The McGill Tribune Vol. 30 Issue 20

EXCELLENT A D V E N T U R E , PA G E S î o - n

Published by the Tribune Publication Society Volume No. 30 Issue No. 20

C A struggles with quorum, passes 2 motions

H O C K E Y A C E, PA G E 19

Jobbook Details

By Theo Meyer Managing Editor Nearly a fortnight after the Students’ Society Council issued a public censure of President Zach Newburgh for his involvement with Jobbook.com, a social networking website designed to connect students at elite universities with employers, new details have emerged about the efforts by several councillors to re­ move Newburgh from office.

Certain councillors first learned of Newburgh’s involvement with Jobbook on February 2, according to a councillor present at the meet­ ing. Three members of the Execu­ tive Committee—Vice-President University Affairs Joshua Abaki, VP Clubs and Services Anushay Khan, and VP External Myriam Zaidi— met with them to discuss a motion to remove Newburgh from office.

Abaki led the effort, the councillor said.

At the Council meeting the fol­ lowing day, eight councillors—the minimum number required to begin impeachment proceedings—voted in confidential session to impeach Newburgh: Clubs & Services Rep­ resentative Maggie Knight, Music Representative Katie Larson, Sena­ tor Tyler Lawson, Arts Representa­ tive Kallee Lins, and Senator Amara Possian, in addition to the three ex­ ecutives with whom councillors had met the night before.

But not all the councillors who See “EXEC” on page 2

Students vote at Thursday’s General Assembly. See story page 2 . (Matt Essert/McGill Tribune)

Admin set to withhold AUS funds, putting services at risk M e n d e ls o n cite s fa ilu re to p ro v id e fu ll a u d it as p e r M o A as reason fo r n o t re le a sin g s tu d e n t fees

By Tori Crawford Editor-in-Chief After years of incomplete fi­ nancial statements from the Arts Undergraduate Society, the McGill administration has informed the group it will not release the student

fees collected for them this semester until the required documentation is submitted. Although the university was scheduled to release the cheque by today, as of last night the situation was at an impasse, with the AUS un­ able to provide the requested docu­ mentation and the Deputy Provost

(Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson’s office unwilling to re­ negotiate the matter.

The fees, which are collected from all Arts students by the univer­ sity on standard e-bills, make up the bulk of the AUS’s operating funds.

Receipt of these funds each semes­

ter, however, as stipulated in the AUS and McGill’s Memorandum of Agreement, is contingent on the AUS’ submission of a full financial audit, which has not happened in the three fiscal years since 2007. While the AUS has submitted documenta­ tion for the first two years, it has not

for 2009-2010 “We haven’t gotten the infor­ mation, we haven’t gotten the finan­ cials, and the auditor of the univer­ sity is telling us it’s inappropriate for us to be handing out the money to a group that hasn’t fulfilled their See “ASEF” on page 4

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CAMPUS

Two o f five General Assem bly m otions pass O th e r th re e m o tio n s to be d e b a te d at T h u rs d a y ’ s S S M U C o u n c il m e e tin g

By M aria Flores

News Editor The winter 2011 General As­ sembly took place last Thursday in a quarter-full Adams Auditorium.

Although quorum was reached at several parts of the GA, only two out of four motions debated success­ fully passed with quorum. Despite efforts made in the previous weeks this semester’s general assembly was sparsely attended.

“It was the same as all GAs in the past,” said Students’ Society President Zach Newburgh.

“There was quite a lot of ad­ vertising from the part of various individuals and groups and we got a standard turnout based on the mo­ tions that were submitted.”

A motion regarding the amend­ ment of the SSMU bylaws to include its investments in corporate shares and government bonds was one of two that passed with quorum. A res­ olution in which SSMU which man­ dated SSMU to determine whether or not bikes are a viable asset on

campus also passed.

According to Newburgh, the bylaw regarding investment is a re­ quired step in order for a corporation to invest or have shares. “That’s im­ plemented and we are already taking care of that,” he said.

A motion to mandate SSMU to investigate the safety of biking on campus passed. Newburgh explained that he and SSMU Vice-President University Affairs Joshua Abaki will be working together to determine how this will be approached.

A motion to oppose SSMU’s hiring McKinsey and Co. as a con­ sulting firm did not pass with quo­ rum. But according to GA speaker Cathal Rooney-Cespedes it was the resolution that incited the most de­ bate before the GA. “A lot of people who came out to vote for it were the ones who felt passionate about it,” Rooney-Ces­ pedes said.

“If the entire student body was given the chance to vote on some­ thing like that, there wouldn't have been a large majority of people for

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it.”

Rooney-Cespedes explained that the opposition to McGill hiring McKinsey was mainly due to what the motion described as the firm’s record of consulting educational institutions from a purely econom­ ic perspective, often proposing to lower salaries and increase tuition.

A motion to condemn the McGill administration’s tight control over the use of its name by services, and independent study groups of the Student’s Society was the second one unable to pass with quorum.

“I think a lot of people believe in the motion and think that it is something that we definitely should fight for,” said SSMU VP Clubs and Services Anushay Khan.

These motions will be present­ ed at SSMU Council for approval on Thursday.

“Ultimately, these are recom­ mendations from a consultative body, and I plan to take them into consideration in our future business, regarding both of these motions,” Newburgh said.

A fifth motion called on SSMU to hire a consulting firm to investi­ gate SSMU’s business practices and efficiency. It was ruled out of order because financial decisions on be­ half of SSMU cannot be made at a General Assembly.

“It is always disappointing that the GA doesn’t hit quorum,” Rooney-Cespedes said. “When you are making such large decisions, the fact that it’s less than a hundred stu­ dents making that decision on behalf of the student body is a bit dispro­ portionate to what people always thought of as democracy.”

At one point in the GA, a mem­ ber of the audience called out the speaker for addressing the audience in an impolite manner. But RooneyCespedes claimed that his obliga­ tion was to make sure the event took place within the rules.

“When you are in any general assembly, the best way to go about it is to be as strict as possible with the rules of procedure or else you’ll have total anarchy.”

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Meetings: Mondays at 5:30 p.m.

Shatner no

Exec tries to move on after censure C ontinued from COVER

voted to impeach Newburgh neces­ sarily wanted to remove him from office, the anonymous councillor said.

“Most of us just wanted to talk about it,” the councillor said.

Councillors never actually voted on whether or not to remove Newburgh from office. By the time the motion came up for a vote, it had been amended to censure Newburgh instead, with Education Represen­ tative Kady Paterson substituting her name for Possian’s. Seventeen councillors voted in favour of the censure in confidential session, with six opposed and one—Newburgh— abstaining.

According to interviews with councilors and executives, the Ex­ ecutive Committee has made an ef­ fort move forward with business, with one exception—Joshua Abaki.

In an article published online on February 7, the Chronicle of Higher Education quoted an email message to the publication in which Abaki said that Newburgh had “lost the moral authority” to lead SSMU. “It is further troubling,” Abaki told the Chronicle, “that he is more concerned about Jobbook’s prospects than amid all this rather than the great harm he has done to [SSMU].”

In addition, Abaki refused to stand at the front of the room with the rest of the Executive Committee

during the SSMU General Assembly on Thursday while they present their Executive reports.

“It’s clear that Josh and Zach are still not getting along,” Maggie Knight said.

Abaki and Newburgh are re­ quired to work closely together in dealing with the McGill administra­ tion, including the current negotia­ tions to renew SSMU’s lease on the Shatner Building and its Memoran­ dum of Agreement with McGill.

The two are scheduled to meet with Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson on Tuesday—their first such meet­ ing since the censure. Newburgh declined to comment on his rela­ tionship with Abaki for this article and Abaki was unavailable at press time.

Other members of the Ex­ ecutive Committee, however, have made greater efforts to patch things up in the past week.

“I think things are relatively amiable,” VP External Tom Fabian said. “But there is a wound to be healed.”

SSMU Council is scheduled to meet again for the first time since the censure on Thursday, but it is un­ clear whether Newburgh's dealings with Jobbook will come up again.

“There are councillors who would like to see Zach removed from office,” said Clubs & Servic­ es Representative Max Zidel, but

added that he didn’t think council­ lors would bring forward another motion to impeach him without a request from students.

Such a request could come on Thursday in the form of a studentinitiated referendum question, which would require the signatures of 200 undergraduates. Despite rumours that such a petition was being pre­ pared, Knight and other councillors said they had seen no solid evidence that one would be brought to Coun-. cil on Thursday.

According to Speaker of Coun­ cil Cathal Rooney-Cespedes, how­ ever, it is unclear whether a such a move to remove Newburgh would be allowed, as Council has already tried Newburgh for his involvement with Jobbook.

“There might be some ambigu­ ity,” he said, “because you’re talking about trying someone for the second time based on the same accusation, and there are laws that prohibit that.”

Despite the lack of support for another impeachment motion, sev­ eral councillors have said that a for­ mal apology and the release of more information—what Knight called “an act of good faith”—might help Council move forward with new business.

“I think the issue needs to be cleared up, personally, to prove or disprove what’s been said in the media,” Kallee Lins said.

3

Tuesday, Febuary 15, 2011

CAMPUS

McGill sends students to Antarctica to conduct research

S tu d e n ts fro m C a rle to n , U n iv e rs ity o f O tta w a , and U C LA a lso ta k in g p a rt in fie ld e x p e d itio n

By Eric Mauser_________________ Contributor Many students have complained about Montreal’s arctic temperatures in the past weeks, but few, if any, have actually had a real Arctic expe­ rience. In the coming weeks, that is about to change. A group of McGill students led by Professor Eric Gal­ braith are heading to Antarctica for a two-week field study program as part of a course offered by the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at McGill.

Galbraith, who has been to Ant­ arctica six times, described his ex­ periences there as “unlike anywhere else—it's as close as we can get to visiting another planet.”

It appears there is no other way to describe an experience in which students will be able see penguins, seals, and glaciers as part of their daily course activities. Indeed, it was some of these activities and the uniqueness of the experience that drew several McGill students to the course in the first place.

“The main reason why I chose to go on this study was because it gave me the chance to go to Ant­ arctica,” said Katrina Adams, a U3 Biology major taking part in the trip.

“Now, not many field courses take

you there, and it is pretty much the adventure of a lifetime.”

The course involved a series of lectures with Galbraith prior to de­ parture. Students will be taking sci­ entific measurements of ocean cur­ rents and of the glaciers themselves while in Antarctica. They will also have the opportunity to see many of the concepts they had learned about throughout their studies.

“We'd like to take some useful measurements of how the ocean cur­ rents are behaving, which may be important for understanding the re­ sponse of the Antarctic ice sheet to climate change,” Galbraith said.

Climate change is an important issue for many students taking part in the field study.

“I want to have a different perspective of the climate issue by looking at one of the regions where the impacts of global warming are significant,” said Audrey Yank, a U4 Biosource Engineering major who is taking part in the study.

“Antarctica has a really large impact on global climate, because it acts kind of like a refrigerator for the world, and an aeration pump for the oceans,” Galbraith said. “Because it's so hard to get to, it is not all that well understood, and there are still lots of scientific mysteries to explore

(ArtsOnEarth.com) there.”

To get to Antarctica, students flew to Argentina, and then boarded a boat that was scheduled to bring them to Antarctica on Monday. The students will use the boat as the base for their daily studies. Staying on the continent itself would involve living at a research facility, which Gal­ braith said was not possible.

McGill arranged the two-weeklong study in Antarctica through

Students on Ice, a non-profit orga­ nization specializing in educational events in both the Northern and Southern polar areas. Students on Ice’s mission statement says its goal is to “to provide students, educators and scientists from around the world with inspiring educational opportu­ nities at the ends of the Earth and, in doing so, help them foster a new understanding and respect for the planet.”

McGill students are not the only ones taking part in this field study. Students from Carleton Uni­ versity, the University of Ottawa, and the University of California, Los Angeles are among the half-dozen schools sending students to Antarc­ tica through the same program. The approximate cost per student for the trip is $11,000.

CITY

Former Concordia student sues university over expulsion A s h ra f A zar, w h o in itia lly s o u g h t $ 13.5 m illio n in d a m a g e s, arg ue s th a t case w as u n ju s tly d is m is s e d

By Eric Mauser__________________ Contributor On January 20, Ashraf Azar, a Concordia University student ex­ pelled for plagiarism in 2004, en­ tered the Quebec Superior Court to begin a new lawsuit against Concor­ dia. This lawsuit, unlike the previous one filed in 2007, seeks a court in­ junction in place of monetary dam­ ages.

“If I really had the opportunity to move on, I would have,” Azar said, describing his battle with Con­ cordia. “But I haven't been given the opportunity.”

The incident at the centre of the lawsuit occurred in 2004 during what would have been Azar’s last semester at Concordia. Azar was accused of breaking and entering into a professor's office and stealing academically important material, an accusation Azar vehemently de­ nied. This charge led to an academic hearing where, according to Azar, a university-sponsored advocate ad­

Azar says he just wants his “day in court.” (thelink.theorem.ca) vised him to plead guilty for a prom­ ise of leniency. Instead, Azar found himself expelled only a few weeks before he would have earned his di­ ploma.

“The strange part about the breaking and entering,” Azar said, “is that there was no police or secu­ rity report ever filed.”

Concordia University refused to comment on the case.

“I was found guilty of plagia­ rism ... in a course I was not regis­ tered in, in a program I was not in, with a professor I had never seen,” Azar added. “They don't have any evidence [against me], aside from my testimony.”

Speaking about his confession to the charge and subsequent retrac­ tion of it, Azar said, “It's difficult... for a lot of people to comprehend

admitting to a mistake ... and then recanting i t ... the thing is that advo­ cacy has a history with other students of telling them to take the blame for things they did not do.”

Azar also claimed he would be able to prove his accusations against the advocacy group in court with ev­ idence from other people’s incidents as well. But Azar may not be given the chance. His first lawsuit against the university, in 2007, was thrown out because he waited too long to file suit. The presiding judge, Jus­ tice Israel Mass, wrote in his ruling, “this is four years later and we are certainly beyond reasonable delay [in filing suit].”

Azar claims he delayed filing suit because his first move after his expulsion was to try negotiating with Concordia. When Concor­ dia offered him a year's probation in exchange for a guilty plea, Azar refused because he did not want to have to confess to a crime he did not commit. He then obtained what he describes as “incorrect” legal advice

in 2006. This, according to Azar, caused the delay in filing which led to the late lawsuit. Azar initially sued the school for $13.5 million in damages.

Justice Mass claimed he had no evidence that Azar had ever sought legal representation. Azar appealed Mass's decision in 2009, but his ap­ peal was rejected.

Azar, who represented himself in his 2007 lawsuit and is now doing the same, maintains that his case was unjustly dismissed.

“Once you enter into the court system,” he said, “you realize justice is a privilege rather than a right.” He said that his experience has been one of what he calls “institutionalized injustice” and hopes that he can rec­ tify this with his suit When Azar, who is married and is a soon to be father of three, was asked what he would do if, after seven years, if he was finally al­ lowed a new disciplinary hearing, he simply replied, “I'd get my day [in court].”

4

Curiosity Delivers. www.mcgilItribune.coni

News in Brief_____ ASEF, University o f Alberta student wears jeans 330 tim es over 15 m onths— w ithout w ashing them One of the biggest trends in men’s fashion is “raw” or “dry” denim. These are jeans made of material that isn’t pre-washed after the dying process. Because of this, they fade uniquely to the wearer and, according to some, shouldn’t be washed nearly as much as pre­ washed denim. At first they’re very stiff, but after a while they’re easy to wear, relatively easy to take care of, and friendly to the environment.

Josh Le, a third-year gen­ eral studies student at the Univer­ sity of Alberta, decided to see how long he could wear his pair of raw jeans without washing them start­ ing in September 2009. He lasted 15 months. Within this period, Josh wore his jeans, according to his ap­ proximation, 330 times while walk­ ing, running, biking, sleeping, and generally in his everyday life.

“At first, it’s way stiffer than normal jeans,” Le said. “But then as you wear them, it conforms to your body and fades in ways completely unique to you, so I wanted to see how mine would fade over a long period of time.”

As part of his experiment, Le went to Rachel McQueen, an as­ sistant professor in the university’s ecology department, in order to see whether there would be any bacte­ rial build up on the jeans between an initial test after 13 days and one after

15 months of continuous wear.

McQueen figured she would find some build-up, but the results proved her wrong.

“There wasn’t that much of a difference,” she said. “We found plenty of Coryne bacteria, which is normal and unique to everyone as part of their own micro flora. We checked for pathogenic bacteria and didn’t find any.”

Josh did take some measures to prevent his jeans from smelling too bad. He aired them by hanging them outdoors overnight or in the garage in the winter. He also put them in the freezer occasionally to keep them fresh.

“There’s a general rule of thumb, which is to wash your jeans every six months. But I wanted to see how far I could stretch that,” he said. “I pretty much wore them till they were paper thin and holes were starting to form.”

Le isn’t the only raw denim en­ thusiast around; he’s part of growing raw denim movement. Le mentioned his plans to go to the Heavyweight Denim Championship of The World, where raw denim enthusiasts come from all over to compete to see which jeans have the best cut and the best fading after 24 months of wear and abuse.

—Nathaniel Finestone

Bar des Arts likely to suffer

Continued from COVER responsibility,” Mendelson said.

According to AUS President David Marshall, each semester since the group first failed to submit an audit, the president of the AUS or their auditor sent a letter to the dep­ uty provost’s office explaining that an audit would soon be forthcoming and the administration released the fees. But the administration informed Marshall it would not release this se­ mester’s fees until certain financial documentation from the 2009-2010 fiscal year was submitted.

“We had a written agreement from the previous president and VP Finance of the AUS agreeing to pro­ vide the information we were miss­ ing,” Mendelson said. “That didn’t work. We had another commitment by the AUS this year, which is why we released the Fall cheque. There are just so many times this can hap­ pen ... once bitten, twice shy.”.

Marshall said that despite his best efforts, those of the rest of the executive, and those of the group’s new accounting firm RSM Richter, the AUS does not have enough doc­ umentation to meet the university’s deadline. Although RSM Richter submitted a letter to the administra­ tion on December 21, 2010, explain­ ing the situation and assuring them that the AUS’s newly implemented financial practices would allow them to complete full audits from this point forward, Marshall received a letter from Mendelson on Janu­ ary 21 explaining that without the requested information, they would

still not be able to release the AUS’s cheque this semester.

“There was nothing in our his­ tory that would have suggested that this year, of all years, when we’re trying to rectify not only the imme­ diate financial issues but all of the historical reasons behind the issues we’ve had, the university should come around and say ‘OK, we’re going to cut you off,”’ Marshall said.

Without these funds, Marshall said, the AUS will have to make some drastic cuts to the services it provides. The first affected, he said, would likely be the Arts Student Em­ ployment Fund, which contributes to the salaries of student research­ ers. Events like Bar des Arts would also lose funds. In addition, Mar­ shall expressed concern about being able to pay for the services of RSM Richter, the accounting firm that has been working with the group since the Fall to help them set up sound business practices.

Since they are volunteer-run, services like peer tutoring and the essay centre will continue normal operations. The Arts Computer Labs will be unaffected, because they are administered by a separate fund.

Marshall is confident that the Soci­ ety’s St. Patrick’s Day events and Red and White Ball will happen, but he said that the executives have al­ ready begun putting some AUS ex­ penses on their personal credit cards in anticipation of being repaid later.

Mendelson also said the AUS is not the first undergraduate society to

have issues with its audits.

“We’ve had certain problems with other associations where the proper records aren’t kept,” he said.

“There isn’t the responsible account­ ing that I assume students want and certainly that students deserve.”

Management Undergraduate Society President Céline Junke said the MUS had submitted documents late before. According to Engineer­ ing Undergraduate Society President Daniel Keresteci, his organization faced a similar situation a few years ago, when they hadn’t filed their audits for a number of years. Now, however, the group has sound ac­ counting practices in place, he said.

“McGill hounds us for our audit, but they know the relation­ ship we have where we use the same firm every year,” Keresetci said. “So we just tell them that we’re waiting from our auditing firm and they’re like, ‘OK,’ and when it comes in I sign it and we send it over to McGill for approval.”

Mendelson added that discus­ sions with the AUS are ongoing.

“Right now we’re in a conver­ sation with the AUS trying to find out what kind of information they can indeed supply, and we’re wait­ ing to hear from them,” he said.

According to Marshall, it is not yet clear what will happen to the funds if they are not released to the AUS on Tuesday. He is hopeful, however, that the administration will be willing to negotiate.

Additional reporting by Matt Essert.

E D U C A T IO N

C E C E P s try to cope with overflowing student population T o p s tu d e n ts tu rn e d away because o f space re s tric tio n s ; CEGEPs s c ra m b le to m ake a c c o m m o d a tio n s

By Nathaniel Finestone Contributor In the last couple of years, overcrowding has become a major problem in Montreal CEGEPs. Sim­ ply put, there are more students who have the proper academic credentials than there are spots available.

On January 20, the Gazette re­ ported that the Quebec government is going to wait until after the March 1 deadline to decide how much to commit to Montreal’s overcrowded CEGEPS. The Montreal CEGEPs, however, are already dealing with the effects of being told to take ad­ ditional students.

Vanier College, for instance, had to tum away a number of topquality students due to space restric­ tions in 2010. Good students were told they would have to take night classes instead of studying full-time.

Vanier was eventually allowed to ac­ cept the students it initially designed, but not without a strain. “[Between 2005 and 2010], we have grown 14.5 per cent in the number of students in the school, [which] has brought us to 900 over our normal limit,” said Gilbert Heroux, Vanier’s director general.

CEGEPs all across Montreal have had to take more students to accommodate the growing amount of high school graduates. “[The government] told us we had to take an extra 300 students last year and now they’re telling us to take another 300, so we’re 600 over our normal limits” said Paul Rastelli, coordinator of student ser­ vices at Dawson College for the last 10 years.

At Dawson, Rastelli said that they had acquired seven new class­ rooms and two new computer labs

from the Pepsi Forum across the street to accommodate new students.

But other CEGEPs haven’t been so lucky.

John Abbott College, located in the West Island near the Macdonald campus of McGill, started construc­ tion on a new building in August 2010.

“But that won’t be finished until 2014, so it’s still very crowded espe­ cially in places where people gath­ er,” said Andrew Shulman, a student at John Abbott in his eighth semes­ ter, currently in the creative art, lan­ guages, and literature program.

“It’s because more kids are graduating high school and seeing the benefits of going to CEGEP,” he said, “and also older people are com­ ing back in order to either go into professional programs to change ca­ reers, or just looking to get an extra degree to be more competitive on

the job market.”

Heroux, however, differed on why he thought there were more stu­ dents.

“It’s just because of a demo­ graphic boom we had which is showing now in more high school graduates,” he said. “This is a prob­ lem which is going to solve itself in two to four years. We need a strong government initiative temporarily because it is a problem which will solve itself’ Of course, there are some ben­ efits to having a larger student body.

Jesse Binstock, recreation techni­ cian in charge of campus recreation and league sports at Dawson College said that campus sports participation this year has not been higher since 2001.

“From an athletics standpoint we’ve had the best year ever,” he said. “Every team had to make cuts

[after tryouts]. Teams are the best they’ve ever been. We had 150 peo­ ple try out for two spots on the AAA basketball team this year.”

Although it has been a great year for athletic achievement, Binstock said that an insufficient num­ ber of support staff has made run­ ning his office difficult. The approv­ al of Bill 100 last summer, designed to reduce debt and return a balanced budget, has made the overcrowding even more logistically challenged.

The bill affects not only CE­ GEPs but universities such as McGill as well, in stipulating that for every two support staff, there can only be one replacement. As the staff ranks thin, student populations are explod­ ing.

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RECHERCHONS: TRAVAILLEURS SOCIAUX « Ma p re m iè re p réo ccu p a tio n va au m o ra l et à la s a n té de n o s m ilita ires. C 'est pour fa ire une d iffé re n c e d an s le u r vie que je m e su is e n r ô lé e . P o u rta n t, ce so n t so u v en t le u r s r e m e r c ie m e n ts qui font une d iffé re n c e d a n s la m ie n n e .»

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Watch your language!

Last week, I finished the run of the show Attempts on Her Life at TNC Theatre. It was successful.

I was happy. The crowds loved it, we sold out every show, and the re­ views glowed with positivity. But one review in particular caught my eye because of a mistake. And it happened in the paper I write for.

The play itself was a caval­ cade of different styles, themes, and languages. In particular, the actors speak a foreign language in two different scenes. However, in the Tribune review of our show, one of the scenes in question was ex­ plained to be “in both English and, perhaps, Russian.” This is wrong. I do not speak Russian, I speak Ser­ bian. While I understand how such a mistake can occur, since the Slavic languages all sound fairly similar, this does not change the fact that such a blatant mistake could have been avoided by simply asking me, or anyone who was in the play or worked on the play, what language I was speaking.

This poor fact-checking has been seen in the past.

Student journalists have an ob­ ligation to report the truth as closely as possible. While this error is not permanent or destructive in the gen­ eral scheme of things, I still find it distressing that the reviewer did not bother to ask anyone what language was being spoken before writing it and passing it off as fact. I under­ stand that the “perhaps” was added to appease the public as a way of say­ ing “I don’t really have a clue what language it was,” but it still doesn’t

Democracy is not a right I didn’t support the protests in Egypt until recently. Why would these protesters try to topple their own government and implement a democratic system when this has failed in many other Middle East­ ern countries? Why would these protesters demand the resignation of their country’s leader who helped maintain stability in the region?

I was afraid of what these pro­ tests would mean to the Middle

excuse the fact that what was writ­ ten is wrong. How deep, if at all, do student journalists delve in order to get true facts and proper informa­ tion that isn’t just conjured from speculation? Again, this doesn’t seem like a big deal to many people, but this small, insignificant mistake, because it affected me personally, actually makes me skeptical about the entire process of journalistic intent, writers subverting the pillar of journalism that is fact-checking in order to just spit out an article in time to get it published.

Being Serbian is part of my identity and when it’s brushed off, or guessed at, it’s unnerving. It would seem bold to say that a person of Asian descent is “perhaps” speak­ ing Chinese, just because it sounds Asian. I think there would be some­ what of an uproar if that was includ­ ed in a piece. Speaking Serbian in a play is a way of representing my heritage. I use the language to my advantage in the play, utilizing the harshness and quickness with which I can speak it to perform a character that is pertinent to the dialogue and intent of the scene. It’s a metaphor, an ironic statement of what people think of Serbians.- But we have Djokovic and Tesla, so it’s all good.

Seeing “Serbian” written in a school newspaper would have been a personal victory for me, seeing as my culture is underrepresented at McGill (fellow Serbians, give me a “Pa, jebote!”), and my ties to my culture are difficult to access in Montreal. This was a way for me to show people where I’m from and that I love to speak another lan­ guage that most others aren’t privy to hearing very often, if at all. It’s a way for me to bring my heritage into a McGill space, and so be proud of it. I hope, in a time when student politics has had its fair share of controversies, that the essential in­ formation presented to readers isn’t mishandled or misrepresented, as it can easily be.

East. Certainly, if Mubarak stepped down or was overthrown, this would cause problems for the country’s neighbours, who must now acquaint themselves with a new regime. I believed if these protesters “won,” then nearby countries would learn from their example and wreak simi­ lar havoc in their own nations.

My concerns were selfish, as I was only considering the safety and stability of the region, and not of the Egyptian people themselves. I had forgotten the key reason for these protests: food.

Yes, I think these protesters can sum up what they want in one word. They want food. This is not intended to sound condescending or judgmental. Poverty has been rising for years and according to some re­ ports, it has reached 40 per cent of a population whose president is worth

Interested in photojournalism?

Whenever someone asks me why I study Arabic here at McGill, I can’t give a good reason. Not that I have to. But it would be nice to say I have relatives in the Middle East, or that I ’ve always loved the language.

I don’t, and I haven’t.

In the summer before my sec­ ond year at university, I logged on to Minerva, did some perfunctory clicking, and made Arabic my minor and political science my major. That was that. I had shingles at the time— likely from worrying so much about my future—and I wanted to ease my nerves with a quick decision.

English, history, and philoso­ phy appealed to me, but Arabic and political science would make me marketable and would get me a job, with a think tank in Washing­ ton or an NGO in the Middle East. It seemed like a noble compromise.

The first semester of Arabic was trying: class every day, hours of homework every night, lots of con­ fusion. If you worked hard, as I did, it grew less painful. But it never got easy, and by the second year of Ara­ bic, I wondered if all the hard work was worth it, if I really wanted to sell myself in the way I had imagined I would. The compromise started to feel forced, disingenuous.

I also took one class in Middle East politics, but it made me sad and frustrated. I kept wondering: Is this it? All this war and corruption and repression and sand? All these people who don’t speak up?

For that class I wrote a paper on political apathy in Egypt, ques­ tioning why the Egyptians seemed

so passive towards Hosni Muba­ rak’s regime. My Arabic professor grew up in Cairo and I didn’t blame him for leaving.

I almost decided to drop Arabic this year, as many others had. But I made a deal with myself: just get through it, do the work, try to enjoy yourself, and don’t think you’re forcing a future you don’t want.

It helped. Arabic was still hard, but not merely a path to a job. In January, when I heard about the rev­ olution in Tunisia, I felt happy, but not intrigued.

When the protests started in Egypt, though, I had to re-evaluate.

This isn’t just a heart murmur, I thought. This is a birth pang. I went online and started reading every­ thing I could find. Watching videos from Tahrir Square, I could read the Arabic words on the signs that pro­ testors held up so proudly; I could make out some of the lyrics to songs that men and women sang in jubila­ tion through the nights. I felt so in­ spired. I still do.

I know the Egyptian people still have a long way to go, but to me, they’ve already won. Egypt, and the Middle East, will never be the same. Dignity, respect, free­ dom, humanity—these are all very abstract notions. But right now in Egypt, they’re very real. By calling for dignity in the streets, the people have already gained it. Now they must take part in shaping their fu­ ture, not just worry about entering it.

That’s a story I can learn from.

I still don’t feel like I can give a good reason for studying Arabic.

I’m glad I chose to, but I have no immediate plans to visit the Middle East despite my desire to witness firsthand the action in Cairo.

In the coming weeks, however, as news from Egypt likely starts slipping from the headlines, I will be closely following the story as it unfolds. And the great thing is, learning Arabic has everything and nothing to do with it.

a couple billion. And so, it’s easy for people like myself sitting comfort­ ably in our homes, fridges stocked full of food, to forget how unnatu­ ral and horrifying hunger is. And this lack of food represents so much more: the government failing to dis­ perse foreign aid to their domestic population. So once I remembered this basic human right, I decided to jump on the anti-Mubarak band­ wagon.

While I understand Egyptians’ desire to fight for their government to provide them with human rights like food and bearable living condi­ tions, I don’t believe that democracy is a right or is right for everyone.

Many countries have tried to imple­ ment it and failed. Forcing democ­ racy on Iraq and Afghanistan has failed.

You might say that in this case

the Egyptians themselves want de­ mocracy, so this is a different situa­ tion. Well, it’s not.

The Egyptians want a better liv­ ing situation than the one they have now. They don’t want to have to take to the streets for food. So they think of democracy as the solution to their problems. It looks great in the West!

After all, it seems like the Western democratic countries have food sur­ pluses with governments who pro­ tect their basic human rights.

I value democracy and would not want to live in a society without it. But I don’t think everyone shares my views. I think some people don’t care whether they can vote, whether there are multiple parties, whether they have a fair say in government. fcWe’ve tried to implement democ­ racy in the Middle East, because we too equate democracy with these

other benefits.

The problem in Egypt is not de­ mocracy, but a corrupt government.

The way to get rid of a corrupt gov­ ernment and increase the standard of living in Egypt is not to implement a costly, lengthy, tiring transition to a democratic system, especially one that will be influenced by the Mus­ lim Brotherhood (which will then probably revert back to corruption).

Instead of a democracy the people have been hoping for, Mubarak’s resignation has created a military dictatorship. The protesters have not achieved their goal: they’ve merely overthrown one person.

Only time will tell how this will affect the Egyptian people and the stability of the region. For now, the people are crying out for one thing—and it’s not really democ­ racy.

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1rikassel@mcgilltribune.com

An Egypt of the mind

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Tribune Offices

— -------------- E d i t o r i a l ------------Admin should help, not hinder, the AUS Just when the Arts Under­ graduate Society’s financial future was looking brighter, it appears the McGill administration will withhold the group’s student fees for this se­ mester. The basis for the decision is a clause in the Memorandum of Agreement between McGill and the AUS which specifies that the society must submit annual audits of its fi­ nances to the university in order for student fees to be transferred to the group. The AUS did not submit an audit for three years, beginning in 2007, effectively giving the admin­ istration IOUs instead. While the university has released the student fees regardless in the past, they re­ cently informed the AUS that those days are over. This semester, the AUS will not receive its student fees until they submit outstanding finan­ cial documents from the 2009-2010

fiscal year.

The problem, however, is that McGill informed the AUS only in December that it would not be re­ ceiving its student fees. The AUS, moreover, is wading out of financial difficulties for which the current ex­ ecutive is entirely blameless. RSM Richter, the AUS’s new accounting firm, has assured the university that documentation is forthcoming. Ad­ ditionally, expenditures have already been made. For any plans made or contracts signed based on the AUS’s legitimate assumption that McGill would overlook the audit situation as it had in previous years, that is, apparently, just too bad for them.

In order to keep the society run­ ning and to fulfill the contracts al­ ready signed for future events, AUS executives have already incurred, and will likely continue to incur,

debt on their own personal credit cards. There are more events com­ ing up, and the accounting fees they have incurred to try and get their fi­ nances back on track will be hefty.

It’s unfortunate that the administra­ tion is choosing to cripple AUS in the midst of them trying to fix their financial problems. Though they will presumably be eventually repaid, the message to students interested in getting involved in the AUS in future years is this: don’t even think about it, unless your socioeconomic status enables you to incur personal debt in the interest of the society.

This is not in the executives’ official job description, to say the least.

The administration has a legiti­ mate point: memorandums of agree­ ment are legal documents, and need to be followed. Previous executives failed to fulfill their responsibilities.

However, McGill was also wrong to permit the AUS to form the assump­ tion that fees would be released re­ gardless. Until December, there was no indication the university would insist on receiving the full audit. By that point, the AUS had assumed financial obligations the university must have realized would be threat­ ened by the withholding of funds.

The McGill administration relies on the student services the AUS pro­ vides to help make this university as alluring to undergraduates as it is. It helped create the current prob­ lem and has apparently offered little in the way of assistance. Instead of paralyzing many of these services, the administration should work with the AUS to ensure its obligations are met and the student fees are re­ leased.

The GA needs peace, love, and understanding The General Assembly last Thursday flirted with quorum most of the night. As people floated in and out it did manage to pass two motions, but was forced to pass the other two as a “consultative forum.” The event was well advertised, as it has been in recent years. Indeed, it would have been harder to give it more promi­ nence than it attained in the media firestorm these past few weeks.

Anyone who passed by a copy of the Daily on campus or walked by the front doors of the Shatner building could not have helped but notice this GA’s time, place, and a declaration of its importance. We cannot explain exactly why most people did not show up to this year’s GA, though it

should not have come as a surprise.

But we frankly can also not explain why anybody who stumbled onto it and had no direct interest in one of the motions, was not in the student media, or was not in some other way obligated to go, would have any in­ terest in attending another one.

Opponents to radical reform of the GA over the past several weeks have heralded it as a forum for de­ bate; the purest forum available for the exercise of campus democracy.

There was, however, precious little debate on Thursday night. Instead, there was a stream of bullying an­ tics. Civil discourse gave way to heckling, jeering, and obnoxious snapping. This hostile atmosphere

provides little incentive for the aver­ age student to stay, or return.

It’s admirable that people at the GA wanted to fight for the rights of students. Yet it’s a mistake to think that “fighting” is the track we must take. An aggressive “us vs. them” mentality may feel satisfying and can carry emotional appeal, but it goes nowhere towards making stu­ dents look reasonable and, more importantly, achieving our goals. It may be hard to admit, but if recent conflicts are any indication, there may be more value in working with the administration while recogniz­ ing administrators as people with, hopefully, good intentions than in working against it. Like it or not,

students have very little power. We do not like when the administration acts abrasively towards us, prefer­ ring consultation and teamwork.

Perhaps the same tactics will work better on them than uncompromis­ ing antagonism.

Last Thursday, students often spoke of rights, of indignation over being ignored by the administration, and of fighting for justice. Let us hope the administration did not see the GA on TVMcGill. Far from em­ powering us, meanspirited rhetoric can only alienate people. Why would any student or administrator want to deal with people who don’t assume good will or value treating others as you’d have them treat you?

As he put it, “Algorithms ... are the computer programs that infer from your profile (in the case of Facebook) and from the content of your emails (in the case of Gmail) your interests and preferences.” While not technically incorrect, the writer simplifies a major field of computer science into one application of ad­ vertising. An algorithm is really a set of instructions. It can be used, given the right data, to infer your interests and preferences, but if an algorithm can also be used to schedule lectures at a university or manage banking transactions.

The other, more troubling inci­ dent that comes to mind is an article published on January 26 by Fox News. The article, “The internet is nearly out of IP addresses” describes the IPv4 exhaustion issue. The writer makes absurd claims such as “users could face painfully slow connec­ tion times on the IPv6 system,” “IPv6—a system that recognizes six

digit IP addresses rather than four­ digit ones,” and “at best, their user experience will be clunky and slow.”

The fact is, there will be no differ­ ence in latency between the two protocols—they’re actually not sys­ tems and the numeral is a protocol version, unrelated to the size of the addresses. In fact, a four digit IP ad­ dressing system would not be large enough to accommodate Google’s data centers, let alone the entire In­ ternet at its current size.

Maybe it seems I’m not person­ ally affected by these writers and their editors’ unwillingness to fact check. However, as a writer who commonly contributes science and technology articles, others’ misreporting puts me at a disadvantage.

Outlandish claims attract attention away from the truth readers deserve and undermine the contributions of honest and informed journalists.

I’ve also seen a number of things published in the campus media with

similar problems. News based on in­ sufficient or incorrect information is not news at all, it’s speculation. Poor journalism shouldn’t be tolerated by the consumers of campus media, es­ pecially when it’s recurrent.

There is no certification board for reporters, but perhaps there should be. Sometimes journalists don’t know any more than those to whom they are reporting. Why is it, then, that when politicians lie, they are punished for their actions, but journalists are not? There should be repercussions for poor reporting, some sort of regulation in an indus­ try that is otherwise a free-for-all.

The tendency of journalists to embellish stories is not new. The fact is, the journalist should be held ac­ countable for everything published under his or her name. Only in a sys­ tem where some form of validation and repercussions exist will all re­ porters be motivated to tell the truth.

That is what we’re after, isn’t it?

Editorial

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Fact-checking too often overlooked I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in science and technology reporting.

I’ve read two articles in the last few weeks citing facts that are entirely incorrect. Not only does this reflect poorly on the paper that prints them, but it misinforms readers. Misreporting should not be permitted in mainstream media, nor in campus media, as is sometimes the case.

An article published in the opinion pages of the New York Times on January 17, “Me and My Algorithm,” described a writer’s interaction with “his algorithm.”

8 Commentary Trip Yang

Social media activism has limitations In the early days of Egypt’s revolution, SMS and Internet ser­ vice, including social media sites, were cut off, perhaps indicating that Mubarak’s government was concerned about news of the crisis spreading. Because social media sites excel at rapid communication, these events suggest the facilitating effect they have in spreading revolu­ tions. Malcolm Gladwell, author of the controversial New Yorker piece “Small Change,” could have used the events in Egypt to clarify his position that social media activism doesn’t affect revolutions. Sadly, in

a recent blog post, Gladwell remains completely dismissive of social media activism and regurgitates his stance with historical anecdotes he’s used before.

Social media activism plays a significant role in organizing mass protests and allows us to commu­ nicate information exponentially faster than by traditional means. By following a tag on Twitter we can tune in to journalists live blogging on the scene. Facebook allows us to organize large events, such as politi­ cal protests, with much less logisti­ cal difficulty. Revolutions, whether they occur in 18th century France or Tunisia, revolve around a medi­ um of communication to motivate, alert, and organize the population.

While this medium once consisted of church meetings, town halls, and other non-digital means, nowadays critical information can be gath­ ered through Twitter updates. Social media activism can certainly serve as a catalyst to speed up revolutions.

ciety’s Board of Directors (i.e. ex­ ecutives and councillors) act as fiduciaries on behalf of the SSMU Corporation. According to Wikipe­ S a ra h O lle dia, a fiduciary is “a legal or ethi­ cal relationship of confidence or trust regarding the management of Want to be part of money or property between two or more parties.” In other words, the something corrupt? Directors of the SSMU Corporation are trusted to make financial deci­ sions on behalf of the membership.

Zach Newburgh abused his of­ The nature of this trust, according to fice, violated policies he is charged the Canadian Encyclopedia, means with enforcing, and lied to his con­ “fiduciaries cannot for personal stituents. He should be impeached gain avail themselves of opportuni­ and the full story should be told, ties arising from the discharge of including details about profits he in­ their duties.” There are demanding tended to make, in order to maintain rules that prohibit both profit-mak­ a standard of accountability, trans­ ing and any conflict of interest that parency, and ethical behavior from goes beyond that which is intrinsic our most senior student leaders. to the relationship. Strictly prohib­ 1.

Newburgh has abused his ited are secret benefits in the form legal position as a fiduciary, be­ of undisclosed kickbacks, commis­ stowed upon him and all council­ sions, profits, and discounts, as well lors of SSMU, for his own finan­ as conflicts of interest that involve cial gain. business and other personal advan­ Members of the Student So­

Commentary

At the same time, when main­ stream media pours unending acco­ lades on social media’s impact, such as a 2009 New York Times editorial titled “Iran’s Twitter Revolution,” it gives a misleading impression of social media’s influence. Mark Pfeifle, a former U.S. National Security Advisor, took it one step further by nominating Twitter for the Nobel Peace Prize arguing that the “people of Iran would not have felt empow­ ered and confident to stand up for freedom and democracy.”

Overstating the significance of new technology can be tempting but also gives us a false sense of prog­ ress. Revolutions and similar move­ ments that challenge the status quo require a significant amount of risk for the protester and a high level of motivation to remain committed in the face of threats, incarceration, and even death. In this sense, Gladwell is right. Similarly, breast cancer aware­ ness campaigns proliferated virally through Facebook statuses still need

committed organizers to come up with the promotional strategy and negotiate partnerships with breast cancer foundations, as well as active participants who proliferate the new meme. Updating a Facebook status by posting where you like to place your purse isn’t going to advance breast cancer research.

Another limitation of social media activism, specifically Twit­ ter, is that there’s a risk of informa­ tion overload. Live blogging from a plethora of journalists and com­ mentators makes it easy to get lost in the timeline of events and difficult to discern which events are facts and which are pure speculation. More structured news sources like A1 Jazeera and BBC are still more reli­ able avenues of information, as the fact-checking and editing processes allow this “noise interference” to be tuned out.

Gladwell is a master of prose and uses historical anecdotes very persuasively. While much of

his writing is enjoyable to read, Gladwell has a tendency to etch his opinions in stone. His recent rebuttal of social media making a difference in Egypt is unconvincing—his logic argues that because revolutions oc­ curred successfully before the Inter­ net, social media activism is there­ fore trivial and unnecessary. At the same time, we also shouldn’t believe that social media activism is a silver bullet that can topple authoritarian governments on its own. In its cur­ rent state, social media activism has limitations that render it question­ able as a breaking news source. So while social media is an incredibly useful tool, changing your Facebook profile pictures to your favor­ ite childhood cartoon in support of ending child violence probably isn’t worth more than a few “Likes” on your home page. Although if we all changed our profiles to a picture of Malcolm Gladwell, as my advisor suggested, maybe we can make a difference.

tages.” Newburgh abused his posi­ that he agreed to violate SSMU pol­ put him in office.

Newburgh must be held to a tion as a fiduciary with the aim of icy and then signed himself into an standard of ethicality and account­ securing a profit for himself. Though agreement to continue lying. ability to the students he serves SSMU Council must openly Newburgh claims his involvement in and represents.

Jobbook’s value as charge Newburgh with a violation of Jobbook was just like any other part a great service to students does not time job, this is false. He exploited SSMU policy and impeach him for excuse Newburgh’s unethical be­ his public position for his own finan­ his unethical and furtive actions. haviour.

He could have still provid­ 3.

Newburgh has continu­ cial benefit, making his involvement ed Jobbook to McGill students with­ ously lied to his constituents to with Jobook unethical. out incurring such egregious ethical cover his wrongdoing.

2.

Newburgh violated Newburgh lied about his in­ infractions, but chose financial gain SSM U’s Conflict of Interest Policy volvement in Jobbook being “ab­ above transparency. A censure is not and lied to execs and councillors. solutely in every way personal and enough—SSMU must follow the This policy requires complete not related to the SSMU,” and also rules it has set for itself. I encour­ transparency in admitting any po­ about SSMU being the only student age SSMU Councillors to carefully tential or actual conflict of interest. association offered a financial stake. consider the obligations they have Newburgh willingly and knowingly He has been inconsistent about who and act courageously to set SSMU entered himself into a confidential­ back on an ethical course. Students, signed confidentiality agreements, ity agreement that forbade him from please reach out to your student when, why, and what was covered. disclosing the details of his involve­ representatives to have your voice He has lied by omission by refus­ ment in Jobbook. By signing this agreement, he contractually bound ing to provide details of his financial heard. Otherwise we will all be com­ plied in corruption. himself to violate SSMU’s Conflict stake in Jobbook.

Sarah Olle was SSMU Vice Newburgh must finally admit of Interest Policy and to lie to his fellow executives and councillors the truth of the details of his involve­ President (Clubs and Services) in for months. His contractual obliga­ ment with Jobbook, accept the con­ 2009-2010, and graduated in 2010. tion should not vindicate him for sequences of his actions, and apolo­ She can be contacted at olle315@ his secrecy—it is all the more clear gize for lying to the students who gmail.com.

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By Monique Evans_____________ Contributor This vyeekend I was craving creamy, tangy, and rich. A craving like this can only be solved by two things: a good hollandaise sauce for Eggs Benedict or my Lemon and Artichoke Risotto. Risotto is usually done with Arborio rice.

This rice absorbs four times its volume in liquid and is very high in starch, giving risotto its charac­ teristic creaminess. In this recipe I use chicken broth, but vegetable broth will do just fine. I also pre­ fer to use dry vermouth in my recipe, but this can be substituted with dry white wine. Addition­ ally, where there is butter, there can be cooking oil. The quantities of cheese, artichokes, lemon, and sage are very flexible so flavour to taste. I served my risotto on Sat­ urday night with a drizzle of nice balsamic vinegar and topped with cherry tomatoes, sliced in half.

Simple and delicious; this recipe is perfect when entertaining for two.

the tax experts

not boil, but keep warm through­ out cooking.

2. Melt butter in a deep dish skillet, wok, or large pot. Add onions and cook at medium-high until softened. Add artichokes and Arborio rice. Stir rice with the on­ ions and artichokes for two min­ utes.

3. Add vermouth or wine and stir until the liquid has absorbed completely.

4. Add a 3/4 c. of warm broth and stir until liquid is absorbed al­ most completely.

5. Continue to add broth in 1/3 c. at a time, always stirring and al­ lowing the liquid to be absorbed by the rice completely before add­ Ingredients (serves 2): ing more. Do this until the rice is creamy, and just a little bit chewy • 2-3 tbsp butter • 1/2 a medium onion, diced or al dente. My family has always small preferred our risotto a little over • 1 small jar or can of artichoke cooked, but generally risotto, like hearts pasta, should still be a tiny bit chewy.

• 3/4 c. Arborio rice • 1/4 c. dry vermouth 6. Once the rice is cooked to • 3-4 cups chicken broth, your preference stir in lemon zest, warmed juice, sage, parmesan, salt and • 1 lemon, 1-2 tbsp zest, half the pepper. Make sure the juice gets lemon juice absorbed into the rice. Sometimes • 1 tbsp chopped fresh sage I like to add a final splash of ver­ • 1/2 c. fresh grated parmesan mouth at the end to add a floral aroma. Divide between two plates cheese •Salt and pepper to taste and serve with a dash of balsamic (a nice aged balsamic will shine Directions: here) and some chopped fresh 1. In a separate pot, warm cherry tomatoes. chicken or vegetable broth. Do

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A n d F R E E S P C ca rd * h r b lo c k .c a | 8 0 0 -H R B L O C K ©2011 H&RBlockCanada, Inc. *$29.95validforregularstudenttaxpreparationonly. Cashbackserviceincluded. Toqualifyforstudent pricing, studentmustpresent either (i) aT2202adocumenting4 ormoremonthsof full-timeattendanceat acollegeor universityduring2010 or(ii) avalidhighschool identificationcard. Expires December 31, 2011. Validonlyat participatingH&RBlocklocations inCanada. SPCCardoffers validfrom08/01/10to07/31/11 at participatinglocations inCanada only. For Cardholder only. Offers mayvary, restrictions mayapply. Usage maybe restrictedwhen usedinconjunction withanyother offer or retailer loyaltycard discounts. Cannotbe usedtowardsthepurchaseof gift cards orcertificates.

(Holly Stewart/McGill Tribune) k

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Compiled by Alison Bailey & Tori Crawford M o n t r e a le r s h a v e t o b r a v e - 2 0 d e g r e e s C e ls iu s w in te r s fo u r m o n t h s a y ear. It's n o w o n d e r s o m e o n e d e c i d e d t o lim it t h e i r t im e s p e n t in t h e c o l d b y c r e a t in g a r e f u g e u n d e r g r o u n d . L e a v in g o u r p a r k a s b e h in d , w e s e t o u t t o s e e w h a t t h e u n d e r g r o u n d c it y h a s t o o f f e r M cG ill s t u d e n t s .

0 min Com ptoirs des Chefs. W hile a b it on the expensive side, this is a nice place to tre a t yourself to a healthy lunch. Plus students receive a 10 per cent discount.

In addition to another food court, this section lies under a num ber o f high-end retail stores, like Club Monaco, DKNY, and Harry Rosen. In the basement you'll find the closest Am erican Apparel and Starbucks to M cGill g. campus.

We entered the underground city through the Scotia Tower, directly across from the McLennan Library and the Bronfm an Building on Sherbrooke Street. In the basement you'll find a food court com plete w ith Subway, Palais du Burger, Akli, Le Wok, and a Van H o u tte -a ll good alternatives when you're tired o f pizza from Redpath basement. W hile you have your meal you can enjoy the fla t screen televisions, usually on sports channels.

There's also a dentist here and the Spa Horizon, where you can take a break from studying w ith an anti-stress massage.

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The underground city leads you directly to the train station, where you'll need to go if you ever travel Via or Am trak.

There's a McD's rig h t in the building if you're travelling hungover, and it's also home to the easiest to access Staples fo r M cGill students.

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If you neglected to stop fo r food in one o f the endless food courts * on the way, try M arcello's Marche 8t Deli, w hich offers a huge salad bar as w ell as the largest variety o f coffee we've seen in the city.

Tour de la Bourse Hôtel Delta Centre-vih;

This part o f the underground c ity was deserted, even in the m iddle o f a weekday. This means you probably d o n 't w a n t to be here alone at n ig h t and th a t there's no one to ask fo r directions when you inevitably get confused about where you're going. It gets particularly confusing when you find yourself above ground. Use the compass on your sm artphone and head dow nw ard and eastward

There's little need to explain w h a t’s in the Eaton Centre to M cGill students - it 's where you'll find m ost o f the standard chain stores. Two highlights you may have missed, however: the only Cinnabon in dow ntow n M ontreal, and a stand selling creepy c lip -in ponytails.

Place des Arts is home to m ultip le theatres and the M ontreal Museum o f Contem porary Art. W hile the $10 admission kept us out o f the museum, it's free on Wednesday nights from 5-9 p.m.

This is about as fa r as you can go underground. Since we d id n 't have our coats, we hopped on the M etro and rode tw o quick stops back to Peel. This took us right back where we started in the basement o f the Scotia Tower!

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Through the A trium o f the OACI building, you can see the Delta Hotel.

The list o f stores and services in the Place Desjardins is end lessthere's an IGA w ith an impressive organic section, an SAQ classique, Jean Coutu, Eggspectations, and many provincial governm ent offices. If your parents come to visit, convince them to stay at the H yatt here and you'll never have to go above ground!

As a student, you probably w o n 't a tte nd m any fu n ctio n s a t the Palais des Congres, b u t it's still a good place to go fo r s ta rvin g -stu d e n t necessities like Noobox, sushi, Basha, and Tim m y Ho's. This is also the closest y o u 'll get to the Old Port underground.

It's likely th a t som etim e in th e ir fo u r years here, m ost students w ill make a trip to this huge federal governm ent c o m p le x w hether to get a passport renewed or deal w ith an in ternatio nal w ork visa. If you have to go in January, skip w alking outside and take the underground route.

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Curiosity Delivers - m cgilltribune.com

O D D S & EN DS

Don’t muck with the root Lin u x syste m s fo r id io ts By lain Macdonald Production Manager Just last Monday, I made the biggest computing mistake of my life. This is a pretty astonishing feat for a fourth-year software engineer­ ing student. While it’s unfortunate that I learned these important life lessons the hard way, it’s probably for the best that it happened while playing with my own computer and not someone else’s.

Let me set the scene for you.

I ’m a nerd. I maintain a home web server for hosting a web page and working on a few small projects.

Additionally, I use the server fairly frequently for class assignments.

This term, I’m taking two courses for which I need it. The server runs on Linux, and I log in remotely to do maintenance whenever needed.

Just like any other system ad­

ministrator, I try my best to follow a few simple rules. First, don’t muck with the root account. Second, don’t muck with the root account. The rea­ son this rule is so important is that on a Linux system, the root account has power over the entire system.

The root user is a system adminis­ tration account with the ability to do anything to the system. This is similar to “run as administrator” on Windows, but much more powerful.

There are commands that, when run as root, can delete every file on your system, remove crucial files from the computer, or make the entire system unusable.

This is what happened last week: I executed one of those com­ mands. I needed the system to be se­ cured so some of my friends could log on and tinker with a project we were working on. I didn’t want them to look at my personal files, or mod­

ify them. Thinking I would simply hide them from my friends, I typed in sudo chmod o-r -R /. The effect of this is to change the permissions of every file on the system in such a way that other users can’t read the file. No problem, right? Wrong.

After executing the command, I typed a simple Is. The system re­ sponded with can ’t read /binds. Not a good sign. After entering a few more commands, I realized I couldn’t execute any of them. I didn’t realize that in locking out other users from the system I had locked myself out as well. In effect, I had made the world’s most secure web server.

After 15 or 20 minutes of pan­ icked bashing on the keyboard, 1 re­ alized all hope was lost. There was nothing I could do to regain control of the system. The situation was worsened by the fact that I had an assignment due on Friday for which

I needed the server.

I ran through the options in my head. I knew the operating system had to be reinstalled and that the server was in Toronto, while I was in Montreal. I needed physical access to the machine in order to reformat the hard drive. I concluded I would have to take the train back to Toron­ to on Thursday, get the server back online, and then get back to Montre­ al on Friday. It would be expensive, but it needed to be done.

After researching ticket prices for a few minutes, I realized there was another way. I might be able to get my sister, Erin, to fix it for me.

She was in Toronto and, despite her mediocre computer skills, I could walk her through the process. Upon consultation and an offer to pay her $40, she said she would fix it for me.

The trouble was, the computer was in pièces, to save space. She had to

rebuild it, install the operating sys­ tem, and disassemble it again. Three hours later, the server was back on­ line, albeit with all of my work lost and a barebones operating system.

I learned a few important les­ sons as a result of my foolish move.

The most important is that when somebody repeatedly tells you something, they mean it. I thought I was invincible because I ’ve never broken a computer before—not that badly, anyways. It turns out, some rules aren’t made to be broken. On a more technical note, I relearned to constantly back up my data. I only really lost two or three hours of work thanks to backups, but it could have been much worse. Perhaps the most important lesson, and one I won’t forget soon is don’t muck with the root account. Ever.

H O W T O ...

BITS & PIECES

Denim for dudes

1930 s McGill women

P u rch a sin g , m a in ta in in g and ju s t lo o k in g g o o d in je a n s

W h e n RVC w as o ff-lim its to boys

By Matt Essert & Sam Hunter News Editor & Sports Editor For many guys, learning how to dress like an adult can be a daunt­ ing process. Some of us just had our moms tell us what to wear for the first halves of our lives and after that, we just wore whatever they were wearing on the previous week’s episode of Laguna Beach.

So, if you’re a guy and having a difficult time picking out your first real pair of jeans for example, don’t worry, you’re not alone. This week, we’ll be going over some key things to keep in mind when purchasing jeans like an adult.

Definitely way, way too tight. (lionsdenu.com)

First, you need to decide wheth­ er you want to go for skinny jeans or regular jeans. There are some things to keep in mind with skinny jeans.

Some people might view skinny jeans as a hipster-only accessory, but as long as you’re not showcas­ ing a moose knuckle, feel free to try going as tight as you want. The general rule is to avoid jeans that look like they’re painted on your thighs or calves—that’s generally girl territory—but tightness on the waist is A-ok. Depending on the brand of skinny jeans, you should generally go for at least one to three sizes smaller than your normal pant when buying a new pair. Your jeans will stretch out a lot over the next couple months and you’ll want them to continue to fit even after the waist grows, even if yours doesn’t.

There are a number of other things to keep in mind with jeans, be they skinny or not. You need to decide whether you’re going to go for dark, raw denim, or lighter, prebroken-in jeans. Lighter jeans will most likely be more immediately comfortable and are good for hang­ ing out at frats, painting houses, or building canoes. If you want to go for a more cool-guy, night on the town look, you should aim for raw denim. At first, raw denim may be about as comfortable as wearing stiff cardboard, but after a while they’ll loosen up, become very com­ fortable, and pick up a personality

that will make them look great. But

By Isabel Luce Contributor if you do go raw, try to avoid wash­ ing them for at least the first year ...

Sir Donald Smith, better known seriously. They’ll look way better if today as Lord Strathcona, was the you wait as long as possible before washing them in water. They may | founder of Royal Victoria College, which opened in 1899 as a separate start smelling though, so if smelling good is important to you, remember [ school and residence for the women attending McGill University. The to air them out so the stench doesn’t Srathcona Music Building, with its become a problem. You can also put large rooms, impressive entrance­ them in your freezer for a while to kill some of the stench. Black jeans way, and the statue of Queen Victo­ ria seated out front, was the original are also a nice option since they’re slightly easier to maintain—you can women’s residence of McGill. In the wash them more often, like every 1930s, the portion currently known as the “West Wing” was added, five months—and they can be pretty and “the tower” followed in the cheap.

Now let’s talk about brands. For 1960s. dudes buying jeans, not all brands The residence originally al­ lowed for 52 female students to have were created equal. Diesel, Tru a large bedroom each, and shared Religion, and Sevens should all be avoided if you have a penis. While access to a private lounge for every three students. Strathcona believed Sevens are nice jeans for girls, they that women studying at McGill are jeans for girls, and should only be worn by girls. For dudes, good should be kept separately from men brands are A.RC. Naked and Fa­ mous, Nudies, and Levis. Levis can be tough because some of them are pretty ugly, but if you go with a sim­ ple pair of Levis like 501s or 511s with simple back pockets, you’ll be okay. Speaking of back pockets, avoid jeans with overly flashy back pockets—they are ugly.

Whatever you chose, make sure you go with what looks good on you rather than what you read in GQ. All we can do is give you a few tips, it’s up to you to look great. (archives.mcgill.ca)

for their first two years, to avoid dis­ tracting the male students from their studies, and vice versa. Classes for girls were therefore taught in the protected haven that RVC became, and the few women who happened to have classes in the auditorium of Redpath Museum were obligated to enter and leave using the back door.

The only men allowed into RVC at this time were professors over the age of 60, and governors over 70.

Professor Stephen Leacock re­ calls an interesting incident.

“Two college boys, dressed up all in flounces and fans and feather, entered a Royal Victoria entertain­ ment with bogus cards of admission and were shown into their seats by an eager and competitive group of elderly governors and professors.”

This prank was so notorious that it made it into Leacock’s 300 page History o f Montreal years after it happened in 1942.

---------------- A&E------TH EATR E

Keeping the art of Gilbert and Sullivan alive

T h e M c G ill Savoy S ociety p e rfo rm s g o th ic -in s p ire d m u s ic a l, Ruddigore

By Sean Wood News Editor Even though the McGill Savoy Society’s Tim Burton-esque pro­ duction of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore has a few hiccups, there are enough laughs, good tunes, and more-than-beautiful-enough set and costume design to make it worth seeing.

Englishmen W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan co-wrote a series of comic operas in the late 19th century, and their wild popularity in the Eng­ lish-speaking world has persisted in a way that few other things of its age have, with hundreds of amateur and professional theatre troupes still dedicated to performing only their works. McGill’s Savoy Society is a significant example of this populari­ ty—it has existed for 45 years.

This year’s selection, Ruddig­ ore, is a send-up of Gothicism—a 19th-century literary and artistic trend found in the works of Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley. Gil­ bert’s plot is about a cursed family (The “Murgatroyds”) whose heir is obligated to commit a crime per day, or else to die a horrible death.

The standout feature of the show is its sets, which channel the look of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Even though the Society runs on a limited budget, set designer Genia DeMarco stretches it a long way.

The costumes, by Victoria Gzebb, also look professional.

The show’s acting, on the other hand, leaves something to be de­ sired. Gilbert is one of the funniest English writers of all time, and it is a shame to see any of his jokes go to waste. Some of the actors miss the script’s jokes; it seems like they have had plenty of practice saying their lines in the right order and at the right times, but not enough prac­ tice at understanding exactly what their lines meant.

The rapport between actors is also weak at times. Often, they say their lines at each other and not to each other. When scenes are unnatu­ ral, they felt long and unnecessary.

The more the actors in a G&S show to ham it up, the better, and some of the show’s leads follow through admirably. The town of Rederring, in which the show is set, has “an endowed corps of profes­ sional bridesmaids who are bound to be on duty every day from ten to four—and it has been six months since [their] services have been re­ quired,” says the libretto. The Savoy Society’s chorus is right on the mark; they act like a flock of hens.

Evil baron Sir Despard Murgatroyd, played by Jackson Smith, is the only character more melodra­ matic than the chorus. Wearing a huge handlebar moustache and sing­ ing well, he is fun to watch, even if

his dialogue scenes need to be more quickly paced.

Michael Loewen, as the ladiesman sailor Richard Dauntless, is funny at times, especially when in­ teracting with the fawning brides­ maids. After his first entrance, he performs a nautical sea-shanty dance with them, which they think is the hottest thing ever. It is hilarious to watch him hop around with them as they make eyes at each other. His character, however, should have been performed more gruffly, and he had some trouble with high notes.

Nour Malek, as Mad Margaret, takes the call to overacting a little too far. G&S operas should always keep the audience laughing, but the scene in which we first meet her feels a bit drawn out and out of place.

On the other hand, female lead Julia Miller does not act near­ ly enough, even though she is the show’s best singer.

Matthew McKeown was appro­ priately cute as naive male lead Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd. His singing is also solid, but he doesn’t pull off his “patter” songs—G&S trademarks that feature rapid-fire words. These are the most difficult things about a Gilbert and Sullivan play, during which even the orchestra had trouble staying together.

There are moments of trouble, but there are good things as well: the a cappella choral number that closes

Some of the Savoy Society’s comic antics during their latest production.

(Sophie Silkes / McGill Tribune) the first act is beautiful. As is the things that are easy, but has trouble case with most of the show, and as is with the things that are hard, perhaps to be expected from a group of full-time students putting on a full Ruddigore runs until Feb. 19 at opera, the Savoy Society nails the Moyse Hall.

FIN E ART

Visual trickery in student vernissage M c G ill’s A quil V irani displays his penchant fo r optical illu sio n in solo show M IN D F C U K

By Natalia Evdokimova__________ Contributor “Each piece is a song with its own melody,” muses Aquil Vi­ rani as he sits on his living room couch, explaining his philosophy on. art.. McGill student Virani is a self-taught artist who will host his first solo show, MINDFCUK at the Fridge Door Gallery. The show is based on his interest in visual trick­ ery, and Virani hopes to have view­ ers question their natural instincts.

The collection of MINDFCUK will force viewer to grapple with issues of visual and mental interpretation of each image.

Interwoven throughout all of the pieces are themes of accessibil­ ity to people unfamiliar with the ins and outs of art, diversity in the techniques and mediums used, vi­ sual cognitive dissonance, the story of the art's creation and origin, and,

art's relation to Virani's other pas­ sion: music.

These themes are especially quick to spot in “The Three Trees.”

The piece contrasts the fine lines of a ballpoint pen with the broad-brush strokes of watered acrylic paint. The clear distinction between the draw­ ing media also corresponds to the words and the doodles that make up the text of the piece. Finished in two months, “The Three Trees” portrays drawings of specific memories and quotes from significant lyrics, com­ bining lyrical and artistic elements to create a mentally stimulating piece.

Varying the media of his art­ work, Virani uses brilliant colours to convey a "positive feeling." Through his art, which ranges from enlarged photographs to painted Lazy Susans, Virani evokes a feeling of hesitation and indecision. Since Virani's art­ work requires the viewer to interact with each piece, it becomes a chal­

lenge to decide whether to locate the hidden face, as in the ghoulish paint­ ing “Face Value,” or to discover the repetitive stenciled images in pieces like “Eyegasm.” The interaction be­ tween the art and the viewer plays an important role in MINDFCUK, creating an atmosphere of intimacy further promulgated by individual artist statements.

The main piece, “3.5 and a half,” showcases the flexibility of art and the trickery of the brain. Using acrylic and spray paint on cardboard, Virani uses this series of three pieces to illustrate how the mind's percep­ tive powers can change. Featuring one repeated stencil of two im­ mensely different half faces, the first board gives prominence to one of the faces, which resembles a man with dreadlocks, while the second board focuses on the other face, an alien­ looking creature. The third board emphasizes both of these faces; in

combination, these three pieces real­ ize Virani's goal of visual trickery.

MINDFCUK fulfills Virani's goal to stimulate the brain and force the viewer to question what he sees.

His collection teeters on the edge of reality and imagination, inspir­ ing the senses and encouraging the

(Aquil Virani / MINDFCUK) viewer to actively discern one from the other. Although not a profession­ ally trained artist, Virani exhibits his vibrant creativity and emerging tal­ ent in his solo show.

MINDFCUK displays Feb. 15 in the AUS Lounge at 5:30 p.m.

14

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

M U S IC

The best thing to come out of Ontario?

H a m ilto n ’ s Inlet Sound revs u p th e ir s o u n d by a d d in g new m e m b e rs fo r th e ir la te s t to u r

By Alice Walker Photo Editor What do you get when you mix pop, folk, and lyrical acoustic?

You get the catchy, mellow riffs of Inlet Sound, a five-piece band from Hamilton, Ontario. The group re­ ceived positive attention after releas­ ing their first EP in 2010, including from a Brazilian music website that stated, “There are many great things that have come out of Ontario: Rush, Matthew Perry, and now Inlet Sound.”

The EP, simply titled The Inlet Sound EP, features only founding members Sean Hardy and Michael

Wexler, and has elements of the Weakerthans, Sufjan Stevens, and Mumford and Sons. Some of the organ and piano sounds are even reminiscent of folk rock group Cocorosie. The group’s laidback, infec­ tious love songs are not only beau­ tiful, but also showcase their musi­ cianship. But Wexler (guitar, vocals) and Hardy (keyboard, effects) are hesitant to say the EP is the best they can do.

“Adding members to the band has allowed us to diversify our sound,” Hardy says. “Our songs have taken on a new feeling. With five of us there’s a lot more energy, sometimes a livelier tempo.”

The shift from two members to five has been a positive experience according to Wexler, who explains that the five-piece arrangement was just going to be for one live show at the Mod Club in Toronto. The band ended up keeping the formation and they believe it has contributed great­ ly to their growth as a band.

“It’s because we have such con­ trasted backgrounds that we have the sound we have today,” Hardy says.

Unfortunately, the new sound of the group has not been released in a recording, but that’s going to change soon.

“We were in the studio a month ago rerecording one of our songs

M U S IC

Seeds of change for Newfie band H ey R osetta! e m b a rk s on w o rld to u r to p ro m o te new a lb u m

By Kathleen Masaki_____________ Contributor Hey Rosetta!, a six-piece Ca­ nadian indie rock band, released its breakthrough album, Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood), in 2008 and has since established itself as a powerful group of musicians. Into Your Lungs was highly success­ ful—the band won three East Coast Music Awards in 2009 and a spot on the short-list for the prestigious Po­ laris Music Prize. Their song “Red Heart” also earned attention when it was featured in an montage video for the Vancouver Olympic games.

Fueled by this success, Hey Rosetta! is gearing up to head out on tour to promote their new album, Seeds.

“The inspiration of the album came from being on the road,” says drummer Phil Maloney. “We were gone a lot more than w e were home.

A lot of the tunes were worked out in different places across Canada, [and the] change of scenery really did us well.”

In terms of how this album dif­ fers from their previous one, Malo­ ney says it was a unified effort, in which all the band members pulled their weight.

“This album is a little less folky, maybe, but not in a bad way.

[There’s] still a lot of slower softer tunes,” he says. “It’s a pretty uplift­ ing record overall, with a few darker moments in there, too.”

The influence of other indie bands is also present on the album.

Maloney says he and the other band members like to tour all around the

country, and seeing lots of other bands to get a sense of what’s out there.

“Just playing, you become a better musician overall,” he says. “I hope that shows.”

Hey Rosetta !’s upcoming tour is once again taking them away from their hometown of St. John’s, New­ foundland, to venues across Canada, the United States, and Australia.

“I ’m super excited to tour this record,” Mahoney says. “It’s been a while. We’ve had our hands on it for quite some time now.”

The band’s explosive live shows are well regarded by fans, and in preparation for performance, Hey Rosetta! is no stranger to the pre-show ritual. “Most of our rituals

consist of warming up and stretch­ ing,” Mahoney says. “We do no real rituals per se ... maybe have a beer [or] a shot of whiskey.”

Despite the extensive travel and meeting fans in new places, Ma­ loney also retains a fondness for the band’s hometown.

“Home shows are amazing, so much fun,” he says. “But it’s always good to get away from Newfound­ land as well; it’s a pretty small place.

But I think going away makes you want to come home all that much more, but then when you’re here you want to be on tour again.”

Hey Rosetta! plays Cabaret Mile End on Friday, February 18.

Hey Rosetta!, hometown heroes o f St. John’s, (eighteensixtyseven.com)

with the whole group, and we just filmed a music video,” Wexler says.

“We’re in the process of editing, mixing, and mastering. Hopefully by mid-March we’ll have a release of the single and the music video.”

Until the release of their new material, Inlet Sound will be playing live shows in Toronto and Montreal, which Hardy says are well worth checking out. “People tell us we look like we’re having so much fun,” he says. “It’s always kind of feels like a celebration when we’re up on stage playing because there’s nothing else that we would rather be doing.”

Inlet Sound will be playing on February 20 at Club Soda at 8 p.m.

The new and improved Inlet Sound, (jonfairclough.com)

In performance: M

a r a t / S

a d

e

The 1808 Asylum of Charenton is the perfect setting for investigating the early idealism of the French Revolution which quickly turned idealist revolutionaries into bloodthirsty mobs. The infamous Marquis de Sade is the main character of this play-within-a-play, a ringleader whose monologues burst with barely-controlled fury. A group of inmates act out a musical ver­ sion of his assassination of French radical politician, Jean-Paul Marat. The drama is meant to be a form of therapy for the asylum patients. Even for those who aren’t history buffs, the costumes, bloody sets, songs, and dynam­ ic acting make this play a delight to watch, albeit a gruesome one at times.

—Holly Stewart

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Curiosity Delivers - m cgilltribune.com

CD Reviews

F The Go! Team: Rolling Blackout The Go! Team, a sextet of mu­ sicians from Brighton, England, have been notorious for mixing genres since day one. On their third album, Rolling Blackout, they’re at the top of their game, blending numerous garage rock, funk, pop, and old-school hip hop. The result is a truly eclectic record. The album also features collaborations with Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki on “Secretary Song” and Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino on “Buy Noth­ ing Day.” Starting with the chanted cheer­ leader chorus of “T.O.R.N.A.D.O.,” the Go ! Team showcase the apt­ ness of their name. Lead singer and rapper Ninja’s signature vocals are a constant in every track and her rapping style blends with a strong brass section to create a consistently upbeat tempo. Hip-hop breaks that wouldn’t be out of place in a DMX song keep you from getting bored with tracks like “Apollo Throwdown,” while the title song “Rolling Blackout” channels the Pixies with distorted guitars and angsty female vocals.

Although Rolling Blackout is an interesting album, it’s the type of record you might diagnose with at­ tention deficit disorder. Songwriter Ian Parton stated that his aim on this album was to create “schizo music,” and Rolling Blackout shows that he has certainly been successful.

—Alex Hamilton

Cold War Kids: Mine Is Yours A beautifully written set of danceable indie songs is something as rare as a hen’s tooth, but the Cold War Kids may have achieved it with their third LP, Mine is Yours.

More than anything, Mine Is Yours is a well-crafted album and a wise continuity to the band’s pre­ vious works. They still retain their alternative rock sound, but their dis­ torted guitars and spiky drums are soothed by clean-cut arrangements and vocalist Nathan Willett's bluesy crooning.

The album also brings in the influence of late 80s bands like R.E.M. and the Smiths in its more melancholy lyrics. Combined with the fast-paced melodies on the album, the band is able to put for­ ward a more balanced sound that incorporates a variety of influences and musical experimentation.

The Cold War Kids are clear­ ly no longer kids and have made a classy indie record that is as mature as it is spunky. Upbeat tracks like “Louder than Ever” and “Finally Begin” ride on a sporadic lead guitar riff that brings out some of the angst for which the band is known. Tracks like “Cold Toes on a Cold Floor” have a White Stripes feel, while the echoing guitars on “Skip the Cha­ rades” are sound closer to post-new wave indie bands like Interpol.

With their wide range of cur­ rent and past influences and their obvious musical maturity, the Cold War Kids have grown into serious musicians and have released a di­ verse and enjoyable record.

—L ea Choukroun

Carmen Townsend: Waitin’ and Seein’ Seductive beats coupled with sweet and sultry vocals make Car­ men Townsend's debut album, Waitin' and Seein', a pleasurable ex­ perience, albeit one similar to other female alternative artists. Although Townsend, a native of Cape Breton, is not unique in the genre, she dis­ plays a phenomenal range in her vo­ cals, spanning from raspy whispers to titan-like bellows.

Waitin' and Seein' consists of 10 tracks that incorporate a variety of instruments, including acoustic and electric guitar, over-aggressive drums, and electric violins, to pro­ duce a folk rock/altemative sound.

Through the use of different guitars, Townsend draws on both bold rock and soft folk genres, allowing for in­ strumental range on the album.

Townsend's energetic and evocative vocals are at the forefront of this record and ultimately save Waitin' and Seein’ from being quick­ ly forgotten. Tracks like "Without My Love" and "River Rat" do jus­ tice to Townsend's range and regis­ ter, but the lyricism is lacking. Sing­ ing of lovers lost and broken hearts, Townsend fits the stereotypical defi­ nition of a female alternative artist who expresses her grief, hope, and frustration through her lyrics.

Aside from its average music and lyrics, Waitin' and Seein' is worth a listen, if just to appreciate Townsend's vocal beauty. Hope­ fully, she will develop as an artist and find her own musical and lyri­ cal voice by straying away from the mainstream.

—Natalia Evdokimova

Katie Moore: Montebello The first song on Katie Moore’s sophomore album, Montebello, tells us something about the direction the Montreal singer-songwriter has been going since her first solo album, Only Thing Worse, “Something on Your Mind,” an upbeat and heavily produced track, introduces an album that is a far cry from Moore’s sparse debut. Despite the singer’s stirring vocal talent and intimate under­ standing of folk, alt-country, bluegrass, Americana, and indie rock music, Montebello is ultimately a slight disappointment.

Moore bears her soul on this album, with a few songs focusing on aging and death. “When You Disap­ pear,” the closing track, asks ques­ tions like, “When they carry you out, who will be there?” She shines on “Honey on Juice,” a poignant lilt that captures the subtle beauty of breakfast on a cold winter’s morn­ ing, and on the title song, which demonstrates Moore’s unique abil­ ity to marry poetry and pure vocals.

While the artist’s vocals are consistently beautiful, however, the album is filled with songs that feel tedious and repetitive amidst the consistently sombre album.

Moore is as talented as some of the heavy-hitters with whom she has collaborated—Socalled, Feist, and Plants and Animals to name a few—but it is unclear whether she has proven that she can truly stand on her own. M ontebello has the makings of a decent winter album, but it would be unwise to include it in your next summer playlist.

—Brahna Siegelberg

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Jenn Grant w/David Martel & Laurent Bourque Divan Orange February 24 at 10 p.m.

Halifax-based singer-songwrit­ er Jenn Grant hits Montreal with locals David Martel and Laurent Bourque in support of her latest album, Honeymoon Punch. Grant has been receiv­ ing lots of positive attention, and her recent collaborations have earned her a spot among indie heavyweights like the Weakerthans and Buck 65.

Tennis w/ Holiday Shores II Motore February 26 at 9 p.m.

Tennis have recently become favourites in the indie scene for their romantic lyrics and retro sound. The duo wrote their debut album, Cape Dory, while sailing along the North Atlantic coastline, and their seafaring adventures have translated into an album that will pull you out of the depths of winter despair.

With any luck, their live show will as well.

Stones in His Pockets Centaur Theatre Until February 27 Directed by Andrew Shave, Stones in His Pockets is a hilar­ ious tale of a small community in Ireland that gets turned up­ side down when a Hollywood movie production comes to town. Visit centaurtheatre.com for showtimes and ticket info.

ORIENTATION WEEK

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INFO FAIR

Thursday, March 3rd, 11am- 3pm, SSMU Ballroom McGill Orientation Week is changing to serve our new students with more purpose and vision and to create fun, dynamic and true leadership opportu­ nities for upper-year students. It will be more Orientation than Frosh...

Students have been asking for this change and we (students, student as­ sociations, administration) are responding. Come find out what this new vision is, give us your feedback/share your vision, and become involved in McGill's largest student-run event.

At the Orientation Fair you can: • See and learn about the new Orientation Week schedule • Learn about the new organizational structure for McGill's first fully integrated Orientation event • Talk to your faculty student association about Faculty Frosh and how to get involved • Share your ideas for Orientation Week events and activities program ming • Sign up to become an Orientation Leader, Coordinator, O-Staff

W e a r e lo o k in g lo r a f e w h u n d re d O rie n ta tio n le a d e r s : W h o y o u a r e /« a n b e : • Dynamic • Real • Fun • Well • Rounded • Loves Working WithP eople • Creative • Dreamer • Responsible • Rises To A Challenge • Mentor • Role Model

W h a t y o u g e t: • Respect • Fun • Satisfaction • Support • Training • Experience Of A Lifetime • Incentives • Free Food • • •

Life Skills Leadership & Work Experience Sense Of Purpose

Get more information and apply at the Info Fair.

For more information contact: Tom Fabian, VP lot SSMU: intemal@ssmu.m<gill.<a and Riloy Dalys-Fine, Orientation Fair Coordinator: riley.dalys-flne@mail.imgill.<a

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By Sam H u n te r

S p o r ts E d ito r A chance to extend their semi­ final series against the Carabins slipped through the Martlets’ grasp as the match point found its way through libero Daphnee-Maude André-Morin’s outstretched hands.

“We gave it our all and it came down to a fourth set, 24-23, for the other team and one pass,” said An­ dré-Morin after the loss. “I won’t forget that one, that’s for sure.”

The Martlets lost their best of three semifinal series against the number-two ranked University of Montreal Carabins two games to zero. Montreal won game one at home in straight sets on Friday night.

Coming off the loss, McGill was primed for Saturday night’s game. Graduating senior Kelsey Irwin opened the scoring with a bang, killing a weak volley that barely snuck over the net. The set went back and forth from there, with McGill building a five-point lead before Montreal tied the game at 24 apiece. From there Kelsey Irwin ran off two consecutive kills to earn the opening set win.

The tight game seemed to rattle Montreal, if not on the court then at least on their bench, as the Cara­ bin benchwarmers started scream­ ing loudly every time the Martlets served. A McGill fan matched and exceeded this display of classless­

T h e M artlets w on the first set 26 - 24 , L u t were unable to hold on as M ontreal won the next three sets. (Adam Scotti / M c G ill Tribune)

ness by sounding an airhom for the first two Carabin serves of the sec­ ond set. The set stayed close until 18-18, when Montreal went on a 7-2 run to close it out 25-20.

The run was fuelled by pas­ sive plays from the Martlets, and renewed aggressiveness from the Carabins. Montreal kept its foot on the accelerator in a 25-17 third-set shellacking.

The Martlets finally responded in the fourth, running out to a 4-0 lead before coming back to Earth.

Montreal caught up at five apiece

and from that point neither team could get any separation, with the largest lead being only two points.

Montreal snuck out to a one-point lead, 24-23, off of a kill that just barely kissed the line.

With Montreal serving and McGill already down two sets to one, the Martlets’ Head Coach Rachele Beliveau called for time. In the time out Beliveau urged her players to be aggressive. “[I told them] to re­ ally push hard and take risks because we can’t give a free ball to Montre­ al,” she said.

The Martlets never got a chance to put their coach’s advice into practice as Montreal aced their final serve. The ball dropped to the court only inches from libero AndréMorin’s attempted diving save.

“She missed the last ball but she didn’t miss a pass the rest of the game,” said Beliveau. “Too bad it happened on the last point but it could have happened on the first point as well.”

Because the CIS championships are being held at Laval this year, in­ stead of the usual two teams from

the RSEQ, there will be three. Laval, and now Montreal, are in as the top two finishers in the conference. The Marlets will play a Quebec best-ofthree bronze medal series against the Sherbrooke Vert et Or for the CIS wild card spot.

The series begins February 18 at Love Competiton Hall. With the Martlets holding a 3-0 regular season record against Sherbrooke, Nationals are still well within their grasp.

THIRD MAX IX P a y in g fo r th e w in : th e n e w re a lity o f th e EP L

The January transfer window was off to a slow start for most Eu­ ropean soccer leagues, until the last day of the month, when the head­ lines were flooded with unforeseen transfers of epic prices. Notably, Chelsea paid £58.8 million for strik­ er Fernando Torres—breaking his long-term contract with Liverpool prematurely and becoming the sub­ ject of the most expensive transfer in the history of the English Premier League (EPL), which is a sign of the changes that wealthy owners are making to the EPL. During the period from Janu­ ary 1 to 31, EPL clubs cashed out a record breaking total of £225 mil­ lion. The EPL may be the highestgrossing professional sports league outside North America, but the sum

was definitely alarming—so much so that the Union of European Foot­ ball Associations (UEFA) issued a warning, emphasizing the code of “financial fair play” and reminding clubs to refrain from spending more than they can afford. The warn­ ing fell on deaf ears, because these clubs’ multi-billionaire owners can afford a lot.

Today, overseas business ty­ coons own approximately half of EPL clubs. It’s no coincidence that teams owned by wealthy business­ men, oil-heirs and investors have become the most dominant squads.

The owners’ virtually unlimited cash flow enables these clubs to buy free agents and take advantage of less af­ fluent clubs by offering extravagant prices to their top players. Inevitably, this leads to a supersaturation of tal­ ent in the top clubs and consequently little parity.

Furthermore, new owners are foregoing the process of recruit­

ing players in their early teens and developing them towards the first team roster—a process that takes about 10 years. This method has typically resulted in rosters stocked with homegrown talent that the fans loved. John Terry, the current cap­ tain of Chelsea, was recruited by the club at age 14 and has matured to be the backbone of the team today 15 years later. The majority of foreign owners have turned to the quick fix of importing expensive elite players for immediate impact, like Torres.

Was Chelsea in desperate need of Torres? Absolutely not. The club already possesses four world-class strikers (Drogba, Malouda, Kalou, and Anelka) who have learned to play in sync as one of the most ef­ fective offensive lines in the league.

Sure, they hit a rough patch mid­ season but with their fully capable squad, it was no offensive crisis.

However, with the financial help of their current owner, Russian billion­

aire Roman Abramovich, Chelsea turned to the easy out of purchasing talent rather than producing it.

Liverpool wasted no time mourning the loss of Torres. Instead, the club turned around and promptly signed Newcastle striker Andy Carroll for £35 million. This was the second big purchase for the club as they bought Ajax striker Luis Suarez for £22.7 million a few days earlier under the pretence that he would be playing alongside Torres. For Liver­ pool owners, American sports inves­ tors John W. Henry and Tom Wemer, lavish spending on the likes of Carroll and Suarez is nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, it’s exactly how they operate the Boston Red Sox, which they’ve owned since 2002.

The Premier League has en­ tered a new era where business has become too great an influence on decision-making. For the wealthy foreign owners, the league is just another playground for investments,

where club success equals personal profit. The ability to win a champi­ onship is now directly correlated to the willingness of clubs to spend money.

Torres flourished during his time at Liverpool and was a valuable pil­ lar on the squad. Fans were stunned and upset by his sudden departure.

As a Liverpool fan myself, I felt the same way. Although Torres’s career goals are not to be undermined, the ultimate decision lay in Abramov­ ich’s wallet. These owners are not paying for true team improvement; they’re viewing each season through the lens of a cost-benefit analysis, with wins balanced against cost, but with no regard for loyal fans.

This may sound dramatic but if the league continues to be tainted with bottomless cash flow and impetuous ambitions, then the English may be robbed of their favourite pastime.

—Mari Mesri

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Last Saturday night, from the friendly confines of my living room, I experienced my first Ultimate Fighting Championship event. I had seen a few Mixed Martial Arts fights before, but had never watched a live pay-per-view. The show, it turned out, was spectacular. And that has a lot to do with the fact that I wit­ nessed Anderson Silva deliver one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history On 5 February Silva not only solidified himself as UFC’s top fighter, he may have cemented his legacy as the greatest fighter ever with a performance that left MMA fans foaming at the mouth. Silva knocked out Vitor Belfort with a single kick to the face at 3:25 of the opening round. “The Kick Heard

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the goalie’s five hole as the defenceman tripped him.

The goal put the Redmen up 2-0 and opened the floodgates. At 14:33 Christophe Longpre-Poirier got the puck in the comer of Ottawa’s end and found Doucet in the slot with a picture-perfect pass. Doucet quick­ ly put the puck past Ottawa goalie Aaron Barton. 42 seconds later, Doucet scored again to complete the hat trick. That ended Barton’s night as he was pulled after allowing four goals on twenty shots. “[Doucet] elevated his game in the last few weeks,” said Head Coach Kelly Nobes. “And that’s im­ portant for the team. To have a guy in his fourth year, likely his last year,

and a leader amongst the group—it’s important for him to be playing at the top of his game and it looks as if he’s going to peak at the right time of the year. I ’m happy for Guillaume and it’s going to be beneficial for the team.”

The third period was not any kinder to Gee-Gees back-up goaltender Harrison May than the first two periods were to Baron. McGill’s Picard-Hooper, Doucet and JeanFrancois Boisvert all scored in the third to make the game 7-0. Picard Hooper assisted on all four of Doucet’s goals.

The Redmen defence was in­ credible all night, as well, as Otta­ wa’s scoring chances were few and

Round The World” was one of the most impressive athletic feats I ’ve ever seen.

Silva rolled into the ring just after midnight, leaving a trail of swagger in his wake as Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine” played over­ head. He’s a physical specimen—a long-limbed, sneaky panther ready to pounce at any moment.

As Silva began the fight, danc­ ing around the octagon, it felt like I was watching a modern-day Mu­ hammad Ali. Silva pranced around Belfort mockingly, literally laughing off the few punches that Vitor man­ aged to land. He was toying with his opponent in a terrifying way. And then it happened. Out of nowhere.

Just like that.

When Silva delivered “the kick,” it looked like it was headed for Belfort’s midsection. This is a common tactic used to control the ring and land a shot. But at the last millisecond, Silva jolted his leg up­

ward and knocked Belfort square in the face. Vitor’s eyes immediately rolled back as his defeated body crumpled to the ground.

Nobody saw it coming; Bel­ fort least of all. The high kick is rare enough, but when thrown with the intent of ending a fight, it’s less common than a Phil Kessel goal. It literally never happens. Silva was standing so close to Belfort that there shouldn’t have been enough room for him to physically carry it out. Furthermore, performing a kick of that nature is extremely risky because it makes the fighter very vulnerable. High risk, high reward.

Silva performed it to perfection.

If my thorough satisfaction with UFC 126 is any indication, UFC, led by its brash, ingenious President Dana White, is poised to gain more and more fans by the day.

The pay-per-view event itself was a joy to watch, with each fight hav­ ing its own unique storyline that tied

even a casual fan like myself into the outcome. It’s no wonder that MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world.

Boxing purists need to face the facts. The sport’s time has come and gone. Any hope boxing had of remaining relevant in the one-sided battle with UFC disappeared with the failure of the hyped up, tenta­ tively planned Manny Pacquiao— Floyd Mayweather super-fight. Box­ ing, my friends, is done. UFC is here to stay.

The sport’s appeal is twofold.

Of course, there’s the opportunity to see two men beat each other sense­ less. If you’re one of those people who believes that statement is pa­ thetic and something a testosteronefilled sports junkie would say, you’re probably right. But what’s even more impressive about the UFC is that tactics play an incredibly under­ rated role in the fights. Many unedu­ cated fans believe two guys get into

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far between. The Gee-Gee’s were only able to register 18 shots and each time they threw the puck on net Morin was there to make the save. It was Morin’s first shutout of the sea­ son, improving his record to 14-2.

On Sunday, the Redmen con­ cluded their regular season with a 4-1 victory over Concordia to claim the 24th annual Ronald'Corey Cup and extend their single season win record to 24 games. Picard-Hooper added another two assists to extend his season points total to an incred­ ible 58 points. He has clinched the OUA scoring title and has a 16-point lead in the CIS scoring race. If he holds on to win, he will be the first Redmen to lead the nation in scor­ ing since Montreal Canadiens for­ ward Mathieu Darche won the title in 2000.

McGill’s record-setting year comes in Head Coach Kelly Nobes’ first season behind the Redmen bench. This is the third time in his career that Nobes has led his team to a record setting regular season after previously doing so at RMC and Laurier.

“We’re excited [about the streak], we’re happy that we’ve done very well,” said third-year Redmen defenceman Ben Morse.

“We’re happy that we improved and accomplished a pretty big milestone at both ends of the ice.”

While pleased with the record, Nobes and the Redmen have bigger goals on their minds, like winning the National Championship.

By W alker K itch en s

The second-ranked McGill Redmen (23-2-2) finished a record­ setting season in impressive fashion as they shut out the Ottawa GeeGees (11-13-3) 7-0 in their final home game of the season at Mc­ Connell Arena Friday night. The Redmen dominated the Gee-Gees for the whole game as Guillaume Doucet scored four goals, Alex Picard-Hooper extended his CIS leading points total with a goal and four assists and goalie Hubert Morin registered his first shutout of the sea­ son. With the win, the Redmen es­ tablished a new single-season team record of 23 wins.

McGill dominated the first peri­ od, outshooting the Gee-Gees 12-5, but were only able to take a 1-0 lead as defenceman Hubert Genest scored his fifth goal of the season.

The second period started the same way as the Redmen continued to cre­ ate scoring chances but were unable to finish.

Six minutes into the second, Guillaume Doucet took matters into his own hands and made an incred­ ible play. Taking a pass in stride, he streaked down the left wing. As the Ottawa defender attempted to push him wide, the winger held off the defenceman with one hand while protecting the puck with the other.

Doucet out-skated the defender, cut sharply to the net in front of the crease, and slipped the puck through

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D o uce t sco res a highlight reel goal to put M cG ill ahead 2 - 0 . (H olly Stew art /M c G ill Tribune)

v ic to r y

“[The winning record] is a nice accomplishment for the team,” said Nobes. “It’s certainly a feather in our cap if you will, but obviously mov­ ing forward in the playoffs we’re taking it one step at a time, but we want to win here in the playoffs.”

Now, the division-leading Red­ men head into the OUA Eastern Conference playoffs. After finish­ ing in eighth place, Ottawa will be McGill’s' first round opponent in the best-of-three series. The first game of the series is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at McConnell Arena. The second match will be played in Ottawa on Friday night. If the series is tied, they will return to McGill on Sunday.

The Redmen are considered to be one of the favourites to win the National Championship, but they insist they are not overlooking their upcoming match-up with Ottawa.

“You have to go one series at a time—I know it’s cliché—but Ot­ tawa is a tough team,” said Morse.

“We’ve had some battles with them throughout the year, and they’re physical. For us [to succeed, we] have to step up to the plate ... and play our own game and hopefully that works for us.”

“We’re focusing on staying in the moment and playing each game at a time, and even each shift at a time,” echoed Nobes. “We’re trying to stay in the moment and focus on what task is at hand. We’re not really looking any further than that.”

a ring and street fight. This couldn’t be further from the truth. These ath­ letes are versed in Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, and countless other fighting disciplines.

The time is ripe to get on board the UFC bandwagon. With UFC set to make its debut in Toronto in April and a Georges St. Pierre-Anderson Silva superfight later this year, the future has never looked brighter.

Back in my living room, 10 guys sat glued to the screen as Silva entered the ring surrounded by an aura like nothing we had ever seen.

When he landed “the kick,” our house reacted as if we were on the bench of the L.A. Clippers watching Blake Griffin posterize another hap­ less victim. We had just witnessed something historic. At the time, I didn’t realize its significance. I only saw some dude get knocked the f*@ # out—it was awesome.

—Jon Rubenstein

Hiesday, February 15, 2011 1

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C o n trib u to r Until last month, Ryan McKieman hadn’t played as a forward in over six years and was having one of the best seasons of any rookie de­ fenceman in the country. In the 18 games before Christmas he notched 12 points—the fourth-most by any OUA freshman defenceman—as his McGill Redmen stormed to a 16-0-2 record.

Yet when the Redmen returned from the Christmas break, the life­ long defenceman was playing for­ ward.

“It had been a while since I ’d played forward,” McKiernan said.

“But everyone wants to be known as a versatile player, so I was excited to give it a try.”

McKiernan was an atypical se­ lection for the move from defence to forward. Most blueliners who make the transition are big, bruising types—like Dustin Byfuglien with the Chicago Blackhawks or the Ot­ tawa Gee-Gees’ Dylan Hole—not puck-moving, offensive defenceman.

But with the return of Keven Dupont from an offseason operation that had caused him to miss the first half of the year, McGill suddenly had seven capable defencemen, and not enough ice time to go around.

Add in a glut of injuries to forwards—Francis Verreault-Paul, Andrew Wright, Patrick Belzile, and Jean-Francois Boisvert have all missed significant time—and the

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Redmen were in dire need of some help up front.

“We decided not to move someone up front who could just be an extra body,” said McGill Head Coach Kelly Nobes. “[McKiernan] could move up and be an impact for­ ward.”

According to Nobes, with all their injuries, McGill needed a topsix forward. McKiernan wouldn’t just be changing positions—he’d be skating on the second line of the team ranked second in the nation.

“He’s given us some real depth by being effective on one of our top lines,” Nobes said. “It’s great that he’s looked at this as an opportunity to improve as a player, and help his team, rather than thinking ‘Aw, I’m being taken out of my position.’”

In 10 games as a forward, McKieman has registered eight points.

But according to his coaching staff and his teammates, the most impres­ sive part of McKieman’s transition has been adjusting to the nuances of positioning as a winger.

“It’s knowing where to be in the different scenarios that’s the tough part,” Nobes said. “He’s done a nice job with our defensive zone cover­ ages, especially since we’ve adjust­ ed some of our systems because of the injuries.”

According to Nobes, the move to forward may not be permanent for McKiernan. If McGill’s injured forwards all return for the playoffs, McKiernan will likely shift back to defence.

“Ideally, Ryan would be play-

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M cK iernan is the only A m erican to play for the Rerdm en in the last 12 years. (H olly Stew art / M cG ill Tribune)

ing defence, because that’s where he helps the team the most,” Nobes said. “But he gives us a unique abil­ ity to be flexible with our lines.”

McKiernan is also unique in that he’s the first American to play hockey for McGill in the last 12 years. His heritage is a fact that is not lost on his teammates.

“Whenever I hear a [French in­ sult] and the word ‘American’ in the same sentence, I know they’re refer­ ring to me,” McKiernan said.

McKiernan should be used to that particular display of Québé­ cois affection, however, as he spent two years playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for the Drummondville Voltigeurs and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, before com­ ing to McGill.

After planning to play American college hockey as a child, McK-

ieman was introduced to the McGill coaching staff by his coach in Drum­ mondville, Guy Boucher—a McGill alumnus who is the current head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“Boucher introduced me to the McGill hockey program and it was a no-brainer to come here,” McKieman said. “It was a chance to play on a great hockey team and go to the best school in Canada at the same time.”

That decision has paid off for McKiernan, as the Redmen are ranked second in the nation and are a favorite to capture the school’s firstever University Cup—a goal that McKiernan will do almost anything to further.

“I’ll play wherever the team needs me,” McKiernan said. “For­ ward or defence—anything to help us get closer to Nationals.”

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CENTENNIAL BALLROOM, MACDONALDCAMPUS Information: townhall@mcgill.ca •www.mcgill.ca/townhall

It's our university, let's talk about it.

Dear Fellow Arts Students, We feel obliged to inform you that over $9 0 , 0 0 0 of your fees are currently being withheld by McGill’s administration.

Each semester, 7 , 2 0 0 B.A. and B.A. & Sc. students pay fees to the AUS. These fees support various initiatives that benefit Arts students, including 2 4 -hour computer labs, lounge and technology improvements, educational equipment for departments and funding for capital improvements. As the cornerstone of the AUS’ funding, your membership fees support the activities of over 3 0 departmental associations, SNAX and student employment through the Arts Student Employment Fund.

McGill collects these fees from students like you on behalf of the AUS to fund your student services.In order to receive those funds, the AUS must produce audited financial statements each year to ensure that your fees are being used appropriately.

Upon entering office, this year’s executive learned that no audited financial statements had been completed since 2 0 0 8 . We immediately set out to fix this situation by hiring a new team of accountants and auditors, and revising our financial practices. We’ve struck a Committee on Internal Control to examine and revise the AUS’ financial reporting and corporate structure. We’ve also settled our Federal back tax situation and have drafted payment plans with our debtors. Our new financial reporting practices have been endorsed by our new accountants at RSM Richter Chamberland. We’ve improved our Peer Tutoring program and introduced the new bilingual Essay Writing Centre. Bar des Arts and SNAX are running more efficiently than ever before. In spite of the challenges we have faced, the AUS has continued to improve the quality of the services it provides.

Although student fees were released in the past in the absence of audits, Deputy Provost Mendelson has now decided to withhold your student fees until all outstanding audit reports are received. We recognize the Deputy Provost’s intention in trying to ensure that student fees are used appropriately. However, it is unfortunate that the Deputy Provost has withheld your fees at the very time we have made such great strides in putting the association’s finances back on track.

Until your fees are released, our association - your association - is in jeopardy. The AUS’ ability to fund long-term restructuring efforts, and our ability to continue funding our student services, depends on receiving our fees.

We’re letting Deputy Provost Mendelson know that while we understand his intentions, his actions have put our student services at risk. We are committed to working with him to ensure that the AUS provides the best quality student services at the highest level of accountability.

We continue to communicate with the Deputy Provost in good faith and hope to reach a mutually agreeable resolution in the near future. Please feel free to email your views on your money to the Deputy Provost at morton.mendelson@mcgill.ca or the AUS at president@ausmcgill.com.

Sincerely, Your AUS Executive 2 0 1 0 - 1 1