The McGill Tribune Vol. 20 Issue 13 by The Tribune

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T u e s d a y , 28

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N ovember

2000

L TRIBUNE

Published by the S tu d en ts’ Society of M cGill U niversity

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M c G ill s y n c h r o n i z e d s w i m m i n g p e r f o r m s a t t h e i r t o u r n a m e n t h e l d o n N o v e m b e r 2 5

P atrick F ok

W h a t's t h is a b o u t a n in f o r m a t io n c a fé ? R e n o v a tio n s t o R e d p a th b a s e m e n t c o n s id e re d in a llo c a tio n o f m o n ie s By N ema Etheridge A com m ittee fo r the L ibrary Im provem ent Fund that w ill allo cate the $1 m illion generated by alumni and student donations met la st w eek in an e ffo rt to d ecid e how M cG ill lib ra rie s sh o u ld be improved. T h e L IF is s u p p o r te d by a M c G ill S tu d e n t F u n d le v y an d m atched by alumni donations, was founded in recent years to com bat a marked decline in M cGill library systems. John H obbins, associate direc to r o f lib ra rie s , w e lc o m e s such funds, as he has witnessed over the course o f his career the deteriora tion of M cGill libraries. “T here is no question that our library has declined over the last

decades— from first in the country to m id-range or low er in the Group o f T en C a n a d ia n U n iv e r s itie s ,” said Hobbins. H o b b in s b e lie v e s th a t su ch declines are largely influenced by th e la c k o f m o n ey a llo c a te d to libraries. “T he U niversity sim ply does n o t g iv e th e lib r a r ie s a h ig h enough percentage o f its budget, although I think there have been recent attem pts to redress the m at ter som ew hat.” Funds like those generated by the LIF are an attem pt to make up for such budget cuts and the com m itte e s th a t o v e r s e e th e fu n d d e c id e o n w h a t im p r o v e m e n ts should be made w ith the donated money. “R ight now w e ’re looking at

p o s s ib le w ay s w e ca n fu n d the lib ra ry ,” e x p lain e d C lara P éron, V P u n iv e r s ity a f f a ir s f o r th e S tu d e n ts ’ S o c ie ty o f M c G ill University. In the past, the LIF has been allocated to different areas of the library system . Increasing the am ount o f books and co llectio n s acro ss d iffe ren t facu lty lib ra rie s has always been a key concern to students, as has extending library hours and improving technology. “Every year, the m ajor com ponent o f the donation has gone to collections and journals, and then another portion is given to a spe cific initiative,” said Péron. “Last year, 10 per cent o f the total donation w ent to the 24-hour study lounge; an o th er 20 percent o f the donation w ent to help fund the M cGill libraries digital m ille

nium in itia tiv e , w h ich b asica lly purchased PCs and term inals in the lib ra rie s. A nd, tw o y ea rs b efo re that,” Péron continued, “the elec tro n ic c la ssro o m w as th e m a jo r initiative that students contributed to.” D e sp ite su ch im p ro v e m en ts many students are still looking for changes sim ilar to those m ade in the past. “ I p u t a h u g e ad o u t in th e T rib u n e asking stu d en ts fo r su g gestions,” said Péron. “I ’ve talked about it in council m eetings. I’ve talked about in open meetings and the th ree m ajo r th in g s I ’ve seen that students w ant is increased col lections— be it books o r p erio d i c a ls — m o re c o m p u te r s , an d extended hours.”

R e n o v a tin g R e d p a th O ne change the L IF com m it tee m ight be interested in funding w as p re se n te d la st w eek d u rin g th e ir c o m m itte e m e e tin g . It involves renovating the basem ent o f Redpath Library so that it hous es an inform ation café. “ R ig h t n o w th e lib r a r y is looking at m aking an inform ation co m m o n s,” ex p la in e d P éro n . “ It w ould be a 24-hour space, highly w ired with 150 com puter term inals w h ich w o u ld ta k e up th e lo w er flo o r b e lo w R e d p a th ... w ith an entrance on M cTavish street.” D escribing the café in a letter w ritten last M arch, Frances Groen, director o f libraries, explained that

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T he M c G ill T r ibu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

S t u d e n t S e rv ic e s ru n s

N e w p o lic y o n d is c r im in a t io n

$ 9 0 0 ,0 0 0 d e f ic it

Equity commissioner calls for a new policy

In c re a s in g s tu d e n t Fe e s?

By S hehryar Fazli

By M ike Bargav A r e c e n t S tu d e n t S e r v ic e s d eficit o f an estim ated $900,000 h a s s ig n a lle d a n o th e r p o s s ib le raise in student fees. At this juncture, however, the deficit is more a worst case projec tion than an existing sum. “E ach y ea r w e m ake out financial projections and then set our activities so that the deficit is brought down to zero,” said W es C ro s s , m a n a g e r o f f in a n c e fo r Student Services. “W e have never not m anaged to bring out deficit down to zero.” C ross fu rth er ex plained that the $900,000 deficit, although a la rg e sum , is n o t p ro p o rtio n ally large for Student Services. Student S erv ices tra d itio n a lly p ro je c ts a deficit o f close to ten per cent o f its to ta l b u d g e t. T h is y e a r ’s $900,000 deficit, a little under 10 p e r c e n t o f th e to ta l b u d g e t o f roughly $10 m illion, falls w ithin that range. Student Services, a body sep arate from the University, receives its revenue through separate gov ernm ent funding, and an allocated p ro p o rtio n o f stu d e n t fees. T he student fees constitutes the m ajori ty o f its funds. Increased fee rev e n u e s c o m e e ith e r th r o u g h an in creasin g stu d en t p o p u latio n or

through higher fees. C ross ex p lain e d th at tu itio n fee s are lik e ly to in c re a se n ex t year, to increase available funding fo r S tu d en t S erv ices. E ach year th e a m o u n t S tu d e n t S e r v ic e s receiv es in creases to m eet in fla tio n a r y p ric e in c r e a s e s , w ag e increases, and new expenses. At th e e n d o f la s t y e a r h o w e v e r, Student Services did not request a fee increase. “The problem when you d o n ’t increase fees is that you you have to c a tc h up th e n ex t y e a r,” said Cross. W ojtek Baraniak, president of the S tu d e n ts’ S ociety o f M cG ill University dow nplayed the signifi ca n ce o f the p ro je c tio n , sta tin g that it was far too early to specu late on the effect on next y e a r’s student fees. “This is not a deficit per se. I t ’s re a lly to o ea rly to see how m u c h s tu d e n ts w ill p a y . T h e re m ight only be a m in o r ch an g e... fees m ight go up, fees m ight go d o w n . S tu d e n t S e r v ic e s c o u ld receive w indfall from governm ent f u n d in g — i t ’ s n o rm a l at th is s t a g e ,” s a id B a ra n ia k . “ A n d w hether or not a fee increase this year will be higher or low er than if there was a fee increase last year is also som ething w e ca n ’t really say.”

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A new w o rk g ro u p is b ein g spearheaded by S tudents’ Society o f M c G ill U n iv e r s ity E q u ity C o m m issio n er L am arkai L aryea, to form ulate a m uch-needed policy on discrim ination and harassm ent on campus. In 1994, the University started a Joint Senate Board on Equity to recom m end and oversee p olicies a ffe c tin g m in o rity g ro u p s. T he Board was then split into four sub com m ittees, including subcom m it tees on w o m en ’s issu es, on race and ethnic relatio n s, on students with disabilities and on aboriginal peo p les. H ow ever, som e believ e that the presence o f these subcom m ittees has not provided solutions to the problem of discrim ination at the University. "There are just general things a b o u t th is u n iv e rs ity [in ] how in cred ib ly w h ite it is, and u pper class," said Erica W einstein o f the

M cGill W om en’s Union. "And it’s terrib le. W hat kind o f ed u catio n are you g ettin g w hen ev ery b o d y you’re in school with is the same? [D u rin g ] c la ssro o m d isc u ssio n s an d in te ra c tio n s w ith p eo p le, if everyone is com ing from the same p la ce , w h at e d u c atio n is th a t? I definitely think th e re’s a need in M cG ill for an equity policy. It’s q u ite c le a r fro m th e ... la c k o f diversity on this campus." W e in ste in an d L a ry e a b o th p o in te d to th e f a c t th a t th e U niversity hired its first full-tim e black professor only last year. SSM U V ic e - P r e s id e n t U n iv e rsity A ffa irs C la ra P ero n , w hile disagreeing with the notion o f a distinct presence o f discrim i n a tio n at M c G ill, n e v e r th e le s s advocates form ulating a clear and effective equity policy. "I hav en ’t really encountered much discrim ination on cam pus," she said. "I m yself am not a visible m in o r ity so I w o u ld n o t b e an

o b je c t o f d is c rim in a tio n . B ut I think that because there is no poli cy, there is no way to deal with a case [if] som ething happens. Right now, there is ju st vague statement [in the student c h a rte r]... I think especially since we have a diverse campus that a policy like that defi nitely shows that M cGill is aware of it and is adequately equipped to favor a good cam pus environm ent with diversity."

A n in a d e q u a te e x is t in g p o lic y In 1996, the subcom m ittee on race and ethnic relations drafted a university-wide policy on discrim ination and harassm ent. The docu ment was subm itted to Senate, and its f ir s t s e v e n a r tic le s w e re approved. These provisions served to state the U n iv ersity ’s position against discrim ination and harass-

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B erk eley s e e k s m o r e g ra d s tu d e n ts By A ndrea O 'B rien D aily C alifornian (U. C alifornia-B erkeley) (U-W IRE) BERKELEY, Calif. — A tte m p tin g to r e in v ig o r a te U niversity o f C alifornia graduate p ro g ram s and co m p ete w ith p ri vate institutions, the UC Board of R egents has announced a plan to add 11,000 graduate students over the next decade. By directing more funding to r e s e a r c h a s s is ta n t p o s itio n s , increasing fee w aivers for research assistants and teaching assistants, and other form s o f g raduate stu dent financial aid, university offi cials said at the regents m eeting la s t w e e k th a t th e y h o p e to increase g raduate student en ro ll ment on their nine campuses. "A s a h ig h -te ch n o lo g y state and innovation leader, C alifornia will rely on highly educated w ork e rs to p r o v id e a c o m p e titiv e ad v an tag e in the g lo b al m a rk e t place," said Jud King, UC provost and vice president o f capital pro jects. T h e p la n w ill in c re a s e th e num ber o f graduate students at the U C cam p u ses by 1,000 stu d en ts annually over the next decade. Regent Sue Johnson and King w ill c o - c h a ir a c o m m is s io n to explore g raduate student support and strategies to obtain the neces sary funds to attract more students. "The regents w ill be working very hard at improving the quality o f life for grad students," Johnson said. In the past 30 years, graduate student en ro llm en t has rem ained steady w hile undergraduate enroll-

m ent has alm ost doubled. In addi tio n , th e u n iv e rs ity o fte n lo se s graduate stu d en ts to p riv ate u n i v e rsitie s , w hich o ften o ffe r full tuition or larger stipends, Johnson said. UC P r e s id e n t R ic h a rd A tkinson said California relies on the university's graduate programs to m aintain its econom ic prosperi ty"The state needs highly ed u cated people in a host of fields, but fo r a v a r ie ty o f r e a s o n s U C 's investm ent in graduate education has not kept pace with p rojected needs," he said. P riv ate com p an ies are using n ew te c h n o lo g y th a t r e q u ir e s em ployees to be highly trained by th e u n iv e rsity , e sp e c ia lly in the areas o f engineering and com puter science, A tkinson said. "T he n a tu re o f th e w o rk in these high tech com panies really requires really ed ucated people," he said. "W e're responding to the challenging needs o f the society, p u ttin g m ore o f an em p h asis on education and especially education lik e ( w h a t) c o m e s fro m th e University o f California." A dditional research assistant grants tend to be funneled into the sc ie n c e s, b u t A tk in so n sa id the university plans to increase enroll ment in all areas o f graduate edu cation. "Believe me, w e're not going to let th e h u m a n itie s an d so cial stu d ies slip , b u t th e re are m ore funds out there that is more easily ju s tifia b le in scien ces an d e n g i neering," he said. Some students said, however, th a t th e r e g e n ts ' p la n s a re n o t

enough. "The bigger picture is that the UC is not being very com petitive on the grad student m arket," said Eli llano, chair o f UC B erkeley's graduate assem bly. "H igh-quality grad students are being targeted by u n iv ersities all o ver the country. It's really a national industry." lla n o s a id th e u n iv e r s ity 's focus on train in g students to fill positions in high-tech com panies is misdirected. "They're putting some money in to r e s e a r c h g r a n ts , w h ic h is great," he said. "But it's very tar geted, w hich is okay, but it's not ju st because they w ant to attract grad students — they w ant research to b e d o n e in c e r ta in f ie ld s to appeal to private industry." U rg in g th e re g e n ts to seek more funding from the state, llano said an increase o f even one h alf o f 1 percent o f the state's budget w ould be significant. "The state is actually going to have to decide if this is im portant to them. T heir grad program s are going to lose their prestige soon,” llan o said. "W e are struggling to m a in ta in th e re p u ta tio n th a t the U C h as b u ilt o v e r th e p a st 100 years." lla n o a lso sa id P ro p o s itio n 209 and S P -1 have lim ited the uni v ersity 's ability to targ et re c ru it m e n t a t m in o r ity s tu d e n ts . D iv e r s ity in U C g r a d u a te p r o grams has decreased dramatically, he said.

T he M c G ill T r ib u n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

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B la c k c o m m u n i t y r a l l y a d d r e s s e s C a n a d i a n i n e q u a l i t y By M ike Barcav A m id st th u n d e ro u s cries fo r ‘ju stice’, ‘equality’, and ‘respect’, M o n tr e a l’s B la c k c o m m u n ity addressed the issues and obstacles it fa c e s in C a n a d ia n so c ie ty on Thursday 23. The rally, organized by many B la c k c o m m u n ity g ro u p s w as designed as an exchange betw een community members and represen ta tiv e s fro m th e P ro g r e s s iv e Conservatives, Canadian Alliance, L iberals, Bloc Q uébécois and the New Democratic Party. Topping the list of issues was the continued prevalence of institu tional racism, reduced em ployment opportunities, unfair im m igration law, and the general disparity o f a system many felt was esoteric and u n resp o n siv e to B lack concerns. M ore sp ecific concerns included the development o f programs deal ing with racism in conjunction with Canada’s Black com munities, pro tective legislations, and a reinstate ment o f the dism antled Department of M u ltic u ltu r a lis m an d Citizenship. “T his is h isto ric fo r the city and the country. This type of effort is not happening anywhere else. As visible minorities, we are not invis ible in M ontreal,” said R everend D a rry l G rey , o p e n in g th e ra lly . “B ecau se m any o f you have not come to us, we have come to you. W e invite you to feel our frustra tion and our anger about a system that often excludes us, so we might feel com fortable supporting candi dates that support us. Clarlena Claxton, co-organizer o f th e N C C y o u th ro u n d ta b le

S t. J a m e s U n ite d C h u r c h w a s t h e s e tt in g fo r t h e r a lly

voiced sim ilar g riev an ces o v er a p o litica l pro cess ig n o ra n t o f the Black Community. “ O u r v o te is n o t p re -d e te rmined. I cannot ignore some reali ties o f our society today. Our com munity has been separated from the political process too long. If we are

to have a fu tu re, I w ould like to know which party will best provide this future.” Leroy Butcher, the chair of the Rally organizing com mittee contin u ed in th e v e in o f d is g u s t o v e r minority under-representation, call ing for a need for more black repre

tric approach to m ulticulturalism , that does not provide an enduring s o lu tio n to d is c rim in a tio n . M em bers ca lled fo r a re-d efin ed approach that stresses a respect of Black identity, not just a tolerance o f it. “M ulticulturalism m ust mean n o thing less than an ab olition of rac ism and a rig h t to so cial ju s tice,” said Butcher. R eactio n s w ere hom ogenous across the political spectrum, as all m em bers recognized the need for change, and prom ised expeditious reform. “W e sh o u ld elim in ate racial discrimination wherever it rears its u g ly h ea d in th is c o u n try . T h is m ust be the param ount objective of our country and should not be lost sight of,” said Neil Drabkin of the Canadian Alliance. Guiylaine Grenier of the Bloc Q uébécois voiced a sim ilar desire for reform , speaking passionately about the need for equality. “T h e [ c u rre n t] s itu a tio n is totally unacceptable...there should be love, fraternity, and conviviality for all citizens.” T h e la st w o rd h o w ev e r best went to Ketlyn M aitland-Blades, a speaker at the rally. “B lack C o m m u n ities’ in ter e s ts h a v e n o t b e e n an is s u e o f m ajor political parties. Our issues have been on the back-burner. Over the years, our com m unity has put forward many recommendations to the political parties and they have been ignored. W e are here, this is our hom e. W e have a right to be here politically, and be included in the process.”

sentatives. “They do not envision a Canada w here aboriginal and b la c k p e o p le are not a fun dam ental part. W e are no longer w illing to accept mar ginalization in silence. W hat w e n e e d is in p u t in j u s tic e an d g o v e rn a n ce. A nd w hat w e need immediately is a higher level o f cabinet rep resentation.” M uch o f th e ra lly tu rn e d to the p ro b le m of jo b d is c rim i n a tio n r a c ia l wage inequity, and a ju d icial s y s te m th a t a c ts a g a in s t th e fa v o u r o f Black com mu nities. “Even the s y s te m s of j u s t ic e th a t protect us from the evils o f society fail to provide justice. N ot only do we not get justice we are often only given a pittance. If we are not pre pared to defend ourselves, no one will defend us,” said Butcher. Further attacks rose from what members accused to be a Euro-cen

Campus B rief Q u e e n 's A r t s a n d S c ie n c e s t u d e n t s r e je c t t u it io n d e re g u la tio n V A rts and S c ie n c e stu d e n ts voted 91.5 per cent against tuition deregulation for Arts and Science students in a referendum held at Q ueen’s University last week. V oter tu rnout w as 44.7 per cent, believed to be a record for A rts and Science U ndergraduate Society referenda. T u itio n dereg u latio n w ould mean removing government limits to tuition. A SU S P re s id e n t R yan N aidoo said that the overw helm ing student respdnse on the dereg ulation issue has given the under graduate society a clear mandate. “ W e c a n now g o to th e ad m in istra tio n w ith the k n o w l edge that students w ant reassur ance that access to a Q ueen’s edu cation will not be sacrificed,” he said. “The results tell us the stu dents went to the student govern m ent to have a voice in the dia logue on deregulation. N ever in m em ory has there been such an overwhelming turnout.” O f the utility o f the referen dum process, No campaign leader and Science student Alex M illar said the process was “like holding a referendum in jail to determine

w hether or not people co uld go free.” M illar had concerns about the vote counting process by ASUS. A c c o rd in g to h im , th e b a llo ts were separated into ‘yes’ and ‘no’ piles and then counted tw ice by the same person. “T h e re ’s a lo t o f ro o m fo r error. I ’m not saying there were errors, but th e re’s a lot o f room for error.” M illar said that, by opposing deregulation, the education quali ty at Q ueen’s “w on’t improve as much as it could.” T he ultim ate success o f the referendum will be the degree to which Principal W illiam Leggett and th e B oard o f T ru stee s w ill consider the results. L eggett has previously stated the im portance of students taking an active role in the dialogue; however, he has also em phasized that the referendum is not binding and will serve only as an informational tool for the deci sion-making bodies. — with files from the Queen’s Journal (Queen’s U.)

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T he M c Q i'll T r ib u n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

News Briefs S t u d e n t P e t it io n s c o u ld c h a n g e e x a m e n v ir o n m e n t s S tu d en t p etitio n s th at c irc u lated last w eek could have a valuable effect on the future o f exam ination environm ents. Clara Péron and several student volun teers offered petitions to students com ing in and out o f Leacock, in an attem pt to address the poor state o f exam ination environm ents. "We decided to work together to make a right in the student handbook on a proper e x a m in a tio n en v iro n m e n t, b ec au se rig h t now no such in fo rm a tio n e x ists," P eron said. "A nd w e figured that m aybe, in the past, to have that explicitly w ritten w asn’t necessary, but follow ing several incidents this year, it has becom e apparent that it is." Problem s students have faced recently in c lu d e : s ittin g on th e f lo o r d u rin g m id term s, sh a rin g c o p ies o f ex am s, and b e in g m o v e d a r o u n d b e f o r e an e x a m b ecau se another room w as n o t o riginally booked. P e titio n s d is tr ib u te d w e re s a m p le a m e n d m e n ts to b o th th e A c a d e m ic and Procedural Rights o f students. I n d iv id u a ls s ig n e d p e t itio n s th a t requested, "Every student [has] the right to a proper exam ination environm ent." Such rights included in the am endm ent were, "a proper chair," "a proper w riting surface of adequate size and stability," "adequate per sonal space," a "visible clock in the exam i n atio n ro o m ," and a "q u iet e x a m in a tio n room." The petitions also included a proposed am e n d m e n t to th e P ro c e d u ra l R ig h ts o f Students. If passed, the am endm ent would ensure that the above listed "requirem ents [be] m et expeditiously," and if they w ere n o t, stu d e n ts w o u ld th e n be a llo w e d to "take the exam at a later date."

A fter going before a steering com m it tee th is w eek, the p etitio n s, and the p ro p o se d a m e n d m e n t w ill b e p re s e n te d to S e n a te at th e ir n e x t m e e tin g on 6 December. "At that tim e, I’m going to be bringing in all these petitions, ju st to show that there is large student support behind this," Péron said. "I hope that by seeing that this is so widely supported by students, that this will pass in Senate."

D ere g ula tio n of stu d e n t fe e s i r k s c o u n c i l l o r s

C o u n c il w as u rg ed last T h u rsd ay to take a stronger position against the possible increase to international student fees, as it has becom e m ore o f a possiblity since the d e r e g u la tio n o f s tu d e n t f e e s o c c u r re d b e tw e e n th e Q u e b e c g o v e r n m e n t an d M cGill last fall. "The student body has to take a stand on this issue," said Shirin F oroutan, Law representative to council. S he e m p h a s iz e d th e im p o rta n c e o f international students to the university and e x p lain e d w hy it is e sse n tia l n ot to lo se prospective students to an increase in stu dent fees. "The fact o f the m atter is that interna tional students add a trem endous am ount to a faculty," she said. "W hether it’s our TAs, our grad-students, the theses that are com ing out o f this school... are a lot o f what this school is renow ned for... som e [students] are also dissuaded from com ing here from developing countries w ho may only be able to fund one student." She fu rth er ex p lain ed the dan g ers of

deregulated fees to international students. " M c G ill is a r e n o w n e d in s titu tio n aro u n d th e w o rld an d th e v ery fa c t th at Q u eb ec tu itio n is fro z en , m eans th e y ’re using out o f province tuition fees and inter n atio n al stu d e n t fees to fu n d th e re st o f provincial students." W ojtek Baraniak, Students’ Society of M cGill U niversity president, outlined what he has done to stop the increase in fees. "I"v e m et a c tu a lly n u m e ro u s tim es w ith the [M cG ill In tern atio n al S tu d e n ts’ N etw ork] p resid en t, and w e’ve discussed th e issu es o f w h a t’s in v o lv e d ," he said . "N um ber one is inform ing people o f what has happened, because it sort o f happened quietly. T he reason it happened quietly," he explained, "is because M cGill prom ised they w ouldn’t raise fees this year, and they d idn’t -they kept their word- but the prob lem now is w hat’s going to happen next. Baraniak has not yet seen any changes to fees occur, but does not believe it w ould be impossible. "From w hat I know nothing has been announced.; nothing new has been planned. A nd you have to stress that the deregualtion o f fees w asn’t necessarily a bad thing from the adm inistration’s point o f view because now w e get to keep all the m oney. The danger now is w hat th ey ’ll decide to do," he said. B araniak also m entioned the in terac tion he has had with other m em bers of the s tu d e n t b o d y , w h e n m e e tin g w ith th e adm instration on the issue. "W e’ve brought up the issue numerous tim es with various adm inistrators," he said. "They are aw are o f the fact there are many concerns. I do agree that we need a strong p o s itio n on th is . I do b e lie v e th a t w e sh o u ld do som e in v e stig a tin g . M ISN is currently working on a proposal for us. So

there is action being taken. W e are slowly putting our forces together." F o ro u ta n , h o w e v e r, w an te d to ta k e action as soon as possible "I would like to stress that we are not supposed to react to an annoucem ent by the university as to what their plans are, but we make our stance clear before the university com es out with a proposal to increase fees."

B S N C o n s t it u t io n a m e n d e d a n d p a s s e d in C o u n c il

M aking a minor am endm ent to the date o f r a ti f ic a t io n , th e B la c k S tu d e n ts ’ N e tw o rk ’s c o n s titu tio n fin ally p assed in council last Thursday night. Questions did arise am ong some m em bers o f council, how ever, to the nature o f am en d m en t p ro ce d u re s liste d w ith in the constituion. As it stands, the constitution reads that "in order to am end the constitu tion, a tw o-thirds m ajority vote m ust pass in favor...firstly in the Coordinating Body, and next in a G eneral Assembly." ”1 have to press upon this issue o f the constitutional am endment," law representa tive, Shirin Foroutan, said. "If no one shows up to th e m e e tin g b u t th e c o o rd in a tin g body, is that the only tw o -th ird s th at are required to am end the constitution?" Because the m em bership num ber of the BSN is indefinite, there was a concern that only coordinating m em bers m ight vote in fa v o r o f any fu tu re re fe re n d u m s fo r the club. D esp ite su ch d eb a te in c o u n c il, the B S N c o n s titu tio n p a s s e d w ith o u t an y am endments.

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All stu d e n ts w ill so o n have access to the resu lts o f previous years’ course evaluations online, if a series o f recommendations made by S tu d e n ts ’ S o c ie ty o f M c G ill U n iv ersity to M cG ill U n iv ersity are accepted this winter. The plan would see more qual itative and com prehensive analyses o f classes bein g co m p leted each sem ester, and the results o f those e v a lu a tio n s b ein g p o ste d on the M cGill library website. C lara Peron, V ice P resident, University Affairs of SSM U, point ed to several recommendations out lined in the plan, including: “That the University re-affirm the importance of a systematic and c o m p re h e n s iv e C o u rse R e v ie w Process, w hereby each student is g iv en th e o p p o rtu n ity to rev iew each course in w hich he or she is r e g is t e r e d ,” a n d “ th a t th e U niversity adopt and d istrib u te a d a ta b a s e o f q u e s tio n s fo r th e Process, to ensure the greatest pos sible degree o f consistency across the academic com m unity”. “T he basic plan is to have a recom m endation to have a certain n u m b e r o f q u e s tio n s a s k e d fo r

every class and to make the results av ailable o n lin e in a w ay th at is more accessible, more user-friend ly,” she said. A lthough co u rse ev alu atio n s have been available on reserve in th e R e d p ath L ib ra ry fo r se v eral years, student dem and for them has b ee n n e g lig ib le . A m in M e ra n i, lib r a ry s u p e r v is o r a t R e d p a th , attributes the low response in part to the v irtu ally illeg ib le setup of inform ation in the records and the fact that students don’t know they exist. “ T h e d e m a n d h a s b ee n e x tre m e ly lo w , an d I th in k i t ’s b e c a u s e th e re is a r e a l la c k o f a w a re n e ss ,” he said , su g g e stin g th a t stu d e n ts be in fo rm ed ab o u t their right to these files as part of orientation or pre-registration. “But m y f ir s t re c o m m e n d a tio n is to improve the information given.” Under the current system, stu dents wishing to read previous stu dents’ feedback to a course would h a v e to lo o k up th e p a r tic u la r c o u rs e n u m b e r a n d d e c ip h e r colum ns o f statistical data which, w ith o u t c o rre sp o n d in g q u e stio n sheets, are virtually meaningless. “T hese are all ju st com puter g e n e ra te d c o d e s ,” sa id M e ra n i.

“It’s all statistical information with very little narrative reporting from students who took the course.” N ew c h a n g e s to th e c o u rse ev alu tio n s have g arn ered a cam pus-wide critique. Response to the proposal has been en th u sia stic from b oth stu dents and staff. Richard W hipple, m em ber at large for the Mature and R e -e n try S tu d e n ts ’ A sso c ia tio n (MRSA), said it is essential, espe c ia lly fo r m a tu re s tu d e n ts , to understand exactly w hich courses offer which benefits. “It’s im portant to know your learn in g style, b ecau se every o n e learns d iffe ren tly ,” he said. “I t ‘s im portant to u nderstand that [the feedback] is not a reflection o f the p ro fesso r, b ut ju s t o f a teach in g s ty le . W e ’re d o in g it fo r o u r selves.” Sabine Minsky, a U1 Arts stu dent, also noted the value and con v e n ie n c e su c h a s y s te m w o u ld bring. “It would be really handy to have that sort of inform ation on the internet,” she said, “because right n o w I d o n ’t e v e n k n o w h o w I w ould go about finding out about that sort of thing.”

T he M c G ill T r ibu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

L IF d o n a t io n t o h a v e v a lu a b le e f f e c t

New p o licy

Continued from Page 7

drafted A m o n g th e ite m s L a ry e a wants to add to the policy is a pro v is io n th a t w o u ld p r o h ib it th e U n iv e r s ity an d s tu d e n t g ro u p s from working with, or supporting, o rg a n iz a tio n s th a t p ra c tic e d is crim ination. W ith the recent con tro v e rs y r e g a rd in g th e S c ie n c e U ndergraduate S ociety ’s involve m e n t w ith C e n tra id e , a c h a rity o rg a n iz a tio n su sp e c te d o f ra c ist ac tio n s a g a in st th e N o tre-D a m e d e - G ra c e B la c k C o m m u n ity , L aryea believes such a provision w o u ld m ake an e m p h a tic s ta te ment on M cG ill’s position regard ing equity. "I think it’s im portant to have th is k in d o f p o lic y ," he said. "I th in k i t ’s n e c e s s a r y e v e n o n a sym bolic level it show s th a t the U niversity will have no tolerance for [discrim inatory] actions." W einstein also m ade sugges tions about the im pact she believes the policy should have. "I th in k M cG ill n eeds to be pro activ e, not ju s t deal w ith the g riev a n ce w hen it h ap p en s, and n o t j u s t tr y to m a k e s u re th a t th e y ’re w e re n ’t d isc rim in a tin g ," sh e sa id . "I th in k th e y n e e d to m ake an e ffo rt to m ak e M cG ill m o re d iv e r s e , s e e k o u t [m o re diverse] professors." P e ro n e x p r e s s e d a s im ila r view about the policy. "I think educational measures, p ro a c tiv e m e asu res are the b est w ay o f e n c o u r a g in g a h e a lth y environm ent am ong students and [in] the entire U niversity com m u nity," she said. "Apd it helps m ini m ize cases that could com e up. I think that the w orst way of dealing with this w ould be to have a deter ring kind of system set up, [where stu d e n ts fe e l], ‘O h, th e p u n ish m ent is going to be so bad so then I w on’t do it’. I think it is more of an educational approach that needs to be taken."

Continued from Page 2 m e n t an d to o u tlin e th e c o n s e q u en c es fac in g in d iv id u a ls w ho were guilty o f practicing discrim i nation. The articles that w ere not ra tifie d d e c re e d th e p ro c e d u ra l aspects of the policy, one o f which w ould have seen the Board name assessors who would evaluate spe cific c h a rg es o f d isc rim in a tio n . This portion o f the docum ent was sent back to the Board for review, but was never returned to Senate for approval. The absence o f this se c tio n o f th e d o c u m e n t in th e U niversity’s policy on discrim ina tion has frustrated Laryea. "This is a policy that covers all students, all o f A dm inistration, that deals w ith visible m inorities, d e a ls w ith s e x u a l o r ie n t a tio n , deals with religion...and that has a specific m echanism to deal w ith these issues, and it gets left alone," he said. "This is a disgrace." L a r y e a is n o w f o rm in g a w orkgroup w hose goal w ill be to r e tu r n th e c o m p le te p o lic y to Senate for approval by the end of the academic year. In the process, the w orkgroup hopes to prom ote d isc u ssio n on am e n d m e n ts th a t would benefit the existing draft of the policy. "It’s up to us to shape this," said L aryea. "I think it is im por tant that this is student-initiated." In form ulating the new p o li cy , th e g ro u p w ill re c e iv e h elp from the A dm inistration and from the recently appointed chair of the subcom m ittee on race and ethnic relations, M orton W einfeld. "I think every university has to have a policy against discrim i n a tio n an d h a r a s s m e n t," s a id W einfeld. "M cG ill does, but the question is w hether it is effective."

T h e n e w p o lic y

H o lly w o o d

N e w s Page 5

the inform ation café w ould “inte g rate tw o im p o rta n t se rv ic es on cam pus: lib rary in fo rm atio n ser vices and co m p u ter se rv ic es.” It would offer “full service com put ers” that have “access to the inter net, online catalogues, e-mail, and office productivity tools,” as well as small instructional rooms and a fu ll-tim e sta ff train ed to an sw er “inform ation and technology ques tions.” “T h e y ’re p la n n in g th is fo r sum m er 2001, and it is something th at th e y ’re p ro p o sin g w e co u ld fund tow ards,” explained Péron. Ali Shivji, Engineering coun cil representative and m em ber of the L IF com m ittee liked the idea behind the inform ation com m ons ,but was reluctant to donate to the p ro ject w ithout m ore in p u t from the student body. “The inform ation com m ons is d e f in ite ly a g o o d id e a . It h as potential to go very far,” he said.

“T he problem is that w hen w e’re looking at w hat we w ant to do, our sta n c e is re p re se n tin g stu d e n ts; m o st stu d e n ts d o n ’t e v e n k now about it. [The students’] stance is one o f holdings. I f you com pare us to other schools, we rank much low er because o f our holdings.” Fred Sagel, council represen tative and m em ber o f the LIF com mittee, agreed with Shivji. “Collections are definitely the m o st im p o rta n t issu e rig h t now . B ut I think we have to look fo r w ards...I think one significant dis advantage of M cGill libraries right now is that th ey ’re falling behind technologically w hen com pared to libraries o f like U o f T and U B C ... If we w ant to im prove the state of th e lib r a r ie s , w e h a v e to lo o k to w ard s in fo rm atio n tech n o lo g y , but especially collections.” A S S M U d o n a tio n to th e inform ation com m ons would have very little effect on the its eventual construction, as m ost o f the money fo r th e p r o je c t is b e in g r a is e d

through private donations. “E v en if the SSM U d o nates tow ards the endeavor, it would be a s m a ll p e r c e n ta g e o f th e c o s t w hich will principally com e from p riv a te f u n d - r a is in g ,” H o b b in s explained. He did, however, note that a L IF donation w ould have a valu able effect on the university. “Any S S M U c o n tr ib u tio n w o u ld b e im p o r ta n t — n o t s im p ly th e m oney, b u t the lib ra rie s and the s tu d e n ts w o rk in g to g e th e r fo r com m o n g o als has an im p o rtan t psychological dim ension,” he said. T h e L IF c o m m itte e has not been quick to allocate funds to the inform ation com m ons project and plans to m eet again next sem ester to come closer to a decision. “W e ’re s till in in fo rm a tio n gathering stage,” explained Péron. “W e haven’t really m ade any deci sio n y et at a ll, so w e h av e still so m e tim e to fin d o ut w h at stu dents w ant.”

S tu d y in g w a y s t o im p r o v e t h e lib r a r ie s

Ben M adgett

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T he M c G ill T r ib u n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

Page 6 O p / E d

Let t ers

EDITORIAL

the

editor D

“The love of money is the mother of all evil.” — Phocylides

V o tin g 'n o ' d ir e c t fu n d in g By Jo h n Salloum_______________ _______________________________ _ A recent request by the M c G ill First Aid Service asking the Judicial Board o f the Students' Society o f M cG ill University to bypass SSMU C ouncil and impose a referendum question seeking direct funding from students exemplifies a growing and dangerous trend at M cG ill University. Unable to obtain certain funding levels from w ithin the Students' Society, student groups increasingly attempt to fund their operating budgets by direct funding from the student population. These small additional fees are tacked onto our tuition charges and collected by the University. W hile this type of direct funding does have its place, its implementation must not be taken lightly. After being approached by MFAS, several councillors recently signed a m otion that began the process o f asking students for an annual fee of $ 0 .7 5 per undergraduate. The motion recognized that the Students' Society could not fund the MFAS and hence argued that this per student fee was necessary in order to cover the group's proposed operating budget. M erely because councillors signed the motion does not mean the question w ill be put to students; Council as a w hole w ould have to approve such a question before it w ould be put to students. Nonetheless, students have created a system, the Students' Society, w ithin w hich there is representative democracy. Each year we elect representatives whose job it is to carry out all the functions o f the Society, including collecting, allocating and ensuring that stu dent money for clubs and services is doled out appropriately. A problem arises when students w ho vote on direct funding ref erendum questions do not have the access or tim e to obtain the nec essary information to make an informed choice. It is the job o f the elected representatives to be informed when making decisions on student funding matters. In MFAS' case, $ 0 .7 5 added up over, con servatively, 1 6 ,0 0 0 undergraduates, credits $ 1 2 ,0 0 0 to the First Aid Service's budget. H ow can students be expected to judge whether or not roughly $ 1 2 , 0 0 0 is a reasonable sized budget for a first aid service? It is doubtful that the m ajority of students w ou ld ever even see a pro posed budget from w hich the $12,000 w ould be spent should this question go to referendum. Furthermore, the general student body does not have access to comparative or historical information con cerning similar services at other universities in Canada. Councillors, however, are elected to w ork in a system where it is their job to seek out and make an informed decision on such matters. A $ 0 .7 5 fee is not going to break the bank. Relative to the sever al thousand dollars Canadians pay for tuition, or the approximately $10,000 that international students pay, seventy-five cents w ill not affect the ability of very many students to attend this University. Small denominations mean that direct subsidy referendum ques tions tend to be successful. 'It's only seventy-five more cents, and it's probably for a good cause... w hy not?' W hat is to stop every club or se rvice on cam pus fro m seeking d ire c t stu d e n t fu n d in g ? The SSMUthies (a blended fruit drink club) could make a very com pelling case for a $12,000 fruit and ice budget. Placing the funding decision for such services as the M cG ill First Aid Service in the context of the system established for that very pur pose helps to ensure that an informed decision w ill be made in allo cating student money. W hile not all student groups w ill agree or even like the decisions our elected representatives make, that's not a reason to have a refer endum. That's a reason to vote for someone else.

T H E

M c G IL L

Editor- in -C hief

John Sailoum Assistant Editor-In -C hief

Stephanie Levitz

T R IB U N E News Editor

Shehryar Fazli Assistant News Editors

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Assistant Editor- in-C hief

Rhea Wong C ampus Editor

Jonathan Colford

In the early N ineties, M cGill U niversity becam e a signatory of both the Taillores D eclaration and the H alifax D eclaration. In these docum ents M cGill pledged to lead the m ovem ent tow ards a sustain able future, and to “set an example o f environm ental responsibility.” S e v e ra l y e a r s la te r , M c G ill U n iv ersity still has no e n v iro n m ental p o licy o f any k in d - this com m itm ent has gone com pletely unfulfilled. M cG ill’s need for an environ m en tal p o lic y is clear: w aste of energy and resources not only do d am ag e to th e lo cal an d g lo b a l environm ent, but also divert hun d re d s o f th o u s a n d s o f d o lla r s every y ear from severely u n d er funded academic programs. F in a lly o v e r th e p a s t tw o years an environm ental policy has b e e n d r a f te d , a n d th e M c G ill S en ate is ex p ected to v o te on it next semester. A copy o f the poli cy is p o s te d at http://ssm u.m cgill.ca/qpirg/gm policy.htm l. All this docum ent needs is input from students before it is p r e s e n te d to th e S e n a te in th e spring.

Jenny Chamblain B.Sc Microbiology C ertifica te in M a n a g em en t U1 (Cont. Ed)

John Engler U0 Arts Member o f Greening McGill

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I w ould like to com m ent on th e e d ito ral by N eil S chn u rb ach entitled “T iger: G row U p” (Nov. 21, 2000, Issue 12). It seems to me that the author was expressing an ex a g g e ra te d le v el o f fru stra tio n toward Tiger Woods. Being a m ul tim illionaire is not a reason to stop d e m a n d in g re sp e c t. T h e a u th o r would like to make us believe that it w as th e m ain re a so n w hy T. W o o d s th re a te n e d to le a v e th e PGA Tour. W hy don’t you tell us the whole story? Sure, being paid so m uch to play golf w ould m ake you happy, but other things matter in life and he has the right to fight for it. If money is owed to him, even if he is already rich, he should definitely demand it. Nothing is free in North America. D on’t assume young mil lionaires should “ju st shut up and play g o lf ’. They are people ju st like you and me. If $20 were ow ed to you, you w o u ld p ro b ab ly go to great lengths to retrieve it. Last, no m at ter how much you want to criticize him, he is still a great m odel for “ im p o v e rish e d , in n e r-c ity c h il dren.” He is not a former gangster, he is not stealing money and he is not a hypocrite as you seem to por tray him.

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M r. Jo e F e rn a n d e z d o es an e x c e lle n t jo b o f illu stra tin g the problem s o f racism at the Royal Canadian Legion in his defense of th e ir d is c r im in a to r y p r a c tic e s against orthodox Jewish and Sikh war veterans (“Remembrance Day Response”, Letters, Novem ber 21, 2000). M r. F ernandez ch aracterizes the decision o f several M ontreal legions to universally apply their “no headgear” policy as p ro o f of their fairness. W hat he overlooks is how this even a p p lica tio n o f an antiquated rule has a discrim inato ry effect in that it excludes certain groups — namely, Sikh and Jewish w ar v eteran s — am o u n tin g to a textbook example o f systemic dis crim in atio n . T he fact is th at the R o y al C an ad ian L eg io n is w ellaware of this effect, yet stubbornly continues to enforce this rule w ith out regard to a veteran’s religious beliefs, is a clear violation o f sec tio n 2a o f the C h arter o f R ights an d F reed o m s. R ig h ts and fre e doms our veterans fought for. W o rs e y e t, M r. F e rn a n d e z m akes som e galling com parisons to the religious practices of ortho dox Sikhs and Jews, likening them to having to w ear a hat for a job, being asked to remove one’s shoes in a Japanese home, or to a motor c y c lis t w e a rin g h is o r h e r “colours.” It should not have to be pointed out in this day and age that being an orthodox Sikh or Jew is not the same as having a particular jo b ; b e in g a p a ra tro o p e r is n o t equivalent to being in a religious faith; and being asked to rem ove an article o f clothing that has no relig io u s sig n ific an c e is not the sam e as barring Sikh and Jew ish w ar v eteran s from L eg io n h alls because o f their religious practices. The ignorance underlying Mr. F e r n a n d e z ’ s c o m p a r is o n s an d excuses exemplify the foundations upon w hich the discrimatory prac tices of the Royal Canadian Legion rest. Clearly, w e have a long way to go in C an ad a in o u r stru g g le against racism and discrimination.

Todd Ferguson McGill Anti-Racist Action

a tio n

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T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

IM PORTANT: n o t a n o r d in a r y f a n l e t t e r O

t t e

Am y L a n gst a ff

To: Gary Larson, cartoonist, creator o f “The Far Side” F ro m : Amy Langstaff Re: Saving the W orld

D ear M r. Larson: (N .B . I f y o u a re n o t M r. L a r s o n a n d a re r a th e r in th e e m p lo y o f M r. L a rs o n , h a v in g been assigned the task of process ing his fan mail, please stop read ing im m ediately and take this let ter directly to Mr. Larson. It is not a fan letter. It discusses a m atter of pressing im portance w hich you are ill-equipped to address. If you are a m em ber of the reading public, by all m eans proceed. And thank you for your kind attention.) I recommence.

D ear Mr. Larson: I know that since your “retire m ent,” you have probably received sta ck s o f m ail fro m p eo p le like me, asking that you return to the regular syndicated publication of y o u r s tra n g e an d d ark c a rto o n , “The Far Side.” For most, the rea son for th eir req u est is that they miss your cow s and dinosaurs and ca ts w ho w ere alw ay s up to the perfect schem e or suffering some

tio n s h ip s in n a tu re in gross hum an-inflicted indignity in ; your w ork and sent the display to y o u r id io sy n c ra tic and natural history m useum s across the th e p e r f e c t w a y , a ll th e w h ile U n ite d S ta te s . A n d s u r e ly I hilarious way, you have w earing the perfect expressions on needn’t remind you that entom olo m a d e s tr a n g e (v e ry their mute, knowing faces. I would s tr a n g e ) h u n d r e d s o f g ists, in trib u te to y o u r p la y fu l be am ong the first to ag ree that take on their work and personali f a m ilia r n a tu r a l p h e your w ork is so m uch better than n o m e n a . In so d o in g , m ost cartoons in the w orld that it tie s (re m e m b e r th e tim e y o u you have nudged us all d ep icted en to m o lo g ists as dying deserves to have an entire genre to into the first step toward w ith th e ir arm s and legs rig id ly itself. Ok, perhaps it could justly share shelf space with the likes of folded across their torsos, or tho an e n v ir o n m e n ta lis m whose developm ent and ra c e s? ), h av e n am ed a b u tte rfly L y n d a B a rry ( “ O n e H u n d re d s p r e a d is m o re th a n and a lo u se afte r you. O r th a t a D em ons” , “ E rn ie P o o k ’s stegosaurus tail spike on display at j urgent. C o m e e k ” ) o r M a rc e l D z a m a A s y o u p r o b a b ly (assorted quirky draw ings includ the D inosaur N ational M onum ent know , th ere h av e been ing “C rac k rat” , th e m an g led b u t j w as a c tu a lly la b elled , th an k s to some elections going on endearing rodent w hich accom pa o n e o f y o u r c a v e m a n c a rto o n s, “thagom izer” by the custodians of in th is p o r tio n o f th e n ie s th is c o lu m n e v e ry tw o hem isphere o f late, and the exhibit. Clearly, lab coat types w eeks), but to place it anyw here near “Fam ily Circus” or “C athy” is find you very am using indeed. For | e n v ir o n m e n ta l is s u e s h a v e b e e n s tr ik in g ly an affront beyond any an artist of them , y o u r atten tio n to anim als, insects, even am oebas, offered not absent from m ost party your stature should have to endure. p la tf o r m s . In one o n ly w itty in s ig h ts in to th e ir D e s e rv e d p r a is e a s id e , extrem e case, I heard a Republican objects o f study, but also a prom i though, the point I w ould like to e m p h asize h ere is th a t I, u n lik e j nent m ainstream validation o f their claim that rethinking energy use in the face of rising fuel prices was m ost other authors o f the fan mail in terest in phen o m en a th at m any c o n s id e r o b sc u re , irre le v a n t, or un-A m erican and that if A1 G ore y ou su re ly re c e iv e , am n o t ju s t really u n d ersto o d A m erica, h e ’d writing to you because I miss tak even dull. understand that access to the open To the rest o f us, you offered ing a daily trip to The Far Side via road (and a set o f exhaust-produc a lm o s t d a ily r e m in d e r s o f th e my morning paper and, once there, hum our o f hubris (recall the car ing wheels, apparently) was pretty h a v in g a lit tle c h u c k le at th e foibles o f my fellow creatu res. I to o n in w h ic h y o u d e p ic te d a c lo s e to a f u n d a m e n ta l h u m a n hunter shooting a bear he had spot r ig h t an d h e ’d b e d ire c tin g h is am w riting because I think it falls ted placidly lapping w ater from a effo rts to w ard g ettin g gas prices to you, am ong others, to save the d o w n to le v e ls th a t th e p e o p le stream, then stuffing the beast and w o rld o v e r th e n e x t fiv e to ten deserve. Part o f the problem here displaying it in a den w ith fangs years. I know it sounds daunting is th a t w e have lo st (even if we when I ju st lay it on the table like bared and claw s raised for attack) insist we haven’t) any sense o f the and o f the extraordinary workings th at, but th is is a se rio u s m atter fact that we d o n ’t deserve certain o f a food chain, a natural history, and it’s best not to m ince words. fu e l p r ic e s an y m o re th a n w e and a w orld we take fo r gran ted Mr. Larson, your attention to w henever w e’re allow ed to. Your deserve fuel itself or meat or water th e n a tu r a l w o rld in “ T h e F a r or leeks. A nd until w e are forced w ork calls to m ind an effo rt that S id e ” h as e a rn e d y o u n o t o n ly to d e fa m ilia riz e o u rse lv e s w ith has been described as one o f the adm iration but also great affection these things (either through diffi c e n tr a l p r o je c ts o f fe m in is m , from the scientific com m unity. I c u lt a n d b a s ic c h a n g e s in o u r among other political movements: d o n ’t h av e to te ll y o u th a t T he th in k in g or th ro u g h d e v a sta tin g a m aking strange o f the fam iliar. C a lifo rn ia A cadem y o f S ciences In illum inating or confusing rela deprivation) we will never be able created an exhibit centred around

to take them as seriously as they need to be taken. S o I ’m a s k in g y o u , M r. Larson, to begin regaling us anew with gluttonous crocodiles, charm in g s in g le - c e lle d o rg a n is m s , im placable piranha, and w ith our own sometim es benevolent, som e tim e s b u m b lin g , s o m e tim e s destructive selves. I ’m asking you to start w aking us up a little every day. Y ou’re a weirdo, to be sure, but I think you may help save the world. Sincerely, Amy Langstaff

W h e n d id w e g e t s o p r o v in c ia l? Depraved Indifference D

hat’s up with Canadians w ea rin g th e ir reg io n a l h o s ti liti e s o n th e ir s le e v e s th e s e d a y s ? E v e n o u r Prim e M inister has gotten into the act: w itn ess his com m ents about politicians from the W est (subtext: A lberta) being different. This was, u nsurprisingly, m usic to the ears o f anti-Liberal A lberta lum inaries like Prem ier Ralph Klein (a leader w h o , a c c o rd in g so m e A lb e rta n frie n d s, m ade it one o f h is first acts o f governm ent — subsequent ly repealed — to legalize the car rying of open liquor in cars). B u t I d ig re ss. M r. C h re tie n was, o f course, right in sync with com m only-perceived reality in his shot at W ild Rose politicians, but w hat interests m e m ore is that he actu ally chose to ta k e th a t shot. This was not ju st a tired politician on the cam paign trail in a less cau tio u s m o m e n t ( a s s u m in g , o f

e i d co u rse , th a t ou r P rim e M in iste r even know s how to be cautious in public, rem em bering his glorious tour of the M iddle East). This was an e x p re s s io n o f re g io n a l c o n tempt, and it was explicit. I think that Chretien ju st m om entarily for got that those sorts o f com m ents are m eant to be kept in the back room strategy sessions. In that sense, only the sheer boldness o f C hretien’s rem ark sep arated it from dozens of other lowkey regional aspersio n s th at you can see every night in the TV cam paign coverage. Indeed, it ’s h ard to m istak e the derision w henever you hear a New D em ocrat say ‘A lberta’ these days, and Canadian A lliance m em bers are no better w hen they say ‘A tla n tic C a n a d a .’ I ’m certain ly generalizing here, b ut the u n d er tones o f disrespect for w hat ‘other’ re g io n s r e p re s e n t is p e rs is te n t, despite that w hat is actually said is

usually polite, correct, and, w ell,’ C a n a d ia n . I t ’s lik e th o s e N ew D e m o c ra ts, h e a rin g o r th in k in g ‘A lb e r ta ’, in s ta n tly c o n ju re up m ental im ages o f m assive tax cuts for the w ealthy and long hospital line-ups. Greed. And the A lliance m em bers on Atlantic Canada? It’s like they envision some guy sitting on th e en d o f th e d o c k all d ay , dream ing about the cod o f tim es g o n e b y, d rin k in g b ee r p aid fo r with the hard-earned tax dollars of ‘w orking Canadians’. Sloth. T h ese are lab els th at few of th e p o litic o s seem to be ab le to transcend. W hy? B ecause w e are entrenching our stereotypes in our politics. W e are making regions in C anada synonym ous w ith certain stereotypical traits and interests. W h a t O n ta r io p o litic ia n doesn’t crack a smile w hen British C o lu m b ia com es up, th in k in g of p o t r a ll ie s , le n tils , s e a - k a y a k builders and herbal m edicine? A nd ju st try to ask a British Colum bian about Toronto: th e y ’ve been per fecting their disdain for self-cen tred Torontonians for generations. A s s u m in g th a t th e a v e r a g e

T o ro n to n ia n b e lie v e s W e s te rn C anada to stretch from H am ilton to T hunder Bay, it is certainly no challenge for W estern politicians to m uster that special p ro n u n cia tion o f Toronto that w hispers con tempt. A nd Q uebec? W ell, everyone know s the province is stuffed with hockey-loving, beer-sw illing, self ish separatists, right? At least, that seem s to be the ignorant concep tion in many parts o f the country. W e are w a llo w in g in cru d e stereotypes; stereotypes to w hich w e have always been susceptible. But now, w e are enabling (or even forcing) political parties to play on those stereotypes, albeit subtly so as to preserve the veneer o f a uni f ie d C a n a d a . W e a re a n a tio n d iv id ed , even in th ese rela tiv e ly prosperous tim es and in the im m e d ia te afterm ath o f fo rm e r P rim e M inister T rudeau’s death, by petty h o stilities and self-interests. A nd w e ’re g e ttin g u s e d to it. E v en T V /n e w s p a p e r jo u r n a l i s t R e x M urphy, w hom I w ould consider to b e a C a n a d ia n n a t io n a l is t, recently rem arked that C anada is

currently “a series o f factions.” Regional characterizations are m ore dang ero u s than they m ight seem : as th is co lu m n is p rin ted , the election results are in, and my guess is that the Liberals held the seats in O ntario, the Bloc contin u e d to d o m in a te Q u e b e c , th e A llian ce sw ept W estern C anada, and M aritim ers alone hedged their b e ts b e tw e e n th e L ib e r a ls , th e T o ries, and the N D P. If, indeed, that was the result on election day, this election will ju st further insti tutionalize our regional differences based on self-interest and regional hostility. T hese gaps, to state the o b v io u s , are o n ly g o in g to g et harder to close over time. A n d so , P rim e M in is te r C h re tie n : c o n g r a tu la tio n s ; you p r o b a b ly h u n g o n to a n o th e r m ajority. By calling the election so early, and by refusing to allow a leadership change, you effectively g u a r a n te e d th is r e s u lt — an d thereby probably established your legacy in the post-T rudeau era as the nationalist who caused region alization to really take root. Now, perhaps, you can retire.

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

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----- . . . E l l i p s i s . . . --------New and Im proved! Now featu rin g Logos and G o rillas!

«VS&JAJVJSÿ

tp h ic D e s ig n A r tis t

Recipe: Vichyssoise (Leek and Potato Soup) I n our opinion , soup is definitely the best comfort food . S o we figured this w ould be a good recipe to give you right now , as we thought a lot o f you might feel the need for a little com fort in the next few weeks. It’s also easy' to make w hich is a welcome bonus at this tim e o f year. Anyways, here goes:

Immediately and for 2001

Ingredients: • 2-3 Leeks • 1-2 M edium size onions • Butter or olive oil2 • 4 M edium size potatoes • 4 cups chicken stock • 1-2 cups milk • Salt and pepper

• A bunch o f chopped chives for the top

Spice options: a tiny bit o f nut meg and W orchester sauce b le n d e r o r fo o d processor

A p p lia n ce:

Instructions: First, finely chop the white part o f the leeks (it’s ok if there’s a little bit o f green too), and also mince the onions. Sautée all o f this in a big soup pot in your butter or olive oil. Peel the potatoes and cut them up into small cubes and add them in the pot once the onions are done. To m ake the chicken stock y o u ’ll need another sm aller pot. A dd one tablespoon o f stock for each cup o f w ater and heat it up before you add it in the soup3 pot. W hen it’s almost boiling you can add all 4 cups in the soup pot. Cover it and sim mer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Once they’re done you can put the soup into your appliance- a food processor is better in this case because you’ll be dealing with a lot o f soup. Once it’s all blended put it back in the pot and add the milk until you get your desired consistency, salt and pepper to taste, and the spice options if you like. Sim m er this for a couple o f m inutes and you’re done. Sprinkle the chives on top o f each bowl when serving. In our opinion, this soup is best hot, but w e think it is traditionally sup posed to be served cold. W e leave it up to you to decide.

The publications office of SSMU is seeking 1 som eone to layout and design ad s for the McGill Tribune, th e m o s t w id e ly re a d s tu d e n t n e w s p a p e r . You m ust be w ell o rg a n ise d , 14 d e p e n d a b le , and ab le to w ork a fle x ib le schedule. Knowledge of computer graphics and artistic flair are MAJOR assets. Expertise in Quark, Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator is also ESSEN TIAL.

1 R é s u m e s m u s t b e s u b m it t e d a d d r e s s e d to P a u l S la c h ta in th e W illia m & M a ry B r o w n B u ild in g , 3 6 0 0 M c T a v is h S t . ,

S u ite 1 2 0 7

Serves Five Hungry People, Or One Hungry Gorilla Footnotes: 1[Ed. Note] Unless of course you don’t have a blender or food processor, like I don’t, in which case you’re sort of s.o.l. I’ve had this soup, though, and it’s real ly, really good, so if I were you, I’d go borrow one from one of my friends, because it would be well worth while. 2As always, this is an issue of health v. taste. It barely needs reminding that olive oil is better for you, but butter makes everything taste better. 3This is if your stock comes from a contained, rather than in cubes. If you do use cubes, you’ll need two of them.

Collecteana Less t h a n u s e f u l f a c t s a b o u t l e s s t h a n i m p o r t a n t t h i n g s w e e k ’s ed itio n o f Collecteana is T cehisn tred o n that m o st n o b le m e m b er o f th e p rim a te fam ily ,th e G orilla [latin n am e: gorilla gorilla, w h ic h s h o u ld b e easy to rem em ber]. W hat is it a b o u t this cre atu re th a t m akes it so fascinating to so m an y o f th e co ntributors to this page?

G orillas are th e largest m em b ers o f th e prim ate family, w tih ad u lt m ales w eig h -, in g in a t u p to 5 0 0 lb s , a n d h a v in g a rm sp a n s o f o v e r n in e feet. A lth o u g h g o rilla s s ta n d le ss th a t fiv e fe e t h ig h , C o llectea n a h a s n o d o u b t th a t if fo r s o m e re a so n y o u w e re fo rc e d to fight o n e, an y fully g ro w n gorilla w o u ld w h ip y o u like th e to p p in g o n last n ig h t’s pie. T h e re a re th r e e s u b s p e c ie s o f gorilla gorilla-, th e w e s te r n g o rilla , o f w h ic h th ere are ap p ro x im ately 35,000, th e east e rn g o rilla, o f w h ic h th e re a re 10,000 a n d th e ex trem ely rare m o u n ta in gorilla, w h o se total p o p u la tio n is less th a n 700. T hey all live in parts o f central Africa. All s p e c ie s o f G o rilla s ta k e a b o u t 10 y ears to m atu re, a n d live fo r 30 to 50 years. T h ey live in g ro u p s o f 3-30 indi viduals, co n tain in g a few y o ungsters, 3-4 m atu re fem ales, a c o u p le alm ost-m ature m ales, a n d le ad b y a Silverback, w h o is th e m atu re, d o m in a n t m ale o f th e g ro u p , so-called b ec au se o f th e silvery fur cov ering his h e a d an d back.

If y o u w ere to catch a gorilla a n d inter v ie w h im , o r p e r h a p s c o m e u p o n a g orilla’s co p y o f th e McGill H an d b o o k , this is w hat you w o u ld see: 6am 8am 10am 2pm 5pm 6 pm

W ak e-u p Eat Eat, play, relax, sle ep Travel 300-6,000 feet, forage Build nest Sleep

As y o u ca n see, th e rea so n th a t w e d o n ’t se e G orillas terribly o ften is th a t th e y ’re q u ite busy. G orillas are hig h ly so cialized creatures, w ith c o m p le x h ie ra rc h ic a l s tr u c tu r e s w ith in th eir g ro u p s. T hey are cap ab le o f m a k in g so m e th in g lik e th rity d iffe ren t so u n d s , in d ic a tin g e m o tio n s lik e c o n te n tm e n t (b y g ru n tin g ) an d curiosity (by b a rk in g in a h ig h -p itc h e d m a n n e r), as w ell as d is c o u ra g in g y o u n g e r g o rilla s fro m m is b e h a v in g (b y s q u e a lin g in a p o rcin e m anner).

As y o u m ay h av e h ea rd , so m e gorillas h a v e le a r n e d h o w to c o m m u n ic a te in A m e r ic a n S ig n L a n g u a g e . T h e m o s t f a m o u s o f th e s e g o r illa s , K o k o , is a tw e n t y - n i n e y e a r o ld f e m a le w ith a v o cab u lary o f o v e r 1000 w o rd s. G orillas w ith ASL a b ility h a v e b e e n te s te d fo r h u m a n IQ a n d h av e sc o re d b e w te e n 75 a n d 90, w h ic h isn ’t sm art b y an y m eans, b u t it’s n o t stu p id either. If this so rt o f th in g interests y ou, ch eck o u t w w w .k o k o .o rg , a n d y o u c a n g iv e th e m m o n e y to fu rth er th eir research o f th e ab ility o f g o rilla s to le a rn ASL, o r p e rh a p s a little m o re practically, to h e lp p reserv e gorilla h ab itats in th e wild.

F E A T U R E S

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T he M c G ill T ribune, T uesday, 28 N ovember 2 0 0 0

C arry in g o n : M cG ill's s t u d e n t s w ith p h y s ic a l d is a b ilit ie s By M arni B rot E v e ry m o rn in g I w ak e u p , shower, eat breakfast and literally ru n to c la ss. I h av e d e c ip h e re d exactly how long it takes to make it to class on time. I take the quickest and the easiest route. Occasionally, thanks to construction, m ovie sets, and natural disasters, I am forced to take an alternate path, which results in m y b e in g la te . A c c e s s ib ility im pedance is annoying. For most, how ever, im pedance can be minim alized. If your path is blocked, you can w alk across the grass. If th e e le v a to r is b u ste d , ta k e th e stairs. T here are those, how ever, to whom this kind o f improvisation is n ot a re a lis tic o p tio n . H av in g a physical disability ensures that you know w hat it m eans to encounter accessibility problem s on a daily basis. M cGill has 350 students with v isib le and in v isib le d isab ilities. This includes learning disabilities, chronic medical impairments, visu al im p a ir m e n ts an d p h y s ic a l impairments. The M cGill adm inis tration is fairly progressive and has taken significant measures towards accom m odating students with dis abilities. Marc Sicard, a student with a physical handicap is president o f the Law Students with Disabilities Association. “ W h e n I c a m e to M c G ill,

mostly everyone was ready to help and for the m ost part I have been accom m odated. I [have] not had any problem s w ith p ro fesso rs or students,” Sicard explained. Joan W olforth, the director of

T a k e th e lo n g w a y h o m e

th e O ffic e fo r S tu d e n ts w ith D isabilities (O SD ), com m ents on th e a d m in is tr a tio n ’s a ttitu d e towards the disabled. “Here at M cGill, it’s not nec essarily a fight. W e work in a much more consensual manner. The poli cy is alw ays b ehind us even if a difficulty does arise.” M c G ill w as one o f th e first universities to have a formal policy protecting students w ith d isa b ili ties, and is still one o f the few uni

v ersities in Q uebec to h av e one. That policy is given some teeth by the OSD. T he O SD p ro v id es p ertin en t services and inform ation for stu d e n ts w ith d is a b ilitie s . T h e se include extra tim e d u rin g examinations, a m ore flex i ble schedule, n o te ta k e r s , tu to rin g , campus trans p o r te r s , an d sign language in te r p re te r s . In a d d itio n , M c G ill a lso o ffe rs ca reer an d p la c e m e n t w o rk shops, w hich p ro v id e s tu dents with the Phillip Trippenbach opportunity to discuss ex p e riences and difficulties encountered during an active jo b search. D e s p ite th e se a c c o m m o d a tions, how ever, M cGill still has a ways to go before the University is u tterly accessib le — p articu larly with regards to students with physi cal handicaps. “In terms o f academics, things work well here, but from the physi cal perspective, senior adm inistra to rs are n o t as a tte n tiv e as th ey s h o u ld b e ,” s ta te s W o rlfo rd .

T an n y M arks, an u n d e rg ra d u a te law student with a physical disabil ity, is in her third year at M cGill. S h e a tte n d e d C o n c o rd ia an d rem arks that com pared to M cGill, Concordia was much more accessi ble. A fter tran sferrin g to M cG ill two years'ago, she relates the frus trating struggle it has been. Each tim e she attem pted to direct atten tio n to w ard s h er need s, she w as given the response, “it is not my department.” “I fo u g h t my w ay to o th and nail w ith adm inistration. I w ould relay my problem s to [W olforth] th in k in g th at she had the pow er, b u t in re a lity she did n o t,” says Marks. In terestin g ly , she deem s her greatest allies and support staff to be the cafeteria workers and janito rial staff. “W ithout them I d o n ’t know where I would be,” M arks states. D esp ite the stru g g le , M arks acknow ledges that there has been im provem enst. Yet, certain build ings rem ain difficult to access for those with physical disabilities. T a k e , fo r e x a m p le , 6 8 0 Sherbrooke St., w hich is hom e to several language departments such as F re n c h an d G e rm a n . A s o f January 2000, M cGill becam e a co p roprietor o f 680 Sherbrooke. To gain access to the upper floors o f the building, M cGill students must take the stairs or the escalato r to the second floor, w hereupon they

ca n a c c e ss th e th re e d e s ig n a te d “M cG ill” elevators, w hich do not descend to the ground floor. Those w ith p h y sical d isa b ilitie s h av e a p ro b lem asc e n d in g th e sta irs or escalator. A ccordingly, the build ing issued m agnetic cards, w hich au th o rize the “M cG ill” elev ato rs dow n to the g ro u n d flo o r. O ften tim es, how ever, students who are unable to use escalato rs or stairs don’t have the manual dexterity to carry and procure a magnetic card; consequently, their access to 680 is restricted. “W e w ant to aim fo r to tally free access an d th is is n ’t to tally free access. Students deserve fair treatm ent and in this case we must b e v ig ila n t a b o u t o u r c a u s e ,” W olforth remarked. M cGill is cur ren tly w aitin g on an ac co u n tin g b re a k d o w n fo r th e e s tim a te d $20,000 elev ato r softw are rep ro gramming. A side from 680, changes are c o n tin u a lly b e in g e n a c te d or revised for various other buildings. Som etim es the process is success ful, for example the new elevator in the Law L ib rary , and som etim es the process is fraught w ith error. W h ile th e re is no d o u b t th a t im provem ents have been m ade to the McGill campus, things could be better. D espite the effort, we have the resp o n sib ility to provide free access to all. If that requires some cash and a willingness to hound the adm inistrationion- so be it.

B ell lo n g d is t a n c e c h a n g e a n g e r s s t u d e n t s By Karen Steward_____________ Last month my roommate and I sa v ed $400 on o u r p h o n e b ill. I praised Bell Canada for its magical First Rate™ Savings Plan — for ten cents per m inute during evenings and weekends you were able to call anywhere in Canada, never paying more than the twenty-dollar cap. If you are a Canadian student studying out o f province, Bell’s First Rate™ Plan was a godsend. Mom and Dad sure got a kick out of that one, and friends in T oronto, V ancouver or E d m o n to n rem a in ed but an easy phone call away. But a sad cloud has been cast over those days o f carefree calling. Bell has decided to change its long distance savings plan. The unlim it ed cap on free minutes is history. As a result of the changes, after reaching the tw en ty -d o llar m ark, Bell customers will only be allowed 800 m inutes (13.3 hours) o f free long distance. Any additional min utes thereafter are subject to the tencent-a-minute fee. “I don’t feel that Bell Canada ad eq u ately in fo rm ed m e o f th eir new long distance plan. Because I was unaware of the changes, I con tinued my regular calling patterns. W h en I g o t my got my bill th is month, I was shocked,” complained U1 student Matt J. McKenzie. H ow ever, Bell C anada m ain tains that custom ers were notified a b o u t th e c h a n g e s b e fo re th e y occurred.

“L ast $eptem ber, there was a keep pace with trends,” says Poulin. C om petition has its effect on m e ssa g e on th e b ill to le t s u b scribers know [about the changes],” consum ers. A ccording to T oronto Star colum nist D avid C rane, Bell said B e ll C a n ad a re p re se n ta tiv e C a n a d a is in c re a s in g ly b e in g F ra n c e P o u lin . “ A fte r th e f ir s t b illing date follow ing S eptem ber pushed out of the top-rank it held in 28, subscribers received a note stat long distance service. “ [Bell Canada] w as once the ing that the changes would be effec m ig h tiest o f C an ad ian b lu e -c h ip tive their [next] billing date.” companies, is now in a struggle for Poulin added that students who its future,” said Crane. He attributes are angry should check their bills before they make any harsh accusa Bell’s woes to the intensification of long distance com petitors, such as tions. He said that many will find Sprint Canada and A T&T Canada little difference in their bill. Corp, as well as the popularization “ T h e c h a n g e s in th e F irs t Rate™ Plan probably do not affect of cellular phones and email. M any students are fru strated s tu d e n ts . 98 p e r c e n t o f [F irs t with the changes that they feel are R a te ™ ] c u s to m e rs w ill n o t be affected because they only use 100 arbitrary and unfair. Due to dissatis minutes per month, within the First faction and a refusal to give up the h ab its o f talk in g at th e ir leisu re, Rate™ savings plan.” many are seeking different long-dis H o w e v e r M c G ill stu d e n t tance carriers to meet their needs. Nicole Gandymede, U 1, disagrees. Now that Bell no longer has a “I definitely use more than 100 m onopoly on long distance plans, minutes per month. In fact, because I share a line with one o f my room how do the other companies fare in comparison? Sadly, not so well. As m ates, we use over 1000 m inutes of yet, there is no long distance plan p e r m o n th . T h e c h a n g e s h av e already added over twenty dollars to that offers m ore free m inutes than my bill. I don’t think it’s fair that Bell does. Here are the current plans students on a budget should be pay by some popular long distance car riers: ing more.” So, why the changes if only 2 p e r c e n t o f s u b s c rib e rs w ill be affected? Sprint Canada M ostTI “If you look at the changes in th e Month plan the e n v iro n m e n t g lo b a lly , [B ell C anada] has to k eep pace, w hile S p rin t’s p lan is id e n tic a l to offering a growth in free minutes. Bell’s new First Rate™ plan, except We are growing to stay competitive. th a t it h a s a 5 0 0 -m in u te ca p . Therefore, changes were required to

However, it does offer cheaper rates to the Unites States, at 18 cents per m in u te , c o m p a re d w ith B e ll Canada’s 20 cents per minute. Dime Days and Nickel Nights™ program: also, calls during the day cost ten cents anywhere in Canada, and five cents in the evening.

AT&T / Primus Dime Time™ Max program

AT& T’s plan is basically iden tic a l to th e F irs t R a te ™ p la n . However, they do offer a Separate Phone Bill Please™ plan, for those students who wish to be billed sepa rately from th e ir room m ates. W hen m ak in g lo n g d ista n c e calls, each person is given a unique 2 -d ig it co d e to be en tered w hen dialing the long distance number.

U n d er th e re c e n tly ch a n g ed plan, calling w ithin C anada costs you 10 c e n ts p e r m in u te on evenings (6pm to 6am) and w eek ends. After reaching $20 worth of long distance, Bell offers 800 free long distance minutes and then back to 10 cents a minute again. Calls to the U.S. are 20 cents per minute.

7 A

ACful,

W te m s H A H fJQ h iW tC V j

Peter Sitati

Page 10 F e a t u r e s

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 1998

S tu d en t lo b b y gro u p s tak e aim a t political parties CASA, CFS, and FEUQ put on cam paigns to direct federal election debate to education issues B y Jo n a t h a n C o l f o r d W hile m any students m et the C an ad ian federal election w ith a m e a s u re o f in d if f e r e n c e , so m e w e n t fu ll t i l t in an a tte m p t to influence the outcom e. No, they w eren’t running. T h e C an ad ian F ed era tio n o f S tu d en ts, th e C a n ad ian A llian ce o f S tu d e n t A sso c ia tio n s, a n d la F é d é r a tio n É tu d ia n te U n iv ersitaire du Q uébec — stu dent lobby groups — attem pted to in flu en ce the electo ral cam paign by b rin g in g ed u c a tio n issu es to the forefront in this year's federal election. M cG ill students w ere rep re sented on all three lobby groups. T he S tudents' S ociety o f M cG ill U niversity is a m em ber o f CA SA , w hile the Post-G raduate Students' Society belongs to the CFS. T he M a c d o n a ld C a m p u s S tu d e n ts ' Society is a m em ber o f la FEU Q . C A S A 's c a m p a ig n w a s g e a re d to w a rd s in f o rm in g s tu dents o f th e m ajo r p o litical p a r ties' platform s on post-secondary education and to encourage them to v o te . C A S A h a s r e f u s e d to endorse any political party. "W e th in k th a t stu d e n ts are sm a rt e n o u g h to m a k e up th e ir ow n m inds, and w e're not in the business o f m aking up m inds for students, w e're in the business o f lo bbying fo r students' concerns," C A S A N a tio n a l D ire c to r M a rk K issel said. "O ur fear has alw ays been if w e b a c k th e w ro n g p a r ty f o r exam ple If w e did that, our credi bility m ight be shot in the future, an d th a t's n o t g o o d p o litic s up here. So we'll alw ays take a non partisan view and ju st provide the inform ation and encourage people to vote."

In e a rly N o v e m b e r, C A S A r e le a s e d a d o c u m e n t e n t i t l e d C anada's Future: E lections 2000, ex a m in in g p a rty p la tfo rm s w ith resp ect to p o st-seco n d ary ed u ca tion. T h e C A S A e x a m in a tio n o f party platform s contains a v erb a

tain s C A S A ’s v iew o f th a t p la t form. It is available on their web site.

CFS and FEUQ T h e C FS an d la F E U Q , fo r th e ir p art, h av e tak en co n fro n ta

The role of lobbyists in the USA B y Ju l ie N o r w e l l

U-WIRE (DC BUREAU) (U -W IR E ) W A SH IN G T O N Lobbying is the practice of influenc ing governm ental legislators and administrators to make decisions in line with the concerns of special interests groups. The term dates to the 1830s when representatives of interest groups would congregate in the lobbies of Congress and state legislatures. T hese days, lobbying in the U.S. has become an intrinsic part of the political system. Although feder al and state legislators represent geographical areas, they spend much of their time responding to special interest groups to the extent that lob byists sometimes draft legislation that is then introduced by sym pa thetic lawmakers as their own. Organizations such as commer cial interests, medical interests, edu cational groups, financial institu tions, labor unions, professional associations and social issue groups all maintain a strong presence in the lobbying industry. Lobbyists play an im portant role in politics because they provide information about a variety of com plex issues that lawmakers simply

tim reiteratio n o f a p a rty ’s p la t form relating to higher education; a n d a "c o n c lu sio n " w h ic h c o n

do not have the time to research on their own. They are often asked for feedback on legislation if for no other reason than to ensure that affected parties will pose no objec tions to leg islatio n after a vote. Lobbying is by no means limited to supplying inform ation, how ever. Tactics also include using network ing and contacts to make political threats or promises and to provide entertainment or favors. Political clout comes with most successful lobbying, insiders say. The carrot o f cam paign contribu tions and the stick of political pres sure from co n stitu en ts influence lawmakers as lobbyists exert their control in Washington. O f course, this recipe can also encourage corruption, which has tainted the image of lobbyists. To curb p o ten tial n eg ativ e effects of lobbying in Washington, the government passed legislation to reg u la te lo b b y in g w ith the R e g u latio n o f L o b b y in g A ct o f 1946. The Act requires registration of and regular financial reports from all individuals and agents seeking to influence legislation. And in 1995 Congress passed a new bill intended to strengthen the 1946 law.

cially the Liberals. T h e C F S c o m m is s io n e d p o llin g firm Ip so s-R e id to do a p o ll o n C a n a d ia n a t titu d e s to w a rd s g o v e rn m e n t s p e n d in g ; the poll found that "nearly threequarters o f C anadians disapprove o f the federal g o v ern m e n t’s p er form ance on post-secondary ed u ca tio n ," ac co rd in g to th e C F S ’s press release. They also released a d o c u m e n t g iv in g g ra d e s to th e various p arties’ platform s regard in g p o s t- s e c o n d a r y e d u c a tio n . T h e N e w D e m o c r a tic P a r ty earned the top m arks w ith a "B," w hile the L iberals got a "D" and the A lliance an "F." L a F E U Q team ed up w ith the n atio n al y o u th co m m ittee o f the C S N and w ith its sister organiza tio n in Q u e b e c ’ s C E G E P s , la F é d é ra tio n É tu d ia n te C o llé g ia le du Q uebec, to release jo in t state m ents on cam p aig n issues. T hey is s u e d a l i s t o f d e m a n d s o n O ctober 27 and w ere vocal in crit i c iz i n g L ib e r a l c a n d id a te s in Q uebec, such as Stéphane Dion.

Youth turnout V oter turnout am ong students c a n im p a c t C A S A 's lo b b y in g e ffo rts . H is to ric a lly , tu rn o u t am o n g st th e 18-24 d em o g rap h ic h a s b e e n 48 to 5 0 p e r c e n t, as com pared to 67 p er cent national ly in the 1997 federal election. "If stu d en ts d o n 't g et o u t to v o te , o u r v o ic e o n th e h i l l is d im in is h e d b e c a u s e p o litic ia n s and stakeholders w ill say 'hey, the stu d e n ts re a lly d o n ’t c a re , w h y sh o u ld w e c a re a b o u t th e m .' So getting people out to vote is really im portant," K issel said.

tional stands on the election cam paign. Both have been vocal crit ics o f the m ajo r p arties — esp e

SSMU-sponsored debate T h e S tu d e n ts ' S o c ie ty o f M c G ill U n iv e rs ity sp o n s o re d a debate betw een candidates in the W estm ount-V ille-M arie riding on N ovem ber 23 in the F aculty Club B a llro o m . T h e re w e re a p p ro x i m ately 160 students in attendance an d o rg a n iz e rs sa id th ey h ad to turn aw ay ab o u t 25 m ore du e to building regulations. C an d id ates from fo u r o f the five m ajo r parties p articip ated in th e d e b a te ; F e lix C o tte , th e C a n a d ia n A llia n c e c a n d id a te , p u lle d o u t a t th e la s t m in u te b e c a u s e h e h ad d o u b le -b o o k e d the tim e o f the debate, according to Jerem y Farrell, V P com m unity and governm ent affairs o f SSM U . Farrell and N icolas Fournier, e x te rn a l a ffa irs c o o r d in a to r fo r F éd ératio n des A sso ciatio n s étu diantes du C am pus de l'U niversité d e M o n tr é a l, o r g a n iz e d th e debate, w hich fo cu sed on ed u ca tio n - r e la te d to p ic s su c h as ta x c u ts, p o s t- s e c o n d a ry e d u c a tio n and the "new econom y," differen tial tu itio n fees, th e b rain d rain , an d fu n d in g th ro u g h the C an ad a H ealth and Social Transfer. "M yself and C A SA , w e w ere all very [concerned] about the fact that there has not been a lot said about students, youth, and educa tio n in th e f e d e r a l e l e c tio n ," Farrell said. A fte r h av in g o rg a n iz a tio n a l difficulties in their ow n projected debate, F A E C U M team ed up with SSM U to put on this one. "It has been im possible fo r us to o r g a n iz e a d e b a te in th e O u tr e m o n t r id in g b e c a u s e o f m a n y a g e n d a p r o b le m s w ith m a n y o f th e c a n d id a te s ," s a id Fournier.

T o S a lt o r n o t t o S a lt? jean Mathews

FACTOR inter is a beautiful time, w ith a crisp n ess in the a ir, an d a p u re n e s s in the hearts — but then along w ith th is com es snow , slush, and ice, u n in v ited , to ru in the p ea ce and tranquillity. O f course, along with the party-crashers, we w ill find (if w e look hard enough) that all toounnoticeable com panion, de-icing salt. Salt is the m ost readily avail a b le an d e c o n o m ic a lly fe a s ib le so lu tio n to icy ro ad s and w a lk ways. Before and during the snow season, d e-icin g salt is scattered over roads and pavem ents. This is d o n e to a ttra c t th e slu s h -e a tin g ants that keep ou r streets tidy — but also has the handy side effect o f m e ltin g th e snow an d ic e o f ro a d s, and th u s e n su rin g w in te r

driving/w alking safety. T h e p r in c ip le b e h in d th is process is that dissolving one sub stance in another alters its freezing point. On contact w ith snow, salt acts to low er the freezing point (in other words, to low er the tem pera ture th at m ust be reached before w ater can be frozen) o f the snow, thus allow ing it to m elt into water. T h is w a te r d is s o lv e s m o re sa lt, and en c o u rag es fu rth e r m eltin g . Salt w orks best at a tem p eratu re close to 0°C, but there is a low er lim it below w hich salt cannot melt ic e . T h is is c a lle d th e E u te c tic tem perature, and is about -21°C. T his is w here the story gets ugly — de-icing salt has a darker side that you m ight not have been aw are of. Road salt pollutes lakes by introducing chloride (a b reak dow n product o f sodium chloride a n d c a lc iu m c h lo r id e , th e tw o co m m o n ty p e s o f d e -ic in g sa lt) w hich allow s toxic heavy m etals from the soil to run-off into lakes and rivers. B ut that’s not all; salt

also increases the rate o f cor ro sio n o f som e m etals, and according to a federal study conducted in 1991, de-icing salt costs $3.5 - 7 billion dol lars o f rust repair p er year. T rau m atizin g as this is, th ere are good th in g s to be sa id a b o u t d e -ic in g sa lt as w ell. A lth o u g h they can be c o r r o s iv e to so m e m e ta ls , and harm ful to som e plants, sensible precautions can m in im ize th e d am ag e. M o d ern c a rs are d e s ig n e d to r e s is t corrosion, and older cars can b e tr e a te d to p r o te c t th e ir bodies from rust. I f you w ere w o rried , it will ease your m ind to know th a t d e-icin g salt is not the only answ er to snow -rem oval (although it is the cheapest, at $30 a ton). C a lc iu m M a g n e s iu m A cetate (CM A ), w hich costs $ 7 0 0 p e r to n , is m u ch less corrosive than salt. In fact, it

is a lre a d y b e in g u sed to d e -ic e runw ays in airports, and in other random locations w here runw ays m ay b e p rese n t. O b v io u sly , th e cost is a major deterrent to the use o f CM A, but research is currently being undertaken to produce CM A fro m lo c a lly a v a ila b le o rg a n ic w astes and recycled goods. S o th is is r e a lly w h a t th e d e b a te b o ils d o w n to : C M A is m uch m o re e x p e n siv e th an salt, b ut also offers a lot m ore benefits. It prom ises lesser dam age to cars, and to the environm ent. A nd if it can be m ade w ith organic wastes, then it w ill provide better m arkets f o r r e c y c le d g o o d s a n d le s s g a rb a g e to la n d f ills . S in c e th e vote is pretty even right now, I say that the deciding vote should go to the ants — w ould you like salt or CM A w ith that slush?

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 1998

F e a t u r e s Page 11

S t u d y i t u p ! M c G ill s t u d e n t s 7 g u i d e t o w h e r e t o t a c k le t h e b o o k s By Karen Born T here is snow on the ground and the lights are strung up along campus and down M cGill College. ‘T is the season to be jo lly ? ’ No. ‘Tis the season for final exam ina tio n s .’ T hus, it is the tim e w hen many McGill students say goodbye to th eir fam ilies, room m ates and loved ones and trudge over to their new home — the library. M cG ill stu d e n ts are b le ssed w ith s ix te e n d if fe r e n t lib r a rie s spread around campus. They range from the Birks Reading Room for Religious Studies, paneled in beau tiful, dark wood, to the more mod e rn c o n c re te b o x fo rm a t o f M c L e n n a n -R e d p a th lib r a ry fo r H u m an ities and S ocial S ciences, where many students tend to study. O n b a s ic a lly ev e ry flo o r o f M c L e n n a n th e re are ta b le s an d cubicles for studying. Lauren Mundy, a U2 psycholo gy student frequents the sixth floor to s tu d y in th o s e lo n g b re a k s betw een classes and on the w eek ends as well. “[The] sixth floor is known to be the best. It’s really quiet and the p eo p le w ho com e here serio u sly study,” she says. Many students share the senti m ent that the library is prim arily free from the destructive forces of home. “I find that I get so much more work done here,” Mundy explains. “There is no fridge distracting me.” In th e M c L e n n a n -R e d p a th library, hours have been extended until 1 am for study. And, starting on N ovem ber 28, there will a 24hour space provided for all McGill students in Redpath. This initiative, started last year is largely funded by th e S tu d e n ts’ S o ciety o f M cG ill University and has been highly suc cessful and appreciated by M cGill’s many night owls. S u zy S la v in , th e A c c e ss

M ic o r e c o n o m i c s ? N a w , i t 's t h e li b r a r y

Service L ibrarian understands the need for the library to be open 24 hours during exams. “ It p ro v id e s a re fu g e w h en everything else is closed,” she says. And those ratty chairs in the corner are pretty comfy. Students like Sana Raja, a U2 Economics student, are thankful for th e 2 4 -h o u r s tu d y s p a c e in th e library. “ I can o n ly se rio u s ly stu d y under pressure. T he night tim e is

can be taken out through self-checkout. In addition, re f e r e n c e s e rv ic e s are open on Sundays from 12 to 4 pm , in stead o f ju st being open on Saturdays. Finally, technical support staff has been increased d u rin g th e s e s tre s s fu l tim es so th a t ju s t w hen you are aboüt to tear out your hair because a print er, photocopier or MUSE computer is misbehaving, a technical assistant will come to rescue and tame the beast o f technology. T h e lib ra ry is also anticipating a rush of stu dents during the extended hours and has thus imple mented a policy that gives p rio rity to M c G ill s tu dents. A M cG ill student ID card m ust be produced at the door o f the library and from November 28 to December 21, and access to the M cL ennan stacks at that time will be limit ed to those w ith a valid M cG ill ID or a M cG ill borrowers card. This will ensure that no Concordia or CEGEP student will be able to sit in a cubicle or ta k e o u t th e b o o k y o u desperately need for that paper you’re writing. Phillip Trippenbach Some students, like Ali Jamshaid, a U2 eco perfect for studying because there are no distractions, there are fewer nomics and computer science stu people around and the stress level is dent, enjoy the social atmosphere of the library. h ig h w ith p e o p le stu d y in g fo r “It’s a place where you bump exams starting in only a few hours.” into people you haven’t seen in a H ow ever, the 24-hour service while and it’s great to socialize is not the only new initiative being when you need a break from study o ffe re d at th e lib ra ry th is y ea r, explains Slavin. In order to accom ing.” However, Jamshaid along with m o d a te th e r u s h o f e x a m s, th e scores of other M cGill students, do extended hours begin earlier than not only frequent the library for before. During this time, the stacks studying during finals, but begin to are open in M cLennan and books congregate at the many coffee shops

that exist on the periphery of cam pus. The tables at these coffee shops become strewn with highlighters, notebooks, textbooks and coursepacks o f McGill students who need to a constant source o f caffeine and nourishment as they hit the books. M artin Lefevre, an employee at the Second Cup on Avenue du Parc and Milton explained the appeal of the coffee shop to McGill students. “I t’s less boring than the library, they get to see their friends who are studying as well making it more of a social atmosphere. It’s like torture when you study in the library, but here it’s less painful. You sit, get a cup of coffee, chill with friends — you can hang out and study at the same time.” C o ffe e sh o p s a lso c a te r to th o s e n o c tu rn a l s tu d ie rs . C a fé D epot, Second Cup and Croissant Royal on St. Laurent are all open 24 h o u rs , w h ile th e P a rc /M ilto n Second Cup closes its doors at mid night. “There are lots o f people who stu d y h ere u n til w e c lo se ,” says L efevre. “Even at 11:30 at night, people want more coffee.” R egardless o f the P ied P iper effect that coffee has on students, th e so c ia l a tm o sp h e re o f co ffe e shops are often distracting and the eclectic music tastes o f em ployees and loud conversations o f the peo ple next to you tend to get annoying w hile trying to cram a sem ester’s worth of notes into your brain for that impending exam. W hether it’s the quiet o f the lib r a ry o r th e c a ffe in e su rg in g through your body that m otivates y o u to stu d y , i t ’s im p o rta n t to rem em ber to take breaks and call h o m e e v e ry o n c e in a w h ile to en su re to th o se w aitin g fo r y o u r return that you are alright and have not disappeared into the oblivion of th e lib ra ry o r th e c o ffe e sh o p around the comer.

N o t #1 a n d P ro u d ! The T r i b u n e sets out to find student opinion on McGill performance By Raquel Kirsch It com es out tw ice a year. A bible for high school and CEG EP stu d e n ts lo o k in g fo r th e p e rfe c t post-secondary education; students consult this guide to see which uni versities in Canada get top marks. M aclean’s M agazine released its u n iv e rsity rank in g s issu e last w e e k , s iz in g up C a n a d ia n U niversities based on academ ics, reputation, range of programs, and finances. To m any stu d en ts’ sur prise, McGill did not sweep up too m any aw ards. In fact, it failed to p la c e in the to p 5 in m o st c a te g o ries and so m e tim es it did not even place at all. U ndergraduate program m ing and new spending in libraries and S tu d en t S erv ices w ere th e areas w here M cG ill show ed a d efin ite weakness, not even showing on the s c o r e b o a r d . T h e c a te g o ry in w h ic h M c G ill scored the highest is the M edical Doctoral category, which examined m edical and post-graduate studies. It ranked fourth, unchanged from last year. M cGill was third in quali

ty o f program , and fo u rth in the s u b - c a te g o r y “ L e a d e rs of Tom orrow .”

T h e R an k e e s R e sp o n d

A ir P ub is fa b u lo u s. I th in k w e h a v e a p r e tty a c tiv e c a m p u s. N o b o d y ca re s ab o u t M a c le a n ’s. People are going to rem em ber their university experience, and I don’t th in k th at M a c le a n ’s is g oing to change it.”

M ic h ae l Z akon “ I t’s kind o f su rp risin g . W e used to always com e in at number one, I think. I thought things had been getting better at this universi ty. Queens [placed higher]! Those b a s ta rd s — its ju s t b e c a u s e w e d o n ’t h av e a f o r t... T h e stu d e n t average is higher than I expected, because judging by the kind of peo ple I have seen, I’m surprised they could do that.”

N aom i Z itte il “O ur school has a good rep. It’s probably the only school that A m ericans know of. I really won der w hat [the rankings] are based o n , b e c a u s e m y u n d e r g r a d u a te experience has been excellent. I’ve had an exceptionally positive expe rience. People love frosh, and Open

Jordan G o ld b la tt

g e t on S tu d e n t S e rv ic e s, w h ere quantity does matter... In some cat egories we could not rank at all, but does that really m ean that we are that m uch w orse than the schools that placed fourth? I came from St. T h o m a s U n iv e r s ity in N ew Brunswick, a school that was rated ninth in m ost categories.”

“Our library sucks. As a histo ry stu d e n t I fin d it h ard to find stuff. It w ould be nicer to have a w id e arra y o f m a te ria l. B u t i t ’s g o o d to k n o w th a t is m o n e y is g o in g in to th in g s o th e r th a n Student Services. If the m oney is going back into the core o f teachers and T .A .’s, th a t’s so m eth in g we should be proud of.”

A le xa n d ra H o fm a e n n e r

Jordan A rsen au lt

“I hope, honestly, that people don’t pay much attention because I believe that a university experience shouldn’t be based on a magazine. I ’ve been in v o lv ed w ith Q ueens a n d th e ir lib r a ry is a m a z in g . Q ueens is a good school but I ’ve h e a rd th a t it is a b o u t e q u a l to M cGill in terms of what is expect

“I read [the rankings] last year, and M cGill got fourth in grants. I didn’t think that the overall rating o f u n iv e rsitie s is so m eth in g that y o u ca n q u a n tify . I g u ess w h at w o u ld m ak e a d iffe re n c e is th e budget on libraries versus the bud

“ I ju s t k n o w r e p u ta tio n is im portant, but there’s no m eaning to the reputation if there is nothing backing it up. I d o n ’t particularly like the library. I usually need to go to other libraries to get my books because I can’t find any here.”

A n d rea Daw es

ed o f you. M y personal experience d o e sn ’t have to do w ith a m ag a zine. W hen peo p le ask m e about M c G ill, I g iv e th e m ra v in g reviews.”

Page 12 F e a t u r e s

By Justin R enard

I f you had three a dditional hours a day, how would you most likely spend that time? Would you switch your race if you knew you could not change it back? I f there were a pill that elimi nated the need fo r sleep, w ould you take it? Would you kill anoth er person if your life depended on it? O ver 512,000 people o f 231 different countries answered these and many other questions Nov. 1518, in a cooperative global initia tive called Planet Project. Thought up an d u n d e rw ritte n by 3 C o m , P lan e t P ro je ct is the first glo b al hum anity poll to take place in an attem pt to ask the world w hat it is lik e to be a hum an bein g at the beginning o f the millennium. W ith the help o f num erous contributors such as H arris Interactive and Sun M icrosystem s, Planet Project was able to instantly m irror up-to-date responses to its participants. “P lanet P roject is to dem on strate to the w orld 3C om ’s vision o f how sim ple-to-use technology can be used to foster greater global understanding,” said M ark Plungy, a spokesperson for 3Com. P la n e t P r o je c t, o f fe re d in E n g lis h , F re n c h , P o rtu g u e s e , D utch, Spanish, Italian, C hinese, a n d J a p a n e s e , c o n s is te d o f an in teractive Internet questionnaire and 500 “Planet Pollsters” — vol unteers w ho w ere sent to rem ote

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 1998

Welcome! From November 15-18 the P la n e t P ro ject made history by becoming the largest poll ever conducted via the Internet. People from over 231 countries answered a series of questions in eight languages about what it's like to be a human being at the beginning of the millennium. The P la n e t P ro ject was originally scheduled to end on November 18th but due to popular demand weVe decided to leave the polls open for several additional weeks to enable more people around the world to have their opinions counted. During the four day event we added a new poll dealing with the U.S. election controversy and within minutes that set of questions soared to the top of the list (beating 'Sleep' and 'Dating and Sex' which had been neck and neck for most popular polls). Here is how this works. As soon as you finish answering questions on eight topics ranging from health to religion, sleep to dating, marriage to child rearing, and crime to politics, you can immediately compare your answers with those of others who have already answered the same questions Using a wide range of technologies never combined before, the project invites people of all nations to participate ir an experience that enables them to share and to compare their thoughts, beliefs, opinions, fears, similarities, and differences instantly. To ensure that the P la n e t P ro ject was not just limited to Internet users, 500 volunteer "Planet Pollsters" were sent to remote corners of the globe equipped with laptops, handheld computers, modems, and portable satellite up-links. These "Planet Pollsters" ensured that the opinions of people without access to technology were also included in the results. A simultaneous "Student Underground1' version of the Project, consisting of questions created by an International Youth Panel from around the world, is also available on this site. W ith the hopes that you'll come back and take additional polls weVe also added some cool new features to the site that will introduce each of the modules with mini-movies. Because of these new features and to protect your privacy, each time that you come back to the P la n e t P ro jec t site you will need to re-register to take new polls. Please invite your friends and family to help make us continue making Internet history by participating in the P la n e t Project! If you'r9 ready to begin, ;

Or*. 3C om Thanks from 3Com

locations with low Internet p en e tration to collect results. V is ito rs to th e site fin d an in te ra c tiv e app ro ach to learn in g th e o p in io n s an d v ie w s p e o p le around the globe, and the scope of the project is som ething to marvel at.

M o re th a n th e s u m o f th e p a r ts Besides the concept, however, the beauty o f Planet Project lies in the dispersion of contributor tech

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nologies, never before com bined, used to o rganize the inform ation a n d p o s t in s ta n t a n d u p d a te d results on the website, www.planetproject.com . The structure of the p o llin g w as b ro k en dow n in to a series o f pieces all developed and run by different contributing orga nization or corporation. “Planet Project uses a conver gence of technologies so new, that even a few m onths ago the idea of letting people o f the w orld share an d co m p are th e ir o p in io n s at a s in g le p o in t in tim e w o u ld n o t have been possible,” said Plungy. A dvancedlanguage.com creat ed eight d ifferen t tran slatio n s o f the poll for the H arris Interactive d a ta b a s e o f 2 2 0 q u e s tio n s . B r a in c r a f t, N a v im a tio n an d P luglt.com created a presentation u s in g M a c r o m e d ia F la s h , a n d Euphorion created the HTM L ver sion. L ightPoint then com bined the two site versions. Responses o f the participants w ere all fed into Sun M icrosystem ’s O racle database for processing. W h ile th o u s a n d s o f w eb s u r f e r s p o in te d a n d c lic k e d th ro u g h th e lita n y o f q u e s tio n s ran g in g fro m the g en e ral to the personal, Planet Pollsters used lap tops, p alm -to p P C s, P o ck et.co m B ackflip acoustic m odem s, w ire less m odem s and p o rtab le tra n s mitters w hile on location, striving to ensure that the entire world was accurately represented.

All responses w ere cached in 4,000 A kam ai servers w orldw ide and then sent for processing at two data centers in California, 3C om ’s in S a n ta C la ra , an d A T & T ’s in R edw ood C ity. E ight team s o f a Harris Interactive research analyst, a Eucid intelligence analyst and a v isitin g jo u rn a list th en an aly zed th e in fo rm a tio n at 3 C o m ’s d ata warehouse. Plungy ex plained th at 3Com will make the aggregate data avail able to acad em ic and n o n -p ro fit o rg an izatio n s free o f charge. He also said that already many acade m ic institutions and the UN have made requests. So what would people do with th re e e x tra h o u rs, and are th e re those who w ould kill to save their lives? W ell, y o u ’ll have to register online and take the poll to find out. But after com pleting the poll, par tic ip a n ts c a n c o m p a re th e ir a n s w e rs b e tw e e n a g e g ro u p s , re g io n s, c o u n trie s an d g e n d e rs. The sudden success of the poll has caused 3Com to keep the site oper a tio n a l f o r s e v e r a l a d d itio n a l weeks. In the meantime, 3Com has been busy crunching num bers to see where there are striking results betw een genders and nations as a whole.

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A c c o rd in g to th e d ay o n e press release p ro v id ed by 3Com , C a n a d a h a s p ro v e n to h av e th e h ig h e st p e r c e n ta g e o f n a tio n a l p rid e , ab o v e 90 p e r c e n t, w hen c o m p a r e d to 57 o f th e la r g e s t n a tio n s . A u s tr a lia an d F in la n d ca m e se c o n d an d th ird , th e US sixth, and R om ania last w ith less than 50 per cent o f the population claim ing to be proud o f their coun tr y . A b o u t 77 p e r c e n t o f A m e ric a n s an d C a n a d ia n s th a t r e s p o n d e d a f f ir m a tiv e ly w h en asked if they “generally trust their fellow coun try m en ” com pared to 46 per cent o f Germans. T he U.S. rem ains one o f the few c o u n tries th a t ca rry o u t the death penalty, although A m erican p a r tic ip a n ts are m o re lik e ly to believe that the death penalty does not d eter crim in als th an p a rtic i pants from Canada. G erm any abol is h e d th e d e a th p e n a lty , an d A ustria prohibits the death penalty as part o f its constitution. A lm ost 80 per cent o f polled participants in those two countries thought that th e d e a th p e n a lty d id n ot d e te r crime. T he press release also stated that w om en are m ore likely to be satisfied w ith their sex lives than m en, b ased on th e o p en in g fo u r h o u r s o f th e f o u r - d a y p o ll. A p p ro x im a te ly 60 p e r c e n t o f w om en polled indicated that they are satisfied w ith th e ir sex lives co m p ared to 50 per cent o f men polled. Staying true to its com mitm ent to remaining current and represen tative, Planet Project developed a last minute poll with regards to the U.S. election controversy. A sked w h ic h c a n d id a te w o u ld h a n d le international crises m ore aptly, 80 per cent o f the first 6,000 respon d e n ts c h o s e V ic e P re s id e n t A1 G o re . S w itz e rla n d , D e n m a rk , S p a in , A u s tr ia an d C o s ta R ic a favored Gore the most. Not surpris in g ly , 85 per cen t o f the 19,000 A m eric an s p o lle d said th e dead lock election situation would make them m ore in c lin e d to vote next time. A fter seven m onths o f p la n ning, hundreds o f qu estio n s su b m itte d an d r e je c te d , d o z e n s o f softw are engineers and developers w o rk in g fo r m o re th a n 2 0 ,0 0 0 hours to develop the program s, a four-day, around-the-clock staff of m o re th a n 100 p e o p le , P la n e t Project polled until they dropped. The results are available for all to see. The brains behind the opera tion were thrilled with the results. “Planet Project illustrates how te c h n o lo g y c a n f a c ilita te th e process o f bringing people o f the w o rld c lo s e r to g e th e r ,” s ta te d Plungy. Perhaps this is hyperbole, but it ca n ’t h urt to find out w hat the other children o f the earth are thinking.

T h ie v e r y C o r p o r a t io n b r in g s s t y le o v e r s u b s ta n c e E le c tro n ic b a n d t r ie s a n d fa ils t o re p ro d u c e 'liv e m u s ic ' fe e l a t c o n c e rt onstage antics even inspired a leap o f faith in one of my com panions (a lth o u g h n o t th a t b ig a le a p ), p r o m p tin g h im to sa y “ M a n , I th in k I ’m a R a s ta f a r i a n .” U nfortunately, h e ’s got a shaved head. Several beers and one tequila later, not much had changed. The M Cing started to seem like show b o a tin g , an d th e so n g s h a d all sta rte d to so u n d th e sam e. T he group redeem ed them selves some w hat during a smoking version of ‘.3 8 .4 5 ’ o ff o f T hievery H i-Fi, w hich ended the set. T he crow d r e s p o n s e w a s r e a lly p o s itiv e , p ro m p tin g th e re q u is ite en c o re, w h ich in c lu d e d ‘2 001: A S p liff O dyssey,’ a personal favorite that samples ‘B reathe’ by Pink Floyd.

T h e v e rd ic t

A t tir e d in A r m a n i, m a r t in i lo v e r s T h ie v e r y C o rp . p u t o n a s o - s o s h o w

By N ick H all Rock is dead. W e live in an e r a w h e re th e s a m p le r an d turntable reign suprem e over gui tar and other traditional live instru m ents. T his has led m any o f the R ock G ods w ho once dom inated the airw aves to frantically try to incorporate sam pling and sequenc ing into their dated sound, usually w ith d isastrous results. F or this rea so n , i t ’s re fre sh in g to fin d a group at the forefront o f the elec tronic movement who pay as much attention to lush arrangem ents and o rg an ic sounds as they do beats and bass. Last Saturday, Thievery Corporation brought their eclectic m ix o f dow ntem po beats, reggae and bossa nova to the N ew Club S o d a fo r th e ir m u ch a n tic ip a te d M ontreal debut. Partners in crim e Rob G arza and Eric Hilton met in 1995 at the T h ir te e n th S tre e t L o u n g e in W ashington D.C. D iscovering a mutual appreciation for the works o f A n to n io C a rlo s J o b im — th e g ra n d fa th e r o f b o ssa n o v a— and the 6 0 ’s bossa nova scene, the duo sta rted p ro d u cin g and rec o rd in g tra c k s to g e th e r. 1996 saw th e release o f T hievery C orporation’s debut full length, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi. Borrowing heavi ly from dub, hip-hop, 6 0 ’s sound tracks and bossa nova, their unique an d su c c e ssfu l fu sio n o f gen res

resulted in a collectio n o f dow ntem po grooves that set the e le c tronic m usic com m unity on its ear. T h eir penchant for m artinis, A rm ani su its and trip -h o p b eats led them to be g ro u p ed into the em erging lounge scene, w ith the likes o f Peter K ruder and Richard D o r f m e is te r , o f K ru d e r & D orfm eister fame. They w ent on to found their ow n reco rd label, “ T h ir te e n th S tr e e t Lounge Recordings,” and released a highly acclaim ed edition o f the DJ Kicks s e r ie s . W h ile th e D u b -h e a v y

Sounds fro m the Thievery H i-Fi sam pled the ramblings of Rastafari e ld e rs an d e m p h a siz e d m in im al production, their 2000 release, The M ir r o r C o n sp ira cy, saw th e em phasis shift to a m ore “eastern” so u n d , in c o rp o ra tin g sita r, lush string arrangem ents, and layering b o n g o s an d ta b la s o v e r th e ir already busy drum tracks. W hile staying true to the lessis-m ore theme that perm eates their m usic, the duo ste p p ed up th e ir p r o d u c tio n e f f o r ts o n th e n ew a lb u m , f e a tu r in g s w e e t v o c a l tra c k s fro m B e b el G ilb e rto and Pam B ricker, alongside rum bling b ass and R a sta m an c h a n ts fro m R o o ts an d Z ee b o , th e tw o M C s also featured on the first album.

Th e event A m id s t a ll th e h y p e , d a te changes, rum ors o f can cellatio n ,

and the group’s prom ise to incor porate a “live band” into their set, expectations ran alm ost as high as tic k e t p rice s. T he full h o u se at Club Soda eagerly aw aited for the duo to e m erg e. D e sp ite c laim s that the show was starting at 10pm and b ein g th e o n ly b an d on the bill, the group’s intro— a titillating f u s io n o f lo u n g e m u s ic an d kitschy, retro film footage— d idn’t start till 10:45. But the mood had b e e n s e t, a n d w h e n th e g ro u p appeared on stage, the crowd went w ild . W e a rin g h is tr a d e m a r k A rm ani suit, Rob G arza m anned th e c o n tro ls b eh in d h is ra c k o f sequencers and sam plers, backed by a percussionist and two beauti fu l f e m a le v o c a lis ts . C o n s p ic u o u sly a b s e n t w as E ric Hilton, but no one seemed to mind as the group launched into a bliss ful v e rs io n o f ‘S c e n e fro m the O pen A ir M a rk e t’ o ff o f Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi as hypno tiz in g tim e - e la p s e d fo o ta g e o f rolling clouds played on the screen behind them. Aside from the opening track, the first h alf o f the set consisted e x c lu s iv e ly o f tra c k s fro m The M irro r C o n sp ira cy. G a rz a tw eak ed knobs, flip p ed sam ples, and m ixed tracks seam lessly while th e p e r c u s s io n is t k e p t a ste a d y rhythm and the vocalists brought sweet harm onies into the mix. The vibe was very low -key, and aside fro m a few b o b b in g h e a d s , it

seem ed th at at tim es th e “sleepy eyed” crow d d idn’t know w hat to do w ith th e m se lv es. H ig h lig h ts in c lu d e d th e b e a u tif u l f re n c h vocals on ‘Le M onde,’ footage of a fiery shuttle engine in take o ff spliced into footage of Peter Tosh b u rn in g s p lif f d u rin g ‘So C om V oce,’ and the sw eeping sitar and h e a v y v o c a l e f f e c ts d u rin g ‘L eb an ese B lo n d .’ E ven during the m ost subtle m oments, the bass rum bled as G arza paid trib u te to his Jam aican-D ub influences. D u rin g ‘I n d r a ,’ o n e o f th e more hip-hop flavored tracks from The M irror Conspiracy, th e M C d u o S e e -I (R o o ts & Z e e b o ), e m e rg e d , r e p la c in g th e fe m a le v o c a lis ts o n s ta g e . T h e se g u y s were serious Rastafarians, praising Jah and shouting dow n B abylon, th e ir d re a d s f la ilin g as th e y bobbed around the stage. They got the crow d m oving as they yelled “ H an d s in the air, C a n a d a !!” in h eav y , Jam aican p ato is. R um ps started to shake as the beats picked up a notch. One h alf of the duo hit a jo in t passed from a m em ber of the crow d, and y elled “M ontreal, you m ake me feel Irie !!” into the mic. The duo show cased a variety of lyrical styles, ranging from tra d itio n a l R e g g a e v o c a ls to D ancehall rapping during ‘Shaolin S a te llite ’ fro m T hievery H i-F i. A lth o u gh at tim es o ff key , th eir v o c a ls p ro v id e d a n ic e c o m p le m e n t to G a r z a ’ s b e a ts . T h e ir

N evertheless, I left the show som ew hat disappointed. A percus sionist, vocalists, and a guy w ith samplers doesn’t really feel like a live band. H aving live musicians playing the sam pled parts fom the rec o rd w o u ld h av e b een a g rea t idea — although being a samplefreak, it was more engaging for me to se e G a r z a c u e s a m p le s an d punch out beats, instead of simply m ixing records. T he sound w as re a lly g o o d , b ut asid e fro m the freestyles from Roots and Zeebo, the songs played like perfect repli cas o f the album tracks. I might as w ell h av e b ee n lis te n in g to th e album at home, blindfolded, with my stereo cranked to 10. Except I got to see G arza bobbing his head an d sm o k in g a c ig a r e tte in h is A rm an i su it. A n d b ein g ab le to p u ll o f f p e r f e c t re p lic a s o f th e so n g s w ith o nly h a lf o f the duo there seem ed a little strange. Overall, Thievery Corporation put on a solid show, but the night d id n ’t le a v e m u ch o f a la s tin g im pression, with no real justifica tion for the $30 ticket price. The show also ended early enough for me to hit Burger King, a keg party, s to p by a f r i e n d ’s to sm o k e S h e e sh a , an d g et h o m e - all by 2:30am. As much as I enjoy elec tronic m usic, I th in k this concert exem plified the problem faced by m a n y e le c tr o n ic a r tis ts to d a y making the transition from studio to stage. W ith the exception o f a few artists, like the H erbaliser, or R e p ra ze n t, m ost m u sicia n s w ho hone their chops in the studio have a lot to learn ab o u t p u ttin g on a show. Rock may be dead, but live musicianship is still alive and well. So feel the Funk.

iiS lllilli

js Ã¯a w H i

T he M c G ill T r ibu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

D isc

D avid B ow ie B o w ie a t th e B e e b : T h e

IHT records, and was recorded in his London apartment. You may have already heard his heartfelt, melodic and lyrically beautiful ‘Babylon’ on the radio, or during G ray’s recent appearances on Letterman, Conan and SNL. Despite his European suc cess, David didn’t break the North American market until signing with D ave M atthew s’ATO Records in ’99. M atthew s is an avid D avid Gray fan, referring to his music as "beautiful in the purest way". The album is an experimental mix of acoustic guitar and techno-ish drum effects, but is certain to please. T rack s like ‘Say H ello W ave Goodbye’ and ‘This Y ear’s Love’, which was already featured in a film and (g asp ) a D aw so n ’s C reek episode, are nothing short of mov ing. Despite a high-pitched effect that will make you giggle, ‘W e’re Not R ig h t’ is ear-candy. ‘Please Forgive M e’, with electronic beats and all, is also great. M ost im p ressiv e are G ra y ’s lyrics. Lines like "Only things worth living for are innocence and magic",

or pithy imagery like "draggin’ bas kets full o’ bones" are increasingly rare these days. Gray is truly a sav iour from the bubblegum drivel we normally hear on the old FM, and in a class all his own. If you like White Ladder, be sure to check out Gray’s other four albums: A Century Ends, Flesh, Sell Sell Sell, and most rescently, Lost Songs. W hile White Ladder has made his name, these other four are each even better. And also, if you want to get W hite Ladder, please avoid Napster. He’s been a starvingartist romantic for 10 years, and real ly deserves the dough. Get down to HMV and purchase a copy. Besides, it’s got some bonus tracks and a CDRom segment, with live interview and concert footage. Lost Songs is also available at HMV, so have a lis ten while you’re there.

other. They slapped it all down on tape and the result was an apocalyp tic, brash, and delightfully refreshing debut album, Candyass. Since then, the band has obvi ously soaked up some plasticity and platitudinous tendencies from the Hollywood Hills and they've infused it all into this follow-up release. It's not that synth-metal itself has gotten stale. It's ju st that Orgy had two years to make an album and all they could come up with was this? Vapor Transmission shows absolutely no sign of m usical evolution and, in fac t, sounds as if the band has regressed. A side from ‘C hasing S ire n s ’ and ‘W h ere's G e rro ld ’, which have a chaotic feel reminis ce n t of the d eb u t, songs drudge along as if lame and drained, then end on weak, badly placed fade-outs. Even m ore p ain fu l are Jay Gordon's insipid lyrics, which should irk anyone capable o f reading or even spelling the word book. For

ex am p le, w hat d iv in e epip h an y inspired "you just don't know/ your ass from a hole in the ground"? To make m atters worse, it seems the singer has developed a case of lyrical tunnel vision. Y es, we all know y o u 're a bunch o f and ro g y n o u s robots from Mars. It's nothing Gary Numan didn't exhaust in the early 80s. Orgy should have spent less time at the make-up mirror this sum mer and more time at the drawing board. Not even another half-arsed New Order cover could save them now. To my fellow synth-m etal enthusiasts I recom m end leaving Vapor Transmission on the shelf and in stead w aitin g fo r 2 0 0 1 's Commencement from the excellent originators of synth-metal, Deadsy, fo r w hom Jay u sed to play bass before ‘borrow ing' their sound to create Orgy.

Alex Baird wants to clear up a few th in g s. "Y es, 1 w anted to

become a rock star from watching too much MTV. No, I never lived out of my car while busking to make ends meet in Alaska.” Alex Baird wants you to know she has attitude; she’s perky, intelli g en t and does not fo llo w "The Rules." Her trademark "melancholic melodia" has a "pop sensibility, but with a twist." Clearly, Alex Baird is not another knock-off of Brittany Spears for the teenybopper masses. Clearly, with song titles like ‘Why do we try,’ ‘Where do you go,’ and ‘You and I,’ Alex Baird offers more than the regular fare. Do you buy it? ‘Tell me’ is the opening track, a catchy, superficial tune that demands answers to questions hidden within a jumble of words thrown together in

the hope that they might rhyme. You get the impression she is interrogat ing a boyfriend in a syrupy, candycoated way, as if that would make it any easier to swallow. The rest of the album, mostly upbeat songs, further interrogates her poor b o y frien d , who w eathers a storm of emotions in songs entitled ‘So w ro n g ,’ ‘H ide a w a y ,’ ‘G oodbye,’ and ‘No regret.’ Poor guyTo give Alex Baird some credit, her music is fun to listen to and she talks about relationships in a way that most people can understand. N ev erth eless, h enpecking set to shiny happy people music is still henpecking. Poor guy.

matured over the past ten years since th e ir fo u n d atio n in 1990. T h eir maturity shows through the range of expressions they explore in their lat est creative effort. Their songs tease the listener, flirtin g w ith p o ssib ilitie s before swelling into a groove that quickly dips back into seduction. With flute ac co m p an im en t, ‘A lic e ’ lays a smooth jam buttered on warm, fuzzy b eats and sounds n o th in g like

‘L eyaourt,’ the track that follow s w ith an attitu d e in sp ire d by spy flicks. Each song has its own motif and theme, and FFF seamlessly inter changes between flashy punk rock, slow r & b, heavy metal riffs and the intense driving beats and wild feed back of world music. Underneath is a fu n k core th a t u n ite s it all. Acoustic funk, anyone? This album is about contrasts: fast, slow, high, low, happy, sad,

manic, and balanced. Each song has its own personality and represents a unique mood within the band. ‘Je vous l’avoue’ that this album rates among the best out of France this year. Just sit back, relax and let FFF take you on a journey through colorful musicscapes with detours through scenic styles of funk. The sound is great.

R e v ie w s

B est o f

th e B B C S e s s io n s 6 8 -7 2

EMI R e c o rd s / V irgin

Bowie at the Beeb is a collec tion of live BBC Radio One perfor m ances done betw een 1968 and 1972. The tw o-disc com pilation spans his album s up to Ziggy Stardust and includes songs that were not originally broadcast. The currently available limited edition contains an extra disc with a set done this past summer, including revamped versions of old favourites like ‘Ashes to Ashes’ and some of Bowie's smart, new material. A lthough m any have com plained about the dodgy sound qual ity of the earlier recordings, keep in mind these songs were engineered for live radio broadcast and analog playback, not snazzy digital re-masterin g . B esid es, the radio snapcrackle-pop makes it feel as if you're

L enny K ravitz

G re a te st H its V irgin Lenny Kravitz’s Greatest Hits is worthy of its title: it isn’t one of those greatest hits albums where many of the great songs are missing. The album contains tracks from all of Lenny’s five previous records in a one CD, seventeen-song compila tion. The CD starts with the title track of his best-selling album, Are you gonna go my way?, and goes on to more of his recent songs such as ‘Fly away’ and ‘Rock and Roll is d ead .’ The one new song on the

sitting by your short wave radio in some flat near Camden with a cup of Earl Grey. B ecause the live renderings don't stray too far from the album versions in terms of deliverance, less ardent Bowie buffs would be better off buying the cheaper, more acces sib le The Best o f David Bowie 1969/1974 (EMI 1997), which fea tures studio recordings of Ziggy-era singles. Bowie at the Beeb is target ed towards diehard Bowie fans who absolutely have to have every ver sion of every tune he's ever done, even if they all sound exactly the same. But let it be known that there are also some great rare moments here, including between song banter, a b rillian tly sleazy cover o f the Velvet Underground's T m Waiting for the Man’, as well as the February 5th, 1970 installment of John Peel's Sunday show in which Bowie and Mick Ronson perform together for the first time, having met only days before. Since the compilation goes for about $35, Bowie zealots will have to forego paying the utility bills for a while to get their fix. Or perhaps if they’re extra nice this month, a hot pants-clad glam Santa in yellow platform s will leave it under the Christmas tree.

D avid G ray

W hite L adder ATO R e co rd s (BMC)

White Ladder is sim ply awe some. I haven’t removed it from my stereo for 2 weeks. Buy it now. Well, having said that, I sup pose I should elaborate a bit. David Gray’s fourth release, White Ladder, has already gone platinum 12 times in Ireland, and has spent several weeks on the UK charts. The album is homemade on Gray’s own label,

O rgy

Vapor T ransm ission — Leah K. Nchama

album, ‘Again’, is a great, mellow and melancholic tune which sounds like several tracks off the Are you gonna go my way? album . The lyrics of the song (which is about the love of the speaker’s life leaving him suddenly and his consequent pining for her) and the melody go hand-in-hand. Lenny mixes up the order of his songs, placing some modem hits right smack in the mid dle of his oldies, which gives the fans a varied im p ressio n o f his m usic afte r only a few songs. Greatest Hits definitely gives fans a perspective on Lenny’s talent for song writing and playing the guitar. One ca n ’t praise this album enough. There isn’t a single song on it that shouldn’t be there and it nice ly intertwines the old and the new. This is the album to buy— forget about purchasing his individual CDs because almost all of his best tunes are included on this release.

R e p rise R e co rd s For those eagerly awaiting the sophomore album from L.A. deathpop quintet Orgy, I wouldn't shave off your eyebrows and slap on the bondage space gear just yet. As the story goes, the boys locked them selves in a Californian recording stu dio in 1998, developed cabin fever, and ended up nearly killing each

A lex B aird

Ish H u n t th e S a n d m a n R eco rd s

— Isabelle West FFF

V ierge BMC R eco rd s

Vierge is a collage of ideas, angles and m ultiple personalities. The mood, the tone, the language: everything changes with each song. Might as well be another band. It’s la Fédération Française de Fonck, the FFF for short, and they’re an innova tiv e band from F ran ce th a t has

E n t e r t a i n m e n t Page 15

— Drew Halfnight

— Leah K. Nchama

— Andre Nance

Page 16 E n t e r t a i n m e n t

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

T he D ears h a v e charm E n e rg e tic s e t a p le a s a n t c o n tra s t w it h s o ft- s u n g o p e n e r J u lie D o ir o n

Je C herche S ic k 'n 'tir e d o f th e sa m e o ld s h it? R e a d o n ...

By Isabelle W est T he D ears and Ju lie D oiron p erfo rm ed on N ovem ber 23rd at Café Campus and the performance w as... endearing. The D ears’ unique sound com bines many different genres. They m arry a lte rn a tiv e and big ban d music, and the eleven band m em bers - including an organist, a cel list, a trum petist and sax player m ak e fo r a full and ric h sound. Despite the intensely chaotic nature of their songs, there is a continuity to their music. M ost o f their songs sounded loud even though the intensity level fluctuated, thanks to the crescendos in many songs. In the first song, an in stru m e n ta l, g u ita rist Jo n a th an Cohen and bassist M artin Pelland A w w w ... a i n 't t h e y d e a r s ? m e sm e riz e d the au d ien c e. T hey were so into their perform ance that o th e rs p o w e rfu l an d in te n s e . I almost thought they’d pull a Jimi B e tw ee n songs, she m ade m any Hendrix and set one of the guitars self-deprecating com m ents about on fire. This is a band that can sus her status as an unknown artist and tain the audience’s attention. n e rv o u sn e ss d u rin g th e p e r f o r If the D ears sound a bit like mance. H er lyrics cam e across as Pulp or the Doors, Julie D oiron’s straightforw ard and her sim plicity songs are Jew el-like in their sim made the perform ance im m ensely p lic ity a n d e m o tio n a l a p p e a l. enjoyable. D oiron’s set fit very well together T h e tw o p e rfo rm a n c e s h ad th a n k s to h e r slo w , e x p r e s s iv e very little in com m on except for songs. H er seeming innocence gave the talent o f the respective m usi her sound a childlike quality, and cians. Julie Doiron is a young solo her voice was at times soft and at

By D avid Barclay

On a sporadic basis, David will bring you a list o f the ran dom, the obscure, the stu ff only the most disgruntled o f listeners co u ld know about. H e r e ’s his debut:

HOT HOT HEAT/RED LICHT STING Split LP (Ache)

Internet shot

artist whose sound is very soft and innocent, whereas The Dears are a large band who sounds very loud an d p o w e rfu l. D o ir o n ’s so u n d would have been appropriate for a festival such as L ilith F air along w ith p e rfo rm e rs lik e S arah M c L a c h la n an d J e w e l, w h o all share a sim ilar sound. The D ears’ perform ance w ould best be suited fo r a festiv al lik e L o lla p alo o z a, w here the many alternative bands complemented each other.

An L P -only release by tw o C an ad ian W est C oast keyboard intensive groups, inspired by San D ieg o so u n d s lik e th e L o cu st. Both groups happened to stum ble on new wave from a lighter, more e n e r g e tic p o in t o f v ie w a n d q u ic k ly m a d e a s to rm o n th e Portland to California em o scene. This is only the third release from A c h e , a tin y la b e l ru n o u t o f Vancouver.

THE NATION OF ULYSSES The Embassy Tapes LP/CD (Dischord) A collection o f early 4-track r e c o r d in g s by th e e m o tio n a l preaching punk group that even tually rose to fam e as The Make U p. T h e se tra c k s d e m o n s tra te h o w b a d ly b a n d s lik e A t th e D riv e In and T he In tern atio n al N oise C onspiracy ripped o ff the s ty le /p o litic s /s o u n d a lm o st 10 years after the fact.

CHICKS ON SPEED The Re-Releases o f The Un-Releases CD (K)

in c lu d e s th e f ir s t e v e r s te re o rec o rd in g s o f “N atu ral R a d io .” VLF radio signals occur approxi m ately in the 200 H z to 10,000 Hz sp ectru m , all au d ib le to the human ear.

VARIOUS ARTISTS Dischord 20th Anniversary (Dischord) 128-page booklet, 2 CD s, 1 s o n g by e v e ry b a n d e v e ry rele ase d on D isch o rd , the label th a t g a v e us F u g a z i, S la n t 6, Rites o f Spring, M inor Threat and so m uch more. A m ust have for sophisticated political punk rock ers.

LUDELLA BLACK She's Out There LP/CD (Damaged Goods) T h e M ilk s h a k e s an d T h e H e a d c o a ts b a c k th is f o rm e r singer from the H eadcoatees. In short, it sounds id en tical to the charm ing garage and blues o f the H e a d c o a te e s m in u s th e th re e other girls. Is Billy Childish the only m an who records rock and roll in England?

MELT-BANANA Teeny Shiny LP/CD (Azap) P ro o f th a t th e J a p a n e s e m u sic sc e n e is A m e ric a x 10. Totally w arped Japanese blender rock and noise in the B oredom s and N aked City style. They have an a m a z in g a b ility to start/stop/change direction instan taneously.

Although the new wave kids may be excited about the re-issue o f ROXY M U SIC ’s early years, they sh o u ld really be ch eck in g o u t th e s e M u n ic h a r t- s c h o o l ladies who are getting all kinds of hype thanks to their chaotic new wave, no wave, euro trash beats. This K release is a rem ix collage by R a m o n B a u e r (M e g o ) an d Gerhard Potuznik (Cheap, M ego) w hich puts all p rev io u s C hicks On Speed releases to shame.

M o re C h ic a g o p o s t- r o c k sound but finally with vocals. A ja z z y p r o d u c t o f h o t C h ic a g o instrum entalists Jerem y Jacobsen (Lonesom e O rganist/5ive Style), Tim K insella (Joan O f A rc) and D an B itn e y (T o rto is e , Iso to p e 217). A lso has the ugliest cover ever.

DON AND THE GOODTIMES The O riginal Northwest Sound of... (Sundazed)

THE REVOLUTIONARY HYDRA Queen o f The Gravity Urge 7" (Barsuk)

L o v e th e K in g sm en ? L ove the W ailers? Becom e the ultimate BM OC with this northw est R+B re-issue on 180 g vinyl featuring Jim V alley (R a id e rs) an d Ja ck E ly ( “L o u ie L o u ie ” K in g sm en v o ca list). T o n s o f c lassics: the W itch, Long G reen, L ittle Sally Tease and Tall Cool One.

A 7” preview of the upcom in g a lb u m by B e n G ib b a r d ’s (Death Cab For Cutie) new group b a s e d o u t o f B e llin g h a m Washington.

STEPHEN P. McGREEVY A u ra l Chorus II: The Music o f the Magnetosphere CD (SP McCreevy Productions) 18 pure recordings o f natural VLF radio phenom ena produced by the earth re c o rd e d o v e r the period o f 3 years in the far north e rn r e a c h e s o f C a n a d a . T h is unique and varied collection also

EUPHONE Hashin' It Out LP/CD (Jade Tree)

ADD N TO X Add Insult To Injury LP/CD (Mute) A q u ick fo llo w up to th e ir recent EP. The label says that this release is lim ited edition. G ood bleeps and quiet lovely tracks. A good introduction to an addiction.

CECILIA & SES ENNIUS On m 'appelle Pussycat T" (Dionysus) Trashy French beat pop from this form er No Talents member.

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

E n t e r t a i n m e n t Page 17

L .A . r o c k e r s l i k e C a n a d i a n c r o w d s O n th e eve o f th e C a lifo rn ia - p u n k w a v e , so m e h ig h s c h o o l b o y s m a d e i t a t th e e le v e n te e n th h o u r- a n d n o w th e y 're F IX ! Screeching W easels, Face to Face, B a d R e lig io n , G re e n D a y ; C alifornia punk bands for the m ost part.

Tribune: How did it feel get ting signed at such an early age? Collins: It felt pretty cool. It was great. H alf of it was frustrat ing because we knew w e w eren’t going to be able to act on anything or do a record until w e graduated. It w as o u r d e c isio n b u t w e fe lt lucky [getting signed]. Tribune: How did the rest of your school react to the signing? Collins: O ur group o f friends k n e w a b o u t it a n d it p r o b a b ly s p re a d a little b it. B u t I th in k since nothing happened for about 2 years, w e w ere still playing cafés an d little a ll-a g e s d iv e s, p eo p le w e re m o stly lik e , “ Y e a h rig h t, they got a contract.”

V a n s a r e t h e c o o l e s t s h o e s in t h e w o r ld !

By A ndre Legaspi I t ’s e v e r y y o u n g b a n d ’s d re a m : ja m w ith a c o u p le o f f rie n d s , m a k e so m e s o n g s , g e t sig n e d in 11th g rad e , b ec o m e a v ery p o p u la r band in the S tates, th en to u r th e w orld. T h is is the sto ry o f E v e6 . C re a te d by lead singer M ax Collins, this trio made it big in the hardest city o f them all, Los A ngeles. Collins and Jon Siebels, a friend he m et in fresh m a n y e a r p h y s ic a l e d u c a tio n , b a n d e d to g e th e r to m a k e so m e p u n k . A fter C o llin s and S ieb e ls p la y e d to g e th e r as E le v e n te e n , th e y r e c r u it e d d ru m m e r T o n y Fagenson. Fagenson then suggest ed the nam e change because o f an episode o f the X-Files that piqued

press s h o t

th e ir in te re s t. T h u s, E v e6 w as born. They first hit it big with their single ‘Inside O u t’ o ff their selftitled debut. A fter hours of radio tim e and a video on constant rota tion on MTV, the band toured and p repared new m aterial. T he hard w ork paid off in their sophom ore e ffo rt, H orrorscope. R e ce n tly , C o llin s ta lk e d to us a b o u t th e band:

T ribune: In th e b e g in n in g , when you were in high school, did you w ant to model yourselves after certain bands? Collins: D efinitely, we w ere basically trying our best to be car bon copies of bands that we loved when we first started. [Bands like]

Tribune: W hat did you learn from your debut that you brought over into Horrorscope! Collins: A fter th e firs t one, w e h ad th e to u r in g e x p e r ie n c e under our belts. It m ade us better p la y ers an d it w as a w h o le new w orld o f experience. It m ade for great w riting m aterial for me and w e k in d a b ecam e a b an d on the r o a d a n d w e le a r n e d w h a t w e w anted to do and how to do it. So we had m ore focus and had more o f a vision before the second one came out. Tribune: How does the whole w riting process w ork betw een the three o f you? Collins: W e ll, I w rite th e melodies and the lyrics, the initial basic structure of the song. Then we put it together with instrum ent p arts and b rid g es and arran g e it and do it as a group. Tribune: One o f the songs on H orrorscope, ‘N o c tu rn a l’, in te r

ested me. I was w ondering if you m ade it about a certain person or ju s t a bunch o f ex p e rien c es that you had. Collins: T h a t song ac tu a lly w as first reco rd ed as ‘N octurnal E m issio n s’ w hich w as on an EP th a t w e d id w h en w e w ere still called E leventeen. It’s b asically th e sam e v erse m elo d y and first ly ric b u t yeah , it w as a sp ecific person. A nd I ’m not telling [who]!

Tribune: Is th is tip c o m in g tour your first real tour in Canada? H ow do the audiences differ from the States to those in C anada or in Europe? Collins: This will be * burp *, e x c u se m e... W e d id a tw o and h alf/th ree w eek to u r for the first r e c o rd w ith a b a n d c a lle d T h e F lie s a n d th e n w e d id th e Sum m ersault festival which was a co u p le o f w eeks, so th is w ill be our th ird tour in C anada. I love th e C a n ad ian au d ien c es, th e y ’re m aybe a little b it less ja d e d and m o re re c e p tiv e . T h ey seem lik e th ey ’re there for a good time. We have great experiences in Canada. The crow ds at Sum m ersault were ju st am azing. Europe is a different story, it’s ju st not happening [with the crowds] over there. Tribune: How com e you can celed the A m erican leg o f the tour this year? Collins: W ell, w e really w ant ed to c o n c e n tra te on d o in g th e v id e o to ‘H e re ’s T o T h e N ig h t’ and w e really w anted to find the

rig h t d ire c to r and trea tm e n t and r e a lly fo c u s o n th a t. W e a lso w anted to try to use the funds that w e w o u ld h av e g o tte n fro m the record com pany for really heavy rad io p ro m o tio n o f the n ex t two singles. W e’ve toured the U.S. a helluva lot so w e figured that tak ing a m onth o ff w ould probably be best.

Tribune: W hile you’re trying to e x p o s e y o u r m u sic to o th e r audiences, do you think N apster is a good vehicle to m ake yourselves known in other countries? Collins: W e think it is. The kids I talked to w ho adm it sheep ishly that they got our records for free are kids after shows with three t-shirts in th eir hands and asking me very specific lyrical questions. T h e y ’re p e o p le th a t a re re a lly activ ely in v o lv ed w ith the band, w hich is precious. Tribune: How do you see the b a n d m u s ic a lly m a tu r in g in 5 y e a rs? D o you see it b ec o m in g harder, more punk or do you see it getting sort of m ore relaxed? Collins: I don’t think we can re a lly c a lc u la te th at. I h av e no idea. I ’m sure w e’re not going to change drastically. But I definitely heard a d ifferen ce from the first and the second record. W e’ll just go w ith it and see w hat happens. Eve6, GOB and Treble Charger play at Club Soda on Tuesday, December 12th. Tickets and info at 790-1111

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E n t e r t a i n m e n t Page 19

T w e n t y - f iv e y e a r s o f h e a r t b r e a k in g m u s ic Tom Petty and the H eartbreakers have earned their place in m usic history by

D avid Schipper

The gentle dram beat, the syn copated bass line, the organ flour is h e s , th e c h im in g g u ita r , th e s n e e r in g v o c a ls . T h e so n g ‘B reakdow n,’ initially released as a s in g le in e a rly 1977 by T o m P e tty an d th e H e a rtb re a k e rs , is instantly recognizable and is con sidered th eir first m ajor trium ph. T h e g r o u p ’s e p o n y m o u s d e b u t album w as recorded and released on S h elter R ecords in 1976, but the album met with indifference as punk and N ew W ave were making inroads on the international scene. The band toured England as a sup port act for N ils Lofgren. W ithin w eeks, they w ere headlining and th e a lb u m b e g a n to c lim b th e B r itis h c h a r ts . A B C R e c o r d s , Shelter’s distributor in the United States, rereleased ‘B reakdow n’ in A m erica in O cto b e r 1977 and it b riefly g razed the T op 40 a few m onths later. A new greatest hits collection,

A n th o lo g y T hrough The Years, affords us a m ore expansive look at one of A m erica’s most fascinat ing m u sic a l c a re e rs. T om P etty and the H ea rtb re ak ers hail from G ainesville, F lorida, a sm all u n i versity town, and a Southern sensi bility pervades their m usic, a dis tillate o f 1960s ro ck and ro ll — c h im in g B y rd s g u ita rs , R o llin g S to n es rh y th m s, and B ob D ylan a n d R o g e r M c G u in n v o c a ls . ‘A m erican G irl,’ from the debut record, even sounds as if it was a m odem Byrds song. D espite the critical and com

m e rc ial su c c e ss o f th e ir seco n d album , 1978’s You’re Gonna Get It, P e tty f ile d f o r b a n k r u p tc y , ow ing m ore than a h alf a m illion d o lla rs to th e re c o rd co m p an y . W hen M CA Records bought ABC, Petty attem pted to renegotiate his contract to ease his financial bur den. A fter nine m onths o f litig a tion, M C A arranged for the band to sign to B a ck stre et R ecords, a n e w M C A s u b s id ia r y ru n by D a n n y B ra m s o n , a f rie n d o f P e tty ’s. In late 1979, the album Damn the Torpedoes was released. It s o ld tw o a n d a h a lf m ilio n c o p ie s w ith in m o n th s o f its release. T he first three songs on th e r e c o rd , ‘R e f u g e e ,’ ‘H e re C om es M y G irl,’ and ‘E ven The L osers,’ as well as the initial sin gle, the Top Ten smash ‘D on’t Do M e Like T hat,’ are all outstanding exam ples o f m idtem po songs with c a tc h y m e lo d ie s an d a c c e ssib le lyrics. T he country and Southern r o c k a tm o s p h e ric s w e re n o w alongside a new found self-co n fi dence. In 1 981, P e tty c h a lle n g e d M C A ’s in te n tio n to is s u e th e album H ard Prom ises with a then h ig h $ 9 .9 8 lis t p r ic e . A fte r he threatened to hold back the record or en title it $8.98 and o rganized fan protest letters, M CA relented and rele ase d it at $8.98. P e tty ’s mistrust of the business end of the m usic in d u stry co n tin u ed in the 1980s. A fte r T ire m a n u fa c tu re r B.F. Goodrich attem pted to use his song ‘M a ry ’s G ot a B ran d N ew C a r’ in a com m ercial, Petty filed suit and got the ad pulled. In 1989,

he refused to perform at a concert in N ew J e rs e y u n til p ro m o te rs a llo w e d G re e n p e a c e to s e t up inform ation booths in the lobby. In 1981, Petty had a m ajor hit w ith ‘S to p D r a g g in ’ M y H e a rt A round,’ a duet with Stevie Nicks from her solo album Bella Donna, on w hich th e H eartb reak ers also a p p e a r e d . B a s s is t R o n B la ir

T h a n k g o d I 'm a c o u n t r y b o y !

Press Shot

departed shortly after the release o f H a rd P ro m ise s a n d w as replaced by H ow ie Epstein. T he Southern Accents album from 1985 is co n sid ered P e tty ’s m ost m atu re and g rac efu l w ork. T hree years in the m aking, Petty fo u n d th e stu d io w o rk d iffic u lt. Frustrated during the m ixing o f the r e c o rd , h e p u n c h e d a w a ll an d b ro k e h is le ft hand. T h e album , c o p ro d u c e d by th e E u ry th m ie s ’ D a v id S te w a r t, w a s a r e s o lu te statem ent o f Southern identity and d isp lay ed a fine use o f horns. A few songs show ed P etty ’s range: country flavour, funk, and beauti ful balladry, exem plified by ‘The

Best o f E verything.’ A fter an o th er H ea rtb re ak ers alb u m , P e tty w e n t so lo in 1989 w ith th e r e le a s e o f F u ll M o o n F ev er, p ro d u c e d by J e ff L y n n e. O c c a s io n a lly o v e rp ro d u c e d b u t su m ptuously m elodic, the album contained som e o f the best songs o f P etty ’s career: ‘F ree F ailin ’,T W on’t Back D ow n,’ and ‘Runnin’ D ow n a D re a m .’ Into the Great W ide O pen, a L y n n e -p ro d u c e d 1991 return engagem ent w ith the H eartbreakers, was an unqualified success, with acoustic guitars now front and centre on songs such as th e title tra c k an d ‘L e a rn in g to F ly.’ ‘M ary Jane’s Last D ance,’ a Rick Rubin-produced track for the G reatest H its alb u m from 1993, was an extrem ely successful m eld in g o f D y la n ’s fo lk an d P e tty ’s straight-ahead rock. Since Petty secretly signed a lu c r a tiv e lo n g - te rm d e a l w ith W arner Records in 1989 w hile still u n d er co n tra ct to M C A , n one o f his p o st-1993 W arner m aterial is represented in this collection. Only o n e n ew tr a c k , ‘S u r r e n d e r ,’ appears in this anthology. A rest less m averick, Petty continues to challenge conventional notions o f p ro p rie ty in so n g s tru c tu re an d b eh av io u r. T h is u n p red ic tab ility a lo n e ac c o u n ts fo r m u ch o f h is stature in the contem porary m usi cal canon.

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If you answered yes or no to any of the above questions, you have an artistic or entertainment oriented vision. When you cast your ballot for your new extracurricular activity in January, make sure you vote for the A&E team. Writers’ meetings will recommence Monday, January 8th at 4:30pm, in the basement of the Shatner building (BO I A)

R o s e - t i n t e d g la s s e s a n d g r e a t , b l a c k v o i d s A r t i s t M a rc S é g u in p ro b e s th e e x is te n tia l q u e s tio n w it h m e d ie v a l m o t if By Kerry Lo m o O verly d ram atic, and bigger than they have to be, the six paint ings that com prise M arc S éguin’s f ir s t m useum sh o w , R ose Windows, engage the view er like g ig a n tic s ta g e s , w ith tr a g ic , w o u n d e d f ig u r e s s tr ik in g o d d , am biguous poses. O n ly 3 0 , th e r e d h e a d e d Séguin is a staple o f the M ontreal painting scene. The w inner o f the 1998 P rix P ie rre -A y o t, he to o k part three years ago in the exhibi tion O f Fire and Passion held at the M usée d ’art contem porain de M ontréal, w here he first grabbed curators’ attention. Now he’s back w ith a se rie s o f q u ie t, im m en se ta b lea u s, c e n tra liz e d aro u n d the m o tif o f th e m e d ie v a l R o se W indow, and their relation to photoreal im ages o f stark figures. W h e n y o u f ir s t e n te r th e gallery, the paintings surround you on all sides o f the enorm ous room. T h e p ic tu r e s a re so h u g e th e y affect you bodily, the vast black e x p a n se s sile n t and e n v e lo p in g . Part o f you feels m anipulated, but you forgive this, the way you for give a H itchcock film. The first thing you notice are

the figures. Every painting except one has a figure in it. A nd som e w h ere th e y all c o n ta in th e ro se window motif. However, that soon becom es tiresome, like a sim plistic game of W here’s W aldo? T hey’re nice to see, but are as effective as d o ilie s on a d in n e r ta b le . T h ey le n d som e p e a rl-lik e p re tty e le ments to otherw ise mordant paint ings, but one begins to w onder if that’s all. In “M onologue” the rose w in dow is muted but glow ing, the fig ure in the foreground looking off a t it, as i f at a m o o n . In o th e r paintings the round m otif acts as a ball to be stood on, overw helm ing light, another moon (this tim e sur ro u n d e d b y o r n a te c o lo u r f u l scrawls and deliberately naïve ges tures) or as a glowing pattern over top o f a figure’s heart, and as an alm ost invisible disc hidden in a milky pedestal. W hile the variety o f w ays the w indow is in clu d ed m ust be lauded, the sentim ent gets a little odious. W h a t’s far m ore co m pelling are the figures, w hich are for the m o st p a r t a lm o s t lik e g h o s ts . Faded, alm ost rubbed out, the four men and one w om an w ho inhabit these stages are w ounded, search

ing, anguished and frail. In “The Colouring o f Em ptiness” one man stands, C h rist-lik e, one arm out, the other pointing his forefinger to his temple. W hat’s more surprising is the g ey ser o f co lo u r and lig h t th a t sp rin g s lik e h ot steam from that hole h e’s ju st poked. W ithin the eruption you see a set o f flying teeth, w ith a bare outline o f some h a lf - s e e n m o n s te r , as i f h e ’s unleashed the unconscious dem on that inhabits us all. “R ebecca’s Faith” contains a w o m an s ittin g on a c h a ir, h ead bent down, arm s at her side. She is vom iting som e red sm ear tow ards the shadow that she’s casting. The sole source o f illum ination is the huge rose w indow that sits in the centre o f the piece, as if urging her to expel, or confess. And in a way, these stark cinem atic paintings are urging the view er to bear witness to, and con fess th em selv es, th eir human frailties. These figures are broken and w o u n d ed , w illin g to h u rt th e m selves, and be exhausted by life. T h e y ’re h ard to talk about. L ike the d raw in g s o f B etty G oodw in, th e y se e m to s tr ik e a rc h e ty p a l p o ses, actin g as “ev ery p erso n s” . T hey’re like that man who, during

th e T ia n n am e n S q u are p ro te sts, sto o d up a g a in s t th e o n c o m in g tanks. But instead o f the them e o f “ o n e a g a in s t th e w o r ld ” th e s e paintings speak about being “one w ithin the w orld” and o f the nec essary burdens th at that decision entails. M

t A

f -

Séguin 's exhibit, Rose W indows, is on display at the Musée d ’art contemporain until February 15, 2001.

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T he M c G ill T r ibu n e , T u esd a y , 21 N ovem ber 2000

B e y o n d C a th o lic

C o n c e r t o B e lla D o n n a

A tale of moral truths, and some not so moral Kiki D ranias As an intrepid theatre go-er, each step further enhanced my hes itations as I reluctantly climbed the long flig h t o f sta irs lead in g into in fin ith e a tre . T h e p re ss re le a s e from Beyond C atholic gave noth ing away in terms of expectations. O n th is b o n e -c h illin g T h u rsd ay night, as far as I was concerned, the last thing I needed was some a rtsy p lay th a t w o u ld re q u ire a strenuous thinking exercise on my part. As I scanned the room to get a fe e l o f my s u rro u n d in g s , th e atm osphere confirm ed my suspi-

T h is is y o u r b r a in o n d r u g s

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cions. This one-man play was about to fo rce m e to und erg o my first com plete Fringe experience. The setting was classic, an alternative theatre space, the walls completely draped in rich black velvet, and the

eclectic patrons all seemed to have a look and language o f their own, to which I was a foreigner. As it is always difficult to assess anything with objectivity when you feel like you stick out like a sore thumb in the crowd, I took my seat. The play began, and outsider feelings quickly dissolved with the f ir s t few s e n te n c e s . B eyond C a th o lic d e a ls w ith a u n iv e rsa l theme that even a cavewoman can relate to. It is a sarcastic, w itty satirical uptake on God, love, faith, and sex u ality . W ritten and p e r formed by W illiam Young, Beyond Catholic tells the story o f a young m an’s relationship to his Catholic relig io n , as he stu m b les his way th ro u g h th e jo u r n e y o f h is life seeking truth, hope, and redem p tion. F o r th e r e c o rd I am n o t catholic, but I can certainly relate to the ubiquitous theme of his trials and trib u la tio n s o f how a strong re lig io u s u p b rin g in g b o rd e rs on c o n tro l, c o n fu sio n an d se rm o n s laden w ith heavy do ses o f guilt. Beyond Catholic takes us back to the not-so-cynical days w hen we had simple heroes we could count on. Heroes who made us believe in reverence and integrity, heroes who were real and tangible to us. W hen we lose those heroes, we lose our selves. B eyond C ath o lic rem inds us that everything we have learned up until this point contradicts every thing we are about to learn in the future. The lesson o f this play is stra ig h tfo rw a rd : th e p u re act o f b lin d d e v o tio n g ro u n d s us, and when life’s circumstances take that away, we will miss having faith in

WEDNESDAY 1 0 :0 0 p m g e r t's

something because at that moment, our innocence will be gone. I know Beyond Catholic must be com ing across as very heavy at this p o in t, b ut tru st m e it is not. W h ile th e s u b je c t m a tte r m ay require some reflection, the sermon

I swear, th e m o o se w as this big!

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is d e liv e r e d in p u re d e liriu m . W illiam Young does a w onderful jo b o f te llin g th e s to ry in an a b so lu te fu n n y m a n n er, an d the dialogue is filled with a plethora of sarcastic pleasantries that had the a u d ie n c e ro a r in g in la u g h te r . B e y o n d C a th o lic is f ille d w ith God-like metaphors that will make you sm ile and nod, as you recall past conflicts you may have faced by rules im posed upon you from the higher ordained above.

Beyond Catholic runs until December 3, 2000 at Infinite Space Box office at Blizzarts, 3956 A St. Laurent

tr iu m p h s W o m e n 's c h o ir a lo c a l tre a s u re By D avid Schipper L a st S a tu rd a y e v e n in g , th e C o n c e rto B e lla D o n n a , a lo c a l w o m en ’s ch a m b e r ch o ir, g av e a concert at the U nitarian Church of M ontreal. U nder the d irection o f acclaim ed choral conductor Iwan E d w a rd s, th e g ro u p c o n s is ts o f thirteen choristers from 15 to 22 years o f age, and w as created in 1997 as th e F A C E T re b le C h am b er C h o ir. In 1999, it w as ren a m ed C o n c e rto B e lla D o n n a follow ing a w ell-received summ er concert tour o f Ireland. D u rin g th e c o u r s e o f th e ev e n in g , th e c h o ir in te rp re te d a w id e v a rie ty o f tra d itio n a l an d contem porary m aterial from both s e c u la r a n d litu r g ic a l s o u rc e s , in c lu d in g m a d rig a ls , r o m a n tic lieder, spirituals, and avant-garde works. T h e c o n c e r t b e g a n w ith S e r g e i R a c h m a n in o f f ’s Six Choruses, op. 15, sung in Russian. The use o f sheet music for this and Jo h an n es B rah m s’ Songs fo r W omen’s Voices, op.44a, sung in G e rm a n , a llo w e d th e c h o ir to focus as much as possible on inter pretatio n . O verall, the selections w ere arra n g e d fo r fo u r p a rts — tw o soprano and tw o alto groups with som e o f the choristers alter nating betw een alto and soprano w hen necessary. The highlight o f the evening w as D a v id M a c I n ty r e ’s A ve Maria, a technical and em otional pow erhouse that thrilled the audi ence. For this song, the music was divided into seven separate parts or lin es o f m usic: three soprano groups and four alto groups. Since there are only thirteen choristers,

this was the m ost dem anding per form ance in the concert. T h e e n c o r e s e le c tio n w as C om ic D u e t f o r Two C ats by G ioacchino Rossini, a lighthearted an d p la y fu l ro m p as w ell as an audience pleaser, w hich featured delightful meows and sharp hisses. T h e p erfo rm a n c e w as e m o tio n ally reso n an t and technically precise, displaying the beauty and s tr e n g th o f th ir te e n v o ic e s . Edw ards has been the D irector of the M ontreal Sym phony O rchestra C h o ru s s in c e 1985 a n d w as a p p o in te d C h a ir m a n o f th e P e rfo rm a n c e D e p a rtm e n t o f the F a c u lty o f M u s ic o f M c G ill U niversity in 1992. C hoirs under his direction have been recognized for their high level o f perform ance an d se v e ra l h av e w o n p riz e s in choral com petitions. His presence exem plifies the com m itm ent to the art o f vocal m usic that the choir maintains.

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T he M c G ill T r ib u n e , T u esd a y , 21 N ovem ber 2000

R e b e ls W it h

T h e M e r r y W iv e s o f W in d s o r

A C ause

CEG EP production wows audience By Isabelle W est

The Merry Wives o f Windsor by W illia m S h a k e sp e a re is p e r form ed this year by D aw son co l lege and it hath outdone itself. The m ajority o f the actors are terrific an d th e p lo t, f u ll o f tw is ts an d turns, is clear and comprehensible. T h e o nly fa u lt o f th e p lay is its length— at two and a half hours it tends to drag on, and there w ere too many parts of stupid, gratuitous physical com edy w hich w ere ju st annoying. ‘Tis the first class acting and directing that m ake this play enjoyable. T h e p la y is a ty p ic a l Shakespeare com edy, full o f d ra matic irony, romance, subplots and

w it. T he m aster o f irony h im self would have enjoyed how clearly it was portrayed in this production. The main plot revolves around Sir F alstaff, a dru n k en p e a sa n t w ho attem p ts to seduce tw o w ealth y , married women, M istress Ford an d M istre ss P ag e, fo r th e ir m o n ey . The two M istresses realize his plan and set out to humiliate him ever so slowly. M istress Ford, whose hus band is paranoid and jealous, uses the threat o f his possessive wrath to scare F alstaff every tim e she calls on him. Master Ford disguises him self as a peasant to test his w ife’s faith fu ln ess by hirin g F a lsta ff to tempt her, unbeknownst to her. By and by, everything is divulged to the m istresses’ respective husbands

and the fo u r o f them co n sp ire to f u r th e r h u m ilia te a n d frig h te n Falstaff. This last part o f the plot p r o v id e s th e m a jo rity o f th e hum our of the play. The bulk o f the sto ry , ja m -p a c k e d w ith iro n y , is skilfully performed. Jonathan Lajoie as Falstaff and S a sh a R o iz as M a ste r F o rd are awesome in their roles. They do a superb jo b o f playing stupid men w ho learn th e ir lesso n s the hard way. I r o n i c a l l y , d u r i n g S h a k e sp e a re ’s tim e, m en p lay ed the roles o f the w om en on stage, yet in this particular play, many of the male roles, notably those o f the knaves, are perform ed by women. For the m ost part, this doesn’t hin

der the quality o f the play or that of the acting. A lthough the actresses who play these parts do not try to sound like m en, they adopt co n vincing masculine mannerisms. The Dawson students involved have made this a professional qual ity production. Performed at a pri v a te ly o w n e d p la y h o u s e in W estm ount, the venue is perfectly su ite d fo r a S h a k e s p e a re p ie ce , with its classic appearance and inti m ate atm osphere. The size o f the cast— in excess o f twenty actors— is a te sta m e n t to th e am o u n t o f w ork put into The Merry Wives o f Windsor. All die-hard Shakespeare fans m ust hie themselves hither to see it anon,’ere it ceaseth to be per formed.

M .O .P's H ip h o p realism w ill b e o n d i s p l a y a t R a in b o w C o n ce rt H all

On Saturday December 2, the hardcore rap duo o f Billy Danzini and Lil Fame (M .O.P) will repre sen t th e u n d erg ro u n d flow from N ew Y ork to prom ote their latest album, W arriorz. The new album b o asts th e hit track , ‘A nte U p ’, w h ich h as la v ish e d co m m ercial the m ovie shadowy and inexplica a tte n tio n u p o n a g ro u p th a t is b le is th e use o f g lo o m y , o ften known for avoiding fame. M .O.P v io len t w eather m ade even m ore ch a lle n g es th e ir listen e rs w ith a dism al by the daunting film score. ferocious lyrical attack that does R a in is sim p ly o v e ru s e d in th e not cater to bouncing or flossing to film . By the end o f the m ovie, it g ain atten tio n . T h is stan ce and has lost its effect already. th e ir ap p ro a ch to ly ric ism h av e W illis encores his stoic p er garnered them much respect from fo rm a n c e , c h a ra c te riz e d by th e hip hop’s truest audience. h e s ita te d d e liv e ry o f lin e s an d M .O.P m ake use o f their ener m in im a l f a c ia l e x p r e s s io n s getic flow s to com bat racism and (though there are exceptions, such inequality. They aim to give their as w h en e m o tio n is th e k e y in lis te n e rs a tru th fu l sen se o f th e e x p o s in g th e u n k n o w n ). In w orld they live in. D anzini and Unbreakable it is even easier for Fam e grew up and still reside in him - the raincoat he w ears cov B rooklyn, N ew York. Inner city e rs h is fa c e d u rin g h a lf o f th e lif e in th e ir p a r t o f th e U n ite d m o v ie . R o b in W r ig h t P e n n is States is based upon survival and w a s te f u lly c a s t; th e ta le n t e d th e w ill to o v erc o m e h ard sh ip s. actress is g iv en a ro le th a t c o n T h ey h av e n ev e r le ft th a t w orld tain s no em o tio n al depth. A lso, and express their anger or disap the m ovie does not develop fully proval at those who choose not to S a m u e l L. J a c k s o n ’s c h a ra c te r, make a significant difference to the w h ic h s h o u ld h a v e b e e n m o re in f ra s tr u c tu re . J o in ts lik e ‘G d y n a m ic in r e v e a lin g th e p lo t. Building’ and ‘On the Front L ine’ Instead, he becom es nothing but a from the W arriorz album dem on stu b b o rn lu n a tic w ith a sy m p a strate their em powered mentality. th etic ch ild h o o d (w hich req u ires M .O.P. reintroduces longtim e more depiction also). fans to a neglected part o f America U n b rea ka b le is r a th e r to o w ith their form ulaic m ethod that sim ple and straightforw ard for its predominantly remains unchanged. targeted audience. G oing into the They link up once m ore w ith the th e a tr e , m a n y v ie w e r s w o u ld producer DR Period on ‘Ante U p ’ expect in this m ovie the num erous and bring som e new story-telling tw is ts an d s u r p ris e s th a t m a k e rhymes to the game. Tracks like w atching The Sixth Sense exciting ‘C alm D ow n’ and ‘C old As Ic e ’ and w orthw hile. T hese tw ists are prove that this group is capable of absent in Unbreakable. T his tim e producing their own material and around the plot is so thin that car expanding upon set boundaries to rying a 2-hour feature only makes some degree. the pace o f the m ovie unnecessar B illy D an zin i and L il Fam e ily slow . In fact, the m ovie was bring their stark realist approach to so d rag g ed o u t th a t I w as b ored M o n tre a l on D e c e m b e r 2 at and w anted it to end m ore quick R ainbow C oncert H all. Hip hop ly. T he so-called tw ist at the end lo v e rs can g et a c le a r lo o k at a w as far less than I had hoped for. group that refuses to be m uzzled I p atiently w aited for the clim ax by society or the so-called bound to com e for the full tw o hours, but a rie s o f su c c e ss w ith in th e rap it naever did. game.

U n b r e a k a b le is b r e a k a b l e a f t e r a ll

B y S teph Kw o o

I w as g e n u in e ly e x c ite d on my way to see Unbreakable, part ly because I thought Bruce W illis m ig h t b e c a p a b le b r in g in g th e film -g o in g p u b lic a n o th e r good m ovie despite m y fierce suspicion o th e r w is e . T h e e x p e r ie n c e o f w a tc h in g th e su rp ris in g ly w e llexecuted The Sixth Sense from the front row o f P aram ount w as still s p in n in g in m y h e a d , a n d lik e ev ery o n e else, I an tic ip a te d this so p h o m o re e ffo rt fro m the team behind the latter to be as refresh in g an d c o m p e llin g as th e firs t one. U n fo rtu n a tely , I w as th o r oughly disappointed.

T h e s to r y , in a n u ts h e ll, re v o lv e s a ro u n d B ru c e W i llis ’ ch a racter as he slow ly d iscovers how he is d if fe r e n t fro m o th e r people. H is m iracu lo u s survival from the train disaster initiates his se arch fo r the tru th , w ith a s s is tance from the enigm atic charac ter played by Sam uel L. Jackson. As the m ovie unfolds, the m yster ie s b e h in d th e m a ls o c o m e to lig h t. E n tw in e d in th e m a re W illis’ w ife and son (the form er played by Robin W right Penn and th e l a t t e r , a n o th e r H a le y J o e l O s m e n t w a n n a b e ). J u s t w h en W illis begins to tap into his inner p o w e r , h is f a m ily — o r ig in a lly falling apart— is given a chance to

start over again. T he four charac te rs are all v u ln e ra b le to fo rces outside o f their control, and they are united precisely through their reaction tow ard this vulnerability. Unbreakable is n ot an ill-in te n tioned film ; “finding your place in the w orld” is a them e that I enjoy tr e m e n d o u s ly . H o w e v e r , th e m ovie fails because it too deliber ately copies the fo rm u la put fo r w ard by the success o f The Sixth Sense. The cinem atography is so sim ilar that you could alm ost cut a n y o n e s e g m e n t f ro m e a c h m o v ie , s w itc h th e m , a n d th e m ovies w ould still look the same as b e fo re . J u s t lik e The Sixth Sense, the main device in making

Unbreakable is now playing at cinemas everywhere.

All-age event features M.O.P. live in concert alongside Afu-Ra and local acts Diamante and F.P. Crew. At Rainbow, 5345 De Maisonneuve (Metro Vendôme). Info and tickets: 514.449-1021 Adm-$17.50 / Doors: 8PM

Sports T he M c G

ill

T r ib u n e, T u esd a y,

N ovember

2000

A w e e k e n d to fo rg e t R e d m e n o u t- s h o o t o p p o n e n ts 1 0 1 - 5 1 b u t w in n e ith e r g a m e By James Empringham Do you rem em b er w hat you did last w eekend? M em bers o f the M c G ill R e d m e n m e n ’s h o c k e y team are still trying to forget about theirs. D espite the heroic efforts o f fo rw ard s G reg D avis and D avid Burgess, who together were in on eight o f the R edm en’s nine goals, th e R e d m e n re c o rd e d o n ly one point in their two contests against two o f O ntario’s w eaker teams, the R y e rs o n R a m s a n d th e B ro c k Badgers.

R y e rs o n 5 , M c G ill 3 The R edm en’s fate was sealed in last Friday night’s m atchup with th e R y e rso n R am s, by m u ltip le d efe n siv e lap ses co u p led w ith a su p erb g o alten d in g p erfo rm an ce fro m R a m ’s n e t k e e p e r S te v e Bewley. Just 1-8 heading into the c o n te st, it w as o b v io u s th a t the Rams were inspired by the play of Bew ley who m ade 38 saves on 41 shots, including several in key sit uations late in the game. “W e put a lot o f pressure on th eir goalie, but he played w ell,” a d m itte d M c G ill h e a d c o a c h M artin R aym ond after the gam e. “W e did som e horrible things on defence though, that we can’t do if w e expect to beat anybody.” As usual, the Redm en attack w as led by th e d y n am ic duo o f D av id B urg ess an d G reg D avis. D a v is s c o re d h is te a m - le a d in g 15th goal on a feed from Burgess m idway through the second period to cut Ryerson’s lead down to 3-2. T h e te a m s w e re c o n te n t to tr a d e c h a n c e s u n til m id w a y th ro u g h th e th ir d p e r io d w h en Davis was able to find a streaking B u rg ess ju s t o v e r the b lu e lin e, w ho p ro c e e d e d to d ip sy d o o d le th ro u g h tw o R am d efen d ers and raise the p u ck o v e r a sp raw lin g B e w le y to m ak e th e g am e 3-3 . The goal w as one o f the prettiest in th e r e c e n t m e m o ry o f th e M cC onnell A rena faithful, and it seem ed as though it would be ju st the spark the R edm en needed to defeat the Rams. I n s te a d , a c o s tly R e d m e n d e fe n s iv e la p se le ss th a n th re e m in u te s la te r le ft R am fo rw a rd T y le r M oss all alone in fro n t o f Bénoit M énard to bang in a bounc ing puck past the helpless M cGill goaltender. Ryerson quickly added an em pty netter to m ake the final 5-3, a disappointing resu lt in the m in d o f R e d m e n c a p ta in D an M cClean and his teamm ates. “T his show s th a t if w e ever stop w orking at any point, other team s are going to jum p all over u s ,” M c C le an e x c la im e d . “ W e d o n ’t h ave the big p o in t g etters like we did last year, so as a team

D e te r m in e d o p p o n e n t s fo il R e d m e n o ff e n c e

we have to be even stronger defen record to 4-6 on the cam paign and sively.” m ade it even m ore im portant for B urgess, w ho leads the team them to m ake a strong showing in with 40 points in 16 games, added th eir co n test the fo llo w in g night that the team is feeling the absence versus another Ontario school with o f a n u m b e r o f in ju re d p la y ers. a losing reco rd , the 2-6-1 B rock “W e fought hard in the third peri Badgers. od, but it’s hard when y o u ’re m iss in g guys lik e [S té p h a n e ] M c G ill 6 , B ro c k 6 D ucharm e, [D am ien] Liddle, and [A d a m ] S h e ll. T h e ir a b s e n c e A late gam e surge, featuring means that we have to w ork even two of Greg D avis’s three goals on harder.” th e n ig h t, o n e at 13:45 an d th e T he absence o f v eteran fo r other at 16:31 o f the third period ward D ucharm e from the Redmen was all that prevented the Redmen lineup is p articu larly noticeable. from dropping two gam es over the His presence gives the Redm en a weekend. For the second night in second legitim ate scoring line to a row, several R edm en defensive back up the hig h p o w ered fro n t m iscues led directly to opposition lin e o f B u rg ess and D av is. T he goals. lack o f a second scoring threat is “V ery huge b latan t m istakes a ls o u n d o u b te d ly a llo w in g th e are le a d in g to d e fe n siv e b re a k R e d m e n ’s o p p o n en ts to c o n c e n d o w n s w e c a n ’t re c o v e r fro m ,” trate solely on D avis and Burgess, la m e n te d M c G ill h e a d c o a c h a strategy w hich the Rams worked R ay m o n d a fte r th e g am e. “ O ur to perfection. Ryerson head coach goalie is often the one w ho ends E d K irsten did his b est to m ake up looking bad, but it’s our team sure that there were always at least play w hich needs to im prove.” two Rams in the face o f Davis who P o o r team d efen siv e play is was visibly frustrated by the tim e q u ic k ly b e c o m in g a r e c u r r in g the gam e ended. th e m e f o r th is y e a r ’s R e d m e n A fter the gam e, K irsten was squad. S tan d o u t fo rw ard D avis, predictably very pleased with the w h o alo n g w ith D a v id B u rg e ss win. p o w ered th e M cG ill attack once “ T h is is g o in g to go a lo n g again, tried to explain the team ’s way to helping our confidence,” he frustration after the game. beamed. “Six g o als sh o u ld d efin itely T h e lo ss d ro p p e d M c G ill’s be enough to win, and th at’s why

Ben M adgett

this is especially difficult. W e’ve sh o w n th a t th is te am ca n sc o re goals but w e’re still making little defensive m istakes w hich are hurt ing us.” W h ile o n e m ig h t q u e s tio n D avis’s use o f the word Tittle’, he certainly cannot be second guessed concerning his offensive contribu tio n s to th e te a m . A fte r la s t Saturday n ig h t’s hat trick, his sea son’s total now stands at 18 goals in 16 g a m e s . T o g e th e r e ith e r Davis or Burgess were in on eight of M cG ill’s nine weekend scores. M c G ill g o a lte n d e r L u c V aillancourt started the gam e for the Redm en, but was pulled m id way through the contest in favour o f b a c k u p M u rra y C o b b . T h e gam e marked the eighth tim e this season that V aillancourt saw game actio n , also the exact n um ber o f gam es in w hich goaltender Bénoit M énard has seen action. A dd to th a t M u rra y C o b b ’s fiv e g am es and the q u estio n o f w h eth er any o n e o f th e g o a lie s is g e ttin g enough consistent ice tim e to get into a groove arises. Head coach Raym ond quickly dow nplays the possibility o f this. “ [The coaches] had co m m it te d to p la y in g M é n a rd an d V aillancourt the last fo u r gam es. I t ’s ju s t a c a se o f w h ere w e ’ve been struggling as a team, and so have the goalies.”

In a moment which reminded the R edm en faithful o f true m at ters o f im p o rtan ce, a hush cam e o ver the crow d w ith six seconds left in overtim e, as Badger forward T im R iv e st w as ta k e n o f f on a spinal board after being sent head first in to th e b o ard s by R edm en forward D avid Lizotte. A t firs t sig h t th e h it d id n ’t seem to be very hard as Raym ond explained after the game. “D avid w asn ’t trying to hurt the player at all, but Rivest turned th e w ro n g w ay in to th e b o ard s. Brock thought that it was done on purpose, but it certainly was not.” In d ic a tio n s a fte r the gam e w ere that R ivest was able to m ove his lim bs w hich is extrem ely im p o r tant. As a result o f the hit, Lizotte rec eiv e d a m atch p e n a lty w hich au to m atically in clu d es a su sp en s io n . R a y m o n d s a id th a t th e Redm en planned to appeal. W h ile L iz o tte ’s im m e d ia te fu tu re w ith th e te am is u n c le a r after last w eekend there was one issue w hich was not. If there was any q u e stio n as to w h eth e r th is y ear’s Redm en hockey team is as stro n g as la st y e a r’s, th ere is no more. A nd after w atching his team earn one point in tw o gam es last w eekend versus the Ryerson Rams an d B ro c k B a d g e r s , M a rtin R aym ond u nderstands that better than anybody. “This isn ’t like last year w here we could ju st expect to win against teams like these. This y e a rs te a m is g o in g to h av e to com e to play h ard every g am e,” u rg ed R ay m o n d . “T h ere are no e a sy g a m e s fo r th is te a m a n y m ore.”

G a m e N o te s • Even after R yerson’s upset vic to ry la s t F rid a y n ig h t, h e a d coach Ed Kirsten w asn’t about to let his team do any celebrating in T oronto’s sister city. “ C e r ta in ly n o t,” he s m irk e d . “The players will definitely have a curfew tonight. However, they can go out in O ttawa after tommorow night’s gam e if they real ly w ant to.” As o f yet, there is still no word on if anyone really wanted to. • B ro c k ’s h ead c o a c h M u rray N y stro m w as a b s o lu te ly liv id with the events surrounding Tim R ivest being taken o ff the ice on a spinal board. As the m edics w e re a tte n d in g to R iv e s t, Nystrom yelled at the top o f his lungs at the referees for a good tw en ty seco n d s: “T h is is y o u r fault! This is your fault! This is on your head!” A fter the game he stormed out o f the arena and was not available for comment.

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

S p o r t s Page 23

M a r t l e t h o c k e y t r o u n c e d b y C o n c o r d ia y e t a g a i n In e x p e rie n c e d sq u a d s h o w s b o th g ro w in g p a in s a n d p ro m is e d e s p ite lo s in g 7 -3 to c ro s s - to w n riv a l By Jonathan C olford __________ It certainly w asn’t the M artlet hockey team ’s best game, nor was it one for the Kim St-Pierre high lig h t reels, but M cG ill a ssista n t coach Chris Stefik could see some p o s itiv e s ig n s in an o th e rw is e d e p r e s s in g 7-3 lo s s to th e Concordia Stingers at Ed M eagher A rena on Friday. A slow start by the M artlets and strong play by Concordia sent M cG ill down 6-0 at the end o f two p e r io d s . T h e M a r t l e t s ’ te a m Canada goaltender Kim St-Pierre, j u s t b a c k fro m b a c k s to p p in g C an ad a to a 2-0 gold m edal w in over the USA at the Four N ations Cup received a rude w elcom e back to Q u e b e c U n iv e r s ity H o c k e y League. T he Stingers directed 29 shots at St-Pierre in the tw o peri ods she played before head coach P e te r S m ith r e p la c e d h e r w ith A m ey D o y le at th e s ta rt o f th e third. “I d o n ’t think w e started o ff so b a d ly , w e s ta rte d o f f w ith a penalty and they scored a goal on th e p o w e r p la y ,” s a id S te f ik . “ F ro m th e n o n , it j u s t s ta r te d rolling and rolling, we started los ing confidence and we d id n ’t get to the puck as fast as they did, and then they scored two short-handed goals. It was like the ball ju st kept rolling.” “ I th in k w e j u s t w e re n o t there, we took penalties, and then w hen you don’t set the pace at the beginning o f the game and you let the other team skate over us... it’s ju st like if nobody was on the ice, I try to stop th e pu ck b u t so m e tim es I can’t stop everything,” StPierre added. The M artlet offense awoke in

the third period, as M c G ill’s top s c o r in g lin e o f S a ra h L o m a s, S o p h ie A c h e s o n , a n d P a u la M a illo u x led th e ir te a m ’s resu r-

to a more physical, more fast game o f h o c k e y in s te a d o f w o rry in g about fancy plays.” M cG ill g o t on th e b o ard 14

S tin g e r s w in th e d r a w , d o m in a te M a r tle ts

gence and halved C oncordia’s lead to 6-3 in the first seven m inutes of the frame. “C oncordia was strong on the p u c k a ll th e tim e , w e c o u ld n ’t believe the difference from the last game, how strong they were to get on th e pu ck , the ju m p th a t they had, th e q u ic k n ess,” S tefik said. “W e had to get back to the basics o f ju st working really hard, getting afte r the puck, tak in g th e space, pushing the girl out, getting back

seconds into the period as Acheson found h e rse lf alone in front o f a w id e - o p e n C o n c o r d ia g o a l as Lomas and M ailloux lured Stinger keeper L isa H erritt into overplay ing the left side. A cheson took the pass and fired it hom e for the first M artlet goal. Tw o m inutes later, M ailloux ca rrie d the puck up th e le ft side and fired it past H erritt’s glove. 62 Concordia. C o n c o r d ia g o t a b re a k as

M a r tle t d e f e n c e m a n Peggy D onohue got sent o ff for hooking at 6 :1 8 , fo rc in g th e M a rtle ts to defend against the pow er play. But A cheson w ould block an attem p ted clearin g p a s s b y a S tin g e r defencem an, stickhandle p ast her and deke H e r r itt to h a lv e th e Stinger lead. C o n co rd ia settled d ow n a fte r a tim eo u t taken after A ch eso n ’s second goal, and m an a g e d to h o ld o f f th e M a rtle ts ’ o ffe n se fo r th e re st o f th e gam e. V e te ra n S tin g e r f o r w ard L ea n n e M a rte ll p a d d e d C o n c o r d i a ’s le a d w ith th re e m in utes to go as she took a c e n te r in g p a s s fro m Lisa-M arie Breton and put it past Doyle. H e r r itt m a d e 12 sa v es fo r C o n c o rd ia , w h ile S t-P ie rre m ade 23 an d D o y le 10 fo r the M artlets. The M a r tl e ts ’ w inless streak against Jonathan co lfo rd Ihc S tin g e r s no w stands at 45 gam es, 44 o f th e m lo s s e s , d a tin g b a c k to 1 9 8 5 . T h e lo s s a ls o p u t th e M a rtle ts at 0-3 in th e ir 8 -g am e re g u la r se aso n . T h ey p la y th e ir next regular-season gam e at home on January 12 against Concordia.

G A M E N O TES M cG ill v s St. La u re n t The M artlets dropped a 4-2 d ec isio n a g a in st C EG EP St. Laurent on Sunday. Scoring for the Martlets were Sophie Acheson and C laire G ariepy. Kim S t-P ierre stopped 38 of 41 shots in the loss, where the last goal was scored in an empty net in the last minutes.

I've g o t y o u r n u m b e r S arah L om as and S ophie Acheson have been the Stingerakiliers for M cG ill; each has 3 goals and 3 assists in two games ag a in st C o n co rd ia th is year. Mailloux has three points in those games as well, rounding out the Martlet top scoring line. On C oncordia’s side, LisaM arie Breton has 4 goals and 6 points in the two games. She had a hat trick and scored the winning goal in the Stingers’ 5-4, comefro m -b eh in d v icto ry ag a in st M cG ill on N ovem ber 11. A lso, Leanne Martell had 2 goals and 5 points over the two games.

T a k in g

h o l id a y

b re a k The M artlets (0-3) end the first half of the season in last place in the th re e -te a m Q U H L. C o n c o rd ia, afte r b eatin g T’U niversité du Québec à TroisR iv ières 3-1 on N ovem ber 26, takes sole possession of first place with a 3-1 record. UQTR is in sec ond with a 2-2 record.

R e d m e n v o lle y b a ll g o e s d o w n f ig h t in g M c G ill's la s t s ta n d n o t e n o u g h t o a v o id s t r a ig h t s e ts lo s s t o La v a l By Eugene Filipovich The M cGill M en’s Volleyball team, unbow ed but sorely bruised by the University o f Laval Rouge et O r, lo st in th ree straig h t sets, 2 5 -2 0 , 2 5 -2 0 an d 3 0 -2 8 la s t Saturday at the Currie Gym. A part from a frenzied final set in w h ic h th e R e d m e n m a d e a stro n g c h a rg e , th e R o u g e e t O r c o n tr o lle d th e g a m e h a n d ily throughout. On defense, the R ouge et Or offered a solid w all o f blocking. On the attack, they capitalized on their size advantage with pow erful smashes that thundered down with g rim a c c u ra c y . W a tc h in g th em play, it is easy to understand why L a v a l is r a n k e d s e c o n d in th e country. “W e were more tense playing Laval, and we need to change atti tu d e s ,” sa id M c G ill c o a c h Jo sé R ebelo. H e added that he looked fo rw a rd to re v ie w in g th e gam e tapes, and “scouting the strengths and w eaknesses” o f the Rouge et Or.

T h e s c o re r e m a in e d c lo s e throughout the first half o f the first set, as the R edm en m atch ed the R o u g e e t O r a lm o s t p o in t fo r point. B ut the Redm en seem ed to lose their m om entum tow ards the end, and experienced trouble scor ing once Laval pulled ahead. “W e didn’t com e out as hard as w e w o u ld h av e lik e d . W e ’re disappointed, we w eren’t as strong as in previous w eeks,” said veteran H a ri B a la s u b r a m a n ia n , w h o played on an injured knee. T h e b a d v ib e c o n tin u e d th ro u g h to th e s e c o n d se t, an d M cGill fell behind as far as 17-10 before rallying to m ake a game of it. The Redmen closed the lead to 19-17, but it proved to be too little too late. The Laval unit rem ained an in d o m itab le m ach in e ev en as M c G ill f o u g h t s o m e b itt e r exchanges, w here the ball passed ov er the net th ree o r fo u r tim es before Laval won the point. In the third set, the R edm en proved that the grit th e y ’d found late in the second set w asn ’t ju st o n lo a n fro m th e n u m b e r o n e

ranked M artlets. They opened up the scoring and m ade a brutal con test o f every exchange. T his was v o lley b all at its best: faste r than basketball and as refined as hock ey. W ith help from a b o istero u s M cGill bench - “som ebody needs to m a k e n o is e ,” C o a c h R e b e lo w ry ly c o m m e n te d - th e cro w d fo u n d th e ir g ro o v e an d s ta rte d g en eratin g som e en erg y , D espite superb efforts by the M cGill team (and a belated effort by the M cGill crow d), the Rouge et O r w ere up to the task, especially 6 ’4 ” m iddle B runo P elletier, w ho relen tlessly battered the ball over the net. The set went to six match points before Laval finally sealed up the victory. M cG ill rem ain ed o p tim istic, in spite o f the loss. “W e’ve had a good season up to now. The gam e was better than usual against Laval,” said Rebelo. Balasubram anian concurred, “ It fe e ls g o o d , b e c a u s e w e know w e can go point for point.” T h e s e a s o n r e s u m e s in January, and M cG ill should make it to the playoffs, barring catastro-

R e d m e n s tu ffe d b y L a va l

ph e. V ete ran se tte r, B rian C hoi (w h o a t 5 ’ 8 ” is a lm o s t a fo o t shorter than two o f the Laval play ers), put it best. “W e m ay not be

Phillip Trippenbach

big, but we win on heart, from the starters to the bench.”

Page 24 S p o r t s

T he M c G ill T ribu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2 000

T h e Tribune's V anier Cup p r e v ie w By Jonathan C olford The Ottawa Gee-Gees are hop in g to a v o id th e fa te o f th e M ontreal A louettes in the V anier Cup this Saturday at Skydom e in Toronto. The Rams, one year rem oved from a 0-8 season, w ent 4-4 and finished third in the C anada W est conference, scoring 218 points and giving up 281. On the road to the V a n ie r C u p , th e y d e f e a te d M anitoba and Calgary by a total of four points and outlasted the heavi ly-favored St. M ary’s Huskies 4036 last week. The G ee-G ees’ story is vastly different. R anked num ber 4 in the co u n try at th e co n c lu sio n o f th e regular season, they went 7-1 in the O n ta rio -Q u e b e c I n te r c o lle g ia te Football C onference, scoring 292 points and giving up only 52. In the playoffs, they sm ashed the McGill R e d m e n 5 0 -3 a n d la s t y e a r ’s national champion Laval Rouge et Or 26-9 despite an early injury to their star quarterback Phil Coté in the game.

O tta w a p la y e rs t o

the conference nominee for the Hec C rig h to n tro p h y as th e to p p e r former in the nation. “He always shows respect for h is te a m m a te s an d c o a c h e s ,” B e lle fe u ille c o n tin u e d , “ H e has resp ect for the gam e o f football, and he’s loved at the University of Ottawa. H e’s great for our confer ence.” Coté is focused on taking the natio n al title, all th at has elu d ed him in his college football career. “Personal accolades are nice, but I w ant to end my career as a cham pion,” Coté said. “I’m hoping to get back to the Vanier Cup, and I’m hoping to win. That would be the ultimate.”

yards, 16 touchdowns and 15 inter ceptions. Leason has shined in the playoffs, throwing for 1191 yards, 9 TDs to 3 interceptions. “H e’s got a very strong arm, a very good runner, very gritty, lays it on the field every gam e,” com m ented Rams assistant coach Paul Dawson. The Rams had three receivers average 20 yards per catch during the regular season: Jason Clermont (3 3 -7 4 1 - 2 2 .5 a v e r a g e - 4 T D s), Shane Ostapowich (20-398-19.9-3 T D s), an d C h ris W a rn eck e (19397-20.9-3TDS).

T h e r u n n in g g a m e

Hughes has done it all for the R am s th is season. H e carried the ball 63 tim es for 443 yards in the reg u lar season, cau g h t 20 passes for 197 yards and a score, and has retu rn ed k ick s and p u n ts fo r the Rams. “H e’s done ju st about every thing, caught the ball, ran the ball, returned kicks for us. H e’s really a com plete football player,” Dawson said. H ughes has rea lly sh in ed in the playoffs. He was R egina’s top r e c e iv e r in th e s e c o n d se a s o n , catching 21 passes for 356 yards an d a T D . O n k ic k o ff and p u n t r e tu r n s , he h a d an 8 9 -y a rd TD retu rn a g a in st St. M a ry ’s in the fourth quarter which brought them to within five points o f the Huskies at that point. F u llb a c k C o ry O ly n ic k has also contributed to the Ram backfield. He had 10 catches against St. M ary’s.

The G ee-G ees’ attack includes a w e ll-b a la n c e d ru n n in g g am e, w hich scored 16 to u ch d o w n s on the ground. W ith Coté leading the team in rushing due to his scram bling style o f play, the other backs do not get to carry the ball much. Ali Ajram had 544 yards on 73 car ries, placing second on the team in rushing.

w a tc h S a fe ty L u k a s S h a v e r QB Phil C oté C oté is a q u arterb ack out of the D oug F lu tie m old. T he 5 ’8” sig n a l-c a lle r d istrib u te s the ball well and is not afraid to take off on his ow n for big yardage. H e was the G ee-G ees’ leading rusher this year with 627 yards on 95 attempts and 5 touchdowns. C o té sh in e s as a p asser. H e was second in the country w ith a 153.94 QB rating, a 54.6 per cent c o m p le tio n ra te , and 16 to u c h downs to only 4 interceptions. His top targets were Jeremy W hite (31 catches), Darryl Ray (30 catches), and M ike Di B attista (22 catches, lO TD s). “ P h il is a h u m b le m a n , he a c c e p ts all o f th e a c c o la d e s he r e c e iv e s w ith r e s e r v a tio n an d h u m ility ,” s a id O tta w a c o a c h Marcel Bellefeuille, at the O-QIFC aw ards w here Coté was nam ed as

Shaver is the P resident’s tro phy nominee as top defensive play er in the country. He is the back bone o f the defense, w hose front four constantly swarms the quarter back. He had 2 interceptions in the regular season plus a fumble recov ery, which he returned 42 yards for a touchdown.

R B Neal H u g h e s

R e g in a p la y e rs

Zim m er is the heart and soul of the Ram defense. Over the regu la r se aso n , he w as fo u rth in the C anada W est conference w ith 56 tackles, behind team m ate M ischa Bosovich’s 58 tackles. “ H e ’s v e ry in te llig e n t, he understands the gam e, never gets fooled tw ice, h e’s alw ays able to make big plays,” com mented Rams d e f e n s iv e c o o r d in a to r E rw in Klempner. “Rarely does he miss a tackle, h e ’s a very quiet, in sp ira tional leader. He leads by ex am ple.” T h e R a m s w ill n e e d a b ig gam e from Z im m er if they are to c o n ta in th e G e e -G e e s p o te n t offense. “W e’re basically a package of n o -n a m e s , w e ’re a v e ry y o u n g g ro u p a c tu a lly , le a d by J e f f Z im m er, our m iddle lin eb ack er,” said Klempner. O ther notables on the R am s’ defense are D L Lee Churkas, DB Ian B o n n e ll, an d DB C o rrie McKee.

QB D a rry l L eason

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P ro g n o s tic a tio n s J. Colford: Ottawa 28-13 Schnurb: Regina 27-20 J. Kuz: Ottawa 23-17 The Emperor: Ottawa 42-15 R. Wong: Regina 30-17 S. Levitz: Ottawa 20-11 J. Salloum: Ottawa 3-1 Eric: Da Bears

T h e o ffe n s iv e lin e R e g in a ’s O -lin e a v e ra g e s a h u g e 3 0 0 p o u n d s , a r a r ity in Canadian football where offensive lin e m e n a re s m a lle r th a n th e ir American counterparts. “ W e th in k w e ’re p re tty b ig and physical,” D aw son said. “W e took some time, had some ups and d o w n s d u rin g th e s e a s o n , b u t they’re playing very well right now so hopefully they’ll continue to do that.”

F i g u r e s k a te rs c o m p e te in K in g s to n

McGill duo Kerri Asselin and Jen R oper w ere the to p M cG ill finishers in the senior pairs dance r o u tin e by f in is h in g f ifth la st w e e k e n d in su n n y K in g s to n , Ontario. On her own, Roper also managed a 6th place finish in the w om en’s solo dance routine por tion o f the meet.

tournament. The Redmen basketball team trav e led to C a rleto n U n iv ersity la st w ee k en d , an d w ere ru d ely hosted by a Carleton team which beat them 89-52. The top McGill sc o re r w as D o m en ico M arcario who notched 19 points in the los in g e f f o rt. O th e r p ro m in e n t M c G ill s c o re rs w e re B rad y M u rp h y an d K irk R e id w ho scored 10 and 9 points respective ly-

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T r ib u n e

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L eason is no stran g e r to the b ig g a m e , h a v in g w o n th re e C a n a d ia n ju n io r c h a m p io n s h ip s w ith the R egina Ram s w hen they w ere a ju n io r te am (u n til 1998, when they joined the CIAU). In the regular season, he passed for 2277

M L B J e f f Z im m e r

— with additional reporting by Jeremy Kuzmarov

M en's

basketball

earns

sp lit

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w eekend T h e te a m triu m p h e d on S a tu rd a y n ig h t to d e fe a t th e University o f O ttaw a 80-64. The team was fuelled against O ttaw a by a 21 point perform ance from Reid along a strong 11 rebounds fro m F re d B e n a rd . T h e w in moved the teams record in league play to 4-2. The team is now on h ia tu s until the new y ear w hen they’ll com pete in the University o f B ritish C olum bia invitational

The M artlets basketball team dropped two close games over the w eekend to O ttaw a and Carleton University, by a combined total of 6 points. Last Friday night they were beaten by Ottawa by a score o f 66-61. The loss was especially disheartening as they were leading by 3 points at halftim e. M aude V allieres shone fo r the M artlets with a 29 point effort in the losing cause. The Martlets bad luck contin u e d a g a in s t C a rle to n on Saturday as they fell short by one point in a 71-70 loss. The team is

now 0-5 in league play and hoping for better luck in the new year.

M c G i l l - A d i d a s A th le te s o f th e W e e k R e d m e n h o c k e y s ta r G re g Davis and M artlet basketball rook ie sensation M aude Valliere were nam ed th e M c G ill-A d id a s Athletes o f the week for their per formances in interuniversity com petition over the weekend. Davis n o tc h ed 7 p o in ts in tw o gam es ag ain st R yerson and B rock last w ee k en d , in c lu d in g a h at trick against Brock. Valliere scored 42 p o in ts o v e r tw o g am es a g a in st O ttaw a and C arleton, and is the to p ro o k ie p e r f o rm e r fo r th e young Martlets squad.

t We

S p o r t s Page 25

M c G ill T r Ib u n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

T h e e x c l u s i v e F o u r N a t i o n s r e f l e c t i o n s o f K im S t. P ie r r e M c G ill's o w n s h u ts o u t t h e U n ite d S ta te s in 2 -0 g o ld m e d a l v ic t o r y By James Empringham

There is little serious doubt that women’s hockey is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. While there are many explanations for this phenomenon, undoubtedly the global exposure which it receives from tournaments like the Four Nations Cup, is one of the best. The recent Four Nations tour nament featured the national women’s teams from Canada, the United States, Finland and Sweden and was contested over five memo rable days in Salt Lake City from November 7-11. Selected as one of Canada’s two goaltenders for the tournament was the McGill Martlets’ own Kim St. Pierre. St. Pierre, who just recently returned to her duties at McGill, has agreed to share her insights and thoughts on the tournament, international play in general, and the meaning of Patrick Roy in this Tribune exclu sive.

Tuesday, N o v e m b e r 7 C anada 9, S w eden 0 “Before the tournament started our coach Danielle Sauvageau told me that I would be playing in the second game against the United States and that our other goalie Marie-France Morin would be playing against Sweden,” St. Pierre explains. St. Pierre is relaxed and confi dent in her speech. It is easy to see that she views playing for Canada as an honour opposed to just a logi cal career progression. She is one of four goaltenders who were invit ed to the most recent Team Canada training camp and one of two who was selected to play for this edition of the team. Her Team Canada dreams started later than most of her teammates. “When I started playing hock ey, I was always playing with boys. It wasn’t until the 98’ Nagano Olympics that I began to think that I could play for Team Canada one day.”

Wednesday, November 8 United States 4, Canada 1

“The first game against the United States was a really bad game for the entire team,” she believes. The rivalry in women’s hockey between the two countries is widely acknowledged to be one of the best in sports today. The mere mention of the Americans gets St. Pierre excited. “It’s great for women’s hock ey. The games are always good and the competition pushes both teams to improve.” While Canada has won six consecutive world championships, it was the Americans who won the gold in Nagano. St. Pierre is well aware of the history between the two teams. She also claims to be aware of a feeling of immense national pride that she says embod ies the Canadian team. “Every girl on the team is so proud of being Canadian, it’s hard to explain,” she said. “Every time you put on that sweater a special feeling comes over you. It’s all about living for the moment and enjoying every second of it.” She insists that there is no French-English divide either. “There are about five of us from Quebec, but it’s not an issue for me. I speak English with most players on the team, but I speak French with the players from Quebec. Hockey has its own lan guage as well, which helps every one understand each other.”

F rid a y , N o v e m b e r 10 C a n a d a 8 , F in la n d 2 “After the second game, our coach would only tell me that I wouldn’t be starting against Finland, nothing more. To be hon est, I was a little surprised with the poor performance of Sweden and Finland. They usually are stronger teams.” St. Pierre is not a fan of idle time. In the summer she works as a goaltending coach at fellow nation al team member Nancy Drolet’s hockey school in Drummondville, Quebec. Her eyes light up when talking about D rolet’s hockey school — teaching is one of her passions. St. Pierre is a third year Physical Education student at McGill and is currently in the midst

of a five week placement at an ele mentary school. “Compared to teaching, playing goalie for Canada is easy,” she laughs. Besides Drolet, there is another French Canadian hockey star who has made an impact on her life. “Patrick Roy is an idol of mine so that’s why I’ve always worn number thirty three. In softball and hockey, whenever it was available, 1 had to have it.”

Saturday, November 11 Gold Medal Game: Canada 2, United States 0 “Everyone on the team played so well in the final. I did stop every shot, but I only had to make a cou ple of tough saves. I was able to see almost every shot which came my way.” In the tournam ent’s gold medal contest, St. Pierre did her best to place herself in the storied history of the Canada-U.S. rivalry by earning a shutout in resounding fashion and making 28 saves along the way. “Scoring the first goal is so important for a goalie’s mindset,” she explains. “In between periods the team was very confident, and

we knew we were capable of playing a lot better than we did in the first game against the United States.” It won’t be long before the two teams meet again in 2002 at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. St. Pierre won’t let herself look that far ahead though. “I’m taking it one day, one lonathan Coiford week, one month Kim St. Pierre on guard at a time. If I start good goalie to look that far ahead, I might lose herself; sight of what’s important today.” While she is comitted to both For her McGill Martlet teammates, the Martlets and Team Canada, St. what is important is improving on Pierre makes no pretensions con the team’s silver medal finish last cerning her priorities. season at the national champi “If Team Canada calls me I onships. have to go, that’s for sure.” “My McGill teammates have After her performance at the been amazing,” she emphasizes. Four Nations Cup, it would be hard “Before I left for the Four Nation’s to believe that her name wasn’t on tournament they all signed a card speed dial. wishing me good luck. They understand what I’m going for, plus they realize that Aime Doyle [the Martlets’ other goaltender] is a

L a s t w e e k ’s p o l l r e s u l t s : If th e y o u r e le ctio n c h o ic e w a s lim ited to th e fo llo w in g , w h ich p a rty w ould yo u v o te fo r? G re e n P a rty : (44% )

M a riju a n a P a rty : (29% )

M a rx is t-L e n in ist ; (11% )

N atu ral L a w ; (16% ) Sample size: a scant 63

http://tribune.mcgill.ca This w e e k 's p o ll:

cYv*\Ae $e

A r c h iv e s

C a tch u s o n th e w e b fo r

If you could have any one of the following super-powers, which one would it be?

y o u r M c G ill s p o r t s , n e w s a n d in f o r m a t io n o n lin e !

(a) G o -g o gadget arm s (b) In visib ility (c) Telepathy (d) X -ray visio n

Page 26 S p o r t s

T he M c G ill T r ibu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

T o p r a n k e d M a r t le t s v o l l e y b a l l t e a m l o s e s t o L a v a l By Sarah W right

Despite grabbing the number one ranking for the first time in their history, the Martlets volley ball team could not hold off the ninth ranked Laval Rouge et Or in a Quebec Student Sport Federation grudge match. Last Saturday after noon. McGill dropped the heartbreaker in five sets 3-2 (22-25, 2521,25-21, 18-25, 15-13). The tough loss wasn’t sur prising considering there is so lit tle separating the skill level of the teams in the Quebec. This is espe cially evident when noting that there are four Quebec teams ranked in the top ten in the Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union: McGill, l’Université de Montréal, Sherbrooke and Laval. The division title could go to an one of these talented squads. “The league is so tough. The caliber is so high that it is hard to see who is the best, pretty much everybody can beat everybody,” said Martlet head coach Rachèle Béliveau. Shauna Forster, a setter and one of McGill’s starting six was very optimistic about her team’s future. “We just have to take it one

game at a time; do our best and make the play-offs. Our first goal is to win the division, then the league.” Liz Jamieson, another strong McGill middle speaks very highly of the team. “Communication, support and team work are our strongest attrib utes. We get along really well and it is so easy to play with every one.” Jamieson, along with team mates Forster and Marie-Andrée Lessard — the teams’ technique and captain — were all named to the Sherbrooke tournament all-star team, which McGill won, defeat ing Queen’s 3-0; College de Sherbrooke 3-0; l’Université de Montreal 3-1 and in the finals avenged a loss in the round-robin to Sherbrooke with a 3-1 victory. It was after this tournament that McGill was awarded number one rank. Many of the Martlet players have a reputation throughout the league for being very highly skilled. Most prominent of these players is the team ’s captain, M arie-Andrée Lessard from Montreal. Last week, she was selected as the McGill-Addidas female athlete of the week and was

also named tour nament MVP at the Sherbrooke tournament last week. T ea m m ate Forster said with out hesitation, “Marie is one of the best spike servers in the league.” Even though she is only 5’6”, Lessard has one of the highest verticals on the team. Last week end, in only five matches, she racked up 41 kills, 8 aces, 63 digs and 5 stuff blocks. These Hustle plays w h y M artlets are top-ranked in Canada statistics are very consistent with her play through not only for McGill, but all the teams in the QSSF conference. out the entire season. “We play all the best teams Although the Martlets did not all time. There is no such thing as come out with a win this weekend an easy win,” said Béliveau against Laval, the team and coach Even though McGill is ranked did not seen disappointed with the number one in Canada, it will be final result. Each set could have tough to hold on to this spot con gone to either team and only 2 or 3 sistently. No one team has been in points ever separated them. This first place for more than a week all is common for most league games, season. In such a competitive

Philip Trippenbach

league, it will be exciting to watch the Martlets vie for a coveted spot in the play-offs. With a mixture of an elite starting six and an experi enced coaching staff, this goal seems all the more attainable.

G iv e t h e g a m e s b a c k t o

S y n c h r o n iz e d

th e h u m an s

s w im m e r s fin is h s e c o n d

i g

i e

l d

N e il S e lin u r b a c h After watching five National Football League games every Sunday afternoon, I have come to a conclusion: instant replay sucks. For those of you out there who are not football fans, in the NFL, a coach can challenge a referee’s ruling if he thinks that it is wrong. Sounds like a great idea right? Wrong! A decade ago, the NFL tried replay and it did not work. The reason was because it slowed the game down. The referee would look at 25 different angles of the same play and decide if a player caught the ball or scored a touchdown. This process can take up to ten minutes and the calls were normally upheld. Because of this problem, the NFL decided to take replay out of their games. Well, three years ago, com missioner Paul Tagliabue and the owners of the league decided that they would institute a “new and improved” instant replay. This time, the coach would lose a time out if his challenge is not over turned and the referee would only get 90 seconds to decide whether

to change the ruling. This is the instant replay that is currently being implemented. The problem now is not really that it is taking too much time. Now the problem is that the refer ee barely has any time to look at the replay. Since the evidence has to be conclusive to change the rul ing on the field, only 35 per cent of coaches’ challenges are upheld. If the referee is getting the call right most of the time anyways, why do we need to bring television into the game? This problem is not reserved for the National Football League. The National Hockey League has had its own problems with instant replay. Until two years ago, if a player had as much as his toe nail in the goalie’s crease, a goal could be ruled off. This rule was implemented for the entire 1998-99 season up until the last game. In the decid ing game of the Stanley Cup finals between the Dallas Stars and the Buffalo Sabres, the game went into three overtimes. Brett Hull scored the series

clinching goal and the celebrations ensued. But wait... there was a problem. His foot was in the crease. The referees had the unen viable task of deciding whether to call off the celebrations and review the play, or to just let it stand. They did the right thing and ignored replay. But if they would have fol lowed the NHL’s rules strictly, then the Series would have contin ued because of replay. That would have seriously undermined the credibility of the NHL. As it is, it delegitimized one of the greatest Stanley Cup Finals in recent mem- -1 ory. It is just a matter of time until a Superbowl is decided by instant replay and professional football is embarassed. The NFL should save face and remove replay.

The McGill synchro team managed an impressive second place finish last weekend in the McGill OUA technical meet hosted at the Currie Pool last weekend. The McGill team finished second to the the University of Western Ontario who went home to London with the team gold in tow. Top

McGill performers were Jessie Earley who won gold in novice fig ures, Arianne Turves who won sil ver in intermediate figures and Emilie Lassier who won bronze in senior figures.

The T r ib u n e ’s

crossw ord is a v a i l a b l e o n lin e th is w eek Even with winter approaching, these synchronized swim m ers don't miss a beat.

Patrick Fok

S p o r t s Page 27

T he M c G ill T r ibu n e , T u esd a y , 28 N ovem ber 2000

M o n tr e a l fa n s r e a c t t o t h e A lo u e tte s ' G rey C u p lo s s marches down field all the way to the one yard line. Anthony Calvillo then fakes a handoff to Mike Pringle rolls out and throws a touchdown to Jock Climie. The score is now 12-10 for the Lions. “Now we’re rocking baby.... we are rocking,” said Davids. “Momentum’s on our side and this game is ours.”

By N eil Schnurbach

In an effort to understand the Montreal love affair with the Alouettes, I visited Champs sports bar on Sunday evening to watch the Grey Cup with hundreds of rabid fans. Here is a brief description of my night.

5 :4 7 P M I arrived at Champs with a few friends and a notepad and pen in hand. Others present were not equipped with writing materials but they did have painted faces and extremely comical Alouettes hats. 6 :0 2 P M Kickoff of the 88th annual Grey Cup in Calgary, Alberta between the Alouettes and the British Columbia Lions. In Montreal, the fans at Champs go crazy. “This is the best day of my life,” said excited Als fan Robbie Mincoff. “I’ve been waiting for twenty-one years to see my Als return to the Grey Cup.” 6 :1 4 P M Another eruption as the Alouettes stop BC after an impres sive opening drive. Sean Millington runs all over the Als but the defense holds and forces a Lui Passaglia field goal attempt which he misses for a single point. “Here we come!” yelled Russel Davids, another devoted fan. “This is going to be the last point they get this game.”

Watching the Grey Cup with the boys a t the bar

6 :2 6 P M Als fans are no longer so opti mistic. After a one-yard touch down scamper by Lions quarter back Damon Allen there is a smat tering of boos at Champ’s. “Come on, we’re playing like cow crap,” yelled one face in the crowd “Can you stop writing things down?” another fan asked me. “You’re really starting to piss me off.” 6 :4 1 P M Alouettes kicker Terry Baker runs on the field to attempt a 19 yard field goal. “Go for it... Go for it GOD DAMMIT!!” yelled Mincoff. Obviously, Alouettes fans were looking for six points instead of three. Apparently Alouettes head

Patrick Fok

coach Charlie Taaffe could not hear the pleas from Montreal fans and elected to kick the field goal. Montreal was now down 8-3.

7 :2 6 P M It is halftime in Calgary and the Alouettes are losing 12-3. Fans use this time to down a few more pitchers of beer and wal low in self-pity. No one is really listening to the Guess Who perform their half time show. “Man we are really sucking,” said college student Jon Handleman. “We dominated BC all year. I can’t believe that the team came out so flat.” 8 :0 1 P M The second half started off well for the Alouettes. Montreal

8 :2 1 P M On a simple off-tackle play, Lions running back Robert Drummond runs for 44 yards and a touchdown. Als fans are livid, not understanding where the defense was. The score is now 19-10 for the Lions. “It’s third and one,” said Handleman. “You have got to expect the run. There was no one near the BC running back. Montreal needs intensity.” 8 :4 6 P M Lions quarterback Damon Allen runs in another score from one yard out for a touchdown. A missed two-point conversion makes the score 25-13 Lions with less than seven minutes to play. Most fans are ready to give up. “Well it was fun while it last ed,” said Mincoff. “I guess we’ll have to wait until next year.” 8 :5 5 P M The somber atmosphere is short lived as the Alouettes move the ball quickly down the field for a score. It was now 25-20. Mike Pringle capped the drive with a five yard run. One fan was so excited that he threw his chicken wings up

in celebration. Luckily he was not at my table.

9 :0 5 P M The place now is in an absolute commotion. Anthony Calvillo has just tossed a beautiful 59 yard bomb to Ben Cahoon. The Alouettes are within a two-point conversion of a tie game with a few seconds left. A song about the Alouettes quickly ensued and a quick prayer for a successful two point conver sion was uttered. “God, I don’t ask for much,” said Mincoff. “But please let this team score this two point conver sion.” 9 :0 6 P M Unfortunately, prayers went unanswered and the Als missed the two-pointer. There were feable shouts that there was pass interfer ence but it was not to be. The Als just lost a heartbreaker 28-26. “Well, we gave it a good run,” said a somber Handleman. “There’s always next year. When the Als make it to the Grey Cup we’re all going to go to the Olympic Stadium and cheer them on.” It was a great experience to see the intensity on the faces of Als fans. Unfortunately, the game ended in a disappointing loss. Next year’s team will be pretty much intact and may be favoured to win the Grey Cup which will be held in Montreal. Hopefully, the Alouettes will make the hometown crowd happy.

" F iv e Y e a r s t o N o w h e r e " H o u le e ra h a s l e f t C a n a d ie n s o r g a n iz a t io n in d is a r r a y

O ut o f L e ft F ie ld Jeremy Kuzmarov

For all of the flack he took in the media while serving as General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens, Réjean Houle — who after his firing was moved to a pub lic relations role with the Habs — has always been referred to as a congenial fellow, who is very easy to get along with. Having spoken to Houle last year for an article on former Redmen captain and Habs prospect Mathieu Darche, who eventually signed with the Columbus BlueJackets, I can concur with that assessment. Whereas various McGill ath letes who shall remain nameless have taken their merry time getting back to Tribune columnists seeking to write a feature on them, Houle was extremely courteous and polite in my dialogue with him. He called

me — a lowly college sports editor — back within minutes after I con tacted his secretary for an interview request. His exemplary character aside, Houle’s record as General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens from 1995-2000 left something to be desired — to say the least. Whereas historians have dubbed the Communist era in Eastern Europe as being “45 years to nowhere,” a similar designation, accounting for the shorter duration of his tenure, could be accorded to the Houle era in Montreal. Like in Eastern Europe, where the Soviet puppets collectivized all agricultural holdings, and re-built the economy around inflexible heavy industry, Houle rebuilt his Canadiens team around one-dimen sional louts like the now-departed Turner Stevenson, and Scott Thornton. Like the Communist leaders, Houle was blind to the ways of the future. Where in the former case, there was a scant effort to embrace technology and the information age, in the latter case, there was a

minimal effort to draft speedy European players and to expand the Canadiens’ scouting bureau abroad. As a result, besides Finnish born Saku Koivu, who has floun dered due to injuries and a weak supporting cast, the Canadiens have been forced to rely on slow footed relics who cannot keep pace with the influx of talented foreign ers around the league. The Habs have passed over impact players like Marian Hossa, Simon Gagné, Milan Hejduk, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez in recent drafts. Instead, they have drafted flops like Jason Ward, Terry Ryan, and Matt Higgins. The verdict is still out on Eric Chouinard and Mike Ribiero. Besides the farm system being left dry, the Canadiens current ros ter has been left bereft of talent. That is problematic considering the team focused its strategy not on rebuilding, or developing a good team for the future — but on win ning now. Funny how the effect has been the exact opposite. Not only are there no viable prospects in the sys tem, but also the 2000-2001 team

has no hopes of competing for the championship — let alone of mak ing the playoffs. Whereas the Habs possessed dynamic players when Houle first arrived — like Pierre Turgeon, Mark Recchi, Darcy Tucker, Valeri Bure, Jonas Hoglund and Lyle Odelein, all who starred for other teams after they were traded away for minimal return— the present cast, which currently has the worst record in the National Hockey League, is filled with has-beens like Trevor Linden, and by neverwill-bes like Juha Lind, P.J Stock, Sergei Zholtok, and I’m sorry to say, Oleg Petrov. Perhaps the worst Houle manoeuvre was his 1999 trade of the Canadiens first round draft pick, 10th overall, for Linden, who was in his prime when he was the Captain of the Vancouver Canucks — in 1987. To be fair, Houle can’t be the only one to blame for the Canadiens’ woes. He was put on the spot early on when head coach Mario Tremblay alienated start netminder Patrick Roy and forced him to trade

from a position of weakness. Also, his counterparts in upper-management, like departed farm director Pierre Boivin, have been inept. He has made some smart deci sions, like the 1998 swap of Jocelyn Thibeault for Jeff Hackett. Nevertheless, Houle himself, however nice a guy, deserves a great portion of the blame for the Canadiens’ dire predicament which doesn’t look to get better anytime soon. Given the disarray and lack of direction by which the organization is presently characterized, it could be a long time before the bleu, blanc et rouge compete for the Stanley Cup. As the countries of Eastern Europe grapple with life after Communism, so too will the Habs struggle with the damaging legacy of Rejean Houle, which will not be so easily overcome.

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