The McGill Tribune Vol. 18 Issue 13

Redman hockey upset UQTR

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SSMU LETTER OF AGREEMENT

Stephanie Levitz

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Senator launches course evaluation proposal B y Ja m es G

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Students in the Faculty of Aits may be asked to submit a second set o f co u rse e v a lu a tio n s next week if professors decide to sup­ port Arts Senator Emma Sevitt’s plan to make written results pub­ licly available.

In a memo sent to Arts depart­ ment heads November 18, Sevitt outlined her proposal for distribut­ ing student course evaluations and for requesting perm ission from professors to release their results.

Her evaluation will ask students for w ritten com m ents about the quality of the class and professor’s performance.

Citing the need for a more dis­ cernible system, Sevitt decided to fo cu s on stu d en t com m ents as opposed to multiple-choice ratings.

She stressed that her evaluation is not redundant because comments will be available for students to read.

“The most beneficial part of course ev alu atio n s is the com ­ ments,” said Sevitt. “The anecdotal data tells a lot more than statistics.

This is a way to make that data available to students.”

Funding for implementing the student evaluations will come from the Students' Society of M cGill University's special projects fund and from the Arts Undergraduate S o ciety . S e v itt n o ted th at at A m erican Ivy L eague sch o o ls, such as H arv ard and Y ale, the administration pays for the evalua­ tion and for the publication of sta­ tistical and written results. She said that although in its current state this is an u nfeasible option for M cG ill, Q u een s' and the University of Toronto have initiat­ ed sim ilar published alternative Continued on page 2

Dave Matthews stepped into the light at the Molson Centre in front of 9,000 fans on November 16

Catherine Farquharson

Students given runaround in voter registration procedure Medicare cards dem anded by revision officers as sole proof of domicile in Quebec Not the only He presented a lone revision intend to stay...you can’t answer B y Jo h n S a l lo u m officer with two supporting docu­ because you don’t even know!” complaint For certain electoral revision officers, if you don't have a Quebec medicare card, you won’t be going to the polls November 30. The cards are being required to prove the loca­ tion of domicile — something very different than residency in terms of voting requirem ents. A person’s domicile, as outlined in the civil code, is the place a person regards as their permanent place of resi­ dence. Also required is the intent to keep the given place as a permanent residence in the future.

Declan Connor Brady is a U2 student studying chemical engineer­ ing at McGill. He made Montreal his permanent residence over a year and a half ago after moving from Chatham, Ontario. Brady has been back to Ontario for only a total of two weeks vacation since his move.

Residing in the riding of Westmount - St. Louis, he is over the age of 18, and a Canadian citizen. Wanting to vote in the election, Brady went to his revision office to enter his name on the list of permanent electors.

m ents as recom m ended in the provincial E lector’s Manual: his Canadian passport and his telephone bill. He stated that he had been liv­ ing in the province for over a year and a half, and added that this has been his permanent address and that he intends to continue living here in the future.

“You’re a student, hein?” asked the officer, subsequently requesting his Q uebec health card. Brady replied that he d o esn ’t have a Quebec health card.

“How come you don’t have a medical care [in Quebec]?” asked the^officer.

B rady explained that since moving to Quebec, he has not found it necessary to change his health card because his Students’ Society of McGill University health insur­ ance has covered his needs thus far.

“If you really intend to stay in Quebec, you should have medical care in Quebec. You don’t have a medical card because you’re not sure. Suppose I ’m asking do you

Brady objected arguing that this is indeed his permanent residence.

“My parents have m oved from O ntario, th ey ’re not even in the province,” Brady said.

The officer disagreed, arguing that “...to prove [residency], it’s the medical care...More than that, your insurance is from McGill!”

“So what you’re saying, is that if I have medical insurance from McGill, I can’t vote?” asked Brady.

“Yes,” nodded the officer. “We won’t change.”

As the revision officer rose to announce to the lengthy lineup of people that nobody who was origi­ nally from O ntario w ould be allow ed to vote, the rid in g ’s Returning Officer, Christian Gohel, stopped him, noting that each case has different circumstances.

“If you decide beforehand that all those from Ontario cannot vote, it’s a general judgement. You have to evaluate it on a case by case basis,” Gohel told the revision offi­ cer in French.

According to Selena Beattie, a staff m em ber for L iberal MNA Jacques C hagnon’s cam paign, Brady’s experience in Westmount St. Louis was not unique.

“I, myself, have had a lot of calls...of students who have present­ ed Nova Scotia, O ntario Health Insurance Plan or British Columbian id e n tificatio n ...,” noted Beattie. “[But] it’s another thing if they go to the o ffice, d o n ’t show out-ofprovince identification...and then are asked for a m edicare card.

[Revision officers] aren’t supposed to insist on only a medicare card.”

Assistant Returning Officer for W estmount - St. Louis, Jennifer Towell, has also received numerous complaints.

“They were mostly from stu­ dents... yesterday was pretty quiet, but in previous days it was up to ten or fifteen a day,” Towell said. She also explained that a Quebec health card is not a requirement to possess Continued on page 4

Natalie Cooke Launches "Margaret Atwood a Biography" Wednesday Dec 2nd 1998 at 5 p.rn.

McGill Bookstore Cafe 2nd floor Cake and Coffee

THE FIRST COMPLETE B I O G R A P H Y

by N a ta lie Cooke

Page 2

News

T he M cG ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Written comments on course evaluations witheld from students in 1989, but that project was dis­ continued shortly thereafter. In 1991, the A cadem ic Policy and Planning Committee of the univer­ sity senate decided that w ritten comments should be withheld from students, but that they are useful to professors and department chairs for the purposes of improvement and evalu atio n . Sevitt hopes to revert this decision.

“We w ant to revoke the 1991 m otion and work with the administra­ tion to make the information acces­ sible and p re ­ s e n ta b le ,” said S evitt. “I t ’s an enormous task, but there’s no point if the results can’t be deciphered.”

S upport for Sevitt's current plan is far from uni­ versal. Professors are worried about the amount of class time a second evaluation would take up, and some would prefer that the new evalua­ tion go through formal university channels. N evertheless, Hudson Meadwell, chair of the political sci­ ence department, believes that there is room for com m ents to be released, provided that extraneous

Continued from page 1 course guides.

At M cG ill, re su lts o f the numerical part of course evalua­ tions are available as dot-m atrix computer printouts on reserve in the R edpath L ib rary . To n av ig ate through the unbound sh eets o f paper is a challenge. It is equally d iffic u lt to m ake any sense o f the format of the statis­ tical data. A library worker who wished to rem ain an o n y ­ mous said that few students look at the evaluation results.

“At the begin­ ning of the year we get around 30 peo­ ple who come in to look at the evalua­ tions,” the worker said, “but as soon as they see the printouts, they stop, because it’s incomprehensible raw data. I think students just want to find out what other people thought about their classes, but the printouts a re n ’t clear. They can’t get the informa­ tion they want.”

The McGill Arts and Science Undergraduate Societies printed a compilation of course evaluations

material is edited out. board.” not believe that students’ comments "I am a lot more comfortable Privacy provisions in Quebec should be published. She feels that with numerical data being released, law require the professors' consent student input is more valuable in [but if frivolous comments are edit­ before any results, even numerical the form of frequent discussions. ed out] I'd be more likely to be sup­ data, can be released. It has yet to “If you get a professor that has portive of the initiative, especially be seen w hether professors will an u n fo rtu n ate tim e teaching a if comments are sum­ course, the departm ent m arized," said chair usually gives the M eadw ell. "If [the professor another teach­ ev alu atio n report] is ing assig n m en t, or the structured in some kind professor gets sent over to o f form at that m akes the Centre [for University the com m ents m ore Teaching and Learning] useful, it will be easier for c o u n se llin g ,” said for p ro fesso rs to Donald. “A monthly feed­ accept." back session can be done According to Ona in 20 minutes. It's possi­ H ahs, e d ito r o f the ble to get a sense o f H arvard CUE G uide, w h at’s going rig h t and an ‘alternative’ course going wrong in the class catalogue, most profes­ before it’s too late,” she sors welcom e having said. the results of their eval­ Alec Tallman, a U0 uations released. stu d en t, was Emma Sevitt wants written N/co/e Pivnick A rts “The system has a unaware that num erical comments available dual purpose - profes­ evaluations existed and sors get the evaluations were kept on reserve in that they can use to plan course consent to releasin g com m ents Redpath. improvements, and students get the made about them by students in this "I w ish I had know n that CUE Guide, a book containing both alternative evaluation. course evaluations were available to the q u antitative and qualitative Janet Donald, a professor at the students," said Tallman. "No one evaluations of courses,” said Hahs. Centre for University Teaching and even told me that I could look at “Almost all professors choose to Learning, believes that evaluations them, but I guess they’re not that have their courses evaluated. The are im portant and that m ethods helpful if I can’t read what students constant re-working of the process other than multiple choice forms actually said about their classes." is the reson so many folks are on should be used. However, she does

SSMU and McGill seal new Letter of Agreement Students' Society set to start paying rent to the university for the use of Shatner under new contract

By Stephanie Levitz

p re v io u s ag reem en t, signed in 1992, ex p ired in A pril 1996.

Form al negotiation talks did not begin until January o f this year.

The two sides w ere deadlocked over financial issues, among them SSMU's right to run businesses and the allocation of profits from the McGill Bookstore.

Given the university's poor fis­ cal situation, M cGill negotiators argued that SSMU should cover more of its own costs and allocat­ ing m ore re v e n u es to M cG ill.

After a year of stalled negotia­ tions on matters ranging from the payment of hydro costs to the use of the word "McGill," the Students’ Society and McGill have signed a Letter of Agreement outlining the rights and responsibilities of both parties.

The Letter of Agreement is the contract between the university and SSMU that sets out how the two bodies work with each other. The

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A cco rd in g to SSM U P resid en t Duncan Reid, this situation was unacceptable.

“Their opinion is that we can raise our fees but the university can ’t, so they should dow nload their costs to us and to the students.

They thought they should be able to co ntrol w h eth er we open or don’t open a certain service," Reid stated. "Initially they weren’t going to even sign an agreem ent if we wouldn’t give them control but we weren’t willing to sign either until they agreed that we have acquired rights.”

According to M cGill's ViceP rin c ip a l A d m in istra tio n and Finance Phyllis Heaphy, the uni­ versity is assuming considerable risk with this agreement.

“I t’s been a very tough and long year,” she said. “I’m in agree­ ment with every aspect of what is written here, but the university has agreed to take considerable risks on SSMU. We are advancing them money for things that may never generate any revenue for them or for us, and that is a big risk.”

SSMU will now be assuming part of the costs for the heating, lighting and m aintenance o f the Shatner building through a lease fee. O rig in ally , the u n iv ersity intended to make SSMU pay for the full co st o f th ese u tilitie s.

According to Heaphy, the universi­ ty anticipated receiving $400,000 from SSM U to cover S hatner's upkeep, and factored this amount into th e ir 1998-1999 budget.

However, the deal that has been n eg o tiated betw een SSM U and McGill now has SSMU paying a lease fee that will cover these costs.

In 1999-2000, SSMU will pay the

university $50,000, and $100,000 per year after that until the mort­ gage on the bookstore has been repaid, at which point the lease fee will increase to $200,000.

C onsidering the anticipated profits from the bookstore, Reid believes that the agreement is quite favourable to the Students' Society.

“It’s half of what they were p re v io u sly a sk in g ,” said R eid.

“When we are talking about getting profits [from the bookstore] of a million or more, $50,000 is not that big a deal. It's a damn sight better than $350,000."

The reason that the lease fee takes into account profits from the bookstore stretches back to the 1980s, when the Students’ Society chose to build a better bookstore than the one that had been housed in Gert's and in the basement of the Bronfman building. The Society at that time was given the rights to all the p ro ceed s from the store.

According to Reid, this agreement and the one that was signed when Chapters took over management of the bookstore this year have never been acceptable to the university.

“When the decision was made to outsource the bookstore, two of the important issues were that text­ book prices stayed the same, and that the money would belong to SSMU. The university has never accepted that — th ey ’ve always ch allen g ed u s,” stated R eid.

“There’s so much money at stake that it needs to be handled proper­ ly. It’s students buying the books so any money from it should go back to the students.”

Currently, any operating sur­ plus from the bookstore immediate­ ly is used to pay off its $4 million

m ortgage. Before C hapters took over the management, the surplus was about $500,000 a year. Now, although Reid declined to give an exact figure, the surplus is enough to have the building paid off by 2006 — and at that point, the sur­ plus will need to be allocated else­ w here. The new L etter of Agreement stipulates that SSMU will receive 70 per cent of the prof­ its with the remaining 30 per cent go in g to the u n iv e rsity . T hese a n tic ip a te d p ro fits w ill allow SSMU to cover a $200,000 lease fee every year without having to turn to students for additional fund­ ing.

Other clauses in the Letter of Agreem ent stipulate that McGill will cover 50 per cent of the plan­ ning costs for the proposed renova­ tions to Shatner — up to a maxi­ mum of $150,000 — and will pro­ vide financing to SSMU for the student investment in the project.

As well, any new monies that may be derived from the renegotiation of the cold-beverage contracts at McGill will have to be split equally between SSMU and the university.

Although the Society has had to make concessions to M cGill, Reid is confident that the negotia­ tions have been a success.

“I’ll be able to come back in five years and say I think I’ve done theright thing,” he stated. “It is a good agreement that will serve stu­ dents well.”

The Letter must pass through the University Board of Governors before coming into effect for the next six years, with the bookstore clauses being applicable for the next 12 to 15 years.

News

T he M c G ill T ribune , T uessday, 24 N ovember 1998

Page 3

Cheque, please: Buy Nothing Day takes on consumerism

By A ndrea V enantius

International Buy Nothing Day, the only environmental campaign that addresses consumers, will be marked this year on November 27 by a series of workshops to accompany the stand against over-consumption in western societies.

Adbusters magazine, created by M edia Foundation, created Buy Nothing Day seven years ago as part of their crusade against consumer culture. Last year, Buy Nothing Day went global.

“Buy Nothing Day is basically about raising awareness about con­ sumption and over-consumption,” said Becky Lipton, a member of the Buy Nothing Day committee, the working group of QPIRG-McGill for this event. She pointed out that the spirit of Buy Nothing Day encom­ passes socioeconom ic as well as environmental issues, among them the consequences of D eveloping World countries emulating the spend­ ing habits of the developed world.

Look but don't buy

“Our approach to [Buy Nothing Day] last year was much more mini­ malist in that we promoted more of the Montreal-based events...but all we really did on campus was poster for those events and talk to students to spread aw areness,” said Mike Watson, another coordinator on the Buy Nothing Day committee.

Julie Fishman

The primary changes this year are a series of workshops bringing outside groups to McGill and other local universities throughout the week of Buy Nothing Day. The workshops range from responsible consumption to the future of busi­ ness.

“In some ways people coming to

the events will m otivate them to reflect on the event," said Watson.

"That’s our ultimate goal, to get peo­ ple to think about and question the implications of their day-to-day activ­ ities... simple decisions like what shoes to buy, what to eat for lunch, where to fill up for gasoline. We make hundreds of decisions a day, but I don’t think people think about these decisions much.

“No one exists in a vacuum.

Once [consumers] are aware of the effect of their actions, they will begin to change their actions. The big chal­ lenge is overcoming the advertising of mainstream media,” he added.

“We try not to make people feel guilty because then people just don’t listen,” said Steve Body of Action Re-buts, an organization devoted to creating an economically and envi­ ronmentally efficient system of waste m anagem ent on the island of Montreal. He emphasized the impor­ tance of a fun side to Buy Nothing Day and simplifying over-consump­ tive lifestyles in general.

Our way of life is not sustain­ able and it should not be a model to be followed for the next generation and the developing countries,” said Body.

Amy Zanrosso, a music student at McGill, said that she would partic­ ipate in the Buy Nothing Day, but was unsure about its effects beyond students.

“It wouldn’t be that hard [for me]," she said."[But] tell the wealthy people not to spend for one day, see if they can do it. I don’t know how much good it really does for one day, it’s pretty hard not to buy things.

"I [do] think it would make peo­ ple think twice though — it would make me think twice.”

That is the ultimate goal of the bodies behind Buy Nothing Day events, to make people think about their actions, the media’s identifica­ tion of them solely as consumers and the effect of their purchases on the distribution of wealth and the state of the environment.

Suzuki's talk at McGill inspirational SSMU takes out loan for renovation expenses

By Fred Sagel

Alm ost 500 people crowded into the Leacock auditorium last Thursday to hear renowned scientis t and av id e n v iro n m e n ta l sp o k esm an D r. D av id S uzuki speak about the steps necessary to save the human species.

S uzuki v is ite d th e M cG ill cam pus as the th ird sto p on a cross-country lecture series spon­ sored by the Canadian Parks and W ilderness Society, a grassroots o rg a n iz a tio n d e d ic a te d to the p reserv a tio n of n atio n al parks.

CP AW, responsible for feats such as lo b b y in g O ttaw a to rem o v e VIA Rail lines from A lgonquin Park, is using the tour to increase public awareness of the growing number of endangered species and to muster up support for a federal Endangered Species Act. The evening included ad d i­ tional lectures by Dr. L aurence Green from the Redpath Museum and lo b b y ist S arah D over.

However, it was Suzuki who really seemed to captivate the attention of the audience. His lecture served as a poignant reminder of the fact that human beings are incapable of existing as a separate entity apart from nature. This holistic world­ view is directly at odds with our species' p ersistan t abuse o f the environment.

"This is a remarkable moment in the history of this planet," said Suzuki. "It is the first tim e ever that a species has acquired such power. We thus take it as our Godgiven right to take 88 per cent [of

exactly opposite to the healthy th e e a rth 's land] and trash it."

A ccording to Suzuki, our dom i­ evolutionary process of diversity. nance as a species should make us, It makes us vulnerable."

Suzuki also com m ented on on the contrary, more accountable to the long term health of the envi­ humankind's inability to see itself as an animal, and attributed this to ronment.

Suzuki strongly em phasized our disassociation from nature.

"W e have fo rg o tte n one the importance of interdependence in nature and denounced industry, important fact — however sophis­ attributing the profit-motive to the ticated we may think we are, we're w eak en in g o f h u m an k in d . He still animals," he said. "We think illu s tra te d th a t e v o lu tio n has we're superior to animals... but the brought about ideal atm ospheric fundamental bottom line is that we c o n d itio n s fo r su rv iv a l and need air, water, food and sunlight mocked some scientists' and econ­ like all other animals or else we o m ists' c la im s th a t the hum an die."

The audience gave Suzuki and invention could replace extinct species and re-engineer the envi­ fellow lecturers a warm response. ronm ent. He b eliev es only life McGill students credited the array itself can sustain life and that no of speakers and Suzuki's tenacity le v e l o f sc ie n c e or am ount o f as the key factors in making the m o n ey can re p lic a te w hat has evening inspirational. Many, how­ ever, were disappointed that more taken billions of years to develop. p eo p le w ere not able to hear "W e d ep en d on life ," said Suzuki. "Life is part of the purifi­ Suzuki speak.

"It is a sin that it couldn't be cation process. Life transformed the atmosphere into the oxidizing p resented to a larg er audience, atmosphere which we depend on. said Alexander MacDonald, a U0 Life created the very conditions, environm ental studies major. "It the very elements that we require seem ed that people were on the same tangent and a good many for our survival."

S uzuki la te r sp o k e ab o u t more could have benefited from globalization, a phenom enon he h e a rin g him speak. S uzuki is b e lie v e s is h o m o g e n iz in g the known for being to the point and hum an species. Suzuki declared for being a mover-and-shaker."

N evertheless, Suzuki's m es­ th a t to d a y 's c o rp o ra te ag enda intends on removing the cultural sage struck a chord with the many diversity which makes each place students who attended the lecture.

He co n c lu d e d by sa y in g : "If in the world unique.

"Diversity is a mechanism of there's one thing that I hope people life's ability to survive and adapt take away from this evening, it is over different periods of tim e," that nature works, nature services stated Suzuki. "Monoculture being itself and nature is us." sp re a d o v er w id e areas m eans

withdrawn close to $40,000 for comput­ er upgrades, taking out $117,000 would The Students' Society of McGill require suspending the by-laws because University has formulated its latest it would take us over that 30 per cent.”

“Taking out a loan makes more response to the infamous Shatner Building Report, passing a motion at sense,” he stated. “The difference Council last week to give the Executive between interest lost by taking money Committee the go-ahead to take out a out of CERF and SSMU taking a regular loan to pay for a comprehensive plan­ loan is negligible.”

SSMU will be deciding between ning study.

The $117,000 loan will cover taking a loan out from a regular char­ approximately half of the renovation tered bank or borrowing the money from planning expenses. Renovations to the McGill — a possibility under the terms Shatner University Centre were deemed of the recent letter of agreement signed necessary after a report released three between SSMU and the university. The weeks ago informed Council that other half of the planning expenses will Shatner does not have adequate facilities come from McGill coffers, another to safely handle the large volume of peo­ clause in the letter of agreement.

According to McGill Viceple it provides services to. As a result of the report, SSMU could be considered Principal Phyllis Heaphy, the university liable for any injury resulting from the is taking a risk by giving SSMU the money. inadequacies of the building it operates.

“We’re prepared to pay for the SSMU VP Finance Lorenzo Pederzani explained that there were plans for renovations to [Shatner] with­ compelling reasons for SSMU to take out any assurance that there will be rev­ out a loan instead of withdrawing enue to cover it,” she said in last week’s money from the Capital Expenditure council meeting. ‘This is a big risk for Reserve Fund. The Executive wanted to us.”

SSMU has retained the firm of keep the finances for the planning costs and the actual renovations separate and Gespro SST to conduct the planning for avoid having to suspend the by-laws of the renovation of the Shatner building, the CERF fund. Pederzani also noted and has received a cost estimate of that the interest that would be accumu­ $232,925. While McGill is responsible lated by SSMU by leaving the money in for the costs of safety modifications to the reserve fund is close to the amount the building, the balance of the proposed of interest that SSMU would be required Shatner upgrade will have to be financed by a student levy. SSMU executives are to pay back on a loan.

“Suspending the CERF by-laws planning to put a question to referendum sets a dangerous precedent,” said next semester, asking students to support Pederzani. “We are only allowed to take a funding plan. The exact increase in out 30 per cent of the current year’s bal­ student fees has not yet been deter­ ance of funds, and since we have already mined.

By Stephanie Levitz

N ICK and h is staff" R e s t a u r a n t P la c e M i l t o n in v ite M cGil stu d en ts to th e n e w !

B r e a k f a s t a n d m o re . B u rg e rs , S a n d w ic h e s , k S te a k s a n d o th e r m e n u s e le c tio n s a v a ila b le . exp an d ed R estau ran t O p en : Place M ilton. Stop » M o n 7 a .m . - 5 p .m . ° pick up yo u r b reak fast! i- - U T u e s - F ri 7 a .m . - 7 p .m . card an d say S a t- S u n 8 a .m . 5 p .m .

Serving M cGill ^ Stud ents sin ce 1964.

224 Milton -

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News

T he M c G ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Revisors have the final say

N E W S b rie f M c G ill going THIRD PLACE

strong in

M cG ill re ta in e d its th ird p la c e p o s itio n in M a c l e a n ’s an n u al C an ad ian u n iv e rsitie s r a n k in g in th e M c d ic a l/D o c to r a l c a te g o r y .

T he su rv e y , a lth o u g h m uchc r itiq u e d , m ay o ffe r in s ig h t into the state o f affairs in our hallow ed halls. H ere’s a look at the g o o d , the bad and the ugly: • M c G ill s tu d e n ts a re in te llig e n t. 9 9 .6 p e r c e n t o f in c o m in g M c G ill s tu d e n ts have an average above 75 per cen t and 9 2 .6 p er c e n t o f us g ra d u a te , g iv in g us a second place finish behind Q u een’s in both categories. Furtherm ore, we rake in m ore national stu ­ d e n t a w a rd s th a n an y o th e r u n iv e r s i t y in th e c o u n tr y (9.7/1000).

• O u r s tu d e n t b o d y is u n q u e stio n a b ly d iv e rse . 30.7 per cent o f first year students are from o u tsid e Q uebec and 22.9 per cent o f graduate stu ­ dents hail from oth er parts o f th e w o rld , p r o p e llin g us to s e c o n d p la c e in b o th c a t e ­ gories.

• W e’re on the low -end o f the scale (10th) when it com es to the nu m b er o f classes that are taught by tenured faculty.

N e v e r th e le s s , c la s s e s a t all le v e ls o f an u n d e r g r a d u a te p ro g ra m a re s till r e la tiv e ly sm all in size.

• M cG ill’s ranking is tar­ nished by its poor show ing in the financial dom ain. Only 4.8 p e r c e n t o f o u r o p e r a tin g e x p e n d itu r e s are d e v o te d to scholarships and b u rsaries'and 2.97 to student services, plac­ ing M cG ill in 10th and Llth place respectively.

• M cG ill fin is h e s e ig h th b o th in term s o f total library holdings and holdings per stu­ d en t. O n ly 6 p er cen t o f the u n i v e r s i t y b u d g e t s u p p o r ts library services.

• In a survey o f academica d m in is tr a to r s and C E O s o f large C anadian firm s, M cG ill is ranked fifth for best univer­ sity overall. So much for past laurels.

fro m

- w ith f i l e s M aclean’s

N E T W O R K b rie f M ailing

to the motherland

For every issue, there is a flip side. In this case, the hot topic is out o f province voting r i g h t s f o r th e u p c o m in g Q u eb ec e le c tio n s. Q u e b e c e rs e ls e w h e r e in C a n a d a a n d a b ro a d h a v e ra is e d c o n c e rn over their ability to have a say in the futu re o f the p ro v in ce.

In resp o n se, the Q uebec g o v ­ ern m e n t has w orked to m ake long-distance voting m ore fe a ­ s ib le f o r b o th s tu d e n ts a n d o th e r out of p r o v in c e Q uebecers.

Q u e b e c e x -p a ts c a n now ap p ly to v o te by m ail — the Q u e b e c g o v e r n m e n t is s u e d

application packages to sever­ al O ntario universities.

As is th e case fo r o u t o f p ro v in ce stu d ents studying in Q u e b e c , a n u m b e r o f c o n d i­ tions m ust be m et for elig ib ili­ ty. A m o n g th e m , a p p lic a n ts m ust have: • lived in Q uebec for 12 c o n s e c u tiv e m o n th s p rio r to departure.

• been out o f the province for less than tw o years • in t e n t i o n to r e tu r n to Q uebec.

The new Cyberm arket, you’ll

— w ith f i l e s f r o m th e W aterloo Im print

click for

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Continued from page 1 voting rights in the province. “The health card is a good p roof [of domicile], but it w ouldn’t be the only proof.”

Beattie notes, however, that in Westmount - St. Louis “[the] situa­ tion of students is actually quite [unique] because we have so many out-of-province students...the con­ centration is particularly [dense] here, and perhaps at Bishops too, [and] C oncordia a little ,” notes Beattie.

Recourse and changes For those that feel they should be on the electoral list, they may ask that revisors reconsider their applica­ tion during a second revision period ending Wednesday, only if they have new information to present. “[The returning officers] are not an appeal board by any means... It is the revisors’ decision as to whether a person may be registered or not,” Towell said.

The revisors, who are appointed by the two political parties that won the most votes in the riding during the last election, swear an oath that their party affiliations will not be taken into consideration when evalu­ ating voter eligibility.

“There [are] no partisan politics

Brady is required to have Quebec medicare before being allowed to vote

supposed to he played at the table...

We are not the ones who can tell them what decisions to make, only what guidelines they have to follow to make these decisions,” Towell explained.

But given the number of com­ plaints surrounding voter eligibility, parallels have been drawn to the 1995 referendum controversy con­ cerning scrutineers ruling a signifi­ cant number of ballots spoilt. The Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec launched an investigation at that time, into the reasons ballots were rejected.

A ccording to John E nright, M edia R elations for the C hief Electoral Officer of Quebec, signifi­

Rebecca catching

cant changes have been made to the ballot in an attempt to ensure that this does not happen again.

“The circle of the new ballot is four milimetres in diameter, it is very small. W e’re asking electors simply to mark the ballot, we’re not qualifying that mark...”

Towell believes the changes will help ensure that decisions con­ cerning spoilt ballots will be more clear cut. “Again, it’s leaving things less open to interpretation both for scrutineers and revisors. It helps them if things are more clear cut.

Having things be subjective is not that happy an experience for any­ body.”

Quebec election campaign skates around education issues

By A nna Solomon

For students hoping to vote in the November 30 provincial elec­ tions, following the campaign peri­ od has not provided much insight into what parties will do for them once elected.

The three primary parties con­ tending for the 125 seats in the N ational A ssem bly — the Parti Québécois, the Liberal Party and the Action Démocratique Québec — have given attention to many issues.

Although the primary focus often gets reduced to sovereignty, there has been discussion on how the par­ ties will improve the quality of edu­ cation in the province. Thus far, only the PQ has gone on the record saying that they will freeze tuition.

Both the L iberals and the ADQ have made public commitments to continued funding for education, but have not made tuition fees a part of their platform.

The Parti Québécois, holding 74 seats in the assembly and form­ ing Quebec's government, has made the priority issue for this election fiscal responsibility, placing health care and education on the back burner and trying to avoid questions about another referendum . PQ L eader L ucien B ouchard has worked to reaffirm the party's image as a having a strong historical track, record in government.

“We are living in a paradoxical situation. For the last thirty years the only gains by Quebec have been made by a sovereignist government in Quebec. It’s simple, Quebec is strong when there is a government th at stands up and it is so v er­ e ig n ist,” said Prem ier Lucien

Bouchard during last T uesday’s televised leaders' debate.

The Parti Québécois has been striving towards "deficit zero" since its election in 1994. This strategy has caused the party to cut back on funding to various social programs — most notably health and educa­ tion — although it has promised to substantially increase the amount of money it gives to these programs should their government be re-elect­ ed.

The A ction D ém ocratique holds one seat in the assembly, that of its leader, Mario Dumont. Instead of another referendum, the ADQ prefers an amendment to the consti­ tution, which Dumont says would result in a 25 per cent reduction in the bureaucracy of the Quebec gov­ ernment, reduced costs and more available money for health, educa­ tion, and other services. The party believes there is a need to revamp the entire educational system from day care to university.

“The drop out rate is way too h ig h ” rem arked G illes B ureau, staffer in charge of policy, and “cur­ rently in post secondary schools most courses are given by people who have statuses that are not per­ manent and that are very precari­ ous.”

The ADQ plans to reallocate money that already exists in the econom y into education. M ore specifically, departments in post­ secondary in stitu tio n s that lead directly to occupations will receive increased government funding. This strategy will improve the facilities in these departments while creating better job opportunities for students.

The Liberal party, under the

leadership of Jean Charest, present­ ly has 45 seats. The party favours maintaining Quebec's role in the Canadian federation and should it receive the majority of seats in the National Assembly, the party says its first action will be to improve the province's health services and to ensure the success of CEGEPs and u n iv e rsitie s that have recently endured num erous budget cuts.

How the party will manage to fund increasing services while reducing taxes, another part of their platform, remains to be seen.

“Basically, what we want to do is to give a chance to students to go and get some experience and we will create 25,000 paid jobs with employers. So, this means that a lot of money will be put into educa­ tion,” explained Yanik Deschenes, head of com m unications for the Quebec Liberal party.

Aside from financing job cre­ ation, the Liberals plan to increase financial aid to students in the form of loans and bursaries. The party does not intend to in crease the amount of need-based grants to stu­ dents.

N eith er the ADQ nor the Liberal party foresee a reduction in the tuition fees for post-secondary students in Quebec.

“The reality in Canada is that Quebec’s university tuition fees are at about half the level of what they are in Ontario and BC where the educational level is comparable,” said Bureau.

He explained that the ADQ believes that in order for Quebec universities to compete with other Canadian schools, tuition cannot be reduced.

News

T he M c G ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Page 5

Y2K workgroup hopes millennium bug won't bite McGill

By M egan Kirby_______________

If everything goes according to the plan, McGill University will n o t go h ay w ire on Ja n u a ry 1, 2000.

T he strateg y for m anaging M cG ill's com puter system s has larg ely been d ev e lo p e d by VP In fo rm a tio n S y stem s and T ech n o lo g y B ruce P en nycook, in c lu d in g his u n iv e rs ity -w id e effort to make McGill’s computer systems Year 2000 (Y2K) compli­ ant.

The Y2K problem stems from softw are that was w ritten using only tw o d ig its fo r the y ear in order to save expensive memory space. C o n seq u en tly , w hen the date changes to January 1, 2000, many computer systems will think that it is in fact 1900 — the result being a complete or partial failure of the system. Being Y2K compli­ ant means that computers realize that the date is really 2000.

In o rd e r to o v erco m e th e potential problems caused by the millennium bug, McGill founded a Y2K Workgroup in March of this cook in in year to assist VP Pennycook

. • . 1 .... . : H ^ lln n with c1 1 1 — fn rilitip Q m anag em en t- said that “monitoring the university’s plans tn g ..., anything dealing with stu­ facilities m anagem ent, said that his d e p a rtm e n t is in v e stin g dent reco rd s, an ything dealing fo r Y ear 2000 co m p lian ce," as stated on the Information Systems with money, such as payroll, pen­ $200,000 into the project to bring their systems up to par.

Resources webpage.

"We are in the process Tanya Steinberg was of updating all our operating h ired six w eeks ago as systems... [and] we hope to Y2K Pro, ct Manager for have everything covered so th e w o rk g ro u p . She that our buildings w ill be explained that one of the ab le to o p e ra te p ro p e rly p rim a ry ta rg e ts o f the come next winter." p ro ject is to m ake sure Steve Paquin, manager that the "mission critical of security and parking, is system s" at M cG ill are w orried th at som e o f the Y 2K c o m p lia n t. She m achines w hich reg u late defines m ission critical building access may be ren­ systems as “systems that dered useless by the turn of are cen tral to the fu n c­ the millennium. His depart­ tioning of the university.” m ent is in the pro cess of For e x a m p le, identifying potential prob­ Steinberg has prioritized lem areas. the p a rts o f M c G ill's Jaime Stein Workgroup targets mission "The thing th at con­ p h y sic a l in fra s tru c tu re critical systems cerns me the most as far as that are operated by com­ being Y2K compliant is the p u te rs.

“The Y2K W orkgroup needs to make sure sions and Interac system s..., [as card access system s.... The new versions that we have are Y2K that the elevators go up and down well as] library systems.”

Although the university still compliant," stated Paquin, "and as on January 1, 2000.” has a lo t o f p re p a ra tio n to do, fo r th e o ld er m o dels, w e have Steinberg went on to include under the heading of mission criti­ Steinberg noted that "many of the received quotes and estimates as to cal systems “facilities management m issio n c ritic a l sy stem s are how much the [Y2K com pliant] software will cost. The software is that runs all heating and ventila­ already Y2K compliant." available- on market."

Steve Sura, oviuvu. senior manager of non anu park pair.v,. ---------~ the--------------------------tion system s, security and

Not all all ofofMcGill McGill’s computer Not s comi systems are being reworked for the sake of the Y2K bug alone. While lib ra ry sy stem s do n eed to be brought up to speed for the year 2000, Steinberg explained that the system was already long overdue for an overhaul.

“The libraries are completely upgrading their software and hard­ w are... [and] it ju st so happens that these upgrades are coinciding with the need to be Y2K compli­ ant.”

According to Sharon Rankin, systems and automation librarian, the libraries plan to buy a new sys­ tem to replace M USE that w ill “ in te g ra te all o f the lib rary resources together through a webinterface.”

H ow ever, R an k in ex p lain s that they are covering all th eir bases.

“The lib raries are going to solve the year 2000 problem on the existing system s... They are not counting on the new library system as the Y2K solution,” she stated.

Nominations for SSMÜ rep to Dean of Law selection committee reopened

By Jonathan C olford_________

T he S tu d e n ts ' S o c ie ty o f McGill University voted to reopen the nomination period for its rep­ re s e n ta tiv e to th e A d v iso ry Committee to select a new dean of law due to a perceived conflict of interest in the choice of represen­ tatives.

The controversy surrounding the process to select a new Dean fo r th e F a c u lty o f Law b eg an w hen th e L aw S tu d e n ts ' A ssociation, which traditionally has held at least one of the two seats on the com m ittee, had its seat revoked and given to the Post Graduate Students' Society. LSA P resid en t M ario N ig ro em p h a­ sized the im portance of law stu­ dents’ involvement in the selection procedure.

"Selecting the Dean is very im p o rta n t [fo r law s tu d e n ts ] because o f the contact the dean has with students. You meet him from day one,” said Nigro.

N igro also stated that there had been no consultation with the LSA over the revocation by the university of its seat. "[T h e seat] w as re v o k e d without discussion. There was no real communication with the LSA [on this issue]," said Nigro.

M cG ill V ic e -P rin c ip a l Academic Bill Chan said that the only student organizations desig­ n a tin g r e p re s e n ta tiv e s to th e Advisory Committee would be the SSMU and the PGSS. “The statutes of the university stipulate thyat there are 2 student m em b ers on th e A d v iso ry Committee. From the university’s point of view, we would go to the stu d en t so c ie tie s w hich w o u ld represent the [student body] as a whole,” said Chan.

SSMU Clubs Representative

Chris M uldoon suggested at last Thursday's SSMU council m eet­ ing that all three student associa­ tio n s be g iv e n se a ts on the Advisory committee. He also indi­ cated that he would support LSA if it decided to take on the univer­ sity over this matter.

"E very fa c u lty asso ciatio n should have a representative on every com m ittee that nom inates th e d ean o f th a t fa c u lty ," said Muldoon.

T h e se c o n d p ro b le m th a t arose concerning representation on the committee came from the appointm ent over the summer of the SSM U re p re sen tativ e. Sam J o h n s to n h ad s e le c te d A lex Johnston, a fourth year law stu­ dent and her sister, to sit on the committee. Alex Johnston's quali­ fications included her possession of an undergraduate degree, her Senate and SSMU executive expe­ rience, and her experience on the Scarlet Key Executive Committee responsible for selecting recip i­ ents of the Scarlet Key. "I se le c te d h e r b e c a u se I believed her to be the best repre­ sentative for this particular posi­ tion of all the students both inside and outside the Faculty o f Law that I could have put on this com­ mittee," said Sam Johnston.

N ig ro q u e s tio n e d Sam J o h n s to n 's a b ility to m ake an informed decision relating to this matter. He cited the lack of candi­ dates, as Alex Johnston's selection took place over the sum m er, in criticizing the SSMU VP's deci­ sion.

"H ow d id [Sam Jo h n sto n ] know who the b est [candidate] was? She had no resum es. How do you decide who is best without having some m ethod of com par­ ing candidates?" asked Nigro. "It was a serious error in judgem ent.”

A t la st T h u rs d a y 's SSM U c o u n c il m e e tin g , the VP University Affairs recognized "the perceived conflict of interest" and acknowledged that the LSA want­ ed a new selection process. She left the matter up to the University A ffairs co m m ittee, w hich in a re p o rt it tab led la te r on in the meeting recommended that SSMU

reopen the nominations for its rep­ re s e n ta tiv e to th e A d v iso ry C o m m itte e . C o u n c il v o te d to reopen the nom inations period, e x te n d in g it to W e d n e sd a y , November 25.

N ig ro w as p le a se d at the reopening of the selection process.

"We're extremely happy that [the n o m in a tio n s p ro c e ss] has

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reopened. We hope that it's a fair and inclusive process that gives everyone a fair chance. There are a lot of great candidates out there and I believe that an open process [will reveal that]," said Nigro. "I credit Sam Johnston for realizing th at she'd made a m istake," he concluded.

Started in 1992 by Adbusters m agazine, “Buy N othing D ay ”, this year held on Nov 27th, is now an international event. I t is a simple idea with profound a n d far-reach­ ing implications. Buy N othing D ay represents a challenge to the very base o f our current eco­ nomic system a n d examines our shop-till-you-drop culture in ­ cluding the methods we use to measure wealth a n d progress. A series o f events, celebrating Buy N othing Day, is being organized to raise awareness about the social a n d environm ental repercussions o f excessive consumption.

WEDNESDAY (25th) 9:30 - 4:00 Information kiosks on alternative con­ sumption choices in the Shatner Building Rm 1 0 7 /8 followed by a film at 7 pm “W ho’s C ounting” that exposes the inadequacies and injustices o f some well accepted econom ic valuation mechanisms in M cConnell Eng Rm 304.

FRIDAY (27th) 11:00 - 6:00 Workshops in Leacock 232: • Lucia Kowaluk (Urban Ecology Centre) will speak about “responsible con ­ sumption” • Brian Dominik on ‘radical econom ics’: examining a number o f the failures o f market capitalism • Colin Berube(Montreal Community Loan Asso­ ciation) will speak on “market economy, social economy and how they interact” .

• The Social Justice Committee will speak about Third World D ebt problems, and discuss a number o f solutions that have been proposed.

More events and information can be obtained at the QPIRG website: SSMU h ttp ://ssm u .m cgill.ca/qpirg QPIRG

Page 6 O p / E d

T he M cG ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

EDITORIAL

I tell you, Bill, it m akes no sense! thought I gave them an easy final and they still failed me!

“A ll truths that are kept silent becom e poison.”

— Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Accountability a must B y N il im a G

u l r a ja n i

Bill Clinton, after his shocking televised confession to adultery, proved that even the actions of the President of the United States are not above public scrutiny. Although McGill is no White House, a minimum standard of accountability is nonetheless important for the integrity of all institutions. Yet, our Ivory Tower Starr reports are, for the most part, still securely under lock and key.

In 1992, the McGill Senate, the academic decision-making body of the university, approved withholding students' course evaluation com­ ments because they were “not deemed to be informative to students for the purposes of course selection.” Since then, only statistical results are placed in Redpath reserves, although under Quebec privacy laws, profes­ sors can legally block their discharge as well.

If the numerical data does make it to the library, it is by and large, incomprehensible. Reams of dot-matrix printouts, without instructions J explaining how to interpret the statistics, overwhelm the first-time user. !

Bewildered, students more often than not return the stack to reserves unread, their predecessors’ multiple choice answers lost in a sea of num­ bers.

In recent issues of the Tribune The University of Toronto, Queen’s, Harvard— all have designated there has been a certain amount of bodies, mainly student-run, that are responsible for processing the numer­ controversy surrounding the Women’s ical results of course evaluations and compiling the general trend in stu­ Union (October 20) letter to the editor dents’ comments. Statistical and anecdotal results are both published

by Oren Katz (“Sisterhood like a either in a printed format or on-line. Under this system, professors still Frat”). We wanted to address the con­ cerns raised and dispel some myths have the right to keep their evaluations confidential, but their aversion to about the Union. transparency is noted.

Myth #1: The Women’s Union is Transparency is what Arts Undergraduate Society Senator Emma a radical political organization.

Sevitt wants restored to McGill. She has asked all departments in the Actually we are a service of the Faculty of Arts to allow the distribution of a qualitative evaluation in their M cGill Students’ Society like classes during the next two weeks. She is hoping to complement this SACOMSS and Walksafe. In fact, we anecdotal information with the numerical data McGill already collects were the birthplace of SACOMSS and and publish a guide to Arts courses next year. However, without the co­ Walksafe. Yes, we are pro-woman and operation of professors, the project is doomed from the start. pro-feminist, but we would like to dis­ In the past, professors have expressed doubts about the merits of an tinguish ourselves from the negative evaluation that includes written comments. They fear students lack the stereotype of “the feminazi”: we do maturity and sensitivity required for summarizing verbatim evaluations. not hate men (in fact we enjoy their They worry that students will be attending classes with preconceived company a great deal). We come together to agree on one essential notions. They argue that student comments are rife with biases, stemming point, the radical notion of women as from their disinterest in the subject, the difficulty of the course, the enter­ human beings equal to men. tainment value of the instructor. Professors hesitate releasing written eval­ Myth #2: Our services are avail­ uations because they wonder how a mediocre review will affect their rep­ able to women exclusively utations and careers.

Actually, our Birth Control Store, Research into the merits of student evaluations has proven that stu­ Library and Referral Service are open dents’ insights on courses are consistent with those of professional evalu­ to both women and men. We sell con­ ators. An invaluable resource for students during course selection time, doms (0.25$ each), spermicide, dental written comments complement numerical responses by giving students dams, gloves, environmentally/woman the opportunity to elaborate on the reasons behind their multiple-choice friendly tampons, reusable pads and answers. Publishing a generalised version of the results ensures equal The Keeper (through Blood Sisters). access to information that was previously only available through an unre­ Our library has a wide variety of refer­ liable grapevine. ence books. Our drop-in referral ser­ Evaluations are mutually beneficial to professors and students—they j vice is run by volunteer Staffers that keep the space open and offer an are not meant to be calls for resignation or promotion. They give students the flexibility to pin point areas needing improvement, for example a bet- | understanding ear to anyone who comes by wanting to express their ter book or more structured lecture, and provide incentives for depart­ concerns. We keep a list of organiza­ ments and professors to act on problems identified by students. Moreover, tions and a slew of informative pam­ course evaluations reward professors not decorated with teaching awards phlets. Our office, Shatner 423, is who fulfill their responsibilities commendably despite the publish-or-peropen 11:30 to 3:30 every day for con­ ish rat race. versation, a place to meet, read and/or Unfortunately, students’ regard for and participation in the course have lunch. It is primarily a women’s evaluation procedure have plummeted over the years. Assuring students space but men are welcome to use our that their input matters can only boost the accuracy of their responses. aforementioned services. We ask men Qualitative data is part and parcel of a reliable course evaluation process to knock upon entering in case a woman has come to our space after a that no excellent academic institution should ever want to hide. traumatic experience and who is in

Stop the Press

Women's Union facts clarified

' T U T : ’M r Y -1 ! ! T TT1D Ï1 D T H V T T E is an editorially autonomous newspaper publi I i l l £, J yl l ^VJr 11jLj JL, 1 I JD HJ) 1 N iC by the Students' Society of McGill University FniTAD.IM.r'L-ltLC E ditor - in -C hief

M(> 1111' Prlitor News Editor

Jason Sigurdson

Stephanie Levitz Assistant News Editors Nilima Gulrajani John Salloum

A ssistant Editor - in -C hief

PaulFuthey A ssistant Editor - in -C hief

Kris Michaud N etwork Editor

Paul Conner

Features Editors Renée Dunk Maggie Gilmour Entertainment Editors Elaine O ’Connor Chris Selley

C C , K t nn, Sports Editors

Manny Almela Chris Lander

i: T7.i:.

On-line Editor Peter Deitz

Photo Editors Rebecca Catching Catherine Farquharson

Advertising and Marketing Manager Paul Slachta

Layout Editors Sarah Dowd Kayla Hochfelder

Ad Typesetters Dom Michaud Jayne O’Brien Harry Wheeler

Staff: Margaret Antler, Michael Bezuhly, Jared Byer, Charmaine Cheung, Jonathan Colford, Andrew Davidson, Julie Fishman, Timothy S. Fitzsimmons, Patrick Fok, J.P. Fozo, Cindy George, James Grohsgal, Catherine Hogan, Graham Kay, Megan Kirby, Kama Leier, Adrienne Matheson, Anna Mattiuzzo, Nicole Pivnick, Lara Rabinovich, David Reevely. Lisa Richler, Dan Rosen, Jessica Ross, Fred Sagel, Sandon Shogilev, Anna Solomon, Jaime Stein, Aron Tonon, Andrea Venantius.

need of the comfort and the shelter of a women’s space.

Other things we do: 1. Post Abortion Support Group, a discussion group for women seeking help dealing with the difficulties they face following abortion.

2. W omen’s wall-climbing at Allez Up, the climbing gym.

3. Open Mike nights that allow a creative outlet for women and men and raise money for charitable causes and budding groups such as the McGill chapter of Bloodsisters, an organization “fueling action to combat the silence surrounding our female bodies.”

4. We hold general meetings where women discuss issues, projects and ideas, meet, eat. and get to know each other.

5. A commemorative vigil and Coffeehouse (December 4) mourning the Massacre of 14 Women at the Ecole Polytechnique on December 6 1987, organized in conjunction with the Concordia Women’s Center. The vigil will be at from 4:30 in the MacDonald Harrington building at the Architecture Café, the commemorative performance will be at Le Cirque, 141 Mount Royal east at 9pm.

6. Activities for International Women’s Week.

7. We offer support (financial and otherwise) to initiatives for the benefit of women and children.

8. Incidentally, our space is used by other services for Queer McGill discussion groups, SACOMSS train­ ings sessions and for emergencies (SACOMSS, Queer McGill and Walksafe).

Comments by Women’s Union staffers on the subject of Greek Societies in the October 14 article “It’s all Greek to me: going beyond the everyday myths” were made informal­ ly: the women, who were creatively

quoted in the article, affirmed to the authors of the fact that they knew nothing about Sororities and Fraternities at McGill. They stated that they were apprehensive to comment because their views were coloured by the stereotypical idea of the wild Fraternity of “Animal House”. The authors were persistent and succeeded in making some off-the-record com­ ments by volunteers of the Union look like the official views of the Organization as a collective. This was an example of the effective, just and high quality journalism we expect from the Tribune.

Furtherm ore, we wanted to underline that we have no quarrels with the Greek Societies. Fraternities and Sororities do great charity work and provide opportunities for students to feel like they belong somewhere in the vast McGill community. These pursuits are important to us as well.

No offense was intended by our staffers, they simply were raising their personal concerns about the Greek system.

We hope that damage done to our image is reversible. Perhaps Mr. Katz should have looked into our organiza­ tion before he blasted us for discrimi­ nation and put our funding and space allotments into question. We too need to learn more about McGill’s Greek Societies and hope that an amicable dialogue will ensue, — Ayesha Islam, U3 Biology Women’s Union Finance Coordinator — Elana Baron, U2 Women’s Studies Women’s Union External Affairs Coordinator — Natasha Jategaonkar, U1 Microbiology and Immunology Women's Union Publicity Coordinator

Letters must include author's name, signature, identification (e.g. U2 Biology, SSMU President) and telephone number and be typed double-spaced, submitted on disk in Macintosh or IBM word processor format, or sent by e-mail. Letters more than 200 words, pieces for 'Stop The Press' more than 500 words, or sub­ missions judged by the Editor-in-Chief to be libellous, sexist, racist or homopho­ bic will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to edit letters for length.

Bring subm issions to the Tribu n e o ffice , FAX to 3 9 8 -17 5 0 or send to tribune@ssmu.mcfiill.ca.

Columns appearing under 'Editorial' heading are decided upon by the editorial board and written by a member of the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The M cG ill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

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Tel: (5 1 4 )3 9 8 -6 7 8 9 /3 6 6 6 Fax: (514) 398-1750 e-m ail: tribune@ ssm u.m cgill.ca W eb: w w w .tribune.m ontreal.qc.ca

O p / E d Page 7

T he M c G ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Stop the Press

Students' Society a black hole for students' cash T his issu e has been on my m ind fo r a w h ile, but the low turnout for the FYSA elections has forced me to finally express my feelings in writing. Reading about the turnout in the Trib, I pictured in my mind all the executives and wannabe SSMU executives shak­ ing th e ir head s at y e t a n o th e r example of student apathy. A com­ ment or two probably was made about how they maybe could have done something better, but most of the tim e th e stu d en t body was probably blamed. But it is not the students who are forced to fork o v er th e ir m oney w ho are to blame, it is SSMU cronies. They have succeeded in turning a poten­ tially useful service into an organ-

zation that uses m any students' money to finance the parties of a smaller group of people.

Looking back on my years at M cGill I can count on one hand the services I’ve received for the more than 50 bucks stolen from me each term. Frosh was a fun party, but quite a rip-off considering that all I got for my money was a Tshirt and free admission to Angels (total value approxim ately $15).

The student handbook was a good deal, too bad they only realized this year that people generally like to have lined agendas. The Shatner building is fairly nice as firetraps go, b u t SSM U d o e s n ’t have a monopoly on cheesy bars, expen­ sive cafeterias or ballrooms with

terrible acoustics. The Health and Dental plan is probably helpful to some people, but it’s a real pain in the ass for me since I ’m already covered by my parents’ plan, and I’ve only succeeded in opting out fo r one term even th o u g h I ’ve made a total of zero claim s my entire three years at this fine insti­ tution.

So now you may be asking yourself, w here do the wads of cash SSMU collects actually go? A large chunk goes to the executives so they can pad th e ir CVs and bicker with each other at council meetings. Another chunk goes to friends o f the executives in the form of positions like chief return­ ing o fficer, and the chairs o f a

num ber o f com m ittees. A lot of money is given to the dozens of clubs around McGill, the majority o f which use the money to have their own little parties on the stu­ dents’ tab. But the most disgusting waste of our money is for the little perks that executives and other SSMU cronies pick up. They get to go on an expense-paid retreat, hold barbeques and give themselves lots of free beer at Gerts. Makes you want to run for office, eh? But it gets worse. At the end of the year, there is an invitation-only SSMU awards ceremony, where on top of giving each other prizes they get to drink from an open bar and help themselves to an expensive buffet meal (m ost o f which isn ’t eaten

and thrown away) at an expensive re c e p tio n h all (la st y ear the Molson brewery).

T he SSM U c ro n ie s are so w rap p ed up in th e ir ow n little incestuous world they don’t realize that they are blowing thousands of dollars gorging themselves at the expense o f the stu d en t body at large. Thankfully, twice a year the elections come by to momentarily rem ind them that no one really cares about SSMU initiatives since the students aren’t really affected by them, except in their wallets of course.

civilians, not Palestinian citizens.

His ignorance of the importance of th is fact is not a c c e p tab le but understandable — few people out­ side of the region realize that Israel occupies a large and fertile part of tiny Lebanon and that there are Lebanese civilian deaths alm ost weekly. This particular attack was a small part of an all-out Israeli offensive that killed up to 200 peo­ p le, in c lu d in g the m assacre of 100+ Lebanese women, children and men who thought they were sheltered at the Fidjian UN base in Cana, in April 1996.

Furthermore, there have been no Palestinian citizens since the destruction of their state in 1948.

There are more than 3.5 m illion Palestinian refugees, and perhaps 3 million Diaspora Palestinians, but until a sovereign state of Palestine exists, there can be no “Palestinian citizens.”

T his type o f in accu racy in reporting gives m ore w eight to Fisk’s informed and critical opin­ ions on the lack o f responsible press in many parts of the world.

Fisk himself stated that “journalists should go into conflict situations with a history book in hand” — advice that many reporters every­ where would do well to follow.

the SSM U p re sid e n t w ho w e l­ comed the same Liberal govern­ m en t’s Paul M artin recently on campus and attempted to chastise people who had expressed their discontent on APEC and other sub­ jects.

As a result of the Liberal gov­ ernm ent’s decision to deny any funding for the protestors’ legal bills, individuals here at M cGill and acro ss the co u n try have stepped in by making donations.

G iven the G reen P a r ty ’s strong commitment to civil rights and the David vs. Goliath propor­ tions of the hearings, the Greens have agreed to establish a legal defense fund to help offset the pro­ testors’ costs sim ilar to previous efforts at the Clayoquot Sound and Temagami logging protests.

T he G reen P arty has announced that it will use its status as a federal political party to issue tax receipts to donors for which there are significant tax credits if people have taxable income, (ie. a $100 donation will cost you $25 after you receive a $75 tax deduc­ tion) By d o ing so, c itiz e n s can decide for themselves whether they think the students defending basic C harter rights to protest should receive public support.

All funds will go directly to covering the costs of the demon­ strators’ legal fees.

Anyone wanting to contribute

should make cheques to: “APEC leg al fu n d -G reen P arty o f C an ad a,” and send them to the Green Party of Canada, P.O. Box 397, London, Ontario, N6A-4W1 after which you will be sent a tax receipt.

If you’d like to find out more about the Green Party in general, you can v isit the w eb site at www.green.ca On a final note, the M cGill Green Party are trying to arrange for APEC p ro te st le a d e r Jaggi Singh to come and speak and have agreed to make a donation to the defense fund.

T he NDP clu b b ro u g h t in S ven d R o b in so n at w h ich the Socialists were in attendance and I think even the Tory club said they were cutting a cheque.

W hen do we hear from the McGill Liberals?

—Johnathan Hart U3 Psychology

Letters to the Editor M emo to O ntario S hut up and pay

whiners :

How dare you challenge the Quebec government on your high­ er than average tuition fees for extraprovincial students. I have lived in Montreal for 15 years, and now live in Toronto the good. I’ve seen first-h an d w hat little shitheads from Ontario are capable of doing toward Quebecers. You are guests in Q uebec, so why d o n ’t you behave like guests. Do as the Rom ans do, or are you ju s t too dum b as u n iv e rsity stu d en ts to know the difference. I personally wrote to Pauline the M inister of Education urging her to maintain the higher fees for all you little shit d istu rb e rs from O n tario . O ne th in g : you are n o t w an ted in Quebec!!! And if I was there now I’d tell it right to your face. Good riddance Anglo bigots! ! !

— Paul Willis (e-mail)

D ecrying historical INACCURACIES The article in the Novem ber 17 issue, “One journalist’s missile crusade turns into quest for the truth,” reports on the lecture that British journalist Robert Fisk gave at McGill. According to the article, the purpose of Fisk’s lecture was to expose biased reporting on the Middle East. Fisk claims that the Western media ignores the notion that the Palestinians “have been d en ied a n a tio n , and 7 0 0 ,0 0 0 Arabs lost their homes when they fled th at p art o f P a le stin e that became Israel in 1948.” Maybe the reason why this is ignored by the Western media is because it is sim-

coiffure pistre U est h a ifity *

ply n o t tru e . It w as the A rab nations who rejected the UN parti­ tion plan for Palestine in 1948. If they had accepted this plan, as the Jewish Agency was willing to do, the Palestinians would have a state in the W est Bank. Furtherm ore, Israel did not force Palestinians from th e ir hom es in 1948.

P alestinians, encouraged by the A rab g o v ern m en ts, decid ed on their own to flee. The Arab gov­ ernments’ intentions were to create P alestinian refugees in order to ex p o se th e situ a tio n o f th ese refugees to the world, and blame their plight on Israel. Furthermore, it should be noted that none of the Arab governm ents attem pted to a lle v ia te the p lig h t o f th ese refugees in the years follow ing 1948. Rather, the refugees became a pawn in the struggle between the Arabs and the Israelis.

It might be appropriate for the author of the article to point out the h isto ric a l in a c c u racies th at Robert Fisk, who purports to be on a “quest for truth,” promotes.

— Aaron Feinstein, U2 History

L ebanese civilians, not Palestinian citizens Hugh Odling-Smee’s article “One journalist’s missile crusade turns into quest for the truth” (The McGill Tribune, 17 November, 1998) was in general accurate and informative. There is one mistake, however, that must be corrected.

Mr. Odling-Smee states that “There are fourteen Palestinian cit­ izens inside [the ambulance], flee­ ing violence from Israeli troops.”

The occupants of the doomed ambulance were in fact Lebanese

— Mark Zeitoun, M. Eng. part o f the Fisk coordinating committee

G reen Party

speaks out

I ’d like to co ngratulate the SSMU on their recent efforts to raise money for the APEC protes­ tors. I believe, however, (but could have the wrong official) that it was

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Page 8 O p / E d

T he M cG ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Taking Ally McBeal to the psychiatrist How television has made it hip to be unstable Gone are the days when stay-athome mothers like June Cleaver and Carol Brady graced our television sets wearing stylish house dresses and glowing smiles, proving invari­ ably that no problem existed which couldn’t be solved with a piping hot home-baked chocolate chip cookie and a tall glass of milk.

Thankfully, as real life women shed their house dresses for business suits and came to rely on the Pillsbury dough boy for practical problem solving, these characters were replaced by the network giants with more modern, hard-working, intelligent and respectable career women.

T elevision figures such as Murphy Brown and Claire Huxtable dom inated the period of the late eighties and early nineties, when women on television were portrayed in challenging careers and positions of authority. Humour in these shows was based on contrived situations and not personal inadequacies. Each of these characters, despite some inevitable imperfections, delivered important messages to young women and acted as inspiring female role models.

Today, the level-headed women integrity, I decided to do some we can all agree that sadly, Ally will may be a little bit off the wagon, so characters of the past have been research on the subject before I never be truly happy without a man. to speak. “Level headed” is perhaps replaced by newly popularized, dragged poor Ally off to the psych, Although I hate to admit it, despite not the term I might use to describe unstable and neurotic figure heads. ward. Being ever so diligent I con- the fact that a man would not solve Felicity, but I watch the show, and I Characters, like Ally McBeal and any of A lly ’s like her. In reality, the problem isn’t Felicity, who, despite their intelli­ real problems, at her illogical behavior, but the mes­ gence, are portrayed as volatile or least he would sages she sends to her young women foolish. In fact, nearly every major allow Ally to viewers. Sacrifice your dreams for television network, in one form or resolve her the chance that a guy might like you. another, has jumped on the bandwag­ Catherine Hogan issues with that obsessively stalk the guy, and if on to create their own version of the damn dancing given the chance, why not plagiarize psychologically unbalanced leading baby, which his essay. That’ll get him to like you. woman. Even television shows such would be better At night, we laugh at her obsessive as ER, whose women characters used -sulted my trusty copy of the DSM IV for all of us, because, and I’m sure and neurotic behavior, but during the to be strong and sensible, are modify­ to perhaps better diagnose Ally’s true I’m not alone on this one, I think he’s day we question why we are not ing some actresses roles to make disfunctions. Although Ally is evi­ really just a little bit creepy. always given the respect we deserve. them adhere to this growing popular dently intelligent, she rarely demon­ Then there’s Felicity. I, like Sure we can shrug it off by stereotype. strates any form of rational judgment most, are captivated by the show. It’s using the excuse that it’s only televi­ Ally McBeal is one of many when it comes to everyday life chal­ light hearted, well written and gener­ sion, but just for a moment think characters who has helped popularize lenges. In each episode, Ally has ally harmless for those not influenced back to how im pressionable you the view that unstable is hip. Ally is seemed to me to be more preoccu­ by her irrational behavior. Here’s a were when you were a kid. Sure it’s neurotic, obsessive, somewhat narcis­ pied with her fashion ensemble (or woman who throw s away her entertainm ent, but at what cost? sistic, and quite likely possesses a lack thereof when it comes to the Stanford pre-med future to follow a What are the lessons we are teaching, myriad of other psychological distur­ skirt department) than with any case guy who she doesn’t know and hasn’t and what is being learned? In reality, bances which would make Freud turn she was working on. For a while ever spoken to, away to college. we are no more ahead now than we over in his grave. The high-profile there, I even questioned whether Ally Let’s face it, any remotely stable were in the Leave it to Beaver days, lawyer, although she seems to meet even had a desk at this law firm, woman wouldn’t follow a guy she and at least then Mrs. Cleaver was the everyday challenges o f her since most of her day seemed to be didn’t know to the bus stop, let alone respected for what she did. Don’t get demanding law career, on the sur­ spent in the coed bathroom. across the country to college. Hear me wrong, Sunday night I ’ll be face, can’t even deal with a bad hair Ally has a grandiose sense of any sirens going off? To any psychi­ curled up on the couch watching day. self-importance and is preoccupied atric evaluator, this would be indica­ Felicity too, but from now on, I’ll be For the sake o f jo urnalistic with fantasies of ideal love. I think tion number one that perhaps Felicity watching it with my eyes open.

Hogan’s Heroes

Students' Society and McGill administration butt heads It’s not exactly SSMU’s busi­ ness to m ake life easy for the University and its administrators.

There’s no question that, on average, Principal Bernard Shapiro and his coterie o f V ice-Principals would enjoy much sim pler professional existences if the SSMU were wiped from the face of the earth. McGill wouldn’t have to worry about, say, liability for injuries suffered by drunken Four-F loors revellers.

Academic policy affairs could be thrashed out much m ore sim ply

without student involvem ent— in civilized fashion, over drinks at the Faculty Club.

The SSMU’s “Memorandum of Agreement” with McGill—essential­ ly a contract with the University that spells out the terms of the SSMU’s existence, defines who’s responsible for what in the Shatner Building, and all that sort of thing—is being rene­ gotiated.

H ere are some jof the University’s demands (they are, of course, only negotiating positions,

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but it’s still interesting to see what McGill would like to thrash out of us undergraduates) : • That the University own the right to all campus business profits, including the Bookstore; • That SSMU should pay the $350,000 cost of heating and lighting the Shatner Building; • That the University, given the funding crunch that it finds itself in, should be able to download costs and absorb revenues of student associa­ tions to help compensate.

To be fair, the SSMU in turn made the unrealistic demand that the University pony up the zillions of dollars necessary to renovate the Shatner Building out of its current status as a ramshackle firetrap virtu­ ally inaccessible to anyone not fully able-bodied (with, incidentally, con­ crete dust and chunks raining down on its inhabitants thanks to the vibra­ tions set up by the Student Services Building jackhammering underway next door). Just as the University did, SSMU demanded the rights to all profits from the Bookstore—both seeking to tear up the profit-sharing agreement reached barely a year ago when the place was farmed out to management from Chapters.

Instead, after about eight months of pounding out the legalese, everybody’s adopted more or less the same agreement that’s governed the relationship between the SSMU and the University for the last five years.

The Council meeting exchange where this all came out was bizarre.

McGill’s Vice-Principal of Finance, Phyllis Heaphy, had come to talk at some length about how M cG ill doesn’t have any money, and was good enough to stay while SSMU President Duncan Reid presented the agreement to Council. She sat ram­ rod-straight, hands folded in her lap and ankles crossed under her orange plastic chair— as if the V icePrincipal were trying to avoid a nun about to bring down the righteous fury of God on her in the form of a ruler applied to her knuckles. She

barely even blinked, which was downright creepy. Duncan asked VP Finance Lorenzo Pederzani for clari­ fication on some of the money issues—my notes don’t say what they were, which might be just as well. Lorenzo, wearing a worse suit

than you’d expect of someone with his taste, and puffed up like a blowfish in preparation for his presenta­ tion of the SSMU’s annual budget, answered proudly, welcoming the chance to warm up before his big show. (Council later refused to receive the budget because he’d sub­ mitted the sheaf of associated docu­ ments too late, causing Lorenzo to pout furiously for two solid hours.)

Ever see three people who absolutely loathe each other trying to persuade an audience what good friends they are? Say, during the 1995 referen­ dum campaign? T hat’s what this looked like.

The question that nobody asked— and nobody really can, because V ice-Principal Heaphy doesn’t do interviews except by email, and I suspect that this is exact­ ly why—is why McGill University would want to throttle the SSMU. That’s what acceding to even a frac­ tion of the U niversity’s demands would do.

After all, it’s probably SSMU that helps as much as anything to preserve campus peace. Reid says that McGill wanted to take SSMU back to where it was thirty years ago.

Where was that?

According to QPIRG’s School Schm ool guide to activism — arguably the most impressively sub­ versive document published on cam­ pus— 1968 was a busy year, and not m uch w ent to the U n iv ersity ’s

advantage. In 1968, McGill students got their first representation in the McGill Senate— a move that stu­ dents denounced as tokenism. In 1968, the P olitical Science Association, followed by Sociology, History, and English, demanded that the U niversity “be explicitly critical o f the political status quo and that it democratize stu­ dent in v o lv e­ ment.” In 1968, 150 students undertook a ten-day occupation of the fourth floor of the Leacock build­ ing, demanding reform of the polisci department.

Thirty years later, M cG ill activism is virtually non-existent.

The 4.3 grade point average system, which might have provoked riots among Arts students in the Sixties, dies a very quiet death in committee meetings. Paul Martin comes to visit and is greeted by a hundred cheer­ leading admirers and six protesters (including ringers from Concordia), while SSMU prompts McGill stu­ dents to put together less than nine hundred dollars to help peppersprayed UBC students fight govern­ ment authoritarianism.

Granted, times have changed.

But the SSMU serves much the same function as an average labour union—mostly, it’s a safety valve for addressing grievances in a civilized way, so McGill doesn’t have to call out the riot police every time stu­ dents get peevish. Having a thick layer of student bureaucracy between unhappy undergraduates and the adm inistration’s decision-making bodies can only work to the University’s advantage.

The McGill adm inistration’s attem pt to drive the SSMU into bankruptcy doesn’t make any sense, except if you view it as a short-sight­ ed exercise in confrontation for its own sake. I, for one, wouldn’t put it past them.

E AT ü R E S T he M c G ill T ribune , T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Page 9

McGill students join the fight against illiteracy

By A drienne M atheson________

Within the walls of the High School of Montreal, the next gener­ ation is learning to read and write — acquiring all the skills they will need to gain knowledge and flexi­ bility in the w o rld ’s expanding global markets. Or maybe not.

U nless the statistics change over the coming years, 22 per cent of these children will be able to read and write only well enough to carry out simple and familiar tasks.

A further 16 per cent will not even have the skills required to do that much. These children may go on to university, they may even become h ig h ly paid p ro fe ssio n a ls. But seven million of them may end up having, perhaps serious, literacy problems.

In another area of the school, how ever, lies part o f a hopeful process in which many McGill stu­ dents are playing an active role.

Annie Salsberg, a U3 humanistics major, is one of many students who regularly volunteer their time in the Learning* C en tre run by the R eading C ou n cil fo r L iteracy Advance in Montreal (RECLAIM).

U2 p sycho lo g y stu d en t Je ssic a H irsh is a v o lu n te e r tu to r w ith M cG ill S tu d en ts fo r L ite ra c y (MSL).

train in g she w ent through w ith M SL, in which tutors acted out meeting their students for the first time. But nothing prepared Jessica for what actually happened. “ I d id n ’t re a lly th in k that Diana and I would build the rela­ tionship that we have. W e’ll spend a quarter of our time just chatting,” Jessica laughs. “It’s really great — we laugh all the tim e, she talks about her daughter and I talk about my mom. I really do look forward to it every week.”

L ike m any, Jessica used to take for granted the ability to read

Coordinator Jennifer Burland and volunteer Jessica Hirsh fight illiteracy with McGill Students for Literacy

and write, and never had real cause to think about illiteracy. The statis­ tic that estimates functional illiter­ McGill Students for Literacy acy in Canada at 16 per cent seems was the first university-run literacy almost inconceivable. As the actual program in Canada. It has since state and causes of illiteracy remain com e to serve as a tem plate on misconstrued, the negative stigma w hich other such program s are continues. modelled, accord­ Jessica ing to co-ordinator e x p la in s that was so ashamed — Jennifer Burland. m any people Now celeb ratin g / didn't know w hat my s till b e liev e: its tenth anniver­ problem was, I just knew “ ‘W hy d o n ’t sary, this service people just learn what everyone else was has diversified its to read? There’s war on illiteracy saying about me. no way they beyond ad u lt Diana Barry, could have just tu to rin g . T h eir learner with McGill Students for Literacy fa lle n through a c tiv itie s now the system.’ But in clu d e a youth a fte r m eetin g D ia n a ,” Je ssic a outreach program with Shawbridge stresses, “I realized that it is possi­ d e ten tio n c en tre, as w ell as an ble, and not that uncommon.” active children’s reading group.

Jessica has been tutoring an adult education student, D iana, Diana's Story since last year. She admits that she was quite scared at the prospect of Diana Barry left school when trying to teach someone her par­ she was in the fifth grade. She was ents’ age. Plus, she notes, “People 16 years old. Diana remembers her g en erally ex p ect som eone who frustration: “I was so ashamed — I doesn’t care, someone stupid. But didn’t know what my problem was, they o b v io u sly do care if they I just knew what everyone else was called MSL. Diana cares so much, saying about me.” she’s so motivated.”

Diana eventually found a job “With a lot of other communi­ in an office, and for three years was ty or volunteer service,” Jessica able to keep her illiteracy a secret continues, “you do a lot, but don’t from absolutely everyone, includ­ actually get to see the results. With ing her children. W hen she was this, there’s something really great laid off, she found herself on wel­ about seeing a difference right in fare, and still with seriously inade­ front of your eyes and seeing how quate literacy skills. much someone appreciates what “Then one day I was on the you’re doing.” bus,” Diana recalls, “and I heard To help alleviate nervousness th ese w om en talk in g . One was among new tutors, Jessica remem­ hold in g a fly er and said to the bers a role play component of the other, ‘Here, you should go back to

Tutoring with MSL

school.’ The other woman looked at the flyer and said, ‘No, this is for those dum m ies who can ’t read.’

They threw it on the floor. I picked it up.” The flyer was advertising literacy classes offered through R EC LA IM and the P ro testan t School Board of Greater Montreal.

Diana quickly enrolled.

D ian a has been a tten d in g classes for several years now, but always felt she was not getting all the help she needed. The classes seemed to focus a lot on tasks with which she found no trouble and were too large for the one-on-one

Lara Rabinovitch

ly com p o u n d ed w hen w elfare T hrough the co m m itm en t of informed her that she has reached Golden Key, many McGill students her 2000-hour quota of education, devote their time to tutoring, pub­ licity and fund­ and now has to raising, as well en ter the w ork Many people still as in fo rce to su p p o rt £ £ believe: 'Why don't people R E C L A I M ’ S herself.

L e a r n i n g “Doing what? just learn to read— there's C en tre. F irst P acking boxes?” ex claim s D iana no way they could have just opened in 1991, an g rily . “T hen fallen through the system.' the Centre aims to help w hat? A fter that j o b ’s over? I go But after meeting Diana, I RECLAIM stu­ back on w elfare, realized that it is possible, dents im prove th e ir read in g still not able to and not that uncommon. and w ritin g read? When a kid Jessica Hirsh, using c o m p u t­ sta rts sch o o l in volunteer tutor with McGill Students for ers, so that they grade one, you Literacy also gain basic d o n ’t give him computer skills.

2000 hours and A nnie Salsberg has been at the then say ‘Okay, get a job now’.”

“If I could be tested, I could at C entre several tim es each week least prove to them I have a prob­ since the beginning of October.

While at the Learning Centre, le m ,” D iana c o n tin u es. She explains that such tests are very Annie is one of many volunteers hard to com e by and extrem ely who help students with homework, expensive. Having recently found read with them, andTielp them with out about an organization that pro­ writing and math exercises. Annie vides free testing to a select few seems to know them all — the man applicants, Diana is awaiting news who wants to learn to write so that of her application status. “But don’t he can express him self in poetry, tell a person who has a brain that the w om an who w ants to learn she has to pack boxes for a living math so she can tell if someone just because she’s already had 2000 short-changes her, the girl who wants to learn to read so that she hours of school.”

Since first actively seeking to can talk about YM magazine with improve her literacy, most recently her peers. Though the Centre oper­ through MSL and Jessica’s dedica­ ates on a drop-in basis, Annie notes tion, D iana has found “a co n fi­ that there are so many regulars that dence that I can do it, self-worth, “the group is very close, and they and no longer caring about what are alw ays e n co u rag in g each people say anymore. And I have a other.”

It is clear that Annie has also goal now. B efore, what kind of dreams can you have if you can’t become part of this group. Though she has been going to the Centre even read?”

W hen asked w hat her goals for less than two months, she easily are, Diana speaks exhaustively, at a refers to students by nam e and rate faster than average note-taking know s each stu d e n t’s interests, ability: “What I would love to be problems and dreams. Her care and able to do is to read a whole book. commitment are evident, qualities To pick up a novel and read it. To she shares with Jessica and the get off welfare. To learn to use a num erous other M cGill students computer. To own my own busi­ who have decided to change the statistics, one person at a time. ness...”

contact necessary to improve her areas of difficulty. She was disap­ pointed to learn that RECLAIM reserved its tutors for those stu­ dents who could not attend classes.

Then one day, Diana happened to walk by another class and over­ heard someone offering free tutor­ ing service. She stopped dead in her tracks. What Diana overheard was a presentation by a representa­ tive of MSL, which she lost no tim e in co n tactin g . Soon after, Diana and Jessica began meeting once a week.

Though Diana’s teacher may not have been able to offer much one-on-one help in the large adult education classes, she did one thing Golden Key and which helped Diana immeasurably.

RECLAIM After noticing that D iana’s prob­ lems lay in frequent confusion of W hen it cam e tim e for sounds (heard and spoken) and of M cG ill’s chapter of the Golden letters (read and Key H onour w ritte n ), her Society to adopt a teacher provided i jjj Don't tell a person cau se, VP her w ith som e who has a brain that she Community in fo rm atio n on has to pack boxes for a liv­ Affairs Erin Stock dyslexia.

As D iana ing ju st because she’s explains that they id e n tifie d w ith already had 2000 hours of decid ed to jo in the fight for liter­ the profile in the acy, since “literaschool. pamphlet, for the Diana Barry cy is so fu n d a ­ first tim e she m ental to every­ could name her problem, and answer the questibn- thing we do as students.”

A fte r ex am in in g p o te n tia l that had often plagued her to the point of scream-out-loud frustra­ organizations with which to get tion: “My God, why is everyone involved, G olden Key “decided else doing so well and I’m doing which best matched our vision and nothing?” In fact, most statistics goals as a chapter, and to which we link 40 to 50 per cent of illiteracy felt we could give the most signifi­ cases on learn in g d isa b ilitie s, cant and meaningful contribution.”

This organization was RECLAIM. which often go undiagnosed.

RECLAIM is now the largest Diana’s problems were recent­ of 165 literacy councils in Canada.

A ll statistics are taken from S ta tistic s C a n a d a 's Survey of Reading Skills (1995). “ L aughs for L ite ra c y ” is a whole evening o f comedy whose p ro c e e d s b e n e fit stu d e n ts o f RECLAIM. Come to Comedy Nest at 9:00p.m. Thursday, November 26. C all 3 6 9-7835 f o r tickets. ($15/$10) M SL s till n eeds vo lu n teer tutors, and also males fo r the Youth O utreach Program . C all 3985100.

RECLAIM Learning Centre is alw ays looking f o r volunteers.

Call Paivi at 350-2610. I f interest­ ed in tutoring or publicity/fundraising, call Maurice at 369-7835.

RECLAIM needs help wrap­ ping Christmas gifts at Chapters and Paragraphe bookstores Dec. 22, 23, 24. Call Maurice at 3697835.

Page 10

Features

T he M c G ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

B ehind enem y lines One GAP-clad capitalist takes on radicals and anarchists at Concordia I e n te re d the B eyo n d The d iscussion that ensued M cW o rld /A P E C , M A I a nd started o ff sounding like à leftA n a rch y: R e sista n c e to wing activist rally. The theme was Globalization lecture at Concordia “D ow n W ith the C a p ita lis ts ” , University clad in a leather jacket which was intimidating to the few (purchased first hand, from Danier) n o n-anarchists and crisply ironed trousers (also in th e room . p u rch ased first hand, from the O ne m an was G A P). I sh o u ld have know n 1 bold enough to would receive hostile stares from q u e s t i o n eyes around the room. I was sur­ w hether it was rounded by anarchists and radicals re a so n a b le to w ho w ere th ere to see a v id eo “sp it on the about the fight against global capi­ sh o es o f all talism and to h ear w rite r and c a p i t a l i s t s . ” activist Jaggi Singh talk about his Was it possible experiences in resisting globaliza­ to d istin g u ish tion. between specu­ The lecture was not welcom­ la tiv e and ing to more moderate newcomers responsible cap­ to activism . It started off with a italism? A rea­ giggling woman denouncing the so n a b le q u e s­ “Evil Capitalist” Paul Martin, who tion, I thought, was expected to be receiving an but it was met honorary degree from Concordia w ith sm irk s aro u n d the room .

University the day after the lecture. Singh maintained that capitalism, She called out to “all anarchists as it exists today, is bad, or “evil” and radicals to please show up... as one woman put it. and pie him . G et the son o f a A nother man suggested that bitch!” ra d ic a liz in g the The video a The c lim a te dialogue put the turned out to be of entire movement t h is le c tu r e a gentler tone, doc­ o f a g a in st global um enting specific capitalism in a rut a p p e a r e d to b e a n examples of global because the gen­ c a p ita lism and a r e n a f o r a n g r y eral public cannot in te rv ie w s w ith u n d erstan d or leaders of demons­ p e o p le to a i r t h e ir relate to it. Singh tra tio n s . It cited view s. agreed with this, p ro te sts a g a in st but p o in ted out Nike sw eatshops, th at ra d ic a ls the p ro te s t by U n iv e rsity o f would sway open-minded people, Toronto students against corporate who could in turn sway a few more rule, and the Lubicon boycott on people. It was clear that the radi­ Daishowa, to name a few. cals were working on the assump­ Singh, who was arrested the tion that they were setting wheels day before the APEC sum m it in in motion, but this seemed contra­ Vancouver last year, gave his lec­ dictory, as they allowed no room ture a fte r the vid eo . “ A PEC for a middle ground. schemes to find ways for transna­ T his is why Q PIR G at tional corporations to get access to Concordia U niversity hosted the natural resources,” he said. His lec­ lecture, a part o f the Tools For ture revolved around his experi­ Change series — to make activism ences w ith fig h tin g A PE C , the accessible. The series began two Public C om plaints C om m ission years ago to extend QPIRG’s mis­ resulting from the pepper-spraying sion to help people develop pro­ that occurred during the dem on­ jects for social and environmental stration, and, on a more general ch an g e. Q PIR G en co u rag es note, globalization. research, education, and action to

achieve these means. However, the climate of this lecture appeared to be an arena for angry people to air their views, as opposed to provid­ ing a learning environment for peo­

ple who want to know how they can bring about change.

It might have been more con­ structive if, to start with, the pie­ throwing woman could have kept her agenda among her group rather than exposing it to an entire room­ ful of strangers. And while it was in te re stin g to h ear a rad ical activist’s point of view, non-radi­ cals were there to learn about con­ crete and tan g ib le so lu tio n s to g lo b al c a p ita lism . In ste a d , we heard accusatory voices and, at tim es, found o u rselv es on the defensive.

There was a consensus in the room: global capitalism is a bad th in g . E ven the bold m an who defended responsible capitalism agreed w ith rad ical ideologies.

Corporations get too much power and there has been a shift in influ­ ence from tax-paying citizens to these corporations. “W e’re often getting side-tracked by A PE C ,” Singh noted, “But it’s a systematic thing. C orporations have always run the government.”

T he p ro te st a g a in st A PEC grew out of a deal UBC had signed with Coca-Cola Ltd. (similar to the one SSMU signed with Pepsi Co.).

H aving the sum m it on the U niversity o f B ritish C olum bia

cam pus gave them a forum to voice their complaint. “We saw it as an o p p o rtu n ity to show our opposition to their agenda of glob­ a liz a tio n ,” Singh said. S in g h ’s immediate goal was accomplished.

His arrest before the event, and the p e p p e r-sp ra y in g o f p eacefu l d e m o n stra to rs, b ro u g h t APEC from the business pages o f the news into the spotlight. Not only that, but it also brought police bru­ tality into the spotlight. “ [Police brutality] happens every day to indigenous people or poor people, but not to middle-class students,” Singh said, “I realize th e re ’s a huge double standard. We only got attention because w e’re m iddle class students.”

The p ep p er-sp ray in c id e n t gave rise to the Public Complaints Commission. Singh says that there is a history of police brutality in Canada. “The RCMP is often used as a political tool,” he said, “So this wasn’t a surprise... We aren’t concerned with a couple of ‘bad officers.’ W e’re concerned about where the original orders cam e from.” Singh maintains that there is a paper trail leading right to the Prime Minister’s desk.

When asked what the average n o n -rad ical could do fo r th e ir cause, Singh could not give any concrete answers. As an anarchist, he could only say th at it was important to take a stand. “Just do whatever you want to do... Do it wherever you are,” he said, “but it m atters how we do th in g s.

Everything must be run in a demo­ cratic way.” Singh did have one piece of advice. “Style,” he sug­ gested, “Using humour, art, and actions gets attention... The means is as important as the ends.”

The idea behind the Tools fo r Change series is to equip people with practical skills and informa­ tion so that we can be more effec­ tive in bringing about social and environmental justice and change. I was disappointed to see this oppor­ tunity wasted, as the “practical” purpose of the lecture was clouded by anarchist ideologies. Non-radi­ cals came in search of ways to get

a fo r u m f o r p e rso n a l o b serva tio n on trends in cu rren t issues

B y C h a rm a in e C h e u n g

involved, but our ideas were not worthy of their cause. In a discus­ sion that followed after the work­ shop ended, one man suggested a less-leftist, kinder, gentler solution for one country’s struggle. Singh did not want to settle for a compro­ m ise. I had su g g ested w orking from within the boardrooms of cor­ porations, but Singh denied that this could accom plish anything.

W hile the lecture and discussion made me a little more interested in activism, I think it might also have m ade me a little w ary o f a n a r­ chism.

Ex-student sues U. Florida officials for searching Internet users — watch your back and your personal account

By C indy G eorge_____________

Independent Florida Alligator (U-W IRE) G ainesville, Fla.— He lived in apartment number 50. She liv ed in 49. T he U n iv e rsity o f Florida students were ‘e-lo v ers’ who communicated by electronic mail.

B ut w hen the re la tio n sh ip ended last year, Carlos Cruz was suspended from the university and accused o f sta lk in g his fo rm er lover by hacking into her e-mail account.

Cruz, a 26-year-old grad stu­ dent, filed a civil rights complaint in fed e ra l c o u rt la st M onday ag ain st UF P re sid e n t John Lombardi and three other universi­ ty officials. %

In his suit, Cruz is asking for more than $7 million because he claims a program manager with the C e n te r fo r In stru c tio n a l and R esearch C o m p u ter A c tiv itie s secured information about his email account without a search war­ rant.

The suit claims Cruz’s privacy was violated when Michael Wright, the CIRCA senior systems program manager who oversees student em ail acco u n ts, gave u n iv ersity police officials a log of Cruz’s email activity.

C ruz said he b eliev es th at information allowed UPD officials Alice Hendon, an investigator, and ÜPD C h ie f E v e rett S tev en s to falsely arrest him and led the uni­ versity to label him a “hacker”.

Cruz, who now lives in New York, is asking the U.S. District Court in Gainesville for a jury trial, claiming the university violated his p riv acy and the B uckley Amendment, which prohibits the release of education records other than directory information.

“The University of Florida and the University police have violated the law and claim that what they did was acceptable,” Cruz said on November 10 in a cover letter to the court.

Obsessive behaviour CIRCA records acquired by Wright showed 38 times in October 1997 that Gruz accessed the e-mail account of his neighbour, a third

year female agriculture student.

In June 1997, Cruz completed a co m p u ter W eb page he was building for her. She later said she never gave Cruz her password or p erm issio n to use her e-m ail account.

The victim, then 19, reported to police the stalking began in November 1997. Cruz was arrested shortly after on charges of stalking, co m m ittin g c o m p u te r-re late d crim es and in tercep tio n o f oral communication — all felonies. The charges were later dropped.

According to the ÜPD arrest rep o rt, the w om an and C ruz became friends in February. 1997 while they were neighbours in La Mancha Apartments.

The friendship progressed into

a sexual re la tio n sh ip , but the woman refused to become Cruz’s girlfriend despite claims from Cruz he was in love with her, the report stated.

In May 1997, when the two were on good terms, Cruz video­ taped sexual intercourse between h im self and the victim — later threatening to send the tape to her family in Haiti, according to police.

Records also show Cruz told the woman he would “kill some­ body to get h er,” and he began watching her movements and those of her new boyfriend. Cruz also is accused of threatening the two with a Glock 27 semi-automatic pistol.

UF officials suspended Cruz Continued on page IT

T he M cG ill T r ibu n e , T u esd a y , 24 N ovem ber 1998

Features

Page 11

AIDS research hopes to help developing countries Local treatment centres, however, may not be available to those who need them the most

By Renée D unk

G u est sp e a k e r Luc M ontagnier understands the peri­ odic ta b le o f th e e le m e n ts but when it com es to containing the spread of the AIDS epidemic, even the doctor who helped discover the HIV virus finds him self with “no magic solution.”

L ast W e d n esd ay , a p p ro x i­ mately 200 people listened atten­ tively to Montagnier, a renowned French doctor whose research has helped people world-wide under­ stand more about the HIV virus.

Montagnier’s research is based at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where he has done most of his work since he graduated in 1960 with a med­ ical d eg ree. H is re se a rc h has played a key role in the discovery of the virus as well as AIDS. M ontagnier, who lectured at M cG ill on b eh alf of the Beatty M em orial L ectures C om m ittee, began his talk entitled Aids on the th re sh o ld o f the y e a r 2000: Merging Western Experiences and African Realities with recent statis­ tics on AIDS. A ccording to the professor, in 1997, 30.6 m illion peo ple w orld -w id e w ere e ith e r infected with HIV or diagnosed

with AIDS. That year, the number of new infections was 5.8 million and the num ber o f deaths from AIDS was 2.3 million. Montagnier also m entioned that in 1997 the number of documented deaths due to AIDS was 11.7 m illion. It is frightening to note that these num­ bers are expected to rise well into the 21st century.

M ontagnier’s lecture focused mainly on the spread of HIV and AIDS in developing countries such as A frica. R ecently, in areas of Africa such as the Sub-Saharan, m ore w om en and c h ild re n are becoming infected with the virus as it is contracted passed primarily through bodily fluids. More specif­ ically, the doctor targeted STDs as well as vertical [mother-to-unbomchild] transm ission as the main culprits.

“Women have no way to resist sexual contact with husbands who may have been infected by prosti­ tutes,” Montagnier stated. He went on to attribute the r i ^ of AIDS to the lack of treatment centres and knowledge of preventative meth­ ods available to people who live in remote areas.

M o n tag n ier e x p lain ed how recent discoveries have led scien-

E-dangers cont'd Continued from page 70 on N ovem b er 14, 1997 — tw o days after his arrest on charges of at least 10 days of physically stalk­ ing the wom an and her frien d , police records show.

C ruz was b anned from La Mancha Apartments a week later and was found liable for the ongo­ ing h arassm en t a fte r a ju d ic ia l hearing last January. He was offi­ cially suspended from UF after his appeal was denied in a letter from Julie Sina, dean of students, in February.

C ruz w ill be ch a rg e d w ith criminal trespassing if he returns to campus before Spring 1999.

He be can be readmitted only after he has com pleted a co u n ­ sellin g or tre a tm e n t p ro g ram addressing his obsessive behav­ iours.

Although it is easy to believe that such incredible stories occur only in the United States, McGill students have not been immune to electronic breaches of privacy. In March 1997, while in the midst of her campaign for SSMU presiden­ cy, Tara Newell experienced prob­ lem s w ith her p e rso n al e-m ail when a hacker broke into her mail box and started sending inappropri­ ate messages to her and those on her mail list. The messages, some containing pornographic material, com m anded N ew ell to quit her campaign while also threatening to harass her friends. Despite investi­ g ation by cam pus security, the matter was never resolved.

The vic tim ’s name has been withheld to protect her privacy.

tists to believe that there are two different strains of HIV, appropri­ ately nam ed HIV1 and H IV 2.

HIV2, he said, is confined mainly to West Africa and some parts of India. Although HIV2 does cause AIDS, the extent of the disease itself is lesser than AIDS caused

by HIV1 as the virus’ incubation period is longer. Research done by sc ie n tists such as M o n tag n ier shows that the origin of this strain may be African monkeys.

HIV1, on the other hand, is the strain that is of m uch more concern to the global community.

M o n ta g n ie r e x p la in e d th at although it is tempting to say that the origin of this strain is animals, the actual beginnings of this virus Montagier shares secrets of HIV discoveries are unknown. He claimed that this Julie Fishman strain is much more “mysterious” includes a lab where clinicians can from cuts to funding, in order to to doctors. p ro p e rly help p a tie n ts, a less an alyze the H IV virus in P etri HIV has become more wide­ ex p e n siv e tre a tm e n t m u st be dishes on-site in order to effective­ spread in tropical areas because it found. Montagnier cited as a sec­ ly p re sc rib e tre a tm e n ts. He appears that some Caucasians may ond ex am ple explained that the centres, howev­ be g e n e tic a lly the need to er, cause problems in themselves im m une to the design a protec­ as many local people have no way W e a r e s t i l l f a r virus. Montagnier tiv e v accin e of paying for transport to and from attributed this phe­ a w a y fro m h a v in g a n th at raises the hospital. Other problems that the nomenon to a dis­ population of t- doctor has encountered is a lack of v a c c in e , e f f e c t i v e ease sim ila r to ce lls fo u n d in education regarding AIDS treat­ A ID S th a t may T h e r e is n o m a g ic hum ans in m ent on the p a rt o f lo cal have at some point s o lu tio n . o rd er to m ake doctors.“In Africa, many doctors afflicted people in Luc Montagier p eo p le co m ­ do not know how to tre a t HIV th e W estern patients. They need training.”

HIV researcher pletely immune World.

“T h ere are tw o sch o o ls o f to HIV. “T h ere is “W e are thought,” continued Montagnier. selective pressure for some type of still far away from having an effec­ “The first is that treatment is not genetic m ake-up,” he explained. possible and that we should be tiv e v a c c in e ,” lam en ted “ A sm all g ro u p o f p eo p le are M ontagnier. “There is no magic putting money in the area of pre­ genetically resistant but not [peo­ vention. But I feel that we should solution.” ple] in Asia or Africa.” It is still, The professor explained that still continue to find a vaccine as however, unknown to doctors what the AIDS epidem ic is spreading w ell as create treatm en t stru c ­ may cause this biological immuni­ very rapidly and if an HIV vaccine tures.” tyMontagnier intends to set up is not found, it may become too Montagnier is currently work­ m ore clinics in highly affected late for treatment. ing on what he calls “combination “Many patients are marginal­ areas. Organizations such as the th e ra p y ” . T his type o f therapy ized and have no access to health W o rld F o u n d a tio n fo r A ids helps HIV patients in one of two Research play a key role in AIDS care sy ste m s,” he said. ways. It either inhibits the virus F u rth e rm o re , p a tie n ts alread y o u tre a c h p ro je c ts such as from adhering to a cell in the first infected with HIV often have other Montagnier’s. The doctor stressed place, or if a cell is already infect­ medical disorders that complicate that although tremendous discover­ ed with the virus, it stops the cell the virus such as malaria, syphilis ies have been made in the area of from d u p licatin g . C om bination and tub ercu lo sis. M o n tag n ier’s HIV and AIDS, much more work therapy will improve the patient’s answer to this problem of limited needs to be done before a complete overall condition but, Montagnier access has been to set up various cure is found. em phasized, “if the treatm ent is “W e’re in the middle of the treatment centres in rural African stopped, the virus will come back.” areas. One of Montagnier’s global river... we have seen many great M o n tag n ier ex p lain ed that p ro jects is lo cated in A bidjan, achievements. We must continue there are m any problem s facing Ivory C oast, A frica. The centre our global approach in order to scientists who conduct research in acco m m o d ates 15 p e o p le and eradicate this disease.” the area of HIV and AIDS. Aside

Page 12

Features

T he M c G ill T r ibu n e , T u esd a y , 24 N ovem ber 1998

Ear to the G ro u n d A brief look at the latest patterns, trends and developments Tai Chi vs. Thai boxing: the grudge match of the millennium

The big (evolutionary) bang

Arena wants to be GQ really, really badly. It’s got all the columns on cool clothes, cars, and culture that GQ does, buried amidst more pseudo-artistic nudity and wasted-looking unshaven Brits than you’d find in GQ in a year. It also has a really grisly story about a really sick family’s descent into a series of really gruesome murders. And, it’s got a feature on how Tai Chi isn’t the same thing as Thai boxing. Tai Chi, says Arena is “more of a thinker’s activity, a Tao philosophy-cum-exercise.” And Tao is not to be messed with.

Tai Chi is like solo karate without the contact: you escape the rapids of daily life, enter another time scale and aim to experience a natural, relaxed, regulated harmony of body and mind. Thai boxing, in con­ trast, “is an ultraviolent mix of martial arts and boxing. Thai boxing was used 800 years ago as “a supplement to the use of sword or pike in battle.” Nevertheless, Arena reports its modem uses: “A top Thai boxer was attacked outside a nightclub by a tour­ ing Maori rugby team. He knocked four of them out.” Arena closes by ranking Tai Chi and Thai boxing in terms of their Fashion Factors, Cool Factors, Ease of Use, Fitness Level, and Mental Level. Thai boxing scores a TKO, winning by one point.

According to Discover magazine, about half a billion years ago, all hell broke loose on earth. Either oxygen levels went way up or carbon dioxide levels went way down — whichever, within five mil­ lion years, virtually all the closely identifiable ancestors of all the The Oldest. animals now living suddenly appeared. An Australian biologist is now saying that oxygen had nothing to do with it — Andrew Parker says it was all about the evolution o f eyes. Parker says marine worms developed the sensory ability to distinguish between colours, IMftMCr-1 and likewise the slight bony ridges that impart a sort of iridescent glow to many marine animals. That made them a lot more noticeable to predators, which applied “massive selection pressures on this worm to change its form into animals that could swim, burrow, hide, or have armoured parts.” That created all the different phyla we have today. Ear to the Ground wonders what that means for the black-white-and-denim colourations that the Hilfigered masses exhibit today — natural selection in decline?

Nine-year-olds burning out

Rewards for abstinence

icover

Pity Steven Guzman. Up at 6 a.m., school at 7:50, homework from 5 to 9, bed at 10:30 p.m. On Saturdays, 9-to-5 in a private school prep program. He’s twelve. According to Time magazine, A survey firm asked 3,586 kids, age three to twelve, to keep time diaries and compared the results from 1997 to results from 1981. The firm found that on average, those kids were spending eight more hours a week in school, twice as much time playing organized sports, and barely half as much just being kids. Child psychologist Sandra Hofferth says that “children are affected by the same time crunch that affects their parents.” That means that time for play — where kids actually learn how to be proper human beings, instead of productivity machines — has plummeted, and the result is “some very messed-up kids. If we don’t pay attention to this, we’re going to create a lot of obsessive-compulsive people.” Just what Western society needs. And do you think their parents have time to fix things?

Pride reports the revival of an old custom in certain Zulu communities in South Africa: the “hlola” virginity test. It seems that “téenage girls and young women arrive in busloads to join in the ceremony, singing and dancing as they wait. The inspections are carried out by older women who have no medical qualifica­ tions but claim to have special knowledge and training which makes it easy to spot a virgin.” Those who pass the test have their foreheads anointed with a symbol in dyed clay, and are also given a handsome certificate; those who fail are “taken aside for a quiet word.” Some condemn the practice as “immoral and degrading to black society.”

—compiled by David Reevely

N e e d f u n d in g f o r a s t u d e n t in it ia t iv e ? v e d t , c a m p a ig n

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the Students' Society of McGill l (SSMU) : :

f-mi mm

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ailable at the front more information c eo M. Pederzani at 398-6802 i

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Arts L Entertainment

Page 13

T he M cG ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Toilet talking with the punk preachers of MxPx for two months on Wednesday."

So as the rest of us were dili­ gently filling out our university Loud bangs and raunchy riffs applications, these boys were on fill the room and the raw lead stage opening for the likes of The vocals bring out the urgency and Sex P isto ls and Bad R eligion. angst in the audience, which leads it W isniew ski lists Bad to violently jum p Religion as a major influ­ up and dow n, ence and R uley pays sm ashing bodies hom age to the lik es of against one anoth­ The D escendants and er. But w ait, did Black Flag. "Those bands the band just men­ just worked really hard, tion G od? MxPx you know, and the punk are burning up the music was not real popu­ scene with their lat­ lar at that tim e — they est release, Slowly worked their butts off and Going the Way o f they loved what they did. the B u ffa lo , and It's encouraging for us." have decid ed to And if all of the fol­ take their uplifting low ing is sim ply not m essage to the enough for you, the band masses on a whirl­ has become somewhat of wind tour of North an expert in bathroom s.

A m erica. Pretfy Wisniewski specializes in am b itio u s, since the E uropean scene: the guys are still "there's many different God-fearing punks try in g to recover kinds o f bathroom s, from recording the Religion aside, these twenty- classifications. There's the inspec­ album, not to mention The Vans y ear-o ld s out o f sm all town tion shelf, which is basically like Warped Tour this summer.

Preachy punk, hmmm. Tom Washington state really know how you got the toilet [and] if you're W isniew ski, the band's guitarist to play. Already MxPx can be seen looking at it, the hole is in the back explains the situation: "Our songs as veterans of the industry. They've and there's a shelf. Pretty much if are ju st about life, being young, been playing gigs and recording you [defecate], it’s ju st there for hanging out, girls, touring, ju st album s since they were fifteen. your inspection." Ruley likes to whatever, rockin', just pretty much "Pretty much a couple months into observe specific countries instead life stuff. Mike [Herrera, singer, our senior year we knew we were of generalizing. " [In] Spain and songwriter and bassist] just writes going to go on tour right after high Italy, they have these ones where about what's going on in his life; he school, so it was pretty much we you just squat, they're really strange never really sits down to address a g rad u ated on M onday, m ade a looking." And to think, I chose uni­ certain issue.” So does MxPx have video on Tuesday and went on tour versity over starting my own band.

By Kam a Leier________________

no deeper message about the true m eaning of life? "W ell w e're Christians, we're not trying to play it up or play it down, that's just what it is," states drummer Yuri Ruley.

M xPx

Slowly Going the Way o f the Buffalo A & M records Catchy, almost poppy tu n es th at sound suspiciously like Green Day fill the new M xPx album . The songs are cute, maybe a bit too cute for the bit­ ter ones out there, but there is still "The D ow nfall of W e s t e r n Civilization," which fe a tu re s B ad R elig io n g u ita rist Greg H etson. "Fist vs. T ack" also th ro w s a b it m ore punch and grit which lets you enjoy the radio-marketed songs with a little less guilt.

Funny thing about the whole situation is that the band seems a lot more punk when heard live. The songs are edgier and sharper and the band sounds a lot more, well, alive. This is MxPx's first album on A&M since leaving the indie label Tooth and Nail and it seems that the big times have meant big time polishing. Clean-cut sounds and crisp vocals have helped pull the sound away from garage and straight into mainstream.

Despite all the glitzing and glamming of the album the boys,are still punk at the core, and the new record is definitely worth your time; when the band rolls into Montreal again go check it out as the live ver­ sion will put it all into perspective. (Just make sure to check the ID of that sexy guy/girl beside you with the multiple body piercing before picking up. It's an all ages show.)

Woody Allen pushes no limits in Celebrity B y A n d r e w D a v i d s o n _________________

Those of you who have been counting the days fo r Woody Allen’s latest have already heard the buzz. This time around he takes on famous folks with his customary blend of New York angst and thera­ py session laughs. Ah, W oody Allen. If ever there were a more sta­ ble pattern. The sun rises and sets, and Woody cranks out another batch of headshrinker victims. At least Diane Keaton is nowhere to be seen.

This one is called Celebrity, starring K enneth B ranagh as a WASPy Woody clone named Lee Simon. H e’s a m iddle-ager who feels left out of the circus of the New York glam life and decides to run around peddling a screenplay, achieve coitus with multiple nubile nymphets who serve as his muses, and somehow chisel an entrance into the world of the adored. Left stranded is his wife, played by Judy Davis, who struggles w ith Lee's departure until accidental good for­ tune leaves her famous and in love with TV manager Joe M antegna.

Allen uses the contemporary phe­ nomenon of Leo-mania by casting Leonardo DiCaprio, at the appropri­ ately absurd pinnacle of his screengod-like status, as the blow-sniffing, hotel-trashing, m enage-a-quatre-

loving film star that I just have to be desire for happiness in the fast lane The only thing that continues to someday. What appears to be mere­ sends him on a quest for "polymor- save Allen is his ability to make 'em ly a comment on how society fuels phously perverse" supermodels and laugh. However annoying and repet­ the celebrity game and glorifies actresses to compensate for his fail­ itive his characters are, Allen has those captured by a roving public ure as a novelist and husband. What -the fundamental genius to portray eye instead emerges as a film about follow s is the standard A llen the humour in human weakness.

Branagh's performance is just luck, happiness, and what the hell to escapade for happiness in love, an irritating impression of Allen that injected with an overwhelming dose do to get it. sputters th ro u g h o u t the Not a big stretch entire movie and ultimately from A llen’s other negates Davis' decent per­ works. But Celebrity formance, although her role goes for the throat. seems to pick up where she The message is that left off in Deconstructing we are all gu ilty, Harry. Shooting in black despicable creatures and white is a fitting nod to who glorify vacant the daw n in the age of beauty or notoriety in celebrity when the talkies any form, all in the were just coming out, but hope o f one day the film fails to show the attaining the happi­ backdrop of Manhattan in ness associated with the G ershw in glory of societal recognition.

A llen's other black and One of the most dis­ white gems. Celebrity is a turbing traits of bit flat, although the laughs A llen's film s is his are still there. contem ptuous p o r­ Leo and his "entourage On a closing note, I tray al o f ordinary give the real Leo two years before of neurosis. people, those outside of the arena of So why is Allen exempt from they find him waste-deep in coke celeb ratio n w hose u n attractiv e faults are vaulted onto the screen, criticism for being as formulaic as and hookers, all pretty and dead in drenched with the disdain of the any big-budget Hollywood produc­ an L.A. five-star penthouse. Lucky d irecto r film ing them . Lee's tion with a ten-cent script? His films bastard. ep iphanic m om ent com es from overlap in characterization and plot • Catch Leo before the fa ll. being surrounded by his poorly- to the point where the audience aging, overweight classmates who could interchange their titles with­ Celebrity opens everywhere this have all become orthodontists. His out losing much of their content. week.

TRIB picks M o n t r e a l J u b il a t io n G o s p e l C h o ir Praise the L ord. Hallelu jah!

Finally decent gospel in this city of sin. Buy your tickets now fo r the Gospel C elebration. M akes a great gift.

Dec. 11,12, 13, 8 pm at the St. James United Church.

Tickets S26 available at Sam The Record Man downtown or at 630-6840.

Check out their web site at www.justin-time.com.

T h e G r a p e s o f W r a th R em em ber T he N orthern Pikes. T he P ursuit of H appiness all those other 1980*s C anadian musical gems? Barely, right. Well the sensitive new age boys of G O W have ditched the G inger tag and are back to rem ind you of the days you used to w ear concert t-shirts and tapered jeans.

Sat. Nov. 28 at Café Campus. Tickets S10 at the venue or 790-1245.

Centre Étudiant de l'Université McGill

É ta ts F in a n c ie rs m ai 1 9 9 8 Samson Bélair Deloitte &

C E N T R E É T U D IA N T D E L ’U N IV E R S IT É M c G IL L / S T U D E N T C E N T E R O F M c G IL L U N IV E R S IT Y Bilan

_______Touche &

au 31 mai 1998 Samson Bélair/Deloitte & Touche, s .e .n .c .

Comptables agréés 1, Place Ville-Marie Bureau 3000 Montréal QC H3B 4T9

Téléphone: (51 4)39 3-71 15 Télécopieur: (51 4)39 3-71 40

Foods de fonctionA c tif À court terme Encaisse Placements à court terme Débiteurs Stocks Charges payées d’avance * Somme a recevoir du fonds de réserve afférent aux dépenses en immobilisations * Somme à recevoir du fonds de fonctionnement

Rapport des vérificateurs Aux administrateurs du Centre étudiant de l'Université McGill/ Student Center o f McGill University

Immobilisations (note 5) Nous avons vérifié le bilan du fonds de fonctionnement, du fonds de réserve afférent aux dépenses en immobilisations et du fonds de réserve afférent aux bourses d'excellence du Centre étudiant de l'Université McGiü/Student Center o f McGill University au 31 mai 1998, ainsi que les états des résultats et de l'évolution des soldes de fonds et des flux de trésorerie de l'exercice terminé à cette date. La responsabilité de ces états financiers incombe au conseil de l'Association étudiante. Notre responsabilité consiste à exprimer une opinion sur ces états financiers en nous fondant sur notre vérification..

P a s s if À court terme Créditeurs Université McGill Régime d'assurancc-maladie des étudiants Autres * Somme à payer au fonds de réserve afférent aux bourses d'excellence * Somme à payer au fonds de fonctionnement Somme à payer au fonds afférent aux bibliothèques Université McGill Tranche de la dette à long terme échéant à moins d'un an (note 6)

Notre vérification a été effectuée conformément aux normes de vérification généralement reconnues.

Ces normes exigent que la vérification soit planifiée et exécutée de manière à fournir un degré raisonnable de certitude quant à l'absence d'inexactitudes importantes dans les états financiers. La vérification comprend le contrôle p ar sondages des éléments probants à l'appui des montants et des autres éléments d'information fournis dans les états financiers. Elle comprend également l'évaluation des principes comptables suivis et des estimations importantes faites par le conseil de l'Association étudiante, ainsi qu'une appréciation de la présentation d'ensemble des états financiers.

Dette à long terme (note 6)

À notre avis, ces états financiers présentent fidèlement, à tous égards importants, la situation financière du Centre au 31 mai 1998 ainsi que les résultats de ses activités et l'évolution des flux de trésorerie pour l'exercice terminé à cette date selon les principes comptables généralement reconnus.

S oldes d e fo n d s Investis en immobilisations Affectations d'origine externe (note 3) Affectations d'origine interne (note 4)

Q eloU àu i

469 356 19 651 154 275 38 968 61 810

Fonds de réserve afférent aux dépenses en immo-

Fonds de réserve afférent aux bourses

466 807 193 979

Total 1998 ... 5 " ------î -----936 163 213 630 154 275 38 968 61 810

549 333 628 225 95 103 67 086 51 357

125 252 7 093 173 448 1042 760

268 308 735115

201 072

441 756 1846 602

51 647 404 329 293 684

322 774

7 093

178 760 45 599 981 112

m m —

-

~ îli o n

51886 973 868

61648 1042 760

. ■ 125 252

.

-

61648 1 035 667

106 189 1079 997

1072 201 072 201 072

342 627 810 935 1846 602

866 223 1 946 220

.

-

1042 760

45 599

268 308 341 555 609 863 735 115

* Ve®sold®5 interfonds ont été éliminés de la colonne du total afin de ne pas surestimer le total de l'actif et le total Comptables agréés Approuvé au nom dn Centre étudiant Le 7 août 1998

DeiortteTouche Tohmatsu Page 2 de 10

C E N T R E É T U D IA N T D E L ’U N IV E R S IT É M c G IL L / S T U D E N T C E N T E R O F M c G IL L U N IV E R S IT Y État des résultats et de l'évolution des soldes de fonds

Q U ESTIO N S?

de l'exercice term iné le 31 m ai 1998

Produits Cotisations versées par les étudiants Tabagie Sadie Brasserie Gert Vente d'aliments et de boissons Centre des étudiants Revenus généraux et d'administration Programmation d'événements sociaux Publications Services Dividendes Gain réalisé sur rachat Apports Intérêts créditeurs

Charges Tabagie Sadie Brasserie Gert Vente d’aliments et de boissons Centre des étudiants Frais généraux et d'administration Services du conseil étudiant Programmation d'événements sociaux Publications Services Clubs Amortissement d'immobilisations Intérêts débiteurs Bourses décernées

Excédent (insuffisance) des produits p a r rapport aux charges Soldes des fonds au début de l'exercice Virement interfonds Soldes des fonds à la fin de l'exercice

Fonds de fonctionnement 1998 1997 S $

Dépenses en immobilisations 1998 1997 S

929 290 173 241 278 455

915 991 270 227 359 168

275 112 109 486

246 297 124 734

-

162 618

165 857

-

205 521 256 560 92 929

157 552 224 721 108 256

-

21 167 5 238

-

23 872

-

-

.

2 483 212

2 572 803

26 405

160 736 310 713

261 794 333 605

-

188 963 274 573

166 931 262 390

-

-

585 090 234 289

501 616 204 290

-

-

201 697 273 661 115 036 31 076

236 069 126 955 60 385

63 509 22 136

63 825 28 030

113 584

2 461 479

2 410 791

113 584

21 733

162 012

-

(21 733)

*

-

23 872

-

6 158 16 158

15 951

-

-

-

6 000 6 000

6 000

3 150 121 831

(87 179)

(97 959)

10 158

9 951

675 309 21 733

611 256 162 012

190 914

(162 012)

180 963

*

609 863

675 309

201 072

190 914

-

Page 3 de 10

■ VP F in an ce L orenzo P erderzani 398 6 8 0 2

■ E xem p laires d e s É tats fin a n ciers d isp o n ib le s e n fran çais e t e n a n g la is

Student Centre of McGill University

Financial Statements May 1998 Samson Bélair Deloitte & Touche

S T U D E N T C E N T E R O F M c G IL L U N IV E R S IT Y / C E N T R E É T U D IA N T D E L 'U N IV E R S IT É M c G IL L Balance sheet Samson Bélair/Deloitte & Touche, s .e .n .c .

Chartered Accountants 1 Place Ville-Marie Suite 3000 Montréal QC H 3B 4 T 9

Telephone: Facsimile:

(51 4)39 3-71 15 (51 4)39 3-71 40

Operating

Capital Expenditures Reserve Fund

Awards of Distinction Reserve

S

S

S

Assets Current assets Cash Short-term investments Accounts receivable Inventories Prepaid expenses * Due from Capital Expenditures Reserve Fund * Due from Operating Fund

Auditors' report To the Directors o f the Student Center o f McGill University / Centre étudiant de l'Université McGill We have audited the balance sheet o f the Operating Fund, the Capital Expenditures Reserve Fund and Awards o f Distinction Reserve Fund o f the Student Center o f McGill University / Centre étudiant de l'Université McGill as a t May 31, 1998 and the statements o f operations and changes in fund balances and cash flows for the year then ended These financial statements are the responsibility o f the Students' Society Council. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.

Liabilities Current liabilities Accounts payable McGill University Student health insurance plan Other * Due to Awards o f Distinction Reserve Fund * Due to Operating Fund Due to library improvement fund - McGill University Current portion o f long-term

W e conducted our audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform an audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements are free o f material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by the Students' Society Council, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation.

1 9 3 ,9 7 9

.

549,333 628,225 95,103 67,086 51,357

7,0 9 3 1 7 3 ,4 4 8

2 6 8 ,3 0 8

-

4 4 1 ,7 5 6

1 ,0 4 2 ,7 6 0

7 3 5 ,1 1 5

2 0 1 ,0 7 2

1 ,8 4 6 ,6 0 2

555.116 1,946,220

5 1 ,6 4 7

5 1 ,6 4 7

64,840

4 0 4 ,3 2 9 2 9 3 ,6 8 4

4 0 4 ,3 2 9 2 9 3 ,6 8 4

221,153 322,774

178 ,7 6 0

1 7 8 ,7 6 0

313,155

4 5 ,5 9 9

4 5 .5 9 9

51,886 973,808

1

7 ,0 9 3 125 ,2 5 2

-

9 7 4 ,0 1 9

-

1 ,0 3 5 ,6 6 7

341,555

2 0 0 ,0 0 0 1,072

2 6 8 ,3 0 8 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 3 4 2 ,6 2 7

6 0 9 ,8 6 3

2 0 1 .0 7 2

8 1 0 ,9 3 5

7 3 5 ,1 1 5

2 0 1 .0 7 2

1 ,8 4 6 ,6 0 2

125 ,2 5 2

.

6 1 ,6 4 8

:

P daW z ?

1 ,0 4 2 ,7 6 0

Chartered Accountants

1997 $

125 ,2 5 2

1,04 2 ,7 6 0

Fund balances Invested in capital assets Externally restricted (Note 3)

9 3 6 ,1 6 3 2 1 3 ,6 3 0 1 5 4 ,2 7 5 3 8 ,9 6 8 6 1 ,8 1 0

4 6 6 ,8 0 7

4 6 9 ,3 5 6 19,651 154 ,2 7 5 3 8 ,9 6 8 6 1 ,8 1 0

9 8 1 ,1 1 2

In our opinion, these financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position o f the Center as at May 31, 1998 and the results o f its operations and the changes in its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Total 1998 S

125 ,2 5 2

6 1 ,6 4 8

2 6 8 ,3 0 8

106.189 1,079,997 323,994 190,000 352.229 866,223 1,946,220

Interfund balances eliminated from total column so as not to overstate total assets and liabilities August 7, 1998 Approved on behalf of the Student Center

DeloitteTouche Tohmatsu International

Page 2 r f 10

S T U D E N T C E N T E R O F M c G IL L U N IV E R S IT Y / C E N T R E É T U D IA N T D E L 'U N IV E R S IT É M c G IL L Statement of operations and changes in fund balances

Revenue Students' fees Sadie's tabagie Gert's Pub Food and beverage operations University center building operations General, office and administrative Programming activities Publications Dividends Gain on redemption

Expenses Sadie's tabagie Gert's Pub Food and beverage operations University center building operations General, office and administrative Council services Programming activities Publications Services Amortization of capital assets Interest expense

S

S

S

915,991 270,227 359,168 246,297

-

109,486

124,734

' "

162,618 205,521 256,560 92,929

165,857 157,552 224.721 108,256 -

-

929,290 173,241 278,455 275,112

-

“

-

-

.

■

21,167 5,238

" ■

• 23,872

• " •

" 10,000 15,951

-

-

2,572,803

26,405

23,872

6,158 16,158

160,736 310,713 188,963

261,794 333,605 166,931

-

• " '

"

274,573

262,390

-

■

585,090 234,289 201,697 273,661 115,036 31,076 63,509 22,136

501,616 204,290 164,901 236,069 126,955 60,385 63,825 28,030

-

113,584 -

• • ‘ ■ ■

.

-

-

2,461,479

2,410,791

113,584

Excess (deficiency) of revenue 21,733 (21,733) -

162,012 (162,012) •

-

(87,179) 675,309 21,733 609,863

Page 3 o f 10

‘ "

10,000

.

-

"

' -

2,483,212

Fund balances, beginning of year

Q U ESTIO N S?

Awards of Distinction 1997 1998 S $

CaDital Expenditures 1997 1998

1997 S

' " " ' *

118,681 * 121,831

(97,959) 611,256 675,309

6,000

190,914 ■ 201,072

6,000

' 190,914

■ VP F in an ce L orenzo P ed erzan i 398 6 8 0 2 ■ C opies o f fin a n cia l s ta te m e n ts a v a ila b le in E n glish a n d French

Page 16

Entertainm ent

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u eesd ay , 24 N ovem ber 1998

Dawson takes it with them to the Dome B y T imothy S. Fitzsimmons How do you pack almost two dozen th ird -y e a r acto rs onto a stage? This is not a joke, rather it is the situation that faces administra­ tors at theatre schools across the country; one for which there seems to be no easy solution.

If you're smart you find a com­ edy with a large cast, preferably with characters that the actors can indulge them selves in. Dawson C o lleg e 's re c e n t p ro d u c tio n o f M oss H art and G eorge S. Kaufman's You Can't Take It With You is exactly the vehicle they need to showcase their talent.

The show is set in the house­ hold o f the aging M artin Vanderhof, right around the comer from Columbia University in New York C ity. H art and K aufm an's play utilises the living room as the hub of interaction where snake col­ lecting, playwriting, dancing, din­ ing, fireworks testing, and music are all part of everyday life. The cast of characters navigating this locus of activity includes a Russian ballet teacher, a drunken diva, a printer, the hired help, the crotch­ ety grandfather, and a delivery man who has never left. Throw in a love story, a stuffy uptight couple who stumble into all of this, and a head­ spinning lesson in entrances and

exits, and you have the makings for some relatively light and entertain­ ing comedy.

C om edy w hich the Dawson production intermittently delivers.

The num erous actors all handle th e ir p a rts w ith a reaso n ab le amount of skill, drawing out some of the comedic moments, yet sadly rushing right over others. Why this w a sn 't c o rre c ted by d ire c to r

Winston Sutton is baffling.

Far from entertaining, though, is the set design by Marie Dumas.

Hart and Kaufman's script calls for a typical living room the audience will be able to immediately recog­ nise. Dumas' unfortunate set looks like a child's nursery and although intriguing at first, its colour scheme is headache-inducing by the end of the third act, some two and three

quarter hours into the be successful. The challenge isn't show. One can't even in trying to get the audience to imagine that this sort laugh, the challenge is in trying to of decor is legal in get the audience to stop laughing New Y ork C ity, long enough to keep the show mov­ never mind desirable. ing. The show itself was so suc­ If D um as was cessful during its initial run on attempting to convey B roadw ay that it had audiences som e sort of objec­ laughing for over two years and tiv e c o rre la tiv e , it won the Pulitzer prize in 1937. ab so lu te ly fails.

Director Sutton has taught his Walls covered in zoo students well, although I wouldn't imagery are superflu­ recom m end that they follow his ous b ecause the example of leaving a gaping hole in action carries the day. the blocking for the majority of the This isn't King Lear. second act — a bizarre and obvi­ Let the firew o rk s, ously correctable choice. This, in dancing, and comedy addition to the much too blurry and provide the colour in cacophonous end to the second act, the show. If anything, are only low points in the otherwise the set should be the acceptable production. least bit suspect, for The talent in Dawson's class is if it looks like a nor­ obvious, and with a few more pro­ mal living room, the ductions some of these students fam ily 's activ itie s may make their way onto larger will reveal the hilarity and absurdi­ stages. That kind of know-how you ty of the house, not the other way can take with you. aro u n d . O th erw ise the show remains relatively true to the script, You Can't Take It With You, although M artin V anderhof from written be Moss Hart and George the o rig in al scrip t has becom e S. Kaufman, directed by Winston Martine in the Dawson show, and Sutton, plays at the Dome Theatre the live k itte n s th at H art and until November 29th. 3990 Notre K aufm an w rote into the action Dame St. West (St. Henri M etro) were conspicuously absent.

A d u lts $7.50, S tu d en ts/S en io rs With a script like You Can't $6.00. Call 931-5000 fo r showTake It With You it is hard not to times and reservations.

Incest and Ingenuity: The House of Yes meets Lenny and Reno A quirk y d ra m a tic c o m b i­ and y o u r b ro th e r has no b ack ­ n a tio n , The H o u se o f Yes and bone to speak off. Hmmm. Oh, Lenny and Reno are sharing the rig h t. Y o u r s is te r is c h ic b u t sta g e at T u e s d a y N ig h t C a fe c r a z y a n d sh e th in k s s h e 's T h e a tr e .

T he H o u s e o f Y e s, w r itte n by W endy M acL eod a n d d ir e c te d by A nna M attiu zzo L a r y s a K o n d ra c k i, is a little off-kilter in content, so its pairing with Josh Ja c k ie O. N o p ro b lem ! M arty B 1o c h 's o f f - b e a t L e n n y a n d b rin g s hom e his su cro se g ir l­ R eno m ade fo r an e v e n in g o f frie n d to m e e t h is v illa in o u s back to back odd-ball entertain­ m o th e r, fe e b le b o th e r and his ment. c h ic - b u t- m e n ta l ly -tip s y tw in So you w ant your girlfriend sister. The fact that M arty and to m eet your fam ily. Except you L eslie are tw ins isn 't the tw ist like your twin sister a lot, espe­ — the fact that they share more cially betw een the sheets, your than y o u r typ ical sib lin g bond m other is glam orous but loopy is . T h e f a c t th a t M a rty a n d

Eyeglass Theatre

The Student A id Office presents:

FREE BUDGET SEMINARS 1VE

YfDJim PIF-NNlim?

Learn how to stretch your dollar through smart budgeting and helpful hints on saving money.

Seminars will be held in the Powell Student Services building at 3637 Peel Street in room 204 on the follow ing dates: Tues., Nov. 24, 3:00-4:00 p.m.

Thurs., Nov. 26,1:00-2:00 p.m.

Fri., Nov. 27, 9:00-10:00 a.m.

Mon., Nov. 30, 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Seminars can also be arranged at your convenience. Please contact the Student A id Office at 398-6013/14fo r more information.

L eslie are secret lo v ers un d er sising the "many perspectives of fast paced world o f m ovies and c o v e r is th e c lin c h e r o f th e the play," stating that "the audi­ com m ercials. The play unfolds script, and attem pting to shield e n c e is p r e s e n te d th e e v e n ts in to the " s u c c e ss-a n d -w e a lth the u n s u s p e c tin g L e s lie from through each character's under­ e q u a l- c o r r u p tio n " f o rm u la . th is fa c t is the p iv o ta l p o in t standing and to leave one spe­ L enny evolves into a sw ankily around w hich the play spins. c ific en d in g w ould be to take a ttire d but ab se n t p a rtn e r and The H ouse o f Yes fea­ R e n o r a g e s a t th e tu r e s J o r d a n a C o m m is s o p e rp e tu a lly rin g in g (M rs.

P a s c a l) , Jam es te le p h o n e a n d h e r Spearing (M arty), Terrence w a r a g a in s t th e M e tz (A n th o n y ), J e a n n ie "penny m onster."

Keogh (Leslie) and Jennifer B o th A u e rb a c h S u s s m a n as th e in fa m o u s and Roy give superb J a c k ie O. C o m m isso p la y s p erfo rm an ces. R eno the role o f the creepy w ild ­ is th e "h a rd on the eyed glam our of M rs. Pascal o u tsid e , so ft on the to the hilt. Keogh also makes in s id e " p a r t o f th e a strong d eb u t p erfo rm an ce e q u a tio n , w h ile as th e n a iv e , f r e s h f a c e d L enny is the im p u l­ Leslie. The slinky insanity of Throwing a party at TNC Rebecca Catching sive, "dive in w ith­ Jack ie O also perm eates the out thinking" type. play. aw ay fro m m u ltip le v ie w s o f One of the m ost memorable The set is richly hued and the events that took place [w ith­ m om ents in the play occurs at as dark as the com edy itself, but in the play]." the beginning, when Lenny and th e r e a r r a n g in g o f th e p ro p s Lenny and Reno is a play of R e n o 's in i t i a l c lo s e n e s s is betw een scenes m akes for some a com pletely d ifferen t flavour. em phasized by a surprising and distraction.

B lo ch 's debut play is com ical, h ila r io u s sc e n e in w h ic h th e K ondracki w anted the play cute, and funny, funny, funny. characters dance and cavort on­ to contain, "an elem ent o f satiri­ C h a r le s R o y (L e n n y ) an d s ta g e w h ile w e a r in g c lo w n cal horror... a bit o f 'C lue' and R ebecca A uerbach (Reno) play noses. A nother scene not to be to be a spoof on 'horror' films." a m a rrie d c o u p le m a k in g do m issed is when Lenny auditions Kondracki also aim ed at em pha- w ith w h at th e y 'v e g o t, w hich f o r a p a r t in a c o m m e r c ia l, isn't much. Lenny is a bed slug w hile w earing the underw ear on Language Exchange and Reno practically has to beg h is h ead and sp e a k in g w ith a him to leav e his q u ilte d nest.

S p a n ish a c c e n t. T he sc rip t is Learn any language simply by L e n n y lo v e s R e n o a n d R en o engaging and fluidly w ritten — teaching yours in exchange. lo v e s L e n n y . T h e y s h a re the h ila rio u s, in k eep in g w ith the Guided conversations, role play intim acies o f m arried life, p lay ­ rest of the production. of different situations. in g e n d e a r in g " te le p h o n e " English, French, Spanish and g a m e s a n d L e n n y m a k e s up T h e H o u se o f Y es a n d Japanese etc... membership fee dances for Reno while sporting Lenny and Reno run N ovem ber applies; two meetings per week. underw ear on his head. Lenny's 25-28, in M orrice Hall. Tickets: Call U niversal Students lethargy is soon rep laced w ith $8, inform ation at 398-6600.

Se rv ic e s at; blinding am bition as his "under­ (5 1 4 ) 2 3 0 - 2477 w ear" d an ce le a d s him to the

Entertainm ent

T he M c G ill T r ib u n e , T u esd a y , 24 N ovem ber 1998

Page 17

Enemy of the State is predictable, formulaic fun tinguishes this film from the rest of the mediocrity that's come about in recent years, is ju st how well it I’ve alw ays fell that I p o s­ in co rp o rates all these d ifferen t sessed a healthy degree of cyni­ aspects. cism; at the very least First of all, I recognized the pos­ this movie ben­ sibility of governmen­ e fits from the tal corruption and the fact that it has unspoken existence of all the faces you loosely defined secu­ love to see on rity issu e s. screen . Even Nonetheless, perhaps m in o r c h a ra c ­ being blithely ig n o ­ ters like Jaime rant, I suspected that K e n n e d y the only p erso n (Scream ), Seth w atching me in the G reen e ( C an't show er on a H a rd ly W ait) W ednesday morning and Jason Lee was my (adm ittedly (Chasing Amy) sk etchy) room m ate are faces whose and hoped th a t our familiarity d iscu ssio n last w o u l d Tuesday night would Hordes o f adoring fans chase a rudely awakened Will Smith inevitably have ameliorated this en h an ce any through heavy traffic somewhat uncomfort­ big b u dget able situation. Once again, this tim e with their latest and machine guns of the 1980s; the action feature. M ore im portant, action flick Enem y o f the State, new breed tends to favour informa­ though, are the major characters, producer Jerry B ruckheim er and tion technology and conspiracy the­ including protagonist labour lawyer com patrio t d ire c to r T ony S cott ories as scenarios for fast paced Will Smith in a role that solidifies have done a dam n good jo b at car/foot/elevator chases, polarized his stature as a Hollywood action proving me wrong and showing me characters, and the inevitable tri­ hero and amoral National Security that there is a lot more out there umph of good over evil. What dis­ Agency (NSA) head Jon Voight about which 1 should be concerned.

Basically, this movie exempli­ fies w hat a good action flick is these days. Gone are the missiles

By Sa n d o n Shocilev

who aptly conveys the subtle cor­ ruption of his character. For me, though, it is Gene Hackman who makes the film. He plays an exNSA intelligence anti-hero that the audience inevitably loves: a bril­ liant, private, evasive prick, but still one of the "good guys." His character is clearly rooted in histo­ ry, heavily endowed with the tech­ no in tellig en ce he possessed in Thin Blue Line and clearly allow­ ing some of the arrogance he pos­ sessed in Crimson Tide to perme­ ate.

This movie falls short simply due to the fact that, as with most action films, the script is an essen­ tially formulaic one. Nevertheless, w riter David M arconi is able to weave a somewhat intricate web of story lines, linking Smith's legal connections with the mob, the mur­ der o f a congressm an, issues of national security, and a reclusive private investigator, connecting them in a series of ironic twists.

The severity of the plot is constant­ ly tempered by an underlying, often unspoken, sarcasm on Smith's part, and the movie is able to express an em o tio n al se n sitiv ity through Smith's relationship with his son.

More importantly, though, is the precision with which the pre­ dictable aspects of the movie are directed. The movie is replete with sophisticated, though not exces­ sive, special effects, rapid camera shots, and a degree of graphic real­ ism. Of particular note is the incor­ p o ratio n o f in n o v ativ e cam era angles and light direction precipi­ tated by the need to convey the high-tech satellite surveillance sys­ tem used by the NSA. The chase scenes are also impeccably directed with all notions of the absurdity of the scene readily dispelled by the unconditional excitem ent experi­ enced by the viewer.

Fact is, if you're not too proud to see a big budget action movie these days, this is the one to see. If y o u 're an afic io n a d o of Bruckheimer, Scott, Hackman, or Smith, this is one you can't miss. If you ju st want to enjoy yourself amidst the post-midterm, pre-final boredom that plagues some of us students, then this movie is a per­ fect vehicle for doing so.

Enemy of the State is in wide release. Leave your paranoia at the door.

Queens of the Night at Café Cleopatra A fte r I saw th e m ovie big-breasted women on the sign. It Priscilla, Queen o f the D esert I fit in quite nicely with every other vowed that someday I would see a building on the block. I clutched drag show. The m ovie came out my room m ate's hand, whispered while I was still a student at a high to myself, "it’s all for the sake of sch o o l in ru ra l M ain e, so it journalism ," and entered the bar remained a dream for a long time. with great trepidation.

O nce in s id e the d o o r you Finally I moved to a place where subculture didn't mean what you have two options: you can follow did in your daddy’s cow pasture the sleazy bass line to the strip late at night. 1 w as sure th a t th e re w ere plenty of drag shows happen­ ing in the city, but where?

W hen I h eard a b o u t C afé C le o p a tra I club on the first floor, or you can im m e d ia te ly w a n te d to go. take the a mysterious stairway up.

Drumming up company proved to We opted for the stairway to the be more difficult. Some said, "Oh, dark grotto at the top.

It took a minute for my eyes I've got enough drag in my life as it is," or "1 don't know..." or just to adjust to the light. The bar had "hm m m m ..." as they c a st th e ir a low ceiling, with a dance floor eyes furtively back and forth. My in the middle and tables around its ro o m m a te fin a lly s a id , "G od perimeter. Not many people were M aria, why don’t you ju st go to there yet; a few sat at tables while Reggie's (the C oncordia cam pus some danced. A transvestite in a bar) on Thursday night and write black ball gow n danced alone, about that?" Finally I bribed her looking solemnly ahead. A large, mdrogynous couple was locked in into coming, but she was reluctant a never ending em brace, so you at best.

C afé C le o p a tra is lo c a te d c o u ld n 't tell w here one person below St. C atherine at 1230 St. started and the next began. Older Laurent. From the outside it looks couples, younger couples, trans­ vestite couples, straight couples, lik e a n u d ie b a r, a d v e rtis in g "Danseuses Nue" with pictures of and gay couples were all dancing

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to g e th e r. T he h o st led us to a dark cor­ ner in fro n t o f the gambling machines.

C a rrie w h isp e re d u n d e r h er b re a th , "where are we?"

B ut th en the show sta rte d . T he d an ce flo o r w as cleared and a trans­ vestite in a cowgirl hat and very sh o rt skirt came out to lip sync to a song with a lo t o f "y ip p y -a y e ays" and "yeehaw s." A ll I could th in k w as how it couldn't possibly be fa ir fo r a m an to have such sexy legs.

T he n e x t act w as adorned all in white.

H er fla re d p an ts w ere u n b e lie v a b ly

tight, leaving nothing to the imag­ ination. Carrie turned to me and squeaked, "post-op!" It was true.

Those pants left no place to hide.

Other highlights of the show were a transvestite wearing a long sequined gown, a head-dress of green feath ers and a m atching g reen boa th at w as so puffy it swept the floor; a rousing lip sync to "Anything You Want (You Got It)," and one p e rfo rm e r w ho lo o k e d e e rily sim ila r to L iza Minnelli. Despite my original dis­ comfiture, there is nothing sleazy or awkward about Café Cleopatra.

The crowd was mixed and inter­ esting, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I’ll definitely be back there soon.

C afé C leo p a tra has show s every Friday and Saturday nights, and Cabarets on Sundays.

Film screen beauty queen

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Page 18

Entertainm ent

T he M c G ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Young Quebec artists strut their stuff

By Lisa Richler

What does it mean to live in Quebec at the end of the twentieth century? Last weekend, a group of young Quebec artists were offered a rare opportunity to answer this question through their work. In cel­ eb ratio n of “ la sem aine Québécoise,” more than 75 artists betw een ages 18 and 30 cam e together for “Le Rendez-Vous des Jeunes C réateurs en A rt” at the Marché Bonsecours. The show dis­ played over two thousand pieces, ranging from collage to graffiti art to mixed media relief. ■ Some of the pieces were more political than others. “Media me,”

by C o n co rd ia stu d e n t Sarah Blumel, protested that the media has become too influential in shap­ ing our th o u g h ts. T he p iece, a sculpted hand w ith tra n sp a re n t plastic skin, filled with newspaper clippings, was accompanied by a short poem by its artist. “This hand has no bones,” explains Blumel. “It has no in te rn a l stru c tu re but words.”

A n o th er p ie c e , e n title d “Cookie Politics,” used a real cook­ ie as a metaphor for Quebec poli­ tics. Two cookie shells, one blue (representing Quebec) and one red (representing Canada) sandwiched a cream interior, symbolising the “neutral” part of the population, or, the p ro v in ce’s “im m igrants and artists.” The accom panying text

mused, “La crème de la crème?”

Many of the works had no overt political or so c ia l m essage. One striking piece portrayed a baby, wrapped in a tur­ ban, leaning against a Japanese screen. Cloud­ like cotton fram ed the painting, out o f which em erged painted babydoll hands and feet.

Philippe Mayer, one of its two creators (collabo­ ra tin g w ith Ju lie R o b in so n in a group known as Morbidique), was available to explain the piece to intrigued but p u z z le d o b se rv ers.

M ayer argued that art d o e s n ’t need to have intellectual content: “I paint things because they look beautiful at a very Young Quebec artists in residence b asic le v e l, and you don’t need to look much deeper sculptor/painter originally from than that.”

P o lan d , p o in ted out th at, “The The show literally acted as a kiosk thing is a bit of a weird set­ “rendez-vous” between the artists up. But it acts almost like the old and the public. For four days artists Salons, giving us artists the chance sat in small kiosks displaying their to talk to the p u blic about our work, eager to discuss particular work.” pieces, and hopeful that the show “N ous tous un S o le il,” a w ould provide them w ith a big Quebec organisation set up in 1982 break. M any of them w orked at to unify people of diverse cultures, tables during the show, demonstrat­ cam e up w ith the idea fo r the ing th e ir tech n iq u es to curious “Rendez-Vous” last November. Its observers. Maria Wesolkowska, a goal, according to the organisa­

all.

tio n ’s ad m inistrative president, Bruno Roy, was to enable young artists to “show off their talent, make connections, get known and sell their art.”

This last of these aims detract­ ed from the “Rendez Vous.” The large gymnasium-like room often felt more like a craft show than a gallery. A kiosk displaying paint­ ings with psychedelic designs was positioned next to one with hand­ made lamps for sale. Nearby was a

Clubs, S

stand selling hand-craft­ ed lem o n -ju icers, and another where one could buy puzzles for toddlers.

In spite of the fact that a great deal of creative tal­ ent obviously went into making these lamps and le m o n -ju ic e rs, th e ir place at an art show was somewhat distracting.

Even more distract­ ing were the large price tags attached to sculp­ tures, paintings, collages and illustrations. These tags made it clear that the show was not simply allowing artists to share their ideas about life and art in Q uebec; it was also h e lp in g them to make a buck. One young w om an had p rep ared photocopied booklets of preSs photo quotations by famous artists about art, and offered them to people as they looked at her paintings. But the woman was quick to point out that these m editations on art did not come without a price: “Ca fait 12 dollars chacune, s'il vous plait” she said.

For more information about "Le Rendez-Vous, " or other upcom­ ing events planned by Nous Tous un Soleil, contact Norma LopezTherrien at (514) 279-1366.

ervices

and

UBLICATIONS OF THE STUDENTS'

iociETY ______

of

Mc G i l l

u niversity

( S S M U ) COMPUTER.

Sp o r t s

Page 19

T he M c G ill T ribune , T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Redmen hockey team scores huge upset win McGill defeats Canada's #1 ranked UQTR Patriotes at McConnell Winter Arena

By D an Rosen L a st W e d n e sd a y n ig h t in front o f a raucous hom e crowd, the M cG ill R edm en o u tsk ated , outhit and outhustled les Patriotes de UQTR en route to a 3-2 victo­ ry— one o f th e b ig g e st w ins in recent memory.

C om in g in to th e m atch u p , M cG ill w as s p o rtin g a 4 -1 -3 record, but in the highly competi­ tive OUA East, the team's eleven points were only good enough for fo u rth , or m ore accu rately last place.

U Q T R , c o n v e rs e ly , ro lle d into Montreal on W ednesday with e ig h t w in s in as m an y le a g u e games, and a roster that featured two of the top four scorers in the C IA U and th e top g o a lie . L es Patriotes had taken the last nine games they had played against the R ed m en , m o st r e c e n tly a 3-1 shootout victory in a preseason tournament.

The gam e w as a re la tiv e ly low-scoring affair, with 29 penal­ ties being dish ed out. Thus the power play proved to be pivotal for both teams.

McGill opened the scoring at 2:43 of the first period on a wrist shot by fourth year centre David B u tle r. L e s P a tr io te s q u ic k ly answered 22 seconds later while R edm en d e fe n c e m an F ra n c o is

Pilon was in the box for hooking.

I f M cG ill d o m in a te d any period, it was definitely the sec­ ond. They outshot UQTR 13-3, w ith tw o o f those shots finding th e ir w ay past P a trio tes goalie Luc Belanger. Butler notched his second of the game and seventh o f the year at 8:34 of the second on the pow er play. Ten minutes later, with the Redmen enjoying another man advantage, third year winger Mathieu Darche stuffed in h is e ig h th o f th e y e a r w h ile Belanger was dealing with heavy traffic in front of the UQTR net.

Patriotes coach Eric Lavigne was obviously frustrated with his team s inept play, and his "inap­ p ro p ria te b e h a v io u r" a fte r the th ird M cG ill goal o f the gam e earned his team a bench penalty and Lavigne an ejection from the game.

S in c e th e y h av e a lre a d y squandered several third period le a d s th is y e a r, n o th in g w as secure for the R edm en heading into the third. They skated hard, h o w e v e r, an d M c G ill g o a lie Jarrod D aniel stopped 16 o f 17 Patriote shots, with his only slip up com ing w ith less than three minutes left in the game.

When the final buzzer sound­ ed, McGill was on top, and they had ju st knocked off the number o n e te a m in th e c o u n try . T he

post-game jubilation in the locker room was a stark contrast to the silence that filled the air prior to the game, according to defence-

aware of the fact that the season is far from over. "We are playing better as a team, and it was only a matter of time before we got these

Mathieu Darche unloads on Patriotes

man François Pilon.

"T h e a ttitu d e o f th e team coming into the game was one of serio u sn ess,” P ilon noted. "We were all really fired up, and the practices leading up to this game were really intense."

M cG ill coach M a rtin R aym ond was pleased w ith his team's performance, but was well

Patrick Fok

guys," explained the head coach.

"However, we still have a lot of w ork to do, and now w e have Ottawa coming up this weekend, so we have to look ahead to that."

"This game was a real confi­ dence booster for us, to beat this team, and we have been playing well lately," added Butler. "But Ottawa is a really good team so

the next challenge is right there."

With the win, McGill extend­ ed its u n beaten streak to eight games and moved into third place in th e O U A E a s t and su re ly im proved upon their #9 national ra n k in g . B u t th e h o p es o f the R ed m en fo r a h ig h e r n a tio n a l ranking were soon dashed as the team's unbeaten streak came to an abrupt end on Saturday with a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Ottawa G ee-G ees who rem ain the only club to have beaten the Red and White this season.

B eing in the bottom tier of th eir division d espite only two losses must be frustrating for the Redmen, but Pilon expressed con­ fidence in the team's abilities.

"Things will come along for us," he said. "W e have to deal w ith th e fa c t th a t we are in a strong division, and if we keep w in n in g , w e h a v e n o th in g to worry about. A t the end of the season, the best will be on top."

The upcoming game against Queen's on Saturday will feature $1 adm issions, $1 beer, and $1 hot dogs. Fans are encouraged to bring teddy bears for the annual "Toss for Tots". Those in atten­ d an ce sh o u ld th ro w the ted d y bears on the ice following the first Redmen goal. The bears will be collected by En Coeur charities and given to needy children.

Sean Shepherd closes book on brilliant soccer career By j.P. Fozzo A fte r h e lp in g ta k e th e Redmen to three national cham pi­ onship tournaments in four years and being named a first team AllCanadian in 1998, Sean Shepherd can say the Redmen are his team.

M aybe th a t's w hy, a w eek a fte r lo sin g to l ’U n iv e rs ité du Québec à Montréal in the bronze m e d a l g am e o f th e C a n a d ia n Interuniv ersity A th letics U nion cham pionships at home, a sense o f p ain s till lin g e rs . T h e lo ss cam e a day a fte r d ro p p in g a m a tc h to th e U n iv e rs ity o f A lb e rta w h ic h c u t s h o rt any hopes the Redmen had of repeat­ ing as n atio n al cham pions. So, Shepherd can be forgiven if the loss still hurts and he hasn't start­ ed basking in the glow of his out­ standing career.

S h epherd had to w atch his la st gam e in a M cG ill uniform from the sideline after receiving tw o y ello w c a rd s in th e gam e against Alberta. For him, sitting out the final game of his McGill career w as tough. He said he'd probably only received four pre­ vious yellow cards in his Redmen career before last week.

"There w asn't a lot o f tim e left, so it was getting down to the wire," explained Shepherd about

his first penalty. "On the first yel­ low card, I was marking a player

You talkin 'tom e?

and slide tackled him, but some­ one else came in and took out his legs."

"I got the foul," he said. The second foul, he added, was egged on by some comments he made to the referees.

In the cham pionship gam e, S h ep h erd w as m issed both on d e fe n c e an d on offence. On a team that only scored nine goals during the regular sea­ son, three belonged to Shepherd.

"Sean's role in the p ast has been to play d efensive in the m idfield. This year he has provided us with a little o ffen ce as w ell. A ny time he can help in that respect is just icing on the c a k e ,” said te a m ­ mate Peter Bryant.

Redmen coach Pat Raimondo realized the d e fe n d e r's p o te n tia l lo n g b e fo re he w as named division all-star twice.

"Sean's a gamer. I think it was the fifth or sixth game of his first year when he got his f ir s t s ta rt, and I Patrick Fok h a v e n 't e v e r lo o k ed b a c k , h e 's p la y e d ev ery gam e since."

S hep h erd w as aw arded for his play and leadership by being nam ed co -captain fo r the 1998 cam paign along with room m ate Peter Bryant. Bryant, who scored

the winning goal in the cham pi­ o n sh ip s la s t se a so n , said th a t Shepherd was a clear choice for captain this year.

"H e k n o w s th e g am e and what he’s talking about, so I don't mind if he gives me criticism ," explained B ryant. "I know that it's valid, and will only make us stro n g e r. Y ou d o n 't b ite y o u r tongue with friends. Our team has great chemistry and can tell each other when it's time to step it up a notch.”

"S ean w ill m ak e a g re a t coach, his attitude is infectious," he added. "W hen he's out there, he wants that ball as bad as any­ one on that field. He comes with so much confidence that when he gets it, he w on't lo se it. T hat's w h a t m a k e s h im th e stro n g defending mid-fielder that he is."

A lth o u g h c o a c h in g m ay so m e day be on h is p la te , Shepherd is looking tow ards an early graduation and then contin­ uing to play. Immediately on his priorities list is graduation this D e c e m b e r. H e w ill fin is h a sem ester early w ith an E nglish degree in Cultural Studies and a m inor in Linguistics. A fter that, Shepherd says he'll focus on his game.

"I could play every day of my life,” he said. "I’m going to

Kelowna, B.C. to train during the w in ter. W hen I go to L ondon, England this summer, I'd love a shot at playing for a division II or III team."

Soccer has always been a big part of Shepherd's life. His father c o a c h e s a s e m i-p ro te a m o u t west. His younger sister plays for Simon Fraser University.

"R ig h t now is a tu rn in g point, I could either take a break or give it a shot. Just by giving it a shot, I get to travel to Europe and see my Scottish roots," said Shepherd.

"Sean always wore the shirt w ell," said R aim ondo. "He is a class act that knows how to repre­ sent his school. He was nam ed co -cap tain in 1998, but he has alw ay s b een a c a p ta in o f th is team. He inspires others with his w ork ethic, discipline and will.

He will be sorely missed."

Coming up this week Redmen Hockey vs. RMC, Friday November 27, 7:30 pm, vs.

Queen's Saturday, November 28th vs. Queen's, 5:00 pm all games at McConnell W inter Arena.

duMaurier A

r t s

Supporting 215 cultural organizations across Canada during the 1998-99 season

Sports

T he M cG ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Page 21

Concordia Stingers grab bragging rights in blowout win Redmen stung by the bug of bad shooting in 90-53 shellacking B y C hristian L and er

T he c ro s s to w n riv a l C oncordia S tingers slapped the McGill Redmen 90-53 in basket­ ball action Friday night in front of a great crowd at the Sir Arthur Currie Gym. The game looked prom ising for McGill as they started with a display of crisp passing and a fast b re a k th a t th e S tin g e rs j u s t w e re n 't ab le to k eep up w ith .

U n fo rtu n a te ly , as th e q u a rte r went on, the Redmen weren't able to keep up w ith it eith er as the fast b rea k s d e g e n e ra ted in to a slow-set game and a foul drawing defence.

"W e d id n 't g iv e up on the fa st b rea k ," said ro o k ie g u ard K irk R eid after the gam e. "We just forgot, or they ju st solved us, I can't explain it. We ju st didn't show up tonight, no one wanted to shoot, we weren't prepared."

W ith the fast break behind them , M cG ill slow ed the gam e down and set up plays under the

re st o f the w ork. R edm en basket, but a genuine lack of forw ard Andrew B ier went s c o rin g to u c h h e ld the up for an offensive rebound R ed m en to an a n a e m ic 23 and cam e dow n extrem ely p oints in the first half. The hard on his knee and sat out Redmen went for a stretch of th e re s t o f th e g am e. H is nearly ten m inutes o f clock four rebounds led the team time without a basket. and his presence was severe­ The team w as so w eak ly m issed beneath the bas­ on offence that for a consid­ ket. erable stretch late in the first To add to th e o v e ra ll half, Concordia's Jay Prosper d e je c tio n o f th e n ig h t, was outscoring McGill.

Concordia played a pressing "It's a crosstown rivalry. defence which, coupled with Y ou g e t up fo r g am es like som e huge shot blocks by th ese," noted P ro sp er, who C o n c o rd ia 's R eal K itieau g o t up fo r a g a m e-h ig h 27 C h e se m e , s tifle d M cG ill p o in ts . T he S tin g e r g u ard throughout the whole game. ' also added nine rebounds and "We haven't seen pres­ five steals. sure like that all year," said M c G ill lo o k e d to R e id , w ho s c o re d sev en re g ro u p in th e seco n d h a lf p o in ts in th e lo ss. "W e like they did last year, but a weren't used to it. They hus­ new team equals a new style tled a lot, they shocked us." of play in the second half.

T he fru stra tio n o f the The hopes o f the M a tt Watson drives the lane Patrick Fok whole night seemed to mani­ Redmen looked to be dashed fest itself late in the second half. at 19:15 when Jay Prosper threw Redmen.

J e a n -S e b a s tie n If the dunk took the life out C o n c o rd ia 's down a vicious dunk that seemed of the Redmen, the floor did the M ichel w ent to the hoop fo r a to ta k e th e life o u t o f the

layup and was promptly met by a v ic io u s fo u l fro m M c G ill's Hidesh Bhardwaj, who was lucky to avoid a technical.

W hen the b lo w o u t fin a lly ended, the scoreboard read 90-53, b u t a d ev astatin g loss like this w as even m ore d isastro u s than the score in d icated . C o n cordia seem ed to expose all the w eak­ nesses on this young team; a lack of consistency, poor passing, and awful free throw shooting — 48 per cent on the game.

"Everyone has an off game, and to n ig h t's gam e w as ours," lamented Reid.

At the windows looking onto the court at the Currie Gym, some fans held up a sign reading "Reid 3 :1 6 .” W hether in referen ce to the B ible or S tone C old Steve Austin, McGill basketball is hop­ ing th a t som eone, m aybe K irk Reid, maybe Lazslo M olnar who led the team with 13 points, will step up and be their saviour...or at least open a can of Whoop-Ass.

M artlets Bee-riddled 64-59 by Stingers on the hardwood Marie-Hélène Héroux leads Concordia to second consecutive win over cross town rival McGill B y P a u l C o nn er

A young M artlet basketball team showed flashes of what they could become in the next months and y ears la st F rid ay n ig h t as th e y m a tc h e d th e C o n c o rd ia Stingers for 35 m inutes of play.

T hree m in u tes late in the first h a lf and tw o at th e end o f the second proved to be the d iffer­ en ce as th e S tin g e rs to o k th e game 64-59.

The two teams matched each other for m ost o f the first half.

M cG ill, b eh in d the stren g th o f rookie centre Shannon H ow ard and the transition speed of guard C ythia S antam aria, to o k sh o rt­ lived leads throughout the first fifteen m inutes o f play. A t the same time, Concordia’s star for­ ward M arie-Hélène Héroux con­ tinued to put the Stingers ahead with short jum p shots and transi­ tion layups. Héroux, who scored a g a m e -h ig h 34 p o in ts on the night, posted 20 in the first half as Concordia took a 35-27 lead at

the break.

M c G ill’s p lay w as up and down throughout the game, as the team went ahead by three late in the first and falling behind by as

Jen De Leeuw outruns Stingers

m any as ten points early in the second before taking a brief lead with under six minutes to play.

“W e need some consistency

to ta k e a d v a n ta g e o f o u r s tr e n g th s ,” n o te d h e a d co a c h Lisen Moore. “The fluctuation in th e sc o rin g w as in d ic a tiv e o f [how we] played.”

M o o re e x p la in e d that some of her forwards w o r k e d th e m s e lv e s in to e a rly foul trouble an d fo rc e d h er to sh ift p la y e rs o u t of their nat­ u ra l p o s i­ tio n s fo r long periods of the game. “ W e d o n ’t n eed laime stein everyone to sc o re 20 p o in ts ,” she em p h asized . “W e need them to box out and play solid defensively.”

Concordia came out quickly

in the second half, leaving the norm ally strong M artlet running game off-balance. Two and a half minutes in, Jen De Leeuw scored M cG ill’s first points o f the half w ith a sideline th ree-pointer to brin g the M artlets back in the game. De Leeuw, M cG ill’s pri­ mary outside threat this season, played a strong second half, tying up the gam e w ith nine m inutes re m a in in g an d g iv in g th e M artlets th e ir first lead o f the half with a three-pointer from the top o f the circle a few m inutes later.

M o st o f M c G ill’ s p o in ts cam e on the fa st b reak F riday n ig h t, w h e th e r d riv e n in fo r layups or set up for De Leeuw f u rth e r o u t. C o n c o rd ia to o k advantage when they were able to slow down the pace and force the M artlets to create opportuni­ ties in the offensive zone. “ W e lo v e to r u n ,” said H ow ard, w ho fin ish ed w ith 15 points for McGill, “but when we get antsy, we slow it down.”

W hen th e tw o te a m s m et three weeks ago, the more experi­ enced S tin g ers ro lle d to a 30p o in t v ic to ry . A fte r F rid a y night’s game, Moore said that the game was decided by more even play on the part of the Stingers and not by a lack of veteran play­ ers on her squad.

“It’s not about being young — i t ’s about fo c u s,” she said. “ A s in d iv id u a ls , th e y ’re n o t b rin g in g co n siste n t e ffo rt into and during the game.”

C ynthia Santam aria echoed M oore’s explanation.

“When the fast break works, w e ’re a g reat te a m ,” she said. “ W hen it d o e s n ’t, w e l l ...”

S a n ta m a ria tr a ile d o ff as she looked over to the m en’s game now playing on the floor.

The Martlets now stand at 12 on the season. T hey show ed fla s h e s o f th e fu tu re a g a in s t C o n c o rd ia , b u t m o re o fte n showed a lack of consistency and timing.

Page 22

Sports

T he M cG ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Defending CIAU champs Concordia blank Martlets 4-0 B y Jonathan C olford

The defending national cham­ pion Concordia Stingers defeated the M cG ill M artlets 4-0 at M cC onnell W in ter A rena on Saturday. It was the second game in two nights for both squads. On Friday, Concordia blew out UQTR 8-0 while McGill handed previous­ ly undefeated College St-Laurent its first loss of the season, edging them 3-1.

McGill goaltender and national team member Kim St-Pierre played superbly as she turned away 42 Concordia shots. In the loss, StPierre made several key saves in a scoreless first period, stopping 20 S tinger shots in the fram e. The Martlets only managed 3 shots on the Concordia netminder. Their best scoring chance coming when right­ w inger D ana R ittm a ste r took a cross-ice pass from left-w in g er Kathleen O'Reilly and found herself alone in front of the Stinger goaltender, who made the save.

"That was an awesom e pass from [O'Reilly]. I didn't get much on the shot," said Rittmaster.

th ird p erio d , and A nnie Cooper and second year veteran Boucher added the other mark­ Syndie Singer. Also adding to the er with 8:23 remaining. Even overall foibles, McGill also carries in d efeat, M artlet coach three rookie forw ards, A m anda C aroline B lanchet was very Laing, Allison Ticmanis, and Paula pleased with the team's show­ M ailloux who have to share the ing on Saturday. defensive duties.

"We played very well [on According to M ailloux, who Saturday]. Our goal was to be broke up several Stinger passes in perfect defensively in all three front of the M artlet net, despite zones and despite the fact that their inexperience. they scored four goals we are You have to play very aggres­ very satisfied," said Blanchet. sively against them: one mistake A ccording to B lanchet, and you're done," said M ailloux. defence was critical in keeping "We knew they would pass a lot in the game within reach, even front of the net and when they did a fte r the first couple of we were ready for them."

Concordia goals.

The Stingers used many cross­ "We wanted to play a tight ice passes in trying to get through defensive type of game. We S t-P ie rre 's solid go alten d in g . knew that by w orking hard Blanchet emphasized the Concordia Martlets still improving Patrick Fok defensively and getting in their coaching staffs familiarity with StConcordia effectively put the face we'd keep the score low. We Pierre's style through their previous game away when they stung the also changed our usual forecheck­ Provincial and National team expe­ Martlets with two goals within 21 ing schem e to a 1-2-2, and they rience with her play. seconds, one minute into the second struggled against it," said Blanchet. "[St-Pierre] likes to drop down A team like the Martlets can be to m ake a lot o f her saves. p erio d . L eague scoring leader Corinne Swirsky assisted on both expected to struggle when changing [Concordia] was trying to get the tallies. Swirsky went on to record a forechecking scheme the young puck across a lot because they her team's third goal at 14:21 of the squad has only two true defence- knew that's where they'd get their men on their roster, rookie Anna chances," said Blanchet.

The Martlets only managed 12 shots on the C o n co rd ia goal.

According to Blanchet, the sheer talen t o f the S tinger defence is responsible for the low number of shots allowed.

"They play one-on-one, twoon-tw o very aggressively," said Blanchet. "They are very skilled, mobile, and quick. Their goaltend­ ing is very good."

According to Rittmaster, the Martlet offence is stronger than in previous meetings with Concordia as the Martlet lines are getting used to playing with each other.

"We're getting more offensive opportunities against [Concordia], Our lines are clicking really well. I love playing with [O 'Reilly and cen tre Ju lie H o rnsby]," said Rittmaster after the game.

The Martlets play two exhibi­ tion games this week, Wednesday 25 November at 6:00 pm against Q ueen's, and Sa tu rd a y 28 N o vem ber at 8:00 pm a g a in st Niagara University. Both games are at McConnell Winter Arena.

Flutter-boards, chalkboards, and water: the life of Holly McComb

By A ron T onon

club level during her high school and CEGEP years reached its climax Over that past few years, when McComb competed for Team M cG ill’s varsity swim team has Canada at the Pan-Pacific Games in seen several outstanding athletes Japan. Her success did not go unno­ take to the water. A winning fixture ticed by the u n iv ersity athletic on the team for four years now has recruiters of the United States and been M artlet sw im m er H olly McComb had plenty of options to M cCom b.

The D ollard-des- choose from when it came time for O rm eaux, Q uebec n ative has her to pick a school of higher educa­ amassed an impressive list of per­ tion. sonal accomplishments, both in the “I had offers to go to the states classroom and in the pool. on full scholarship,” said McCombj McComb is the holder of six “but I wanted to stay in Canada and McGill records, one national record, I was happy to stay near home, and and, in three visits to the nationals, McGill is an good school so I decid­ has earned four bronze, two silver, ed to stay here.” and one gold medal. She has already N eedless to say, M cCom b’s qualified for two events at this year's decision to com e to M cGill has nationals while collecting four golds turned out to be a very good one. in the first six w eeks of league The athlete’s equal dedication to events this season. These feats mere­ both sw im m ing and school has ly skim the surface of what she has helped her earn several scholarships accomplished in the pool. reserved for student athletes at her For McComb, swimming has high level of talent. been a part of her life from a young “Wolly,” as McComb is some­ age. times called by her teammates, is “I started when I was six,” said well-respected by her fellow swim­ the Martlet swimmer. “On the west mers. She seems to have enough island, swimming is a huge thing. energy for both herself and everyone There’s lots of competitions at the around her despite the tiring outdoor pools and everyone gets demands placed on swimmers. involved. Also, my older brother “Time management is pretty started swimming when I was really tough because we practice twice a young and I used to sit around and day for two hours at a time, once in watch him compete before I started the morning and once in the after­ swimming competitively at Pointe noon, so it's pretty crazy," explained Claire.” Pointe Claire, incidentally, the th ree-tim e m em ber o f the is a club for which McComb still Principal’s student-athlete honour competes under the tutelage of Russ roll. "You get home at night and Franklin. you’re pretty tired, but most people The swimmer's success at the in swimming have been doing it all

their lives so you get good at time management. Unfortunately, sleep often gets sacrificed.”

Her influence on the team is profound and her peers are quick to credit McComb for her great chem­ istry which exists.

“Holly carries her personality over on to the team,” offered Martlet teammate Stephanie M cDougall.

“She is willing to take some of the first year swimmers or those who are new to the competitive swim­ ming scene and try and ease their worries about competing. She makes sure that they always have a positive relationship with swimming, so that if you're not communicating with the coaches or something you know you can always go to Holly.”

McComb’s leadership qualities have not gone unnoticed by McGill swim coach Frank Laurin.

“She leads by example and she has a good relationship with all the swimmers. She has been injured all winter with a back injury which was somewhat chronic, yet she is still at p ractice pushing the lim its.

Som etim es sh e’ll m iss a turn because her back is stiffens up, but she will simply get out of the pool, stretch it out and get back in there.

So when other swimmers complain about small injuries we can point to Holly and say, “what did you say you had again? '” McComb has already earned her bachelor of Phys. Ed., and is currently studying psychology as a special student. With her years at McGill potentially nearing an end,

she is now contemplating what she will do next. With all the success she has enjoyed as a student athlete, McComb looks to have a bright future ahead of her. The direction that future will take, however, has yet to be decided.

out right now.”

Coach Laurin believes that the sky is the limit if she does decided to continue with her aquatic pur­ suits. “Holly has always been one of our best sw im m ers and is very strong and dedicated to what she is doing. She is very v ersatile because she can swim all the events and succeed in them. We try and put her in the events she likes best but that is not always the case.

"Holly is one of the strongest swimmers in this country, but I think she wants to make sure she is having fun with swimming right now. She could make the national team; her times are very close, but I think her drives are changing and that she is leaning towards school.

I don’t think Holly has reached her limits yet or knows what her limits are. I think her swimming goals could be higher for her, but I don’t think she sees them.”

Regardless of the direction McComb chooses to pursue, she will be confident that she can go forw ard in life having learned McComb makes waves Patrick Fok some very valuable lessons from her 16 years of pool competitions.

“I don’t know if I will be swim­ “You learn how to work hard ming beyond this year. It really towards a set goal, and put every­ depends upon school. I’m thinking thing you have into something,” said of doing my masters," explained a the five-fo o t-six pow er house. contem plative M cComb. "But I “Swimming is such a daily thing and might take a year off and I probably sometimes you just don’t want to be wouldn’t be swimming next year in their so takes a lot of discipline. that case. I ’m interested in sports Nothing I will have to do in life will psychology and occupational thera­ be as hard as swimming.” py, but I’m trying to figure that all

S p O f tS Page 23

T he M cG ill T ribune, T uesday, 24 N ovember 1998

Deadlock broken: teams excel to break stalemate in NFL c o u n tin g . T h e ir b rillia n c e has been the exception to the rule this T h e s a f e s t p r e d ic tio n in se a so n as the le a g u e has been swept by sports since the early u n c h a r­ nineties has been the acteristic division w inners in parity. th e N F C . B u t, as I n C hris B erm an says, the west, this is why they play the 49ers the g a m e s. A c ro ss m u s t th e co n fe re n ce , s till be u p sta rt team s have s c ra tc h ­ m ade their presence ing their felt. heads The days of rou­ aft e r tin e ly p e n c ilin g in having such powerhouses as b e en th e San F ra n c is c o hum bled 4 9 e rs , G re e n B ay by th e P a c k e rs o r D a lla s normally C o w b o y s in to th e lo w -fly Super Bowl may be i n g lo n g g o n e . A new wave of NFC teams Jamal Anderson carries Falcons to top F a lc o n s n has th ro w n a m o n ­ Atlanta last week.

And now, the key-wrench into this year’s playN iners are facing the possibility off plans.

On a grand scale, the entire of settling for a wild-card berth. le a g u e has b een tu rn e d on its The u p start F alco ns, who have head, with the dom inance o f its lo o k e d im p re s s iv e all seaso n teams called into question by the lo n g , s ile n c e d m o st o f th e ir d e fe n d in g c h a m p io n D e n v e r numerous critics with their recent Broncos who are now 11-0 and manhandling of Rice and com pa­ B y M a n n y A lmela

old guard holding on to the top of to be benefiting greatly from this n y . T h e u su a lly p id g e o n -lik e F a lc o n s n o w se e m p o is e d to th e ir d iv is io n a re th e D a lla s m u ch n e e d e d b re a k fro m th e sp o tlig h t and could find th em ­ p ro v e th a t th e y b e lo n g in the C o w b o y s. T he o n c e m ig h ty u p p e r-e c h elo n o f the le a g u e ’s ’B oys began the season all but selves playing football in well in forgotten and have responded by into January beneath the brightest newly revamped pecking-order.

The central division has been h aving one o f the q u ie te st 8-3 lights of all.

If the regular season is any witness to an similar shuffle this sta rts in le a g u e h isto ry . T hey season, as the M innesota Vikings have found themselves struggling indication, football fans will be fo r re s p e c t and lo n g in g to be in for quite a ride when the play­ h a v e e x o rc is e d th e ir d em o n s taken seriously. W ith three Super o ffs do b eg in . E m m it S m ith ’s fro m G re e n ’s B a y ’s L am b eau F ie ld a n d a p p e a r p re p a re d to Bowls in the ‘90s already to their incredible turnaround and Doug m ake the leap into the class of credit, Am erica’s team was pro­ Flutie’s improbable rise from his N FL a sh e s the NFL. Last weekend, they top­ c la im e d to o h a v e e p ito ­ o ld and p le d th e p e re n n ia lly s tro n g m iz e d w hat Packers for the second time this d e e m e d to be th e ‘98 NFL in d e c lin e year. s e a so n h as w hen the se a ­ M innesota’s dominance was been all about perhaps best reflected in the first son began.

— you g o tta New head win, which snapped the Packers see it to C han 28 gam e hom e w inning streak. c o a c h believe it. has Now com fortably perched atop G a ile y M any o f the NFC central division with a brought a more th e N F L ’s d i s c i p l i n e d record o f 10-1, the V ikings are usual suspects showing no signs of letting up as sty le o f p lay will surely be the their ship of bandwagon fol­ along with him invited to the and the chroni­ lowers is getting pretty crowded. p o s t-s e a s o n cally m isch ie­ L ed by a re ju v e n a te d R a n d a ll p a rty .

B ut vous Cowboys C unningham and rookie sen sa­ how long they lo o k in g tion R andy M oss, the V ik in g s a re s tic k a ro u n d lik e Cunningham and Moss celebrate have suddenly becom e the class m o re may finally be choir-boys this of the NFC. a mystery as opposed to a birth­ season as they just keep on win­ In a strange twist of fate this season, the only members of the ning. A ikm an and friends seem right.

S P O R T S briefs M cG ill swimming T oronto meet

dominates

The McGill men's swim team won only their second major meet since 1972 th is S atu rd ay in Toronto. The Redmen scored 412 points, ahead of M cM aster's 401 and Toronto's 378.

M cG ill's D avid A llard , the male McGill-adidas athlete of the week, continued his winning ways by taking all three of his events, giving him 14 consecutive victories in individual races this year. He won gold in the 100m breast stroke w ith a M c G ill-re c o rd tim e o f 1:03.49. He set another M cG ill record with his 200m individual medley gold medal time of 2:03.95.

Allard added a third gold medal in the 200m backstroke.

S eb astian P ad d in g to n won gold in the 400m freestyle with a meet record time of 3:55.95, and took silver with a McGill record in the 200m butterfly with a time of 2:05.55. O ther qualifiers for the nationals on the Redmen team were Matt Walker who qualified in the 1500m freestyle, Chris Topham in the 200m breaststroke, and Nicolas Martin in the 100 m butterfly.

The women finished third with 343 points, behind McMaster's 439 and T oronto's 384. M artlet Lisa Virgini, the female McGill-adidas athlete of the week, qualified for nationals with a pair of golds in the 100m and 200m backstroke. She also picked up a bronze in the 50m butterfly. Holly McComb qualified for the C IA U s with gold in the 400m individual medley, setting a m eet re c o rd tim e o f 4 .5 8 .9 8 .

M cC om b ad ded a silv e r in the 200m butterfly. Also heading the

nationals will be Elaine Duranceau who won gold in the 100m butter­ fly, and Sue McKay who qualified in the 200m butterfly.

M c G ill

synchro wins meet

The Martlet synchro team won its home meet this weekend by tal­ lying 40 points, with second place Q u een's fin ish in g w ith 19, and Western at third with 17. McGill's Jen Clarke finished first among the seniors with a score of 21.74, her teammate Karen Whiting finished second with a score of 21.70. In the intermediate division Clarke also took top spot with a score of 21.82; teammate Victoria Rowsell's 20.92 was good for fifth. McGill com­ p le te d the sw eep as K ristin a Buchman won the Novice division with her score of 19.36 while team­ mate Sarah Evans 18.06 placed third.

M cG ill

badminton shines

McGill played in their second of three league tournam ents this weekend, battling their way to a third place finish for the second time in a row. Laval won the meet w ith a 5-0 to u rn am ent record, Montreal finished second at 4-1, while McGill grabbed bronze with a 3-2 record. McGill now stands three points ahead of Sherbrooke and is nearly guaranteed a place in the play o ffs. On the w om en's side, Nam i H ayashi w ent undefeated over the weekend, as did the dou­ bles team of Anne Lefebvre and Shani B ryce. The men got 2-1 records from Neil Constable and the pairing of Fendy Tjahn and David Lee. The team now stands with a total record of 6-4 after ten events.

M cG ill

women powerbomb competition in F redericton WHILE MEN GET STUNNED

A t the eastern C anada w restlin g ch am p io n sh ip s in Fredericton, NB, the McGill wom­ en's team finish fourth out of ten in the open tournament. Among uni­ versities they were the top squad.

Michelle Laratta, in the 75 kg class, and Hadiya Nedd-Rodrique in the 58 kg class, both won silver medals and have qualified themselves for the C IA U ch am p io n sh ip s in Guelph in February.

The men didn't fare as well, coming in fifth out eight teams, last am ong the u n iv e rsitie s. Serge Aucoin won silver in the 65 kg class, while -Nic Leipzig who took bronze in the 76 kg class.

The M artlets rolled past the Sherbrooke Vert et Or 3-1 Friday

M artlet volleyball splits ON THE ROAD

M en’s

volleyball FALLS AGAIN

The McGill men’s volleyball team fell to Sherbroooke on Sunday.

The V ert et Or dom inated the Redmen 15-4, 15-13, and 15-6. The Redmen showed signs of life in the second, but it was not enough to give them their first win of the sea­ son as the team falls to 0-7 on the year. The Redmen won’t play again until January 13 against Montreal.

M cG ill squash pureed in WEEKEND TOURNAMENT

three of their four matches in the Waterloo Tournament. The first loss came at the hands of Brock who dropped the Redmen 4-2. The team bounced back well with a 5-1 win over M cM aster. But M cG ill promptly dropped their next two m atches 6-0 to W estern and W aterloo. For the team, second seed Faisal Khan won two of his four matches, so did fourth seed Adnon Sikander and fifth seed Mike Preston. The team s fortuned are expected to turn around when K enyan N ational team m em ber Raheem Virani joins up in January.

On November 14th and 15th, the McGill men's squash team lost

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night, losing only the third set by a score of 14-16. The win energized the team for Saturday night's game, losing a tight 3-2 match against the n atio n a lly num ber one ranked Laval squad. The two traded off the first four sets before finishing with a heartbreaking 14-16 loss in the fifth . O ver the w eekend, the Martlets were led by Kim Barette who had 29 kills and 28 digs. Also, Marie-Claude Ferland had 22 kills and an im p ressiv e 50 digs for McGill.

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