McGill Tribune Vol. 34 Issue 24

Volume No. 34 Issue No. 24 Tuesday, March 31, 2015

McGill TRIBUNE THE

Published by the Tribune Publication Society The Joke Issue www.mcgilltribune.com @mcgilltribune

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Tuesday, March 31, 2015 100% Fact Checked Margaret Scratcher claws her way up to SSMU presidency

Recent election recount finds 7 month old kitten true winner of SSMU election

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CATOWNER LEE VP Puns

n Friday, March 27, write-in catidate Margaret Scratcher won her case against the SSMU Supreme Court regarding the results of the recent SSMU election. Claiming there was something fishy about the unfurrtunate results, the Supreme Court scooped up the tail and due to an infringement claws, issued an official recount. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, the Court found Scratcher the clear winner with a majority vote of 89.8 per cent.

The claim was placed following rumors that members from within the election itself groomed the results to cause Scratcher’s loss. The purrpetrators, whose names have not yet been released to the public, are currently being purrsued to validate the allogations. Sources assert the group rigged the election because they “really are, just dog people.”

After the shocking catastrophe, former president-elect Karma Abraham reacted pawsitively, asserting the importance of transpurrancy in elections. He was also relieved to have the pressure remewved. Last night he updated his Facebook status: “Thanks all for your support, I am sure Margaret will do a purrfect job.

TBH all I want to do now is snuggle up in something soft and knock some important items off my desk.”

The other candidate Alex Smirnoff agreed Scratcher was the top dog for the job, but urged students to be cautious, recalling Scratchers previous cattiness during presidential debates.

“She would litterally just sit there licking herself in public, occasionally meowing at the ceiling. Something about her just rubbed me the wrong way.”

Scratcher does not intend to take this

attack purrsonally and is ready to pounce back and start putting her plans into action.

Her previous platform included increasing budget spending to complete project Capture the Red Dot and opening the Redpath Library doors to accommodate individuals without opposable thumbs. With this victory she intends to really get her paws dirty and chase the rats out of SSMU. She also plans to continue to push the importance of creature equality on campus. She commented that all species regardless of colour, fluffiness, or snuggability ought to have a rightful place at McGill. In order to achieve this monstrous task, she proposes the placement of gender and species-neural litterboxes throughout campus.

Her first project will be piloted this coming April, titled “Free the Nip,” a campaign lobbying for the legalization of catnip on campus. She envisions the complete decriminalization of posession of the popular stimulant by November 2015.

Scratcher stated she was excited to have won her case and intends to seize every moment as SSMU president as if it was the last ball of twine dangling off a table. In celebration of her triumph, she hopes to install the first ever “Cocktail Caturdays” a bring your pet to Gerts night. Although not yet confirmed, it is rumored that Concordia University’s student union’s president Winston Furrhill will be in attendance. The pair have been spotted sharing scratching posts and left the litterbox together this past February.

The other VP’s declined to comment on how these relations will affect the future of communication between Concordia and McGill student unions.

The other VPs commented they were pleased with the results, hoping Margaret will live up to her reputation as the iron kitty, and are grateful to have such

Margaret dreaming up the future of SSMU (Photo curtosy of Jenna Dilworth) a motiviated member on council. Khloe VP Internal Dave Haim regarding how the Torque, next year’s VP University Affurs, presence of such an adorable councillor added, “I’m grateful to have Margaret’s would affect productivity of fellow SSMU fantastic catitude with us on committee, members. Rumors of a motion to impleI’m hoping her presidency will also have ment extra cuddle hours have not been great impact on the current mice infesta- confirmed; however, several students have expressed interest in attending office tion in SSMU.” Concerns were raised from current hours with Scratcher.

IRC to have all first years run for SSMU President as part of Rez Project New initiative focuses on having students engage critically with themselves, community CAPTAIN AMERICA Artistically Misinformed

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fter a recent proposal passed by Inter-Resident Council (IRC), a new initiative will be put in place to have all first-year students run for president of SSMU. The program, which was initially brought forth by the MORE Hall Council President, Tristcuit Renododie, aims to have all firstyear students experience the crippling judgment and scrutiny that all SSMU presidential candidates are subjected to.

“We just really want to have students take a good look at themselves and ask ‘What am I doing wrong? Why am I so much more unfit for a leadership position than anybody else?’” Renododie explained. “But, of course, we understand that self-reflection can be difficult. This way,

20,000 of their peers can make those judgments for them.”

A working group is currently in place to oversee the implementation of the project for the incoming class of 2015-2016, and is being headed by IRC VP Communications, Annie Heiney, and IRC VP External, LaurieAnn Perrier.

“We’ve been working very closely with Floor Fellows as well as engaging with Idina [Hair-Barrette, SSMU VP External],” Perrier said. “By working with SSMU, we hope to be able to heavily enforce all the electoral bylaws in the residences, to make sure students know when they’ve really messed up, and go on to publicly shame them in their own place of living.”

When developing the project with Renondin, IRC President Hollister Pottz noted that while Rez Project has done a lot of

good in terms of making students aware of social and cultural differences and teaching them how to respect others, it has really been lacking in terms of making students completely vulnerable and available for baseless judgment.

“We’ve made great strides in Rez Project,” Pottz said. “We’ve really succeeded in making a noticeably more inclusive and accepting campus atmosphere. But there are still some students who aren’t really getting it. I think setting up a platform in which both undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to rip apart first years’ flaws and hypocrisies will really help with that.”

Some former presidential candidates have expressed issues with the project, claiming that the emotional toll may prove too intense for some students. One

former presidential candidate, who wished to remain anonymous, claimed that some students wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure.

“Someone broke into my home, they harassed me with Facebook screen shots and threatened me with a Supreme Court case,” the student said. “I had only been campaigning for a day, my platform wasn’t even solidified at that point. It was so awful.”

Despite these fears, after consultation with first-year students, the project coordinators decided that the benefits far outweighed the risks.

“This is more than a networking opportunity for first years,” Heiney said. “It will teach them transparency, how to properly use social media, and how to take constructive criticism. Even better, they’ll be able

to interact with their community and learn crucial public relations skills as they’re lambasted for a simple mistake on a public platform that can be viewed by anyone, even future employers.”

Former SSMU VP Internal Ryan Nearnan echoed Heiney, and added his support to the project, claiming how his time being scrutinized for a minor political gaffe at McGill has helped him become a better, more introspective person.

“I will admit there are times I wish I could Google my name and not have a thousand links with the word ‘humiliating’ in the headline come up,” Nearnan explained. “But now when I go into interviews and they ask me that question about how I overcame adversary, I’m always prepared, and honestly that’s what really matters.”

3 Native Advertising SSMU’s global affairs votes reverberating across international borders

Tuesday, March 31, 2015 WILL I. AM Code Academy “I don’t want to say that we ‘solved world peace,’” said a SSMU undergraduate member, who wished to remain anonymous, “but let’s just say that I’m pretty much guaranteed an A in POLI 450.”

The peacebuilding course, which along with POLI 350 (Developing Areas/Middle East) is expected to undergo major curriculum reevaluation by professor Lex Brian after a revolutionary methodology was discovered by the

collective efforts of SSMU. “For years, we thought that sit-ins were the most effective way of getting our voice heard,” lamented AUS President Lucy Loo. “Our most recent demonstration in support of sandwiches was conducted with this traditional mindset.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned from my time at McGill, it’s that a change in perspective can make a huge difference.

SSMU’s method allows them to literally see the bigger picture due to their higher vantage point.”

The Tribune’s source claimed in hushed tones that the game-changing

technique allowed them to see the forest for the trees, so to speak.

“One day, we were sitting around our conference table as usual, lobbing politically correct terms back and forth,” she said. “Our VP External got up to speak, and I’ll never forget what she said: ‘What if, instead of sitting in, we stood in?’”

“The room was filled with tension—we felt as if we were on the brink of a breakthrough. But something was missing. At SSMU, we tend to bandy about words like consensus, harmony, and support. But the key to our solution

that day was solidarity.”

U3 English Literature and semantics enthusiast Mike McKibbins claims he was the one to come up with the crucial terminology.

“We were brainstorming on a white board, trying to come up with ‘be it resolved’ clauses as usual,” McKibbins gushed. “I had the idea to make ‘stand in solidarity’ the crux of our motion, and the rest, as they, say, is history.”

McKibbins received a standing ovation for his contribution.

Master’s student Lucy Adams, currently working on a thesis in chaos

theory, claimed that the simple action of standing still could have a ‘butterfly effect’ that would virtually eliminate centuries of racial tensions and ingrained power structures worldwide.

While Society members turned out in droves to vote on the completed motions on March 15, global leaders are waiting with bated breath for them to be ratified online. Election facilitators ‘Simply Voting’ have been working overtime to secure the integrity of the voting process amidst rumours of ‘Facebook hackers’ attempting to undermine the Society’s efforts.

Library Improvement Fund creates initiative to eliminate PDA

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JULIE ANDREWS Opinionated Editor

he Library Improvement Fund (LIF) released its report this week outlining the initiatives that will be undertaken in the 20152016 academic year. The report includes plans to improve the library facilities, as well as strategies for the implementation of several special projects.

One of the main undertakings is the creation of a timeline to eliminate PDA by 2017. The LIF created a plan to achieve this goal by gradually imposing regulations to limit impromptu shoulder

massages and make-out sessions directly across from another student.

Out of respect to other students, the report also recommends leaving your goddamn carrots at home. The LIF has also explored the possibility of holding workshops for students seeking to learn about proper music and cell phone etiquette. One info session has already been held for students unsure of at what decibel their trap music becomes audible to the entire rest of the section.

In a two-pronged approach to combat the persistent smell of body odour, the LIF has put aside funds to hold a large-scale fumigation of the 6th

floor of Schulich Library, and hopes to lobby the administration to organize its efforts to turn down the thermostat. In addition, the LIF has created a specific timeline dedicated to initiatives at the Schulich Library, including hopes to see the construction on the building completed by 2092.

As part of its efforts to improve the appearance of library facilities, the LIF hopes to increase its funding by December 2016 to provide calligraphy pens in all library bathrooms with the goal of beautifying the bathroom stall debates scrawled on the walls. The report reasons that your uninformed comments

about the Demilitarize McGill sticker would look much nicer in a uniform serif font.

The LIF report also advocates for the implementation of strict regulations to combat students taking the elevator to the third floor. Some strategies for achieving this goal include imposing fines for lazy elevator riders, as well as starting a social action campaign to publicly shame any student who takes the elevator to either the second or third floor. Negotiations are also underway for a similar shaming strategy for individual students occupying a five-person table in the Redpath group study area.

Finally, in collaboration with the Mental Health Working Group (MHWG), the LIF has requested that McGill discontinue the 11:45 PM bell in McLennan Library. The report estimated that the elimination of the incessant ringing in the middle of student all-nighters would decrease the number of visits to the Mental Health Clinic by approximately 40 per cent. This request was made in direct response to one student’s meltdown during the Fall semester finals, when the ringing, even when stopped, continued to echo in his head, causing him to curl up in fetal position under a 5th floor McLennan desk.

4 Adriana Giordano selected first overall by Linguistics in Arts Draft 2015 Canadian Studies and Geography move into top five for Fitzpatrick and Khalil

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Mick R. Adish The Man Behind the Curtain

his past Thursday in Leacock 132, the Department of Linguistics kicked off one of the most exciting Arts Undergraduate League (AUL) drafts in recent memory by using its first overall pick to select La Citadelle’s Adriana Giordano. The pick came as a heavy shock to the numerous fans and experts who had tabbed Linguistics to select either Justine Fitzpatrick (Molson) or Zain Khalil (Douglas), highly considered to be the most talented undeclared U0 prospects available.

“When they picked Giordano, it caught me totally off guard,” said AUL analyst Jill Barnwell of rantland.com.

“I mean, looking back at her scouting report, you start to see the logic—dad’s an Italian diplomat, speaks four languages, good ear for dialects—but her GPA is mediocre and she’s planning to join the Rowing team next year, which will drain her free time and take away a lot of her immediate upside. It’s too early to tell how she’ll pan out, but I think Linguistics had a chance to make a big splash this year and they probably blew it.”

Despite picking frequently in the top five over the past decade, this was only Linguistics’ second top overall pick ever and first since 1973. The draft order, which consists of 20 departments, is created by the AUL’s Competition Committee and is determined based on which ones are most in need of academic talent and intangible skills that can benefit the department; for example, becoming an executive in its association, getting dope internships in the field, and selling samosas. Nina Sun, president of The Syndicate of Linguistics Undergrads at McGill (SLUM), defended her department’s choice.

“Obviously a lot of people are shaking their heads, but she graded out really highly for us and we’re really excited about the way she fits our system,” explained Sun. “When we took her out to SNAX for a pre-draft interview, Adriana just blew us away with her natural ability. We showed her some words in Bengali—a language she had never spoken before—and she was identifying proper syntax structure by the time she was done with her bean salad.”

Before leaving the classroom to go celebrate at Bar des Arts, a teary-eyed Giordano discussed the feeling of going first overall.

“Honestly, when I didn’t declare a major during free agency and realized that I was eligible for Arts Draft,

I didn’t really care that much where I went,” she admitted. “But then when Commissioner [Eva] Loo called my name, it was just such a special moment. I phoned my dad and told him I didn’t hate him anymore for making us move so much. I’m so blessed for that, and for SLUM and the professors putting so much faith in me. I know that I have to work on my study habits, but I’ll put the time in—I do not plan on being a bust.”

After the Giordano pick, the surprises continued as Canadian Studies traded its eighth overall pick and a package of assets—next year’s first round pick, this year’s sixth and seventh round picks, and a departmental scholarship—to Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies so it could move up and select Fitzpatrick. Arts Draft attendee and U2 Canadian Studies student Callum Nelson praised the decision.

“Sure, we gave up a lot to get her, but from what I’ve heard, Justine’s the surest thing in this draft,” said Nelson.

“Apparently she was president of Molson Hall, so you know the leadership skills and social presence are there— not to mention she’s rocking a 3.8 GPA. I think she could give Canadian Studies some much needed relevancy.”

Political Science was on the clock next, picking in the top 10 for the first time since 1968 and capping off a difficult degree cycle that saw them lose several key free agents to International Development Studies. They took T.J Adams from Outremont, an avid debater and the consensus top prospect among this year’s CEGEP crop.

Immediately following that pick, Loo walked back up to the podium to announce the second trade of the day, a deal that resulted in Geography selecting Khalil.

“They saw the opportunity with the French Language Centre picking at four to go and get [Khalil], so good on them for getting it done,” said Barnwell.

“And they only had to give up a second rounder and access to a room in the Burnside basement to get it. Pretty good value if you ask me.”

East Asian Studies rounded out the top five by selecting Otto Wright from Solin Hall, beginning a run on Solin prospects that saw Erica Byrne-Bilson go to Anthropology at six and Robert Hong to Jewish Studies at seven.

This year’s “Mr. or Mrs. Irrelevant,” the title awarded to the last student drafted, was Dave Barton from Gardner Hall, who was scooped up by Classical Studies with the 171st overall pick in the ninth round.

5 News SSMU Council discusses austerity measures, sustainability coordinator position Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Council will seek to re-open women-only gym hours negotiations ELIE WAITZER Sports Editor

Sustainability plebiscite question Sustainability Research Commissioner Julie Skarha solicited the opinions of Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council on the creation of a Vice-President (VP) Sustainability position on the SSMU executive team.

A plebiscite question in the 2015 Winter Referendum on whether to institute a VP Sustainability portfolio or create a fulltime Sustainability Coordinator position yielded inconclusive results due to a majority abstention. Skarha went on to outline the fundamental differences between the options.

“A VP Sustainability would be elected by the student body and sit on Council [while] the full-time coordinator […] would be a permanent employee of SSMU focusing on long-term goal setting,” Skarha said.

Another key difference would be the cost to students.

According to Skarha, it would cost $10,000 to $20,000 more per year to create a full-time position. SSMU President Courtney Ayukawa cautioned Council members against letting their opinion on the position be influenced by its cost.

“The decision should be made on the basis of what resources students need the most and not based on the cost to SSMU,” Ayukawa said.

VP Finance Kathleen Bradley voiced her reservations regarding the VP Sustainability option, highlighting the level of expertise needed in such a role.

“I think public perception of executives is not very high.

Students would be angry at the thought of wasting [their] dollars on executives,” Bradley said.

“There are a wide array of skills involved in sustainability that require an intimate knowledge of how [...] bonds and equities are traded, which is not something that I think [every candidate] would be comfortable with.”

VP Clubs and Services Stefan Fong echoed these sentiments, adding that the long-term nature of sustainability planning would be better suited to a fulltime position.

“Executives tend to change year-to-year [...which would] make it difficult to enact change in sustainability,” Fong said.

Arts & Science Senator Chloe Rourke spoke in favour of having a VP Sustainability.

“Having an executive makes it much more public,” Rourke said. “Students are more likely to engage with what a VP has to say because of the representation aspect.”

In the straw poll that followed the discussion, the vast majority of Council members were in favour of instituting a full-time Sustainability Coordinator rather than an executive position.

Motion regarding SSMU’s policy on accessible education Councillors voted to send a motion regarding SSMU’s policy on accessible education to an unspecified future referendum. The motion calls for SSMU to adopt a broad five-year policy calling for public re-investment in post-secondary education from all levels of government in light of the re-

Councillors discuss motions. (Lauren Benson-Armer / McGill Tribune) cent tuition increases and austerity measures imposed by the Quebec government. Several Council members, however, expressed concerns over the wording of the second clause in the motion.

“Be it resolved that the SSMU [oppose] any mechanism or legislation that would permit a non-consensual increase in student fees for any student,” the clause in question reads.

Engineering Representative Anikke Rioux argued that the motion was not a constructive vehicle for alleviating austerity pressures on students.

“It’s hard to get the respect of the government without offering any tangible solutions to the problem,” Rioux said. “There’s a huge debt [in the university] and I don’t think this motion is feasible at the moment.”

Rourke took issue with the long-term nature of the motion, stating that five-year legislation should be forward thinking and not reactive to the current issues

facing the student body.

“What if [austerity cuts are] not the case five years from now?” Rourke said. “There might not be a need to mobilize against austerity [at that time,] we don’t know, and that’s not something that should be in this motion.”

An amendment from the floor to strike the clause entirely from the motion passed with a majority vote, but VP Internal J. Daniel Chaim and several other Council members still felt there was a need to bring the amended motion to a referendum.

“Under 100 people stayed at the [General Assembly] to debate this [motion], so I would be nervous to pass [it] at [Council],” Chaim said.

Council ultimately voted to send this motion to a referendum due to a lack of student consensus at the General Assembly.

Negotiations over womenonly gym hours In response to the McGill

administration ending negotiations over the implementation of women-only gym hours, Council passed a motion that will look to compromise with the university on certain points in efforts to move forward. Administration announced that negotiations would no longer be ongoing on March 16, citing that McGill University sought to keep its facilities secular and co-educational.

The first clause of the motion aims to re-open negotiations with McGill, and the second clause recognizes the need expressed by the student body for womenonly spaces in the fitness centre.

Arts Senator Kareem Ibrahim explained the compromise proposed

by SSMU to the administration.

“There will be some points in the week where female-identified people will be able to access women-only space—inclusive of trans identities—but no time in the week where male-identified gym patrons will not be able to access gym space,” he said.

Demilitarize McGill protesters blockade James Administraton Building Students call for McGill to end its involvement in military research

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LAURA HANRAHAN Staff Writer

ndividuals associated with Demilitarize McGill, a group seeking to end military research at McGill, blockaded all entrances into the James Administration building on March 24.

The blockade began at 7:30 a.m. and lasted nearly three hours, preventing students and employees from entering the building.

The demonstrators, who remained masked for the entirety of the protest, held banners displaying slogans such as “Demilitarize McGill” and “Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Imperialist, Revolutionary Student Movement.”

Cadence, a student organizer with Demilitarize McGill, said that the James Administration building was chosen because of its centrality to McGill’s involvement with military research.

“The James Administration Building is both a symbolic and literal site of decision-making and control within which military collaborations are given approval and funding,” she said. “Blocking access to the building meant that this work was literally stopped, and blockaders were able to temporarily halt the functioning of the university administration centre to such an extent that workers started leaving.”

McGill’s Dean of Students,

Andre Costopoulos, stated that he did not agree with Demilitarize McGill’s tactics.

“Demonstrating, assembling, and expressing yourself on campus are fundamental rights,” he said. “Obstructing the activities of other people is not acceptable.”

Pamphlets distributed by the demonstrators cited McGill’s involvement with certain research projects as “imperialist” and “colonialist” as the reason for the blockade.

Police and campus security were on site for the duration of the protest. Shortly after 10:00 a.m., the protesters dispersed peacefully, allowing re-entrance to the

building.

“Once many James Administration workers had gone home and the impact had been felt, it made sense to decide to disperse on the blockaders’ own terms rather than wait for a police presence to increase again and cause distress,” Cadence said.

Going forward, Cadence said she hopes that awareness for issues of military collaboration will improve at McGill.

“It is true that austerity and university corporatism and repression are under-discussed at McGill in comparison to other universities,” she said, “I definitely see more and more students getting in-

terested and involved in this fight against military collaboration at McGill, which makes me think that actions like these are working.”

Costopoulos agreed that the issues being brought forward by Demilitarize McGill are ones that should be taken under consideration.

“Some of [Demilitarize McGill’s] literature raise very legitimate questions about research ethics and how we should conduct ourselves as a University community,” he said. “They are not the only one asking themselves those questions.”

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News

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Student unions throughout Quebec strike to protest austerity measures Printemps 2015 movement aims to draw activism from general population

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PHILIPPE DUMAIS Staff Writer

n March 23, 60,000 postsecondary students went on strike against the Quebec’s government budgetary policies. 20,000 students voted to hold a one-day strike, while the remaining 40,000 will be on strike until April 2, when another demonstration is expected.

Although the students were associated under the Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ), one of the largest student unions in the province, ASSÉ did not call for a membership-wide strike vote.

Local student unions will be able to hold independent votes on the possibility of striking for a day or an extended period of time, according to ASSÉ spokesperson Camille Godbout.

“Since March 21, we’ve [been] calling for multiplicity of actions against the ongoing austerity measures,” Godbout said.

Godbout continued to explain that she sees the initial mobilization efforts

as the beginning of a new movement.

“My perception is that students are angry at the negative effects of austerity measures,” Godbout said. “The Couillard government [has] cut more than $200 million [from] universities’ budgets. It directly affects students in multiple ways, [through] the reduction of the number of courses offered and [...] services, such as psychological support provided to students.”

At McGill, a number of individual departments and faculties have voted to go on strike. The Faculty of Medicine voted for a one-day symbolic strike, while the Department of French Literature voted to strike for a week. Other departments and faculties, including Law, Women’s Studies, and English will hold votes next week.

Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) External Amina Moustaqim-Barrette clarified the procedure required for SSMU to go on strike.

“Any member of [SSMU] can bring a strike vote to the General Assembly or call a special General As-

sembly for a strike vote,” she said.

Moustaqim-Barrette added that SSMU remains committed to take actions against austerity following a motion passed at its Fall General Assembly, and expanded upon her portfolio’s role.

“I have been acting as a resource person for students looking to get more information or else looking to bring a strike motion to their own departments, faculties, or to SSMU,” she said. “Most of that resource provision is done through a website which provides information and resources on how to get involved, as well as things like strike kits and demonstration buddies for students looking to take action against austerity.”

Vincent Fournier Gosselin, secretary-general of the Fédération des Associations Étudiantes du campus de l’Université de Montréal (FAÉCUM), a student union at the Université de Montréal, explained that about 14,000 students at the Université de Montréal were on strike last week.

Gosselin added that some asso-

ciations decided to go on strike for a day, whereas others will do so for an extended period of time.

“Our federation is composed of 83 associations,” he said. “It is the responsibility of their respective general assemblies to decide to go on strike or not.”

Benoit Lacoursière, author of The Quebec Student Movement 19832006, explained that he believed that this year’s protests will be different from the 2012 Maple Spring protests, where students mobilized against Jean Charest’s Liberal government’s plan to increase tuition.

“The current strikes try to appeal to a more general sense of citizenship rather than a specific issue such as the tuition fees, as was the case three years ago,” Lacoursière said. “[Students also] seem more prepared and their actions less improvised [....] They are more vocal through social media, but their presence on campuses remain minimal.”

Lacoursière continued to state that students may have difficulties mo-

bilizing this year. He underscored the effects of the Summit of Education, which was held by Pauline Marois’ Parti Québécois government in 2012 as a follow-up to the student protests.

After the summit, Marois’ government announced that it would enact a three per cent annual increase on tuition.

“What we see right now is different attitudes [within the student movement] in conflict with each other,” he said. “There is a certain fatigue by some students who were actively involved in 2012, some others are discouraged by the results of the Summit on Education that followed, [and] some groups also radicalized themselves.”

Lacoursière explained that he was not very optimistic about the expansion of the current protests.

“At the moment, there are few signs of momentum for students,” he said. “The likeliest scenario is that we will have day strikes throughout the spring instead of a larger grassroot movement.”

Burnside basement renovation turns to crowdfunding initiative

Project targets alumni, parents to help improve student spaces

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MAYAZ ALAM Managing Editor

tudents from the Faculties of Science and Arts & Science have launched a crowdfunding campaign to renovate the Burnside Basement. The initiative is hosted on McGill’s Seeds of Change fundraising platform, which was launched in May 2014. “[The project aims to] help a group of entrepreneurial students [...] transform their dark and dreary Burnside Basement into a welcoming all-access space for students to study, relax, exchange ideas, and obtain essential resources,” the project website reads.

The renovations, which are slated to primarily occur during the summer months, do not have a fixed timeline for completion. According to Jeremy Goh, U2 Science and a member of the project team, both short-term and long-term changes are planned for the space [and] aim to improve student usability and sustainability of the building.

“Ideally, we’d like to replace the furniture, create a group study area with surfaces for collaborating, and improve the lighting of the space,” Goh said.

“For later phases, we want to explore how feasible it would be to section off the space to reduce noise pollution.”

Eric Mitchell, U2 Science and Vice-President External of the Neuroscience Undergraduates of McGill (NUM), a group that has an office in the Burnside basement, said that the project is a positive step towards improving the space, which is currently the primary

student space for students in the Faculties of Science and Arts & Science.

“I don’t think the basement adequately meets the needs of science students currently,” Mitchell said. “In its role as a main hub for us, it needs to be improved. Currently the space lacks proper studying infrastructure--desks, chairs, and couches are either in poor condition or insufficient in quantity.”

This is not the only student-initiated effort to improve spaces primarily used by students. Earlier this year, the Management Undergraduate Society (MUS) passed a referendum question that instituted a $40 per semester per student non-opt-outable space improvement fee for the Bronfman Building.

The Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) also introduced the Student Space Improvement Fee (SCSS) earlier this year following a referendum. Funds from the SCSS fee will also help with renovations of Burnside Hall.

According to Goh, funding the renovations through Seeds of Change was suggested by the Faculty of Science administration as a way to draw alumni support for renovations.

“The crowdfunding project allows the funds to be raised to be used almost immediately after the campaign ends, [letting] us start the renovations during the summer,” Goh explained. “Additionally, only a portion of the [SCSS] fee is eligible to go towards initiatives like [the] Burnside basement and the budget must be passed through [the SUS] General Council. This means that the funds from the [SCSS] fee would not be put towards Burnside until October of Fall

Students seek funds to renovate Burnside Basement (Lauren Benson-Armer / McGill Tribune) 2015.”

Goh also expressed that the $6,000 target for the project was set based on previous campaigns and strategies, and that a budget for the predicted renovations is yet to be determined.

“The budget for the renovations will happen once we receive quotes from McGill Facilities and the designer,” Goh said. “Since the project must be completed through [...] McGill, prices are higher than hiring an [external] contractor. Everything we want to do in terms of construction has to go through McGill, but purchases for furniture can be through external sources. However, if we get a whiteboard, for example, it will need to be installed by a union

worker from McGill, for which we will be charged.”

Rafael Páez Estrada, a recent graduate from the Faculty of Science from the class of 2014, sees the renovations as necessary to help current students create a better sense of identity.

“I think that the initiative is extremely important from a practical point of view, but also from an identity point of view,” he said. “It’s important to have our space be something we are proud of, and a place where we can feel comfortable.”

Páez Estrada also underscored the importance of parental and alumni support.

“Donating and encouraging parents to do so is crucial because it will also add a sense of belonging to the place,” Estrada said. “I intend to donate as soon as the summer starts and I start working and making money.”

Mitchell stated that he was appreciative of students’ efforts given the lack of tangible support from the administration to improve existing infrastructure.

“In an ideal world, this project wouldn’t have to happen,” Mitchell said. “I know that SUS has taken part in negotiations with McGill [in the past] and there hasn’t been much progress with regards to the university’s support for science student spaces.”

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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

VP External candidate platforms

Emily Boytinck Boytinck, U3 Science, explained that her platform is centred on increasing student community engagement.

“I really feel that when McGill students are able to leave the McGill bubble, it really helps [them] connect more with the issues [in] Quebec,” she said. “I want to increase community connections and [...] build a database of community engagement.

Boytinck then stated that she would continue current efforts in fostering a good relationship with the Milton-Parc community through a street teams program.

“I’d like to improve and expand upon the idea of street teams with the Milton-Parc community,” she said. “We do them right now with frosh, but [we] could also use them for days like St. Patrick’s Day, or maybe have faculty associations request them for events.”

Regarding the VP External’s political engagement mandate, Boytinck stated that communication efforts are integral in ensuring that McGill students are informed about SSMU’s political campaigns.

“I know that [campaigns] can be controversial and sometimes make students feel alienated,” she said. “I want to have a website published with all the different SSMU campaigns, the length of their mandate, how you can get involved [... and] also present a variety of different tactics for each campaign and really connect with people who may not be comfortable with doing more confrontational actions.”

Boytinck continued to state that she believed that students should decide on potentially controversial motions through General Assembly (GA) procedures.

“I shouldn’t be bringing motions to Council that are for external affairs and could be controversial and contentious, I should be bringing them and motioning them to the GA,” she said.

Boytinck also underscored her commitment to sustainability efforts highlighting her past work as the Science Undergraduate Society’s VP External; with Divest McGill, an organization that aims to lobby the McGill administration to divest from fossil fuels; and with ECOLE, a student-run sustainable living space.

By Shrinkhala Dawadi & Cece Zhang

Joanna Schacter Schacter, U3 Arts, says she aims to combat student apathy if elected as VP External.

She proposes to help students break out of the ‘McGill bubble’ by increasing bilingualism on campus, through translations of documents and a larger bilingual presence in external strikes, protests, and vigils.

Schacter also emphasized McGill’s role in austerity protests. She proposed that instead of SSMU-wide strikes, SSMU can seek to support Faculty strikes. Schacter also advocated for the outreach to students through initiatives such as pre-GA information sessions and ‘in-

formation teams’. She also includes improved media connections in her platform, both with campus and external publications.

“I see the [VP] External’s role as one of support,” Schacter said. “There are so many groups on campus that do good work [...] they have a great voice, and it’s important not to speak over them—but they can be publicized a lot better and they do need support.”

In regards to SSMU’s relations with external student federations, Schacter spoke to the importance of joining such federations to show solidarity in times of austerity, and also to gain support from other associations on McGill-centric issues, such as Divest McGill.

However, she emphasized that the decision of which groups SSMU decides to affiliate with ultimately needs to be made by the students.

She restated that it is currently difficult for SSMU to get a comprehensive understanding of what students want and receive student feedback, as she sees GAs as ‘self-selective.’

“I think that’s SSMU’s role, to make sure everyone knows what’s going on [...] that they are affected,“ Schacter said. “SSMU can’t make any decisions or support any one side [...] unless they’re being told what students want. They’re not going to know [that] unless there’s been an effort to get everbody to participate in that.”

See the Tribune’s endorsement online at mcgilltribune.com/ssmu-elections-2015

Quebec student federation FEUQ faces internal turmoil Creation of new student federation in discussion between Quebec associations

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CECE ZHANG News Editor

reliminary discussions of creating a new student federation are ongoing following disorder in one of the largest student federations in Quebec, the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ). The Fédération des associations étudiantes du campus de l’Université de Montréal (FAÉCUM), one of FEUQ’s largest member organizations, voted unanimously to leave the FEUQ this past weekend, also calling for a new national student federation to be formed.

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VicePresident (VP) External Amina Moustaqim-Barrette explained that while SSMU is currently an independent association and not affiliated with FEUQ, she has been representing SSMU in observing FEUQ at its congresses.

She cited several problems with the FEUQ based on her observations, including processes that were less democratic and a loss of reputation, and said she believed FEUQ would likely cease

to exist in the next year.

“Backdoor politics is institutionalized, everyone goes for dinner on Fridays and bargains on the motions,” MoustaqimBarrette said. “There are alliances that form that push through different motions, and it’s not a very democratic process [....]

Their ability to mobilize students is just not how it used to be.

They used to be heavyweights in the Quebec student movement, [but] it’s decreased steadily over the years. The name now doesn’t carry the weight it used to.”

Moustaqim-Barrette cited the example of how the annual campaign of FEUQ did not change to focus against austerity until the end of 2014, stating that this inflexibility has led to discontent from member student associations. “[The previous campaign] was for the Aide financière aux études (AFE), the student aid program. It seemed like FEUQ was working on this important thing but [it was] so irrelevant in the current political climate,” Moustaqim-Barrette said. “I [also] found the structure at FEUQ was very top-down. It’s

the executives who present the ideas at the beginning of the year. It’s amended and voted on, but from there, there’s no real way to implement something [that] comes up in the middle of the year [which] the associations want to see FEUQ work on.”

Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) External Affairs Officer Julien Ouellet said he and the PGSS executive team disagreed with the FAÉCUM’s decision to leave.

“Despite FAÉCUM’s disaffiliation, the FEUQ remains viable and is still the largest student association in Québec with 85,000 members,” Ouellet said.

“PGSS and the other member associations are committed to ensuring a sustainable future for the student movement [....]

Despite the current hurdles, the situation leaves us with a wide array of options that can only lead to a revitalization of the student movement.”

Moustaqim-Barrette explained that the first meeting of 15 student associations regarding the formation of the new federation was held in Quebec City on March 21 and 22.

“It was a very preliminary meeting; [it was the] first time we’ve all come together to see what this could be, what each association looking for,” she said. “So most of the meeting was talking about a way to move forward, forming committees to look at what the mission and values of the federation could be.”

The next meeting for the new student federation will be co-hosted at McGill on April 18 and 19 by SSMU and the PGSS, Moustaqim-Barrette said.

However, not all student associations agreed with the formation of the new federation.

“If FAÉCUM is at the centre of the new student federation, they have shown Quebec clearly [that] they aren’t necessarily going to work in good faith with other groups, and it sets a negative example that we don’t want to encourage,” President of the Concordia Student Union (CSU) Benjamin Prunty said.

The Confédération des associations d’étudiants et étudiantes de l’Université Laval (CADEUL) and the FEUQ declined to comment.

Tribune Publication Society’s Annual General Meeting will be Wednesday, April 8 at 5:30PM in SSMU 110

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News

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Newly elected VP Internal Lola Baraldi will not be invalidated

Elections review committee states that allegations provide insufficient grounds for invalidation

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SHRINKHALA DAWADI News Editor

lections SSMU announced on Thursday that allegations of illegal campaigning by Lola Baraldi prior to her election as Vice-President Internal did not constitute sufficient grounds for invalidation, as ruled by the Elections Review Committee (ERC).

The VP Internal race was the closest in the 2015 Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) elections, with Baraldi winning over opponent Johanna Nikoletos by 13 votes.

Nikoletos explained that she filed a petition with Elections SSMU on March 23, asking them to convene the ERC in order to invalidate the results of the VP Internal election. According to Nikoletos, Baraldi illegally campaigned at the café in the lobby of New Residence Hall, a McGill residence, on March 14.

“Once the election results were announced last Friday, individuals started to come forward with testimonies about illegal campaigning that they witnessed,” Nikoletos said. “Some of the testimonies we heard from residents of the building included hearing [...] Lou Lou, the café worker, campaigning on Baraldi’s behalf. Some testimonies in-

cluded individuals who were also given free food by Baraldi.”

Baraldi refuted allegations that she had bribed students with food. She continued to explain that she was present in a noncandidate capacity at New Residence Hall on March 14.

“I was indeed hanging out in the New Residence lobby and at the café, where I’ve been going for the past three years, not for any campaigning purposes whatsoever—although a New Residence Hall Council member was present with me throughout most of the night and aware of my presence there,” she said. “I was helping work the cash, which I often do [...] in my capacity as a student helping out an employee on her last night working in residence. I did not benefit from this position nor abuse its status to campaign, nor did I initiate any conversations regarding my campaign or my platform.”

On Saturday, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Elections SSMU published a report summarizing the results of its investigations into the alleged infractions.

“Based on the evidence before us at that time, the ERC determined that an infraction had occurred,” the report reads.

“Candidate Baraldi has violated the stipulations of By-law 3.3

(designation of a single bulletin board in residence) by allowing a poster to be placed on the counter for a period of 2.5/3 hours; Candidate Baraldi allowed New Residence Café worker Louise Smith, a non-SSMU member, to campaign on her behalf in violation of By-law 14.5 while the poster was on the counter; Candidate Baraldi did not charge one or two people for their purchases.”

The report also outlined sanctions placed on Baraldi in light of the infractions.

“The resulting sanction that we have deemed appropriate for the confirmed infringements is the publishing of this report as a public censure of Lola Baraldi for her actions on March 14, 2015 and denying Lola Baraldi reimbursement for her financial expenses,” the report reads.

Baraldi was not sanctioned for providing food to students free of charge.

“Though we believe Ms. Baraldi did not charge one or two people for their purchases, we do not have any conclusive evidence that this was conducted for the purposes of promoting her candidacy and sanctioning Ms. Baraldi for a lapse in judgment is beyond the scope of Election SSMU’s jurisdiction,” the report stated.

Baraldi also addressed her

eligibility to serve as an executive given her international student status, another subject of contention.

“I actually brought this up with the Dean of Students and International Student Services, who told me [...] that I could carry a part-time course load if my part-time studies are due to an elected position with a student association,” Baraldi said.

Baraldi expressed that she would maintain transparency throughout any further investigation of the matter.

“The allegations of slate campaigning are not valid and have all been repudiated by Elections SSMU,” Baraldi said.

“Ultimately, I am happy to provide further documentation, testimonials, and evidence for any doubts regarding the legitimacy of my campaign, as I am fully confident that it was a clean campaign.”

Convention of the ERC is outlined in SSMU Bylaw book 1, article 31.1, which was added to the bylaw book this January. “[The CEO shall immediately call for the meeting of the Electoral Review Committee...] in the case that a disqualification of a candidate or referendum committee, or the invalidation of an Election of a successful candidate or Referendum question,

is to be considered,” the article reads.

According to the bylaws, the CEO has the ability to make a final decision on the petition.

“The CEO and the [deputy electoral officer] shall seek the consultation of the Electoral Review Committee, however, they shall retain the full authority vested in them by the Constitution and By-Laws to make decisions regarding elections,” article 31.4 reads. “The Electoral Review Committee shall rule on whether or not particular infractions have occurred and Elections SSMU shall rule as to the sanctions or resources that are to be undertaken in response to the infractions.”

Nikoletos stated that she is planning to appeal the ERC’s decision through the SSMU Judicial Board (J-Board), the judicial branch of SSMU. “I am disappointed with the decision by Elections SSMU,” she said. “My team and I will be pursuing a J-Board case against Elections SSMU for failing to uphold [its] mandate of ensuring a fair election in accordance with the SSMU bylaws.”

According to the SSMU bylaws, Nikoletos will have five days to submit a petition to the J-Board.

Arts students vote in favour of Arts Internship Office fees

New fund to continue operations of AIO, previously funded by provincial government

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JENNA STANWOOD Contributor

n March 23, the Arts Undergraduate Society of McGill (AUS) announced that students had voted to create a new, non-opt-outable five-year student fee to continue funding the Arts Internship Office (AIO). Seventy-seven point one (77.1) per cent of students voted in favour of the fee, which will charge Arts students $14 per semester, and Arts & Science students $7 per semester for five years. After the five years, an endowment fund will be created through donations to continue to fund the office.

A follow-up question that proposed creating a student advisory committee to oversee the office and fundraising was also passed by 86.5 per cent. The committee will be comprised of students and AIO staff, and will have input into office operations and fundraising progress.

The AIO was previously funded through a grant from the Quebec government’s Ministry of Education. The grant was discontinued at the beginning of this year due to budget cuts.

The AIO provides a database of internships, funding for students participating in unpaid internship programs, and funding for students participating in research projects with McGill faculty. Students may apply to internships directly through the office, or seek funding for internships they have found on their own.

“The AIO is the only office […] that directly helps students in the Faculty of Arts with employment opportunities,” AUS President Ava Liu said. “Obviously there’s [the Career Planning Services], but that’s more for post-graduate [students] and the entire student body, while [the AIO] is just for students who are studying for a [Bachelor of Arts].”

According to Liu, after receiving no-

tification of the loss of funding, the Dean’s office (Faculty of Arts) began looking for alternative funding sources for the AIO. Unable to find another option, the plan for a temporary student fee was formed. The dean held meetings with the AUS council to discuss the issue, followed by an open town hall-style meeting with AUS members. Throughout the campaigns leading up to the referendum, feedback was generally positive, and students did not form a “No” committee against the question.

“Once students became aware of the impending closure of the office and learned more about the amazing internships, advice, and awards that the office provides, they were quite likely to offer their enthusiastic support for the campaign,” said Ariel Shapiro, co-chair of the “Yes” committee and a student employee of the AIO. According to Liu, the money raised from the student fees will go towards

funding the day-to-day functions of the office, including paying the employees.

All other programs run by the AIO are funded through private donations.

Alexander Shadeed, U3 Arts, has had help from the AIO in finding internships.

“Last year and this year, the AIO helped me secure an internship with the Montreal NGO Academics Without Borders,” he said. “As well, I received an internship award that helped me perform my responsibilities at my internship to the best of my abilities [....] Fourteen dollars is a price that’s well-worth the services, internships opportunities, and financial awards you have access to through the AIO.” According to Liu, the dean of the Arts faculty and the outgoing AUS president will meet sometime before classes end to finalize the plans for forming the student committee.

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Admin’s decision on women-only gym hours fails to engage students On March 20, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens released a statement refusing the controversial request of women-only gym hours that has resulted in debate both on and off-campus. The statement, which came as a surprise to many, cited McGill’s nature as a secular, co-educational institution as the main reasons for its decision to refuse the adoption of women-only gym hours and end negotiations with students. According to a response by Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President University Affairs, Claire StewartKanigan, the students advocating for the women-only hours were close to a compromise with McGill Athletics before the administration abruptly put an end to the talks.

The administration’s release of a somewhat rash statement defending its stance demonstrated a failure to engage students in the decision-making process, and left the resolution of the controversy unclear. Moreover, promising talks with McGill Athletics were underway, in which the university was considering providing women-only hours in the Varsity Weight Room, a space separate from the main Fitness Centre. Stewart-Kanigan maintains that the administration did not consult with students before the release of its statement and the closing of negotiations.

The administration should have had

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The administration

should have had more lines of communication with students, and respected the negotiations that were taking place

with McGill Athletics.

Allalou, the student who brought forward the request, to gather statistics and qualitative information for how the proposition could benefit students.

Such a break in negotiations could have been beneficial for both sides to regroup amidst the controversy. However, f the decision was grounded in McGill’s sec-

ular principles, as stated by the administration, then the introduction of data will have no effect on the administration’s decision.

According to an interview with Stewart-Kanigan, women-only hours were proposed several years ago at the McGill pool by a group of Orthodox Jewish women, and the university accepted their request for religious accomodation. Stewart-Kanigan cited the heated nature of the topic of religoius accomodation for Muslim women in the media currently as the reason for the divergent decisions on the pool hours versus gym hours. Confronted with this fact, Dyens stated in an interview with the CBC that the issue of modesty at the pool is fundamentally different than at the gym. This assumption is subjective, and doesn’t take into account the feelings of students at the gym who may also feel uncomfortable. The administration should have discussed this perspective with students instead of deciding unilaterally what defines modesty and making the decision on behalf of students.

If part of the university’s reasoning for denying women-only gym hours was rooted in the promotion of secularism, the conflicting stances on the pool and the gym hours undermine the logic behind the administration’s decisions.

Moreover, many other universities, including the University of Toronto, York,

Off the board

Ryerson, and University of Ottawa, have implemented women-only hours in their own athletic facilities, which provides another argument against the administration’s stance that the womenonly hours are not in line with the university’s secular nature.

In addition to the boldness of the administration’s actions, the statement that was released was characterized by contradictory and unclear reasoning.

The imprecise ideological justification for the decision, which cited both arguments of secularism and the issue of modesty, rendered the administration’s statements and actions contradictory. It is thus difficult for students to mobilize an initiative against the administration since the rationalization behind the decision remains hazy.

Although keeping the dialogue with students open might have caused controversy on campus and its coverage in the media to linger, it would have likely resulted in a compromise that most students and administrators could have been satisfied with. SSMU Council approved a motion on March 26 demanding that the university reopen negotiations, revealing that students are still interested in talking. Regardless of the decision that is reached, the administration should seek to engage students in this issue and attempt to reach a settlement that incorporates the interests of all those involved.

Rethinking the culture of lifehacking

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Yael Chapman, Jacqui Galbraith, Adrien Hu, Alycia Noe, Sam Pinto, Jenny Shen, Maryse Thomas, Nicolas Tuech

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more lines of communication with students, and engaged in negotiations that were taking place, which could have resulted in a successful compromise.

Dyens has encouraged Soumia

Cece zhang News Editor ‘Lifehacks’ is a word for “tricks, skills, or shortcuts that are meant to increase a person’s productivity or efficiency in their everyday lives,” according to KnowYourMeme. Entire websites are devoted towards this goal, and best-selling books have been written on the subject. Lifehackers advocate to ‘make everything in your life better.’

The world of lifehacks seemed to have a solution to every problem I could possibly have: from how to best plan my meals throughout the week (batch cook on the weekends) to how to do taxes more efficiently or even on how to find my purpose in life.

Pages of these glorious treasures were free for me to peruse, with useful sentences helpfully high-

lighted by bold text, and pictures and list formats dotting the articles. It told me what apps were the best for my phone, which outfit was scientifically proven to keep me warm in the winter, and how I should meditate to preserve mental well-being. And it presented everything in a sequenced list, clearly and succinctly, much like how I imagined the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe would look.

Somewhere along the way, I became enamored with the concept of lifehacking, drunk on the promise of more productivity.

Like diets or other wonder pills, it promised many miracles under shiny enticing titles one after another: “five tricks to getting more done,” “How to become a morning person,” and “How to build lasting habits.” Ironically, all these how-tos ultimately led to my downfall. I grew so obsessed with the pursuit of a perfect productive schedule that the pursuit had began to affect my productivity. I would spend hours on the very websites that promised to help me do more, wasting away my time on idealistic

dreams. What was supposed to be the means to an end gradually became the destination that I was trying to reach. And the nature of

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Somewhere along

the way, I became enamored with the concept of lifehacking, drunk on the promise of

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Editor-in-Chief Jenny Shen editor@mcgilltribune.com

editorial

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THE Mcgill

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Opinion

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

more productivity.

lifehacks as being a continuous effort in self-improvement meant there was no end to that journey.

The prevalence of “lifehacking” demonstrates the degree to which our culture values productivity. With the daily information

overload we face, it’s easy to imagine you can cheat the system somehow through shortcuts and tricks. I am not attempting to undermine the usefulness of some of the tips and advice, but focusing so much energy on being efficient often creates a false sense of productivity in itself.

Lifehacks are appealing since they offer a tangible action to plan for the future. But productivity tricks can only be temporary band-aids until they are built into long-term habits. These habits can mostly only be established through nitty gritty work, a back and forth of finding what works for the individual, and tailoring activities towards that.

The seven-point lists that claim to provide an ‘optimal’ way to do live life are certainly tempting to follow, but also try to circumvent the entire process of trying and failing that is so integral to all eventual successes. While the tips and tricks can help in the short term, ultimately life isn’t meant to be hacked; it’s meant to be lived.

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COMMENTARY

Opinion

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The polarizing impact of Facebook events

Natalie coffen Contributor The Winter General Assembly (GA) produced a large turnout and generated passionate debate, prior to and after the vote, mostly due to the proposed “Motion Regarding Divestment from Companies Profiting from the Illegal Occupation of the Palestinian Territories.” While political discussions on campus may have taken up a lot of space in recent weeks, the voices of many students are left unheard.

With McGill’s student population of roughly 27,000 undergraduates, it’s difficult but extremely important to have a representative vote.

There should be less of a focus on who votes for what at assemblies, and more of a focus on actually getting students to vote. A big part of the political apathy and ambivalence seen on campus is due to social media, specifically polarizing Facebook events

titled “Vote Yes for XYZ” or “Vote No” that exclude students who have not yet formed an opinion on an issue.

Since these Facebook events are often emotionally charged, this pushes a significant number of students away from participating in the discussion and the vote. When someone isn’t informed about an issue on campus, they won’t take the time to vote. When a student is unsure of how to vote, such events discourage an open dialogue and make it difficult for students to find unbiased information about the issue at hand. Students may feel uncomfortable asking for information about political debates from their peers who are so emotionally invested in the issues. Students should feel like they fit in on campus and these events leave many undecided voters in an awkward in-between space, with very little guidance on how to form an opinion on the issue.

It may be argued that it is easier than ever to find information and it is the student’s responsibility to be proactive in doing this. The internet can without a doubt be used as a vital tool in self-education and forming an opinion, but it can also be used to promote biased information depending on the source. In addition, students may feel unmotivated, apprehensive to involve themselves in a polarized

issue, or that their voice may not matter when there are plenty of other students deeply involved in the issue, advocating for either side. In order to convince students who are undecided to vote, this motivation needs to be fuelled by education. Politically motivated Facebook events allow for many students to be on either end of the spectrum—either extremely invested in the issue, or entirely apathetic. If the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) wants a vote that is representative of the opinions of the student body, it should find a better way to provide students with detailed information on the issues, thereby allowing them to make an informed decision and exercise their democratic right.

While it can be important to share one’s views, not all students are comfortable publicizing their political

Illustration by Elle Slavitch stance on Facebook. Students should feel comfortable sharing their opinions but sometimes, especially in the last GA, these views can cause individuals to feel marginalized or judged on campus.

While SSMU did have a general Facebook event for this GA, it should focus on mobilizing students who wouldn’t usually attend or vote.

Since some students may not have much background information on cer-

tain issues, it could be beneficial for SSMU to post shorter summaries of the motions online for students to read and post links to scholarly articles or events for undecided students, instead of relying on the influence of Facebook rants by their peers. The solution should be a proper education on the political debates on campus, and once students are educated and motivated, then this would hopefully result in a more representative vote.

Religious education and the pursuit of secularism in Quebec

In the latest addition to the debate on secularism in Quebec, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled last Thursday to allow Loyola High School to teach its students about religion, ethics, and religious culture from a Catholic perspective.

The Court decided that the provincial government’s refusal to grant the school’s request to do so constituted an infringement on religious freedom. So long as it satisfies the province’s requirement to teach the doctrines and beliefs of other religions to students “objectively and respectfully,” Loyola will be allowed to replace the faith-neutral Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) course mandated by the province with an equivalent program amended to emphasize the school’s Catholic ties.

Since its adoption, the program has attracted controversy.

Although the precedent set by Thursday’s ruling will grant de-

promoting religious tolerance and respect through the education system. The problem, however, does not lie with the educational system.

It lies with citizens who not only refuse to educate themselves, but see the education of their children about the beliefs of their fellow citizens as a violation of their freedom.

Some people, like those who belong to the Mouvement laique québécois (Quebec Secular Movement) deny that religion deserves any place in curriculum at all. A secular society, though, is not one that extinguishes religion, but one that balances respect for religious differences with secular values.

The point of religious education is not just to inform students about the world’s various religions, but to explore how belief in general functions in human society. While religious study may not be necessary for empathy or mutual respect, the role that religion has played in human conflict throughout history, and its continued prevalence in an increasingly multicultural society, make religious study an important part of academic and social education.

On the other end of the religious spectrum, McGill Religious Studies professor Dr. Douglas Farrow, for example, has condemned

the ERC as “dangerous” because it introduces students to non-Catholic beliefs and pluralistic value systems. While he maintains that he

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A secular society is not one that extinguishes religion, but one that balances respect for religious differences with secular values.

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Ryan kipp Contributor

nominational schools greater autonomy with regards to religious education, it does not imply that the ERC is a questionable or restrictive program, nor does it represent a setback in Quebec’s goal of societal secularism. By making Loyola’s exemption from the ERC contingent upon respectful, objective teaching of other faiths in the classroom, the Court’s ruling is a necessary compromise for balancing Quebec’s goal of secularism with religious tolerance.

The ERC was made mandatory in 2008 for all elementary and high schools, public and private.

It stresses a strict policy of faithneutrality to ensure that students are taught about the beliefs and ethics of world religions, as well as Quebec’s religious heritage, in a respectful, unbiased way.

Loyola’s appeal regarding the ERC is the second of its kind to face the Supreme Court since 2008. In 2012, a Catholic couple sought the exemption of their sons from the program on the grounds that it interfered with their ability to educate their children about their faith, thereby infringing on their religious freedom. Although it was ultimately denied, the fact that the request was raised in the first place and made it to the Supreme Court calls into question the feasibility of

is not against multi-religious education, it is difficult to believe him when, to support his condemnation of the ERC, he quotes Pope Leo XII’s statement that “it is necessary to avoid at all costs, as most dan-

gerous, those schools in which all beliefs are welcomed and treated as equal.” According to Farrow, this is just what adoption of the ERC entails; for him, however, it is not a positive sign of cultural inclusivity, but an “onslaught against Christian civilization and quite specifically the Catholic faith.”

Given the ERC’s objectives— promoting critical thinking, teaching that people “all are equal in terms of right and dignity”—criticisms like Farrow’s are worrying, not because they point to any problems with the program, but because they highlight issues present in members of the society it was developed for. Regardless, it is ironic that he should denounce the ERC as a fundamentally opposed to the “Catholic view of spiritual development.” Besides the fact that it is exactly what the ERC was put in place to prevent, religious intolerance is not among the practices Catholicism considers as necessary spiritual development. If the biggest danger the ERC presents is that it might introduce to school children the idea that belief systems other than those of their parents can be valid, or that moral judgments may have grounds outside the “traditional religious and moral commitments” of their household, Quebec should take its chances.

11

Student Living

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The diversified culture of Montreal offers an ideal setting to create art through fashion. Two Montreal businesses, Kimberly Fletcher and It’s Not Cool It’s Weird (INCIW), work with drastically different crafts, leather, and vintage clothing in Montreal. However, both companies demonstrate that quality, dedication, and passion are key ingredients for the articulation of this form of art and that Montreal is a great setting for its showcase.

By Tiffany Le

INCIW

KIMBERLY FLETCHER Kimberly Fletcher is the designer behind Kimberly Fletcher, crafting beautiful leather handbags and accessories at an atelier—what they call a workshop in fashion—in the Plateau. Fletcher graduated from the fashion program at Marie Victorin College in Montreal, and then went on to study in leather school, a subcategory of study within the program dedicated to leather. Here, Fletcher was discovered by Louis Lamarre, the designer behind Territoire Atelier, and was invited to work with him at his leather goods boutique in Outremont. It was here that Fletcher found what would become her passion: Leather handbags and accessories.

“It was a huge opportunity,” Fletcher said.

“School will always be there if I want to go back, but this [was] the only chance I [may] have. So I [grabbed] it.”

From there, Fletcher flourished. She was barely 21 years old and was making collections with nearly every designer in the handbag industry, the most notable of which was m0581. m0581 is a well-known company in the city that locally designs and creates handmade leather goods. However, for Fletcher, this meant less creative work, and in the end, she wanted to move on.

“One morning, I decided [that working in someone else’s company] was over [for me],” Fletcher elaborated. “I wanted to start my own business because I was kind of sick of putting these other designers’ names on the product that I made. I [thought to myself] ‘Today is Friday,’ so I quit everything. I went to business school from there and I started my own business.”T here’s a particular advantage to starting a business in Montreal because permits are low-cost and more accessible. The tourist clientele of Montreal also tends to come from a wealthy, international background.

Consequently, they’re also searching for local designers. The market is also seemingly reverting back to small-scale production, which places value on quality, construction, and finesse. This is part of the reason Fletcher chose to have her atelier open to the public.

Fletcher said that she tries to establish an active relationship with her public.

Model features a Kimberly Fletcher handbag.

(Photo courtesy of Kimberly Fletcher) “The mentality of the consumers is amazing,” Fletcher said. “They are very concerned about how people are working. When they come into the atelier and they see the [sewing machines], they are more impressed [....] For them, it’s kind of an attraction. It’s very old school, but I think it’s working.” Apparel and handbags fall into different sectors within the industry in Montreal. According to Fletcher, the seasons operate at a disparate pace.

Department-store buyers for handbags don’t all purchase around the same time, as is typical with clothing lines. It’s also quite a smaller circle to run in, as far as competition goes. “[The designers in the leather goods industry] all have the same suppliers that we go and buy our [leather] skins from,” Fletcher said. “We’re always there around the table talking about our new collections [....] I think [the competition is more within] every team. They believe so much in [their] product [and in] always wanting to be better and better.

We are a jungle but we do respect each other’s art.”

The loud and unapologetically unique clothing brand INCIW was created around two years ago by a trio of young designers The eco-friendly group is made up of Maria Mariano, Pascale Cleary, and Catherine Gagnon, who curate vintage pieces to redesign, renew, and sell. Mariano is a former McGill student from the biochemistry department who picked up freelance fashThe trio behind INCIW. (Photo courtesy of INCIW) ion photography, discovering her love for style and design. Cleary and Ga- the other one is missing, and we’re always havgnon are sisters and models who loved fashion ing a blast,” Gagnon said. “Together, we’re all getting along so well and our ideas all connect from a young age.

The idea behind INCIW is to make struc- but in a different way. It just brings the magic.”

INCIW’s approach adds a particular value to tural changes in the foundation of how fashion is produced. Rather than subscribe to fashion’s its clothing that people are seeking at a reasonable fast-paced production using new materials that price. “[It] brings back the whole ‘couture’ feeling are replaced every season, INCIW wants to slow the industry down to appreciate what al- where it’s, ‘This one jacket is yours, but it’s acready exists. In the long term, this may become cessibly yours,’” Mariano said. “It’s almost like the only way for the fashion industry to be sus- you’re kind of buying an art piece.”

Gagnon also said that materials from the past tainable.

“We really love fashion and love to ex- tend to be better quality.

“Nowadays, we feel like everything is made press ourselves in this kind of art form,” Mariano said. “We just kind of wanted to develop it cheap, made on purpose to break and re-buy,” Gain a different way. We all wanted [...] to have a gnon added. “That doesn’t go with our vision. Our vision is very great quality stuff and the production structural change in fashion.”

Inspired by the underground, quirky vibe is just for you [….] It can just last long, forever.”

Vintage fashion is sometimes misunderstood of Montreal’s subculture, INCIW created its because it branches off into so many sub-categoclothing based on what they see in hte city.

“The diversity [of Montreal]—that’s what ries. There’s a sector of restored vintage clothing I like, that’s what we like,” Cleary said. “I could where any type of stylistic reworking is strictly just sit and watch people passing all day and I forbidden. Often, they cater to a very specific aesthetic or era. INCIW opted for a more artistic could just be fascinated.”

These three ladies manage the entire com- direction while taking advantage of the superior pany, from the creative direction to the financ- quality of old textiles. Because of this, INCIW es. Working out of a basement atelier, the three does not necessarily follow seasons in fashion, but complement each other throughout the entire is instead constantly creating new pieces.

“We have a lot of creativity, so we want to process.

“I think that’s actually the awesome part add something, modernize what’s old and make it about us because we all bring something that new,” Cleary said. “We take risks.”

Montreal cultivating local fashion designers However, the transition into owning a boutique is a difficult step. Both Kimberly Fletcher and INCIW rely most heavily on their online presence for sales. From an individual business website to third-party websites like Etsy and Depop, the Internet is a growing market. The costs of owning a fashion business are also high; from paying for a studio to buying materials, to renting a space—it requires an exuberant amount of money. “[A third-party web-seller] is more accessible at first,” Cleary said. “Accessible in the sense

that the structure is there, it’s known already, [and] there are people doing it.”

For Fletcher, selling online before opening a physical shop was also about getting to know the customer.

“I wanted to be sure the product was good enough for the market,” she said. “I wanted to test the price, the quality, and know what the customer was thinking. When you’re in the business, you have to respect every step [....] So at first, this is the reason why I just wanted to start

slower and put my name out there and the product, and then I will be ready to go onto the next step.”

Last year was big for Fletcher. She produced all the accessories that accompanied Philippe Bubuc’s collection down the runway.

Bubuc recently won the 2015 Menswear Designer-of-the-Year award at the Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards. “[Bubuc] told me, ‘Every year I will come back to you because I love the quality,’” Fletcher

said. “To be acknowledged by someone [who] is bigger than you is always huge.”

For both of these companies, fashion is more than just an industry. It’s a form of art that is the basis of human interaction. The precision, care, and dedication afforded to each and every piece does make a difference—not only in the products themselves but also in the mentality of the wearer.

“It’s your armour to the world,” Gagnon said.

Spotlight on business: Contrasting models in montreal

Photo courtesy of images.askmen.com

I

n today’s online world of instant access to everything, it’s tough to find a company that’s able to stand out and distinguish itself amongst the vast array of retail brands increasingly focused on web-based sales.

However, Montreal-based Frank and Oak has succeeded in this regard, grasping the attention of a techsavvy, young demographic of 20-35 year old males that appreciate the company’s careful attention to detail and user-friendly website experience.

It also doesn’t hurt that Frank and Oak’s trend-setting style has been noted by men’s fashion bibles such as GQ and Esquire.

“The world of retail is [definitely] shifting,” explained Hicham Ratnani, Frank and Oak co-founder and McGill alumnus. “Today our demographic is very active, very connected, and they’re going out for experiences. They’re [also] using mobile all the time [….] The client has very high expectations, whether it’s mobile or web, so we have to deliver on all these platforms.”

According to Ratnani, Frank and Oak, as well as much of the rest of the retail industry, is moving towards an “omni-channel” approach to sales. With this model, Frank and Oak uses as many channels as possible to reach out to its clientele, while at the same time seeking to provide an equal level of service regardless of which one the client chooses. Such platforms go beyond the store front and include online, social media, and mobile options.

“Omni means all, so what they’re doing is […] saying, ‘Okay, we want to use all of the various channels be it online retailing, be it offline, be it brick-and-mortar right at their store,’” said Ralph Cecere, a professor at McGill’s Faculty of Management. “For example, if they’re running a special, [Frank and Oak] wants to push a flannel shirt or something, if you look [it] up on your mobile device [and] I go actually into

omni model: frank and oak the store, we’ll get the same info, we’ll get the same price, we’ll get the same promotion, we’ll get the same exposure to the product. They’re trying to reach from all of these different channels.”

Frank and Oak was born online.

Ratnani and co-founder Ethan Song constructed a simple yet intricate website with a captivating layout that displayed its own designed and manufactured clothing. Merchandise changes monthly based on crowdsourced design ideas. Customers are asked to sign up as members in order to shop, and to date over 1.5 million have done so.

According to Saurabh Mishra, a marketing professor at Desautels, being an online outlet provides Frank and Oak with a plethora of opportunities that a traditional store cannot compete with, particularly by offering customers a far larger array of product options than a physical outlet could have.

“There are quite a few perks actually [to selling online],” explained Mishra. “One of the big things is that you can offer a lot more variety [that] is not easily possible with brick-and-mortar stores, precisely because stores are limited in terms of how much merchandise they can keep, and proximity to the warehouse becomes an issue. That’s what customers really like—this customized approach.”

Websites don’t require the same investment, overhead costs, rent, or costs of operation that their physical counterparts demand. In addition, online retail provides a company with a significantly larger reach than a brick-and-mortar store in one location does. As a result, the vast majority of Frank and Oak’s sales have been outside of Montreal.

“There is a huge potential [for] online sales and a lot of shopping is done that way, and is [also] a way of reaching out to a greater audience,” Cecere said. “About 70 per cent of

their sales [go] to the U.S., and a third of those is in California. So [they’re] Montreal-based and reach out as far out as California, and ship sales out there. Brick-and-mortar is not going to get [that] done.”

After three years, Frank and Oak has only recently opened up a handful of brick-and-mortar stores, with the flagships located in Montreal and Toronto. These new outlets, which also include an espresso bar and a barbershop, are designed to do more than simply sell clothing. The objective, according to Ratnani, is to draw the customer into Frank and Oak’s “lifestyle.”

“Our goal is basically a physical embodiment of our brand—the lifestyle brand that we are creating,” Ratnani said. “Today’s generation, they’re not looking for a simple, emotionless transaction when they go ahead and buy stuff. They’re looking for an experience, and that’s definitely something that we can provide in our store concept. [We can provide] more than just a transaction by [creating] a world, [and creating] something where people can be really proud about coming in.”

Frank and Oak’s mobile app has also been a success amongst its target demographic. According to Canadian Business, the app accounted for 15 per cent of all sales in 2013. As a result of its mastery of the omni-channel strategy, the company has been able to make big strides as a new business, selling 700,000 items of clothing in 2013. However, in order to keep ahead of the game, Frank and Oak will have to continue to stay cutting edge, particularly when catering to a young generation, whose trends and interests are constantly changing.

“Often within two years of launching your business you have a 50 per cent chance of survival rate, and within five years of launching your business you have a 20 per cent survival rate, so 80 per cent of startups are out,” Cecere said. “I think

[Frank and Oak is at] a little over two years, and they’re going to have to continue doing great stuff to make that 20 per cent cut.”

Coffee, Cecere explained, is consistently popular across a wide range of demographics, allowing the store’s espresso bar to stay timely and stylish regardless of the next big

“

Online retail provides a company with a significantly larger reach than a brickand-mortar store in one location does.

still work to adapt the brand to meet rising trends. Ratnani explains that this is often accomplished by seeking to understand the tastes of students.

“In today’s day and age, students are very much trend setters,” Ratnani said. “In a way, [students] do a lot of things that appeal to our brand, and we’re aligned to the student community. We just have to service them as best as possible, [and] we are always looking at what the student community does.”

Frank and Oak’s online model allows it to cater to a young generation of customers who are far more comfortable with online shopping than older shoppers. “[Students] are much more comfortable with technology, [which] enables younger people to be more discerning in their tastes,” Mishra explained. “A big thing in the young generation is that they want to be treated as individuals, and they are comfortable [enough] with the technology [to use it to] be treated uniquely. So any manufacturers that are able to tap into the psychological aspect of that generation where individuality [is] big [and] where technology is [a] factor […] then that opens up the student market quite a bit for manufacturers.”

Ratnani said that his academic experiences at McGill were essential in providing him with the skills to be an entrepreneur and develop the foundations of his successful business. “[From] my academic career at McGill, in engineering, what’s really cool is that you [are] basically solving problems every 10 minutes, or every minute you have a problem with many variables, and you come up with solutions very quickly,” Ratnani said. “Your brain is wired to solve complex problems with different variables each and every time [….] That’s exactly what being an entrepreneur is. An entrepreneur is solving issues all the time, nonstop.”

“

Sam Pinto

trend. The barbershop, on the other hand, caters to a fad that has only become popular recently, particularly relevant to the rise in beards and the specific taste of millennials.

“The whole beard thing, that might come and go just like hairstyles go,” Cecere said. “Personally I don’t know if that’s going be something long-lasting [….] I think its cool but you have to be careful of trends that pass.”

While the beards and barbershops may play into the whole lifestyle that Frank and Oak seeks to portray, it is only a small fraction of their strategy, and likely constitutes a minute fraction of their income. Nevertheless, in order to continue its rapid rise in becoming major player in the fashion world, Frank and Oak must

Photo courtesy of chezschwartzfilm.com

Traditional model: Schwartz’s Jenny Shen

F

rank Silva, the current manager of 25 years at Schwartz’s Deli, has stuck with some of the longlasting business decisions that the restaurant has kept for decades and knows Montreal’s tourism scene inside and out.

“Summer, of course, [has] the highest sales,” Silva said.

“July is a super month, and when we talk about summer we talk about [the] jazz festival, Formula One, [the] Just for Laughs festival […. And then there are the] long weekends for Toronto.”

As shown by the reports of the Canadian Tourism Commission, this seasonal difference is expressly shown in the number of inbound international visitors each month. In July 2014, 2,643,263 total international visitors came to Canada for overnight trips, compared to December 2014’s 1,125,329.

With a local business such as Schwartz’s that seems to be on every tourist’s radar, business is therefore about understanding tourism trends and adjusting inventory accordingly. This prac-

tice is known as “seasonal inventory,” where demand fluctuations across the course of a year are predictable but significant. “[It’s] very important to be on top of […] what’s happening in the city, because we don’t have any freezers,” Silva explained. “[We have to] manage purchasing. Because everything’s fresh, [once food] comes in, it has to go out.”

Purchasing, he said, is largely determined from the preceding years.

“We go according to previous sales,” Silva said. “I have on hand [the sales from] last year and last month [… because] history repeats itself to a certain degree […. So] I look at last year and figure how to do 10 per cent more [in sales.]”

This is most similar to what the Park Avery Group, a consulting firm in Georgia, calls “stocks to sales ratio,” which predicts how much inventory is needed to obtain the desired projected sales. The firm also highlights other approaches to merchandise planning such as “weeks of sup-

ply,” which divides current inventory by average sales; “sell through per cent,” which represents the ratio of sales to initial period inventory; among others.

With influential online resources like Yelp, Urbanspoon, and even online food bloggers, local businesses—particularly restaurants—have been able to ride the wave of what is effectively free advertising. According to Michael Luca in his research at the Harvard Business School, a one-star increase in Yelp ratings leads to a five to nine per cent increase in revenue in independent—as opposed to chain—restaurants.

“Right now, it’s not really word of mouth, it’s word of internet,” Silva said. “We never have to actually advertise, because we get so much free press all the time [through social media.]”

That word of mouth, Silva claimed, has stemmed from decades of an unwavering business model. “[Customers] like the idea that it hasn’t changed,” he said.

“Everything’s changing, every-

thing’s modernizing, and some people just like the way things used to be.”

Schwartz’s, which has been located in the same Saint-Laurent storefront for 87 years, has also stuck by the same preparation techniques for its products.

Silva explained that although Schwartz’s has not veered too far off course from its original model in 1928, creating the takeout counter 15 years ago was a necessary and important change.

“It’s a very small restaurant here, and we always get two lineups, one for eating in and one for taking out,” he said. “People have less and less time to eat, and are always on the run, eating in their car. And it works.”

However, a restaurant deeprooted in tradition is not so easy to adjust, and Silva explained that when the business next door was shut down, it was simply a matter of good timing that facilitated the change.

“I had to convince the owners,” Silva said. “Things were going very well, [and the] owners didn’t really want to invest.”

See online for Seasonal Model: Quinn Farm

But despite the coordination required with the owners of a local business like Schwartz’s, Silva said that the benefits of working in a small restaurant as opposed to a conglomerate or franchise far outweigh the costs.

In Luca’s research, he also posited that chain restaurants have seen a decline in market share since Yelp began increasing in visibility online. According to the 2014 Canadian Chain Restaurant Industry Review, conducted by GE Capital Franchise Finance, Quebec is actually the province with the largest percentage of restaurant sales unaffiliated with franchises, 48.4 per cent compared to Ontario’s 34.6 per cent. “[In] a franchise, you always have to listen to other people,” Silva said. “Even though you’re managing, you have people over you telling you what to do and what not to do [….] Here we don’t have to ask anyone’s permission, we just do what we think is right.”

14

Student Living

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Campus Spotlight: SynesthASIA Annual charity fashion show raises money for Free The Children in China CHLOE LAU Contributor This past Friday, March 27, SynesthASIA hosted its seventh annual charity fashion show at the Gallery Gora Montreal for Free the Children in rural China. Brooke Schwartz, co-director and U2 Arts student believes that the directors’ aspiration for the show, which debuted in 2009 has been consistent throughout the years.

“It seems like from talking to past directors, the motivation behind [SynesthASIA] is pretty unanimous, [which is] that we’re all interested in bringing together this Montreal and McGill spirit in art while at the same time benefiting a better cause,” Schwartz said.

After two years of working on SynesthASIA, Schwartz has considered a very well-rounded interpretation of what the group represents.

“SynesthASIA’s goal has always been poverty alleviation through various means,” Schwartz said. “This translates into raising money for vulnerable populations, destroyed communities, the improvement of education, and so much more depending on the executive team behind the work.”

Although SynesthASIA always donates to a charity based in Asia, Schwartz believes the motivation behind selecting specific charities as varying, specifying the executive’s team relation with students in rural China as a particularly influential factor for this

year’s choice.

“This year, we agreed on a Free the Children project that would help build a school with running water in rural China upon learning about the gap in education opportunities between rural and urban China,” Schwartz said. “It’s a lesser-known issue we all felt passionate about, being students ourselves.”

Charity liaisons Charlotte Moores, U2 Arts, and Joanna PineDa, U1 Science, spearheaded the selection of the charity for this year. According to Pina, Free the Children is a sustainable project.

“Free the Children had similar goals in mind [to SynesthASIA] in terms of education in Asia,” PineDa said. “[They have projects including] the training of teachers and building three to five schoolrooms [... as well as] the distribution of school supplies [and] libraries.”

According to Schwartz, Free the Children is a well-thought out initiative. She cited the inclusion of running water in the schoolroom initiative as an example.

“I think the working water part was the most interesting because we thought that was an aspect of past projects that we haven’t necessarily heard,” Schwartz said.

One feature of the fashion show that distinguishes SynesthASIA from the many fashion shows in the McGill community each year is that the models do not simply walk down the runway—

they also dance. Student designer Claire Peng, U2 Arts, said that the dancing helps to showcase the hard work that she has put into her designs.

“Sometimes there are certain items that I’ve made that I feel less confident about; but then the models really rock it and they can rock it a lot more [dancing] than when they just walk,” she said.

“That added effort helps a lot in making it shine.”

Not only does the dancing help feature the designs, the upbeat music and high-energy dancing ensured that there were no dull moments during the show. First-time show attendee Alex Lei, U0 Arts, said that the added dancing down the runway brought a special dimension to the show.

“The combination of choreography and fashion was unique and new,” Lei said.

Many participants shared this sentiment and agreed that the dancing and choreography included in SynesthASIA set it apart from other fashion shows.

SynesthASIA co-director Hana Bell said that this unique facet of the show is an integral part of SynesthASIA’s identity.

“About four or five years ago, the dancing started,” Bell said. “[SynesthASIA] began as a regular fashion show, and recently, it’s been getting more and more choreographed and because that sets us apart from other fashion shows, we’ve been embracing it a lot more.”

However, incorporating dancing

Model features student designer pieces. (Photo courtesy of Felicia Chang) and choreography meant many rehearsals. After all the long hours coordinating this show with the executive team, Bell shared her personal show highlights.

“My favourite part is the end of the show—after we’ve seen it all come together and we’ve been so nervous for hours beforehand about it running smoothly, and afterwards it’s just so amazing,” Bell said.

Schwartz also shared her senti-

ments on her favourite moment in the show.

“I think my favourite part is the beginning of the show, which always makes me cry,” Schwartz said. “The beginning of the show, seeing everybody on stage for that [...] first time at the same exact time is just too surreal for me and I feel very humbled that I helped put this together.”

: More than just a cup of coffee

Van Houtte Café owners remind people of the importance of passion and the personal touch Harrison Glotman Contributor Don’t let the Van Houtte corporate name fool you. With the numerous Van Houtte cafés located around Montreal, it may be easy to mistake the small franchise tucked below La Cité as just part of the larger corporation. However, like a piece of art, this café radiates with the personality of its owners. When I first stopped by, I was intrigued by the owners’ positivity and general disposition. In interacting with customers and with each other, they seemed to possess a certain glow. Through my regular morning visits, I quickly learned that the source of that glow was their deep passion and pride.

The story behind the café is a fascinating one. All three owners abandoned their professional careers and stable salaries to run it. It all began when Sacha Hajjar, who needed to pay for his degree at Concordia and picked up a few shifts at the Van Houtte café near campus. His passion for coffee began at the age of 16, but his father told him that he needed an academic education. Sacha started with two engineering jobs after graduation before realizing that he was not well

suited for the corporate life. He bought the café in 1998 at the age of 23, and has not looked back since. Rosie Hajjar and Carla Hajjar, an accountant and lawyer, did the same shortly after.

At first, it was difficult for me to grasp why they gave up such stable careers for the café. However, their happy demeanour, constant enjoyment, and sincere interactions with customers helped me realize that my original idea of success was incomplete. During my years in school, success was defined based simply on a letter grade. After graduation, the definition of success is hazy and unclear. I found that without conventional metrics to indicate if I was doing a good job, setting goals around my own definition of success became increasingly important.

For Rosie, Sacha, and Carla, success is about being proud and deeply invested in what they do. Like characters in a novel, they complement each other perfectly. Rosie is a nurturer at heart, always offering a big smile and kind words, while her husband Sacha is outspoken and frank. The nurturing words from Rosie mixed with the witty, freespirited anecdotes from Sacha offer the perfect morning refreshment. Together,

Cozy and warm ambiance at the Van Houtte café tucked below La Cité. (Emma Hameau/ McGill Tribune) they are constantly seeking to improve made me realize that things tend to sonality of the owners are omnipresthe experience, because they recognize work out if passion is incorporated into ent—remind me how important it is that the simple things in life—like a an action. Although hard work sepa- to do what you love. While students, warm greeting and muffin—are enough rates the best from the average, passion including myself, are raised in an enviprecludes hard work. While the trio at ronment where prestigious grades and to make a difference in each day.

Through my encounters with the the café gave up so much and appear honour rolls are motivation enough to trio, I realized that it is difficult and to work so hard with long hours at the do well, I learned from my interactions frightening to follow a passion. When small café, they are hardly working at at that small Van Houtte café that after graduation, passion is a much more Sacha bought the café, it was running all because it is something they love.

Cafés and small businesses like powerful force than prestige in becoma deficit and many doubted his ability to turn it around. However, my visits this one—where the passion and per- ing the best at what you do.

Susan Wang U3 Physiology

(L-A Benoit / McGill Tribune)

Student of the ByWeek Saloni Singh

Susan Wang, a U3 physiology major, is deeply passionate about helping others. Whether it is through pursuing a career in medicine, sharing her artistic talents, or connecting with new people, it is clear that building meaningful relationships is an integral part of her life. While completing medical school applications, Wang has found creative ways to get away from the stress of school by being actively involved in the McGill and greater Montreal community.

Wang is currently the VP External of the Sketching Club. As McGill’s only visual arts student organization, the Sketching Club holds weekly events such as art shows, regular nude drawing sessions with student models, and field trips. This week, the club will be attending the International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal. Wang has also recently taken up graphic design—she designs posters, flyers, business cards, and logos for various businesses and organizations. Despite devoting so much time to it, she sees art simply as a way to de-stress and relax.

“I love art and it’s a great hobby, but in terms of work, I don’t want to pursue it,” Wang said. “I think when you put pressure on a hobby, it becomes less of a hobby, more of work.”

Interested in helping the elderly, Wang currently volunteers at Fulford House, a retirement home in Montreal. She has found a unique way to combine this with her love for drawing. During the weekly sessions, she often spends time drawing portraits of the 100-year-old woman she visits in order to connect with her better.

“It’s really meaningful because you’re able

Making the simple

exquisite Tips to making eggs

By Alycia Noë While eggs are delicious and cheap, many do not know how to cook them properly. All too often, eggs are overcooked and rubbery. Learning how to make scrambled, boiled, and poached eggs can greatly diversify your diet or improve your homemade eggs benedict.

Scrambled Eggs Ingredients

15

Student Living

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

to sit down with someone and just look at them,” Wang said.

“For somebody in a retirement home, they don’t get looked at very often. But to have an hour of time where you’re just staring at them and acknowledging them, it makes a huge difference.”

Furthermore, she emphasized the importance of medical issues such as palliative care. According to Wang, it is important that people are informed about how their lives should end, and what options are available to them. In the future, she hopes to work with the elderly, or possibly in oncology.

Her love for helping others also manifests in the various teaching opportunities she has undertaken.

Wang works with The Homework Zone, where she teaches elementary school-level reading and math to children. She is also involved with Freshman Interest Groups, where she talks to students about careers in science and what to expect at McGill. This summer, Wang will be teaching English to young children in China, where she hopes to get in touch with her roots and improve her own language skills.

While Wang’s time at McGill is coming to an end, the bonds she has created during her time in Montreal, as well as the meaningful interactions she has built with various individuals has made the university experience extremely worthwhile for her.

“I think a school is defined by its people more than by its buildings or programs,” Wang said. “I hope that through these experiences, I’ve been able to [bring] new perspectives on different things so people can take that and go wherever they want with it.”

McGill Tribune: McGill Tribune: What is your favourite place at McGill?

Susan Wang: Second floor of the Law Library. It’s like my home away from home.

MT: If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, which would it be?

SW: I have my phases. Recently I’m really into K Pop, so I guess it would be “You and I” by Ailee.

MT: If someone wrote a book about your life, what would it be called?

SW: I think it would be “She thought she could, so she did.” This quote has always stuck with me.

MT: Which character do you most identify with?

SW: I don’t personally identify with her, but people tell me I look like Mulan.

MT: What is your favourite word?

SW: It’s not a complicated word, but I just really like “crisps.”

Wo rdSe arch

The Simpsons

Corner

By Cory Goldstein

Boiled Eggs Instructions

1) Put eggs in a pot and fill pot with enough cold water to cover the eggs completely.

2) Heat pan over medium heat.

3) For perfectly soft-boiled eggs with runny yolk, time 2-3 minutes after water begins to boil.

4) For perfectly cooked hard-boiled eggs, time 9-10 minutes after water begins to boil.

Tips:

· Use older eggs for easier peeling after cooking. · Run pan under cold water for a few minutes

Poached Eggs (2 methods) Stovetop:

· In a pan, boil water with approximately 2 tablespoons of white vinegar. · Once water boils, crack an egg into a cup. · Before putting egg into boiling water, use a spoon to swirl the water for about 30 seconds Instructions creating a whirlpool. The whirlpool allows the 1) Whisk eggs together with milk and any whites to keep together while poaching the egg. desired seasonings (eg. salt, pepper, oregano). · Gently pour the egg into the water and allow Make sure eggs are well combined and the cooking for 2-4 minutes, depending on how you consistency of the eggs is uniform. like your egg cooked (2 minutes for soft, 4 min2) Heat a frying pan (preferably non-stick) utes for firm). for one minute over medium heat. Melt the · Remove eggs from water with a slotted spoon butter but do not allow it to brown. to allow them to drain.

3) Pour the egg mixture into the pan, and let the mixture sit for about 10-15 seconds Microwave: without stirring. · Fill a microwaveable cup with ½ cup of water.

4) Next, stir continuously until eggs begin · Gently crack the egg into the water. Make sure to hold. When eggs are mostly set with a few the water covers the egg completely. slightly running sections, take the pan off the · Cover the cup with plastic wrap and microwave heat and allow eggs to continue to cook in for one minute. the pan off the heat. · 3 large eggs · 6 tbsp milk · 1 knob of butter

Find the answer key at: www.mcgilltribune.com

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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Leveling up Viewing video games as more than mechanics luka ciklovan Staff Writer

G

amer. For a lot of people, the very word conjures up images of a basement-dwelling creature who feeds on Doritos and Mountain Dew, fears sunlight almost as much as social interaction, and guards the bridges of YouTube comments with a fierce, troll-like rage. Given the years of controversy video games have faced around the world—being labeled as a catalyst for antisocial personality disorder or a gateway for sex and crime—this negative stereotyping is not surprising. The fact that the U.S. Supreme Court only recognized video games as an art form in 2011, thus granting the medium First Amendment protection, stands as a testament to the ‘second class’ status of video games that permeates society today.

In his article “Video Games Can Never Be Art,” critic Robert Ebert attempted to sever any link between video games and art on the grounds that “you cannot win” art. According to Ebert, video games are often riddled with “rules, points, [and] objectives” and can never be art, because art demands that you experience it devoid of any metric of success. Ebert continued his assault on video games in his piece “Why Did The Chicken Cross the Genders,” claiming that video games will “never be worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists, and composers” due to the notion that they fail to make us more “cultured, civilized, and empathetic.” Yet, even within a goal-oriented framework, this is precisely what video games—like any other art form—convey.

No matter how you look at it, at the root of any definition of culture and civilization lies the notion that they lead to a greater understanding of a common human experience, a formation of one’s own identity based on self-reflection in the face of this human experience, and ultimately a sense of belonging to a larger human community as a result of these reflections. Video games offer many powerful ways of imparting these universal concepts and empathizing with the world around us—they only demand that we be receptive.

Peter Henry, president of the

McGill E-Sports Students’ Association, has been a firm advocate for considering video games as art.

“Of course, there’s a creator behind a game, and I feel if there’s an intention—whether it’s books, art, movies, video games—as long as someone is actively working to create a particular experience, it’s art to me,” he explained.

The biggest barrier for people to take video games seriously, according to Henry, lies within the interactive nature of the medium.

“People who play video games a lot have a lot of experience with games, and control schemes in particular, so when you hand Call of Duty to someone who doesn’t even know how to hold the controller, how can you expect them to fully experience the game?”

He also cites time commitment issues as another factor that limits the accessibility of video games.

“As long as you have a two hour attention span you can see a whole movie, but if you’re not willing to work through a game, which could last anywhere up from 60 hours, you’re not going to get the intended experience,” Henry argued.

One of the most unique ways video games enable us to connect to this sense of culture and empathy is through the unparalleled agency the audience is given within the medium. While video games do often tell an unalterable narrative—much like a novel or film would—they allow us, the player, to decide the precise manner in which it unfolds. This ultimately can make us more attached to the narrative and grasp its underlying themes in a truly powerful way, as we have a greater emotional stake in the game.

Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain offers a prime example of this phenomenon. Heavy Rain places you in a situation where you must complete five trials at the hands of the Origami Killer in order to save a loved one.

The fact that the players themselves

Art curators observe a child playing HALO (Susanne Wang / McGill Tribune) participate in those trials—vicariously choosing how exactly to tackle them through the character of Ethan Carter— forces them to care, to some degree, about the narrative outcome they’ve been attempting to realize for hours on end. Regardless of the fact that there is a clear goal to the game, the player can ultimately experience something beyond the images on screen.

Another method through which video games are able to convey grander, emotional messages lies within their mechanics, which are the specific rules or systems that govern the video game.

The player uses them as a means to engage with the fictional world. The mechanics in chess, for example, enable the players to move their pieces only in accordance with each piece’s respective move set, and require the king to be

taken to win. When mechanics begin to convey aspects of the game’s narrative, however, they enable the player to feel the emotions that the developer is trying to convey, and can thus lead the player to new understandings about themselves or the world around them.

Jordon Magnuson’s Loneliness consists of simple black pixels moving across a white background, allowing the player to feel a permeating sense of alienation as a result of its mechanics.

You play as a square that is constantly confronted by groups, or patterns of other squares, but can never interact with any of them as a result of their instantaneous fleeing from you. The player’s inability to successfully interact with anything in the game makes them feel useless, unwanted, and powerless. The game is meant to mirror what thousands of

people across the world face everyday, and ultimately familiarizes the players with how they would grapple with such an issue.

Agency and mechanics, if wielded properly by the developers, are extremely powerful ways for us to explore not only ourselves, but also how we interact and understand the world around us through the medium of video games. For Henry, video games are especially important in providing positive social experiences that may not be as easily conveyed by other artistic forms.

Ultimately, video games are still in their infancy as an art form. We are at the beginnings of a medium that has the power to seriously impact people’s lives in meaningful ways if we only broaden our perspectives and allow it to do so.

The Tribune is hiring design editors!

Send CV, cover letter, and 3 design samples to editor@mcgilltribune.com

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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Peer Review Mountain of Servants Lombroso spent time in Mardin, Turkey working on his film (Photo courtesy of Daniel Lombroso) Michael kalman Contributor

Sometimes, amazing things can be the product of pure chance and timing.

This is exactly the case with Daniel Lombroso’s documentary, Mountain of Servants, which documents the Syriacs, a dwindling minority in Eastern Turkey.

Lombroso is a U3 Political Science major here at McGill University who grew up in Westchester County, New York.

“In high school, I sold brownies to buy my first shitty little camera,” recounted Lombroso, as he explained how he began filming in his early teens.

“I loved filmmaking. I just never knew how it would transfer into a job, so I kept doing it on the side when I came to McGill.”

During his first semester at McGill, Lombroso decided to try and direct a more professional film than those of his high school shorts.

“In December of my first year at New Rez, I was like, I’m going to make my first real movie, so I put out an ad on Craigslist looking for middle-aged balding men to be in it,” he remarked between laughs.

Unfortunately, the film didn’t pan out as well as he had hoped, and that experience opened his eyes.

“That’s when I first started understanding what makes a good movie,” Lombroso added.

He took a short break afterwards to focus on his major, but wanted to film again when the opportunity arose.

That very opportunity presented itself while Daniel was on exchange in Istanbul, Turkey. During his stay, he became enthralled with the nationwide municipal elections occurring at the time and started a blog called Voices of Istanbul.

“It was like Humans of New York with a picture of a person with [his or her] comments,” he explained. “I never could have predicted it, but my blog blew up and people were emailing me to be featured. I had about 60 people featured on my blog.”

Among those people was a man named Mehmed Aziz Yirik, who requested a time to have tea and sit down to discuss a possible creative collaboration. Yirik wanted to visit his family in eastern Turkey and suggested a documentary on the ancient civilization native to the area.

“We knew we needed to raise $3,000 to make this [project] work,” said Lombroso. “Mehmed’s father was the barber of the town and seemed to know everyone. His father’s friends didn’t speak any English, but we pitched our idea anyways.”

Like many aspects of this project, the interviews were not simple to

arrange.

“Everything was a slow, tedious process,” Lombroso commented. “No one communicated through email.

It was first, come over and meet my family and have tea and coffee and then tell me why you’re worth my time, and we’ll see from there.”

Post-production was not an easy task either.

“I came out with 15 hours of footage in a language I didn’t even understand,” explained Lombroso.

With the help of local Montreal editors and commentary by John Cavanagh from the BBC, Mountain of Servants was completed this January.

It has already been accepted to four film festivals and took home the “Best of Fest” award at Student Television at McGill’s FOKUS Film Festival this past weekend.

He describes the 14-minute documentary as a transparent gateway into the lives of Syriacs of Tur Abdin, instead of a historian’s point of view, and hopes that the film will spur outside interest in this incredible civilization.

“I didn’t want it to be a documentary of interviews with professors,” Lombroso said. “I wanted to interview the actual people on the ground.”

Redemption Songs

How the Pros and Cons program is improving one prison’s rehabilitative process Max Berger Arts & Entertainment Editor “Why are you bothering to do good for people who have done so much bad?”

As the founder of Pros and Cons, a pilot program that gives musical mentorship to prison inmates, Hugh Christopher Brown has put a lot of thought into this question. Ultimately for him, the answer comes down to one guiding principle.

“I don’t feel that a single atrocious act should eclipse an entire human being,” Brown said. “You build a relationship [with a prisoner,] and very often, that’s exactly what’s lacking from [the lives of people] who end up doing something narcissistic, tragic, violent, and stupid that lands their ass in jail.”

Many would tend to agree with Brown in theory, but projects that meaningfully enrich the lives of prisoners are rare, and with limited financial resources available, few are willing to take the initiative to actually go out and implement them. In 2010, the numbers of those projects dwindled even further when the Conservative government went forward with a plan that shut down six rehabilitative prison farms around Canada at which inmates had the opportunity to do agricultural work during their sentences. One of them was Pittsburgh Institution, located just outside of Kingston and near Brown’s studio on Wolfe Island. With this crucial activity in their lives taken away, Brown saw the opportunity to

step in and provide an alternative.

“I didn’t think that a benefit or a cause record would necessarily be effective because convicts sponsor little public sympathy,” Brown explained.

“So I just decided to get inside and do something positive.”

Launching Pros and Cons was one significant step in a long musical journey for Brown. He played classical music growing up in Toronto and played in rock bands during high school, including the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, which lasted on the road for 10 years. Since then he’s been living mostly in New York, both creating his own music and playing/producing for other artists, including The Tragically Hip and the Crash Test Dummies.

At the outset of the program, Brown was starting from scratch, unaware of anything similar that could provide him with a template to follow.

As he describes, Pros and Cons is more focused on giving the creative process a space to happen than adhering to some sort of rigid structure.

“It’s a collaboration with largely myself and the inmates, but I’ve brought in a lot of other musicians and artists to kind of share their experience and songs, so it can change depending on who’s present,” Brown explained. “Sometimes it’s sharing songs, or it’s about musical theory. There’s been a lot of engineering and production work because the guys all had to learn to set equipment up and then tear it down because we have to empty the chapel every week.”

The growth and direction of

the program are largely a product of the response from the Pittsburgh i n m a t e s — which has been overwhelmingly positive.

“The first session I ever did in there was supposed to be 45 minutes and it turned into two and a half hours,” Brown recalled.

“Everybody had notebooks, poems.

Once we started, it just was like a floodgate [….]

Brown poses with Sarah McDermott, who recorded with the prisoners. (Photo courtesy of Kristen Ritchie) There was so much writing and so many people who to succeed and potentially spread. punishment.” wanted to be involved that I just kind of Especially having produced results “What I’m doing right now is kept up regular sessions and by the end accruing a team of people who want to on a micro scale already, Brown knows of it, we had an album recorded entirely do it in different places,” Brown shares. firsthand how beneficial something like in prison.”

However, he worries that the Pros and Cons can be for an individual.

Brown is referring to Postcards Canadian government is looking to “There was this one inmate who From the County (2014), a 12-track rationalize privatization of the prison wouldn’t come out of his cell for over collection of folk-centric original songs system, and won’t be likely to help a year unless he was ordered to,” Brown and covers, with proceeds going to enable a program that could probably said. “And they all thought that he was various charities and restorative justice benefit the country from a financial done for. The [inmate] was one of the most enthusiastic proponents of the victim support causes. It was recorded standpoint.

“I would argue that if you started program, who exposed himself to be over the course of a year, although Brown has been going into the prison a program like this nationally, you’d incredibly gifted on the guitar, and then for about two and a half years in total be saving money because incarceration he just started practicing and practicing now. Pros and Cons is something he’s rates [and recidivism] would go down,” and mentoring others to do the same.”

With Pros and Cons, the music coordinated as a volunteer, and he’s Brown explained. “This civilization has often had to provide funding for it out to take responsibility for itself beyond and positivity are present in Pittsburgh; of his own pocket. He hopes that the warehousing human beings, and hopefully more penal systems decide to model that he’s established can continue beyond just our acceptance of collective start playing along.

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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Ten thousand hours in 84 minutes

Ethan Hawke doc profiles master pianist Seymour Bernstein Max Jospeh Contributor

Dark undertones jonathan herlin Contributor

Chainsaw

Artist: Ramones Album: Ramones Released: February 4, 1976 This song begins with a chainsaw. Jonny Ramone’s heavily distorted, relentless guitar keeps up that chainsaw sound throughout—power chords, power chords, and more power chords— and Joey Ramone’s doo-wop, ooooh-oh-oh vocals don’t even try to disguise the fact that the song is about a gruesome chainsaw murder, which is kind of punk: “Texas Chainsaw massacre/ They took my baby away from me.” What’s even more punk, however, is the next line: “They chopped her up and I don’t care, woah-oh.”

Carmelita

Artist: Linda Ronstadt Album: Simple Dreams Released: September, 1977 Originally written and performed by Warren Zevon, “Carmelita” has led to numerous covers, but Linda Ronstadt’s is the prettiest. The guitar is reminiscent of mariachi and Ronstadt’s vocals are dreamy and unfocused. It makes for a stark contrast to the lyrics, which follow a desperate junkie as he appeals to his lover (Carmelita) to pull him out of the abyss of heroin withdrawal: “Carmelita, hold me tighter/ I think I’m sinking down/ and I’m all strung out on heroin/ on the outskirts of town.”

Right Profile

Artist: The Clash Album: London Calling Released: December 14, 1979

London Calling is such a masterpiece that this track is easy to overlook. Behind the elaborate horns and reggae/ska/whatever-influenced guitar are some seriously dark lyrics. I don’t really know what they discuss, but its probably something to do with alcoholism and/or drug addiction: “Nembutal numbs it all/ but I prefer alcohol.” Ultimately though, Strummer’s vocals just degrade into “aarpghargahshhhsh.”

Seymour: An Introduction, the new documentary from actor/director Ethan Hawke, focuses on pianist Seymour Bernstein, but it’s really an in-depth look at the search for greatness.

Without taking attention away from Bernstein, who’s given a treatment bordering on hagiographic—and deservedly so—the film becomes a guide to those seeking answers to life’s questions, and it’s difficult to imagine him wanting it any other way.

The approach makes sense given how the film came to fruition, which Hawke explains at the start of a performance by Bernstein, snippets of which are interspersed throughout. Despite a storied career which included four Oscar nominations and a series of critically acclaimed collaborations with director Richard Linklater, the actor found himself questioning the direction and purpose of his art. His friend Anthony Zito (credited on Seymour as an executive producer) invited him over for dinner, and it was there that he met Bernstein.

Bernstein, as the film tells us, was a successful concert pianist whose professional credits included a hugely acclaimed performance at Alice Tully Hall. Despite his achievements as a performer, he quit his career at the age of 50 after a quiet farewell concert in order to teach full-time. He’d had enough of the stress and excess which too often accompany a performance career, and he sought to live a simpler life.

Hawke gives the viewer a few more of Bernstein’s biographical details, including a particularly moving section where he recounts his time serving in the Korean War, but the emphasis is more on his approach to music, education, and life. He shows Bernstein working with a range of students in master class and private lesson settings, which give a hint of his impressive abilities as a teacher.

His educational talents are far from limited to musical instruction, as the film continuously

reminds us. Hawke decided to make the film due to the invaluable role Bernstein ended up playing in his own life as a mentor, and both musicians and non-musicians alike will undoubtedly find lessons to learn from him. His wise words about music almost always apply to any art form, and even the most music-specific of his comments suggest a dedication to his craft from which anyone looking for a role model can learn.

Seymour also functions as a guide for the confused; it’s far from a pedantic bore. Bernstein himself has a funny, charismatic, and engaging presence, and Hawke wisely stays out of his way for most of the film. He lets us see Bernstein interact with students, peers, and admirers from various disciplines, and that’s more than enough to keep the film compelling for the course of its brief, but powerful 84-minute running time.

The range of settings in which we witness him isn’t organized with any discernible logic (aside from ending the film with Bernstein’s performance of Schumann’s “Fantasie” at the

concert organized by Hawke), but it doesn’t take away from the film’s impact. Images and tales from the pianist’s youth are interspersed with footage of him practicing seemingly at random, but it all makes sense together somehow. The collage-like style provides a kaleidoscope view of Bernstein, and it’s effective for evoking his eternally sunny, youthful nature without cordoning off the different periods in his life.

Bernstein’s jovial but firm approach to music education is a helpful corrective to the one suggested by last year’s Whiplash. In that film, the dictatorial band director Fletcher berates his students into success with questionable results. By contrast, Bernstein is no less demanding, but his strictness appears to come from a genuine desire for the student to succeed, rather than Fletcher’s apparent hatred.

His vast array of disciples learn far more than any of the budding musicians in Whiplash did, and, for 84 minutes, viewers of Seymour become his pupils, too.

ALBUM REVIEWS

earl sweatshirt - "I Don'’ t Like Shit, I Don’'t Go Outside columbia

Salad Days

Artist: Mac Demarco Album: Salad Days Released: April 1, 2014 The titular track of Mac Demarco’s second album is, in fact, an allusion to Shakespeare: the expression refers to youthful idealism and indiscretion.

Demarco, however, the typical slacker that he is, looks back on those days not with regret but with nostalgia. Now he’s just getting old and has to do grown up stuff: “As I’m getting older/ chip up on my shoulder/ rolling through life/ roll over and die.” The guitar is so pleasant, and as a result, so artificial , that it could be from an early Beach Boys record. This dissonance, exploring lyrical authenticity against instrumental artifice, is what Demarco wants to convey.

Ethan Hawke sits with Seymour Bernstein, the inspriation for his latest film. (nypost.com)

“I’ve never been behind myself this much,” Los Angeles-based rapper, producer, and Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt said about his second LP, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside.

However, Earl’s confidence is more self-effacing

and anti-social than Kendrick Lamar’s self-love anthem “i” or Drake’s grocery list of achievements “Started from the Bottom.” Rather, Earl has found his voice in a dimly lit corner several dimensions away from the spotlight.

The album’s opening track, “Huey,” immediately one-ups the self-doubting lyrical drawl of Earl’s first LP Doris (2013). He’s not here to waste time talking about critics who “pretend to get it”—he’s amping up to spend another day alone, preferring the melancholy of isolation to the overwhelming distractions of the outside world. On “Mantra” and “Faucet,” Earl articulates the logic of his solitary tendencies—his fame has catalyzed countless breakups, turning friends into enemies and enemies into friends.

For Earl, the unavoidable ills of relationships only get in the way of more important, more existential matters.

Over the course of the album, Earl’s beats recede deeper into a cavernous darkness. He drenches his snares and hi-hats with the sludgy reverb of an abandoned factory, punctuating their low frequency drone with chopped-up jazz chords and detuned guitars. The album’s aesthetic is best encapsulated in the Hiro Murai-directed video for “Grief,” which borrows its pitch-dark approach from Jonathan Glazer’s arthouse alien film Under the Skin (2013). This is Earl’s world, a collection of bodies isolated from one another by a sea of shadows, and despite its bleakness, he has the lyrical tact to navigate it confidently— but only from the comfort of his home.

- campbell mcclintock

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Science & Technology

19

Mexico’s Dark Knight Ecologist Rodrigo Medellin fights for those who can’t Chloe Nevitt Science & Technology Editor The Redpath Museum offered a screening of the documentary The Bat Man of Mexico this past Sunday, inviting viewers deep into the Mexican wilderness. The documentary features Mexican ecologist Rodrigo Medellin and his passion: Bats. Medellin is personally saving tequila, one bat at a time. While the link between tequila and bats is not immediately clear, the existence of one relies heavily on the existence of the other. “[Bats] pollinate the agaves, which is the plant from which we extract tequila,” explained Medellin. “So no bats [means] no tequila.”

When considering bats, Medellin’s specialty is the lesser longnosed bat, a medium-sized bat found in Central and North America. His efforts in preserving the habitat and populations of the lesser long-nosed bat won him worldwide attention and recognition. In 2012, Rodrigo was awarded the Whitley Gold Award for his work. This event, Medellin explained, is what catalyzed the production of The Bat Man of Mexico.

“During the ceremony, I [had] the incredible honour of meeting David Attenborough and spending two golden hours […] talking to him,” Medellin said. “At the end

of those two hours, he said, ‘I don’t have any more power in BBC, but whatever little power I have left, I’m going to invest in doing a documentary with you.’”

Attenborough narrates Medellin’s story, and even managed to make wading through guano—bat excrement—seem delightful. But as the story progressed, the initial curiosity about this man and his bats evolved into something much deeper: Medellin’s love for the lesser long-nosed bat was incredibly contagious.

Understanding and studying bats involves following them into their habitat; caves. Viewers are brought deep inside the caves, and thanks to cameras equipped with infrared and high-speed technologies, the experience is startlingly real. It is only when we are deep inside these caves, however, that the extent of Medellin’s passion is witnessed. Here, while surrounded by cockroaches, snakes, and obviously, bats, he is at his happiest.

“The peacefulness in here is really overwhelming, it’s really nice,” he says in The Bat Man of Mexico, as he is surrounded by hundreds of bats flying over his head. “The only sound around you [is] the bats flying around you. I could just lie here and take a nap and it’d be a very nice nap.”

The curiosities possessed by

Rodrigo Medellin has dedicated his life to preserving the lesser long-nosed bat. (Jack Neal / McGill Tribune) these bats, while seemingly random, serve a very distinct purpose. Their heads, characteristic snouts, and tongues, are ideal for eating the nectar from agave flowers—the perfect key to a complex lock. After licking out the nectar, the bat flies off, completely covered in pollen. This bat will then visit another plant to feed off of, completing the process of pollination. The process is wellknown and deceptively easy; in the U.S., if humans were to replace bees

as pollinators, the annual cost would be $90 trillion.

While the figure is less when applied to bats, the idea is the same, and considering that over 500 species of flowers rely on bats for their pollination—including the beloved agave—preserving their existence is paramount.

Relative to honeybees, garnering support for bats proves to be a more challenging problem. Especially in Mexico, some bats, like

vampire bats, are not only considered pests—spreading diseases and damaging crops—but they are also frequently stigmatized by myths that are hundreds of years old. But this is a challenge Medellin is willing to meet.

“All I want is for people to get the right information about bats,” explained Medellin. “If that entails [the people of Mexico] calling me the Bat Man, so be it, I am the Bat Man.”

The failures of the U.S. education system chloe nevitt Science & Technology Editor When it comes to training future generations, scientific research has proven that the U.S. education system fails. In 2012, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) coordinated the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), a standard that was developed for measuring the performance of 15-year-old students in math, science, and reading literacy. They found that the U.S. was average when evaluating science and reading while in math, the U.S. fell significantly below average.

Considering the fact that the American government spends around $632 billion a year (according to the U.S. Department of Education) funding its education system—five times more than second-in-line Japan—its standardized test results are pitiable.

In light of the obscene amount of money U.S. invest in its education system, there is no denying it: The country is doing something wrong. Perfecting the American education system has

consumed countless amounts of taxpayer dollars and innumerable government official hours with no observable progress. This can only mean one thing: Policymakers are not listening to the right people.

Since the 1990s, researchers have been suggesting fundamental changes to the educational system. In 1993, researchers at Brown University showed that at the onset of puberty, adolescents will experience what is known as a phase shift in their sleeping schedules, causing them to fall asleep and wake up later. Following this, more evidence began to surface from universities across the globe, supporting and validating this claim. This then led to physicians and scientists calling for delayed class start times to improve academic performance, but their cries were ignored.

Today, 85 per cent of U.S. schools have start times before 8:30 a.m. By failing to invoke later start times for schools, the school system consistently subjects adolescent students to being in a state of sleep deprivation, which decreases overall performance. Twenty

years later, when the importance of sleep is uncontested, schools still fail to provide these students with this consideration.

This problem is only compounded by a failure of the system to hold teachers accountable for their performace in the classroom. Forty years ago, Finland completely restructured its education system as part of larger economic recovery plans. On average, Finnish schools will assign no more than half an hour of homework a day, whereas on average, according to a 2007 Metlife study, U.S. high school students will do upwards of eight hours of homework a week. Initially, the idea of assigning less work seems counter-productive; it is only when looking at the type of work being assigned that we begin to notice a difference. U.S. schools are in a chokehold caused by the American consumerist mentality—bigger is better; quantity over quality.

By throwing endless amounts of useless exercises at students, schools are enablers of teacher shortcomings— if it can’t be taught in class, it can be assigned. Researchers have shown—as

recently as last Monday in an article published in the Journal of Educational Psychology—that anything more than 70 minutes of homework per day is inefficient. Why, then, are U.S. students still inundated with mountains of work that have shown to serve no productive purpose?

In 2000, when the first PISA was done, a shockwave spread through the world: Finnish students were the best young readers in the world. By 2003, they were the best at math and by 2006, Finnish students had captured the top spot in science. No one expected the Finnish system to work this well, or for that matter, at all. Instead of focusing on their policies, they listened to the needs of the students, and responded to that.

The capitalist mentality of punishing slow learners and rewarding the fast learners by placing them into honour societies or in Advanced Placement programs is glaringly flawed. We are drawing an imaginary line where we define some children as being ‘smart’ and others ‘dumb.’ If the education system lawmakers have created convinces students that they are not equally as

capable or intelligent as their peers, we have in fact, done the opposite of creating an education system. According to the Wall Street Journal, the American secondary education graduation rate is only 75 per cent; Finland’s is 96 per cent.

Many differences exist between the U.S. and Finland that cannot be ignored. But when dealing with such a fundamentally similar problem, the same approach should be taken. The American education system needs a complete overhaul.

If the U.S. hopes to compete economically, socially, and politically on a global scale, it needs to more properly prepare the next generation. By maintaining the current status quo of machine learning, hoping to pump out higher standardized test scores through shallow and flimsy education policies, it is setting itself up for disaster. If instead, the cries of researchers are responded to, and students are treated like humans instead of numbers, then progress might start to happen.

Extended version available online.

20

Science & Technology

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Astronaut touches down at McGill Jeremy Hansen talks outer space Clare Lyle Staff Writer The Frank Dawson Adams (FDA) auditorium hosted an auspicious guest on Wednesday when Jeremy Hansen walked through the doors. The Canadian astronaut talked about his profession, space travel, and how space fits into society.

He presented the audience with stunning images of Earth taken from the International Space Station (ISS) and pictures of far-away planets gathered from a variety of space shuttles.

While sending robots to explore the solar system produces valuable scientific data, sending people into space is what actually captures the public’s interest.

The talk would not have been complete without a discussion on how to become an astronaut. Hansen’s path was conventional: He joined air cadets in school, went on to the Royal Military College to study Space Science, attended flight school, and then spent a few years flying F-18 fighter jets before applying to the Canadian Space Agency.

“I always had [it] in the back of my mind that I wanted to get to space,” Hansen said. “I was very fortunate almost six years ago when the Canadian Space Agency hired David St-Jacques and [me] to start training to fly in space.”

The astronaut selection process is intense. Thousands of applicants are gradually pared down in a

cassie lee Design Editor

A Visual Dictionary

Recent research published in The Journal of Neuroscience by researchers from Georgetown University has presented the mechanism underlying how humans read. The researchers found that instead of breaking down words into sounds and meanings, our brains visually imagine the word first. The collaboration of scientists conducting this study believe a small part of the brain called the visual word form area (VWFA) in the left occipitotemporal lobe stores how a whole word looks, allowing for quick recall while reading.

To demonstrate this hypothesis, subjects were trained to recognize ‘pseudo-words,’ or words that had no meaning. The volunteers then had an fMRI, a type of brain scan, taken of them while reading texts which contained both real and pseudo-words.

What the researchers found was that before training there was

months-long process. Hansen attributed much of his success to the attitude with which he approached the application.

“I just wanted to do my best,” he explained. “Other people were sure that they were going to be an astronaut, so they put a lot of pressure on themselves […] and ultimately that ended up hurting them [because] they didn’t perform as well on the tests.”

Hansen calls himself a “rookie astronaut” because he hasn’t gone into space yet. So far, his training has been limited to Earth, an invaluable process that includes training in multiple disciplines such as geology and survival situations.

The job, while rewarding, is incredibly demanding. When asked how he managed to balance his relationship with his family with a career as an astronaut, Hansen acknowledged that it was a challenge.

“I’m gone one week a month,” he said. “But it’s comparable to other high-energy jobs [….] I aim for quality over quantity, so even if I’m not there with my kids all the time, I’m still able to make the most of my time with them.”

When evaluating the benefits and the drawbacks, choosing the life of an astronaut may seem futile, given the scarcity of career opportunities. However, this career may be more relevant now than ever before.

“We’re starting to see more private corporations getting into space exploration [with] companies like

poor response tunings in the VWFA, while real words exhibited strong responses. After the training, the pseudowords began to elicit similar responses to real words, suggesting that word learning increases neuron specificity in the VWFA, which creates a picture of the word and saves it in a type of visual dictionary.

This research adds to the ever-growing pile of evidence supporting the hypothesis that our brains do not have a direct mechanism for reading. This is because expression in the form of writing is so evolutionarily young that our brains have instead created new, alternate, mechanisms for reading. The study has wide implications in the field of learning and reading, especially when considering new strategies to visual word processing for those with learning disabilities.

Maintaining Fidelity

McGill University researcher John Lydon and Johan Karremans from Radbond University

Jeremy Hansen talks about the challenges and rewards of being an astronaut. (Lauren Benson-Armer / McGill Tribune) SpaceX and Boeing building cheaper ways of getting people into space,” Hansen explained.

These private industries have the potential to make space more accessible.

Hansen is less optimistic about the Mars One mission—a program designed to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2027.

Beyond the technical challenges of the journey and landing, he also highlighted the psychological issues asso-

ciated with abandoning Earth.

“It doesn’t surprise me that there are people who are willing to go to Mars on a one-way trip,” he said. “When you get to Mars […] it’s going to be super cool. But then when all that is done you’re going [to think]: ‘Wow, this sucks. The Earth was such an awesome place […] and I’m going to live in this tin can for the rest of my life.’ And I think that’s going to be really hard on people.”

Still, Hansen believes that hu-

mans will be able to send a mission into deep space within the next few decades, even if it isn’t for permanent settlement. It’s in these future missions that Hansen believes society has the most to learn.

“For me, this is why we explore,” Hansen said. “Often, we achieve specific objectives, but ultimately, [we know] that there is often more to discover in the things that we didn’t know to look for.”

may have figured out why some people in relationships have a wandering eye and others don’t.

Their recently published review, Relationship regulation in the face of eye candy: A motivated cognition framework for understanding response to attractive alternatives, explores how couples in committed relationships resist other attractive individuals.

According to Lydon and Karremans, the difference between a cheater and a faithful partner is tied to the ability to exert self-control in all areas of their lives—this includes resisting fattening foods or binge watching Netflix. In one study they presented, brain activation when neglecting self-control also correlated to a higher degree of responsiveness to attractive individuals, regardless of the relationship status. So it would seem that those who are more likely to succumb to their vices are more likely to succumb to infidelity as well. Conditions that decrease inhibition, such as being tired,

stressed, or under the influence of alcohol, are also conducive to cheating.

When evaluating faithfulness, psychological drives of motivation play an enormous role. However, fidelity runs beyond one’s personal ability to stay motivated, and is also tied to the amount by which one identifies with his or her partner.

Basically, resisting ‘eye candy’ is a lot easier to do if a person is more invested. On the other hand, if the chemistry is missing, the tendency to explore alternative, more attractive individuals, increases.

drugs. The evidence suggests that by stimulating dopamine production, we can increase equalityseeking behaviours.

The study was originally conducted to investigate the chemical imbalances in mental disorders such as addiction or bipolarism. The scientists performed a double-blind experiment in which subjects were given the drug Tolcapone, which is used in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease by increasing dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex. Participants were then asked to play a simple game that involved splitting money between participants. The results showed that when under the influence of Tolcapone, subjects were more likely to split the money equally amongst the strangers. By increasing dopamine levels, the researchers increased generosity.

It may be difficult to consider personality traits as being controllable, but if egalitarian behaviour can be subject to manipulation, what else can?

Dopamine makes us Equal

Human actions have been portrayed as being impossible to predict. Scientists from UC Berkley and UC San Francisco are showing that this might not necessarily be the case. In their study Dopamine Modulates Egalitarian Behaviour in Humans, the researchers show that pro-social behaviour can be modulated with

Sports

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

A decade lost: Rebuilding Redmen football

21

Aaron Rose Staff Writer

Success has remained beyond the grasp of the Redmen for a number of years. (L-A Benoit / McGill Tribune) keeping their GPA up at McGill is no easy task. It’s hard enough for most people to balance four or five courses a week, but imagine trying to manage a normal academic schedule along with anywhere from 32 to 35 hours of

“

It’s been 12 years since Redmen football’s last winning season, and while it’s probably going to take a few more years before McGill becomes relevant on the CIS football stage, the future does look bright.

“

Since the 2005 hazing scandal, Redmen football has experienced a decade of on-field futility. Over the past eight years, the team has had five winless seasons. It’s gone through three coaches in that time span, and frankly, the only thing consistent about the team seems to be their awful record.

The team is an anomaly among McGill’s litany of other successful men’s varsity programs. Redmen basketball has been to three consecutive RSEQ finals, the rugby team has won eight consecutive RSEQ Championships up until this year, and both Redmen hockey and lacrosse are perennial conference powerhouses—so what’s wrong with Redmen football?

“When I left the team [in 2013…] I really thought we left the program on the up-and-up,” former Redmen linebacker and Winnipeg Blue Bomber Jesse Briggs said. “We won three games that year, [and] lost another game by a point, which would have gotten us into the playoffs.”

Briggs was one of three players from the 2009 recruiting class drafted to the CFL last year, and teammate Laurent Duvernay-Tardif was also drafted in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Unfortunately, only two players from that recruiting class stayed for their fifth years, which has been a recurring issue for the Redmen. Last season, the team only had five seniors on its everyday roster, compared to 33 players in their first year of eligibility.

“It’s kind of been the result of our lack of success in the past years,” newly-appointed Head Coach Ron Hilaire said. “Some players decided not to stay the course [because] they did not believe in the process.”

For players from outside of Quebec, the transition to RSEQ football can be a dramatic one. The CÉGEP program leaves many out-of-province recruits at a disadvantage in their early years because local players are typically a year older and more physically mature. Recently, these players have given up on the team—deciding to focus on their studies rather than football. For the players from Quebec, many recruits come primarily for football and struggle with the tough academic standards at McGill. The team has been unable to retain these players, as many drop out after their first few years in school.

“I think you have to make sure you get the players who come here for the right reasons,” fifth-year defensive back Zachary Lord said. “If you get a guy who comes here for school, he’s going to stay here to finish his bachelor’s degree [and therefore], he’ll be more inclined to stay here for football.”

That’s easier said than done for the Redmen coaching staff. McGill has rigorous admission standards, and finding players who can play while

football activities a week. It’s no wonder these student-athletes struggle to maintain high grades.

“I pulled myself out of sports for a year to see what type of student I

would be, and I was a 90s student,” three-time Grey Cup Champion and former Redmen defensive lineman Randy Chevrier said. “The year after, when I went back to [Vanier College] to play football in my last year, [...] my academics fell a little bit [.…]

When you add the time that it takes to become a good athlete [to] the high [standards] that McGill requires of you to get into certain programs, they will be turning away a lot of people.”

It’ll be no easy task for Hilaire to find those suitable student-athletes for Redmen football. To begin with, the program has been plagued by multiple non-football related scandals over the past decade that have certainly made it much harder to recruit now than it was 20 years ago.

“McGill has to repair some [public relations] with the parents that are considering McGill,” Chevrier said.

“Obviously there have been some incidents in the last 10 years […] that have cast a negative light on McGill as an option for the parents of studentathletes.”

McGill has recently intensified its recruiting efforts, following the trend of other Canadian universities by scouting out prospective athletes in their sophomore and junior years of high school. “[We] recruit the whole year,” Lord said. “Not only [student athletes] in their last year of high school, but you’ve got to recruit them two or three years in advance.”

Even though the football team might not be the most attractive program in Canada, Hilaire has tried to stress the importance and magnitude of getting a McGill education as a selling point.

“At the end of the day, I want all

our players to understand that football is an opportunity­—it’s not a career,” Hilaire explained. “So few of [them] will be able to play at the CFL or the NFL level, so the opportunity to get a top-notch education at McGill […] is priceless.”

In the past, the Redmen focused on recruiting French-Canadian athletes because the CÉGEP program produces athletes a year older than the rest of Canada. Unfortunately, the recent success of other local programs— the Montreal Carabins won this year’s Vanier Cup and the Laval Rouge et Or are undoubtedly the top program in the country—has increased the competition for high-level prospects from the province, and McGill has had to look elsewhere for talent.

“I think if we have a good balance of recruiting the top student athletes from Quebec, across the nation, and in the U.S., [then] we can be very competitive,” Hilaire said. “We just have to put the work in the right areas.”

Part of this process is going to have to fall into the hands of Redmen alumni. Over the years, a significant number of Redmen football players have gone on to become teachers.

Last year’s team included 22 players enroled in an education program.

When these players graduate, they often become physical education teachers and football coaches in their local communities.

“A lot of football players, especially at McGill, [are] in the physical education program,” Chevrier said. “[The] guys [who] graduated with me 15 years ago have gone on to become teachers in their hometowns, [and] a lot of them are involved in coaching.

These are the guys that need to recon-

nect with the team in order to identify blue-chip McGill candidates—kids [who] can get into a school with good grades [and] can play football at a high level.”

It’s been 12 years since Redmen football’s last winning season; and while it’s probably going to take a few more years before McGill becomes relevant on the CIS football stage, the future does look bright. With a year of experience under their belts, the rookies who were thrown into the fire last year will return looking to improve after a disappointing season. The team has already started indoor workouts, and according to Hilaire, the team looks better than ever.

“I’ve never seen the team like this since I’ve been here,” Hilaire said. “[Linebacker Karl Forgues won] defensive Rookie-of-the-Year in the RSEQ, so he’ll be back. We’ve made some changes on the offensive side of the ball—I recently hired a new offensive coordinator [Benoît Groulx]; he has a great vision of the game, and was a great football player himself.”

It’s not going to be easy for Hilaire to turn around the downtrodden Redmen, but it’s certainly not unprecedented. In 2002, the Carabins went 0-8. Just two years later, they went undefeated, winning the Quebec University Football League.

“Success for me is going out there and being competitive every single game, never giving up, never quitting,” Hilaire said. “It’s all going to be a process. We’re not going to try and find shortcuts. We’re going to work at being better every single week and every single day. If we do that as a team, I think we can only grow and learn from our wins as well as our losses.”

Sports

22

American LEague Toronto Blue Jays

General Manager Alex Anthopoulos probably isn’t getting much sleep these days.

The rapidly closing window to contend in the subdued AL East, the glaring holes in the infield, pitching staff, and Marcus Stroman’s torn ACL–all are putting Anthopoulos in the hot seat. With the additions of Josh Donaldson and Russell Martin, there might not be a stronger one-through-five lineup in the league, but strength isn’t everything.

According to Ben Lindbergh of Grantland, the Jays have the most unbalanced batting order in the MLB, both in terms of Wins Above Replacement and handedness. That said, if this team gets off to a good start, it shouldn’t be too difficult to trade for upgrades on Ryan Goins or Marco Estrada.

Boston Red Sox

With a plethora of elite prospects such as Blake Swihart and Henry Owens waiting in the wings, the Red Sox will undoubtedly be ruling the division for years to come, but their rotation simply isn’t good enough to take the pennant over the Jays this season. The signings of Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez add sorely-needed power and experience to the lineup, but Justin Masterson is going to get eaten alive in the AL East. Watch out for General Manager Ben Cherington to unload outfield depth for a solid arm if Rusney Castillo proves he can hold down the fort in right field.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

season

East Baltimore Orioles

With Manager Buck Showalter calling the shots, you can never underestimate the Orioles, but this team has definitely taken a step back after a lackluster off-season. With the departure of Nelson Cruz and the regressions of Chris Davis and Manny Machado, second-half breakout Steve Pearce might be the most valuable hitter in the lineup. Chris Tillman and Kevin Gausman both have the stuff to make this one of the better pitching staffs in a weak-pitching division. There are too many ‘ifs’ going into this season to bet on the Orioles repeating as division champs.

New York Yankees

There’s not an expert in baseball that would pick this team to finish above last place this season, but everyone seems to have forgotten about Masahiro Tanaka and his ridiculous splitter. Granted, he will be playing through a nagging elbow injury, but he set the league on fire last season, pitching like the starter version of Mariano Rivera. Rounding out the rotation are flamethrowers Michael Pineda and Nathan Eovaldi, both long overdue for breakout seasons. While the lineup is heavy on left-handed batters, it features a good mix of power and speed with players like Jacoby Ellsbury, Brett Gardner, Mark Teixeira, Carlos Beltran, and Chase Headley.

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays are the only team in the AL East with a half-decent pitching staff, but the lack of depth behind Drew Smyly is worrying considering the Rays’ injury history. Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Alex Cobb, and Smyly all have the potential to make the leap this season, and Cobb in particular has the strikeout stuff to make a quiet run at the AL Cy Young award. On offence, the Rays are betting on a bounce-back campaign from Evan Longoria and solid contributions from rookie Steven Souza, as well as newcomers Asdrubal Cabrera and Nick Franklin in the infield.

Central Cleveland Indians

The Indians are being touted as a World Series dark horse contender, and rightly so. The starting rotation is led by Cy Young winner Corey Kluber, and goes four or five deep. The lineup doesn’t have any superstars but is well-rounded and has no notable weaknesses, while their bullpen is both deep and talented. What may hold this team back, however, is its defensive deficiencies—the team ranked 29th in the league last year in advanced defensive metrics. The ceiling for this team is fairly high, and Manager Terry Francona is the right person to lead them to the postseason.

Detroit Tigers

The Tigers have talented individual pieces— David Price is a perennial Cy Young candidate and Miguel Cabrera is still one of the most feared hitters in baseball—but they shouldn’t be confused with the Detroit juggernauts of the past five years. Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez pair with Price to make a vaunted 1-2-3 punch in the starting rotation, but the loss of Max Scherzer and a lackluster bullpen limits the Tigers’ potential.

Additionally, their stars are aging and on bloated contract—not a positive sign for their flexibility during the year. That being said, this team should still be a contender to make the playoffs.

Kansas City Royals

2014 was a momentous year for the Royals. They rode a lights-out bullpen to Game 7 of the World Series before falling 90 feet short of the title. Their loaded bullpen of Greg Holland, Wade Davis, and Kelvin Herrera is returning, but they lost three major pieces in the off-season, most notably staff ace James Shield. The replacements don’t inspire much confidence. Additionally, with the current lineup, the team will struggle to get on base and bring runners home when they do get on. Kansas City will once again have to defy expectations in order to reach the playoffs— an unlikely prospect at this point.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox won the off-season in the AL Central, acquiring five major pieces including ace starter Jeff Samardzija and solid outfielder Melky Cabrera. Their lack of depth is a major concern and leaves them little margin for injury-related woes. Major League Baseball is a 162-game grind, and the White Sox might run out of steam before October rolls around. Nevertheless, the presence of potential MVP candidate Jose Abreu, solid supporting hitters, and a top-heavy starting rotation led by Chris Sale will make them relevant throughout the year.

Minnesota Twins

2015 will be a year of transition for the Twins as they move on from long time manager Ron Gardenhire and wait for the development of uber-prospects Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton. Look for Phil Hughes to build on a strong 2014 campaign and lead an unpredictable starting rotation that also features new acquisition Ervin Santana.

They will struggle to score runs as their lineup lacks quality power hitters beyond young hacker Avisail Garcia. In a division as strong as the AL Central, the Twins seem destined to be a bottom feeder until its farm system starts paying dividends.

West Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The best player in baseball patrols centre field for the Angels.

Mike Trout has dominated since he arrived in the majors, winning his first MVP this past season, despite it actually being slightly worse than his 2013 campaign.

Trout anchors what looks to be one of the strongest lineups in the league, and will be vital to the Angels’ continued success. A healthy Garrett Richards will be important for this team, as the Angels’ rotation is where most of the question marks lie.

Oakland Athletics

Don’t ever assume you understand what Billy Beane is up to. The General Manager–of Moneyball fame–was accused of gutting the A’s during the off-season, trading away stars such as Josh Donaldson and Jeff Samardzija. Advanced statistics, however, suggest that Beane was doing as he always does–selling high and buying low. Oakland’s roster will not blow anyone away on paper, but it may actually be better than the A’s 2012 team, which captured an AL West crown. Manager Bob Melvin is also the perfect coach for this type of team, getting the most out of each player and every matchup.

Seattle Mariners

Seattle is hungry for a winner. The Mariners’ signing of Robinson Cano a year ago officially signalled its intentions of competing with larger market teams. As good as the team was last season, third place was able to manage thanks largely to the top tier teams in its division– Oakland and Los Angeles. Ultimately, Seattle’s fate will mostly be decided by its offence, which relies heavily on Cano, infielder Kyle Seager, and new addition Nelson Cruz.

A wild card spot isn’t out of the question, but a division title seems like a bit of a long shot.

Houston Astros

At long last, the Astros appear to be heading in the right direction. It’s been a number of years since Houston was last competitive, but with plenty of young talent in its system, that trend appears to be close to breaking. While off-season additions Evan Gattis and Colby Rasmus will add some power to this line up, both strike out too often. The opposite can be said of Jose Altuve, who batted .341 last season and hit seven home runs, all while striking out in a mere 7.5 per cent of his at bats. Though this is not the year for the Astros, their time is clearly coming.

Texas Rangers

It was not so long ago that the Rangers came within one win of being the World Series champions, but it certainly feels that way. Texas had an abysmal 2014 following four consecutive seasons with more than 90 wins. Injuries were certainly a factor in that collapse, but this year’s squad isn’t all that much healthier. Yu Darvish is set to miss the entire 2015 season, which deals a massive blow to Texas’ chances. With Darvish out, there’s no true ace on the Rangers’ staff. It’s going to be a long season for Rangers fans, and it’s not clear what the future has in store either.

23

Sports

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

preview

National LEague

Contributors: Mayaz Alam, Wyatt Fine Gagné, Anthony Snell, Elie Waitzer

east Washington Nationals

Miami Marlins

General Manager Dan Jennings made one of the worst trades in recent memory over the off-season, sending elite pitching prospect Andrew Heaney and three other solid minor leaguers to the Dodgers for veteran arm Dan Haren and second baseman Dee Gordon. Haren has since stated he would rather retire than pitch for Miami, and considering Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria’s evil track record, you can’t blame him. Still, with the trio of Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and Marcell Ozuna patrolling the outfield, this team has a great shot at a wild card berth this season. The rotation should be steadier with the addition of Mat Latos, and the lineup is filled with breakout candidates.

The Nationals are entering the season as the best club in baseball. No question. They are a starstudded juggernaut built on oncein-a-generation prospects, shrewd signings, smart trades, and excellent player development. Having the number-one pick in the draft two years in a row helps, but you don’t just stumble into a team this talented–unless you’re the Cleveland Cavaliers. The depth of the rotation is absurd, and after an injury-marred season, Bryce Harper looks primed to lead his team to the World Series.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals are once again the team to beat in what may be baseball’s best division. St. Louis’ deep starting rotation is as strong as any the team has fielded in recent years, even with the offseason trade that shipped Shelby Miller out of town in exchange for outfielder Jason Heyward.

The newly acquired Heyward will be key to the Cardinals’ success, and should help strengthen an offence that stands as the team’s only real question mark.

Pittsburgh Pirates

What a difference two straight playoff appearances can make in the narrative surrounding a team. Pittsburgh was a perennial failure, but has been built into a contender by General Manager Neil Huntington. The Pirates’ success is no longer a surprise—the offence will continue to be anchored by 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutchen, and is among the most potent in all of baseball.

New York Mets

Atlanta Braves

David Wright is easy to admire. He has put on for his city for the last decade, emerging from the Mets’ farm system in 2001 as a ray of hope for the reeling borough of Queen’s after Seinfeld came off the air. He is the quintessential ballplayer, and an all-around gentleman. Having said that, this team’s offence is going to be boring to watch. Draw your attention instead to the starting pitching, which features Bartolo Colon (who will get around 60 at bats if he stays healthy, fingers crossed), and the Matt Harvey show.

Ever since getting knocked out of the post-season on the final day of the 2011 season, there’s been nothing but frustration and tragedy for Braves fans. Back then, it looked like Atlanta was on track for another prolonged period of success, riding high on the promise of talented youngsters such as Jason Heyward, Kris Medlen, Justin Upton, Freddie Freeman, and Julio Teheran. Freeman and Teheran have turned into stars, but the rest have either struggled or have been shipped out of town. With defensive magician Andrelton Simmons at shortstop, watching a Braves game will never be boring, but it might be time to tear things down and rebuild in Atlanta.

Philadelphia Phillies

Jimmy Rollins should request a voodoo doll of Ruben Amaro Jr. as a condition of being traded to the Dodgers this offseason. Rollins has maybe two or three seasons left in him, and if Amaro Jr. was even a semi-competent General Manager, he could have figured out a way to stop the roster from degenerating to the degree that Rollins was forced to leave. You only have to look at Derek Jeter’s extravagant retirement tour to understand what Amaro Jr. robbed Rollins of. There’s not much hope for anything past a last place finish, but it’ll be interesting to see what kind of return the Phillies manage to get for their key pieces as they blow it all up.

central Chicago Cubs

Milwaukee Brewers

Of all the storylines around the MLB entering this season, the rise of the Cubs may be the biggest.

After years of ineptitude, Chicago is finally back in the post-season conversation, looking to play October baseball for the first time since 2008. With a bevy of young bats in its lineup and a revamped rotation that now includes Jon Lester, Chicago appears ready to contend for a wild card spot this year.

In another division, the Brewers might stand a chance, but in the heavily stacked NL Central, they’re destined to sit near the bottom. Carlos Gomez has blossomed into one of the league’s best outfielders and Ryan Braun will be productive so long as he avoids injuries and drug-related suspensions, but the Brewers just aren’t quite talented or deep enough to break into the division’s top three.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds’ storyline sounds a bit like the Brewers’ in that they could potentially contend in another division. Instead, Cincinnati looks to be headed towards a trade deadline fire sale and a last-place finish. Starting pitcher Johnny Cueto and closer Aroldis Chapman could both be on their way out if the Reds get off to a slow start. 2015 may mark the beginning of the Reds’ rebuilding process.

west Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers enter the season as the favourites to win the division. Their pitching will remain reliable as Cy Young winners Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke sit one and two in a rotation that can shut down even the most potent lineups. With the departures of Hanley Ramirez and Matt Kemp, the Dodgers are likely to rely on Adrian Gonzalez to drive in runs this season, but that’s never been an issue for him in the past. The sensational Yasiel Puig and rookie Joc Pederson are going to have to grow both at the plate and in the outfield. Although their offence looks less threatening than in previous years, the Dodgers’ pitching can carry them to their third consecutive division title and beyond.

San Diego Padres

This is the beginning of the Padres’ rebuild. Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, and Wil Myers were brought in to provide some much needed firepower in the outfield.

Their pitching is solid, anchored by Tyson Ross and Andrew Cashner, and definitely has the potential to steal games. Coming off a 77-85 season there is much room for improvement.

If the new bats can get hot and the weak defensive outfield can somehow keep errors to a minimum, they might challenge for a post-season spot. Unfortunately, it looks like they might need another season or two before they look like a real contender.

San Francisco Giants

Regardless if you’re a fan of baseball or not, you had to appreciate the incredible feat Madison Bumgarner pulled off in the post-season last year. It was a moment that makes you stop, forget how long and tedious the game is, and just watch perfection. After hurling over 270 innings between April and October, it will be impressive if Bumgarner can repeat his legendary performance.

What would be even more impressive would be if the Giants can put together another championship-winning season without their star third-baseman Pablo “Panda” Sandoval. That said, anything is possible for the unpredictable Giants.

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies are going to lean heavily on the production of Canadian first baseman Justin Morneau, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez this season. It’s one of the shallowest offence in the league, and none of its stars can ever seem to stay healthy. The unforgiving thin air of Coors Field will be a nightmare for their weak bullpen, and though pitching prospects Jon Gray and Eddie Butler should get their first taste of major league hitters this year, they won’t be enough to tip the scales. Expectations are very low for the Rockies this season, but the future is bright in Colorado.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Despite picking up a couple of pitchers from the Boston Red Sox this off-season, the Diamondbacks pitching staff is still expected to be just about the worst in the entire league. Their lineup is packed with power hitters, including Paul Goldschmidt and Mark Trumbo, but that won’t be enough to lift the team out of the NL West basement. Way past the glory days of Randy Johnson and Craig Counsell, the Diamondbacks are struggling to draw fans to the stadium and win games and are a safe pick to finish ead last in the division.

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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

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