M cG ILL T R IB U N E Published by the S tudents' Society o f M cG ill U n ive rsity since 1981
Vol. 22 Issue 10
Tuesday, N ovem ber 4, 2003
Space crisis in music faculty Funding problems will leave new building unfinished Farah Qasemi
NINA ZACHARIADES
The M cGill Symphony Orchestra th rilled its audience Saturday night w ith Shostakovich's Sym phony N o . 15.
Martlets crowned Quebec champs M eghan O'Reilly Rookie Jenny W hite scored on a scramble in the 56th m inute to lead the McGill M artlets over the Laval Rouge et O r 1-0 in the Quebec Student Sports Federation final on Sunday. It is the 12th time in school history that McGill has won the provincial championship. W hite took a pass from defender Catherine Lumsden and deked Laval’s all-star keeper M elinda M orin on M cGill’s first scoring opportunity o f the second
half. Rookie keeper Kristina Perusco o f Toronto stopped five shots en route to another shutout. T h e M artlets earned a favourable draw in round-robin play at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport cham pi onship to be played at Molson Stadium this week. McGill will meet O ttaw a and Queens. Laval, UBC, and U CCB form the other pool. McGill edged l’Université de Montréal Carabins 2-1 Friday in
I Dev/Matt square off over the issue of gender-neutral bathrooms. OP/ED, PAGE 6
I Inside Sex Motel: PVC, wings, and Robin Black in a pink fur coat. A&E, PAGE 8 Π)
“We have a bunch of hard-nosed guys who aren’t going to back down for anything.”
the semi-final. T he crowd thought the game was all over w ithin the first 10 m inutes. D anielle D ay scored McGill’s first marker early in the match off a well placed cross from co-captain Nicole Shepherd. McGill kept its 1-0 lead for the entire first half and m ost o f the second, trying desperately to get an insurance goal. It seemed like an invisible wall was preventing the women from doing so as they hit two crossbars and a post during one particular rush. Although McGill p ut togeth er a couple o f the best passing streaks seen from the team all year, the M ardets also seemed to have their minds elsewhere, per haps the im pending national cham pionship. Regardless, the Carabins responded in the 78th m inute o f play, sending a crucial header past the hands o f Perusco to tie the game 1-1. T he Carabins finally looked like a team vying for the opportu nity to play in the conference championship. T hey almost p u t
SPORTS, PAGE 17
See W O M E N 'S , pag e 19
Relief is not in sight for music students waiting hours to get access to a practice room during peak times. O ften they are forced to share w ith at least one other musician. T he current overcrowded conditions for practice and adm inistration in the Faculty of Music are not expected to improve with the completion o f the new build ing, according to D ean o f Music D on McLean. C onstruction o f the new music building began in June after several delays. M cLean him self has been involved w ith the project since 1998. “In the m uch-anticipated new building, there will be no additional practice rooms,” said McLean. T h e problem extends beyond students, said David M atthews, U1 Music. “[My violin teacher is a] full-time professor, and they can’t supply prac tice rooms to her,” said Matthews. “I have to have my lessons in a room with pianos banging from two sides. These are just unacceptable condi tions.” According to Students’ Society Council music representative Ashley Becker, the faculty has about 800 stu dents. Currendy, there are 66 practice rooms available to students, and only 24 o f them are equipped w ith a piano. Practice is a crucial part o f the music curriculum, Becker said. “It’s like weekly lab hours for a science student or frequent com put ing for an engineering student.” T he faculty adm inistration has also been forced to share office space and rehearsal venues. According to McLean, Music is the only faculty in w hich full-time tenured professors share offices. “We have space issues w ith every thing. If you w ant to do a recital or a concert, everything is fidly booked until June,” said G ordon Foote, chair o f the departm ent o f performance arts. According to faculty adm inistra
tion, the first phase o f the project should be com pleted by January 2005, b ut the timeline for the second phase, which includes the construc tion o f additional practice rooms, is presently unknown. “T he new building won’t have any practice rooms since the adminis tration lacks funding to complete floors six and seven o f the [eightstorey] building,” Becker said. T he incompleteness o f the two floors, originally planned to be adm inistration and staff offices, will force offices to be set up on floors that could potentially be used as practice space. In addition, the lease for the Marvin D uchow Music Library at 550 Rue Sherbrooke is ending soon, and the adm inistration is planning to relocate it to the new building once construction is complete. “W ith the current library moving into the new building, we will in fact lose 15 to 20 o f our current practice rooms that are presently set up in the library,” said Becker. These practice “booths,” infor mally called “Wengers” and produced by the Quebec firm Macar, are highly expensive and too small for adequate practicing by all Music students, McLean said. “Practice rooms are highly spe cialized spaces that need to be venti lated and noise tig h t,” he said. Presently, the Strathcona Music Building is n ot fully soundproof. V ice-Principal A dm inistration and Finance M orty Yalovsky said that the situation has only recently come to the attention o f the University Planning Office. “T he Planning Office has met with the faculty to try and find a solu tion to the problem as quickly as pos sible,” he said. University Planning Office D irector C h u ck Adler prom ised immediate action. “O u r objective is to figure some thing o u t for as early as next semes ter,” he said. ■
2003 CIS Soccer national
championships are here! November
McGILL hosts the best In Canada this weekend
6 - 9 ,
Watch McGill battle for gold!
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