is known for his positive attitude and team spirit. Commenting on the difference between playing highlevel hockey and lacrosse at the Varsity level, Bye explained the sense of cama -
raderie on his new team has changed his perspective on university sports.
“[The team] is one of the tightest groups I’ve been around. I think it’s definitely different playing a sport at university than just another team. Like, obviously, you want to represent the team, but when you’re representing a school it’s more exciting because it’s a whole student body, rather than just your teammates, that you put on your shoulders,” Bye said.
As Bye looks ahead to the future, he hopes to continue playing lacrosse for as long as possible. With three years of eligibility remaining, he has plenty of time to make an even greater impact on the McGill lacrosse program. He believes that the team’s freshman class has what it takes to bring success to the program in years to come.
Given his hiatus from lacrosse to pursue high-level hockey, Bye has faced challenges and ridden the highs and lows of competitive sport. Returning to lacrosse so successfully was no small feat. Bye spoke about his approach to maintaining a consistently high level of performance at the university level.
Weekly wrap-up: McGill Athletics at RSEQ playoffs
Strong performances from Martlets Soccer and Redbirds Rugby
Clara Smyrski Contributor
Last week was significant for McGill Athletics, as three varsity teams— Martlets Soccer, Redbirds Soccer, and Redbirds Rugby—qualified for the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) playoffs.
After a 2-0 victory versus the Universités du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes, Redbirds Soccer finished the regular season ranked third in the RSEQ. They faced off against the Patriotes in the division semifinals on UQTR’s turf on Friday, Oct. 25. The team concluded the season with a 5–4–3 record, making the playoffs for the first time since 2018. While some teams may feel discouraged playing their first playoff game on the road, captain Stuart Klenner, U1 Engineering, shared the team’s positive outlook with The Tribune
“We’re all excited,” he said. “We’ve beat them two times this season, both games we’ve played them. But they’re always a strong team [.…] We don’t mind [playing away]. We’ve played well away, at least against [UQTR].”
The team’s enthusiasm served them well as the Redbirds beat the Patriotes 2-1 on a penalty kick taken by striker Mujtaba Mirhasan in the second half of added time, and will travel to the Université de Montréal on Nov. 1 for the RSEQ Championships. More notably, though, the victory secures
the Redbirds’ ticket to the U SPORTS national championships from Nov. 7-10 in Oshawa, Ontario.
Martlets Soccer has also been unstoppable this year, and headed into the postseason with a record of 8–4–2, ranking second in the league behind the Université de Montréal Carabins. The Martlets played Laval on Oct. 24 at Percival Molson Stadium in the RSEQ semifinal game. The two had matched up twice during the regular season, with the Martlets tying them on Sept. 15 and losing 4-1 on Oct. 6. Captain Mara Bouchard, U3 Arts, reflected on the team’s
preparation for the upcoming game.
“It’s very exciting,” Bouchard said in an interview with The Tribune
“In all the years I’ve been at McGill, it’s the first time we’re hosting playoffs, the first time we’re finishing second instead of third [....] We know what our main objective is: We want to go to nationals. We know what the steps are. So yes, it’s pretty exciting, but we’re focusing on the [first game] and are going to give everything we have on that day.”
Unfortunately, the team faced a devastating 1-0 loss against Laval in which a Martlet scored an own goal in the 27th minute. Regardless, the season was one of the most successful in Martlets soccer history.
Soccer is not the only sport sending McGill teams to the RSEQ playoffs—Men’s Rugby headed to Matt Anthony Field on Saturday, Oct. 26, to face the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees in a battle for a spot at the RSEQ Championship. Rugby had a successful season, finishing with a 5–1 conference record and ranked third in the league. They entered the semifinals following a 57-0 win over the Harvard Crimsons in the 150th an-
“My advice to the younger players, and players that want to get into varsity sports, would be: If you put in time and effort every day, it is compounding,” Bye said. “I’ve had success this year, even though I’ve spent time away from the sport. It sounds cliché, but like it really just is down to how often you’re playing your sport and how badly you want it.”
niversary of the Covo Cup—an honoured tradition that celebrates the first intercollegiate rugby game in North America, played in 1874. Sitting down with The Tribune , flanker Elliot Descarreaux, U4 Science, reflected on what the Covo Cup means to the team.
“It means a lot to us [...] because of the history of it,” he said. “We often speak about how when you put on your jersey it’s not just for the guys you’re playing next to or the coaches, but for the history of our program and our team. It’s also important for keeping the alumni society active. It usually brings them together. This weekend there were 30 or 35 alumni there, so that was really fun for us, and nice to see that our program keeps having lasting effects even after you graduate.”
Descarreaux shared that the victory was a testament to the team’s ability to work together and that team spirit was high as they approached playoffs.
Despite a valiant effort, the Redbirds lost to UOttawa, falling short with a final score of 24-12.
With Martlets Soccer and Redbirds Rugby advancing to the RSEQ semifinals, and Redbirds Soccer heading to the RSEQ finals and U SPORTS national championships, McGill Athletics can take pride in the program’s impressive recent performance. This success highlights the dedication and talent of the athletes and sets a promising tone for the future.
The McGill Redbirds Lacrosse team placed second in the CUFLA championship last year, narrowly missing out on a spot at Nationals. (Drea Garcia Avila / The Tribune)
McGill Men’s Soccer, Women’s Soccer, and Men’s Rugby last won the RSEQ Championships in 2002, 2006, and 2022, respectively. (Bruno Cotler / The Tribune)
Campus Complicity: Unpacking calls for divestment at McGill SPHR claims McGill has
Over the past year, pro-Palestinian student advocacy groups have drawn increasing attention to Canadian universities’ ties to Israel and, by extension, their complicity in the genocide in Palestine. During the summer, encampments on university campuses drew heightened attention to the pro-Palestinian movement and its political aims. At all 15 Canadian encampments, student advocacy groups adopted boycott, divest, sanction (BDS) strategies, with protestors primarily demanding that universities divest from companies complicit in Israel’s military offensive and occupation of Palestine. At McGill, activists called on the university to divest $20 million CAD worth of investments in arms manufacturers and other companies they say are tied to the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. With so many student activists calling for divestment, it’s crucial to understand the material implications of these financial ties. The Tribune breaks down why divestment has been central to pro-Palestinian student groups’ demands and what companies they are calling on McGill to divest from.
Why divestment?
The BDS movement has been active since 2005, when a coalition of more than 170 Palestinian unions, professional associations, refugee networks, and other civic groups called on individuals and organizations around the world to “impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel.” The coalition issued the call to action one year after the International Court of Justice delivered an advisory opinion condemning Israel’s construction of the West Bank Barrier—a wall that Israel describes as an antiterrorism “security fence” separating it from the West Bank. The BDS National Committee (BNC) recognizes Israel as a colonial power and advocates for “initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South Africa in the apartheid era.” The BNC states that it does not support any particular resolution, such as a ‘one-state’ or ‘two-state’ solution. Instead, the BNC says they focus on promoting Palestinian human rights and advocating for Palestinian refugees’ return to occupied territories that were previously allocated to Palestine under the United Nations General Assembly’s Resolution 194 of 1948.
Since 2016, Students for Palestine’s Honour
over $20 million in investments—where is the money
Written by Fabienne de Cartier, News Editor
Designed by Mia Helfrich, Design Editor
and Resistance (SPHR) at McGill has been calling on McGill to support the BDS movement. During the 75-day Palestinian Solidarity Encampment on McGill’s Lower Field, SPHR urged McGill to disclose investments valued at less than $500,000 CAD, lobby the Canadian government to condemn Israel’s siege on Gaza, divest from companies it identified as complicit in the genocide of Palestinians, and abstain from penalizing student protestors through disciplinary action. On June 11, McGill issued a statement noting that if protestors dismantled their encampment, the university would grant them amnesty, increase connections with Palestinian scholars and institutions, disclose investments under $500, 000 CAD, consider divestment from weapons manufacturers, and speed up the process by which the issue of divestment would be brought before the Board of Governors’ (BoG) Investment Committee. However, in line with their BDS mandate, SPHR rejected the offer, noting that the proposal did not guarantee divestment and did not meet their “demand for material change.”
A week after McGill dismantled the encampment on July 10 with the help of police and private security company Sirco, McGill President Deep Saini announced that McGill would host two students or scholars “directly affected by the crisis in the Middle East” through their Scholars at Risk Fund, disclose investments under $500,000 CAD, and “explore the question of divestment from direct investments in companies that derive a dominant portion of their direct revenues from the production of military weapons, regardless of the countries in which they operate.” In a statement to The Tribune, McGill’s Media Relations Office asserted that the university “does not take position on geopolitical issues,” but that the Committee on Sustainability and Social Responsibility is currently reviewing feedback received from community members on Oct. 1 on the question of divestment from military weapons companies and will submit its recommendations to the Board of Governors in December 2024. However, without a concrete commitment to divest, SPHR and other pro-Palestinian advocacy groups on campus have continued to escalate pressure on McGill to meet their BDS demands.
ademic institutions accountable for their complicity. And one of the main ways that McGill is complicit is by investing in weapons manufacturers and other companies that are supporting and that are explicitly involved in the genocide in Gaza,” the SPHR representative said. “You hit them where it hurts, which is their pockets.”
Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) McGill echoed SPHR’s sentiment, asserting that pro-Palestinian student activists focus on lobbying their respective universities because they monetarily support and are represented by them.
“Students pay more tuition than they do taxes; we believe that students’ interests should be represented in university decision-making, especially as their tuition is entangled in the university’s investments, development projects, and academic partnerships,” IJV wrote to The Tribune. “By targeting university divestment, students can challenge the status quo and leverage the university’s global reach and resources more effectively than they might through government lobbying.”
Divestment at McGill
In an interview with The Tribune, an SPHR representative, who wished to remain anonymous, explained that their organization sees advocating for divestment as the best way for students to resist Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
“What we can do as students [...] is to hold our ac-
Leading up to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Fall Referendum in November 2023, where 78.7 per cent of non-abstaining voters voted to pass SPHR’s Policy Against Genocide in Palestine, SPHR compiled data on McGill’s investments using figures from Fall 2023. Overall, SPHR found that McGill had approximately $20 million CAD worth of investments in companies it identified as complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, including several military technology companies, consumer goods corporations with notable presences in Israel, and financial institutions with ties to the occupation in Palestine.
As of September 2024, when McGill last disclosed its holdings, McGill’s investments in the companies identified by SPHR have increased to approximately $23 million CAD. Using figures from McGill’s Office of Investments, The Tribune breaks down which corporations SPHR has explicitly called on McGill to divest from and others that may be implicated in Israel’s siege on Gaza as of September 2024.
Notably, more than half of the total investments identified by SPHR in 2023—$10.6 million CAD—were in the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), which is itself invested in companies tied to the genocide in Palestine. As of Fall 2023, when SPHR last compiled their data, RBC reportedly held approximately $58 million USD in investments in Palantir, a software company that supplies militaries with artificial intelligence models, and who, in January 2024, forged a strategic partnership
McGill money going?
with the Israeli Defense Ministry to support the IDF’s “war-related missions.” As of September 2024, McGill’s holdings in RBC amounted to $14,377,709 CAD.
Most prominently, SPHR has condemned McGill’s investment in six defense and security companies they say support Israel and/or the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), including Safran Group ($1,746,410 CAD), BAE Systems PLC ($1,599,083 CAD), MTU Aero Engines ($1,398,206 CAD), Thales Group ($1,301,810 CAD), Airbus Aerospace ($1,024,239 CAD), and Lockheed Martin ($687,049 CAD).
◊ Safran, a multinational aerospace and defence corporation headquartered in Paris, allegedly provides equipment to the Israeli police in the West Bank.
◊ BAE Systems PLC, a British multinational aerospace, defence, and information security company, allegedly supplied Israel with components for their manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as upgrades to their targeting systems for their tanks and warships.
◊ MTU Aero Engines has ties to MTU Solutions, which develops and manufactures engines for tanks used by the Israeli military. Notably, the MTU 12V883 engine powers Merkava MK 4 tanks which have been used extensively by the IDF.
◊ Thales Group co-developed the Watchkeeper Drone with Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, who supplies weapons to the IDF. The Watchkeeper is based on Elbit Systems’ Hermes drone, the latter of which the IDF currently employs. Although the Thales Group’s Watchkeeper drone is not currently in use according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, some BDS groups may allege that their collaboration with Elbit Systems constitutes complicity in Israel’s siege on Gaza.
◊ Airbus Aerospace licensed the Heron TP drone from Israel Aerospace Industries to sell to the German military. According to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the Heron TP is currently in use by the IDF. However, beyond licensing equipment from Israel, there are no other direct links between Airbus and Israel that The Tribune is aware of.
◊ Finally, Lockheed Martin has supplied Israel with an array of aircraft, including 66 F-15s, 175 F-16s, as well as 39 F-35 fighter jets—one of the most advanced fighter jets on the market—with 36 more on order, forming a crucial component of the IDF’s air operations over Gaza.
Although not explicitly cited by SPHR, the BNC has alleged that General Dynamics ($266,907 CAD) has connections to Israel. General Dynamics reportedly supplies bombs that have been used in Gaza, weapon systems that support the IDF’s aircraft, as well as combat and armoured personnel vehicles that facilitate the IDF’s ground and air operations in Palestine.
McGill’s investments in these weapons and security technology companies totaled approximately $9 million CAD as of September 2024.
SPHR also highlights several consumer goods companies with significant corporate presences in Israel and occupied territories such as L’Oreal ($660,132 CAD), Coca-Cola ($1,265,914 CAD), Unilever ($1,752,695 CAD), AXA ($337,517 CAD) and Volvo ($206,417 CAD).
◊ L’Oreal has a subsidiary called L’Oreal Israel, which allegedly operates a factory in the occupied town of Migdal Ha’emek.
◊ Coca-Cola Israel also reportedly operates a regional distribution centre in the Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone. Furthermore, the company’s subsidiary, Tabor Winery, reportedly sources grapes from vineyards in occupied territories.
◊ Unilever is a consumer goods company that does business in Israel and occupied territories. In 2022, Unilever
undermined the pro-Palestinian stance taken by their subsidiary, Ben and Jerry’s, by selling its Ben & Jerry’s business in Israel to American Quality Products, facilitating the sale of the ice cream in Israel and occupied territories under its Hebrew and Arabic name, despite Ben and Jerry’s wishes.
◊ According to the BNC, AXA has a $2.6 million USD holding in Bank Hapoalim, an Israeli bank they say is complicit in settling occupied territory.
◊ The Electronic Intifada condemned Volvo in 2007 following alleged destruction of Palestinian houses using Volvo vehicles. The Volvo group responded by stating that it did not condone the use of its equipment for such purposes, but that it could not control how its products are used; however, the Electronic Intifada and the BNC continue to criticize Volvo for selling armoured buses to Israel to transport Israeli settlers.
companies complicit in the genocide in Gaza is but a sliver of a fraction of the [~$1.9 billion CAD] that McGill holds in investments. Divesting from genocide is well within the realm of possibilities, yet every month the Board of Governors chooses to remain complicit in the genocide in Gaza. The students will not lessen their demands.”
McGill’s investments in these consumer goods companies totaled approximately $12 million CAD as of September 2024. Further, SPHR points to Leumi Bank ($60,006 CAD), which finances settlements in occupied territories in Palestine and Syria.
Importantly, some companies identified by SPHR and other pro-Palestinian groups on campus are more materially tied to the genocide in Palestine than others. While arms manufacturers like Lockheed Martin directly support Israel’s military campaigns, companies like RBC are indirectly tied to the genocide and occupation through their holdings in companies connected to the IDF. By contrast, other companies, like L’Oréal, are tied to the occupation through their properties and business in occupied territories.
Although it is difficult to compile a comprehensive list of companies complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, pro-Palestinian groups on campus may want to consider calling for divestment from all of Canada’s big banks, rather than just from RBC, given that they all have investments tied to the Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, which supplies weapons to the IDF.
The diverse nature of companies’ ties to the genocide and occupation makes it difficult to definitively state how much of McGill’s endowment fund is tied up in Israel’s offensive on Palestine.
Efficacy of divestment
Although some may question if divestment is a realistic demand, SPHR underlined that divestment at McGill and other universities is possible.
“Students demanding divestment are continuously painted as idealists, when really the Board of Governors could enact divestment within the snap of a finger,” SPHR wrote in a statement to The Tribune. “The $20 million [CAD] that McGill invests in weapons manufacturers and other
While the BDS movement has faced harsh criticism from Canadian politicians on both sides of the political spectrum, and critics have expressed doubt over the efficacy of BDS strategies, IJV highlighted that the BDS movement has had a number of recent successes, citing recent hits to the sales of companies like Coca-Cola and Target that pro-Palestinian activists are boycotting.
Representatives from SPHR and IJV added that students have historical precedent of successfully pushing for divestment. The anti-apartheid student movement succeeded in pressuring McGill to become the first Canadian university to divest its holdings in South African apartheid in 1985. IJV noted that anti-apartheid student activism created a “domino effect which extended to the federal government” and that today’s pro-Palestinian student activism has the same potential. In addition to divestment from South African apartheid, SPHR cited McGill’s divestment from companies doing business in Burma in 2006 as an example of how students can successfully implement BDS strategies to compel universities like McGill to take action. They also noted that McGill’s cutting of academic ties with Russian institutions in 2022 demonstrates that the university is not afraid to implement academic consequences for global human rights violations
“Looking at McGill’s past geopolitical history, the students know that their demands are perfectly tangible and the students will continue to be steadfast,” SPHR wrote.
FIFA accused of “sportswashing” by women soccer stars over Saudi deal
The deal gives sponsorship rights on upcoming major tournaments to state-owned oil company Aramco
Ethan Kahn Staff Writer
This past April, soccer’s governing body, FIFA, announced a landmark partnership and sponsorship deal with the Saudi Arabian Oil Group, Aramco. Owned almost entirely by the Saudi Arabian government and the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), this collaboration between FIFA and Aramco marks another milestone in FIFA’s continued relationship with the nation. Saudi Arabia is also set to host the men’s FIFA World Cup in 2034, solidifying the country’s growing presence in global soccer.
Women’s soccer’s biggest names fought back against the deal in the wake of the Saudi government’s continued mistreatment and repression of women and minority groups, such as the male guardianship system, imprisonment of women’s rights activists, and criminalization of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
These players claim that FIFA is continuing to assist Saudi Arabia in “sportswashing,” a tactic used by repressive governments and corporations, which aims to distract the eyes of the public from controversies through the promotion of sport.
In a letter to FIFA, 130 players, including Canadian legend Jessie Fleming and the Netherlands’ all-time leading scorer Vivianne Miedema came out strongly against the partnership. They expressed feeling let down by people who were supposed to be looking out for the players’ best interest, and that the sponsorship with Aramco went directly against many causes that women’s football players were passionate about. The players cited Aramco’s massive levels of emissions, the continued oppression of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, and the state-sponsored restrictions against Saudi Arabian women as reasons why this sponsorship is antithetical to the continued growth of women’s soccer.
In an era where the growth of women’s soccer outpaces many other sports, fans and players see the Saudi deal as a step in the wrong direction. The letter rightly points out the deal was made by 37 decisionmakers, of which only eight are women. Male decision-makers are not at risk of being affected by the Saudi government’s regressive policies, and some
of the main stakeholders—women—are typically excluded from the decision-making process. It is an indictment on FIFA and its leadership that the requests of their players are not being heard or acted on. It would be in the sport’s best interest for FIFA to cease relationships with a government that is antithetical to the best part of soccer: Inclusivity. From the No Room for Racism campaign to the Rainbow Laces project, players and fans frequently stand up for marginalized communities. Soccer’s leaders, however, show no such inclination, to the detriment of the sport and its players.
Aramco CEO and President Amin H. Nasser explained in a press release that the partnership with FIFA attempts to use the power of sport to make global impacts and develop the game of soccer. This has been a trend not just in world soccer, but also in many other international and well-recognized sports. The controversial PIFowned LIV Golf League aims to compete with the PGA Tour to be the foremost golf competition in the world, while a PIF-led financial takeover of Newcastle United F.C. in the English Premier League sparked outrage from fans. Additionally, one would be hard-pressed to watch a Formula 1 race without spotting Aramco advertisements scattered throughout the circuit. In fact, Aramco is the main title sponsor of the Aston Martin F1 Team.
When Nasser speaks of “harnessing the power of sport,” he is not being disingenuous. The end goal of this sportswashing is to use the global adoration of sports to continue to normalize the behaviours of the Saudi Arabian government by injecting its finances and advertising into the sports and teams fans hold so dearly. Normalization will continue as eyes are pulled away from domestic issues within Saudi Arabia. FIFA has made the decision that abuses against the 2SLGBTQ+ community, oppression of women, and poisoning the planet are acceptable in the name of financial gain and brand recognition. They simultaneously profit off of the popularity of women’s soccer and the oil money of a nation whose laws oppress women daily. By pointing out the hypocrisy of this decision, players are taking a brave stand against financial interests, and hopefully FIFA will follow suit.
Super (worm) Bowl weekend
Looks like a hand-off to Bendy Bob, but the Wigglers are gonna need seven centimeters to tie it up with the Squigglers! It’s gonna be a tight game, folks...
The letter to FIFA names girls and women who are incarcerated in Saudi Arabia for activism in support of women’s liberation. (Ruby Reimer /The Tribune)
(Ruby Reimer /The Tribune)
Hey, do you hear something? I don’t know but I’m hungry TOUCHDOWN!!!
Comic by Ryan Dvorak, The Tribune
Halloween costumes on a budget
Need a costume for each day of Halloweekend? The Tribune’s got you covered
Bianca Tri Staff Writer
Whether you’ve partied over the past weekend, are about to start a bender on Thursday, or just want to dress up at home, costumes are at the heart of Halloween celebrations. This is your sign to not be intimidated by the planners of our world—those who’ve had their outfits ready since last Halloween—and to embrace creative solutions. The following recommendations for costumes on a budget are not only cheap, but also trendy and easy to put together last minute!
Search for inspiration
Thanks to the internet, there are endless sources of costume inspiration for Halloween. Searching for “DIY halloween costumes” on Pinterest is an easy way to get started. Thousands of photos are available and often more relevant than what you’d find through a simple Google search. When you find something you like, the algorithm will look for similar pins to explore. A costume can be anything you want it to be! Some good places to start are your favourite characters from movies, singers in iconic tour outfits, and even inanimate objects. Gone are the days of needing your choice to be recognized—Halloween is all about enjoy-
ing yourself. If you want to go as a jar of pickles, nothing’s stopping you.
Look into your closet
Now that you have an idea of what you want to dress up as, it’s time to take inventory. Before heading to your nearest Spirit Halloween, take a look at your own clothes. If historical accuracy is not a problem for you, then substituting in a shirt or an accessory that’s a few shades off-model is an easy way to save money. It’s a good idea to ask any friends for items as well—just make sure to return it vomit-free afterwards. If your wardrobe is looking a little bare, be on the lookout for clothing swaps, where you can exchange second-hand outfits, or dig through the closet of a generous friend. Additionally, going to a thrift store and checking their seasonal aisle is a budget-friendly alternative. Also, if you’re going to buy a piece of clothing you know you’ll only wear once, try to donate these items once Halloweekend is over.
Get creative
To elevate your everyday clothes to fantastical levels, try a bit of arts and crafts. Do-it-yourself projects do not have to be timeconsuming, complicated, or permanent. A few pieces of masking tape can last you throughout the night, and the next morning your clothes
will return to normal. With just some scissors, markers, and a basic sewing kit, you can make virtually anything. Plus, it’s always nice to get a compliment on a costume and be able to say you made it yourself!
Don’t be afraid to reach out to friends: The only thing more fun than making costumes is making costumes with friends. If your make-up skills are not up to par, you might know someone who’s eager to test their special effects skills on you. You can even turn a somewhat tedious task into a fun get-together. Just buy masquerade masks from the dollar store and form your troupe of black swans, jesters, or musketeers!
Some ideas to get you started
Here are some costume ideas you need to try this year:
• Art, Tashi, and Patrick from Challengers (2024): All of the characters in this film wear pretty normal clothes. If you own a tennis racket, it’ll be pretty easy to dress up as any of the three. This goes for any sports-related costumes: Props are your best friend.
• Olympic breakdancer: All you need to embody your inner Raygun is a fully green outfit and some confidence. The best part about this costume? You can test out some crazy dance moves and say it’s all in character.
• Post-ironic Brat: It’s time to accept that while brat summer is over, brat autumn has just begun. In fact, brat will never end. Between remix albums and world tours, maybe we all need to pick up a sharpie and a neon green shirt this Halloween. The good thing about brat shirts is that you can write whatever costume you wish you’d bought; just make sure it’s in a lower case font.
Try puns with your old costumes! You could be “Sabrina Carpenter” by combining Sabrina the Teenage Witch and a handsaw. (Ryan Dvorak / The Tribune)
How to support your American friends as presidential election looms
Dos and don’ts
Ella Paulin Managing Editor
As Election Tuesday approaches, it’s likely to be a tense week for our neighbours to the south. Here’s some advice from a concerned American to help you look out for your friends from the States.
Check in about their plans for election night
With months of build-up, no clear polling data, and incredibly high stakes, Tuesday, Nov. 5 is likely to be one of the most stressful political days of the year for anyone with a vested interest in the U.S. government. Everyone deals with this in their own way: Some will likely be passing out drunk on the couch at an election watch party, some will be anxiously checking their phones every five minutes while pretending to study, and some will be trying to distract themselves any way they can. Whatever they’re up to, it can be a nice gesture to check in on your American friends to see if they’d like company, support, or a distraction.
Take a quick break from complaining about Justin Trudeau
Look, we know you’re not a fan of him. We know about the blackface, his inability to say “LGBTQ,” and that his dad has an airport named after him. But honestly, compared to what Americans are dealing with, anyone who can speak in coherent sentences is looking pretty good right about now.
for the U.S. citizen
in your life on the first Tuesday of November
Look into their local elections
During presidential election years, the race for the top spot usually gets all of the attention, but there are also many crucial elections happening at both the state and local levels. If you know what state or city your friend is from, look up what additional items are on their ballot using websites like vote411.org, or ballotpedia. org for more information on specific measures. Depending on the state, there may be important races for governor, senate, or state legislature. There are also often referendum questions on topics like the legalization of marijuana, abortion rights, and school funding. Familiarizing yourself with some of these ballot items can go a long way towards showing you care—and understanding what exactly your American friends are so stressed out about this week.
Know the swing states
While every American is affected by the outcome of the presidential race, the election-night experience can be very different depending on whether your state is solidly blue, solidly red, or up in the air. If your friend is from Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, or Nevada, their races are still well and truly considered toss-ups, and their results will have a disproportionate impact on the national outcome.
evening on Tuesday, so if your friends are staying up to see the final results, it may be a late night. And depending on the outcome, they may not be feeling very motivated to attend class the next morning either. If you share a Wednesday-morning course with an American, it might be helpful to send them your notes or an audio recording of the lecture.
FAQ: Addressing some common questions so your American friends don’t have to
Are you going to vote?
While voting is a crucial part of living in a democracy, and many American
citizens living abroad are eligible to vote in state and federal elections, at this point it’s too late to start the process of requesting an absentee ballot for many states, and any Americans who haven’t voted are likely feeling guilty about it, so no need to rub salt in the wound.
Do you think you’re gonna move back to the U.S. after you graduate? They still have no idea. At the very least, you should probably wait until a couple of weeks after Nov. 5 to start asking again.
Have you seen the results?! Yes. They have.
Office hours: More than an option, a
must Why you should attend the extension of the course
Charley Tamagno Contributor
Office hours are an essential part of any college curriculum. Amid the hustle of lectures, conferences, and assignments, these hours provide flexible opportunities for students to ask their professors or teaching assistants (TAs) any questions that come up throughout the semester. They offer a safe space for those who might be afraid to ask questions in front of the entire lecture hall, allowing one-on-one time to raise concerns and explore more in-depth questions. Information about professors’ and TAs’ office hours can usually be found on each course’s syllabus.
Some professors’ office hours only occur once or twice a week, making it difficult for students whose schedules overlap with these times to seek help. Luckily, for larger lectures, there are conferences run by TAs, most of whom have their own individual office hours that any student is welcome to attend. For instance, in LING 201, there are five TAs, all of whom host one to two hours a week in person or on Zoom. This flexibility allows students to get their burning questions answered by someone knowledgeable.
Zlata Odribets, a graduate student pursuing a degree in Syntax, is currently
one of the five TAs for LING 201. She hosts office hours twice during the semester. Her last session, just before the midterm, welcomed five students with questions about recent assignments.
“I think some students appreciate communication that is private, that their classmates can’t overhear. Often office hours provide me the opportunity to answer a question more in-depth when I’m not rushing from one class to another,” Odribets said. “When I was an undergraduate student I asked similar questions [to professors and TAs].”
Although it can be nice to have a direct line to the professor, having additional office hours with TAs allows both students and instructors more flexibility.
As Ruby Czeban, U0 Arts, explained, office hours also provide a time and space for students to build relationships with their TAs and professors outside of lectures.
“I think that it can be very helpful sometimes, especially when you have a specific question,” Czeban said.
The class had posed some challenges to Czeban, so just before a big test, she attended office hours with the professor to clarify questions about the problem set that had been assigned beforehand. Specific homework questions can be overwhelming or simply inconvenient to ask
in a class with over 300 students. Additionally, an issue with a specific problem may not be universally applicable, which is why chatting with the professor or TA after class is often the best way to go.
Alejandra (Sandra) Barriales Bouche, a professor in McGill’s Hispanic Studies department who instructs HISP 219, explained her experience with students who came to office hours.
“After an exam, students come more often. Usually, they come to ask questions about the exam or doubts about the material. Sometimes they come for future plans, [such as] which courses they should take,” Barriales Bouche explained. “I feel that some of them feel there is a barrier in class. I feel like there is a different atmosphere [during office hours]. It’s an opportunity for the student and me to establish a conversation about how they are doing in the course.”
pattern among students.
More importantly, she added that she hopes students will take advantage of office hours at all times, and not only when they are struggling—which seems to be a
How do we escape our phones during midterms?
Screen time awareness during the fall cram season
Simona Culotta Contributor
While the end of October highlights the traditional joys of the fall season, such as Halloween and pumpkin-spice lattes, it also stands as a gruelling reminder of midterm season. Given the anxiety and stress that can easily wash over us during exams, we tend to gravitate to our phones as a temporary distraction from these negative emotions. Yet when we browse through feeds, messages, or media platforms, we’re all aware—whether we admit it or not—that doomscrolling only digs us deeper into a hole.
Fortunately, this shared experience has inspired many students around campus to find different approaches to staying focused. Olive Bohdanowycz, U1 Arts, discussed how she manages her school work while being mindful of her screen time, sharing her personal strategies for different study locations.
“When I’m at Schulich or McLennan, I normally use the phone lock machines to completely remove myself from my phone’s distractions. When I’m at home though, I just rely on DND [do-notdisturb] to silence everything,” Bohdanowycz said.
In addition to the basic do-not-disturb function, many phones now have versatile personal, work, and sleep modes allowing you to customize which specific apps you receive notifications from. Setting these precise restrictions on your phone can
improve self-discipline and help prevent procrastination.
Daphne Barrett, U1 Arts, also found success with limiting access to her phone. Along with adopting similar do-not-disturb approaches to Bohdanowycz, she used strategies that relied on other people to get involved with her personal screen time limitations.
“I’ll either have one of my friends or housemates take my phone away, or set timers so I can see how much work I’ve done without my phone,” she explained. “It’s motivating to see my time and track my hours of studying.”
Through methods like this, Barrett was able to balance effective studying habits with a feeling of satisfaction and
“Don’t come only when you have a problem. Come to let me know that things are going okay, and things that you like in the course,” Barriales Bouche said.
Office hours are not only an option in times of need; they’re a must throughout the entire semester. Professors’ and TAs’ doors are also opened for a simple chat.
progress, specifically through her timer strategy. This approach of transforming screen time restrictions into a motivating process seemed to be effective and popular with many other students as well.
Juan Garnica, U2 Desautels, mentioned apps that use similar tactics as a motivating tool. For instance, Flora is an app that plants a virtual tree for a set duration of study time. When the timer runs out, the tree appears fully grown in your virtual garden. He explained how closing the Flora app kills your tree, forcing you to restart the process.
“Seeing that I’ll kill my tree makes me think twice if I really want to go on my screen. It is a way to make me realize my priorities,” Garnica said.
Like Barrett, Garnica uses this app to stay focused on his work by reducing distractions and using the virtual trees as a motivating reward. Turning focused work and studying into a game is an ideal way to get through difficult tasks.
On the other hand, Shirley Tu, U2 Arts, tries to avoid their phone entirely whenever possible.
“Usually when I’m listening to music, I try to always connect my headphones to my laptop instead of my phone so if I’m changing the song or volume, I’m not distracted by any notifications or feel the need to look at other apps,” Tu said.
Using an alternative device like a computer, which lacks the disruptive qualities of phones such as constant sporadic alerts and the ease of getting lost in distractions, can be effective for staying on task. While we may try to justify constantly having our phones close by to listen to music or keep up with text messages or other vital alerts, Shirley’s method shows that it is possible to do these things without a phone.
While simply silencing their phone may be enough for some, others might need to find alternatives to fight the urge to scroll and keep themselves focused on school. Whether you use a screen time regulation app or completely remove your phone from the equation, these insights can help us develop strategies for balancing work and phone usage. By locking up our phones, we can unlock our full study potential to achieve a successful midterm season.
According to a study by Guerrero and Rod, office-hour visits are positively correlated with academic performance. (Rohan Khanna / The Tribune)
University students spend an average of four to six hours on their phones per day. (Anna Seger / The Tribune)
Think your partner is anxious-avoidant? Think again. A deep dive into the confusing world of popular
Yusur Al-Sharqi Managing Editor
With pop psychology invading every social media platform, the line between self-help and self-sabotage has never been so thin. Pop psychology refers to psychological theories, strategies, or concepts popularized through the media—particularly social media. From attachment style assessments that can make or break your dating life to the allure of “therapy speak” that fills our conversations, these simplified concepts seem harmless—sometimes even empowering. Yet beneath the surface of this accessible facade lies a minefield of misconceptions and a serious potential for harming relationships.
In the 1950s, psychologists John Bowlby and Mary Ain- sworth developed Attachment Theory to transcend the paradigm that we attach to parental figures solely for survival. Their research, along with subsequent studies in the field, identified four attachment styles: Secure, anxious-avoidant, anxious-ambivalent, and fearful-avoidant.
In recent years, the theory has surged in popularity, especially as unqualified social media “psychology gurus” have capitalized on the trend of making psychology accessible to the masses. While the intent to democratize psychology is commendable, real danger lurks in the oversimplification of mental health issues. Kristina Tchalova, a psychology professor at McGill University, shared her perspectives on pop science’s approach to interper-
Peaking into
sonal relationships.
“I think people might be too quick to jump to a diagnosis of a potential partner,” Tchalova said in an interview with The Tribune. “Once you form this conception of your partner, you risk interpreting all their subsequent behaviour through that lens. Confirmation bias is a powerful force.”
Contrary to pop-psychology beliefs and older research, recent literature views attachment as a continuum, where one falls along dimensions of anxiety and avoidance and moves between them throughout their life, rather than a concrete, categorical measure. Tchalova explained that many people can exhibit different attachment styles across various relationships. For instance, someone who generally identifies as insecurely attached may still have multiple secure relationships that provide stability and comfort.
“People think of attachment as being unchangeable, very rigid, whereas we know from research that [...] attachment can change,” Tchalova said. “At its worst, misunderstanding attachment theory can rob people of their sense of agency or can be used to excuse their bad behaviour.”
Attachment theory is not the only psychological concept rewritten by social media. Many people, especially those seeking to better understand their relationship dynamics, over-rely on ideas such as the “Love Languages”—originally coined by Baptist Pastor Gary Chapman, with no scientific backing—and misinterpret terms like “gaslighting,” “bound-
psychology
aries,” “codependency,” and “limerence.” The more these terms become watered-down, the more difficult it becomes for victims of real-world situations to identify their struggles. This misconception around terminology is especially problematic when individuals base their understanding of complex psychological concepts on superficial online quizzes.
It is human nature to be curious about the inner workings of our minds, and online resources can be a good start to understanding our thoughts and behaviours—especially when research can be inaccessible, and finding a professional to talk to is harder than ever. However, the risk lies in the overreliance on labels.
“Often, people stop at the diagnosis or self-diagnosis stage, which leads to the common tendency to be fatalistic,” Tchalova explained.
Of course, not all internet advice is bad advice. Pascal Vrticka, associate professor in psychology at the University of Essex, is known for his online content addressing common misconceptions in a knowledgeable way and is a great resource to turn to for information on attachment. However, it is critical to acknowledge that consumers, and often producers, of pop psychology content are not experts. Psychological research is complex and
the brains of bilingual students
MRI scanning reveals differences in cognitive patterns while learning
Ella Paulin Managing Editor
As Quebec tightens regulations around student eligibility for education in English or other languages, the proportion of anglophone and allophone students—those whose home language is neither English nor French—attending French schools in the province has shot up. According to recent data from the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), 32 per cent of anglophone students and 92 per cent of allophone students are enrolled in schools where the primary language of instruction is French. These numbers are up from 18 per cent and 79 per cent in 2000.
With such a high proportion of students going through the school system in their second or third language, researchers are wondering how kids cognitively handle this experience.
Gigi Luk, a professor in McGill’s Faculty of Education, has been tackling this issue in the context of Spanish-English bilingualism in Massachusetts. Her recent paper, published in collaboration with scholars from Harvard and the University of California, investigates differences in brain activity between English monolingual students and Spanish-English bilingual students when watching a pre-recorded science lecture in English.
As Luk explained, the study is unique in how closely it replicates natural classroom-
style learning.
“In this particular study, it’s very special, because we developed the videos from scratch using curriculum material in Massachusetts, and we actually used those materials to write a script and then have a teacher help us turn that script into something she would actually say in a classroom,” Luk said in an interview with The Tribune
Nonetheless, students didn’t quite have a normal classroom experience: In Luk’s study, they were watching the lectures from within an fMRI machine.
“Nothing is natural when you’re in an MRI scanner, I’m not going to lie,” Luk joked.
But the fMRI allowed Luk to dig deeper into what was really going on in students’ minds when they were learning in a way that other methods like questionnaires and assessments couldn’t.
What they found was that the same areas of the brain were lighting up for both categories of students, but when they looked more closely, there were some key differences. Using functional connectivity analysis—a technique that looks at how the activity in different regions is correlated with activity in a chosen “seed” region—they were able to uncover how the bilingual students’ minds were behaving differently.
“The general finding is that, for children who speak Spanish as a first language, but listening to the video in English, we see largely similar brain area. So it’s not like they’re using completely different brain regions, but
in fact they have more diffused and larger networks compared to the functional connectivity pattern in children who only speak one language,” Luk explained.
What this essentially means is that the Spanishspeaking students were putting more effort, and more different types of effort, into learning the same material as the English-speaking students.
messy, and trying to interpret it for a mass audience is fraught.
So, the next time you encounter a pop psychology trend online, consider Dr. Tchalova’s advice:
“Ask yourself: What am I being asked to believe here? What is the supporting evidence for that? Are there alternative explanations for what’s being described? Seek out contradictory sources and weigh the strength of the evidence.”
82 per cent of students in Montreal are enrolled in the French school system, compared with 91 per cent in Quebec as a whole. (Rohan
“When you’re listening to lectures in a language that maybe you’re still developing, maybe there’s vocabulary that you don’t understand, or maybe there are sentence structures that are too long to keep track of,” Luk speculated. “We don’t know exactly what it is, because our study does not allow us to answer those questions, but the task of listening to this lecture was harder for them.”
Interestingly, the researchers also administered several tests to assess the students’ general language abilities in both Spanish and English. They found that, for the Spanish-speaking students, performance in English and Spanish was correlated, so if
they scored higher on the Spanish language assessment, they were likely to do better in English as well.
“Learning two languages is not like a seesaw, where one is better, so the other has to go down,” Luk explained. “The human brain is incredibly plastic, and when we learn multiple languages, they help each other out, rather than cancelling each other out.”
Moving forward, Luk plans to conduct an extension of this study with French-English bilingual participants in Montreal, investigating whether these results hold true in an environment where balanced bilingualism is much more common and the linguistic context is very different.
According to the American Psychological Association, over 50 per cent of children are securely attached. (Zoe Lee / The Tribune)
Khanna / The Tribune )
Mindfulness: A potential solution for depression and anxiety in seniors
How mindfulness-based cognitive therapy improves depression and anxiety
K. Coco Zhang Science & Technology Editor
In Canada, up to 20 per cent of older adults experience symptoms of depression, and these rates increase to up to 40 per cent for those in hospitals and long-term care homes.
Depression and anxiety disproportionately affect older adults and are associated with adverse health outcomes, reduced quality of life, and increased healthcare costs. Traditional treatments such as one-on-one psychotherapy and medication use may often be inconvenient for older adults due to low accessibility and negative side effects. Therefore, alternative therapies that provide a non-pharmacological, safe, and more accessible option would be beneficial.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), a type of psychotherapy that combines elements of cognitive therapy and mindfulness, usually includes eight weekly two-hour sessions, typically delivered in a group format. It has become widely used and has shown to be effective in the treatment of depression and anxiety, particularly among older adults. However, studies regarding the psychological pathways through which MBCT improves psychological outcomes, including depression and anxiety, are scarce.
In a recent paper, Soham Rej, associate professor in McGill’s Department of Psychiatry and Principal Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI), and his team investigated whether MBCT influenced mindfulness and psychodynamic defense mechanisms.
“Defense mechanisms are ways that we
cope with reality and the ways we react to difficulties in life,” Rej said in an interview with The Tribune
Namely, these mechanisms are unconscious psychological responses that protect people from feelings of anxiety and threats to selfesteem. In addition, Rej’s team also looked for changes in depression and anxiety symptoms.
The three defensive categories, from the least to the most adaptive, are “immature,” “neurotic,” and “mature” defenses.
Immature mechanisms are counterproductive and can involve using projection or passiveaggressive behaviours, while the neurotic category includes the repression and detachment of emotions. These behaviours still aren’t ideal, but they are generally considered more adaptive than immature mechanisms. Rej underscored
how immature and neurotic defenses can lead to psychological distress and worse health.
On the other hand, mature defenses are considered adaptive and involve using humour or rationalization to cope with challenging emotions or situations. According to Rej, mature defense mechanisms are usually more socially acceptable and help promote better mental health outcomes.
“We found that MBCT improved mature defenses and reduced neurotic and immature defense mechanisms,” Rej said. “In addition, MBCT improved mindfulness as self-reported by the patients, and this improvement was statistically significantly associated with improvements in anxiety.”
These findings emphasize the potential for short interventions, such as MBCT, to change
Finding sonic serenity in the big city Transforming urban spaces with creative soundscaping solutions
Jenna Durante Science & Technology Editor
Imagine strolling through the bustling streets of downtown Montreal, where the air is thick with the rumble of traffic and the screeching of construction. It’s not exactly the most relaxing experience, is it? Could urban planners transform these soundscapes into something more pleasant?
Valérian Fraisse, a PhD student in Music Technology at McGill, is devoted to applying science to music. His research focuses on urban soundscapes—the overlapping environmental sounds that make up our auditory experiences in urban settings—by investigating how to improve environments through sound installations and perceptive evaluations.
In a recent study, Fraisse explored the transformation of Fleurs-de-Macadam Square. This community space, created from a vacant lot in the Plateau-Mont-Royal, became the site for sound installations designed by the artist collective Audiotopie. Over two summers, Fraisse and the sound artists created and installed four sound pieces: Woodland sounds, voices, synthesizers, and sounds of the sea.
“Sound artists play an important role in contributing to providing better sound experiments, especially because they are experts in what they do [...] they are sonic experts that know what kind of sound could be done to improve or alter the perception of a given space,” Fraisse said in an interview with The Tribune
While using sound to mask unwanted
noise isn’t new, the study reveals these installations can do more than just cover up unpleasant sounds. Through the analysis of over 800 questionnaires and sound level measurements, the researchers found that all four sound installations positively impacted people’s perception of the soundscapes.
Key findings showed that despite their compositional differences, the sound pieces all contributed to a calmer soundscape. This universal impact suggests that installations that utilize peaceful sounds enhance the tranquillity of public spaces.
However, specially tailored compositions can go beyond making an environment calmer, and actually achieve specific desired effects. For instance, the woodlands installation, which incorporated natural sounds, increased the sense of “being away” from the business of the city. On the other hand, the synthesizer installation, using abstract sounds, created a more coherent and less chaotic soundscape, highlighting how different sonic approaches achieve distinct perceptual outcomes.
“I would say also that the goal of this installation is never to strongly alter the sound environment,” Fraisse explained. “So it’s a very subtle kind of ambient sound. The goal is for it to be nondisruptive, so it can bring a more pleasant atmosphere without deterring people from staying there.”
The sound installations went beyond masking unwanted noise; they promoted “attentional masking” by shifting listeners’ focus to less prominent sounds in the environment.
defense mechanisms, suggesting that treating depression and anxiety can lead to healthier ways of coping.
“If somebody is depressed and has certain immature defense mechanisms, we shouldn’t have any prejudice against such people and should try to treat their depression,” Rej said.
Rej’s study is the first to evaluate the effects of MBCT on defense mechanisms and their relationship with depression and anxiety symptoms.
Although Rej’s team observed a trend of change toward increased mature defense mechanisms and decreased neurotic and immature defense styles, larger studies are necessary to confirm the role of MBCT in promoting psychodynamic defense mechanisms.
Moving forward, Rej would like to see future studies continue exploring different psychological and biological mechanisms underlying various types of psychotherapies. He also points to the need to increase access to psychotherapy.
“In Quebec, you can be waiting 12 months, or even longer, to get psychotherapy, so access needs to be improved. Ways to do that include giving consultations via Zoom and offering group therapies,” Rej said. “The future is about increasing access by scaling up access to these interventions using new technologies.”
Rej highlights the potential application of MBCT in preventing mental disorders before their onset.
“We need to have low-cost, highly scalable ways of preventing depression and anxiety through exercise, diet, and programs like MBCT targeted at people at risk of anxiety or depression,” Rej said.
For example, instead of being overwhelmed by traffic noise, listeners become more aware of the quieter nearby construction. The installations effectively helped people tune into the quieter elements of the environment.
The research also highlights the significance of temporal and spatial variables. A sound installation’s effect can vary depending on the time of day and where people are within the space. Further research is needed to explore these implications and the long-term considerations, such as habituation and changing community needs.
Soundscapes include all noises in an environment, categorized into biophony, geophony, and anthropophony, representing natural and human-made sounds. (Ryan Dvorak / The Tribune )
Fraisse said.
Fraisse believes that sound installations offer a valuable tool for public urban planners seeking to improve public spaces.
“In [urban] areas that don’t have a lot of variety, for instance, that are pretty dominated by traffic or noises that are not specifically restorative or interesting, [sound installations] can play a great role by bringing sonic diversity, but also just fostering cultural and social interactions, so there can be many benefits,”
In addition to these advantages, the installations are relatively inexpensive, adaptable to various spaces, and versatile in the types of sound content they can incorporate. By adding soundscapes to the urban planning toolkit, they offer a creative and effective way to enhance the enjoyment and restoration of urban environments.
The study contributes to growing research on the importance of sound in our urban experience. As cities become increasingly noisy, creating oases of calm and tranquillity is essential. In the grand orchestra of urban living, soundscapes can be the key to making a city sing—not just shout.
According to the World Health Organization, the most common mental health conditions for older adults are depression and anxiety. (Hannah Nobile / The Tribune)
MJ Lenderman ushers the spirit of Asheville into Montreal’s Théâtre Fairmount
The indie-rock icon
takes the stage in Montreal for the first time
Annabella Lawlor Staff Writer
Whirring guitars pierce through the night, sloshing through the cramped crowd of Théâtre Fairmount. The amps engulf the room in a communication of riffs, a call-and-response of rhythmic strums with the scalding guitar whistles and twang of the pedal steel. As the audience returns lyrical chants to the stage, shock transforms the performers’ modest demeanours into a mix of shy charisma and humble fortitude. Sporting clogs and a pair of worn-out Levi’s, MJ Lenderman and his touring band, The Wind, took to the stage in effervescent fashion, riding the high of the venue’s vibrant energy.
On his first of three major tours in subsequent months, Lenderman played in Montreal on Oct. 21 in support of his recent record, Manning Fireworks. After its release and succeeding critical acclaim, Lenderman’s fame reached new heights, with many publications pronouncing him the second coming of the pure indie-rock genre. The record is undoubtedly characteristic of several seminal “alt-country” and “loner-rock” records of the early 2000s by the likes of Bill Callahan, Will Oldham, and David Berman, many of whom Lenderman has described as huge influences on his musical output. Manning Fireworks is a
lesson in paying homage: His inspirations are apparent in the constructed soundscapes, yet the narratives presented throughout the record are uniquely fresh and unabashedly honest.
In his lyrics, Lenderman embraces the mundanity of the world, humourizing life’s most monotonous moments and embracing the boredom that existence has to offer. There’s art in elevating the unexpected—beauty in the absence of chaotic experience. Each song is an amalgamation of short anecdotes, grappling with the predictability of life in the unintentionally humourous American landscape. In “Joker Lips,” he confesses, “And you know I love my TV / But all I really wanna see / Is see you need me,” and in “You Don’t Know The Shape I’m In,” he recalls how “We sat under a half-mast McDonald’s flag.” His words carry a meta-recognition of the falsities of the American psyche and the emotions that plague a society so reliant on consumerism and corporate power structures. Lenderman’s tracks come across as honest documentations of America’s depravities and frank recollections of the modern world’s accidental absurdism. On “Rudolph,” he somehow describes accurately and emotively the feeling of helpless vulnerability with the comedic metaphor of a “Deleted scene of Lightning McQueen / Blacked out at full speed.” His lyrics become more potent when considering the current landscape of loss in Lenderman’s hometown of Asheville, North
Carolina. The shocking arrival of Hurricane Helene in late September destroyed homes and entire neighbourhoods as a result of mass flooding. Many figures in the Asheville music scene— including Lenderman’s other band Wednesday—have documented the displacement and devastation experienced by the city’s residents and called upon people across the country to donate to the city’s reconstruction. As a result, Lenderman cancelled several of the tour’s early stops. Lenderman informed the show’s audience of a new song he contributed to the compilation album Cardinals
Asheville’s musical spirit and the strength of its residents in the face of disaster.
At The Window. With over one hundred participating musical artists, the record is only available through purchase, with its proceeds going to rebuilding Western North Carolina. Playing the new track, “Pianos,” Lenderman’s performance was a triumphant reassertion of
‘May Our Joy Endure’ explores the cycle of guilt, accountability, and redemption
Quebec’s Kevin Lambert examines architecture as a cause of gentrification amidst the housing crisis
Alexandra Lasser
Contributor
May Our Joy Endure is the third and most daring novel written by Québecois author Kevin Lambert. Lambert moved to Montreal to study at the Université de Montréal in his late teens, allowing him to offer unique and personal insight into the city’s urban development. This is where he sets his tale of opulence and demise. Biblioasis published the work on Sept. 3, and Lambert has already won numerous awards for his originality.
The story follows revered Montreal architect Céline as anti-gentrification protestors threaten her career and reputation. Her downfall in public favour occurs after she undertakes the construction of a large company’s headquarters, which sacrifices the Parc-Extension neighbourhood in favour of a fabulous and artistically impressive architectural feat. Readers are invited into her mind as she grapples with her role as an architect working on projects that contribute to gentrification and further exacerbate the Canadian housing crisis. Lambert’s passion for and knowledge of Montreal comes through in his specificity; his sensitive descriptions of the small, locally-run businesses in Parc-Ex evoke compassion for the neighbourhood’s resi -
dents who are especially vulnerable to renovictions.
The narrative voice is particularly intriguing within Lambert’s work. His use of omniscient third-person narration invites readers to consider perspectives on both sides of the gentrification social movement, and his long, winding sentences mirror the fluid development of urban sprawl. Lambert drifts between Fitzgerald-esque descriptions of lavish opulence dotted with Céline’s philosophical musings and the harsh reality revealed through the perspectives of the anti-gentrification activists.
Even at her worst, Céline is living a life of luxury most could only dream of, swaying readers away from Céline’s excuses and self-pity. While Lambert does voice the perspectives of the non-wealthy, I found myself wanting to hear more from them than just the few pages they are given.
Themes of guilt and redemption are well-explored throughout the work. Lambert crafts the metaphor of a dying camellia that both predicts and represents the death of Céline’s career. It is revealed in the final pages that as a child, Céline killed her mother’s beloved plant as a desperate cry for love. The scent of weed killer has permeated her mind since the first murmurs of controversy, an omen of her fall from grace. This powerful metaphor places
Céline as the active agent that has sowed the destruction of her career, instead of the victim of scapegoating and cancel culture she so often views herself to be. It also frames her flawed actions as an architect as acts of desperation committed by an insecure child. Céline often feels overlooked by her home province of Quebec, and despite her international acclaim, she still craves the approval and respect of her mother country.
However, the camellia metaphor does not entirely mirror her career loss. When Céline remembers killing the camellia, it is clear that she feels a great deal of guilt—the same cannot be said about the mass displacement and evictions that she has contributed to with her project. While she expresses sympathy for those affected, she always redirects the blame onto her colleagues, the “system,” or the government.
The power of MJ Lenderman and The Wind as a musical unit is clear: They don’t play separate parts, but rather formulate a soundscape reliant on creative convergence and the synergy of their musical contributions. With every song, one could feel the immense joy emanating from each member; they were playing for themselves, yet their joy was undeniably contagious.
MJ Lenderman’s music can be found on all music platforms
May Our Joy Endure , the mantra of the ultra-wealthy, represents the ruling classes’ insecurity in the face of social change. It is a plea for mercy and hope for the future, and in the end, it is what keeps Céline afloat. The novel ends with her finding redemption by denouncing her
coworkers for their crimes. Yet it is unclear whether she has genuinely joined the movement against the upper class or if she is simply doing this to repair her reputation. This ambiguity leaves readers to wonder how much of the activism promoted by public figures is performative and whether the proletariat has the means of truly holding the upper classes accountable for their actions.
May Our Joy Endure was published on Sept. 3 and is now available for purchase
Lenderman was featured on Waxahatchee’s lead single “Right Back to It” in January 2024. (Abbey Locker / The Tribune)
The National Post estimates the Canadian housing shortage to be as high as 3.5 million units. (Biblioasis)
(Non-scary!) Halloween media
A roundup of movies and TV shows for the scaredy-cats
Sylvie Bourque Coontributor
Howl’s Moving Castle
In this Studio Ghibli film, young hatmaker Sophie encounters a mysterious wizard named Howl. The Witch of the Waste curses her by turning her into an old woman. Sophie then meets a mysteri -
ous anthropomorphic scarecrow who leads her to Howl’s castle. There, she takes up residence as a live-in cleaning lady, hoping to break free from her curse with the help of the wizard’s magic. The world of the film is filled with sorcery, curses, a magical castle, and an animated flame, making it perfect for Halloween while never being scary. Along with the world and plot of the film, the relationships between the characters and the romance between Sophie and Howl create a captivating story. Not only does this story follow Sophie’s journey of independence and self-discovery, but the film explores anti-war themes with Howl’s critique of the war between two neighbouring kingdoms. The stellar cast of voice actors for the English dub of the film, consisting of Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, and Josh Hutcherson, is the cherry on top.
Over the Garden Wall
In this animated show, halfbrothers Wirt (Elijah Wood) and Greg (Collin Dean) find themselves lost in a spooky forest (for reasons unknown until later in the series), desperately trying to return home. In each episode, the two boys discover a new cast of characters who travel across time and space, while the woods and a few recurring characters
connect each new adventure to the next. This critically acclaimed show has adorable and quintessential autumnal visuals, a great original soundtrack, and clever and hilarious dialogue. Over the Garden Wall is also filled to the brim with references and connections to other media, like the plot’s similarities to Dante’s Inferno and 19th- and 20th-century Americana culture. This take on a story about folklore has the perfect amount of spooky vibes while never being overly scary. Interspersed with humour, this show makes for a tremendous non-scary watch for Halloween.
Agatha All Along
In this new Marvel miniseries, Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), who first appeared in WandaVision (2021), gets her moment in the limelight. This series returns to the fictional town of Westview three years after the events of WandaVision , with Agatha still trapped under the Scarlet Witch’s (Elizabeth Olsen) spell. After finally being released from the spell thanks to the help of Teen (Joe Locke), Agatha creates a coven consisting of Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), a divination witch, Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), a witch gifted at potionmaking, Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), a blood witch (a child of a witch), and Mrs. Hart (Debra Jo Rupp), Agatha’s neighbour and their “green witch,” to embark on a journey through the trials of the Witches’ Road in hopes of regaining her lost powers. Similarly to WandaVision , this series explores different genres and time periods,
as each trial of the road takes them to a different place and transforms their costumes to match, like when they were transformed into the 70s for one of the trials. Agatha All Along has a great cast of characters, and the sapphic tension between Agatha and Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), a romantic figure from Agatha’s past, is immaculate. The final two episodes will be released on Oct. 30, just in time for Halloween, making this the perfect binge-worthy show for the spooky holiday!
A Discovery of Witches
A Discovery of Witches is a series based on Deborah Harkness’ All Souls Trilogy of novels. The story starts in Oxford, where the non-practicing witch and history of science professor Diana Bishop (Teresa Palmer) discovers a centuries-missing bewitched manuscript at the university’s famous Bodleian Library. This discovery leads to Diana meeting Matthew Clairmont (Matthew Goode), a vampire and professor of biochemistry, who work together to uncover the mystery behind this enchanted manuscript. This show is the scariest on this list, as it does get violent and suspenseful at times, but since I could handle it despite my extremely low tolerance for frightening things, it merits its place on this list. This time last year, I became obsessed with this show; the autumnal darkacademic aesthetic of Oxford, the magic, the mystery, and the romance entrap the viewer into this fantastical reality, making it an excellent watch for Halloween!
‘Hearing Things’ is a lighthouse for the future of music journalism
Ex-Pitchfork staffers’ new publication aims to adapt criticism to the digital age
Charlotte Hayes Staff Writer
In January 2024, magazine conglomerate Condé Nast announced that it would be folding Pitchfork , a music coverage site, into Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ), resulting in mass layoffs for the site. This sparked outrage for fellow journalists and readers alike—along with concerns for the future stability of cultural journalism. On Oct. 15, over 10 months later, this story received a surprisingly optimistic update: Five of the former Pitchfork writers have started their own publication, Hearing Things , a workerowned music coverage site focused on making quality music journalism accessible.
“An antidote to the information overload that has poisoned the internet, we’re a destination for curated and considered music journalism,” the team told online music publication Resident Advisor (RA) in an article announcing the launch of the site.
From the outset, the Hearing Things team is prioritizing diversity, both in regards to the music that they choose to cover and the voices that cover it. The public frustration for the layoffs at Pitchfork was twofold: There were large attempts to add more women staff staff at both the writing and editorial levels over
the past decade. This made the layoffs especially frustrating considering that many of the people fired were women, and the website was being folded into a men’s magazine.
Jill Mapes—former Features Editor at Pitchfork and current Hearing Things founding member— was fired in the mass layoffs from Pitchfork in February 2024. She took to X (formerly Twitter) to share her frustration:
“I’ve referred to my job at pitchfork as being on a ferris wheel at closing time, just waiting for them to yank me down. after nearly 8 yrs, mass layoffs got me. glad we could spend that time trying to make it a less dude-ish place just for GQ to end up at the helm,” Mapes wrote.
Hearing Things wanted to directly address gender marginalization within the workplace while constructing the new publication. On their website, they write about how when streaming was introduced, it promised to be a mass democratization of music. It has instead promoted a more monotonous, algorithmic consumption that leads to a lack of diversity in both the artists doing the creating and the genres they’re working within.
In an era of algorithmic music consumption, journalism and criticism are some of the only tools of mass media to combat artificial uniformity. Criticism allows us to challenge our opinions on the things we love—and exposes us to new
artists, genres, and ways of thinking about them.
As a worker-owned publication, Hearing Things prioritizes labour equity within an industry that is often incredibly exploitative towards its employees, while also granting journalists more creative control.
On their website, the team writes that they hope to bring an unfiltered look to the work that they review, as well as—occasionally—a more casual tone. By letting their opinions loose and writing in a more approachable manner, they aim to build real trust with their new audience and pull in new readers who might have not previously engaged with art criticism.
Currently, the website’s content is free to view, but readers have the option of subscribing for as little as $7 USD/ month or up to $1000 USD/year. This “patron” tier system is designed in the hopes of keeping the writing open and accessible to everyone while still adequately compen -
sating workers.
It’s exciting to see the ways in which highly creative writers can adapt to publishing in the modern landscape. Whether working with or against social media conversations about music, these five writers have found a way to continue doing what they love while making space for the next generation of journalists to come.
Howl’s Moving Castle is based on a book of the same name by the British author Diana Wynne Jones, and is the first book in a series. (Mia Helfrich / The Tribune)
‘Hearing Things’ currently offers music reviews, features, and podcasts. (Holden Califf / The Tribune)
