The McGill Tribune Vol. 39 Issue 10

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019 | VOL. 39 | ISSUE 10

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

FEATURE

OPINION

Sharing Milton-Parc

Антикафе / Anti-cafe

Referendum endorsements

PG. 5

PGs. 8-9

PG. 4

(Gordon Clarke / The McGill Tribune)

In conversation with Nervous Nancy: Living through this

PG. 11

CSSDP to provide free drug-testing kits to students Student survey precedes application for SSMU funding Delphine Polidori Contributor Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) is currently applying for funding to launch a pilot project that will provide free drug-testing kits to McGill students. At the mo-

ment, the McGill-based student group is collecting data through a survey that they released to the student body on Oct. 31. The responses will allow the club to measured demand for specific kinds of drug-testing and to complete their one-time funding application to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU).

The McGill Tribune met with Matthew McLaughlin, U2

Arts, and Gabriel Aboutboul, U4 Arts, co-directors of the CSSDP branch at McGill. McLaughlin had the idea to provide students with free drug-testing kits during his term as SSMU Vice-President (VP) Internal Affairs in 2018-19, but was only able to undertake the project with the CSSDP after his tenure.

PG. 2

The science behind sports concussions

Don Cherry is a symptom of a larger problem

Angelina Giordano Contributor

Kaja Surborg Sports Editor

Investigating sports-related head injuries

While thousands of sports-related concussions occur each year in Canada, the mechanisms behind the injury are still shrouded in mystery. Scientists use the word ‘concussion’ to describe the symptoms of damage inflicted on the brain, but they

are still working to uncover the underpinnings at the cellular level. Concussions occur when the brain hits the skull, and are most commonly caused by a direct blow or quick jerking motions of the head.

In 2015, Dr. Alain Ptito, director of the Department of Psychology at the McGill University Health Center

(MUHC) and concussion researcher, developed a scan to determine whether or not a person has sustained a concussion.

“When someone has a concussion, [and] they undergo a scan, 99.9 per cent of the time, the scans are normal,” Ptito said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

PG. 7

Hockey continues to ostracize people of colour

Don Cherry is known for many things: His wacky suits, strong opinions, and unfortunately, over the years, a series of racist remarks.

On Nov. 9, Cherry added to the list of reasons why he should no longer have a public platform with a rant

claiming that immigrants do not wear poppies around Remembrance Day. “You people [who] come here, love [...] our way of life, you love our milk and honey. At least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” Cherry said on Hockey Night in Canada. “[Canadian service members] paid for your

way of life that you enjoy in Canada. These guys paid the biggest price.”

These comments were widely criticized across social media for being distinctly xenophobic, and this is not the first time Cherry has made racist, sexist, or xenophobic comments.

PG. 16

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NEWS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

CSSDP to provide free drug-testing kits to students Student survey precedes application for SSMU funding Delphine Polidori Contributor Continued from page 1.

McLaughlin was inspired by universities in the United Kingdom such as Sussex, Newcastle, and Manchester, whose administrations have already funded drug-testing kits. Observing the lack of such services for students in Canada, McLaughlin believed it was time for McGill to adopt them.

“We know students use drugs and will continue to use drugs,” McLaughlin said. [...] “The goal should not be to get students to stop using drugs, because prohibition, we know, doesn’t work. Instead, we look at this from a harm reduction standpoint, and we want students to know that what they’re consuming has not been contaminated with adulterants, that they’re consuming something safely.”

The SSMU funding is intended to finance a certain number of kits, the training of around five student volunteers by local harm reduction organizations, and a space from where the pilot project can begin. “[T]he project [...] essentially entails having a space on campus to distribute these kits once a week, [and] having students be able to drop by and speak anonymously,” McLaughlin said. “Essentially, they will tell us what substances

The CSSDP is the first student group in Canada to provide such services. (The McGill Tribune) they want to be testing and we will give them the reagents they need. [We will] be accompanying every kit with some literature on how to do these [tests] and hopefully holding some workshops [...] so [that students] can see in-person how to do it.”

The CSSDP will also provide fentanyl test strips in every kit, allowing students to test for the presence of fentanyl or carfentanil, which are strong opioids that can lead to accidental overdose.

Aboutboul explained that the student group is looking to purchase drug-testing kits from several online and physical stores.

“As of now, the plan seems to be [to buy the kits from] organizations like Dance Safe, [...] an organization in Can-

ada that distributes [...] reagent kits [in bulk],” Aboutboul said. “We plan to separate these bulk sizes into [smaller kits], and then be able to distribute them that way to students.”

By talking to existing harm reduction organizations in Montreal such as Flying Safe and GRIP, and Project Safe Audience in Winnipeg, McLaughlin and Aboutboul realized that their pilot project should aim to do more than just provide free tools for safer drug use.

“It’s also about interacting with students and learning about the types of drugs they use, what drugs they mix with one another, and advising them,” Aboutboul said. “It’s a way to obviously reduce harm by giving a kit but also [to create] relationships with people and [give] them

some kind of advice, and this is obviously a better path than prohibition.”

In an email to the Tribune, McGill Student Emergency Response Team (MSERT) Director of Training Alberto Sobrero expressed his support for the CSSDP’s initiative.

“MSERT is supportive of harm reduction initiatives and projects that aim to keep members of the McGill community safe,” Sobrero said. “[I]t seems to be a good harm reduction initiative and potentially very valuable for individuals who may be experimenting [with drugs] for the first time and who wish to do so safely.”

If the pilot project is successful, the CSSDP hopes to fund their project longterm through a renewable, opt-outable fee between $0.25 and $0.35 each semester, and will use its survey data to estimate the required funds.

In the long-term, the CSSDP is hoping to inspire other universities across Canada and beyond, as its national body also has chapters across Europe and the United States.

“I don’t think students should have to gamble whenever they’re taking a substance,” Aboutboul said. “People [...] choose to take a substance and they should be allowed to know what’s in it [....] Providing the service is a way to make sure that that is a given for every person that chooses to [use drugs].”

Mental Health Commission of Canada announces post-secondary mental health standard Recommendations hope to improve student quality of life Magdalena Nitchi Contributor The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) recently announced a collaboration with the Canadian Standards Association to develop a standard for the psychological health and safety of post-secondary students. According to the Commission’s website, post-secondary educational institutions are free to adopt and modify the policy, known as the PostSecondary Students (PSS) Standard, as needed.

The standard aims to provide guidelines to help Canadian schools support their students’ mental health.

The policy identifies factors that challenge students’ mental health and provides resources to help address each of these problems. The current draft of the plan advocates for increasing the amount of psychological support and counselling available to students, educating staff to create a supportive community, and assigning a manageable course load.

Amy Fogarty, MHCC manager of programs and priorities, emphasized that the PSS standard is studentcentric.

“[After championing the] Canadian National Workplace Standard in 2013, an opportunity emerged to support students,” Fogarty said. “[T]he MHCC was approached by funders and leaders to champion this work and fill this gap. Through the creation of the standard, the MHCC is committed to supporting student success and mental wellbeing on campus.”

Fogarty highlighted how the draft is flexible and easy to implement for institutions. “[The PSS standard] acknowledges that each framework for psychological health and safety will be unique, based on the specific needs of the student body and taking into consideration the unique circumstances and resources of the specific campus community and the external community,” Fogarty said. “The draft [PSS] standard offers an audit tool to assist post-secondary institutions in conducting their own review.”

Executive Director of Student Services Martine Gauthier explained that McGill was already very familiar with the new standard.

“We are actively collaborating with the MHCC to assist with their efforts.” Gauthier said. “McGill is a

part of the Best Practices Network (BP-Net), along with Queen’s University and the University of Toronto, and this group is working with the MHCC to inform the development of the standard. We conducted consultations last winter to help collect data for the MHCC, reaching approximately 26,500 individuals. We [even] posted a summary of key take-aways on our website last summer.”

However, Gauthier is not yet certain if McGill will be able to actually commit to following the standard.

“When the [PSS] Standard is released next year, we will be in a better position to evaluate its recommendations and how to adapt them to the McGill context,” Gauthier said.

Julia Caddy, U2 Arts and co-president of the McGill chapter of jack.org, a club promoting mental health education, and expressed excitement about the new standard. She urged McGill to commit to following its recommendations.

“I think a lot of the things [that McGill is doing] are guided in the right direction [.…] Where the standard comes in is that we [already] have mental health services, but really improving student’s mental health

75 per cent of first-time diagnoses occur between ages 16-25.

(Gabriela Rey / The McGill Tribune) involves a system-wide approach,” Caddy said. “You can’t just focus on your mental health professionals. You have to look at how you are training your professors, and how you are regulating your assessment methods […] beyond just [saying] ‘What do we do when [students] are struggling?’”

Caddy acknowledges the increased awareness of mental health due to initiatives such as Bell Let’s

Talk, but believes that institutions must develop better policies to meet their students’ needs. She stressed the importance of keeping accessibility in mind when developing new programs. “[We need to make] sure that whatever programs we are implementing are [...] accessible [to] everyone,” Caddy said. “A successful mental health plan needs to be able to meet everyone where they are at.”

NEWS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

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“Save Our Samosas” protest draws crowd of six Protestors demonstrate against ban on samosa sales Pascal Hogue Contributor Six students gathered to protest McGill’s samosa ban in front of Roddick Gates on Nov. 4. The Facebook group ‘Save Our Samosas’ organized the protest and received over 1,200 likes on their page as of press time, with 600 students expressing interest in attending the event. While most of those who showed interest did not show up, those who did were

not deterred by the poor attendance. One student chanted “No samosas, no rights!” while performing a protest dance. Another student tried to get passers-by to join the rally, with mixed results.

City of Montreal inspectors shut down a samosa sale fundraiser on Oct. 22 due to sanitation violations, prompting the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) to ban all samosa sales on campus until a proper protocol regarding food

sales can be developed. The decision was met with discontent by students who view samosas as a source of inexpensive food and a fundraising opportunity for student groups.

Michael Dickinson, U1 Arts, however, felt that the ban was unnecessary.

“We do not have to tolerate the tyrannical health department of this city telling our students at what temperature we can and cannot eat our samosas,” Dickinson said. “This is [...] a massive example of government overreach. I came to Montreal thinking it was a liberal city in which I could live my life the way I wanted to.”

Avni Aghi, U0 Arts, expressed her disappointment with the new rules regarding samosa sales, saying that they demonstrate a lack of consideration for student life.

“Samosas are a source of cheap, nutritious, [and] fulfilling food for students on campus, and they’re taking that away from us,” Aghi said. “Student groups […] are doing a service [for] students on campus

Protestors stood outside the Roddick Gates for 30 minutes.

(Pascal Hogue / The McGill Tribune) [.…] You get three samosas for [two] dollar[s]. And that’s a full meal […] which the university doesn’t seem to understand.”

SSMU Music Senator Sebastian Duckett also decried the ban.

“We see this as what might be the greatest threat to student wellbeing on campus all year and definitely in my time here at McGill,” Duckett said. “Samosas are a staple of our culture

and this should be taken as a direct attack on that.”

During the protest, attendees also discussed their concerns about student life in light of the samosa ban. One student worried the university could ban the farmers’ market next.

By 1:12 p.m., a third of the crowd had to leave for a POLI 244 midterm. The rest of the protestors had disbanded by 1:27 p.m.

PGSS General Meeting reaches and loses quorum Discussion covered council size, climate justice, and accessibility

Gabe Nisker Features Editor The Nov. 6 Post Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) meeting in the Thomson House Ballroom initially met its 90-member quorum. However, several members left the meeting later in the evening, and all votes lost their binding status.

Following some standard announcements, the motions to approve the PGSS opposition on Bill 21 and to ratify their new financial auditor’s terms of engagement passed with little commotion.

The pace of the meeting pace slowed by the time it reached the later parts of the agenda, as many members opposed a motion to ratify the Society Activities Manual. Frustrated with failures to meet quorum at council meetings, PGSS executives proposed shrinking the size of council decreasing amounts of funding for post-graduate student associations (PGSAs) that did not attend. Melissa Marquette, a Earth and Planetary Sciences student, did not appreciate the manner in which the executive proposed this change.

“It doesn’t seem like alternative avenues to increase participation [have] been explored,” Marquette said. “And it seems like cutting funding should be a last, last, last, last resort. [...] I think it is horrific to say something like ‘I don’t want to withhold these funds, but you might make me do it if you don’t come to council.’ That’s disgusting and I do not want that to be uttered in a body that is supposed to represent me.”

Secretary General Dakota Rogers defended the proposal.

“Reducing the size of council does increase accountability,” Rogers said. “We know it does because we [have] 32 of our PGSAs show up today [which is]

SOUND BITE

Attendance fell to 82 and the meeting became a consultative session. (Leanne Young / The McGill Tribune)

the most that we’ve ever seen show up at a PGSS Council [meeting]. We rely on our counsel to do our jobs. If we do not [meet] quorum, we cannot do our jobs.”

Ultimately, the motion failed 32-29.

As the meeting moved on, the executive paused the discussion and counted the members in the room.

Eight people had left the meeting, meaning that quorum had been lost, and thus, the meeting became a non-binding consultative session. Members tried desperately to reclaim quorum in order to officially pass the motion to declare a one-day PGSS climate strike.

However, after two recounts, quorum could not be re-achieved. PGSS executives discussed health insurance plans, as well as a policy to hold a moratorium on fee increases until McGill divests from fossil fuels.

“It sounds like you’re saying, you want to pay people to be your friends and, like, if people don’t want to be your friends, and people don’t want to show up to the meetings [then] maybe you need to think about what you’re doing and [star t] thinking about other ways of engaging with people.” - Vieth on the proposed Society Activities Manual changes.

FLASHBACK In an impassioned speech, Rine Vieth, Anthropology PhD candidate, urged the PGSS executive to show better strength in pushing back against the administration on mental health policies, such as the one on involuntar y leave.

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NEWS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

Tribune Explains: McGill’s updated drug policy The new policy replaces 2018 interim rules regarding cannabis possession Kate Addison Staff Writer

“The government of Quebec has a policy that says cannabis can’t be [smoked or vapourized] on campus. McGill goes a step further and says you can’t consume it in any form.” McLaughlin said. “If we were in let’s say [British Columbia (BC)], it might be a different story because in BC there’s no provincial law that says that you can’t consume cannabis on campus. In fact, [The University of British Columbia] has made it so that you can smoke or consume cannabis in certain sites.”

McGill’s updated Policy Concerning Alcohol, Cannabis, and Other Drugs went into effect on Nov. 1. The McGill Tribune spoke with Gabriel Aboutboul and Matthew McLaughlin, representatives for Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy McGill (CSSDP), about how this policy will affect drug use at McGill.

Which drugs are allowed under this policy?

The policy forbids the use of alcohol on McGill property, unless it is done at residence or at an event that has acquired an alcohol permit. The use of non-medical cannabis and other illegal drugs is strictly forbidden, however, the consumption of marijuana for medicinal purposes is allowed. As in the rest of Canada, personal cannabis cultivation and the sale or distribution of cannabis or any other drug is prohibited without an official license.

It is also in violation of the policy to promote marijuana products on school property or in university communications. Violations of the new policy will be considered non-academic offenses and may result in disciplinary measures, ranging from removal from university property to criminal charges.

Why is an updated policy necessary?

The updated policy on drugs and alcohol replaces the interim rules enacted in Aug. 2018 following the federal government’s legalization of cannabis. The past guidelines prohibited the use and sale of cannabis on campus, excepting cases of use in academic research. Cynthia Lee, associate director for media relations at McGill, explained the reason for updating this interim policy.

To whom does the policy apply?

On campus, only the consumption of medical cannabis is permitted. (Sabrina Girard-Lamas / The McGill Tribune) “There was no specific incident that caused the development of this policy,” Lee said. “When the university announced its interim cannabis rules shortly before the legalization of cannabis in Oct. 2018, Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) Yves Beauchamp and Provost Christopher Manfredi informed the community that [...] McGill will develop an [updated] policy addressing the possession and use of cannabis, alcohol and other drugs.”

According to the policy statement, the purpose of the recent update is to promote a healthy, safe, and respectful environment for all members of the McGill community. However, McLaughlin, U2 Economics and Urban Systems, explained that this policy was not created solely at the discretion of the McGill administration.

All members of the McGill community, including students, faculty, staff, and visitors to any of the school’s campuses must abide by the rules of this policy while on university property and while representing McGill at conferences or events. Certain members of the McGill community will be subject to specific clauses within the policy, such as employees, who are all prohibited from working under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

McLaughlin said that students who live in residences are also impacted by the campus-wide ban on recreational cannabis.

“Students in residence, who literally live on campus [...] have to essentially leave their homes. There’s no place for them to [consume cannabis] except for in the public street.”

How will this policy impact people with substance– use disorders?

For members of the McGill community with substance–use issues, accommodations will be made up to the point of unacceptable harm and inconvenience towards the university. Students and staff suffering from substance abuse are encouraged within the policy to seek support from the Employee & Family Assistance Program or Student Services.

FALL 2019 SSMU REFERENDUM ENDORSEMENTS CREATION OF THE INDIGENOUS EQUITY FUND AND FEE

YES The proposed creation of this nonopt-outable $1.00 fee would serve three purposes: Funding the activities of the SSMU Indigenous Affairs Committee, financing projects led by Indigenous or equity-seeking student groups, and providing a source of financial support for Indigenous undergraduates at McGill.

The Tribune endorses the creation of this long-overdue fund and fee. The fund would support Indigenous students and grant them the fiscal autonomy needed to address their needs and concerns. Given the lack of substantial institutional support that exists for Indigenous students on campus, and the relative bureaucratic silence from McGill after the 2017 Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous studies and Indigenous Education, this fund is a step in the right direction.

CREATION OF SSMU STUDENT ACADEMIC SUPPORT SERVICES AND FEE LEVY

YES The proposed $0.93 opt-outable fee will go toward an office that integrates and expands

Open Educational Resources, SSMU Tutoring, and MiniCourses. The fee will also go toward the creation of paid note-taker positions and affordable preparatory courses. The Tribune endorses the fee, as access to open education is necessary. However, it is imperative that students consider the need for the university administration to fund the compensation of note-takers, in the way the Office for Students with Disabilities no longer does, as it is not sustainable for students to fill gaps in student resources.

INCREASE AND NATURE OF SSMU EQUITY FEE

YES The proposed $0.50 increase to the SSMU Equity Fee is reasonable and financially necessary given the Equity Fund’s $5,000 deficit. One of the Equity Fund’s main purposes is to fund the salaries of SSMU’s Equity Commissioners, who oversee discrimination complaints within SSMU. Because students who choose to opt-out of the Equity Fee cannot be denied access to this process for ethical and practical reasons, making the fee mandatory is a sensible decision.

CLUB FUND FEE INCREASE

NO Vice-President (VP) Student Life Billy Kawasaki leads the campaign to increase the SSMU Club Fund Fee from

OPINION

$2.75 to $7.75, which he says will enable the creation of an online platform for SSMU club communication and go toward funding an improved insurance plan for events. While it is admirable that SSMU executives are working toward improving their relationship with clubs and services, Kawasaki’s campaign has not clearly demonstrated how spending $20,000 per year on an online portal and updated insurance will provide club executives with the support they need.

As such, the Tribune believes that the 280-per cent fee increase is not justified.

DISCRETIONARY FUNDING FOR DRIVE SAFE

YES SSMU’s free DriveSafe service drives students home safely anywhere on the Island of Montreal on Thursday– Saturday nights. It is funded by a non– opt–outable Safety Service Fee of $3.97, of which $0.60 goes toward DriveSafe.

Currently, all of the 280 vehicles rented each school year by the service use gasoline. The motion regarding discretionary funding suggests that, by 2030, DriveSafe will only use electric vehicles. The Tribune endorses voting ‘yes’ to support the first steps towards offsetting the 9.8 tonnes of greenhouse gases released by this service each year.

The voting period is Nov. 12-15..

(Nicholas Raffoul / The McGill Tribune)

OPINION

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

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EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Caitlin Kindig editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Nicholas Raffoul nraffoul@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Abeer Almahdi aalmahdi@mcgilltribune.com Miya Keilin mkeilin@mcgilltribune.com Sophie Brzozowski sbrzozowski@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Kyle Dewsnap, Helen Wu & Nina Russell news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Lucas Bird & Johanna Cline opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Emma Gillies scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Life Editor Leyla Moy studentlife@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Gabe Nisker features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editor Kevin Vogel & Katia Innes arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Ender McDuff & Kaja Surbourg sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Erica Stefano & Sabrina Girard-Lamas design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor Leanne Young photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editors Sarah Ford & Aidan Martin multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Jad Hamdan & Jonathan Colaco Carr webdev@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Keating Reid copy@mcgilltribune.com

OFF THE BOARD

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TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Heela Achakzai, Isabelle Côté, Solomon Friedman, Katia Innes, Caitlin Kindig, Marie Labrosse, Katerine Milazzo, Falah Rajput, Keating Reid, McEan Taylor, Ahmad El-Zammar

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CONTRIBUTORS Margaret Askey, Vanessa Barron, Gordon Clarke, Favour Daka, Sarah Farnand, Angelina Giordano, Pascal Hogue Zoe Karkossa, Julia Kossakowski, Madison McLauchlan, Charlie Mascia, Kennedy Mckee-Braide, Magdalena Nitchi, Delphine Polidori, Tatianna Sitounis

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EDITORIAL

Sharing Milton-Parc Moving away from home, university students experience their first taste of personal freedom.

However, having the power to do what they want does not excuse students being disrespectful to others.

A drunken fight on Oct. 4 between two students in the Milton-Parc area resulted in $500 in damages to a family’s only car. This incident brought McGill students under fire once again for showing a lack of consideration for their neighbours and shared spaces. Students and organizations at McGill must hold themselves accountable when living and partying in the MiltonParc neighbourhood and maintain a higher standard of respect for their neighbours.

Milton-Parc has been a student neighbourhood for several decades.

Since the 1960s, students have become a significant portion of the area’s residents, leading to corporate gentrification, which sparked increasingly unaffordable rent costs and the replacement of historic homes with fraternity houses and condos.

This influx of McGill students shifted the atmosphere of the neighborhood, some residents would say for the worse. Complaints by non-students highlight the sense of entitlement and disrespect by students and organizations toward their neighbours.

Residents’ grievances have ranged from students being disruptive into the early morning hours, to excessive

Helen Wu News Editor The social interactions of everyday life exhaust me.

Oftentimes, I would rather observe commotion unfold before me than engage in it. Due to our reserved nature, introverts like myself are frequently asked if we are okay, when in reality, we are happily minding our own business. Although the people asking these questions generally mean well, they make me wonder whether my natural disposition is somehow unfit for my environment.

Western society has always expected that women be approachable, chatty, and

littering, and inconsiderate acts like urinating on residents’ property.

Party culture in the area seems to be the root of many disruptions.

With several fraternities calling the neighbourhood home, drinking events are an ever-present reality. Moreover, faculty-and student-run events like Frosh, Hype Week, Faculty Olympics and apartment crawls, which often take place in or around the Milton Parc area, lead to hordes of drunken students wandering the streets, which can result in accidental or reckless damage to others’ property. Party culture also contributes to excessive amounts of littered bottles, cans, and cigarette butts on sidewalks and lawns.

Event organizers have taken steps to address the issues that arise from drinking events. For example, faculties dispatch Street Teams during Frosh week to manage intoxicated students as they pass through the neighbourhood.

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) also tries to control apartment crawls by requiring hosts to have liquor licenses and complete server training.

However, rather than mitigating disruptions to the community, this restriction merely limits the number of clubs willing to go through the process required to host a crawl by SSMU’s rules.

It is incumbent on student organizations to hold themselves accountable during parties. If a

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club has a history of damaging private or public property, failing to make changes to their rules or practices is negligent. Some ways student organizations could be more courteous to Milton-Parc residents are by putting more effort into planning crowd control procedures and having stricter consequences if partygoers fail to respect neighbours at drinking events.

It also falls on student organizations to find ways to encourage proper waste-disposal, or at the very least have thorough cleanups after events. A portion of entry or participation fees for larger events like hype week should be reserved for fixing damages and ensuring public spaces are tidied after events.

SSMU should also take steps to address the issue. Incorporating tips on how to be respectful of neighbours and others’ property into server training would give hosts the skills to have more respectful parties.

Moreover, SSMU must be stricter when holding clubs accountable. If certain clubs or faculties repeatedly cause serious damage and disruption, SSMU should levy consequences, including revoking alcohol privileges.

Students who do not take part in organized drinking events can still find ways to be better neighbours. In the past, some McGill courses in the Quebec Studies department make students volunteer in Montreal. These types of community engagement

projects help students connect with their neighbours and be better citizens.

Simple things like joining a clean-up, finding out when garbage day is to avoid unnecessary trash on the sidewalks, or just saying ‘hi’ to a neighbour can make students better community members. On moving day, students should make use of services like Trash2Treasure to get rid of unwanted furniture in a sustainable way. When hosting a party, students can use online networks like Nextdoor.ca or leave a note in next-door mailboxes to let neighbours know their plans and invite them to share their feedback.

Simple acts go a long way in making others feel respected and heard in their communities.

McGill students will continue to cohabitate with others in MiltonParc. As part of the broader Montreal community, SSMU and McGill’s student organizations have a responsibility to control and mitigate the damages caused to the MiltonParc community during McGill drinking events. Moreover, beyond McGill-organized events, student tenants should make an effort to engage with their community and be better Milton-Parc neighbours.

For those who are interested in donating, the GoFundMe to help cover the car damages sustained by the Milton-Parc family is still active.

The hidden hurdles of a wallflower outgoing in social situations.

However, I have learned that it is fine not to pretend to have any of those traits just to gain the validation of my peers. At social gatherings, I find myself hiding in the host’s bedroom, leaving early, or staying in one corner of the room, with no desire to network or strike up a shallow conversation. This is not to say I am unkind or hostile; I am just not interested in talking about superficialities like the snow, how classes are going, or which Netflix shows we are watching. After lengthy periods of socializing, I need some downtime, either spent alone or with one or two close friends.

In a world run by extroverts, I often feel that my capabilities are overshadowed by my peers’ forwardness in the classroom, on teams, or during group work.

Those who earn leadership positions are usually outspoken, as they gain the trust of others more easily. Extroverts are more recognized because of their affable nature, while introverts struggle to break out of their personal space and are consequently perceived as cold.

It is more difficult for me to prove my skillset in a group, however, I have realized that the affirmation of my capabilities is not necessary for me to make an impact. While it has always been frustrating to watch leadership positions be given to those able to make an impression, I now find my place in settings that prioritize the quality of one’s ideas. As a student conducting research in a life-science laboratory, I found a place that does not stress the importance of extroversion. Scientific research does not have to be done out loud, therefore, allowing reserved voices to investigate revolutionary ideas in peace.

Although extroverts often have an advantage, even in science, I feel more powerful presenting data than when sharing my opinions on politics. In the end, what changes the world is not how people present themselves but rather the actions they take and the relationships they build.

Although I have a low tolerance for frivolous interactions, I do value genuine relationships and care about those around me. I prefer forming new friendships in

less clamorous settings, where I can focus on learning about a person’s more important experiences. While speaking out in a group seems effortless for extroverts, it takes a lot of energy from me, and when I do, I find my voice drowned out by those around me. Both introverts and extroverts hold ideas that are worthwhile and it is beneficial for everyone to make space for their ideas to come through.

Naturally, I am a listener and a thinker rather than a speaker.

However, my silence does not mean that I have no opinions.

Although I speak up when I have something important to say, I prefer to reflect before speaking.

Frankly, the conspicuous voices of extroverts that dominate the room deter introverts from expressing themselves.

Although I am introverted, I do want to share my thoughts, be acknowledged for my work and have insight to bring to the table. People should be more cognizant of the ideas being left behind when louder voices eclipse those that may be more reserved. Words are powerful, but silence does not correlate with inadequacy.

6

OPINION

COMMENTARY

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

Legal weed is safe weed

Kennedy McKee-Braide Staff Writer On Oct. 29, Quebec’s National Assembly passed Bill 2, which will raise the legal age for Cannabis consumption to 21 on Jan. 1, 2020. This change comes as a result of a major campaign promise made by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) ahead of last October’s provincial elections, despite Quebec already having some of the strictest cannabis laws in the country. The CAQ and other proponents of the bill argue that the changes will curb the potentially harmful effects of cannabis on adolescents, while critics say such measures are ineffective. Overall, Bill 2 is both dangerous and contradictory, and in response institutions like McGill should pursue programs and policies in favour of harm reduction.

After about a year and a half of debate in the federal House of Commons, the government passed the Cannabis Act on Oct. 17 2018. Supporters claimed that legalization would reduce organized crime, bring in tax revenue, and keep the substance out of the hands of underage people.

The federal legislation allows provincial governments to set their own regulations for the use of the drug, and Quebec already had some of the most rigid regulations in the country prior to the introduction of Bill 2. For example, while Canada recently legalized the sale of edible and topical cannabis products, the CAQ has decided that products that may be attractive to minors, like pastries and candies, will remain illegal. Quebec is also in the middle of a legal battle regarding whether their ban on home-grown cannabis is constitutional.

The problem with Quebec’s restrictive laws, particularly Bill 2, is that they fail to prevent young people

COMMENTARY

from using cannabis, despite this being their purported goal.

The CAQ claims that the new age restrictions are meant to set a precedent and will come with education programs intended to dissuade youth from using the drug. However, this is wishful and unrealistic thinking. According to Quebec Liberal Party health critic Andre Fortin, 31 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds consume cannabis. There is little evidence that the new legislation will do anything to bring these numbers down.

Instead of allowing young adults to visit Société québécoise du cannabis (SQDC) stores to get information from specialists regarding THC concentration as well as safe consumption, it seems that the Quebec government would rather pass legislation that is likely to cause young people to return to their dealers. Unregulated products often have higher levels of THC and, in rare cases, can be laced with dangerous substances. While provincial governments should be looking for ways to promote the purchase of regulated cannabis as opposed to unregulated products (such as with lower prices and a higher concentration of dispensary locations), Quebec has taken a step in the opposite direction.

Quebec’s decision is part of a broader debate surrounding measures that should be taken to promote harm reduction, and whether current legalization efforts are sufficient. Advocacy groups like Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) are taking a different stance than the government on drug use. The group advocates for progressive drug legislation and policies, including the legalization and regulation of all drugs, as well as a designated space for medical cannabis use on campuses and education programs to encourage responsible cannabis use for youth. The McGill chapter of CSSDP is currently

The legal age for purchasing cannabis in Quebec will be raised to 21 on Jan. 1, 2020. (Justine Touchon / The McGill Tribune) looking into providing free drug testing kits for students in order to reduce harm, a resource which is less specifically relevant for the use of cannabis but extremely pertinent for safe drug use more generally.

The CAQ is clearly not ready to put the legitimate needs of young people first and would prefer to pander to its socially-conservative base. Where the government fails to act responsibly, institutions like McGill should follow the lead of groups like CDSSP and provide financial and institutional support for harm reduction programs.

Lecture halls are still unsafe for racialized students

Favour Daka Contributor On Oct. 23, an English professor at the University of Western Ontario used the n-word while describing terms that were historically used to refer to certain classes of slaves. The nonchalant use of a word with such violent historical and current implications was justifiably met with outrage by Black students in the lecture hall who felt deeply humiliated and angered. In addition to this offense, the professor claimed that he used the n-word was to “get a reaction” from students.

This is a dangerous statement because it plays into a historical narrative that has disregarded the position and sensitivity of Black people. Further, it serves as a prime example of the ways in which academic spaces continue to exist as racialized spaces, where historical realities can manifest in damaging ways.

Academia often prides itself on being neutral and unprejudiced, an environment where anyone, from any background, can engage in the dissemination and acquisition of knowledge. This neutrality often serves to actively ignore the ways in which racialized people are misunderstood and misrepresented within this supposedly all-inclusive intellectualism. In bringing the need for representation to the forefront, the Black Students’ Network of McGill (BSN) has proposed a Black Students’ Bill of Rights as a way of advocating for the rights of Black students. This would act as an essential step forward towards broader institutional recognition of the

consultation form to collect feedback from Black students regarding their experiences in general. BSN proposes that this Bill of Rights will create an institutional structure which will allow Black students to better advocate for their needs on campus and it will also aim to hold the McGill administration accountable to its commitments to Black students.

Since McGill’s founder, James McGill, was a slave owner, the very history of McGill’s inception is tied to anti-Black racism. For example, until 2017 McGill did not officially celebrate Black History Month, despite the month being recognized by the House of Commons in 1995. Considering the university was established in 1821, that The bill will be proposed at the final McGill Senate meeting of the fall 2019 semester. marks 196 years of institutional disregard (Black Students’ Network) for Black students and Black history, again reinforcing the need for a Black ways in which the black experience at spaces as sterile and welcoming to all is Students’ Bill of Rights.

McGill is marginalized. far from an all-encompassing reality. This Academia, and more specifically The Black Students’ Bill of Rights incident serves to remind us of why a McGill has a role in ensuring that feelings highlights the barriers that Black students Black Students’ Bill of Rights is needed, of marginalization and ostracization are face at McGill, including a lack of especially one that specifically considers reduced for all its students, especially representation within the teaching and the daily challenges Black students face those of racialized backgrounds. The professional staff, microaggressions, while navigating an academic space such Black Students’ Bill of Rights serves as physical and online harassment, racial as McGill. It is also important in outlining an important step towards creating an profiling and various forms of verbal the appropriate steps McGill can take to academic space that is truly inclusive and discrimination. This bill also aims to better cater to the needs of Black students accommodating of the challenges Black suggest ways in which McGill can better both presently and in the future. and racialized students face. However, accommodate the equal existence of Black In making sure that this Black this should not be seen as a singular and students by first recognizing the distinct Students’ Bill of Rights is as temporary push for Black students rights experiences and needs of Black students comprehensive as possible, BSN called under the guise of inclusivity, but rather on an institutional level. for a town hall on Oct. 22. It focused on as a demand for continuous institutional Following the incident at Western, it discussing the barriers that Black students introspection over how to commit to the is clear that the conception of academic face at McGill, as well as using an online welfare of marginalized students.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

7

The underlying unity of life

Scaling laws reveal unexpected harmony within animal diversity

Ronny Litvack-Katzman Staff Writer Comparing animals of various sizes has historically been a challenge for biologists. From simple observation, an elephant could not be more different than a mouse. Yet, a universal underlying principle concurrently governs them both.

Scaling laws—derived mathematical models that compare an organism’s key life traits to its body mass—present an intuitive way for scientists to study the relationships between organisms.

By comparing characteristics such as metabolism, abundance, growth rate, and mortality between organisms of various sizes, biologists can gain valuable insights about the evolutionary history of life on Earth.

In a study published last month, researchers found that previous scaling models may have been short-sighted in their conclusions, since they lacked a large enough number of organisms to observe interactions on the universal level. Ian Hatton, a professor in the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, was the lead author of the study.

“We present relationships

that show how all species, regardless of their particular traits, fall within fairly regular bounds,” Ian Hatton wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “This suggests that at some level, these individual traits do not seem to matter, or that all these traits combine to have a neutral net effect on an organism’s energetics and dynamics.”

Following up on decades of scientific theory on the scaling laws that define the unity of life, Hatton began the project when he was a PhD student at McGill.

Controversially, biologists had assumed that scaling laws between size and metabolism, a key life history trait, are defined by a function with an exponent of about three quarters. In other words, for every three-quarter increase in body mass, a given organism should undergo a proportional increase in their metabolism.

Hatton and fellow researchers, however, found that this relationship only independently holds between major groups of animals, such as carnivores or herbivores.

Across all eukaryotic life—essentially any organism that is not bacteria or archaea—the study found that the exponent is actually closer to one, meaning that when eukaryotic groups are com-

pared, they seem to scale overall with a greater proportional relationship.

“This [relationship] implies that different mechanisms are generating these different scaling relations within and across groups,” Hatton said. “Growth, on the other hand, exhibits similar three-quarter scaling both within and across groups, suggestive of a more basic mechanism.”

The authors of the study collected data from over 2,500 published meta-analyses. Whereas previous studies with similar questions were restricted to specific groups of animals, Hatton had the unique ability to observe patterns across life on a grand scale.

The researchers’ conclusions could drastically impact the way in which scientists approach questions of ecology and evolution in the future.

“Once you start dealing with ecology, you are dealing with many species with widely diverse body sizes,” Andy Dobson, a coauthor of the study and Professor of Ecology at Princeton University, said in an interview with the Tribune. “Since every species functions at a different rate, we use calculations to simplify these nonlinear interactions.”

Dobson, who referred to scal-

New research shows that organisms as different as a mouse and an elephant are governed by the same scaling laws..

(Taja De Silva / McGill Tribune) ing laws as the ‘spine’ on which a significant amount of ecological theory is based, sees the team’s findings as fundamental to how long-term evolutionary relationships will be understood.

“To me, [our findings] are an affirmation of the strength of evolution,” Dobson said. “The fact [that] we observed different slopes between different traits tells us that there are general problems [that] evolution had to

solve as species evolved.”

Looking forward, the authors hope that their newly-improved model can help make better qualitative predictions about how ecosystems and communities operate.

“That, for me, would be the ultimate prize of 21st century science because we only have about ten years before we run out of natural ecosystems to analyze,” Dobson said.

The science behind sports concussions Investigating sports-related head injuries Angelina Giordano Contributor Continued from page 1.

“I have been interested in looking at how we could develop diagnostic tools to help us [...] decide whether an athlete is affected and when that athlete is able to return to play.”

Ptito, along with Jen-Kai Chen and other researchers at McGill, the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro), and the MUHC, have developed a functional neuroimaging test to examine the brain while a patient is performing a particular task, such as navigating through a virtual neighbourhood. As the person carries out the task, the researchers can see anomalies in the brain that would not be visible on an MRI. “When the person is doing a task in the scanner, the regions that are involved in that task demand more blood and more oxygen, and this is what the scanner picks up,” Ptito said. “Now, when somebody has a concussion and is symptomatic, we see a lack of activation in those regions compared to a control group, [...] and then that helps us make recommendations [about] whether they are able to return to play or not.”

Although contact sports like football, boxing, and hockey receive the most attention when it comes to concussions, seemingly benign sports such as curling and horseback riding can also cause head injuries. In golf, concussions may occur if a golfer gets hit in the head by a ball, or if someone standing too close to the driver gets whacked in the head by the club.

Concussions are very prevalent in soccer, largely due to repetitively heading the ball and colliding with other players.

Ptito’s group is currently studying the cumulative effects of

Women generally take longer to recover from concussions than men.

(Getty Images) heading the ball and whether having multiple sub-concussive blows can accumulate to a point where brain damage occurs.

“We see athletes playing soccer that get hit by the ball by accident, and they get totally messed up,” Ptito said. “[For] those that head the ball voluntarily, it’s less of a problem because their neck muscles tighten up, so the brain inside the skull doesn’t move as much.”

On average, women receive more concussions and take longer to recover than men, possibly due to hormonal differences or weaker neck musculature. There is a need for more sex-specific studies on concussions to better treat these injuries.

Another vulnerable group is student-athletes. Concussions come with disabling symptoms such as increased sensitivity to lights and noises, anxiety, irritable mood, difficulty concentrating, and slower reaction times, all of which can hurt a studentathlete’s academic success.

For those that suffer a concussion, Ptito advised rest accompanied by some level of activity.

“It is better to slow down and to do as much as you can, unless the symptoms get worse,” Ptito said. “If the symptoms don’t get worse, keep on doing what you’re doing and gradually increase the activity.”

Erica Stefano Design Editor

(Erica Stefano / The McGill Tribune)

10

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

Drug testing sewage systems

Patterns in global drug use emerge through analysis of wastewater Analysis of wastewater revealed that meth use was three times higher in Montreal than the international average.

(Fen Zhu / McGill Tribune)

Madison Mclauchlan Contributor Substance use is a global issue, affecting more than 235 million people annually. As public awareness of the opioid epidemic grows, up-to-date information on drug use remains critical in addressing these health concerns. The importance of such data led to a study that was published in the journal Addiction in October, which sought to better understand worldwide

drug consumption habits in major urban areas. But instead of making citizens pee in a cup, researchers focussed on the sewage systems of cities.

Before reaching the water treatment plant, effluent samples were collected and analyzed for four drugs: Cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamine, and ecstasy (MDMA). When excreted in urine, these drugs leave biochemical markers that are easy to identify after purification. Wastewaterbased epidemiology (WBE) acts as an

intermediate technique to connect raw data to proportions of drug use in urban populations.

The drug-mapping project was initially founded by the Sewage Analysis CORe group Europe (SCORE group), who wished to expand their established datasets to other continents. Collected over seven years, the final results spanned 120 cities from 37 different countries.

Professor Viviane Yargeau, chair of McGill’s Department of Chemical Engineering, led the research team’s Canadian chapter, which focused their analysis on Montreal and Granby in Quebec.

“Samples that we collected were 24-hour composite samples,” Yargeau said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “Pumping subsamples of water at regular time intervals over 24 hours […] allows a representation of a whole day [of sewage] going into the wastewater treatment plant.”

After recovering the sewage samples, several filtration steps were required to determine the concentration

of different drugs in a given system.

The scientists used analytical chemistry techniques, like liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, to separate particles by their size and chemistry. This allowed the narcotics to be filtered out from the wastewater and accumulate on a solid phase.

Subsequent testing revealed distinct patterns of drug usage that varied over time and across international lines.

The results were also compared to preexisting drug use surveys from the same urban areas.

“Conventional drug usage surveys can show who is using drugs, but the wastewater-based epidemiology tool allows us to promptly monitor patterns and trends of drug abuse in local communities,” Yargeau said.

Indeed, the research findings presented varying substance preferences.

Antwerp, Belgium scored the highest on general drug use of any city involved in the study. Cocaine was the most popular drug in Western and Southern European countries such as the UK, Switzerland, and France. Globally, South American cities showed the highest proportion of cocaine use per capita. Methamphet-

amines, however, were most prevalent in Australasian, American, and Canadian cities, including Montreal. In Montreal, meth use was three times higher than the international average.

Ecstasy was found in consistently lower quantities than cocaine or methamphetamine, possibly due to its less severe rates of addiction. However, the study clearly shows a steady increase in global consumption since 2012.

The study drew the attention of Statistics Canada, who asked Yargeau’s team to study the consumption of cannabis before and after its national legalization.

“We worked closely with [Statistics Canada] in the design and implementation of the pilot study, as well as with the managers of the wastewater treatment plants for the collection of the samples, which were then sent to my lab every month,” Yargeau said.

Although the work will not lead to a typical scientific publication, it entailed a full year of monthly analysis to capture the effect of this policy on the composition of Canadian wastewater.

The results will likely be published next month on Statistics Canada’s website, lending insight to legislation shaping cannabis consumption in Canada.

44th SQEBC covers cognitive ecology and animal behaviour Researchers presented on everything from raccoon behaviour to parasitic birds Julia Kossakowski Contributor The 44th Société Québécoise pour l’Étude Biologique du Comportement (SQEBC) took place in the McIntyre Medical Building from Nov. 1–3, drawing speakers and attendees from around the world.

This year, the theme of the conference was cognitive ecology, the study of cognitive phenomena in social and natural contexts.

Organizers Simon Reader and Mélanie Guigueno, both professors in McGill’s Department of Biology, attended prior conferences, but this was their first time organizing SQEBC. “There were many rewarding aspects to the conference, namely the connections I built with the [four] invited speakers, who gave phenomenal plenaries on the theme of cognitive ecology,” Guigeno said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

Researchers from around the province presented over 60 talks, as well as workshops on spatial analysis and careers within the field.

Sarah Benson Amram, an assistant professor in the Department of Zoology & Physiology at the University of Wyoming, presented her research on behavioural flexibility in carnivores, specifically raccoons.

Known for their intelligence, raccoons have the same ratio of neurons-to-brain size found in primates. Benson Amram and her team set up problem-solving trials

The annual talk featured researchers from around the world.

(Athena Ko / McGill Tribune) to test patterns of intelligence in raccoons and concluded that the individuals that attempted more solutions to the problems were more successful, a pattern that may also ring true for other carnivores.

“The same cognitive abilities that are enabling [raccoon populations’] success in urban areas are actually bringing the most adaptive individuals into greater conflict with people,” Benson Amram said.

Adaptive raccoons can thrive in city environments because of their problemsolving capacity. However, their ability to do so makes them a pest to humans. As urbanization and city sprawl increases in North America, people are encountering wild animals more often, making research on species like raccoons essential for urban planning and conflict resolution.

Studies on animalian social patterns

are not limited to mammals. David White, a professor in the Department of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University, discussed his research on the cognition and social patterns of the cowbird, a parasitic species that lays its eggs in other birds’ nests. Through a set of logical trials, White and his team observed that female cowbirds prefer nests with more host eggs. By tracking nest and resource visits of Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagged cowbirds, White described that, in most contexts, the smartest cowbirds rely on personal information, rather than social.

“In each circumstance, a female goes in, figures out the value of personal and public information in that moment, and makes a decision on which one is more valuable,” White said.

Another plenary speaker at the confer-

ence was Lauren Brent, a faculty member at the University of Exeter and McGill graduate. Brent presented her research on the affiliations within a group of rhesus macaques, a species of Old World monkey that she studies on Cayo Santiago, an island off of Puerto Rico. Macaques spend 20 per cent of their time grooming each other, making them ideal social network study subjects.

“Individuals that have received more grooming have greater reproductive output,” Brent said. “Stress [caused by lack of social support] at the molecular level recapitulates many of the hallmarks of aging.”

Macaques with fewer social connections thus showed a higher biological age— the age at which the body functions—relative to chronological age, which describes how old the calendar says an individual is.

Evidently, it pays to be socially connected, a conclusion that many human studies have also reached. In this way, by delicately designing research methods, cognitive ecologists can uncover innate animal behaviour, which contributes to a greater understanding of both the environment and humans.

Overall, the conference provided an opportunity for researchers and students from different backgrounds to learn about diverse, yet interconnected, research.

“The breadth of the work is what struck me: From conservation biology to behavioural neuroscience, from across Quebec and also international researchers,” Reader said.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

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In conversation with Nervous Nancy: Living through this McGill band talks being girls in punk Tatiana Sitounis Contributor At first glance, Nervous Nancy is a ecclectic assortment of personality, dyed hair, and talent to spare. This four-piece student band is determined to keep punk alive. It all started this past February, when lead singer and guitarist Ada Levine made a post in the McGill University Entering Class of 2017 group calling for band members.

Somehow, to the amazement of Nervous Nancy themselves, they found each other and hit it off.

With Ada Levine on guitar and vocals, Nes Aliu on bass, Tara Cohen on lead guitar, Emily Gittings on drums, and Robbie Dow on stand-in drums, Nervous Nancy is here to stay.

On stage, Nervous Nancy embodies a free and empowering energy, but this freedom is not without its battles. Gender divisions continue to plague the Montreal punk scene, making the community challenging for femme-centric bands to navigate.

“The experience is quite belittling. I know it’s not like [...] they’re trying [to demean

The band has only been together since Feb. 2019, but are already leaving their mark on the punk scene.

(Gordon Clarke / The McGill Tribune) us]. But I feel like just being a girl in the world [...] you just get so used to [...] having your opinion put down and told that what you say or think doesn’t matter,” Aliu said. “The scene isn’t [as] inviting to girls as it is to guys.”

Though punk bands such as BikiniKill and Sleater-Kinney have cleaved out spaces for femmes in the predominantly misogynistic mainstream punk scene, issues of discrimination are still prevalent in national and

local circles. It may seem like these gender divisions have been done away with, but sadly, the band finds that they constantly having to prove themselves in a male-dominated world of punk.

“It just sucks because I feel like we always say this but we don’t want being ‘the girl band’ [to define us],” Levine said. “But now I feel like every interview we do is about it because all our experiences have been shaped by that [reality.]”

The band spoke further on

the subject of gender, noting how punk isn’t necessarily something a classical ‘girl’ would find herself involved with.

“It’s like any other gender role thing, where girls tend to go towards [a certain thing] because that’s what they experience,” Gittings said.

Nervous Nancy is a force to be reckoned with and their experiences as women have shaped their music. This lived reality is what sets them apart from their male counterparts, like Societal Siege, BBQ Pope, or any other smattering of skatepunk boy bands.

The group noted that the girl punk genre represents unique creative avenues for women, and explained how they try to do their part in keeping the messages of that movement alive.

“I feel like, it’s cool that our music can be so related to girls [...] like, I fucking love the line, ‘When I feel ugly, I feel mean.’

It’s like [...] guys don’t feel like that as often. It’s not something that’s as relatable for dudes, and I feel like that’s kind of okay,” Dow said. “I see how excited all the girls in the crowd get and

it’s nice to have something that is so fucking relatable to you personally.”

At the same time, the band admitted that, in the beginning, they were hesitant to use the term ‘girl punk.’

“We definitely don’t want to say that, like, the only characteristic as a band that we have is being a girl band,” Levine said.

The weight of the term ‘girl band’ or ‘girl punk’ can more often than not be subjugated to sexist reservations or judgements, but a ‘girl band’ is so much more than its composition.

It is difficult to not feel a sense of respect and inspiration after attending a Nervous Nancy show or simply listening to their music. The love they have for each other, for their music, and the punk scene itself despite the prejudices that still exist within it is evident.

“I have passion baby!”

Levine said. “That’s all that matters.”

Nervous Nancy will perform at Piranha Bar Nov. 15.

Where do I begin: ‘Ancient Aliens’

Validating conspiracy theories and generating memes Kaja Surborg Sports Editor Ancient Aliens first aired on The History Channel in 2010, and for one month this year, I let it take over my life. The documentary-style series, produced by the Emmy Award-winning Kevin Burns, follows a group of conspiracy theorists as they attempt to convince the audience that life and culture on Earth began with aliens. Many of the “experts” featured in the show have no credentials other than having authored non-academic books on the subject. In fact, most of their claims have been blatantly rejected by actual scholars with training in archeology, and even Carl Sagan did not believe in UFOs.

The Experience The first time I watched this show, I was in disbelief. This piece of media called Ancient Aliens is out there, and the people that the show cites as specialists in alien activity are apparently real. But, from the get-go, before any so-called ‘experts’ have even been introduced, the show already had me in a daze of wonder and confusion.

One of the immediately startling aspects of the show is its terrible production quality. The show uses bad artist renditions to help the audience visualize the encounters of ancient humans with extraterrestrial life, and I cannot

show apart is that they had the gumption to go out there and make these claims to the public.

The title sequence is a remarkable piece of television. Ominously vague questions such as “Who were they?” and “Why did they come?” flash across the screen. These words, which rattle my core to this day, float mysteriously across stock images of the pyramids, Stonehenge, and other famous landmarks that drift around the words.

The Power

Giorgio A. Tsoukalos speculates on extraterrestrial phenomena on ‘Ancient Aliens.’

(Katia Innes / The McGill Tribune) imagine a worse use of money. Within seconds, I was hearing blatantly false statements, including that scientists do not understand the Bermuda Triangle.

In reality, the phenomenon of airplanes and ships disappearing in the area between Southern Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico has been explained by scientists as nothing abnormal. The narrator, Robert Clotworthy, had already thrown a series of bold claims at the audience with absolutely no supporting evidence even before someone that the producers cite as an expert makes an appearance on screen. Words like “decades” and “mil-

lions” are used arbitrarily, seemingly at random, without citing any actual research.

The Highlights The first ‘expert’ that appears on screen in season two is none other than the disheveled-looking conspiracy theorist of meme fame Giorgio A. Tsoukalos.

While I am delighted that most people do not take him seriously, it is still beyond me that anyone would pay him to appear on a show where all he does is throw meaningless sentences at the camera.

What sets the cast of “experts” in this

Ancient Aliens went so far as to actually make me believe in aliens less. I have always accepted that the universe is infinite, so it makes sense that there would be life out there somewhere. But, the cast of this show and their alleged “evidence” of aliens have made me reconsider where I stand. Everything they say seems to discredit them more and more, yet the show stays true to its path.

I can only compare the producers of Ancient Aliens to a horse with blinders on, except they put the blinders on themselves to actively ignore the scientific evidence that overwhelmingly counters all of their claims. In a weird way, I respect their stubbornness, and maybe it was the sheer audacity of everyone involved in its production that convinced me to keep watching the show a decade later.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

‘Find Me’ is stirring and lush

The sequel to ‘Call Me By Your Name’ revisits Elio and Oliver a decade later Charlie Mascia Contributor

In Present Tense Andre Aciman’s new novel, Find Me, seems conscious of the burden of being a sequel to two works: It follows Aciman’s wildly popular Call Me by Your Name published in 2007, as well as Luca Guadagnino’s 2017 film adaptation. With the exception of choice passages and lines, Aciman resists allaying fans’ desire for a third immersion into the familiar dreamscape of the languorous, unhurried longing of two men during a summer without consequence.

The two protagonists remain the same. Elio, a melancholic and precocious adolescent has become, in the past decade, a classical pianist living in Paris. Oliver, the elegantly rugged philosophy student whom Elio fell in love with in the first novel is now a professor of the preSocratics in Manhattan.

The sequel does not get to either of them until the halfway mark.

Elio’s father, Samuel, a secondary but warm and insightful character in the original, directs Aciman’s streaming prose for the first hundred pages.

We enter his thoughts as he engages in a dance of seduction by wits with a younger woman. These two lovers are sometimes frustratingly, unbelievably articulate in their introspective powers.

In Samuel’s courtship, there is little of the hesitant tension of the first novel. Reading Aciman, the everyday becomes a feast of sensual motion—the handling of a fresh fish, a momentary graze of the arm, even kisses which clumsily miss their marks. Tenderness is an inevitability in spontaneous, everyday interactions. The fog of rapturous adolescent lust in Call Me by Your Name has aged into a meditation on love, language, and time. Find Me sacrifices such youthful romance for a slower, more controlled passion.

Elio and Oliver each get their own parts of the novel. Elio, meets an older lawyer, Michel, at a concert. They tumble into an awkward romance which oscillates between a country estate and a darkened bistro in a loop of careful conversation and extravagant passion. Oliver, hosting a party in his apartment on the Upper West Side, dreams of being in bed with two of his guests. He hardly knows either of them but both feel more passionate and perceptive than his wife. In reality, he is drawn to the shimmering suggestion of Elio in each of them.

Call Me by Your Name is a memory, recalled in the past tense by Elio. Find Me has the rushing immediacy of the present unfolding, yet

Attend the Fridge Door Gallery’s fall vernissage, a student-run art exhibition that explores the “dynamism of the historical present.”

Nov. 22, 6:00-11:00 p.m.

Espace-8 Free

Shonda Buchanan talk and book signing

Join award-winning poet and educator Shonda Buchanan as she discusses her new book, “Black Indian.”

Nov. 28, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Paragraphe Bookstore Free ‘Find Me’ is the impassioned sequel to ‘Call Me By Your Name.’

(Cordelia Cho / The McGill Tribune) Aciman’s prose retains this hazy quality. Perhaps, because his style here is more spare and abstract, demonstrating a departure from the film’s and first novel’s textured richness, where the environments were as enchanting as the seduction itself.

“We all have many lives, one tucked beneath or right alongside the other,” one character remarks. For Aciman’s speakers, these interior lives are those remembered and imagined, coexisting in the imagination to render the present a prism which creates meaning only because it reflects the past, or what could have been. In his conclusion, Aciman presents an escape from this retrospection, yet it comes about only through a contradictory reclamation of what is in the past—or, rather, who.

“A paradox is never an answer, it’s just a fractured truth, a wisp of meaning without legs,” muses a character. Find Me is, with its speakers who seek novel love and find only the shadows of old romance, exactly this sort of delightfully incomplete paradox.

Doja Cat’s ‘Hot Pink’ will keep you warm all winter

Children Across the World: An Art Gallery

Hosted by the McGill International Development Studies Student Association, this art gallery presents works surrounding the theme of children around the world.

Nov. 14, 7:00-11:00 p.m.

Room B31, Leacock $15

Gisèle Lullaby presents Marie-Mai

Delight in drag queen Gisèle Lullaby’s homage to Quebec singer Marie-Mai! Nov. 16, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.

L’otre zone $9

ALBUM REVIEW

Viral sensation releases sophmore album Nicholas Raffoul Creative Director Only a year after her debut album Amala and viral Twitter sensation “MOOO!”, Doja Cat proves to audiences that she is no one hit-wonder with the release of Hot Pink, a sophomore album proving her audacity as an artist.

While Amala signaled an effortless and playful entrance to the rap world, Hot Pink demonstrates that the 24-year-old rapper can consistently deliver deliberate and lush production.

The album opens with steamy “Cyber Sex,” a bouncy beat that is reminsicent of the light and fruity energy of her Amala track “Game.” The track is accompanied by a gorgeous hightech and futuristic video, showing off Dojo Cat’s same lovable charm from “Go To Town,” but with creative highproduction experimentation. The video is a sexy Black Mirror episode, featuring innovative metallic outfits and purposefully tacky visuals.

Hot Pink matches the charismatic

energy seen from Doja Cat in her previous hits, but the album overall feels far from repurposed. Doja Cat flexes a new range of creativity with a versatile set of tracks. She shows off her multifaceted talent with powerful and sexy “Bite,” “Say So,” and “Like That,”—all electric summery-hits that are more than welcome in these cold winter days. The second half of the album slows down, with “Addiction” and “Streets” offering Doja’s more sultry and hazy bedroom vocals. Where the album lacks a stylistic cohesion, Hot Pink satiates a range of moods that make for an allround memorable set of tracks.

Hot Pink ends with a remix of her iconic “Juicy,” a near-perfect track, spoiled only by the unfortunate Tyga feature. While Gucci Mane and Tyga are welcome additions to the album, Doja Cat’s solo tracks establish that her songwriting has more than enough substance on its own—a mix of genres, gorgeous vocals, and a captivating charisma that we first fell in love with last year.

‘Hot Pink’ is the piping hot follow up to 2018’s ‘Amala.’ (complex.com)

STUDENT LIFE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

13

Ask Ainsley: Should I go to grad school?

Dear Ainsley, I’m an Arts student in my third year, and everyone around me seems to be gearing up for grad school. I’m not quite sure I know what I want to do with the rest of my life, but the thought of no longer having the structure of school is worrying me. I’m also worried that I’m lagging behind my friends who are pursuing more education, and that I’ll regret it if I don’t continue my studies now. Should I go, and what should I consider when deciding?

Sincerely, Lost About Grad School (LAGS) Dear LAGS, Planning for the future after your undergrad can be intimidating, especially since it entails moving on from your university social group. It can be scary to think about going your separate ways, but it’s best that you make your decision independently of the people around you. Grad school is a big commitment, and it might take some soul-searching to determine if it’s right for you. At the same time, extra schooling can be a great opportunity to deepen your expertise in your area of study and can be either necessary or beneficial for finding higher-paying employment in certain fields. Below are a few things to consider, but every situation approaching graduation is different, so tailor this advice to your own.

Given that you are unsure about going

straight to grad school, it is probably because it’s not a necessity for your chosen career. Knowing this, assess what you hope to gain from grad school, such as more opportunities for professional experience or more focused training in a particular field. If you are in search of constructive career opportunities, it might be worthwhile to consider a more applied graduate program.

These programs often include projects or internships that will bolster your resume upon completion and give you a head start with experience in your field.

However, grad school also takes time: Most Master’s programs are around two years, law degrees take three, and a Ph.D. can be a five- to seven-year commitment. There are also opportunities that you might have to give up while in school, including the income you could earn in the workforce and moving up the career ladder.

In other words, you will have to consider whether the eventual payout in terms of greater earning power, experience, and knowledge outweigh the disadvantages that come with extending your education. In some fields, work experience will be more beneficial than the research, academic projects, and book-learning involved in grad school. To determine whether this applies to your field, research what is required by jobs of interest in your field—you can do this by talking to a professional or a professor, or by taking a look at the requirements on postings for jobs that

Students can easily become overwhelmed between looming assignment deadlines and nonacademic obligations. (pixabay.com) interest you.

The cost aspect is also important to consider. Grad school can be relatively inexpensive or a significant financial burden, depending on the program and the funding you receive. Funding consists of internal awards from your chosen university, which tends to be given alongside your offer through a funding package, and external awards, which include grants and fellowships that you will need to apply for separately.

If student debt from your undergrad is already a concern, it can be useful to work and save for a

year or two before diving into grad school; some companies may even fund your future studies.

Ultimately, only you can make the decision about whether grad school makes sense for you or not. If you are ready and willing to put in the money, effort, and time to complete a graduate program, it can be a good option, but take time to consider what you hope to gain from the experience rather than thinking of it as a compulsory next step in your education.

Good luck!

Ainsley

‘OK Boomer’ is a call to action

Viral catchphrase has become an emblem of the generation gap ‘OK Boomer,’ the digital world’s latest viral meme, has gained seemingly overnight attention from mainstream media outlets and spurred heated controversy between the young and old. Last week on Nov. 7, New Zealand Member of Parliament (MP) Chlöe Swarbrick dropped the phrase in response to heckling by an older MP. The catchphrase, initially popularized on the app TikTok, has become a more-or-less universal retort to shut down or make fun of older people whose views are considered out-of-touch among the younger generation.

The phrase was originally meant to target baby boomers, those born during an era of rapid population growth in Western Europe and North America between the mid-1940s and 1960s. While many baby boomers joined counterculture movements during their youth, younger people have since blamed them for many OK Boomer has rapidly become a commodity, as it now appears on t-shirts, phone cases, stickers, and reusable grocery bags. societal woes, from the high cost of (Sabrina Girard-Lamas / The McGill Tribune) college tuition to the failure to address climate change. Many Millenials and Gen Z-ers feel as though they were bags. The trend is emblematic of Mil- of the younger generation’s concerns what unclear as to whether ‘OK brought into the world by baby boom- lenials’ and Gen Z-er’s rather unique or who hold outdated views on gender Boomer’ is just a meme or a call to ers and are now expected to clean up ability to transform serious matters roles, the job market, or immigration. action. Rather than shutting boomers their mess, so to speak. into both memes and marketing de- On the other hand, younger people down altogether, young people may ‘OK Boomer’ has become noth- vices. have notoriously been criticized by be better suited to encourage them to ing short of a sensation, with a flood Despite its name, ‘OK Boomer’ the older generation for being lazy, hear us out on the problems we face of tweets, TikToks, and Instagram has transcended its literal meaning and entitled, oversensitive, and obsessed today. posts to prove it. The catchphrase has can now be used to address people of with technology and avocado toast.

The growth of ‘OK Boomer’ in interestingly even become a commod- any age, as long as they exude boomer Skeptics of ‘OK Boomer’ seem the public consciousness is indicaity, now appearing on t-shirts, phone qualities. It is most frequently used as rather puzzled about the potential im- tive of both the new power of social cases, stickers, and reusable grocery a retort to adults who seem dismissive plications of the term, as it is some- media platforms to spread collective

grievances and the enduring nature of generational divides in ideology. Social media has become an extremely powerful tool, to the point that memes like ‘OK Boomer’ have set the media agenda and the narrative. In fact, many older people likely learned of ‘OK Boomer’ from the news. The emergence of the phrase through TikTok might be new and specific to today’s younger generation, but the generation gap has always existed.

Boomers and Gen Z-ers have grown up in different eras and faced different obstacles throughout their lives, so they are bound to disagree and approach things from different perspectives. Rather than perpetuate this divide, it is important to learn how to breach the generation gap and collaborate on finding solutions to the issues we face today. As such, ‘OK Boomer’ should be taken as a call to action for both the young and old to address these problems together by drawing on their diverse perspectives.

Young people seeking economic security while struggling to pay off their student loans are probably not looking to be lectured by those who shaped the policies that contributed to putting them into that situation. That said, it is important to not stereotype all ‘boomers’ as out-of-touch. ‘OK Boomer’ may have started out as a joke, but it now serves as an important reminder of the generation gap, as well as a call to action which implicates both young and old people.

14 STUDENT LIFE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

McGill students convene for the second annual one-minute scream

A chorus of yelling rang in the air outside of Service Point on Nov. 7 Margaret Askey Contributor As the fog of midterm season lifts from McGill, the sinking feeling of not-too-distant finals comes to replace it. The stress that this time in the semester brings appears to be the reason behind the “1-minute scream.”

The second annual “1-minute scream” took place outside of Service Point on Nov. 7 from 3:00 p.m. to 3:01 p.m. Organized by students Emma Cona (U2 Science) and William Bouchard (U2 Engineering), the event had a simple premise: Meet in front of Service Point on the downtown campus, scream for a full minute, then disperse. By 2:55 p.m., a small crowd had already gathered, with students accumulating in the center of McTavish street.

Last year’s event took place on Oct. 29, and was run by Ananya Nair, Sam Ling, Maheen Akter, and Cathy Jing. Due to the success of last year’s scream, Cona and Bouchard wanted to recreate the event this year.

Cona explained that despite the success of the first event, the organizers were unwilling to inflate the “1-minute scream” past its humble origins as a lighthearted event.

“It’s just a fun event,” Cona said. “Its [purpose] is more to gather people than it is

to scream. It’s fun to scream, but screaming doesn’t help with midterms. [It’s about] knowing that everyone is [...] in the same boat as you.”

When asked whether the “1-minute scream” reflects any student feelings regarding the lack of a Fall Reading Week, Cona was not willing to indulge a deeper interpretation of the event.

“There’s not [...] a big train of thought behind it, it’s just a one-minute scream,” Cona said.

While attendance was bolstered by student stress and a desire for community, many students simply turned out for fun and catharsis. Patricia Danielidis (U1 Music and Education) explained that she attended for fun.

“I saw the Facebook event and realized this [event] is one big meme,” Danielidis said. “This is going to be a fun time to just go and scream with my friend [to] just get our stress out for one minute.”

Danielidis was not alone in her reasoning, as most attendees seemed to be there in search of the relief that screaming offers.

Erika Arless (U1 Education) was also there for the stress-relieving benefits.

“It’s about the catharsis,” Arless said.

“It’s about releasing [...] stress in a funny and enjoyable way with your peers.”

Regarding the genesis of an event like this, Arless and Danielidis acknowledged

Students Emma Cona and William Bouchard organized this year’s scream.

(Benjamin Joppke / The McGill Tribune) that the lack of breaks might contribute to students coming together and taking matters into their own hands: The stress of midterms, assignments, and finals give students good reason to scream. Danielidis expressed her desire for a Fall Reading Week.

“I think a reading week would be really helpful, to just have a few days to get it [...] together,” Danielidis said.

Arless agreed with such sentiments on the lack of recuperation time available to students.

“Because there’s [no] Fall Reading Week, we’ve just gotta scream!” Arless said.

Whether students in attendance were eager to release their school-related stress, come together with like-minded students, or to simply scream, the event was a success. People came, screamed, and left in an orderly fashion, presumably less anxious than they arrived.

The available Service Point employees declined to comment.

Finals season horoscopes

What the stars have to say about the upcoming finals season Vanessa Barron & Zoe Karkossa Contributors

Libra When you come to a crossroads in your life this finals season, take the road less travelled. Wait—actually, you should take the road more travelled. That might be the better option. Safer, too, I bet. But maybe you’d be better off taking the road less travelled? Ugh, decisions are so hard.

As the long month of November wears on and finals preparation begins, you might be in need of some guidance right now. While you could just go to your professor’s office hours, why not read your very own McGill horoscope right here instead? We’ll tell you everything you need to know for the month ahead.

Scorpio

Aries Since Mercury is in retrograde now until Nov. 20, you might find the past bubbling up in ways you did not expect. You’ll find yourself wondering why you skipped so many classes to sleep in until noon. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do about it now except harass your friends for notes. You might also find yourself tempted to text your ex, to which we say, “Why not?” You have nothing to lose: Seize the moment.

Taurus Do not make eye contact with the squirrels on campus over the next few weeks. They can smell fear and they will likely place a curse on you that will make you flunk your finals. If you do accidentally catch their eye, do not be the first to break eye contact. Charge at them if you’re feeling particularly feisty. Win the battle and triumph over fate.

Gemini Studying for finals can be so boring, and you’re an air sign, so you need some excitement in your life right now.

Get a joint finsta account with your bestie or significant other. It might wreak havoc in your relationship but think of all the drama! You can thrive off of that for months.

Cancer Pro-tip for this finals season: Schedule your emotion-

Mercury is in retrograde until Nov. 20, meaning you may find the past bubbling up in ways you might not expect.

(Winnie Lin / The McGill Tribune) al breakdowns on the days you need to wash your hair.

Showers are the perfect place to cry loudly, especially if you’re in a shared bathroom. Plus, the water will reduce the friction when you blow your nose into your hands. It’s not a glamorous look, but you need to be messy sometimes.

Leo Play devil’s advocate in your conference this week.

Don’t back down. Flip a desk if you have to. This is how you can assert dominance over both your peers and the TA, who will give you an A on behalf of your sheer Chad energy.

Virgo Hey, don’t stress yourself out about finals. Yes, we know that you’re a perfectionist, but you’ve been doing well all semester. It will be okay. Binge-watch that show that you’ve been meaning to see. Have you seen Fleabag yet?

Even though the weather is getting colder, you need to calm down and take a cold shower. Don’t get distracted by that hottie in your group project now. Snap out of it! Your one true love for this month is the sixth floor of McLennan.

Sagittarius Okay, Sagittarius, please go to office hours. We know you’re in need of some guidance right now, like a SSMU baby seeking a rope to hold on to. Look on the bright side: Your birthday and Christmas are right around the corner.

Capricorn You know that class that you always want to skip?

You know the one I’m talking about. You should go—that will be your worst final. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

Aquarius You know that class that you always want to skip?

This week’s class will be be super unimportant, and it is definitely not worth going to campus. Convince your Capricorn friend to skip with you. Get some overpriced Dispatch avocado toast instead, you deserve it.

Pisces Instead of crying about your finals, you should give yourself bangs. Do it. You won’t regret it. Trust us.

SPORTS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

15

In Conversation with Tim Murdoch

McGill Men’s Lacrosse coach retires after 17 years, with an undefeated 2019 regular season Sarah Farnand Contributor After 17 years and 290 wins, Tim Murdoch is stepping down as McGill’s men’s lacrosse coach, leaving an impressive legacy behind him. He led the team from its first ever win to an undefeated regular season in 2019, four national championship appearances, and two championship titles.

When Murdoch first came to McGill in 2003, the men’s lacrosse team had never won a single regular-season game. This changed in the opening game of his first season at McGill, when they beat the Carleton University Ravens 8–6.

“Changing your mindset from losing all the time to actually being able to win is huge,” Murdoch said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “It was a really important moment for our team.”

Less than 10 years later, in 2012, McGill won their first Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (CUFLA) Championship.

To achieve this, the team had to win two games in 24 hours against two of the top teams in Canada: The University of Guelph and The University of Western Ontario (UWO). In the championship game against Western, they won in double overtime. McGill would go on to win the championship again in 2015.

Murdoch has learned a lot about being a leader in his time at McGill.

McGill Men’s Lacrosse coach Tim Murdoch is retiring after 17 years with the team.

(Allen McInnis / The Montreal Gazette) “I’m not, by nature, a calm person, so that has been my biggest personal challenge,” Murdoch said. “[To] just stay calm and believe in your team.”

Murdoch also feels that it is important to be open and honest about your weaknesses as a leader and to surround yourself with other leaders who complement your own style.

“Assistant coaches are hugely important to your success as a team, especially as the size of our roster has expanded from 17 players to

47 players,” Murdoch said. “In my case, I’ve been fortunate to have attracted very talented assistant coaches.”

Murdoch’s son Max has been on the team for the past five years. Max, who was elected team captain in 2018, has been involved with McGill’s lacrosse program since he was seven years old.

“It has been a neat connection that he and I [have] enjoyed for the past five seasons,” Murdoch said. “I’m really happy to have gone

through the experience with him. That’s another reason why I think the timing of my departure is appropriate. He is graduating, we have strong coaches in place, and we are stable financially.”

After retirement, Murdoch is planning a four-month trip to Asia and the South Pacific with his wife Pascale (B.Sc. ‘87). Being away from her many nights and almost every weekend in the Fall for the past 17 years has been difficult.

“My wife has been incredibly supportive,” Murdoch said. “I’m really excited about having more flexibility and free time for my own family and my wife and my kids.”

As for his ‘day job’ as a marketing consultant and partner in a real estate firm, Murdoch has no plans of retiring. He is ready for a well-deserved rest from coaching, however, and he remains uncertain about his future involvement with the lacrosse team.

“The new head coach will take charge in 2020,” Murdoch said. “If he thinks that I may be able to support the program in 2020 in non-coaching roles […], I may be able to stay involved on a limited basis. [Either way,] I will definitely be McGill Lacrosse’s number one fan.”

McGill’s undefeated season ended on Nov. 9 at Molson Stadium with a 6–5 loss to UWO in the semifinal stage of the national championship tournament. Next season, they look to avenge their loss and become national champions once again.

Supporting the team that never fails to disappoint The lived experience of a Knicks fan

Adam Burton Staff Writer It’s a fact of life for all sports fans: At some point, your team will be bad. Some fans’ teams will be worse than others’, and the most unlucky of us all are the fans of teams that have been terrible for our entire lives. Regardless of how much you have been teased and tossed aside by your team, you are expected to stick it out and wait for the bright future ahead—no matter how ludicrous and far-removed it may be.

The New York Knicks have been remarkably terrible for nearly three decades. Unfortunately for me and Knicks fans everywhere, there does not seem to be a bright future in sight.

We are trapped in an eternal cycle of excitement, hope, and eventual soulcrushing disappointment. It has happened over and over again: The 1992 Game 7 loss to Michael Jordan and the Bulls; the fleeting hope of Carmelo Anthony and Linsanity; the Kristaps Porzingis trade; and, most recently, the possibility of signing Kevin Durant and drafting Zion Williamson. Nobody holds on to unfounded optimism like Knicks fans, but every time we fail, we’re slightly more deflated and cynical. Despite all this, there is one thing a true Knicks fan would never entertain: Leaving.

The team’s owner James Dolan represents everything that Knicks fans hate: He appears to have no knowledge of

basketball, and his horribly timed handson management style have earned him the title of worst owner in sports according to some commentators. His oppressively tepid music, fedora-wearing habits, and increasingly fragile ego have also made him the Darth Vader of basketball.

Celebrity chef and Knicks superfan Eddie Huang echoed the sentiments of many Knicks fans when he spoke up on Hot Ones.

“Shoutout to the Knicks,” Huang said. “I love the Knicks, they give me these tickets, I get to go eat in the suite, but honestly, I have thought about killing James Dolan. They have very sharp steak knives, and I’m like, ‘Look, for the Knicks [...], we might have to do this.’”

Huang was obviously joking, but grizzly steak-knife assasination plots highlight the limited options available to Knicks fans who wish to depose the cruel dictator James Dolan and restore the Knicks to their pre-1970s glory.

After years of suffering, I have realized something: I love to hate the Knicks. The team has not won a championship since 1973, yet remains the most valuable basketball franchise by $300 million. The most memorable moment the Knicks have had in two decades was Linsanity—a two week winning streak, led by Jeremy Lin, in an otherwise forgettable 2011-12 season.

New York fans spend so much money on merchandise and tickets that the franchise

The New York Knicks haven’t won an NBA Champiosnhip since 1973.

(Jonathan Bachman / Associated Press) value rose $170 million in the span of one week. We love to lose our minds over nothing, and I will be there every time, no matter how disappointed I know I will be.

I do not expect my team to ever be good, and I am fine with that. Being the worst team for so long has given Knicks fans a shared experience, something to stand for, and practice in self deprecation.

It’s the most prolific culture of ineptitude in sports today. Chanting “Sell the

team!” and heckling JD & the Straight Shot—James Dolan’s unremarkable band that screams “We only exist because I inherited my dad’s money”—on the night of the 2017 draft are the only victories we need, as long as we are together, united by our frustrations. I would rather be last and proud, waiting for the number one overall draft pick that will never come, than be stuck as a mediocre potential eighth seed without a shared community.

16

SPORTS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12 2019

Don Cherry is a symptom of a larger problem Hockey continues to ostracize people of colour Kaja Surborg Sports Editor Continued from page 1.

Though Cherry was finally dismissed by Sportsnet on Nov. 11., Canada has forgiven him time and again, treating him like a quirky TV character rather than a human being expressing his own, very-real opinions.

Canadians love to talk about how great we are, particularly in terms of welcoming immigrants and especially in contrast with the United States. Canada also has a tendency to tie our national identity to hockey. Here lies an undeniable contradiction, because hockey and its culture are hugely lacking in diversity, as well as having prohibitively high costs for participation. This was evident during the Toronto Raptors 2019 postseason en route to the NBA Championship. Vinu Selvaratnam, a sports researcher at the University of Waterloo, pointed out that basketball has a wider reach globally, making it more accessible to recent

immigrants. The Conference Board of Canada has found that visible minorities earn an average of $0.87 for every dollar that their white peers do. As such, financial barriers push hockey further out of reach as the more expensive equipment and higher costs for rink time make free basketball courts more accessible.

Hockey in Canada is declining as the proportion of landed immigrants in the population increases. According to Maclean’s, the last generation of Canadians for whom hockey was simply a given in life were the baby boomers. Growing up in Canada, learning to skate may feel inevitable, but anyone who did not grow up here or whose parents did not grow up here may not have learned the skill that is essential to hockey.

McGill is not exempt from the consequences of older generations gatekeeping hockey either. A representative of the Working Group on Renaming and Commemoration, who wished to remain anonymous, described the events of a town hall meeting on

Don Cherry went on an anti-immigrant rant during a Nov. 9 broadcast.

(Sportsnet) renaming McGill’s men’s varsity teams that took place on Sep. 12, 2018.

“There were [a few] white men who came to represent McGill hockey teams of the past,” the representative said.

“They brought old [McGill] hockey uniforms [...] that had the R*dmen [sic] name on them [....]

[One white man] stood up with

this uniform and started talking about the tradition and history of McGill’s hockey team.”

There is racism at every level of hockey in Canada, and Cherry’s most recent display of vitriolic racism is just another in a long list. He accuses immigrants of loving the life that they have in Canada without contributing to the country, but

immigrants cannot be expected to fully participate in a society that ties itself so closely to a sport and culture that continue to be xenophobic and racist. Cherry is merely a symptom of a much larger issue, and while he should certainly have lost his platform a long time ago, taking him off the air will not be a quick fix to the problem.

How to be a sports fan

A guide to the sports world for the uninitiated Zoe Babad-Palmer Staff Writer So, you want to be a sports fan. If you were not born wearing the jersey of the team that your family has followed for decades, beginning to follow sports can be intimidating, but it’s not as daunting a task as you may think. To help you on the journey, here are five easy steps to become a sports fan.

Step one: Choosing a sport If you are just starting out, it’s best to stick with one sport. While one of the North American “Big Four”—baseball, basketball, football, or hockey—will probably be easier to follow from Montreal, don’t be afraid to follow a sport that is more popular internationally, like soccer or cricket. You can also try something more niche, such as fencing or Quidditch. If it calls to you, watch it.

Now you have your sport—let’s say you picked hockey. You are eager to get started, but the NHL has five games tonight, and you have no idea which to watch. This brings us to step two.

Step two: Picking a team The NHL, to continue with our example, has 31 teams. You might have an idea of which one you want to follow, maybe your home city’s team. It’s also fine if you have no idea. You can pick

cheering for your team is unparalleled.

Whether your team won or lost, you probably learned a lot from that first game. If they did lose, you might be questioning whether you made the right choice. This brings us to step four.

Step four: Learn to love losing Teams lose. It happens. Not even the best teams win all of their games.

But losing can have its benefits: Commiserating with fellow fans over a loss is almost as enjoyable as celebrating a win. Complaining about your team is a time-honoured tradition in most sports. You can also find bright Even if you weren’t born into a sports household, it’s never too late to become a sports fan. spots in losses. Maybe a player you like (Getty Images) snapped a goalless streak, or your team took fewer fouls than they did last game. the team with the best logo or name, or rules next, don’t worry: You will learn Through losses and wins, you’ll the team that you heard mentioned on an more from watching a game than you ever experience a rollercoaster of emotions. episode of Bones years ago. You could will from staring at a rulebook. Having It’s now time for the fifth, final, and most pick the team that won the Stanley Cup a friend you can pester with questions important part of this process: Step five. last year, or the one that’s the favourite at every whistle is also very helpful. If to win this year, because, despite what you like history, some research can be Step five: Have fun! you might have heard, there is nothing fun, but you are not a “fake fan” if you Despite the billions of dollars wrong with being a “bandwagon fan.” If can’t list every time the Yankees won the invested into sports, their ultimate a team is popular, they’re probably fun to World Series. purpose is to provide entertainment. watch, so go for it.

Going to games is a great experience. At the end of the day, watching a game Since this is Montreal, let’s say you However, major league games can get should be fun. Remember that, and you’ll pick the Habs. Now it’s time to move on prohibitively expensive so consider going do fine. to step three. to a minor league or university game— The McGill Tribune is particularly fond Congratulations, you’re a Certified Step three: Watching a game of the McGill teams. The feeling of Sports Fan! Welcome to the club. We’re If you are worried about learning the being surrounded by an arena full of fans happy to have you.