The McGill Tribune Vol. 14 Issue 13 by The Tribune

P u b lis h e d b y th e S tu d e n ts ’ S o c ie ty o f M c G ill U n iv e rs ity

McGill inquiry questioned

N ew s McGill’s sexual harass ment assessors present their annual report. See Page 3

By Michael Broaphurst____________ • McGill’s inquiry into the April 10, 1994 suicides of professor Justine Sergeant and her husband has prompted a legal petition to halt it by the representative of her estate, ClaudeArmand Sheppard. Sergeant committed suicide amidst allega tions of scientific misconduct and problems at the department of neurology and neurosurgery. M cGill appointed Casper Bloom, former Bâtonnier of the Barreau de Montréal, to con duct an investigation to “inquire, make find ings of fact and review its internal procedures with specific reference to the academic and professional life of Dr. Sergeant while at McGill.” That statement was issued April 20, ten days after Sergeant’s death. Sheppard’s request asks the court to tem porarily suspend Bloom’s inquiry until a hear ing into the McGill process can be held. Among the complaints cited in Sheppard’s petition are: • McGill’s refusal to allow Sergeant’s estate to participate in the review in order to ensure that the dignity and honour of the deceased is preserved; • Bloom’s potential lack of objectivity due to his son’s registration in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill, the faculty in question; • Bloom’s employment, and subsequent pay ment for conducting the investigation, which Sheppard alleges compromises his objectivity because “McGill would always be in a position to instruct him.” Bloom refused to comment on the petition when contacted by the T ribune. He said that it was a violation of legal ethics to discuss a mat ter that was before the courts. Bloom, Sheppard and representatives of McGill met with an Associate Justice of the Superior Court yesterday to set a date for a formal hearing of the petition. Sheppard’s petition notes that before McGill appointed Bloom to conduct the inves tigation, it rejected two other candidates who were deemed to have connections to the uni versity that could compromise their objectivity. Sergeant had many conflicts with other members of the department of neurology and neurosurgery, particularly M ontreal Neurological Institute Dirçctor Richard A. Murphy, according to the petition. Murphy allegedly requested Sergeant’s dismissal in writing on at least one occasion. In March, Sergeant was denied promotion to full profes sor due to technical difficulties with her cur riculum vitae, according to the petition.

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Focus and multiculturalism. Canadian cult or identity? See Page 11

Editorial Racial intolerance in the land of the free? 16-yearold held in Vermont state prison. See Page 6 ENTERTAINMENT Baby, ’nuf juicy hip-hop offerings to make you ill. Plus, a wholesome enter tainment guide for the whole family, drama and books. See Page 17 SPORTS McGill enters into anoth er era with opening of new Athletics Facilities. See Page 23 Colum nists P. Darvasi.............Page 19 T. Frankel.................. Page7 B. Van Dijk............... Page7

Departments Crossword................. Page8 Observer.................... Page8 What’s On............Page 27 W orld A ids Day December 1st Information and speakers. Shatner 107/8, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. See “What’s On” Section

See Sergeant Page 9

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On December 6, 1989, 14 w om en were m urdered a t Université de M ontréal’s Ecole Polytechnique by M arc Lépine. A coalition o f w o m en ’s organisations a t McGill will hold a m em orial service to remember them, Tuseday, D ecem ber 6 in Redpath H all a t 2 p .m . A related film will be screened a t 3:00 in Shatner 425- Discussion to follow.

Canadians renew debate on cultural mosaic By Michael Broaphurst The official federal policy of multiculturalism causes many Canadians to break out into fits of rage. Unlike the United States, Canada’s fed eral government is bound to promote and enhance the cultural diversity of the country. Though the policy was not enormously pop ular twenty years ago when it was originally con ceived, several recent developments have renewed debate on the controversial policy. Toronto novelist Neil Bissoondath recently wrote Selling Illusions: The Cult o f M ulticulturalism in C a n a d a , which is a biting vilification of

M c G i l l M c G i l l

Volume 14 Issue 13

In Domino Confido

November 29th, 1994

Canada’s policy. The Reform Party’s strong presence in Parliament has affected the debate as well, because its official platform is to dissolve the federal Department of Multiculturalism. But many in Canada support official multi culturalism, and reject the Reform Party’s sug gestion that it is a divisive element in Canadian society. As part of a special section on multicul turalism in Canada, the Tribune spoke with the Citizens’ Participation and Multiculturalism Branch director Judy Young, and Line Maheux, the Quebec Regional Director of the Reform Party of Canada. See Multiculturalism Section, Page 11

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Senate decides on changes to Student Code of Conduct By Tyla Berchtold

he stated. sions of students from campus. Students had been concerned This article gives the disciplinary Last Wednesday, the McGill was that this change would conflict officer the right to “exclude a stu Senate passed a series of changes with another existing McGill poli dent from the campus for as long to the university’s Student Code of cy. At an informal meeting with as reasonably required by the Conduct and Disciplinary students before the meeting nature of the danger.” Procedures. The changes were pro Gopnik appeased some of the con The Legal Information Clinic, posed by Dean of Students Irwin cerns. a service run by McGill law stu Gopnik. At the conclusion of the “I met with the Dean in his dents, is concerned that the arti meeting, some of the changes office this morning and he satisfied cle’s wording will “allow the disci remained to be decided on. some of my concerns,” said SSMU plinary officer to exclude the stu The most significant changes VP University Affairs Jennifer dent indefinitely”. Students work involved evidence obtained from Small. ing for the computer files, plagiarism, barring A sec clinic often dangerous students from campus, ond signifi “Maybe i t ’s h a rd to see represent and law professors acting as coun cant amend students at r ig h t n o w b u t e v e n tu a lly sel at disciplinary hearings. ment con discipline s tu d e n ts w ill se e th a t In the past, students have cerned the hearings. raised concerns about several of issue of th e s e c h a n g e s a re in th e ir D ean the proposed amendments. p la g e ris m . of Law b e s t in t e r e s t .” Students voiced these concerns, Under the Stephen proposing several amendments to new code, a Toupe pro the version presented by Gopnik. student who D e a n o f S tu d e n ts posed an However, none of the students’ gives another I r w in Q o p n ik a m e n d suggestions were accepted by student an ment to Senate. assignm ent one of The new Code states that stu or other work is just as liable as the Gopnik’s suggestions concerning dents accused of computer misuse one who falsely submits it as their Law professors acting as legal can not claim that their files on the own. counsel at disciplinary hearings. university computer system are Students were concerned that He argued that Law professors confidential. the wording of this amendment should not be allowed to act as Gopnik asserted that evidence was confusing. counsel at hearings because it obtained from computer files Both Arts Senator Joe Wong makes the process too legalistic would be used under extreme cir and Law Senator Christoph and poses an unreasonable burden cumstances. Sicking proposed amendments that on the Faculty of Law. “This is very good protection were rejected. This issue generated more dis for privacy, much better than you Senate also passed a change cussion than most of the other would get from the criminal code,” concerning exclusions and suspen issues, with professors from other

YOUR

faculties arguing that the Faculty of Law may be abdicating its respon sibilities to the university commu nity. As a result of their objections, Toupe’s amendment was rejected. Due to time constraints, voting on the remaining changes was postponed until the next Senate meeting. There are still controver sial issues to be dealt with. Some students remain con cerned that Gopnik’s changes to the Code did not originate from a process of consensus, and that stu dents had to oppose the changes in Senate. Lawrence Hansen of the Legal Information expressed con cern regarding the way the revi sions have been presented. “We obviously didn’t get to the most controversial issues,” he said. “The proposals as they stand are still problematic. I don’t under stand why this didn’t come through a consensus process as opposed to a divisive process.” Overall, SSMU was not disap pointed with the way that the Senate meeting progressed. “It went okay. What I found amazing was all the concerns the professors had,” said Small. “It is the student’s code and Dean Gopnik has told us ‘this is your code, do what you want’ but it is true, everyone has to live with the consequences. There was no con sensus though, and I think it made

things clumsier. I hope they learned from this.” Wong told the T rib u n e that although he was glad that SSMU had come to Senate, he wished thaï there had been more student sup port. “I think that right now, at least we have made ourselves known. At least we have made ourselves viable actors in Senate,” he said “The issue on the whole is if the Code of Conduct will be represen tative of our suggestions. However, I wish students had been more aggressive because this code is the backbone of our existence here and it is crucial that we don’t compro mise it.” Gopnik was impressed with SSMU members and left the meet ing with a feeling positive. “I feel like it’s going very well,” he told the T rib u n e. “It’s democracy in action. I welcome good, vigorous debate, I accept the process and I’m open to change. The students behaved in a very responsible way and the level of debate was very high.” “I really, truly believe that all these things are in the best interests of the students,” he continued. “It improves integrity which is what we want. Maybe it’s hard to see right now but eventually students will see that these changes are in their best interest.”

National federation questioned By Dawn W estley____________

posed to have prepared four weeks ago,” said MacDonald Chris Lennon, president of the Carleton University Student Association is disappointed at the response of CFS to the current situa tion. “At the conference in Hull we discussed the whole Axworthy deal for about 45 minutes out of six days,” said Lennon. “I have a problem with their whole process. They’ve decided not

graduate student societies on the CFS membership list. Lisa Grushcow, the In the midst of the current con chair of the External Affairs cern for the future of post-secondary Committee at SSMU, understands education in Canada, the Canadian these activities to be partly attribut Federation of Students has come able to the ideological convictions of under fire from student associations CFS. across the country. “People find the organisation The Canadian Federation of too left-wing and schools are pulling Students is a federal lobbying organi out because of the overemphasis on sation designed to voice the concerns issues such as the boycott of Pepsi of students on Parliament Hill. Many and other international organisations student representatives feel that CFS for their regime affiliations. Many has overstepped its mandate and is felt that these issues are replacing failing to live up to its responsibili issues that are more relevant to stu Canadian ties. Federation dents,” said Grushcow. CFS was formed in 1981 out of Many of the same associations of Students the previous national student organi Fédération withdrawing and several universities sation the Canadian Union of descanadienne unaffilliated with CFS have laid the étudiantes Students. Its mandate according to et étudiants groundwork for a new national stu Guy Caron, the president of CFS, is dent organisation, the proposed “To fight for the quality and accessi name of which is the Canadian to show us the budget for the second Alliance of Student Association. bility of post-secondary education.” According to Dave Macdonald, year in a row. We don’t have a say in SSMU’s External Affairs office has a CFS delegate from the University how our money is being used,” said been part of the effort to found the of Ottawa, who attended the CFS Lennon. new national body. Nick Benedict, The cost of being a member of SSMU VP External, understands the conference in November, the organi sation has its priorities confused. CFS is seven dollars per student that need for an alternative organisation We are open from 9:00-5:00 Monday-Friday to help you with an individual association represents. but he claims that the new organisa “Basically we spent two hours problems ranging from your lease to your marriage contract. debating what to call the January 25 The expense is criticised because of tion is not a retaliation against the strike day. They didn’t want to dis CFS expenditures on activities that left-wing idealism of CFS. cuss the budget which they were sup have little relevance to students in W E 'R E H E R E F O R Y O U ! “Both of the last two chairmen Canada. A recent excursion to of the CFS believe that the organisa Mexico to attend an agricultural con tion should die. It seems pointless to The M c G ill Tribune is published by the Students’ Society of McGill University ference is an example of these activi ally with a dying organisation,’’said Editorial Office: William Shatner University Centre, Rm B01 A, rue McTavish ties. Benedict. Montréal, Québec,. CANADA H3A 1X9 “They sent some people to “CASA is not being formed Advertising Office: (514)398-6806 Editorial Office: (514)398-6789/3666 Fax: (514)398-7490 Mexico to cover a conference. because the CFS is left-wing. It’s Meanwhile the peacetower has fallen being formed because the CFS is not Letters must include author’s name, signature, identification (e.g. U2 Biology, SSMU President) and telephone down on Canadian education and the doing its job. The SSMU needs an number and be typed double-spaced or submitted on disk in Macintosh or IBM word processor format. Letters CFS is worried about com prices in effective lobbying organisation at the more than 300 words, pieces for ‘Stop The Press' more than 500 words, or submissions judged by the Editorthe Guatala Hare,” stated Lennon. federal level,” said Benedict. in-Chief to be libellous, sexist, racist or homophobic will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to Currently eighteen schools have “While the CFS was in Mexico edit letters for length. Place submissions in the Tribune mail box, across from the SSMU front desk or FAX to served notice that they are withdraw [founders of CASA] were meeting 398-7490. Columns appearing under ‘Editorial’ heading are decided upon by the editorial board and written by ing their membership from the with ministers over the Axworthy a member of the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect organisation, leaving only ten under the opinions of the M cG ill Tribune, its editors or its staff. P le a se recycle this new spaper. See CFS Page 3

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Mixed reviews for SSMU performance Senate/Board representative Joe Wong echoed this opinion. “In council there has been a The SSMU executive has received mixed reviews for its per real lack of leadership. It is a des formance over the past semester perate collection of personalities from SSMU councillors and clubs and all of the personalities are strong,” said Wong. “The execu polled by the Tribune. The main issues raised by stu tive does not present a unified dents were leadership, communica leadership, but nevertheless holds tion with the student body, racial implicit authority over council.” Adam Atlas, Law “ In c o u n c il th e r e h as b e e n a re a l re p re se n ta la c k o f le a d e r s h ip . I t is a d e s p e r a te tive, differed, c o lle c tio n o f p e r s o n a litie s a n d a ll of stating that the structure th e p e r s o n a litie s a re stro n g of this year’s • executive S e n a te /B o a r d R e p r e s e n ta tiv e was positive to S S M U C o u n c il for students. “One of Joe Wong the good harassment, finances, the things about the SSMU executive Fédération des Etudiantes this year is that it is more diverse, Universitaire de Québec (FEUQ), which means it is more accessible to a wider range of students,” he and fraternities and sororities. The leadership of the SSMU said. “Sevag’s style is very accessi executive has been questioned by ble to students.” many throughout this semester. SSMU Residence representa tive Amin Kassam is one. “They’ve done an excellent job ascer taining their roles and fulfilling their respon sibilities and portfo lios. I am concerned, however, with the ability of the executive to set aside personal difficulties and con flicts for the sake of working together,” he said. “This is one of the fundamental chal lenges faced by The issue of SSMU’s commu SSMU. Council looks to the exec utive for leadership, and therefore nication with students also raised SSMU shouldn’t act as a dysfunc different opinions. “Lots of students on campus tional family. As individuals they are impressive, as a group I ’ve feel we don’t really represent them. We are not making a linkage been disappointed.” By Sanchari Chakravarty_____

with students at large and what goes on in council. It is fundamen tal to reconcile this issue,” said Wong. Senate/Board representative Christophe Sicking disagreed with this view. “There is always a sense in the student body that students are apa thetic, but if you look at all stu dents you will see that they are involved in one activity or anoth er,” he said. Some students asserted that the issue of racial harassment had not been dealt with adequately. Mebrat Beyene, cultural affairs coordinator for the Black Students Network expressed this view. “In terms of the racial harass ment issue, the BSN has been try ing to raise awareness that a policy doesn’t even exist at McGill. The most important thing for us is that it seems McGill fails to recognise that there might be racial problems on campus,” she said. “Perhaps, this is because people expect to see racial slurs or graffiti on walls, but more subtle forms of discrim ination do exist. For example, inst i tut ional racism may be reflected in courses, read ings, comments in class by pro I fessors or other -C students or the "S3 C 03 consistent mar QC ginalization of 03 the experiences of black peo ples.” Arts repre sentative Lisa Grushcow agreed that the treatment of this issue has been inadequate. “I think we still have to push for the racial harassment policy,” she stated.

Student allegedly harasses dean By Ram Randhawa

she did not witness such an incident, and was almost certain that it had not occurred. “This is not something I ’m aware of at all,” she stated. “I work with [Dean Prichard] very closely, and I assure you nothing untoward has happened.” When asked to confirm the inci-

The Tribune has been informed of allegations that Vice-Principal (Research) and Dean of Graduate Studies Roger Prichard has been sub ject to threats and general harassment by a student for several months. According to a Tribune source who wishes to remain anonymous, “the dean of “ I f I r e c e iv e d in fo rm a tio n graduate studies” a b o u t it, I w o u ld o f c o u rse received threatening ta k e a p p r o p r ia te m e a s u r e s .” faxes, phone calls and electronic mail through out the summer from a — D e a n o f S tu d e n ts student experiencing I r w in Q o p n ik problems with their the sis. These threats allegedly came to dent, Dean of Students Irwin Gopnik a boil when the student recently explained that he could not comment appeared at Prichard’s office threat on the situation, as it involved a disci ening his life. According to the plinary offence. “[If it had happened] I couldn’t source, a security agency was called in to deal with the situation. This discuss it with you,” he said. incident allegedly was witnessed by “Whether it happened or not, I can’t comment on it.” office staff. Gopnik did, however, note that Jennifer Towell, assistant to the Vice Principal (Research) and Dean were such an event to transpire on of Graduate Studies, explained that campus, he would be informed and

would take action. “I get a report every morning of any incidents involving students where security was called,” he remarked. “If I received information about it, I would of course take appropriate measures.” Neither Prichard nor Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Lydia White could be reached for comment.

CFS... Continued from Page 2 proposals,” said Benedict. Caron is not concerned with the controversy. “There have been rumors of the disintegration of the CFS since 1987, yet we had 45 membership associations in ‘87 and today we have 65,” said Caron. “You have to understand that these student executives are elected every year and they bring with them different ideas about the CFS. We always see disatisfied leaders but the CFS has kept on growing,” stated Caron.

Finances were generally con sidered one of SSMU’s strengths. “For the first time the approach taken to finance is responsible, but lots of toes are stepped on and feelings hurt in the process. For example, Paul thought 111 TV was a good idea, but put his foot down because financially we just don’t have the capital,” said Wong. David Price, President of the McGill Debating Union, was pleased with his financial dealings with SSMU. “The McGill Debating Union tends to have no opinion on politi cal issues dealt with by SSMU. We are, however, very pleased with our dealings with them, especially our budget increase from last year. We hope our present relations con tinue,” he enthused.

on the issue of FEUQ. “Nick Benedict has been doing an especially good job with keeping in touch with other univer sities and giving council informa tion about the FEUQ issue and the Axworthy commission. This is truly serving student interests,” said Atlas. Wong, however, did not feel that FEUQ should be SSMU’s mandate. “One concern of mine that has really bothered me is FEUQ. The issue of sovereignty was made to seem an irrelevant issue. The fun damental problem was that the VP External Nick Benedict assured us that sovereignty wasn’t our man date, but FEUQ was passed any way,” he said. “He didn’t make it seem that separation was a prob lem. He made a comment I found very disturbing. He said some thing along the “ [ T h e e x e c u tiv e th is y e a r ] is lines that if m o re d iv e r s e , w h ic h m e a n s it is Quebec separat m o re a c c e s sib le to a w id e r ra n g e ed ‘who would o f s tu d e n ts ” we turn to’. So the issue of sov ereignty wasn’t L a w r e p r e s e n ta tiv e as irrelevant as to S S M U c o u n c il he made it A d a m A tla s seem.” Fraternity and sorority Sara Mayo, External representation also received mixed Coordinator of the Women’s reviews. Earlier this year, SSMU Union held mixed views on this council refused to grant the Interissue. Greek Letter Council club status “There is a lack of communi on the basis that they were a dis cation in the office downstairs, criminatory group. especially in the finance depart “The fact that the vote was so ment,” she said. “WalkSafe was close in the Frat issue showed that told improvements would be made councillors put in a great deal of with communications, but signifi thought and the large turnout of cant problems still exist for infor students shows interest,” stated mation getting from one person to Atlas. Wong disagreed. another. Some things have gotten better. I am very impressed with “I think what happened with the work the new comptroller is the IGLC debate is that a lot of doing,” she said. councillors hid behind a constituDiverse opinions also existed See SSMU Page 9

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November 29th, 1994

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Sexual harassment assessors report decrease in cases Most of the departments that have taken advantage of the seminars are science departments, including biol McGill’s sexual harassment ogy, psychology, physics, and assessors presented their annual chemistry. report on the 1993-94 school year Jennifer Small, SSMU VP to Senate at its meeting last University Affairs, agreed that edu Wednesday. The report noted a cation is crucial. decrease of 17 percent in the num “It would be great for student ber of sexual harassment cases organisations [such as residence reported in comparison with the floors] to request the seminars as previous year. well,” she said. Twenty-nine cases were “During the next brought to the assessors dur year we hope to expand ing the 1993-94 year. “M a n y p e o p le do n o t k n o w w h a t our education program; Twenty-one were dealt with our goal is to have all se x u a l h a r a s s m e n t is, n o r its fu ll at the informal level, and units on the downtown eight were dealt with at the im p lic a tio n s . T h a t ’s w h y and Macdonald cam formal level. e d u c a tio n is so im p o r ta n t” puses included in the Informal cases are those program,” said the in which the complainant reports an alleged incident of M c Q ill se x u a l h a r a s s m e n t report.The fact that partic sexual harassment and subse a sse sso r P a tr ic ia W e lls ipation in these semi quently discusses that inci nars is voluntary makes dent with one of four asses of Physical and this a challenging goal. The semi sors. Both the complainant and the School nars are aimed primarily at faculty respondent remain anonymous, and Occupational Therapy. Wells believed that as more and staff. These groups made up a mutually acceptable solution is people are made aware of what sex 51.8 percent of respondents. Forty worked out. In formal cases, the com ual harassment is, there will be less one percent were students. The rest of the respondents were visitors or plainant gives the assessors written cases to investigate. “Education is the key to [the] other members of the McGill com permission to investigate the case on their behalf. Based on the inves prevention of incidents of sexual munity. While both Wells and Small tigation, an assessor gives a recom harassment at McGill,” stated the speculated that sexual harassment is mendation to the Principal who report. Seminars prepared by the under-reported, Wells claims that then makes a final decision. Of the formal cases reported, assessors are currently being individuals in “a power relationship three resulted in discipline, includ offered to any interested group of often don’t feel comfortable coming ing letters of reprimand and tempo people in the McGill community. forward.” By Ieff Kishner_______________

rary salary loss. In two cases the respondent was vindicated. The optimistic annual report states that “the decrease in the num ber of cases reported this year may be due in part to the broadened edu cation problem”. “Many people do not know what sexual harassment is, nor its full implications. That’s why edu cation is so important,” said asses sor Patricia Wells, a professor in the

Winter carnival ‘95. S o <W, it’s

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Network Briefs • Concordia Student Seeks Gender-Neutral Title Concordia student Carolynn Gammon made an unusual request to the university before receiving her master’s degree in 1990. She requested that her degree be a “mistress of arts” degree as she claimed that the title “master” is overtly sexist. “I was essentially doing the lesbian poetic tradition and studying Sappho and Rosetti... and it seemed totally ironic that I get to the end of such a study and come up with a master of arts,” she said. Although the university refused her request, other student associa tions have picked up on the idea. Julie Cole, VP University Affairs at University of Waterloo’s student association, is pushing for a reali • i tion of Gammons’s request. By June of this year, graduates from Concordia will be able to choose between the traditional titles associated with a university degree, or two new ones; Baccalaureate and Magisteriate, substitutes to the titles of bachelor and master. Cole has been cirulating information on the situation at Concordia on the Waterloo campus. “New gender-neutral degree titles seem appropriate at this univer sity. Current degree nomenclature reflects a time in which women were not accepted into the world of academia,” she said. Source: U niversity o f W aterloo

Imprint

• UBC student paper put under tight leash. The University of British Columbia Alma Mater Society is chang ing the way in which the U byssey, UBC’s only student newspaper, is run. The proposed reform has come from AMS president Bill Dobie. He wanted to address complaints to the publications board, founded one year ago to govern the newspaper, its finances, content and other matters. Out of the grievances a motion was put forth to alter the U b yssey’s editorial structure from eight editors to one chief editor, who has the final say on issues. The editor-in-chief was to be appoint ed by AMS. Former U byssey News Editor Niva Chow expressed her dismay at the manoeuvring of the AMS. “The U byssey is the only opposition to student government on campus and with the editor being appointed by the AMS, it’s going to severely limit the amount of critcism the paper will be allowed to pub lish,” she said. “The U byssey has been very strong in its criticism of the AMS and its administration... maybe we just did too good a job for their liking.” The AMS accused the U byssey of being inaccessable, unaccount able and not responsive to student issues. An assessment done by Chow and another Editor, Taivo Evard, found that ninety percent of news stories dealt with student issues. Many of the editors have resigned and are looking for work else where. Chow remains disappointed with the apparent tight rule of the AMS. Source: U niversity o f Saskatchew an

Sheaf

• Saskachewan students get $20,000 to fig h t Axworthy Saskachewan premier Roy Romanow offered a $20,000 grant from his government to Saskachewan student associations to aid their fight against Lloyd Axworthy’s proposed social reform package. Romanow met with Saskatchewan student politicians last October to discuss some options to counter Axworthy’s proposals. In a discus sion characterised by student politicians as being frank and open, Romanow stated his dissatisfaction with the education proposals. He hoped that they would be scrapped entirely. The student organisations representing universities and technical institutes across Saskatchewan will split the $20,000 grant. The money will be used for the research and communication required to draft a submission to the Parliamentary Committee for an alternative Social Security Reform package. It has not been decided how the money is to be divvied up among the various student groups. However, the greatest amount of money will be given to the organization who takes the lead in the student lobby effort. Package submissions to the Parliamentary Committee were due November 7. Source: U niversity o f Saskatchew an Sheaf

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Editorial T ♦ H

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H u s h e d r a c is m By Ioyce Lau

___________________________________________________

The Thorssin family of Dorset Hollow, Vermont seem to have lost their house guest to the police. Sixteen-year-old Charlie Cosgalla came to this quiet town to live with a friend he’d met in his native Mexico. Quiet, that is, until the Thorssin’s began getting threats to get that dirty spic out of town. Quiet, until October, when Charlie was accused of sexually assaulting a thirteen-year-old. Quiet, until an inter-familial “discussion” ensued, forcing Mrs. Thorssin to hide Charlie in the bam until she could fly him to New York later that night. Quiet, ever since that black exchange student left Dorset on very sudden notice last year. Today, Charlie’s in jail. And he’s awaiting trial admist some question able human rights and legal conditions. Charlie is in the maximum security wing of a state penitentiary. With limited visitation rights. With bail set at $20,000. In solitary. For over a month. He has not been to court once. Legally, these condition are explainable. His public defender is busy. Charlie is in an adult prison because he doesn’t have papers to prove him a minor. (Births are not as stringently recorded in Mexico as they are in the US). Charlie is a difficult prisoner. He faces a ten-year sentence for slip ping out of handcuffs chaining him to the wall of an interrogation room. He doesn’t follow orders. He doesn’t respond. He also doesn’t speak English. The Vermont police may not be consciously racist. They are acting in accordance with a law that assumes everyone has D.O.B’s neatly entered on file, speaks English and understands the workings of American law. However, there is a problem when what is considered law assumes that everyone exists on a level playing field, because people like Charlie do not. Charlie is a visitor with a questionable immigration status. Even if the state of Vermont wanted to give him a fair and speedy trial, this right is not guaranteed under federal law to non-citizens. In this confusion, Charlie’s public defender has waited over three and a half weeks to see him, so it certainly doesn’t seem like this case will make it to court anytime soon. So, if Charlie’s undocumented existence is incompatible with US law, and if he’s not guaranteed a fair and speedy trial anyway, what exactly is the gov ernment holding him for? There are two things the government can do. It can admit that it has no mechanism for trying non-citizens and send Charlie back to his home country or it can try Charlie as it would an American. That would mean getting Charlie out of solitary, and into the courtroom with a competent and interested public defender. In order to accomplish this, the US govern ment may first have to follow Canada’s example, and institutionalise a constitutional mechanism for cultural sensitivity. This would provide allowances for non-anglophones to exist on an equal linguistic and com prehensive footing as an American-born citizen. Either way, the US government can not do what it is doing now. No matter what country Charlie is from, or what country he’s in, the UN Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms does not allow any country to detain someone for this long without taking further action. There is yet another human rights violation involved here. Having dealt with death threats and people breaking into their cars, the Thorssin’s still don’t have the proper documentation to obtain a restraining order for their more hostile neighbours, according to the police. This case is closer to you than you might think: Holly Thorssin is a McGill student. And that young woman sitting next to you in class might be the one spending her Christmas holiday in the racial war-zone of Dorset Hollow, Vermont. Joyce Lau, Harris Newman......................... Entertainment Editors Lizzie Saunderson, Paromita Shah ........................ Features Editors M icol Z a r b .......................................................... Network Editor Patrick Fruchet, Monique Shebbeare......................... News Editors Liz Lau , Emma Rhodes.............................................. Photo Editors Ram Randhawa, Nicholas Ro y .................... Production Managers A llana H enderson........................................ ........... Sports Editor A my H utchison........................................ What’s On Coordinator Keith G allop ................................................. Marketing Manager Paul Slachta ....................................... Advertising Representative Sanchari C hakravarty.............................Promotions Coordinator A nne-Marie Racine, Pangiotis Panagoloupolos...............Ad sales Barbara Mac Dougall, D on Mc G owan ........................ Typesetters

Letters**. ...to the editor Editorial misunderstood American politics

Broadhurst did get one thing right though, November 8 was a nightmare for Clinton. Stephen Pare U2 Engineering

W hat the FEUQ Arnold?

In his November 15 editorial “Start Campaigning, Bill” Michael Grushcow replies again B roadhurst expresses a limited I am sorry that my previous understanding of American politics. response on the issue of FEUQ By the end of his second sentence apparently was unsatisfactory to he has already made a mistake. The “huge wave of dissatisfaction” did Arnold Kwok. I would, however, not result in support for Bill like to reiterate that no decisions Clinton. It split the traditional about full membership in FEUQ Republican vote between George will (or can) be made without ’the Bush and Ross Perot, allowing support of the student body through Clinton to come up the middle (and a referendum. I would be glad to win with 43 percent of the popular discuss my reasons for working with FEUQ with anyone who is vote). The “new thinking” to which interested, and hope that over the Broadhurst refers is little more than next few months, we will all learn a repackaging of traditional liberal enough to make educated decisions tax-and-spend philosophy. Before whichever way we vote next year. Concerning the Ottawa the 1992 election, George dem onstration against Lloyd McGovern stated “I have a hunch that th ey ’re much more liberal A xw orthy’s proposed social underneath and will prove that reform s, I think that two basic when they’re elected.” Americans points should be considered: First, only a handful of protes did not grow tired of “the big tors out of a crowd of over 10,000 Razorback” because his programs students threw “edible projectiles” were gutted, they grew tired of (as one newspaper termed them) at another politician who promised the man who wants our tuition fees one thing and delivered another (remember the middle-class tax to double. To my knowledge, none cut?) Broadhurst then has the nerve of these students were from McGill. to claim that Bill Clinton’s biggest Overall, the demonstration succeed asset is his legitimacy. Does he not ed in rallying students and bringing remember the allegatioins of draft media attention to dissatisfaction dodging, infidelity, sexual harass with the proposed reforms. Second, SSMU is not advocat ment and crooked business deal ing a platform which consists only ings? If anything, legitimacy is one of such protest. Over the past few thing that the president is lacking. When Broadhurst asks who weeks, the External A ffairs people like Bob Dole and Newt Committee has written a discussion Gingrich are and how can anyone paper proposing alternatives to the take them seriously, one must look reform s, the VP External Nick at who Clinton and A1 Gore were Benedict and I have spoken with before they appeared for the 1992 members of Axworthy’s office and campaign. Clinton was an unknown the standing com m ittee, and governor of a backwater state and Benedict has met with the minister A1 Gore was an empty suit who to discuss our suggestions and con was better known for his wife than cerns. We are working from a vari ety of angles to make our voices political skills. Finally, Broadhurst repeatedly heard on external student issues, as says that Jam es C arville and is our resonsibility, and any input George Stephanopoulos will on other ways of responding to the “punch holes” through the reforms is more than welcome. I encourage Kwok and anyone Republican party platform and its else who is concerned about these candidates. He is wrong on two or other issues to bring their ques counts. It is unlikely that they will be running the campaign after this tions and comments to Thursday’s administration’s stumbling its way council meeting. through the first few months of its Lisa Grushcow term . Second, if any platform Chair, External Affairs resembles Swiss cheese it is the Committee president’s, as his policies have been tried and retried for most of the past 30 years and found wanti Dunne story overdone ng. That is what the 1994 elections The controversy surrounding were about: people were tired of the same old solutions to America’s political science Professor Andrew Dunne (Tribune Nov. 22) is a result problems.

of miscommunication, misinterpre tation, and a “case of sour grapes” on the part of some vocal students. Based solely on the premise of D unne’s International O rganis ations course, Dunne offers a chal lenging, modem and yes, a “McGill unorthodox” presentation of IO. His choice not to follow the course description was communicated at the beginning of the semester, and students who remained did so with this knowledge. Charges of an unfair midterm are unfounded. The exam was designed to test students’ knowl edge of the assigned readings. Despite the unfamiliar structure of the exam, it could have easily been written in an hour if the readings were completed and lectures attend ed. Before the exam, Dunne arranged many review sessions and has kept an “open door policy”. At no point did Dunne threaten students. Besides being misquoted, he was severly m isinterpreted. Dunne seemed to comment on the unprofessional actions of some stu dents, and how they tarnish the credibility of M cGill students applying for graduate studies at other universities. It was not a per sonal attack. This letter is not in defense of Dunne, or his teaching methodolo gy. Rather, it is to clarify a misrep resented controversy. Latif Jina U2 Civil Engineering

U p p e r C a n a d ia n ig n o rance about Mount A Your article “Parliament Hill faces student protest” (November 22) contained an error. M ount Allison University is not located in Nova Scotia but rather in Sackville, New Brunswick. I will spare you the usual comments about Upper Canadian ignorance regarding the Atlantic provinces. However, I should point out that Maclean’s magazine did award Mount Allison top prize for undergraduate univer sities three years in a row. An insti tution with such an im pressive track record should be accorded some respect. I know we expect no less. Gregory Barker U1 Arts

Hints for would-be Deans All candidates for Dean of Students should take note of the following. 1. Never be non-chalant about student affairs. The M cGill See Letters Page 7

Staff Daniel Assaf Sylvie Babarik, Tyla Berchtold, Ramsey Blacklock, Scott Broady, Brendan Cully, Paul Darvasi, Kurt Dogg, Geneviève Emond, Lori Fireman, Ted Frankel, Jeff Kishner, Anne-Marie Labbé, Mark Luz, David Mendelsohn, Lara Nahas, Jane Rigby, Jack Sullivan, Dana Toering, Alex Usher, Alexander Waxman, Joe Wong

November 29th, 1994

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Page 7

O p inion G e n X f o r g e t s its h u m b le r o o ts

I just love nostalgia. Some people glance back at their romping days of youth with pride; I do so with sentim ental nausea. From reading Rolling Stone, I understand that many of us in our late teens and early twenties share my gener ational angst. Yes, looking back at the ‘70s and ‘80s can be an uncom fortable experience. North American society during the time that saw us grow from undeveloped children to unemployed adults was, to be generous, culturally bleak. Still, its remnants remind us of a period that represented some truth and purity in our lives. So we were tacky in the ‘70s and greedy in the ‘80s. At least we knew it and we loved it. This isn’t a lead-in to another bullshit, self-righteous defense of

the moronic Generation X move ment. Personally, I think Brad Pitt is uncool. For the record, I thought Natural Born Killers sucked. No, I yearn to recover the days when Donny Osmond was the standard for pin-up-boys, and Animal House was a must see. Youth culture then didn’t pretend to lead the “direc tion-less masses”, as it purports to today, it was merely a diversion. Back then things were simpler — people were more genuine about their natural inclination towards all things vulgar, stupid and pointless. Oh yes, those were the days. What invokes my hair raising memories are images which sur round the fallen times themselves. A proverb of the 1970s goes: “m em ories [are] dusty, watercoloured (reminders), of the way

we w ere.” Last w eek’s People magazine, a publication directed mainly at dimwitted idiots, picked up on this theme. The cover story entitled, “Where are they now?”, caught up with the likes of such ‘70s and ‘80s notables as Gabe Kaplan (a.k.a Mr. Kauuu-ter of the delightfully bad sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter) and Emmanuel Lewis (a.k.a Webster). I noticed both had escaped their brief tenure as tasteless cultur al icons with only minor scars. Kaplan, once a w ise-cracking, Afro-sporting, messiah-like teacher of a band of poorly groomed “sweathogs”, had succumbed to the new age by shaving his hair like a trendy J. Crew model. A miserable shlep in the ‘70s, Kaplan now lives in a Beverly Hills mansion. Lewis, whose strongest attribute as an actor had been his despicable cute ness, was reported to be studying film at Clark University in Atlanta. Unfortunately for the little fellow, however, was the suggestion that he had m aintained ties with Michael Jackson.

M y la d y l o v e s m 1 B e a ttitu d e s

Beatrice van Dijk

Get rid of the old farts and give me a woman professor any day. Nothing inspires like a female prof. I guess it has something to with that role model stuff. Somehow, it’s possible for this girl-student to feel that if she works hard, she can earn the respect of a woman professor and maybe even become her equal one day. It’s just not possible to feel that with oldschool male teachers. You’re sup posed to remain humble and wor ship at their altar of publishing and research. You’re never supposed to question the dustiness of their ideas — even though those ideas may not have changed since the 1960s. This is not to say that I never like male profs. I’ve become quite fond of some grey-haired granddaddies and young old-boys. Who didn’t warm to Professor Robert Vogel? (Rest his kind soul.) And the pixieish energy of Professor Peter Gibian in his “Twain and James” class certainly wasn’t wasted on me. (It’s always nice to come across a tenured professor who hasn’t forgot ten how to prepare lectures.) But on the whole, women tend to have less of an attitude problem than their male colleagues, and inspire me on to greater academic heights. (Yes, I ’m basing “Joy of Learning from the Ladies” theory on the statistical experience of little more than one. Me. And the experi ences of a few friends here and there. If you want academic integri ty, go study. Stop procrastinating by reading this.) I spoke of women having less

of an attitude problem than their male colleagues. If you want an example of male attitude problem, go check out Professor Andrew Dunne. You may have read the article about Dunne by Melanie Radier in last w eek’s paper. As soon as I walked in to his “International Organization” class at the beginning of term, I knew he had something to prove. Any professor with an ego that requires smart-mouthed putdowns of students in the very first class has something to prove. I hightailed it outta there. Even though the man is young, he’s definitely an oldstyle male professor. You’d better admit that he’s the intellectual and you’re all ignorant nothings or else. You can’t blame poor Dunne for his attitude. He’s been warmed in the broad chest of the internation al relations component of political science, an international men’s club if there ever was. In contrast to such types is Professor Elisabeth Gidengil. She teaches the required political science class “Empirical Methods”. Now if she wanted to make her students feel like ignorant nothings, she wouldn’t find it hard. She’s dealing with a group that squirms and groans and shivers in fear each time an equation appears on the blackboard. Instead of exulting in her power she looks at us in kind concern and asks “Are you sure you all understand the con cept?” This woman is human. Once she even told us about her being young and in love. Imagine — feel

ings in the classroom! In addition to being human, Professor Gidengil is the chair of the department of politi cal science. (In her article on Dunne, Radier mistakenly referred to Gidengil as “he”.) Ah, role models. Although Professor Gidengil is a nice change from the masculine usual, it’s the younger women pro fessors who really spur me on. Perhaps because it’s remotely possi ble to catch up with their learning. Last year, in a fit of despair at my large, dull, uninspirational class es, I begged my advisor for a small class with a young professor. He recommended an 18th Century novel class. The class was taught by a younger woman — Professor Loma Clark. She didn’t immure herself in an ivory tower of the academic research she was here for (or bury herself under the tower as some do). After our mid-terms she handed each one back to us privately to explain our grade and how we could improve. Now that is conducive to learning. I basked in the novelty of it all. It may be a coincidence that this thoughtful and conscientious profes sor is a younger woman... No — I can’t imagine that it is. Let it be heard: Give us female students more women professors! More, more, more! Some may be good and some may be bad — but all are of a new kind of blood. New blood must be pumped into institutions periodically or the institutions wither and die. Let the dusty old bald researchers research — but please don’t let them teach us. Of course, you need some men to inspire the boy-students — but they have plenty of role models at the moment. Give us lovely ladies to lift up our learning. Beatrice van Dijk believes whole-heartedly in affirmative action.

I won’t even get into the recent bios of such ‘80s idols as Baby Jessica (the kid who fell down the well and now has a $700,000 trust fund to show for her trouble), Bill Buckner (World Series goat who is now a minor league instructor) or Michael Dukakis (now a professor at Northeastern University). Doing so would only further antagonise tHfe pseudo-intellectual Xers who, upon recognising the less than glo rious legacy of the ‘70s and ‘80s, have vowed to shoulder the burden of a better future on their plaid-cov ered backs. Sadly, these grunge costumed crusaders will inevitably fail. Their sombre, self-sacrificing, activist approach goes against their learned sensibilities. Our goofy ‘70s and ‘80s upbringing failed to teach us practical methods of reform, so to compensate, some have artificially adopted an over-serious approach to their concerns. As a result, we’re never too sure how to deal with the many problems facing our generation. Unemployment, AIDS, the aging

population and other obstacles may make prospering in our adult life more challenging than it was for our boomer parents. But the task becomes all the more imposing when we take ourselves too seri ously and get caught up with issues we don’t fully understand. What we know best is the banal culture we sponged up as ‘80s TV nerds. Why not toss Winona Ryder and Kurt Cobain aside and install Suzanne Sommers and both members of Wham! as our leaders? It’s time to toss our delusions about being responsible, sophisti cated, and morally upright leaders of today, onto the compost heap. Once our memories of the bygone era have fully decomposed we can get on to realizing such a role. But for now, we’re more cut out for mindless revelry than righteous causes. Twenty-something activism in the ‘90s is akin to celibacy in the ‘60s. It doesn’t jive with the times, and plus — it’s no fun. Ted Frankel wishes he was a slacker.

Letters continued from Page 6 Reporter quoted the current Dean: “the Dean of Students only has a minor role to play” in the develop ment of revisions to the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures. “I now leave the mat ter in Senate’s hands.” The Tribune reported this exchange. Student Senator Zeina Hatem: “You are the Dean of Students and we need your support.” Dean Gopnik: “I do not have any more power than you do.” You must feel that you have the power. Either that, or keep your mouth shut. 2. Learn quickly about the myriad of services offered by the Dean of Students. Dean Gopnik is in charge of H ealth Services, Counselling Services, Office for Students with Disabilities, Mental H ealth, C areer and Placem ent Service, Athletics, Student Aid, Chaplaincy Services, Off Campus Housing, and U niversity Residences. 3. Learn to get students on

your side. Student services are self financing or break-even and are totally funded by students. Whenever money was short, the outgoing Dean always asked for students to foot the bill. You will have to be a convincing salesper son, able to ju stify your fee increases. 4. Must be able to fight for your turf, if not make your turf big ger. The services you offer will ask for bigger budgets. They need more staff, so they can better serve students who need the services. D on’t forget the ever popular Maclean’s survey put your budget num bers dead last among nine other medical/doctoral universities. 5. Must be a magnificent fund raiser. Your services will need more space to put more staff. You have to find money to build a new Student Services Building to be named after a benefactor or Bill Shatner. Arnold Kwok U3 Science

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November 29th, 1994

Page 8

1 T 1 lo ro s c o p e

Ï B y G u sto v "S ee M y M o v ie Explode" Radio K roytz A nd D J" T he P s y c h ic A llia n c e is C rumbling" A rrowroot________ A ries (Mar. 2 1 - Apr. 19) You center your nervous locale around that fantastic tuna heaven you were exposed to in the Nexus. The Captain said you were ready to graduate but you’d rather remain a Chickadee. Because of this you are awarded a foil-headed trombone person to take your anger out on. This will happen tomorrow or yes terday. T aurus (Apr. 20 - May 20) C lusters of statem ents and

ÈSÊÊËÊ f îi -

fond personal movies of bongos in the park begin to take formation in your skull. Form of... a bucket of water! Hidden atop doors and around comers, this week you will fill your friends’ lives with practi cal jokes and brew-ha-ha. G em ini (May 21 - June 20) Y ou’re a fiend, you’re a dancer, you’re a pusher. You are airline food in the mouths of pub lishers across the country. You are whacked, you are grins, in luscious big tins. Will you come out and play this week? Pleeeeaaase? C ancer (June 21 - July 22) You are not 21 years-old any more. You are ageless in your sexu ality. Nothing and everything.

Looking for a good time and not wanting one. In the same breath you need substance and surface. We bum up passing through your wordly interface, and, with tears, we pay homage to you. L eo (July 23 - Aug. 22) Leo, Leo, Leo. You’ve been bad this week. Come back for ka ka next week. For now, just go. V irgo (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22) We don’t want you seeing Leo this week. We swear, if you see him, your pants will fly off your bottom and swallow your teacher’s head. You w ouldn’t want that, would you? L ibra (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22) Your fascination of bananas is getting a bit much... in your bed, in your desk, in your fridge, in your clothes. Why don’t you cool off and try peanuts. They’re cheaper and a lot sexier. S corp io (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) Is that a smile I see on your face? You deserve to smile. After

the man had imprisoned his virgin daughters in order to sell them into prostitution. Nick was merely paying him off in order to free the girls. T h e F a c u lty o f E p h e m e ra It was because of these two An y Usher incidents that Nick became, among other things, patron saint of children (he is also patron saint of haberdash Christmas is usually associated with happy times. This is particularly true at McGill, where merit pay is ers and, though no one can quite figure out why, his cunningly distributed — not at the end of the fiscal personal symbol of three golden balls is also the inter year as pmdence would dictate — but at the beginning national symbol for pawnshops). And so it became a of December, just before we all go through the tedium custom throughout much of Europe to give children presents on St. Nicholas’ day. However, after the of marking exams. (Of course, this strategy doesn’t always work. Just Reformation, the Lutherans of North Germany cracked think about how the people who don’t get merit pay down on this Catholic tradition. Only the Christ-child must feel. Four years ago, one such prof in Education should give presents, they said, and it should be done robbed a caisse-populaire two days after merit pay was on Christmas day. So the “Christ-kindel” (ie. Kris Kringle) would deliver the presents, though he was announced.) Still, the most disturbing thing about this time of usually accompanied by a “Samiklaus”, a diminuitive year is that everyone thinks of Christmas and Santa elf-like creature who kept Nicholas’ name. This prac Claus as being WASP institutions. Nothing could be tice was not adopted by the Dutch and Belgians, who further from the truth. In fact, St. Nicholas was a Turk, continued to use Dec. 6th, but those who went to Santa Claus a Dutch handyman and the entire modem America did adopt the new date. C hristm as came late to the New World. conception of Christmas is intimately mixed up with prostitution, pawnbrokers and the Republican Party. Celebrating the nativity in a joyous manner was consid ered too “popish” by the puritans of Massachusetts, But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s begin with the origin of Christmas Day who imposed a five-shilling penalty on anyone caught itself. The idea that the nativity actually happened on doing so. This law remained in place until 1791 when the 25th of December is fiction. Scholars still can’t the separation of church and state made its continuance even agree on which year Christ was bom, so their impossible. Still, Christmas was not widely considered ability to pin down a date is obviously somewhat limit a civic holiday in the US until the civil war; in ed. The reason the 25th is marked is simply becaue Oklahoma not until 1890. Still, Santa per se did not exist until the American Pope Leo I showed up in the streets of Rome one December 25 sometime in the fifth century and said: poet Christopher Moore wrote his famous ‘“ Twas the “Today is the anniversary of the birth of our Lord”. night before Cristmas” in 1822. Before then, Santa travelled from place to place via his magic cloak; And so it became. Gift-giving at this point had nothing to do with Moore gave him his eight reindeer. Moore also made Christmas. The exchange of presents was exclusively him fat and jolly and gave him a pipe which Santa connected with St. Nicholas’ Day (December 6). St. retained until the late 1950s. Moore’s inspiration for Nick is an extremely popular figure: besides being his St. Nick was, significantly, his Dutch handyman. The man who has made the greatest single contri patron saint of over two dozen European cities and bution to the modem conception of Santa is without a having over 106 churches named after him in Belgium alone, he shows up as a w ater-devil figure in doubt Thomas Nast, an illustrator who worked for Harper’s in the second half of the 19th Century. Nast Scandinavia and as a god in parts of Siberia. St. Nicholas was bishop of the port town of Myra was also the man who first drew the Democratic in what is now Turkey (meaning we can forget the idea Donkey and the Republican Elephant. But it was a that he was a plump white guy with a white beard — series of his Christmas drawings between 1862 and these things are rare among Turks), a post he achieved 1884 that sealed the modem image of Sanata Claus. at the tender age of 12. His qualification for the job was His first drawings were little more than crude sketches showing up at the church door at 4 am the day after the — in one of them Santa is wearing the Stars and previous bishop croaked and the local church big-wigs Stripes and giving presents to Union soldiers. having been divinely inspired to make the first person However, in 1871, chromo-litho printing came to to show up at the door his replacement. There is also a America, and this allowed Nast to work in colour. He well-known fable about St. Nicholas and his poor then produced the famous drawing of Santa in a red neighbour whom Nick would visit in the night and gen suit trimmed with white fur. Nast was also the inventor erously throw small sacks of gold through his window. of that last great piece if Christmas lore — that Santa This fable is supposed to explain how St. Nicholas lives at the North Pole. became connected with the giving of gifts. Which is Alex Usher’s Christmas list includes yet another | fine, except that it omits one significant detail: the real reason Nick was giving the man money-was because bookcase____________

years in the pickle factory listening to modem music, you are ready to break free. Put on those suspenders. Try taking a walk — even if it’s just to the store to buy some toilet paper. Take a chance! Try putting some pepper on your Honeycomb. Some ketchup on your hands. Beg to differ! Maybe even play a little practical joke; put a condom in your friends wallet... it would be uproariously funny, and they might even need it sometime for some thing that you couldn’t imagine. S a g itta riu s (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) Magical mists surround the lofty down of your maniacal doovayy (phonetic). The spandex brief case of sadness has burst only to let loose 1000 children holding hands and remembering. The giggles you cover up by making farting noises with your armpit need to be heard, talk to the children! TALK! It’s time to creep upstairs to momma’s bedroom. Look at all her shoes! Try a pair on, if you ask me you’ll learn new things, games, and ultimately smiles. A quarius (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) After escaping from the Planet of the Apes you find yourself in a Reebok shoe outlet in Maine asking an older gentlem en where you could ascertain barbituates. He

slaps you, you smile, for you have seen the future; a future where humans are enslaved by APES. His future generation of children in shackles, dominated by gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. Oh how sweet it is...take that thumb out of your mouth... C apricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) You are drop dead gorgeous. Ever since you took the plunge I haven’t been able to take my eyes off of you. The way you’ve casual ly rubbed the toothpaste into your hair takes my breath away. Scrawling the words POO POO on your shins in charcoal is something “club kids” will never be able to recapture. P isces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) Mmmm. This is the last sign. This is the last chance for you to screw up your face and contemplate rescesetative constepation. What does this mean? What does that mean? Will you be my agent? We could be lovers. We could be just like Smokey and the Bandit. We could run away to King City and feel the warmth of one another’s breasts as we topple atop one another on the tram poline at C anada’s W onderland. Do you care? Do I care? Who cares? It’ll just be for awhile, and I can write about you in my address book.

CROSSWORD

R O C K S

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November 29th, 1994

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S e r g e a n t in q u ir y p r o m p t s l e g a l a c t io n b y e s t a t e ... Continued from Page 1

changes you might consider bene ficial in regard to the fu tu re ,” Shapiro wrote. Shapiro reminded S heppard’s petition makes Bloom that his report would be repeated references to M cG ill’s made public. refusal to allow Sergeant’s estate Sheppard further alleges that to p a rtic ip a te in the B loom the Bloom inquiry has proceeded inquiry. In a letter dated April 22, “in absolute disregard of the ele fo rm er P rin cip al and V icementary principles of procedural Chancellor David Johnston wrote fairness.” Sergeant’s estate has Bloom to inform him of the terms not been fo rm ally of his investigation. inform ed o f the e v i “ C onduct a “ I t is n o t a c c e p t a b l e t h a t t h e i n q u i r y dence rev iew ed , or review o f salien t b e c o n d u c t e d b y s o m e o n e w h o s e s o n is allowed to examine tran ac tiv ities and p ra c scripts or participate at tices in the academic d e p e n d e n t o n th e v e ry F a c u lty u n d e r hearings. and professional life s c r u tin y , a n d w h o th u s m ig h t — or S hep p ard also of Dr. Ju stin e a p p e a r to — la c k t h e o b je c tiv ity , alleges that Bloom and S ergeant at M cG ill d e t a c h m e n t a n d i m p a r t i a l i t y e s s e n t i a l the U niversity did not University with par disclose his relationship ticular em phasis on in th e c ir c u m s ta n c e s .” with the university. evaluations, prom o “It is not acceptable that the tions and disciplinary measures to the practice of research, promo up to the date of her tragic death,” tions and discipline in effect at the inquiry be conducted by someone time of Dr. Sergeant’s academic whose son is dependent on the Johnston wrote. The Sergeant estate’s general and p rofessional ac tiv ities at very Faculty under scrutiny and counsel, Michel Décary, wrote to McGill. You are to examine the who thus might — or appear to — M cG ill counsel L azar S arna treatment received by her in light lack the objectivity, detachment requesting that he be allowed to of those policies, procedures and and impartiality essential in the attend all examinations concern practices with a view to evaluating circumstances.” Sheppard also noted that the ing Sergeant. Sheppard’s petition their application and appropriate^ suggests that the inquiry was in ness, and recom m ending any university did not voluntarily dis

• P ro ced u ra l d ifficulties

In early April, an anonymous letter was sent to Montreal’s daily newspaper, The Gazette, alleging that Sergeant’s scientific career was based on what many long suspected was scientific fraud and that her scientific conduct had “been unethical and unprofession al”. The Gazette printed a story on April 9 containing details from that letter and an “institutional resp o n se” from the university ad m in istratio n . M c G ill’s response, according to the peti tio n , allu d ed to elem en ts of Sergeant’s confidential files that were under arbitration at the time. A ccording to S h ep p ard ’s petition, the com bination of a h o stile env iro n m en t at the Montreal Neurological Institute — where Sergeant worked, the recent refusal to promote her, the anonymous letter, and M cGill’s response, prompted Sergeant, and her husband Yves, to kill them selves April 10.

danger at that time of degenerat ing into a “posthumous trial” of Sergeant. Bernard Shapiro, who replaced Johnston as Principal on July 1, wrote to Bloom on July 25, to clarify the mandate given to the inquiry. “The focus of your mandate is to review the University policies, procedures and practices in regard

A chronology of events surrounding the suicide of former McGill professor Justine Sergeant March 1994: April 3: April 8: April 9: April 10: April 20: April 22: May 1994: June 1: July 25: September 16:

November 11 : November 22: November 28:

Sergeant is denied promotion to full professor The Gazette receives an anonymous letter from “a member of the Montreal academ ic community” regarding research misconduct by Sergeant. McGill issues an “institutional response”. The Gazette prints an article about Sergeant, under the headline “Researcher disci plined by McGill for breaking rules”. Sergeant and her husband, Yves, commit suicide. McGill announces an independent inquiry with respect to Sergeant. McGill enlists lawyer Casper Bloom to conduct the investigation. Then-Principal David Johnston writes Bloom explaining his mandate. Michel Décary, general counsel for Sergeant’s estate, inquires about links between Bloom, his law firm Ogilvy Renault, and the university. The estate is informed of Bloom’s mandate. Décary requests permission to partici pate in all proceedings. Bernard Shapiro, Principal of McGill, writes to Bloom to “clarify” the terms of his inquiry. Having determined Bloom’s relationship to McGill, Claude-Armand Sheppard, another attorney representing Sergeant’s estate, requests that Bloom resign from the commission. Sheppard also asked Bloom to respond to suggestions that his objectiv ity was compromised because his son is enrolled in McGill’s Faculty of Medicine. McGill legal counsel Lazar Sama informs Sergeant’s estate that Bloom will not be asked to resign. Sheppard files a motion in Quebec Superior Court to suspend the investigation and replace Bloom. Sheppard and representatives of McGill meet with a Superior Court justice to set a hearing date for the motion.

S S M U ... T h a n k s

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g o o d C h ris tm a s .

Continued from Page 4 tional challenge to the M cGill community. If the constitution was amended to accommodate IGLC, what would council do? IGLC rep resented themselves well and in a new perspective. I am impressed with Sevag and his defence of IGLC,” he said. A few other issues struck a chord with one or two people. Atlas expressed concern about the consumer products marketed on campus. “Products m arketed on our cam pus are going beyond the range of our student government. For example the campus kits being distributed around the university are disgusting. We are being herd

ed around like cattle,” said Atlas. “We are exchanging our addresses for a bag of chips or a pantiliner. It shows a real decline in the acade mic quality of the university. The atm osphere of the university is tending towards a shopping mall and moving away from the role of a learning institution.” Sicking was concerned with SSMU’s handling of Gert’s in the future. “In the future SSMU should decide what we should do with Gert’s. Why have we not succeed ed in creating a popular student pub as in other u n iversities? Perhaps we can invest some capital into G e rt’s in the fu tu re ,” he mused.

close that information. In M ay 1994, S e rg e a n t’s estate asked M cG ill’s counsel ab out p o ssib le lin k s betw een Bloom and his law firm, Ogilvy Renault, and M cGill. They did not receive a response. After confirming a connec tion between Bloom and McGill, his s o n ’s re g istra tio n in the Faculty of M edicine, through a private investigator, Sheppard asked Bloom to resign in a letter dated September 16. Bloom did not resign, and on November 11 Sarna inform ed the estate that McGill would not ask Bloom to resign his mandate. Sheppard has asked the court to halt the Bloom inquiry, remove Bloom, replace him with an inde pendent party, and make the inquiry public. The petition also requests that Sergeant’s estate be allowed to participate in the inquiry. M cGill’s Dean of Medicine, Dr. Richard Cruess, declined to comment. “W e’re not going to com ment,” he said. “It’s for the courts to decide.”

• The following is the text o f Dr. Justine Sergeant's suicide note o f April JO, 1994. W hen you read this letter, I will b e d e a d . My h u sb a n d a n d I h a v e c h o s e n to retire from life, a s w e c a n no lo n g er b e a r th e nightm are th at o u r lives h a v e b ee n for m ore th an tw o y ea rs. T he publication in S atu rd a y ’s G a ze tte of a n article, trig g ered by an an o n y m o u s letter, s u g g e s ts th at w e ca n n o t ex p e ct any im prove m ent in our curren t situation, an d , if n e w sp a p e rs a re read y to tak e an o n y m o u s a n d u n su b stan tiated a c c u sa tio n s seriously, th e re is no e n d to our nightm are in sight. I h a v e a lso b e e n a c c u s e d of altering th e telep h o n e n um ber of so m e su b jects. I did not adm it doing this for th e following re a s o n s . T h e c o n s e n t fo rm s s ig n e d by th e s u b je c ts stip u la te th at everything ab o u t th e participation in a stu d y is confidential. Yet, I h ad received com plaints from su b jects participating in earlier stu d ies th at so m e o n e , claim ing to b e eith er from “security at McGill” or from th e “D irector’s O ffice”, w a s calling th e m a n d ask in g th em q u estio n s ab o u t th e v ario u s ta s k s they h ad b e e n perform ing dur ing m y PET stu d ies. I th erefo re d ecid ed to e n s u re th e confidential ity of th e su b jects by altering th e telep h o n e nu m b er on th e official form, which I did in their p re se n c e , while keeping th e co rrect num b er in my files. Although I m entioned this to th e C hairm an of my D epartm ent, my su b jects w ere still being called six m o n th s later. In th e context th e s e ev e n ts took place, I th en th o u g h t th e s e w ere th e b e s t w ay s of acting. T he University thinks differently, an d w e a re therefore in arbitration ab o u t this. This, how ever, did not h a v e to b e e x p o se d in a n e w sp a p e r a n d blown out of proportion, an d it throw s a discredit on myself, my work a n d my career, which I ca n n o t tolerate. Before se e in g this article, I h ad h o p ed th at hav ing my re s e a rc h d a ta b ein g in v e stig a te d a n d au d ite d w ould at least clea r my n am e, a s th e an o n y m o u s letter ra ise s d o u b ts ab o u t my ho n esty a s a scientist. I love re se a rc h too m uch to ev en co n sid e r tam p erin g with d a ta o r m aking fa ls e claim s, a n d a n y o n e working in my re s e a rc h field or participating in my ex p e rim en ts could testify th at I h av e alw ays p ay ed m uch attention to th e quality a n d rigor of m y s tu d ie s a n d to th e w e lfare of th e s u b je c ts or patien ts participating in them . I w a s a young, su cc essfu l, w om an scientist, a n d this m ay not b e w elcom e attrib u tes in th e scientific world or at least in th e m inds of so m e p eo p le. I h a d a rich a n d in te n s e life, b u t th e re co m e s a point w hen o n e c a n no longer fight a n d o n e n e e d s a rest. It is th is r e s t th a t m y h u s b a n d , w ho h a s s u p p o rte d m e in all a s p e c ts of my activities a n d my life, a n d m yself h av e d ecid ed to take.

C a n a d ia n s r e n e w d e b a t e a b o u t f e d e r a l m u lt ic u lt u r a l p o l i c y ed, she said, to reflect Canada’s pluralist society, and to guarantee that various ethnic groups have opportunities to participate in all aspects of Canadian life. By M ichael B roadhurst________ “It’s not a proscriptive act; it doesn’t tell people what they must C anadian au th o r N eil do, ” Young said. “It explains the Bissoondath’s recently-published policy of the governm ent with book Selling Illusions: The C ult o f regards to a pluralistic society.” M ulticu ltu ra lism in C anada has Young also noted that the renew ed debate over one of government policy is not intended Canada’s most contentious pieces to deal only with immigrants and of leg islatio n , the C anadian integration, but encompasses abo Multicultural Act. Spurred by both rig in al, E nglish- and FrenchB issoondath and calls by the Canjdian cultures. Reform Party to dispose of official B issoondath argued that multiculturalism, Canadians are defining segm ents of society considering the goals and objec based on ethnic background was a tives of the 23 year-old program. dangerous approach to a multicul Bissoondath, a Trinidadiantural society. born n o v elist “Part of the problem with who has lived “ W e s h o u ld n o t p r o m o te a n y ty p e o f this approach is that one is still in Canada for being seen racially... I believe 21 years, criti s ta te r e lig io n , a n d n e ith e r s h o u ld w e as a matter of principle that that cises the feder p r o m o t e a n y c u l t u r e . Y o u c a n ’t h a v e racial vision will serve us badly al policy for e v e r y th in g in life .” in the long run. I am very not allow ing uneasy in seeing it enshrined in people to iden tify them L i n e M a h e u x , legislation, even for the best reasons,” Bissoondath said. selves. In his Q u e b e c R e g io n a l D ir e c to r , M aheux suggested that view, official R e f o r m P a r t y o f C a n a d a public sentiment in Canada was m ulticultural opposed to the continuation of ism prevents official multiculturalism. im m ig ra n ts “Everything the Reform Party and so-called “visible minorities” sponsible for the federal govern from integrating into the Canadian ment to use taxpayers’ money to does is about reality, and the reali mosaic in the fashion they choose. promote some cultures and reli ty is that there is a lot of animosity and opposition out there,” she When he spoke at Université gions over others. “ G o v ern m en t’s only role said. “T hat’s why we don’t like de M ontréal two weeks ago, Bissoondath was reluctant to dis should be to prevent discrimina [official multiculturalism] — it’s cuss multicultural issues, prefer tion, and that’s all we should use divisive.” Bissoondath explained that ring to discuss his fiction. But taxpayers’ money for,” she said. with no questions forthcoming, “We should not promote any type Canadians should approach multi and a horde of jou rn alists and of state religion, and neither cultural initiatives, such as affir audience members eager to dis should we promote any culture. mative action, without race or eth You c a n ’t have everything in nicity as a concern. cuss S e llin g Illu s io n s , “What I would prefer to see Bissoondath broached the con life.” Bissoondath cautioned that would be a colour-blind approach tentious topic. He agreed with the motives behind multicultural poli certain elements of multicultural to hiring, where we look instead at policy, particularly affirm ative what people are capable of, what cy. “ [M ulticulturalism policy] action programs in Ontario, step they have acquired. We should can be seen as a means of further beyond the bounds of appropriate start putting a little more emphasis on the achievements of the indi ing integration into society as a policy initiatives. “I worry about it in these vidual rather than looking at them way of making people feel wel come and a part of the larger soci terms: the Ontario government is m erely as rep resen tativ es of ety — th at’s certainly the idea very clear in refusing to talk about groups,” Bissoondath said. Bissoondath said that the fed behind it,” he said. Bissoondath questions of quotas. They’re not looking for eral approach does not recognise disagreed with n u m b e r s ; that people come to Canada for the programs that different reasons. instead are used to “The moment my ancestors w hat they accom plish that said is they left India they were no longer integration. wanted the Indian, and that process of chang Judy Young, ing their lives changed genera Ontario the d irec to r of tions,” he said. public ser the C itiz e n s’ Young noted that the vice to Participation and reflect the Multiculturalism Act is often mis Multiculturalism demograph taken for som ething it is not Branch o f the ic make-up intended to be. federal g overn “ It d o e sn ’t replace [other of the pop ment, suggested ulation of acts]. It does deal with two ele that Bissoondath O n t a r i o , ” ments: we have a diverse society m isunderstands he said. in which people should be able to multicultural pol “ But of maintain their culture if they want icy. course you to, and the governm ent works “ One p ro b can’t really toward establishing a fair society,” lem is that what she said. “It’s a balancing act.” measure he describes as Bissoondath is critical of the that unless ... . . m u l t i c u l t u r a l .......— ......... Neil Bissoondath effect of multicultural and plural you have policy isn’t offi istic policies on ethnic communi quotas.” cial policy,” she Young cautioned that federal ties, and argues that it causes them said. “He is factually wrong on the one hand and on the other multicultural policy does not deal to create their own ghettos in hand is what he really has a beef with quotas. The policy is intend See Bissoondath Page 12

• Differing opinions sur ro u n d in g the M u ltic u lturalism Act.

against: individuals who want to force him into a [politically cor rect] strait-jacket he doesn’t want to accept.” Line M aheux, the Quebec Regional Manager of the Reform Party, explained that the federal government should not continue to fund any programs except those that combat discrim ination and racism. “We would not keep the pro grams that pro-actively promote one culture over another,” she said. “We see it as a racist poli cy.” “What it does is promote cer tain ethnicities over others — we see it as divisive,” she added. Maheux said that it is irre-

The Reform Party o f Canada’s official policy on multiculturalism reads as follows: A.

The Reform Party stands for the acceptance and integration of immigrants to Canada into the mainstream of Canadian life.

The Reform Party supports the principle that individuals or groups are free to preserve their cultural heritage using their own resources. The Party shall uphold their right to do so.

The Reform Party of Canada opposes the current concept of mul ticulturalism and hyphenated Canadianism pursued by the Government of Canada. We would end funding of the multicul turalism program and support the abolition of the Department of Multiculturalism.

The following is a summary of Neil Bissoondath’s position on Canadian multiculturalism: • Official multiculturalism does not allow individuals to decide how they wish to integrate themselves into Canadian society; • Affirmative action programs require quotas, and therefore perpetuate the tendency to categorise people as racial entities rather than equal citizens before the law; • Canada’s multicultural, pluralistic society is a fact of life in the nation, and should not require federal promotion; • The Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1971 was a political ploy by Pierre Trudeau to appease non-Quebeckers, convincing them that all cultures in Canada, including English and aboriginal, were equally important to the federal government.

Multiculturalism Act The following are excerpts from Canada’s Multiculturalism Act: ...And whereas the Government of Canada recognises the diversi ty of Canadians as regards race, national or ethnic origin, colour and religion as a fundamental characteristic of Canadian society and is committed to a policy of multiculturalism designed to pre serve and enhance the multicul tural heritage of Canadians while working to achieve the equality of all Canadians in the economic, social, cultural and political life of Canada; ...3. (1) It is hereby declared to be the policy of the Government of Canada to (a) recognise and promote the understanding that multicultural ism reflects the cultural and racial diversity of Canadian society and acknowledges the freedom of all members of Canadian society to preserve, enhance, and share their cultural heritage; (b) recognise and promote the understanding that multicultural ism is a fundamental characteris tic of the Canadian heritage and identity and that it provides an invaluable resource in the shaping of Canada’s future; (c) promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society and assist them in the elimination of any barrier to that participation;

(d) recognise the existence of com m unities whose members share a common origin and their historic contribution to Canadian society, and enhance their devel opment; (e) ensure that all individuals receive equal treatment and equal protection under the law, while respecting and valuing their diversity; (f) encourage and assist the social, cultural, economic and political institutions of Canada to be both respectful and inclusive of Canada’s multicultural charac ter; (g) promote the understanding and creativity that arise from the interaction between individuals and communities of different ori gin; (h) foster the recognition and appreciation of the diverse cul tures of Canadian society and pro mote the reflection and the evolv ing expressions of those cultures; (i) preserve and enhance the use of languages other than English and French, while strengthening the status and use of the official languages of Canada; and (j) advance m ulticulturalism throughout Canada in harmony with the national commitment to the official languages of Canada.

November 29th, 1994

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T h e C h arter: m u lt ic u lt u r a lis m ’s s h ie ld a n d s w o r d ty of points of view and I think that there is some support for that point of view or approach in the A uthor Jeffrey Sim pson C h arter because it says that explored the Canadian identity in inequality will often lie in treating F a u ltlin es : S truggling fo r a everyone the same. It’s better to Canadian Vision. The book pro recognise the specificity of differ vides an in sig h tfu l look at ent experiences. However, I think Canadian culture through the lives that there hasn’t been very much of eight distinguished Canadians. done within the context of Charter One Canadian of distinction is litig atio n about this because Mary Eberts, feminist, pioneer in access to court for many groups is the study of women in law, and really difficult so that this whole legal rep resen tativ e for the area of recognising plurality or a women’s Legal Education Action polycentric approach to equality is Fund (LEAF). still underdeveloped in our law. Eberts currently practises law Tribune: As each visible at T ory, T ory, D eslauriers & minority works towards their own B innington in T oronto. In an recognition under the C harter, interview with the Tribune, Eberts does this make for a d iscussed the role of more cohesive or divi “Charter Canadians”, visi sive Canada? ble m in o rities, the law Eberts: W ell, I and multiculturalism. “ O u r C a n a d ia n c o n s titu tio n guess that I think that Tribune: In F ault r e c o g n is e d d iffe r e n c e s r ig h t fr o m there are a couple of lines, Simpson refers to things going on. One is t h e v e r y b e g in n in g , lo n g b e fo r e w e “people w edded to the that any society will C anadian C harter of b e c a m e p o litic a lly c o n s c io u s o f benefit from having a Rights and Freedoms as m u ltic u ltu r a lis m . ” process where the con an indispensable weapon tending rights and for bettering the lives of the disad v antaged, M a r y E b e r t s interests of different groups can be mediat redefining Canadian polit ed and adjusted. If we ical discourse and p ro have a hum an rights foundly changing how Canadian citizens view society”. rights guaranteed in the Charter code that prohibits discrimination Given this definition, who specifi either put in there or improved. and it’s open to everyone, whatev cally are the “Charter Canadians”? They would include women, visi er their race, to complain of dis Eberts: I think the expression ble minority people, people who crimination and have those com originated with a political scientist are identified as religious minori plaints dealt with fairly than if one on the w est coast called Alan ties or interested in religious free minority group is discriminating Cairns. He used the term “Charter dom or liberty and groups of peo against another, the process can be Canadians” in a sort of unflatter ple with disabilities, or people used to deal with those issues as ing way to describe what he and a identified by their sexual orienta well. ...It is really important always number of conservative scientists tion. Tribune: Do you feel that the to have the mechanism for dealing called “special interest groups”. That is, people who were relying Charter is integral to our identity with complaints about rights vio lations. I also think that it’s not a on the rights in the C harter to as Canadians? Eberts: I think it is actually, bad thing in a society to recognise make points that the largely white male majoritarian parliamentary because it’s an expression of our d ifferen ces. O ur C anadian respect for differences and our C onstitution recognised differ people did not make. They meant, I think, to say b e lie f that you d o n ’t have to ences right from the very begin that C harter C anadians were a m erge into a m elting pot. You ning, long before we becam e don’t have to become all the same politically conscious of multicul in order to participate as citizens turalism. When our Constitution — in order to have rights. The was put together in 1867, it had jurisprudence under the Charter special rights for minority reli emphasises that you can be differ gious education and minority lan Continued from Page 11 ent and still have rights as a citi guage education — depending on urban centres. Young disagreed. zen. I think this is really funda where you were in the country. In “T h e y ’re there because looking at the rights under the mental to the Canadian identity... we’re a multicultural nation,” she Tribune: How do visib le Charter, the courts have pointed said. “I would argue that multicul minorities define their citizenship that out saying ‘well, Canada has turalism has a lot to do with that. always been prepared to recognise in terms of the Charter? The fact that we acknowledge our Eberts: I’m certainly not in a differences and make those differ diversity and cherish it.” position to speak first hand on that ences part of an approach to Bissoondath and others have issue but one experience that I’ve equality’. That’s where we differ argued that the federal govern had that might shed some light on from the United States. It may be ment, by encouraging ethnic sub the question is in the work that we more difficult but it’s a better way groups to maintain their heritage, did at LEAF. The point was made to go. is preventing C anadians from ...The adjustment of conflict again and again by various groups establishing a common identity with which LEAF consulted that between these distinctive commu and heritage of their own. you shouldn’t, for example, just n ities then takes on a greater “I don’t know what Canadian consider that all women have the importance. I’m not sure that we identity is or was, or what multi same point of view just because have really devoted enough time culturalism policy has to do with they’re all women. W ithin that or social resources to the adjust it,” Young said. “M ulticultural one group, you should look for the ment of conflict and difference or specificity of different women’s dealing with the problem s that policy is about a fair and equal experience so that you’re looking distinctiveness causes. society,” she said. Tribune: H aving cam But Maheux said that federal at a range of fem inism s and a range of w om en’s experiences paigned for Trudeau in 1968, do assistance should not be necessary because visible minority women you find that you still share in the to keep Canada’s cultural mosaic have a different perspective on ideas espoused by him 20 years together. things than white women and a ago? “Italian s had no problem Eberts: I continue to respect [preserving their culture], Greeks different perspective than aborigi had no problem doing it, Jews had nal wom en or wom en with or the vision of the Charter that he had — the vision of an entrenched no problem doing it,” she said. “If without disabilities and so on. LEAF was always looking to instrum ent or docum ent that it’s important to them they will develop a polycentric or a plurali would safeguard our rights vis-a maintain it.” B y L izzie Saunderson

Bissoondath...

bunch of special pleaders and didn’t have the general welfare in mind. Actually, the expression, while it was intended to be a criti cism, kind of caught on with a lot of people who were interested in using the Charter to advance peo ple’s rights. The Charter was one of the first times that a lot of dis enfranchised groups felt that they had a chance to influence the political system — m aybe not through the le g isla tu re ... but through the courts... I think the groups that Alan Cairns talked about being Charter Canadians were really meant to describe those people who had been involved in trying to get the

vis the state. I think that one of the aspects of Trudeau’s approach to government was the need to have a strong central government — a strong federal government and we have seen over the past several years with the Mulroney govern ment a sort of fiscal decentralisa tion. I think this is just a greater vindication of T rudeau’s ideas that there has to be a strong cen tral government. Now there are different levels at which that oper ates, the idea of having a strong basic net of social program s w hich is run on the basis of national standards and the funding mechanism for which is centrally administered still is an important one... As far as T ru d e au ’s basic vision that he w anted to keep Quebec within Confederation, I still hope that that can be done. I think that there is a huge amount of uncertainty and confusion in English Canada particularly as to the methods for keeping Quebec within Confederation. People are asking all over again the question that Trudeau purported to answer for us and th at is “ w hat does Quebec want?” Trudeau’s answer to what does Quebec want proved not to be the answer that would do the trick. Tribune: There is controver sy surrounding the proposal for a cultural defence. W hat is your opinion on this matter? Eberts: There are two exam ples that make me worry about how they’re even going to do a cultural defence claim. Look at the aboriginal com m unities in Canada or the traditional black communities in South Africa and

their dealings with the traditional law. The argument that th ere's some traditional law in one or the other of the communities or a tra d itional p ractice that ju stifie s something is problematic — how do we know what it is? ...W h o ’s evidence w ill be accepted as to what is a traditional defence and secondly, how far does it go? There are many soci eties where it is very traditional for a man to beat his wife. Now do we say that if someone who is charged with wife assault comes from one of those communities he can put forward a defence that m en in his com m unity have always beaten their wives and th a t’s the tradition? In certain other communities female circum cision is a long established tradi tion. Do we accep t that as a defence to a charge o f sexuai mutilation?... What about child hood in cest? W hat about polygamy? The cultural defence concept as recently discussed in the media is the discussion paper proposal from the federal government say ing that cultural defence should be possible and that would be a mat ter of statute. There would be, pre sumably, some public debate as to when that defence is available and what its boundaries are. I would be somewhat hesitant to accept across the board a cul tural defence because of the prob lems of defining it — figuring out when it really is a legitimate cul tural defence and dealing with those cultural defences which are fundamentally at odds with the way we see our legal system and our system of rights observance.

November 29th, 1994

T * * * * Pase .3

P r o f e s s o r s at M c G i l l t o s s s a la d s a n d m o s a ic s The Tribune met this week with professors from the McGill community to discuss different aspects of multiculturalism. Despite references to pastrami and international underwear, many serious practical and philosophical issues surrounding multiculturalism were raised. Professor Alain Gagnon, Director of Quebec Studies “First of all, there are two ways in which multiculturalism has been elaborated upon in Canada. It has become an attempt to provide communities with institutions that protect and develop distinct cultures. This is positive. But by doing that, Canada, or the federal government, has provided incentive for communities to become close-knit and diffi cult to penetrate. This type of “ghetto mentality” that Neil Bissoondath has spoken of has hampered attempts to build a common citizenship within Canada. Obviously, this is less positive. Since excessive regulation of protection of communities can hurt other communities, the question that must be asked is: where is the bal ance? Multiculturalism in Canada has done very little, for instance, to

protect and assert native cultures. It has also been used by the federal government to undermine, to dispose of, the issue of dualism. Francophones are made one element of a multicultural package. Quebec nationalists and premiers have dealt with this by enticing other commu nities to integrate themselves with francophones while still encouraging different cul tural beliefs. For example, they have assisted Jews to provide instruction in both Hebrew and French in public schools. In the last 20 years, multiculturalism has meant that people have retained their own language, which is good, but they have acquired English as their second lan guage so that it is becoming the common language of Canada. Without Bill 101 this would also have happened in Quebec. The attempt to undermine dualism has led to the perception of francophones as another minority within Canada who should there fore also learn English.”

often enter Canada years after their par Professor Swift, tion, popular music might be, but is there really ents. By the time the family is reunited, School of Social Work such a big difference between bands from L.A. parents and children may barely know and Toronto? And doesn’t all their amplification “In my experience, students from one another. The kids are suddenly in an “It’s a definitional question. What is cul equipment come from Japan? Most people in ture? We have to establish some common the world even wear the same clothes now if Quebec are quick to make the distinction environment of increased freedom, sur boundaries before we discuss this. I mean, if you think about it. Cotton pants, cotton shirt or between national policy and Quebec poli rounded by a new social scene and popu you and I go on a road trip together don’t we blouse; do you think Chinese underwear is real cy concerning the issue of multicultural lar culture. What is Canadian culture? It’s a ism. Some see the national policy as liply that different? first have to decide who’s going to drive? Despite this perceived difficulty in finding service that serves to keep groups politi tough question. When I ask students to That people come to Canada with different introduce themselves in backgrounds is a historical reality. Can you a common culture, the similarities between us cally separate and my C ross-C ultural therefore less have culture without language? To what degree are embarrassingly obvious. A Canadian is a Perspectives in Social powerful. Others are you still Italian if you and your children no person who lives here. A person whose prime Work Practice class find it is at least a longer speak the language? In Quebec, you minister at the moment is Jean Chretien. A per they almost never say way of recognis can’t be a French Canadian without speaking son whose passport is blue plastic (they used to ‘Canadian’. Many con ing differences French. Is there something hollow therefore at be much nicer) with a gold Canadian shield on between people sider them selves the core of multiculturalism? The government the front. In fact, if you look at that shield, you who live here and hyphenated Canadians policy to preserve these cultures without sup will notice that the founding fathers identified a means of avoid and some, mostly from four nations at ing the alternative? porting th eir language seems Quebec, don’t see them C onfederation: the bizarre and somewhat threatening selves as ‘Canadian’ at an American melt Irish, S cottish, to francophones because the adopt all. But we do have ing-pot approach. English, and French. ed language is usually English. It is also important to distinguish some defining characteristics. We are not What does that say between culture and race. You can belong as individualistic as the United States. Quebec n atio n alists work about our perceptions to a family who has been in Canada for We do allow for a greater social safety towards a common social project: of a dualistic begin generations and still be asked “where are net. Quebec society. Other Canadians ning? often assume either that there is no Social work, because it deals mainly you from?” if you are black. A cultural As C anadians, national culture or that there’s a lot issue in social work is child protection. with poor and marginalised populations, w e’ve created some Native and black children are greatly has always been involved in multicultural of them. This creates a comfort unique and valuable over-represented in child care in anglo issues. What is most important right now zone that lets people get on with life since there’s no need to fight for a national institutions. Canadians feel some responsibility phone Montreal. Why is that the case? is not so much teaching aspects of what culture that isn’t there. The image of the Tower for their neighbours whether the impetus behind We must be aware that child-rearing other cultures do, but examining our own of Babel that has always afflicted multicultural it is noble or not. I think its partly a matter of practices under different cultures are dif cultural background and how it affects survival; you can’t live in this climate if you ferent. Immigration also creates a unique the way we, as social workers, deal with ism still applies. National identity is not only hard to define don’t help each other. You don't have to pay to situation for children. Young immigrants clients.” in Canada. If you went to France, you would get someone to help push your car out in. T here’s no need to use reductive and Professor Dorsinville, expect a common culture. But I think the more of a snowbank, for example. Values exclusionary terms like ‘ethnic’, ‘expatriate’ Department of English time you spent there, the more you would dis like that are learned, but not in school. or ‘im migrant’ anymore when describing cover that isn’t the case. Paris doesn’t have a Getting away from ‘big C ’ notions of “One certainty is that Canada is not a writers. cultural monopoly on France, just like Montreal culture, this is what Canadians have in This is different from what I was raised synthesis: It is not a ‘melting pot.’ The immi isn’t the cultural centre of Quebec. What is common.” grant coming to Canada sooner or later con with. There was a time when if you weren’t of common to Canadians? For a younger genera fronts the paradox of a two-pronged nation British or French descent you assimilated and he is asked to make a choice — that is to quickly and did everything you could not to tures, but they are all the same. Aboriginals say, if the possibility of choice exists. But the distinguish yourself. You erased your accent, Professor James Tully, have the same cultural claims as Ukrainians. identification with either the English Department o f Philosophy you changed your name. Since the 1980s how ever, a pow erful or French culture does not detract Now, the forum has expand “Canada, like a lot of countries, is still counter-argument has arisen which asserts from his original culture or restrict ed. We all come from some that aboriginal claims are distinct. him from identifying with others. In going through a de-coloni where; some just came earli They do, after all, desire to be self- fact, the most successful Canadians sation, shedding the impe er than others. When I was governing nations. This is not the are those who can rise above the rialistic attitude of looking younger one of my good goal of Québécois anglophones, dialectic betw een English and down on d ifferen t cu l friends was Italian and his who want to ensure the protection French, and there are many exam tures. The 20th century mother used to make him of their language rights in schools ples. I see no contradiction in the has seen a huge migration fantastic lunches full of pas and the courts and still look to state’s recognition of its two found of peoples and we are trami and hero sandwiches. Ottawa for their protection. Nor is ing cultures (you cannot re-write learning to live in a world He’d hide them because they it the goal of the Greek community history) and the embracement of the of m utual respect. I were different. Of course, in Quebec which wants to protect multiplicity of cultures in Canada wouldn’t characterise our when he finally ate them its cultural practices and beliefs. that began under Trudeau in the late country as multicultural, openly, we all wanted some. The concept of ‘diversity’ is intro 1960s. but intercultural since all I think new generations duced, meaning that there are sev these cultures overlap in in Canada are freer from the Multiculturalism in practice is a eral cultures in Canada, but they natural social evolution. Naturally, numerous ways. You and imposition of institutions all have different claims. More friction will always exist. I don’t get nervous they had no responsibility in creating. Many I, for example, are part of complications. different gender cultures, about it because, in my experience, the history of them have mastered two or three languages The debates of the 21st century are of this country is one of a juxtaposition of cul and move between cultural boundaries with but we are both white so we share a cultural overlap that a native Canadian would not. those of overlapping cultures. Of some tures. This continuous juxtaposition would be more ease. If this is a result of multicultural The relationship between various cultures is native women campaigning against aborigi impossible in the United States — the one ism then I say ‘hooray’. very complex. The conception of a culture nal self-government because they did not time they seriously disagreed about their soci Canada is a successful alternative to the as completely separate is problematic now. want to relinquish their Charter rights to a ety, there was a civil war! regressive 19th century notion of the nation Yugoslavia is an example of the failure of dominant male elite. Imperialism doesn’t I teach a diversity of literary approaches, state. I have no problem with being labelled a work anymore, but neither does tribalism. not because I want to represent different ‘eth ‘conservative’ people if it means that when this view. One formulation of multiculturalism in These are the debates of the 21st century, nicities’, but because the best new writers we are confronted with an issue we proceed Canada is that, yes, there are different cul and we have to face them.” happen to reflect the cultural mosaic we live rationally.” Professor Desmond Morton, Institute for the Study o f Canada

n u .

Thanks p h o to g r a p h e r s fo r a ll y o u r h e lp

th is

s e m e s te r.

S e e y o u in J a n u a ry .

November 29th, 1994

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T e e s r i D u n iy a : a th e a tr e g r o u p w it h a n A g e n d a The group does not produce plays merely for the sake of artis tic expression, but believes in the Perhaps the best place to look need to forward its multicultural for instances of multiculturalism is agenda. Another defining element outside the realm o f o fficial of T eesri D uniya is strongly rh eto ric. The T eesri D uniya em phasised by co-founder and (“third w orld”) th eatre group, production manager Rahul Varma. which was initially founded as a He notes that much of v ehicle for plays in C anadian m ainstream Hindi, has evolved into a productions are either voice for m any of E nglish or French in C anada’s cultural com content. M oreover, munities. Its current pro when im migrant com duction entitled D iv id e d munities are included in W e S ta n d is a humorous o _o sto ry -lin es, they are look at the struggles and 3 often “exoticized”. The debates that the children u -2 theatre group aims to of recent Canadian immi 3 respond to this lack of grants face in their quest 0) representation by acting for identity. E as an o utlet for their “ I am C an ad a,” <9 oc tales. states the first character “We must gain the on stage. “Anyone who Teesri D u n iy a illustrates the cu ltu ra l tug o f w a r ability to decide what wants to take a chance on As light returns to the stage, position is best for us in society,” som ething better should take a the eight actors line up to identify states Varma. “This means being chance on me.” Having described himself to themselves to the audience. Each extremely truthful.” “Divided We Stand” is a col the audience, Canada suddenly one proceeds to list the numerous goes into labour giving birth to a ethnic and national elements in lection of these tales and common child of the New W orld. Upon their backgrounds, bombarding place scenarios that the children of entering the scene, the new-born the listeners with a never-ending im m igrants m ust w restle with throughout their developm ent. finds him self torn between his series of hyphenated names. One skit portrays the humiliation a P art of w hat defines the immigrant parent and his North Teesri Duniya theatre group is its young adolescent feels while hav American home. “Never forget who you are,” policy of “colour-blind” casting. ing to face his friends at the A&W Throughout the play the actors with his awkward Ukrainian par pleads his mother. “Find yourself,” says Canada abandon their own ethnic back ents at his side. The boy had been grounds regularly to adopt what trying desperately to fit in and to seductively. “We crossed five thousand ever nationality is called for in a win the heart of a girl nam ed Sarah who worked at the A&W. m iles so th at you could make particular skit. something of yourself,” shouts his mother. “Never forget your roots.” The tu g -o f w ar ends with mother, baby and “Canada” tum bling over one another, leaving no clear winner in the struggle for identity.

B y Sylvie Babarik

“Are you ashamed to show your fam ily ?” dem anded his mother. Her hurt soon turns to anger when she finds out that Sarah is Jewish. “ You know what they say about Jewish girls!” Another instance involves a daughter trying to sneak out to meet a friend without her conserv ative Italian father discovering that she is wearing perfume. Not only does he detect the odour and insist on buffing it off of her, but the lipstick and short skirt also become objects of contention. The debate between the generations is dramatically played out through song. The d aughter finally escapes, unscented, babushkaclad, and polished back to propri ety. “Every time I go out, its like a opera production,” she complains. “Every time I leave I get a half an hour on the Holocaust,” retorts her Jewish friend. O ther issues addressed include mixed marriages, the sac rifices of first generation parents, and the woes of the non-peanut butter ethnic lunch bag. The means of conveying the messages are equally varied ranging from rap songs to the monologue of the worried mother. Whether a scene employs humour or severity, the overall message is clear. “Values should not be charac

terised by colours only,” sums up Varma. “This does not mean that identity has to be compromised. We are going to see more mixed marriages, and identities will be somewhere in between. Whenever there is a clash of cultures, an am algam ation of values, what comes out will be better.” The federal governm ent seem s to agree w ith T eesri Duniya’s treatment of multicultur al issues, for it awarded the group with a grant to facilitate the devel opment of their productions and workshops. Members of the audience also appreciated the treatment of multi culturalism and of the search for ethnic identity by the children of immigrants. “It was funny, but so true,” said Helen Borouilos. “I caught the difference between the two generations.” “I wish I had brought my par e n ts ,” stated K aren-M araiah Shillingford. “I am West-Indian, and saw myself in the play. There are a lot of issues in there that they m ight have b etter u n d er stood.” D iv id e d W e S ta n d sh o w s at th e S tr a th e r a n I n t e r c u lt u r a l C e n tr e (3 6 8 0 J e a n n e - M a n c e ) th r o u g h D e c e m b e r 11. S tu d e n t f a r e is $ 1 0 T u e s d a y s -T h u r s a y s and $13 Fridays through Sundays. Shows start a t 8 p.m .

L iberal Arts P ro v id es C o m m o n G round By Iane Rigby________________________________________ Professor Mette Hjort is the Director of the Department of English’s Cultural Studies program at McGill. At the October 31st installation of Principal Shapiro she presented an address entitled B etw een C o n flict a n d C on sen su s: M u lticu ltu ra lism a n d the Liberal Arts which explored the role universities have

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to play in an increasingly multicultural future. To begin with, H jort makes the distinction between “corporate” and “critical” multiculturalism. Corporate multiculturalism is motivated by a set of economic concerns, like learning an Asian language in order to be able to trade with the Pacific Rim. Hjort thinks that curricular reform at universities should go farther than this. Students should learn to approach other cul tures with “a p re sumption of worth.” This is accomplished not only by learning about other cultures, but by being able to distance ourselves from our own. This will contribute to critical multiculturalism which “seeks to redress various injustices by making room for marginal voices and cultures.” Opponents of a diversified curriculum often argue that it is undesirable, even dangerous “because it threatens to undermine a shared or common culture.” But Hjort notes that this erroneously assumes that our common culture is enduring and unchanging. In addi tion, what is being labelled “common”, and thus uni versal, is actually the product of specific histories, geo graphies, and modes of social organisation. The con sideration of an additional culture does not displace the traditional canon; it simply widens the cultural sphere. Hjort continues by stating that “the thorny issue, it seems to me, concerns the extent to which well-func

tioning, modern, democratic societies depend on the existence of som ething called ‘common culture’...What exactly must citizens have in common? And to what extent is it the task of a liberal education to ensure that the appropriate levels and forms of shar ing occur?” Her response to this question is based on the premise that industrial society depends on citizens who share a standardised education that contains “literacy, numeracy, basic work habits and social skills, and familiarity with basic technical skills.” Hjort notes that the acquisition of these skills does not have to be achieved through the imposition of a single cultural tradition. Literacy, for example, can be acquired from culturally diverse readings. She argues that “although a particular body of knowledge must to some extent be shared by students of a given disci pline, students aim ing at positions within a highly mobile work force, may find basic skills, as opposed to specific academic content, more useful in the long run.” Some multiculturalists claim that a common culture is both illusory and unnecessary. Difference, in their view, is the only enduring commonality that truly exists. Although H jort agrees that differences shouldn’t be denied, she finds that this approach miss es an obvious point: you can’t have a productive debate about culture without sharing basic norms or some sort of framework. She believes this framework for discussion is what modem, secular universities like McGill provide. They “establish a right to scrutinise received tmths, tradi tions, and conventions in a process of rational, public debate governed by basic norms.” It is by respecting these norms of rational debate that universities will be able to face the challenges of an increasingly multicul tural future.

November 29th, 1994

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ENTERTAINMENT S e a r c h in g fo r h a p p in e ss in th e im p e r fe c t w o r ld o f P in te r ’s Betrayal B y Lori F ireman “Welcome to today’s Oprah Winfrey show. We're talking to men who cheat on their wives.” Switch channel. “Hello, this is Ricki Lake and these are the men who sleep aro u n d and the women who love them." Switch. “P hil Donahue here with the men who love women, lots o f women.” In a time when extra-marital affairs are as com mon as turning on the TV, M cG ill’s T uesday N ight C afé T heatre has aptly selected H arold P in te r’s B etra ya l for its first p roduction. Unlike the modern talk show, Pinter’s play focuses not on the husband but on the w ife. Emma (Sarah M arsh) betrays her spouse, R obert (G abriel Levine), by having an affair with his best friend Jerry ( M a t t h e w Macfadzean), who is also m arried. C ontrary to the ty p ical affair which is based on carnal attractio n , Em m a and Jerry are drawn to each other through their mutual loneliness and desperate desire to be loved. Betrayal also explores the way the love a ffa ir affects Robert and Jerry’s relationship as they strive towards an under standing of loyalty and friend ship that tests the power of love and temptation. W hat m akes this play so powerful is its honesty. The con cept of adultery is examined at all angles and the realism of the situation is brought out through Pinter’s biting sarcasm and use

of repetition. The dialogue is brazen, and the audience feels as if Pinter had read som eone’s diary and had ripped it painfully apart. In addition, the long paus es w hich surround P in te r’s words underline what the script alone cannot reveal of the char acters’ inner struggles. The play begins after the a ffair has ended, and w orks backwards in time. This format gives the play a mysterious qual

ity w here the audience is allowed to become the author and decide the fate of the charac ters. Pinter’s plays demand a cast which can portray the intensity of em otions not only through what is said, but particularly through the subtext. The TNC players more than meet the chal lenge. Using impressive British accents which remain consistent throughout the play, the actors give first-ra te perform ances which are so true to life that the audience has to remind them selves they are at a play. Jerry

(M acfadzean) is particu larly noteworthy in his realistic depic tion of a tortured lover. His face is powerfully expressive and his lines are delivered with a heart breaking v u ln erab ility and dream iness w hich m ake his character so convincing. Costum e and design also deserve special mention. The set is simple but effective in that it reflects the seperation and dis tance amongst the characters in terms of lifestyle as well as in emotion. The lovers flat, in p artic u la r, has a cozy hom eliness that belies the chara c te rs ’ attem pt to form another home. The costum es, particularly Emma’s dresses, are appro p riate to the tim e period as well as the economic status of the characters. One scene, in w hich uppity p u b lish er R obert (Levine) in terro g ates his wife, shows him in a silk robe that looks like it came o ff the host of Masterpiece Theatre. Here, the self-righteousness of his character is strengthened by the ostentatious nature of his clothing. It is not an easy task to stage a Pinter play, but this pro duction is masterfully produced with the ease of an experienced director. Lori Delorme has out done herself and has chosen the right environm ent for such a classic story. The intimacy of the theatre is the perfect setting for this timeless story of the pursuit of love and happiness in an imperfect world. If only Pinter were alive to see it.

Holiday Fun for th e TSTTi \ Til *f w h o le Family The holiday season has always meant my trying to please a weird mélange of old friends, parents, siblings and various peripherals like high school ex’s and my great aunt Judy. So if you’re in the same boat and look ing for interesting, popular and accessible entertainment — here’s a few tribune selections of recommended ways to amuse yourselves and your loved ones this December without having to touch either mosh-pit or post modernist interpretative dance. The Montreal Symphony performs Handel’s infamous Messiah in the beautifully grand Notre-Dame Basilica in Old Montreal, December 20,21 at 7:30 p.m. This offering promises to be an enormous and vibrant coupling of chorus and orchestra in a most resonant and serene atmosphere. Because this performance serves as a highly-regarded annual tradition (since 1958), it will probably sell out far in advance. For tickets, call 842-9951 or 8422112. Also, December 13 and 14, the MSO perform excerpts from Wagner’s Faust, Mozartian arias, and Mahler’s 4th Symphony. For tickets, call 7901245. Lome Elliot launched his solo stand-up act back in *74 when my par ents still wore really ugly clothes. This very funny, banjo-strummin’, big haired playwright plays up the Centaur Theatre in Old Montreal (453 St Francois-Xavier), December 14-17. To give you an idea of his brand of humour, he’s opened for Rodney Dangerfield and Jay Leno, and has worked the underground classic Dr. Demento radio show. Tickets hover around $20-$25. All proceeds go to Sun Youth. For more info, call 2883161. Over 350 of Alex Colville’s realistic Canadiana art is showing at Musée des Beaux Arts until January 15. It’s a good place to go, especially if you have yet to see the museum’s permanent collection. Student prices range from $3-$4.75 (adults $4.75-59.50). The gods of rock and roll smile upon the birth of three new McGillrelated bands. St. Velma, Sackville, and Mr. Coffeenerves will be kickin’ the ill nerves Dec. 8 at Café Focus. (Band members from Howard North, Pest, Heywood and Kat Rocket) The L’Opéra de Montréal showcases its most fun-loving event of the year with Can-can king Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne, December (10, 12, 14-17, 19). Good tickets are outrageously expensive, so have your relative/ffiend of choice call for tickets at 985-2258. The Specials are playing! The Specials are playing! Metropolis $15 + taxes. December 5. OK, so maybe don’t bring your grandma unless she’s mighty hip. Gift item? Frank Sinatra has just released Duets II on Capital. Pushing eighty years of age, Sinatra has just released his follow-up album to the marginally successful Duets. Replacing musicians such as Liza Minelli and Bono who dueted their hearts out with Frankie on the first album, we are presented which the likes of Neil Diamond and Jon Secada. Highlights include a brilliant performance by Willie Nelson in “A Foggy Day” (I’m serious!). This little ditty will have you crooning “In foggy London town the sun was shinin’! Shinin'! Shinin’! “all the way to your local powder blue tuxedo rental emporium. So there you go, folks. You have a good time, and we’ll see you here next semester, you hear? — Joyce Lau & Emma Rhodes

Frankenstein stitc h e s to g e th e r literature w ith H o lly w o o d By B rendan C ully Kenneth Branagh fans like myself really wanted to like this m ovie. And in spite o f all the rumours and reviews to the con trary, Branagh has m anaged to create the most exciting and accu rate version of Frankenstein yet to appear on film. The review in the Mirror suspiciously cited a heavy emphasis on Frankenstein, the creator, rather than on his monster as a divergence from the story. This signifies a strangely post-modern sort of illiteracy — for the book does give m ore w eight to the d o cto r than the

movie. This tale is meant to be one of madness and passion and their terrible results, not about some body parts stitched together. That’s a Jeff Fahey movie. To be co m p letely Frank (sorry), the opening is a bit rocky. Not only is Aidan Quinn unim pressive, but the events leading to the story are also a bit rushed and d isjo in ted . B ra n a g h ’s m agic d o e sn ’t begin to work until Frankenstein begins to tell his •story. Although bits of explanato ry plot are left out, his telling is completely faithful throughout, until the very end of the movie where some slight and effective

poetic license is taken. (In this regard it cannot be compared to Dracula, which sets a pattern of complete whimsy about the actual story). The only two peripheral alterations are the additions of John Cleese in a rare straight role (carrie d off, m ind you) as V ic to r’s m entor, and Tom “ A m adeus” H ulce as his best buddy. People have objected — as if one ever needs an excuse to cast these two. The cinem atography is as good as anything B ranagh has done, which is to say very good indeed. C o p p o la’s big-bucks backing seems to make anything

possible, and the Swiss backdrop is tastefully exploited. Branagh creates an e x c ellen t, in ten se young d o cto r; and H elena Bonham-Carter, while still a bit cutesy, manages to evoke a cer tain mature groundedness. As for D eN iro, he som ehow fills his somewhat mute and clumsy char acter with rage and intellect. In fact, the entire cast does remark ably well, testifying to Branagh’s sk ille d d irec tio n . The p lo t is developed rapidly (as a plot-based novel like Shelley’s requires) yet does not sacrifice continuity or atmosphere — a rare accomplish ment. Flawless and brilliant, two

w ords often asso c ia te d w ith B ranagh, are as ap p licab le as ever. After the death of his wife, Branagh takes a little license... he re su rrec ts her. Y o u ’d expect som ething like this to be com pletely extravagant, an eyesore, but somehow it is tasteful and almost incidental, little more than a device to make the line between, man and monster become hazy. The details of the absolute end have been changed as well, but are perhaps now more effective on the screen. If you enjoyed the book, on th is o ccasio n , you should enjoy the movie as well. ^

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November 29th, 1994

EN TER TA IN M EN T

A la L ove, a u p a in s e c e t S p ie g e lm a n a n d M a r c h ’s e x o t i c j a z z - a g e d to u r d e f o r c e

à l ’e a u fr a îc h e Par G eneviève Emond “ L ’écriture est ma plus grande liberté.”-Louise Desjardins Samedi dernier, au Salon du livre, j ’ai doucement violé les secrets intimes de La Love, le pre mier roman de Louise Desjardins, publié aux éditions Leméac. Oeuvre simple, vivante, La Love, c’est la vie de Claude, petite Abitibienne de la fin des années ‘50 aux prises avec sa recherche intérieure et ses problèmes quotidi ens. En plein envol, nous la suivrons de Noranda à Ottawa, en passant par M ontréal ju sq u ’en Europe, vers Patteinte de sa liberté. Claude vibre beaucoup entre autres en relation avec Eddy: un “anglo” (une réalité bien présente des immigrants d ’Abitibi des années 1940-50) Louise Desjardins me dira même qu’on les appellait “engrais”. Claude, pour sa part, qui se perd volontiers dans la fiction de sa propre vie, finit simplement par dire: “ Je voudrais être une page de roman”. L ’idée de La Love est venue d’une nouvelle écrite pour un colloque à Moncton répondant à la question: “Qu’est-ce qui fait que vous vous sentez américain?”. En s’efforçant de définir son américanité par sa nouvelle Coke is Coke, Louise a dérivé vers des symboles, puis vers sa propre enfance. Ce retour aux sources a finalement fait naître son roman. Autobiographique surtout par les lieux et quelques événements de la vie de Claude, La Love est un roman d’identité. On parle ici surtout de ce que l’auteur appelle les “iden tités métissées”. Autour de ce thème viendront se greffer trois idées sec ondaires: la linguistique (ici traduit dans l ’univers franco-anglais), la politique, et le sexe (à travers les expériences de Claude). “Je suis une écrivaine de

frontières” soutient Louise Desjardins, “J’écris pour exprimer ce que je suis et je suis ce mélange de langues”. Pour elle, le choc des langues est très positif. La dualité de son enfance, dans cette région frontalière q u ’était à l ’époque l’Abitibi , l’a poussée à rechercher cette énergie qui vient d'ailleurs. Louise Desjardins possède cette écri ture des mots accessibles, qui font toutefois vivre, rendre compte de sentiments beaucoup plus complex es. “Oui, écrire au Québec, c ’est accessible!, me répond-elle. Il faut se donner le droit d ’être. Je me fais plaisir, poursuit-elle. Ma plus grande liberté c’est l’écriture.” Fascinée par la création, énergique, Louise Desjardins est une grande amoureuse de la vie. Un long processus de recherche, de confiance en elle débuté il y a 13 ans, et un séjour au Népal l’ont amenée à saisir l ’essentiel. A ujourd’hui, elle ne conçoit plus sa vie sans écriture. Comment ne pas faire autrement surtout devant la pureté, la disponi bilité du paysage d’une forêt abitibi enne? La poésie de Desjardins, tout comme son roman, est une bouffée de fraîcheur, une légère brise venant... du nord. Récipiendaire du prix des arcades de Bologne pour La Love, en nomination au Journal de Montréal dans les secteurs prose et prix du public, Louise Desjardins a pourtant déjà livré sa conscience à autre chose. Le berceau de son enfance, la frontière, la brisure entre les deux cultures, nous préparerait-elle un deuxième roman pour bientôt? “J’ai le goût d’écrire.” con clut-elle. “ Écrire les mots, les senti ments pour ce qu’ils sont.” Il y a dans les mots un immense pouvoir de solution. Et dans les mots de Louise Desjardins, une conscience douce qui rassure un peu malgré tout. À la love...

disinterested narrative distance reminiscent of the silent movie’s cinéma vérité. There is a gritty reality There’s something uncomfortably luxurious which undermines the slick coolness that dominates about a controversial literary text which has been the book. An insignificant newspaper ad for “lustrous transformed into a physically generous entity — espe black leather pumps” accompanies an episode of a cially when encased in lusty, soft, bloody red fabric, man beating his wife with said shoe. Newspapers fall and replete with indulgent negative space and bold off kitchen tables during scenes of domestic violence; graphic illustration. So rarely do art and poetry meet dirty bras hang on doorknobs; neighbours complain of in a form which exists on the many levels straddling noise and men cry at music playing on the Victrola. simple fairy-tale, well-versed erotica, and socio-polit The images become more warped and more boldly cropped as high drunkenness ensues and poetic ical commentary. Art Spiegelman brought literary and art worlds to speech and spelling are slurred. The Wild Party shocks with tales of pure, unadul a halt with his Pulitzerterated hatred, offers hope with what seems to be a prize winning comic book shred of retaliating compassion, and then shocks series Maus, an animated again as compassion quickly falls away to apathy, narration which takes a again and again. This is a tale of the hideously selfish strikingly accessible swarms of human larvae, and not of the glamorous and moving look at flocks of social butterflies they assume themselves to political and emotion be. al forces behind one man’s experi With poetry punctuated by the ravenous bites of ences under the Nazi regime. syncopated jazz beats, March writes a seemingly Last m onth, Spiegelm an childish ditty which sings an honest and brutally con released yet another juicy temptuous song. The off-handed tactics of pre-PC lit documentation of social erature are refreshingly cleansed of the self-righteous history reverberating with ness which plague many of the socio-political writing social issues most rele of today. This text is populated by pansied gay men, vant today. In reinterpret over-bearing lesbians, rich jittery Jews, dumb blondes ing The Wild Party (1928), a relative and Mexican harlots. Though pointedly derogatory, ly obscure poem by Joseph the text is equally derogatory towards all involved, Moncure March, Spiegelman whether they are part of a historically oppressed pop paints a portrait of the paradigm ulation or not. The overly aggressive lesbian is por Jazz Age party. The bold strokes trayed as a sexual harasser in the way the overly of Spiegelman’s comic book art aggressive boxer is. Women are prone to be both the wrap the pizzicatoed verse telling perpetrator and the victim of domestic violence. The the tale of one night’s tragic and fly on the wall does not impose moral judgements. erotic debauchery. The W ild Not m erely textual accom panim ent, Party is a practice in crafty Spiegelman’s artwork is as a piece which stands on its visual and semantic gym own, documenting movement great and small. The nastics, all bound in boda detailed study of the movements of a woman’s blink cious strength. does what words can not. The flowing progression of Again, The Wild Party Spiegelman’s choreography is often stopped short by is a generous physical entity. stilted portraits of statuesque villains. Candle-lit shad Red felt inside cover. Almost blank page. Wildly busy title page. Double page illus ows dance across angular walls, while strong faces tration. One word lines in heavily spaced type. Heavy stand monstrously realistic. Spiegelman has taken an exaggerated look at the paper. The way in which this book rests in the hands alone acts as a warning to relish each turn of the page, typical Roaring ‘20s party and turned it into a micro and to resist the natural easing flow of the thick fast cosm of some of the artificial structures of society. As plot, the running musical rhythms and the illustrations he says in the introduction, “ [March’s] generation swilled bathtub gin and had a wild party. Our genera which often sweep the eye across and off the page. tion gulps Prozac — or gets lost in used bookstores Together, Spiegelman and March achieve a blacker than black tongue-in-cheek humour through a — while waiting for the cops to rush in.” BY lOYCE LAU

M onsieur de Voltaire v u p a r B e a u lie u v u p a r l u i- m ê m e Par A nne-Marie Labbé___________ Entreprendre la lecture d ’une oeuvre de Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, c’est entrer dans un monde nivelé

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tout jamais sous son emprise. Une sorte d’emprisonnement volontaire pour ceux qui choisissent d’accéder à l ’univers transcendant de Beaulieu. Avec Monsieur de Voltaire, V ictor-Lévy Beaulieu nous entraîne dans les dédales de la vie du grand écrivain français du XVIIIe siècle. En parallèle, l’auteur relate son séjour personnel dans un centre de désintoxication qui devient sous sa plume “une maison d’enfermement”. C’est à l ’occasion de cette cure de repos, loin de l ’alcool, que Beaulieu a fait recon naissance avec V oltaire. Personnage à la fois monstrueux et talentueux, les débordements de personnalité de V oltaire font paraître n’importe qui, en compara ison, comme étant un petit mouton angélique. Nous avons droit à la rencon tre de deux mondes, deux person nages qui se croisent et se chevauchent le temps d’une lecture en confluant vers une même pas sion: la littérature. On découvre un

Voltaire élevé dans un milieu où régnait l’hypocrisie et la contradic tion. Ses blessures d ’enfance le conduisent à imaginer d ’exorbi tants rêves de grandeur basés sur le pouvoir, la domination, l’opulence et la gloire. Son ambition déver gondée lui permettra de mettre en oeuvre et de réaliser la plupart de ses désirs au détriment de toutes valeurs fondamentales et au prix de quelques am itiés et de deux emprisonnements à la Bastille. De son côté, Beaulieu fait allu sion à son enfance. De Race de monde à aujourd’hui, il y a le pas sage du temps, l ’évolution d ’un monde et d ’un auteur à qui l ’on doit une quarantaine de livres et trois téléromans (dont le génial M ontréal, P.Q. que j ’écoute religieusement crayon à la main pour noter à chaque semaine cer taines bribes d’une prose unique et sublime). “L ’ailleurs, il est au milieu de moi, là où ça saigne dans la déri sion,” confie l’auteur. C’est avec une franchise désarmante que ce

dernier choisit de se livrer tout au long de son récit semblable à un journal intime. Il commente son désarroi, ses problèmes, sa peur de se retrouver face à la banalité du quotidien. Puis il relate sa prise de conscience et son épopée pour se prouver, d’abord à lui-même, qu’il fait partie du monde des vivants. Malgré le peu de recul qu’il s’est donné afin de faire le point sur sa personne, Beaulieu nous transmet sans cachotterie ses émo tions, ses sentiments et ses pensées intimes. En créant le genre littéraire de la “romancerie”, quelque part entre la biographie et l’autobiogra phie, l ’auteur reste fidèle à son habitude de jouer avec les mots et les conventions établies en déjouant au besoin celles trop bien ancrées dans une certitude impuné ment raisonnable. “Le secret d ’ennuyer est celui de tout dire,” prétendait Voltaire. Je vous laisse donc le soin de vous faire envoûter par une oeuvre dont la valeur n ’a d ’égale que la sim plicité.

November 29th, 1994

EN TERTA IN M EN T

P ag ein

I n s id e o u t A b o u t 7 0 0

W o rd s

Paul Darvasi Henry had m et M illy in a language class, they frequently studied together and often met for coffee. Eventually, they decided to satisfy a common appetite for B-movies and watch Return from the P ast at the Paris. Leonard Maltin summed it up as “...veter ans wasted in utter monstrosity; five tales of the supernatural told here are five too m any.” They just had to see it. Saturday night rolled around and while the pair reveled in Lon C haney at his w orst, the first snowfall of winter came, laying an even white blanket over the city. After the show, they filed out through the crowd and out to the cold, wet streets. “I had no idea it was going to snow, I ’m really underdressed and I ’m sick ,” w hined Henry, slurping up the last sip o f his drink. The cold air quickly aggra vated his sinuses, but rather than making a big production of snort ing and spitting, he discreetly began to' dispose of phlegm and spittle through the straw, into the empty cup. Portable septic tank he thought. “You know the one about the baby in the septic tank, right?” “O f course. Now come on and let’s walk, we’re bigger than all this,” offered Milly. “It’ll be a valiant struggle with the raw ele ments — it’s good for the soul. Don’t be a wimp.” “Sure, what the hell. L et’s g o ,” he agreed h alf heartedly, thinking about how ill he would feel the next day. “ D o n ’t you rem em ber the episode of Rocket Robin Hood,” she began, in an attempt to pick up his spirits. “The one where the M erry Men crash land on that w eird p lan et w ith the w a te r colour accident horizon? They’re trapped in a forest of giant mush rooms whose poisonous vapours

threatened to seduce them into a sleep from which they will never wake.” “How did R ocket save the day?” he asked, indulging her playful mood. “Stories. He told the men to take turns telling stories to fend o ff the fa ta l sleep. S tandard flashback feature — the screen gets wavy and plays a clip from a past show.” “ Go on then R o c k e t,” he mocked. “Tell me a story.” “OK, smart ass, I’ll start. My aunt had bought this cactus from Mexico. She kept it on her dress er until one day it started shaking like crazy. She called the nursery, and they told her to evacuate the house as quickly as possible. Apparently the cactus was preg nant with a nest of scorpions.” “That’s the oldest one in the book!” laughed Henry. He sup pressed a cough and made anoth er deposit. There was a signifi cant accumulation of fluid in the cup. “ W hat about the obese woman who was sitting on the can in an airplane. Her fleshy ass sealed the toilet and when she flushed, the difference in pressure literally tore out her entrails. She died on the spot.” “T h a t’s m o rb id ,” she groaned. “ Hold on to my cup for a m inute w hile I warm up my hands and I ’ll tell you another one.” “I can’t wait,” she answered sheepishly taking the cup. “There was this freak who worked the graveyard shift in a Romanian mortuary, and had the peculiar habit of sodomising the newly admitted corpses.” “ W hile they w ere still warm,” added Milly. “ Sm all c o m fo rt,” m used Henry, blowing warm air on his

cold hands. “Anyway, one night they admitted a young girl whom he pounced on like a vulture to veal. The twisted part, is that the shock of the intrusion brought her out of it — she’d been in a deep coma. The hospital had grossly misjudged the situation.” “ I ’ve h eard this one too, although I d o n ’t think she was even taken to a hospital. I think the whole thing took place out in the Transylvanian countryside,” she corrected, chattering in the chilly wind. “It was the hospital’s m is take, I read it in the paper,” con tinued Henry. “A pparently her parents didn’t lay charges, they were ju st happy to have their daughter back. I guess he lost his job.” “ I should hope so !” She fe ig n e d scan d al and took an absent-minded sip from the drink. “D on’t drink!” He tried to stop her, but it w as too late. Henry looked on in horror as she tore herself away from the cup in d isg u st. A brid g e o f saliv a stretched between her mouth and the tip of her straw. “Oh my...” she sputtered and gagged. “Oh my God, what is this shit, what was in there?!?” “I’m so, so sorry, I was gob bing in to ...” He made an aw k ward attempt to wipe her mouth, but she pushed him away, wanti ng to be left alone by the perpe trator of the singlemost revolting act she had ever been subjected to. “ S hould I even m ention swapping spit?” “ Y o u ’re re ally m aking it worse,” she said, not amused in the least. “ I was only tying to be a g e n tle m a n ...” He o ffered this final, feeble plea, but quickly stopped, knowing that there was little dignity to be salvaged from a night that had grow n bigger than e ith e r one o f them . Som etim es the only dignity is silence.

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F R I D A Y S A T U R D A Y

Page 20

EN TER TA IN M EN T

Hip Hop Review

...A t R a n d o m t a k e s f a t e By Ioyce Lau

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The soulful yibe-strewn world inhabited by the likes of Fate and DJ Nykeldon is held together by an unlikely togetherness. Montreal hip hop duo ...At Random is indicative of a scene which immerses itself in the slick elec tronics of the studio while keeping an eye on the freestylin’ life of the streets. Fate works and reworks his equalisers and volume controls as a pared down backbeat thumps incessantly in the background. In these techno-happy confines, Fate remixes material for their u p c o m in g 7” while relating to the Tribune the very g ro u n d e d re a litie s from which his music was born. “What influ ences hip hop is infi nite because it comes from things that go on everyday. Hip hop remembers where it came from. It has roots. It grew out of the streets,” he said. Talk to Fate about the history of hip hop culture, and you’ll understand why there’s sim ply no room for apology in its boastful aggres sion. “The roots of hip hop is some bragdacious stuff, and that’s where it gets its power. Hip hop started off with people dancing in the park to R&B when the DJs and the MCs moved in. The DJs got to battling it out with the rhythms, and MCs went battling it out on the mikes. Even then and even now, everything in hip hop culture is still about competition — break danc ing, who’s got hipper clothing, who’s car sys tem is going to drown out the rest.” Truly bragdacious hip hop is too often equated with gun-totin’ gangsta-hate, leaving artists like Fate with the ordeal of fighting down an onslaught of stereotypes. Fate

explains that, “hard core hip hop is not about sex and guns. It’s not gangsta rap, but music from the heart. It’s the power in the sound and the feel, not the violence, which make it hard core.” Because of its rhyme-heavy repetition, impassioned bad-boy dogma and smart-ass misspellings, the hip hop scene has taken on a reputation of being boarishly loud and mind lessly militant. However, ...At Random’s music is taking on a refreshing new form which may grow into something not ungenerous in subtlety and intellect. Fate has some big hopes for his future development. “Though this side of me hasn’t shown up yet, I hope that my music will evolve into something that looks at me spiritually, and looks at me as someone who wants to better him self,” he said. Even though hip hop borrows liberally from all over the m usical spec trum, the hip hop commu nity has still come off as an exclusive bunch who don’t stray too far from their funked out mothership. When Fate talks about music, he fluidly drops names like Nas, Method Man and The Notorious B.I.G.. But when Fate talks about sampling, he’s quick to point out that hip hop artists freely mimic sounds from many of the snippets of the pop culture that surround them. “The people we sample aren’t just certain rappers and R&B artists. We use anything that sounds good to the ear, from anybody and everybody. There are thousands of millions of places to find influences. And if there’s something good that sounds funny in your music, you still use it, and you change it — because you know that there was something good there to begin with,” he said. -------------------------“Everything’s about variety and versatility. It’s all at random, you know?”

VICE-PRINCIPAL (Adm inistration and Finance) The position of Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) at McGill University will become vacant on June 30, 1995 upon the retirement of Mr. John Armour after sixteen years of service in this position.

An Advisory Committee has been established to assist the Principal in the identification of a candidate or candidates suitable to assume this senior University position. The Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) is responsible for the planning and management of University finances, the development and administration of human resource policies and practices for administrative and support staff, compensation for all faculty and staff and equity issues in human resource activities. This University officer functions in English and French. Comments, nominations and applications regarding this position should be forwarded in confidence to: Principal Bernard Shapiro c/o Secretariat James Administration Building 845 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T5 b efo re J a n u a r y 3 0 ,1 9 9 5 .

McGill University is committed to equity in employment.

D ig a b le P la n e ts By B rendan C ully and D avid M endelsohn

in to its o w n h a n d s

November 29th, 1994

may be more inclined to tune in to the message of Blowout Comb the smooth sound D igable Planets tradem arked h asn ’t suf fered in the transition. One technique em ployed to create the fusion of m essage and medium on this album is

After a hiatus not real ly comparable to that of the Stone Roses, Butterfly (aka Ishm ael), M ecca (aka Ladybug) and Knowledge (aka Doodlebug) are back in black. The Digable Planets’ sec ond outing Blowout Comb brings to the fore an a g g r e s s iv e activism which was buried on their first album under layers of mellow funk and jazz, but w h i c h D i g a b 1e Planets frontp e rs o n -b y def aul t Ladybug argues was no less r intense. “The political direction is not a new direction.. It Photo Caption was present on the last album, but it the noticeable presence of was overlooked. We’re just several guests, like Jeru the being more direct this time. Dam aja and especially T h ere’s no dram atic Guru (of Gang Starr fame, more recently change from the first and album to this album, just a Jazzm atazz), building a natural progression,” she powerful and legitim ate of solidarity. argues, only a little tenu sense definitely ously. A lthough people “T h ey ’re

friends,” she says of the guests. “Like with Guru, we’ve done a lot of shows with Jazzm atazz, so we were already close and had always talked about doing something together. So it happened like that. With Jeru, it was the same. It was a conscious effort, yeah it was all like that.” (Int erestingly, Guru seems to have been going in the opposite direction of Digable Planets, p ro g re s s in g from aggression to mellow jazz). Ladybug has claimed that the, ahem, greater subtlety on their g o ld -s e llin g debut Reachin’ (A New R efu t ation o f Time and Space) was necessary to get their foot in the door, and now that they have some presence, they can afford to be more vocal. The move to B rooklyn may be for sim ilar reasons. “W e’re very much a part of Brooklyn. I think it makes m ore o f a difference to labels when they try and market us. I generally find people enjoy our music See Planets Page 22

A d v e n t u r e s a t C a m p M a d fla v a • A completely subjective review o f Das Efx/PMD By K urt D ogc ___________________ There must be some secret scroll somewhere, perhaps forged by angry masses of Hee Haw fans, that misleads hip hop promoters into completely screwing up their shows. In absence of this, or some other conspiracy theory, one must simply come to the conclusion that these prom oters have had one Phillies Blunt too many. The recent Das Efx/PMD show November 10 at the Dome was a perfect example of the dopey-not-dope promotin’ skills that plague hip hop. After standing in the cold for a long, long time, my homeboy and I were finally let into the show. I could end the review here by point ing out that the highlight of my evening was the the record-setting of the most times that I ’ve been frisked in one evening (four), but that probably says more about me than the show. By 10:30, the funk had still not been freaked, but we were being entertained by some whack local DJ. While I did enjoy musing on how much of a resem

blance he bore to television’s Jaleel White (Steve Urkel), his attempts at getting the crowd hyped led to the distinct impression that I was at Dr. Dre’s Bar Mitzvah. Before the Das Efx crew could kick the sewaside flava, four local groups took the stage. While none were particularly aw ful, I was jonesin’ for some No-Doze, hard core. Props go out to M isery’s breakdance crew, however for rais ing my “street” self esteem. When Das Efx’s Skoob busted out some weak monlogue about all the frontin ’ poseurs in the house, who weren’t into hip hop the first time around, I had a minor existential crisis. Then I realized, “hey, I was into hip hop the first time around — while my room may have been covered with 8 x 10’s of Duran Duran’s three Taylors, I was fully into Breakin’, Beat Street, and the oft-neglected classic, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. If that ain’t oldskool, G-M oney, I d o n ’t know what is. Das Efx did manage to throw down some dope beats-, but the fates were working against them. The Dome is a pretty nutty hip hop venue — its neon ambience more

reminiscent of that cute blonde boy’s bar on Model’s Inc., than it is of the sewa. The uber-distorted bass and Vocals made the music damn near unlistenable. Skoob and Dray also attempted some “raise the somnambulant-crowd’s enthu siasm” by using the old summer camp “which side of the room is louder” technique. All they were missing were the ranger hats and whistles. PM D’s Parrish was plagued by the same sound problems as Das Efx, but the man does lay down some funky rhymes. According to my source Efan, he also lays down some funky eco nomics. Apparently, the “schedul ing mix-up” which resulted in the Tribune being denied an inter view, may have to do with the recent fiasco in which his former partner Erick Sermon started get ting curious about why he was liv ing in a hovel, while Parrish was out driving Ferraris. After one song, Das Efx came out for some fine old skool-style rapping, but by that time, the crowd was thinner than a dim ebag. Blame it on C hronic F atigue Syndrom e, I guess.

rnmmsmf 1^21

November 29th, 1994

H ip

H o p

R e v ie w

T w e n t y - t w o d i s c s f o r a ll y o u r s t o c k i n g s t u f f e r n e e d s H ip p e lla n e o u s

By H arris N ewman Okay, so you don’t know what to buy Mom fo r the celebratory festival o f your choice this season, and she’s still bummed about the new Cypress Hill LP being post poned til January. This sampling o f the last few month’s mainstream hip-hop releases should solve your holiday shopping crisis in one easy step.

Pete Rock & C L. Smooth’s The Main In g red ien t (E lektra/ WEA) is the third offering from this much worshipped producer

and cohort. Clever samples, nice DJ work, and w icked backup singers make this one of the catchi est and ear-pleasing releases in the recent past. Lots of props out to fellow rap su p erstars, plus an abundance of borrowed riffs from recent hip-hop hits may annoy some, but a bit of ego-tripping is allowed when you really are the king. Spearhead’s Home (Capitol) is a far cry from Michael Franti’s work in the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. The music is all live com plim ents o f the Spearhead crew, and F ranti’s hyp notic spoken word work of old is replaced by and much mellower but still convincing croon. Chock full of his typical socio political agenda, Franti is to ‘94 what Chuck D was to ‘87.

Fugees, and Ben Harper play the Spectrum December 12. Public Enemy’s Muse SickN -H our M ess Age (D ef Jam/Polygram) is another chapter in Chuck D ’s black CNN, but the reception’s getting fuzzy. This summertime release covers lots of bases, and many tunes would sound at home on A Tribe Called Quest or Spearhead album. Chuck D performs impeccably as is now expected, but the music lacks in places, in what is perhaps their m ost subdued, self-parodying release to date. P ublic Enemy plays December 11 at the World. PMD’s Shade Business (BMG) features P arrish Smith sans Erick Sermon (the E of EPM D). If you’re not going to do something new, you’d bet ter be able to rehash well. This Smith does, and through lots of second genera tion W u-Tang and A Tribe C alled Q uest sam ples, p ro duces an album which is pleasing to the ear and easy on the mind. Big Daddy Kane’s Daddy’s Home (M CA) features the big burly man and his growly voice showing off his riches and his Brooklyn heritage. This grandfa ther of rap is still shy of 30, and he can hold his own from “T hat’s How I Did ‘Em’” s KRS-One oldschool tromp through several Gfunky rides. Sounding like a bub bly Nas in places, and like the tape is running slow in others, this is a surprising w inner from a man whose time may never pass. Boogiemonsters’s Riders o f

Fugees (Tranzlator Crew)’s B lunted on R ea lity (R uffhouse/ Columbia) is all over the place, and filled with it’s share of unnecessary odes to blunts and other skittype interludes. But look past the surface and find a wavering balance of Gfunk, dancehall reggae and some very tasty tracks, like “Vocab” ’s acoustic guitar swing. The voices are smooth, and the beats are bouncy and in your face. Spearhead, the

the Storm: The Underwater Album (Pendulum/EM I) features these high-school kids pulling a second

generation Pharcyde trip. Hey, that’s not a bad thing. The rhyming is slick and quick, bal anced with some tasteful singing, and the com pressed ‘und erw ater’ sounding vocals keep this record pleasingly mellow. Gravediggaz’s Six F eet Deep (Gee S treet/Island) sounds strikingly like a WuTang/De La Soul super project. Which it is. DJ Prince Paul steers the crew through a gentle but firm ride through the land o f hip-hop, changing gears dram atically depending on who’s the m asterm ind behind the track. Occasionally over doing itself, and one point sounding like a nasty Body Count knockoff, this has true merit, and is not just a fly-by-night cash cow. The Goat’s No G oats, No Glory (Ruffhouse/Sony) is shock ing. How could a live band/rapper conglomerate produce such a spec tacular debut and then offer this junk as a followup? Perhaps the Goats have gotten a little blunted for their own good. This is the greatest atrocity since Vanilla Ice grew dreads. The skater-looking band members seem to be pushing a touch of Rage A gainst the Machine on the group, and the Bad Brains even make an appearance. There’s no pure cheese going on here, but this is definitely a step in the wrong direction. Lucas’s « L u c a c e n t r i c » (WEA) is a soft, beautiful pillow of gentle jazz samples and laidback lyrics. The cover suggests Lucas would like to be straight outta Compton, but the release is gentle and sure, not overblown or rowdy. W orth hunting down if your interests lie in the understat ed.

Lords of the Underground’s Keepers o f the Funk (Pendulum/ EMI) is another slab of what you’d expect from this West Coast crew. I t ’s not bad, but it’s not good. Generic and pure rehash, this is fine if you’ve got an empty gap in your CD rack, and that’s about it. Scarface’s The Diary (V irgin) starts off with a lovely Young and the Restless theme song knock off, and pounces right into a Dogg Pound rhyme. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and if the Suge Knight trip is your thing, Scarface delivers in full (although Knight, Dre and crew have nothing to do with this release.) This exGeto Boy has sold 3 million albums in his 23 years, so he must be doing som ething right. Extra Prolific’s offer ing on (Jive/BMG) is anoth er project of the Hieroglyphics crew, featur ing notables such as Souls of M ischief and Casual. The press kit calls rapper S nupe’s “ slow , pim p-like, lazy d raw l” unique, but I wouldn’t go that far.

gun-toting drug dealer in Brooklyn. From the intro’s Sugar Hill gang lick into a bank robbery skit, B.I.G. is just begging for credibility. The typical props to his pals and a few borrowed licks off recent releases look like a further ploy for sympathy. My god, the man even gives a shout out to his accountant. Make your own conclusions.

He does pull off his fair share of tongue-twisting daredevil rhymes

Craig

and it’s all backed by a heavy beat, so give this brand new EP a try if the San Fran sound suits your fancy.

The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die (Bad Boy/BMG) is a nostalgic ride through his days as a

Mack’s

Project: Funk Da World (Bad Boy/BMG) likes to remind you, in case you forgot, that the year is 1994 and y o u ’re listen in g to Craig Mack. Repeatedly. From his days as a starving EPMD roadie, M ack’s mouth has gotten bigger, but any talent he may have once had lies stagnating in the n eth er regions of his mind, untapped. Mostly generic beats with the occasional burst of dancehall, you’ve probably heard this one before, even if it was on someSee Buyer’s Guide Page 22

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Hip Hop Review

H ip h o p b u y e r ' s g u i d e . . . Continued front Page 21 one else’s record. Craig Mack and the Notorious B.I.G. are touring together, but a Montreal date has yet to be confirmed. Fu-Schnickens’ N ervous Breakdow n (Jive/BMG) is full of old-school beats with a ‘90s twist. Warning: this LP will make your booty shake. Y o u ’ll be hearing this one on your local D J’s turntable, ideally through three foot bass bins. A fun and pleasing trip rife with weird samples and smooth rhyming, the Fu-Schnickens are learning the tricks of the trade with great speed and competence. B r a n d N u b i a n ’ s E verything is Everything (Elektra/WEA) is a thick R & B based offering featuring the Nubians’ sedating voices. T heir press kit says this one is meant to be listened to in the car, but the ener gy level isn’t high enough for me. Try it at home w ith the lights dimmed, a fire in the fireplace, a brandy and a good book. Mood music, yes indeed. The Brand New Heavies’s H eavy Rhyme Experience : Volume One (Delicious Vinyl/Atlantic) features ten tracks, each with a different guest rapper. The Heavies back up the artists with their usual live slickness, and needless to say the quality varies. Highlights include Toronto’s Main Source, Masta Ace, Gang Starr, the Pharcyde, Jamalski and Ed O.G. backed up by his chipmunk friends. This is just as good as it sounds, kids. Kickin Da Flava is a new EMI sampler, featur

B ig g u s h y th a n k y o u

ing 10 unreleased remixes. Very nice. No slop or rejected b-sides here, most of the tracks are improve ments on the original versions. Highlights include an intoxicating Luscious Jackson rem ix, a Dream Warriors cut, a great DJ Premier remix of an Arrested Development tune, and a remix of the Beastie Boys’ ‘Get It Together’. Many of the remixes are censored for radio-friendliness, but this great mix will definately serve all of your party needs. Fresh Music Inspired by the Film is a soundtrack featuring a couple of Wu-Tang tracks and loads of pure, honest-to-goodness old-school that’ll have you grabbing your lucky cardboard box and hitting the streets. A great way to make your old sib lings dance around and act foolish, this LP even made me jones for those McDonald’s commercials from ‘87 with the breakdancers (you know, the guy that split his head open, honest.) Murder Was The Case is a 75minute soundtrack meant to accom pany the Suge Knight/Dr. Dre pro duced short film about the supposed death of Snoop Dogg Dog. It features Snoop, Dre, Ice Cube, Danny Boy and a host of others. From the land of G-funk to R & B swingers to shouts out to Janet Jackson (??), this is nightmare material guaranteed or your money back. Red Hot & Cool’s Stolen Moments (Red Hot/MCA) is another benefit disc by this AIDS battling organization. Given my pick of the whole lot, I ’d like to find this one under the Menorah on Christmas morning. Donald Byrd, Guru, Ronny Jordan... and that’s just the first track! The second adds MC Solaar and Ron Carter to the mix, and it keeps getting better. This is an impec cably assembled 2-disc package, and every track’s a winner. Highlights include the Pharcyde, Digable Planets, and Branford Marsalis’ take on Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’ on the second disc. A winner from start to finish, the Red Hot people just keep getting cooler.

a n d f a r e w e ll to ... Erika, Ram, G reg, V alerie, Robyn, Emma, N icole, Andrew, Christina, Jen & Alice, Brendan, Mark, Tam, Lori, Jessica, Susan, Haim, Sam, Dustin. Dorian, Mia, Anne Marie, Genviève, Margot, Marc, Barbara. Tanya, Rebecca, Jordan, Anthony, Stew, David, Melanie, Andres, Omar, Rachel, Jeff, Luke, Jessica, Ian, and our darlin’ baby Dogg. You might not understand deadlines, or word count, or spell-check, but we still love you. Our innards are tickled by the thought of your leaving. And we entreat you and your dogs to return to the insanity of the Tribune. Have you all a good holiday. Keep boppin. Hugs and Kisses Harris & Joyce

Bring your own wine 10% discount with McGill ID except specials 180 P rin ce A r th u r • M o n tré a l, Q ué. • H 2X 1B7 T e l. : ( 5 1 4 ) 8 4 9 - 1 3 3 5 /1 3 3 6

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M o r e o f t h e D ig a b le P la n e t s ... The audience would be afraid of that, not afraid of Digable Planets. We don’t choose to alienate any one. These are our views, this is w hat’s on our mind daily, i t ’s something that we live with every day. When we walk into a store, or we walk by a car at a stop sign and the locks go ‘click’, we take it to mean that the only way an audi

ence would be turned off our music would be if they weren’t open and honest with themselves about the truth of present day slav ery. The prison systems, which are a major labour force in America were created after the so-called abolishing of slavery. Like I said, they’d only be afraid of them selves.”

WHAT IS WORK STUDY?

Work Sludy is a program which provides students with financial assistance through parr time employment on campus. Work Study positions are varied and range from clerical jobs to more challenging jobs such as research or programming.

M c G ill WORK . ô t u a i

P ro g ra WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR THE PROGRAM?

You may apply if you: - are a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or international student (international students must obtain a work permit before beginning work) - are a full-time McGill student (in satisfactory standing) registered during the academic period in which the work is performed

R C

N A SaW E H T O e t BRIT 0 Everything from groceries to wine ‘jp

Continued front Page 20 everywhere.” In spite of all their arguments to the contrary, Blowout Comb still sounds vastly different from its predecessor. For a band which tends to be labelled ‘cross-over’, this shift could be especially dan gerous. Luckily, the D igable Planets seem largely unconcerned with their stardom, so long as they are big enough to be heard. “I think some people really hear what we’re saying. Groups like Public Enemy have sold m illions of records, and they’ve had messages. You don’t make music for top 40 hits or chart positions or Grammy awards.” (The Digable Planets won their Grammy last year.) Asked whether the lyrics off the new album exclude the white audience which embraced them so eagerly last year, Ladybug has this to say, “They’re only exclusionary if the white listeners are afraid of the truth. I can see them being afraid or not liking our music if they d idn’t understand truth, if they couldn’t look into the mirror and understand history and even the present.” Ladybug pauses, “But actual ly, I’m speaking of history, the sit uation that white people created for black people through slavery.

November 29th, 1994

M A N Y S P E C IA L S ! ‘ffc

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The GREATX-MAS Sale We guarantee the lowest price in town of all our Regular Prised items. As our way o f saying Thanks to fatuity, staff and students for their support in 1 9 9 4 , we reduced the prises on all our stock

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- obtain a Work Study Student Application from the Information Desk or Student Aid Office in the Powell Building - submit a completed application to the Student Aid Office by the deadline:

$ 1 9 .0 0 lax included

* while quantities last • Shoes, Nike A ir Cross-Trainers • Reversible Jackets • Squash racquet: Wilson Hammer

$ 6 9 .0 0 $ 5 9 .0 0 $ 1 19.00 (Reg. $269.00)

Team and Group orders w ill be taken fo r X-MAS delivery

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C a p ta in P ic a r d a n d th e P a tr io te s k e e p R e d m e n str e a k a liv e By Mark Luz and Ioe W ong The Redmen dropped two more games last week when they played cross-town rivals, Concordia, and division leaders, U niversité du Québec à Trois Rivières. On Wednesday night against Con U., the Redmen came out with vigour. They had already put two points on the scoreboard before some fans even had time to get their hot chocolates or find their seats. It was Todd M arcellus and Luc Latulipe who scored the dandies to put McGill ahead early in the game. Continuing the Redmen’s early game success, M cG ill’s Kelly Nobes picked up a Martin Routhier rebound and beat the Concordia goalie from the slot with a shot so low the heat from the puck melted the ice. At 9:05 of the first, the men in Red and White 3, the boys in Wine and Yellow 0. At 10:56 of the first period, with Redmen Ivan Murray restin’ a rump in the box of shame, a mosh pit formed in front of McGill netminder, Patrick Jeanson, giving Concordia an opportunity to pass the puck like crazy in an attempt to con fuse McGill’s defencemen. Benoit Therrien scored for the Stingers on the play moving Concordia to with in two. Determined not to falter, at 16:38 of the first, Nobes dropped a pass to Marcellus, the master deker, in a way that was reminiscent of Gretzky to Lemieux, but his break away was foiled by a sharp Concordia glovehand. It would have been the greatest goal in McGill his tory but, it did not come to pass. This was just the beginning of the offensive assault launched by both teams. The Redmen, with the lead 3-2 after the first, notched another early round of goals in the second period

when they found themselves on a five-on-three power play, and delivered on their opportunity to score. Lajeunesse scored the first of two by picking up a stray puck and making the Stinger goalie look bad on the goal. Soon after, rookie sensation Nicolas Cantin sent the puck out of a howitzer flinging it so hard that it tore a hole through the mesh, broke the sound barrier and travelled into a different dimension. While the Concordia coach yelled expletives at his hapless troops, these reporters could barely contain their excitement, therefore yelling expletives at the Stinger bench in return and in anticipation of a McGill routing of Concordia. But similar to the previous week, holding a lead for McGill is as hard as holding a salam ander dipped in butter. Jeanson, stellar up to this point, could no longer hold up the force shield as Stinger Captain Picard (Daniel) led a rebel unit knocking out the Redmen power M cGill R edm en repeatedly f i n d themselves on a losing e n d o f h ea d -to -h ea d generator. The ten-minute mark of again, but for Concordia, it was a much-needed “W”, defeated again. period two was the beginning of the means to an end. The score was tied Coach Provonost, who was not end for the Redmen. behind the bench because of a sus at five. Thus after ten minutes, the During the intermission, the pension given to him at last week’s game was tied at five, albeit the last Redmen must have listened to the game against Guelph as a result of three Concordia goals, in an objec likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ arguing for the justice of victimised tive opinion, were less than pretty. “give it away, give it away, give it Redmen, had to watch the debacle The first goal came after Jeanson away now” because they certainly from the stands. After the game, he made the initial save but lost the did just that. The game winner, was looking severely displeased. puck in the folds of his massive which put Con U. on top 6-5, came The Redmen, after taking a few pads. The puck simply dribbled in. at 5:21 of the third period by Stinger days to reflect upon the loss, Ugly. Mike Pohorly. Jeanson, who was squared off against the unbeaten The second goal was scored by already hindered by a groin injury, UQTR Patriotes on Friday night. Daniel Queenton, while the tying was further injured on the play. As McGill showed superior shooting goal, by Martin Balleux, came with he lay on the ice for ten minutes, skills, outshooting the Patriotes 35less than two minutes to go in the fans everywhere began to lament the 34. But shots on goal don’t tell the second. It was a high shot which ric loss of, at one point in his career, whole story, as ocheted off the glass and bounced in one of the most feared backstops in McGill dropped their front of the McGill net before being the Ontario Universities Athletic fourth straight by a picked up by a Concordia cherryp- Association hockey league. score of 7-4. icker who finally put the puck past UQTR slapped There you have it. The the overworked Jeanson. Ugly Redmen, en route to recording a the Redmen in the

Consistency will be the key for the McGill Martlets if the basket ball team plans to live up to the obvious potential that it possesses. In an exciting weekend of women’s university basketball, the unranked Martlets set out to gain some deserved respect in games against the #8-ranked Concordia Stingers and the #7-ranked Laval Rouge et Or. On Friday night at the Stinger hive across town, the Martlets gave a superb, emotionally-charged team effort and stunned the Concordia home crowd by beating the Stingers 70-69 in an overtime thriller. In typical McGill fashion, the Martlets rallied late in the second half to gain the lead, 58-53. With 58 seconds left in the game, last year’s defending league champion Stingers refused to roll over for the streaking Martlets. Con U.’s Jen Smith hit a lay-up with five seconds left in regulation time to tie the score and send the game into over time. The score see-sawed throughout the overtime period with both teams playing solid turnover-free basketball. Concordia forward Eva Samore gave the Stingers a 69-68 lead with 24 seconds to play, but in a last mad rush down the court, McGill’s leading scorer with 29 points in the game, Vicki Tessier, found Lesley Stevenson open in the paint and, making no mistake, Stevenson sunk the two points on a layup with all of 3 seconds left to play. The emotional win silenced the boisterous home crowd and gave the Martlets a 1-0 regular season record. The Tessier to Stevenson connection in the dying seconds was a fitting end for the two players who clearly led the team all game. Tessier seemed to have regained

face by storming out and taking a quick 4-1 lead by the end of the first period. Kelly Nobes, taking advan tage of a power play, scored the lone Redmen goal at 10:02. The beating took its toll as McGill could never really put itself back together. Routhier and Benoit Leroux scored two other goals for McGill. Rounding out the score sheet was a beautiful goal by Guy Boucher for the Redmen. The Redmen have now dropped even further into the OU AA base ment with a season record of 3-6-1.

R e d m e n b a ttle fo r to p sp o t

M a rtlets u p se t C o n U to g a in n a tio n a l ran k in g By D.M, T oering

battles.

the scoring touch that some feared would be stalled by her knee surgery last year. Stevenson’s hard work and aggressive style at both ends of the court set the tone and game standard for the entire Martlet squad. Saturday night figured to be an even tougher game for the Martlets as they faced off against the Laval Rouge et Or at the Currie Gym. The home team put in a lacklustre performance and came out with a loss as a result of it. The emotionally-drained Martlets fell behind early in the first half and could not muster up enough energy to rally against a tenacious and persistent Laval defense. Too many turnovers and missed opportunities were the story against a team that the Martlets should have beaten. In the end, the ball seemed to bounce every which way but the right way for the McGill women, and the final score of 54-41 would signal the team’s first league play loss. Vicki Tessier was again the Martlets leading scorer with 12 points. Anne Gildenhuys also played a strong game for the Martlets with 8 points. The Martlets tasted sweet victory and bitter defeat this weekend but, despite the loss, they should feel comfortable knowing that they can play and beat anyone in their league. It will be interesting to see which McGill team shows up in the ten league games that the Martlets have yet to play. Will it be the smooth, emotionally charged team that produced victory, or will it be the unfocused and careless team that lost to a lesser team? With a 1-1 record beginning the regular season, the Martlets need to find a comfort zone and some consistency. If this is achieved, the 1994-95 Martlets should be, without doubt, con tenders for the big prize in the Quebec University Basketball League and at the national level.

By Scott Broady If last weekend is any indication of what fans can expect from the McGill Redmen basket ball team, then they should get ready for one hell of a season. In their season opener on Friday night, it appeared as though the Redmen were en route to knocking off the perennial powerhouse Stingers from Concordia, but their hopes were dashed by a last minute tip-in which gave the Stingers a 7675 victory in a thrilling battle between the two crosstown rivals. McGill led by six at the midway point but were unable to do any real damage in the second half of the game, as the Stingers rallied to even the score at 54-54 with 12:55 remaining. The lead changed hands for the rest of the game before Concordia’s Maxime Bouchard drained the winning bucket in the final seconds. Bouchard finished with 18 points and five rebounds, while Sammy Mendolia added 13 points and a game-high nine assists for the Redmen. Despite the disappointing loss, the Redmen came out flying the following night against the Laval Rouge et Or, and served notice that they will definitely be a force to contend with this year. McGill completely dominated from the out set and cruised to an easy 80-65 victory over a See Redmen Page 25

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November 29th, 1994

The Redmen rugby squad travelled to New York City last weekend to participate in the state Sevens tour nament. McGill posted an undefeated record of 5-0 after defeating Georgetown University by a score of 28-0 in the final. Wes Barbour, Redmen football all-star and defensive team captain, now playing rugby in the off season, led McGill with two tries in the victory in which the Hoyas were completely shut down offensively. McGill’s J.F. Charland was named tournament MVP for his impressive weekend performance. • Martlets cruisin’ in Calgary The female contingent of the McGill swim team competed at the Western Cup swimming meet at the University of Calgary last weekend. Patricia Hutchinson, Carol Chiang and Dana McClymont all won medals in their respective events. Hutchinson led the Martlets with two placings, winning the silver medal in the 200m Individual Medley and the bronze in the 400 individual medley. Chiang took silver in the 50m butterfly and placed fourth in the 50m freestyle event. McClymont rounded out the individual honors by plac ing third in the 400m free. McGill also won silver and gold medals in the 200m and 400m free relays respectively but, were out pointed 104-70 by U of C in overall scoring at the dual meet. In Redmen swimming action, McGill hosted both the University of W aterloo and U niversité de Sherbrooke at the Currie pool over the weekend. The men defeated their opponents in the tri-meet, taking first place in the overall scoring. • McGill badminton bottoms out at Laval In Ste-Foy, just outside of Quebec City, the McGill badminton club participated in the Laval Invitational tournament, one of the team’s three biggest competi tions of the year. The host Rouge et Or came out on top with a team score of four points. Université du Québec à

R e d m e n ... Continued from Page 23

University of Manitoba Bisons in league play. The wins land the team at 88 consecutive victories, which ties them with the 1972-74 UCLA Bmins for most basketball victories in a row in North America. Sandra Carroll, two-time Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union MVP, led the Wesmen with 30 points in the record-tying victory. Carroll was recently named MVP at the Concordia Invitational basketball tourna ment when her team won the championship after defeating both McGill and the host Stingers.

Q U O T E S :

• Redmen rugby “start spreadin’ the news” in New York

Page 25

Trois Rivières and Université de Montréal tied for sec ond place, both ending the tourney with two points in the team category. Meeting with some degree of disap pointment, McGill and Sherbrooke rounded out the crop of competitors by tying for last place with one point each. • McGill student Keith Morgan wins silver at the Kano Cup judo competition in Japan Keith Morgan, a 21 -year-old anatomy student from Calgary upset top-ranked Japaneses judokas last week in Chiba City, Japan, to win the silver medal at the Kano Cup. The competition is considered to be one of the most prestigious judo events outside of the Olympics and the World Championships. Morgan upset the #1 and #2 ranked judokas in the men’s 95 kg class in which 50 countries were represent ed. The McGill student lost the gold medal match in a close decision of 2-1 by judges. Reflecting on the meet, Morgan told the Montreal Gazette-. “This is a huge stepping stone and the biggest moment in my career.” | • Winnipeg Wesmen wom en’s basketball one win away from North American record The U ni versity of Win nipeg women’s basketball team continued its winning streak last weekend with two victo ries over the

Quote of the week “ S o m e d a y s y o u ’r e t h e p i g e o n , o t h e r d a y s y o u 'r e t h e

s ta tu e .”

Ja so n T sadilas, R e d m e n fo o tb a ll w id e re c e iv e r

"O ''

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J e m e s o u v ie n s 0

l o

Some had to do more than remember. Five years after the Montreal Massacre, host Sadia Zaman speaks with the mother of one of the dead women, as well as people who were profoundly affected by that day, and have since taken action to force change in their communities and beyond. O n e H o u r S p e c ia l: T h e A f te r m a th o f th e M o n tr e a l M a s s a c r e , D e c e m b e r 7 , 1 0 p m .

clearly outmatched Laval club. The Redmen controlled the game from start to finish as their stifling defense forced Laval to take bad shots from the perimeter and cough up It’s About Time: W ednesdays costly turnovers which were quickly converted into baskets. McGill’s big men manhandled their smaller opponents inside the paint as veterans Todd McDougall and Doug McMahon accounted for 20 and 17 points respectively, McMahon gob bling up seven rebounds to lead the offensive attack. McGill took a 38-21 lead into the second half and never looked back as Laval scrambled around like chickens with their heads cut off in a desper ate attempt to stop the onslaught. Fiery Redmen point-guard Mendolia put in a fine performance and helped put his team in the driver’s seat before giving way to rookie Matt Watson in the second M c G ill N i g h t l i n e i s o p e n t h r o u g h to t h e e n d o f f in a ls , s o w h y c l o n 't y o u t a k e a s tu d y half. Watson looked right at home conducting business from the point as he banged in 11 points W e 'r e u p w h e n e v e r y o n e b r e a k a n d g iv e u s a c a ll2 to help the cause. w e lo v e to c h a t. Y ou McMahon then provided the crowd with e l s e is s l e e p i n g a n d (' some excitement as he threw down a one-handed a n y t h i n g t h a t ’s o n c a n te ll u s a b o u t jam two minutes into the second half. This seemed to inspire his team and they responded by crank _ c a u s e N i g h t l i n e is y o u r m in d , be~ ing it up another notch and launching a ten-point t ano n y m o u s an d scoring spree to extend their lead to an insur c o n f i d e n t i a l , mountable 23 points. Then McGill began to mix W e a ls o h a v e to n s o f v e ry o p e n -m in d e d , things up in the latter stages of the half as they burned Laval with outside shots from the perime in fo : lik e h e a l t h b o o k s , e n c y c lo p e d ia s , th e c o m ter while continuing to overpower them inside the p le te w o rk s o f S h a k e s p e a r e o n d is k , r e s ta u r a n t m e n u s , lib r a r y h o u rs , key. “We were just firing on all cylinders,” com a c c e s s to M U S E , M c G ill p h o n e n u m b e r s , a n d (o f c o u r s e ) e x a m tim e ta b le s ! mented McDougall. “When everybody steps up to

ARE EX A M S 1 ( H

^ McGILL

NIGHTLINE 3 9 8 -6 2 4 6

play and we get the outside shooting to comple ment our inside game, then we’re a very tough team to beat.” The Redmen travel to Bishop’s University this Friday night to face the Gaiters in their last encounter before the Christmas break.

W r C 11 I OPEN N IG H T L IN E

DAYS A WEEK

3 9 8 -6 2 4 6

THE

W ESTERN

W W

I S

A comb,

UNION

A Y T

FINANCIAL

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GUIDE

need for cash, we can sen d it to you fast.

forever) or having them do a bank transfer

YDUR MONEY ARRIVES IN MINUTES.

(which can still take a couple of days) have

and a couple of beer caps.

First, you guessed it, call your folks. (What

location. (Call 1-800-235-0000 to find w here it

Getting m oney out of a couch is never easy.

reasons you give are a function of the sever

is.) Your folks hand the m oney to Western

But having m oney sent to you, is. We’re

ity of your fiscal trauma.)

Union and, in minutes, Western Union hands

two quar ters, a penny, a dime,

In our experience, it’s usually som e

Western Union, and that’s our business.

them go to their nearest Western Union

the m oney to you. It’s really that easy.

to have anybody send

OVER 1,200 LOCATIONS ACROSS CANADA.______

m oney to you from

There’s a

anywhere.

W e ste rn

We’re the fastest way

Union

REMAIN CALM.

location close to

M oney

your

e m erg en cies happen.

We have over 1,200

And they especially seem to h ap p en precisely w hen

thing like car trouble or (and this is always

across C anada, and w e also have over

y o u ’re away from h o m e, aw ay fro m y o u r

a good one) unexpected textbook costs.

22,000 locations around the world. So no

m o st

W h a te v e r y o u d o , d o n ’t m e n tio n y o u r

matter w here you live, and no m atter where

c o m p lete inability to b u d g et.

your parents live (Canada, the

im p o r ta n t

financial

asset : your p a re n ts. Luckily, w hen

you find yourself You 'll risk no bodily orpsychological harm. V

with an emergency

NO BANKS. NO CHEQUES. NO MAIL. NO PROBLEMS. Then, instead of asking your parents to put your cheque in the mail (which could take

United States, Europe, Africa, or Asia) their m oney is only m inutes away. Sure, you could sell off your CD collection. But why?

___________________________________________________________________________________________

At participating HOW TO USE WESTERN UNION AT TRAVEL CUTS IN 3 EASY STEPS. I

Have one of your folks go to a Western Union location.

They give their Western Union representative your name and the money.

Minutes later, your Western Union/Travel Cuts representative hands you the money.

CLIP THIS OUT AND KEEP IT. YOU’LL NEED IT. TRUST US

f'PTRAVELCUIS * 4 VOYAGES CAMPUS

or caU 1-800-235-0000 for a Western Union location near you W ESTER N U N IO N

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T h e f a s t e s t w a y to s e n d m o n e y w o r ld w id e .™

November 29th, 1994

TOAat'* Ok Page 27

Tuesday. November 29

LBGM’s Bi-sexual

Shackled by pre-finals stress? Amnesty International is having a holiday party! Come with food or w ithout. 6:30 p.m ., Shatner 435. The Commedia dell’ Arte Students in the Department of Italian presents “II fido amico” (The faithful friend). Everyone welcome! 8 p.m., Leacock 132.

dis cussion group meets today, every one welcome. 5:30 p.m., Women’s Union 423.

games and community groups. 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Shatner 107/108.

Players’ Theatre, Shatner. P.S. The play is in Spanish.

LBGM’s W om yn’s G roup m eets today. 6 p.m ., Women’s Union 423.

Therese L avoie-R oux, vice-chairperson, Canadian Senate Special Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide will present a lecture about E uthanasia and Assisted Suicide. 12:30 p.m., Arts 160.

McGill Improv performs The Association of Yoga and Meditation is offering ses

in the A lley at 8:30 p.m. Free comedy for everyone!

sions. Please dress comfortably

T h u r s d a y •••

The

Ongoing

McGill Improv hosts free com edy w orkshops every Saturday. M eet in the Shatner lobby at noon.

A P A IR O F

Are you questioning your sexuality? Or do you have any other concerns? Do you need to talk? Call the LBGM peer coun selling phone line at 398-6822, M onday to F riday, 7-10 p.m. Strictly confidential.

The Association of Yoga and Meditation is offering ses

The Sexual Assault o f M cG ill’s S tudent S ociety is now open. For info/referrals: Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m .-6 p.m. at 398-2700. New this year, a night tim e Helpline, Sunday to Thursday, 6 p .m .-m idnight; F riday and Saturday, 6 p.m .-3 a.m. at 3988500.

T I C K E T S

sions. Please dress comfortably and be on time. 12-1 p.m., Shatner 425.

Wednesday. November 30

Centre

M e g a -P a r ty

S tu d y in N o rw a y

INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL

GERT'S: The C a m p u s P u b

McGill’s Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre presents Harold

U n iv e r s ity o f O s lo

Undergraduate Courses: Norwegian Language Literature - History Art History - Folklore Political Science Culture & Society International Relations Economics and Planning Graduate Courses: Special Education Peace Research Media & Communications International Development Studies Medical Care & Public Health Services Energy Planning & the Environment $2900 to $3300 (Can. dollars) not including transatlantic transportation

For catalog and application: Oslo Summer School c/o St. Olaf College Northfield, MN 55057-1098 USA (507) 646-3269 (800) 639-0058

McGill Organic

orders food every Monday from 12:30 to 6:30 pm in the QPIRG office, room 505 in the Eaton building. Newcomers are welcome! For more information call 398-7432. Make Mom proud!

The Faculty of Music presents McGill Flute Choir. 8 p.m., Pollack Hall.

J u n e 24 - A u g u st 4, 1995

Monday. December 5

Food Co-op

“Bhopal: A License to K ill.” 6 p.m., Thompson House.

O s lo , N o r w a y 4 9 th s e s s io n

The Faculty of Music presents the McGill Symphony Orchestra. 8 p.m., Pollack Hall.

The Faculty of Music presents McGill Trombone and Tuba Studio. 8 p.m ., R edpath Hall.

The Indian P-ogressive Study Group presents the video

The Faculty of Music presents McGill String and Mixed E nsem bles. 8 p.m ., C lara Lichtenstein Hall.

Saturday. December 3

The Faculty of Music p resents M cG ill Song In terp retatio n C lass. 8 p.m ., Pollack Hall.

Internet!!! The Student Electronic Communications Collective (SECC) is a new stu dent group that m eets every Tuesday in Arts 350 @ 7 p.m. to discuss electronic com m unica tions, the internet, privacy and access issues here at M cG ill. W e’re also setting up a Virtual Union Building (That’s “Shatner building” SECC folks! —What’s On ty p ist) on the A rts WWW server. Come on out and get involved!

Senate seats and A xw orthy reforms. 6 p.m., Shatner 107/108.

The Faculty of Music presents the McGill Women’s Choir. 8 p.m., Redpath Hall.

and be on time. 12-1 p.m., Shatner 425. Friday. December 2

Association of Yoga and Meditation is offering ses The

sions. Please dress comfortably and be on time. 12:30-1:30 p.m., Shatner 425. Thursday. December 1

Want to try curling but d o n ’t know how? The McGill Curling Club invites you to bring your friends and have a game. Every Friday from 4:30-6 p.m., Thistle Curling Club (1420 Fort St.). For more info call 932-4141.

McGill Health Services and Peer Education present World AIDS Day. Ben, a person living with AIDS, will speak about his experiences at 11:45 a.m. Prizes,

Hispanic Studies Students’ Association presents The

“El eterno femenino,” a play by Rosario Castellanos. $3. 8 p.m.,

TRANSIT NETW O RK EMPLOYEE NEEDED

LBGM’s C om ing Out Group meets today, everyone wel come. 5:30 p.m., basement of the United Theological College (3521 University). L B G M ’ s G eneral D iscussion G roup m eets today, everyone welcom e. 7 p.m., basement of UTC.

S S M U Council Meeting to dis cuss: voting by phone, exam test bank, distrib ution of undergraduate

E d g e

& M a rtin S w is s C y c le - S k i 3 1 3 V ic t o r ia A v e . W e s tm o u n t

secretarial and computer knowledge h r s / w

e e k

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$ 6 . 5 0 / h o u r

Please contact Elana or Pat 3 9 8 -2 9 0 2

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xecutive Source Inc.

w ith

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Pinter’s Betrayal, directed by Lori Delorme, November 24-26 and November 30 to December 2. 8 pm in the Morrice Hall Theatre, 3485 McTavish. Tickets are $7 general and $5 for seniors and stu dents. Info and reservations call 398-6600.

C o m p lu P e t i t e

A ll o f o u r d e s t in ie s d e p e n d o n ea c h o th e r e v e n a s w e m a in ta in o u r in d iv id u a l r e lig io u s a n d c u ltu r a l tr a d itio n s .

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