McGill Tribune vol. 37 Issue 15

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2018 | VOL. 37 | ISSUE 15

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

EDITORIAL

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

FEATURE

WORD ON THE Y

Girls of Game Dev

What are your headline predictions for 2018?

An apolitical BoD is in everyone’s best interests

Exploring multiple paths to success in games

PG. 5

PGs. 8-9

PG. 12

(Navneet Kaur / The McGill Tribune)

Montreal Women’s March returns with empowering messages Second annual rally encourages political participation Caitlin Kindig Contributor On Jan. 20, the Manif des Femmes Montréal, or Women’s March on Montreal, returned to Place-des-Arts for the first anniversary of 2017’s international Women’s March. Orga-

nized by leaders of the Centre des Femmes de l’UQAM, Chez Stella, and Black Lives Matter, the rally called for increasing representation of all voices in the activism atmosphere and furthering inclusivity in nonviolent movements.

Donning pink knit pussy hats and wielding hand-made posters, hundreds of people attended the rally.

Bringing students together to do good things while looking good too Matthew

On Jan. 19, Gallery Gora, situated on bustling Sherbrooke Street West, was transformed into the set for the annual McGill Law Fashion Show, complete with hanging neon art to compliment a stylish white-concrete floor. With diverse colours, designs, and styles on display, the fashion show, both run by and featuring McGill Faculty of Law students as models, buzzed

political perspectives, sexual orientations, and gender identities globally. Sandra Wesley, an organizer and executive director of sex worker rights group Chez Stella, hoped the manif was inclusive to those who typically feel marginalized and excluded from political activism, such as sex workers, immigrants, and transgender individuals.

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Why science students shouldn’t be afraid to write

McGill Law Fashion Show: Strutting for support

Gabriela McGuinty & Hawkins Contributors

Last year, Montreal’s Women’s March was organized in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington, which was a response to the election and inauguration of United States President Donald Trump. This year, however, the Montreal march was focused less on American politics and more on intersectionality and the fight for the rights of women of all races,

Words of wisdom from McGill professors and their recommended writing-intensive courses

with energy throughout the night.

Proceeds from the show went to Dreams Take Flight, a program that pays for children with mental and physical disabilities or structural disadvantages from across Canada to fly to Disney World for a day. The show served as a window into the local fashion industry, with models donning a diversity of styles from the Montreal design scene. The event showcased 10 designers; including Dominique Ouzilleau, an artist who experiments with colour and texture in furs.

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Océane Marescal Staff Writer For students in the Faculty of Science, the typical evaluation consists of a knowledgebased exam. Large class sizes, characteristic of first and secondyear courses, often require evaluators to depend heavily on multiple choice questions. For better or for worse, this means that science students are rarely

subjected to the torments of essay writing. In fact, no current program in the Faculty of Science requires their students to take a writing course, or an English course, to graduate.

Gary Brouhard is an associate professor in the Department of Biology with a background in chemical engineering and, surprisingly, philosophy. With a prominent position at a prestigious university, a successful microtubule

lab, and several publications in renowned scientific journals, Brouhard is a top-notch scientist. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, where as an interdisciplinary student he developed writing skills that he would appreciate later in his career.

Brouhard argues that writing courses are valuable for any budding scientist, and reflected on his own experience as an undergrad.

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2 NEWS

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Montreal Women’s March returns with empowering messages Second annual rally calls for intersectionality and political participation Caitlin Kindig Contributor Continued from page 1.

“Last year, the march was tied to the inauguration of Donald Trump, which overshadowed the demands of women and clouded the scene with anger rather than progression,” Wesley said. “This year, the rally was less tied to specific events than it was shedding light on sexism, discrimination, and violence that will not be tolerated any longer.”

During the rally, leaders of the three organizer groups gave speeches. Barbara Chin, a feminist performer, also spoke, sharing statistics about the marginalization and sexualization of women, and asking the crowd to join hands as she applauded the historical resilience of women.

“As a community, as we are here for each other, for ourselves and for the world,” Chin said. “As women, we are made to believe that we are

second class citizens [....] We are not respected, therefore we are exploited.”

The rise of the #MeToo movement this past year gave prominence to conversations surrounding sexual violence at the march. Protesters also referenced newer hashtags such as #thisisnolongertolerated and #timetoact to promote political involvement.

For activist Elise Van Leer, U1 Science, who attended the Women’s March on Washington last year, the focus on #MeToo and hashtag activism made this year’s march in Montreal stand out.

“I think the 20th of January will always be significant for me since attending the march in my hometown, D.C., last year,” Van Leer said. “The rally on Saturday, while much smaller, was a really eye-opening experience because you could really feel the energy and passion of the speakers.

It almost felt less commercialized and more authentic. It was really meaningful to have the emphasis on intersectionality and the ‘#MeToo’ movement and you could tell everyone there really wanted to be there.

I felt empowered in a way I hadn’t before within the city.”

Protesters gathered for the second Women’s March on Montreal on Jan. 20.

(Navneet Kaur & Kendall McGowan / The McGill Tribune)

McGill works to define the “university context” in student regulations Students rights are revamped to include protection of safety and scholarly work Ari Charles Contributor After finalizing updates to the Charter of Students’ Rights last October, McGill continues to deliberate changes to the Student Code of Conduct, including expanding the meaning of the “university context.” While the revisions remain tentative, McGill has made them available online, alongside a form soliciting student feedback the changes. Senate expects to finalize the Student Code of Conduct by the end of this semester.

“University context” refers to the locations where McGill has jurisdiction, meaning its regulations, such as the Code of Conduct, can be applied. Currently, it encompasses McGill property and field study programs, but has not previously been interpreted as applying to off-campus events organized by students. The McGill Senate has been considering broadening the definition of the context in the Charter and the Code for the past year, according to Engineering Senator Tre Mansdoerfer.

“Things that impact well-being on campus are now under the university context,” Mansdoerfer said. “Let’s say a student assaults someone at a bar off-campus, but they both go to McGill. The university can now have some sort of role in that.”

Public discussion surrounding the McGill context has stemmed in part from a 2015 incident involving two then McGill students, Conrad Gaysford and Kathryn Leci, outside of an off-campus house party. Despite the fact that both were enrolled at McGill, Leci struggled to convince administrators to take

disciplinary action against Gaysford because the incident did not occur within the jurisdiction outlined by the university context.

Changes to the Student Code of Conduct are still being debated. Potential wording for the Code’s new definition of “university context” was presented to Senate at its meeting on Nov. 23, 2017. The new wording for the university context outlines circumstances that fall under it and more generally upholds a right for members of the McGill community to enjoy the university environment. “‘University context’ means circumstances occurring [...] off-campus, where the conduct has consequences that may be reasonably seen to adversely affect the security of students [...] while on campus or while participating in university programs, events or activities,” the definition reads.

Mansdoerfer said that the new definition will result in closer administrative oversight of large-scale student drinking events that have previously fallen into grey area, such as Frosh, Carnival, and Science Games.

Dean of Students Christopher Buddle nonetheless cautioned that there was still much work to be done within the working group for Code revisions, and other forums as well.

“There is strong student representation on the workgroup,” Buddle wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “There is also an advisory panel being formed, which will likely [meet] in early February. That panel will consist of 40 to 50 people representing key stakeholders, from student societies to members of the Committee on Student Discipline.”

The jurisdiction of the university will be expanded to encompass student-run drinking competitions like Carnival due to changes being made to McGill’s Student Code of Conduct. (montrealgazette.com) However, Buddle does not foresee any significant changes to current disciplinary procedures, and emphasized that the university will prioritize student rights.

“We remain firm in ensuring there is due process for any student accused of a violation of the Code,” Buddle wrote. “We need to take the time required to do things right.”

In the meantime, last semester’s changes to the Charter of Students’ Rights provide a reference for the definition of the university context. The updated Charter also included a provision that aims to protect students’

scholarly work, such as papers published in academic journals.

“I support the change made to the Charter, however [...] I will be interested to see how this change is institutionalized, and if it will lead to any tangible increase in respect for student scholarship,” McGill International Review Editor Marissa Fortune wrote in a message to the Tribune. “Although the addition to [the Charter] is much too broad to provide any meaningful impact to the way intellectual property is protected among students, it is a positive step in the right direction.”

NEWS 3

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

School of Social Work advances gender-inclusive bathroom initiative

McGill’s Senate Discusses CAMSR Terms of Reference

Administration and student association move forward with project despite conflicts

Revision to academic staff contract and public consultations considered Laura Oprescu Contributor

The Social Work Student Association successfully advocated for all-gender bahhrooms in Wilson Hall.

(Leanne Young / The McGill Tribune)

Sydney King Contributor The Social Work Student Association (SWSA) was recently victorious in its three-month campaign to make bathrooms in the School of Social Work’s (SSW) Wilson Hall bathrooms gender-inclusive. On Jan. 9, the SSW degendered all of the bathrooms except for those on the second floor, which houses offices for the Faculty of Arts. The issue of gendered bathrooms has been on the SWSA’s agenda since October 2017, when several undergraduate Social Work students brought it to the association’s attention.

“A non-binary student had a lot of issues with being followed into bathrooms by [McGill] security [...] in the Redpath library,” SWSA Vice-President (VP) Internal Vincent Mousseau said. “[They] basically told them that they were in the wrong place, which is extremely problematic.”

The SSW initially planned to address the matter by clearly delineating existing genderinclusive bathrooms and making them more accessible to people with disabilities. However, the SWSA successfully pressured the School to change all of the bathrooms in Wilson Hall to be gender-inclusive as well.

“The research showed us that there were no increased rates of sexual violence against women in degendered bathrooms,” Mousseau said. “The statistics actually show us [...] increased rates of suicidality, increased rates of anxiety and depression among trans people when they don’t have access to bathrooms.”

Because the School was initially willing to make the existing gender-inclusive, single-stall bathrooms more accessible, but unwilling to redesignate other gendered bathrooms, the SWSA took matters into their own hands. On Nov. 20, the Trans Day of Remembrance, the SWSA put up signs in Wilson Hall designating its bathrooms gender-neutral without the approval of the SSW. “The safety of these transgender and nonconforming students [could not] wait,” Mousseau said. “We just took the unilateral action of putting the signs up on all of the [bathroom] doors in the building [.…] with information [on posters] about why we’re doing this.”

These signs were repeatedly torn down by the administration in Wilson Hall, most often on the third floor, where the SSW offices are located. The SWSA received emails from the School on Nov. 21 calling for them to desist and suggesting a meeting to discuss the issue.

On Nov. 22, the SWSA and Queer McGill held a demonstration outside Wilson Hall in support of the campaign. Director of the SSW, Nico Trocmé, then agreed to a meeting with the SWSA on Dec. 1, when two committees were formed to negotiate the redesignation of the bathrooms and to foster conversation within the School about the restroom issue, respectively. These committees are composed of Social Work staff, SWSA members, and external consultants from organizations like the Social Equity and Diversity Education Office.

SWSA U3 representative and redesignation committee member Noah Markis-Morrison believes the committees helped pressure the School to redesignate its bathrooms.

“As we gained support within the faculty and with the committee that was formed, we began to see some progress with the School’s willingness to address these issues,” Markis-Morrison said.

The SSW approved the change just before the December final exams period. Over winter break, the committee worked to ensure that returning students would have their choice of restroom respected. The next step for the SWSA is to acclimate the McGill community to the changes by encouraging discussion among staff and students through forums and sensitivity exercises within the School.

“Recognizing that Wilson Hall is slated for major reconstruction in the next two or three years, we have nevertheless made changes that significantly improve access and safety,” Trocmé said. “The full renovation of Wilson Hall [...] will allow for a proper redesign of the washrooms to have closed-stall, all-gender washrooms.”

Senate—the highest academic body at McGill, composed of students, staff, and administration representatives—held its first meeting of the year on Jan. 17. During the session, Senators approved adding the classification of the term “post-retirement” to the Regulations Relating to the Employment of Contract Academic Staff and the Faculty of Medicine Faculty Council’s Terms of Reference. Senate also reviewed and approved several items from the Board of Governors (BoG)’s report, which summarized decisions made at its last meeting on Dec. 12. Among these decisions were the Policy Concerning Smoking on McGill Campus and the Policy on the Use of McGill University’s Name, Logo and Other Trademarks.

Revision to the Regulations Relating to the Employment of Contract Academic Staff Senate added a provision for nontenure, post-retirement contract academic staff to continue research or graduate supervision for up to three years after retirement on an unpaid basis.

During discussion, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President University Affairs Isabelle Oke noted that this could pose a problem for post-retirement staff who will continue to supervise PhD students through their retirement—given that the average student takes four to five years to complete their PhD. Oke requested clarification over the wording of the document.

“Can staff only get this appointment once?” Oke asked. “The language in the document implies that this can only be given to newly-retired staff.”

Professor Angela Campbell, associate provost (Equity and Academic Policies), responded that receiving the appointment only once was the implication, but did not clarify further how this revision would affect all PhD students.

“This provision allows for the individual to have a place at McGill during retirement,” Campbell said.

Notice of Motion to Include the Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) as an Ex Officio Member of Senate Senate also debated a motion to recognize the position of Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) as an ex officio member of Senate, meaning that the Associate Provost would sit on Senate by virtue of holding the position. Other ex officio members of Senate include the McGill Chancellor, Provost, Deputy Provost, and various Deans. Senators spoke highly of this revision, however adding another administrator—increasing the number of sen-

ators from 111 to 112—would mean that the 56 seats currently held by academic staff would no longer be the majority.

Alenoush Saroyan, professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, supported the motion because the Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) is already actively involved in Senate meetings.

“I will support this because it really liberates the [Associate Provost] position,” Saroyan said. “[However], if [the position] is given to a senior administration member, it’s a conflict of interest [because academic staff are supposed to have the majority].”

Senate and the BoG will vote on this motion on Feb. 21 and Apr. 26, respectively.

Discussion of the CAMSR Terms of Reference The Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility’s (CAMSR) Terms of Reference are currently under review. The proposed revision would mandate that investments not be used for specific social or political causes. CAMSR’s purpose is to advise the BoG on social responsibility in the University’s investments. On Dec. 12, students interrupted a BoG meeting to protest the Board’s failure to consult the McGill community about the revision. The interruption led to the meeting adjourning early, with no decision made surrounding CAMSR’s Terms of Reference.

After the BoG’s report, Saroyan took the opportunity to argue for public consultation with students, faculty, and administration, citing extensive public forums for discussion prior to the approval of previous changes to CAMSR’s mandate in 2014. Secretary General Edyta Rogowska replied that circumstances were different with the previous revision.

“The previous review focused on introducing changes to CAMSR that were much more extensive than the changes proposed in the current mandate,” Rogowska said. “The practice employed for the previous review was the exception.”

Saroyan responded that the proposed changes to the current mandate were equally fundamental to those proposed in the 2014 review, urging the BoG to reconsider a public forum for discussion. Alumni Association Representative Tina Hobday clarified that the BoG has not yet made their decision.

Following the meeting, Oke shared some of her frustrations with discussion.

“There is a lack of collaboration, particularly with students,” Oke said.

“Senate is a place where policy goes for final approval, and that’s it. Discussion is usually sidestepped.”

The next Senate meeting will take place on Feb. 21.

Tuesday,January 23, 2018

4 NEWS

Mental Health Awareness Week promotes wellness for every student Panels, workshops, and other events tackle mental illness at McGill concluded by recommending self-care habits for first-year students, such as organizing their schoolwork, leaving the McGill bubble, and—most importantly—embracing the mistakes they make during first-year.

“Self-care is accepting that you’ve done enough, and it won’t be perfect,” Ffion Hughes, panelist and U1 Arts, said.

Julie Guichard, Daniela Garabto, Laura Oprescu, & Jackie Yao Contributors From Jan. 15 to 21, the 2018 Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW) featured a variety of events to spark discourse on mental health and strategies for improving it.

Student organizers led workshops and panels on topics ranging from sleep habits, managing mental health while living in university residences, mental health in academia resources on campus. MHAW culminated in the annual Students in Mind Mental Health Conference, which included an exposition of McGill’s mental health resources, six panels, and a keynote speech.

Sleep Hygiene Workshop - Julie Guichard Led by Peer Health Educators Alyssa Wooster, U3 Arts, and Rawda Baharun, U2 Arts, the Sleep Hygiene Workshop on Jan. 15 investigated sleep-related topics, including common barriers to falling asleep and strategies for resting. The workshop began with a presentation from Wooster and Baharun, followed by a roundtable on sleep habits. Among other tips, Wooster advised students to avoid doing homework or job-related activities in bed.

“Try to keep your bed just for sleeping and sex,” Wooster said.

“Studying in bed associates a place for

MHAW aims to address mental health issues in university. (Taylor Burnett / The McGill Tribune) choices.”

Mental Health in Rez: Seeking Support and Stopping Stigma -Daniela Garabito Held at Carrefour Sherbrooke on Jan. 16, the Mental Health in Rez panel was designed to teach first-year students how to navigate McGill’s Counselling and Psychiatric Services.

The panel featured several McGill students, including floor fellows, who shared their experiences tending to their mental health while in residence.

They discussed barriers they faced with McGill’s Housing and Food Services, such as the lack of mental health support for floor fellows and inaccessibility of cafeterias for students with eating disorders.

Additionally, the panelists discussed ways to tackle mental health stigma within their residences, and

relaxation to school stress.”

Wooster also stressed the importance of MHAW as a space for students to ask questions about mental health without having to go to a counsellor, which many students find intimidating.

“It can be very useful to hear information from a peer,” Wooster said.

“It can be difficult to have these conversations with an adult or personal advisor.”

More broadly, the goal of the Sleep Hygiene Workshop—and MHAW more broadly—was to help students claim greater agency over their own mental health.

“One in five Canadians suffer from mental illness, but five in five have [suffered from] mental health [issues],” Wooster said. “The aim is to provide students with information so that they can make [their own] healthy

Mental Health and Academia: An Open Discussion -Laura Oprescu The Mental Health and Academia discussion on Jan. 16 was organised

by SSMU Vice-President (VP) University Affairs Isabelle Oke as part of the Know Your Rights campaign, an effort by SSMU to make information about students’ academic rights more accessible. The discussion, open to contributions from audience members, focused on balancing academics with other areas of student life, and explored methods of reducing the burden of academics on mental health.

“Once [your parents stop] taking care of every aspect of your life, you realise how much of a responsibility one person is,” Oke said. “That can be hard to balance with academia.”

Priya Dube, U2 Political Science, who attended the discussion, believes that students’ real and perceived inability to speak out against their professors on academic issues can contribute to poor mental health.

“Breaking through power struc-

tures, taking control of your learning space, getting the return on your investment, [all are ways] students should be able to call out professors for saying things that may be offensive without fear of being penalized,” Dube said.

Students in Mind 2018 Mental Health Conference -Jackie Yao The 2018 Students in Mind conference on Jan. 21 consisted of six panels exploring mental illnesses and various methods for improving mental health. Following an exposition of the mental health resources offered at McGill, keynote speaker Beatrice Deer, an Inuk activist and health advocate, chronicled her own struggles with mental health.

“I wasn’t ashamed of talking about what I was going through,” Deer said. “I try to know my limits now so [that] I don’t fall back into depression because I understand that once you’ve gone through depression, you are prone to going through it again.”

Jasmin Chahal, a third-year Ph.D Microbiology and Immunology candidate at McGill, led a workshop on self-expression through writing, and encouraged overwhelmed undergraduates to look at the bigger picture. “[Undergraduate students are] stressed about people and how they’re doing, and their [own] life in general revolves around grades,” Chahal said.

“I was once told that life is like a pizza.

School is just a piece of it.”

SUS debates improvements to General Council

Students look forward to upcoming social, athletic, and academic activities Ayanna de Graff Copy Editor The Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) General Council (GC) convened for its first meeting of the year on Jan. 17, giving the Vice-Presidents (VP) External of the various science departments an opportunity to meet with the SUS executives. Topics discussed at the meeting included the role of the GC, upcoming social events, the 2018-2019 SUS election dates.

Deliberation about the role of SUS Council Early in the meeting, VP Internal Soud Kharusi put forth a motion to hold a discussion on the GC’s function and purpose. Typically, GC is a forum for departments to update one another on their activities, but Kharusi wanted to brainstorm how to maximize its effectiveness.

“We wanted to see if there were ideas that anyone else had in here of things we could do differently that would make it better for you and for us to be here, and how can we make it more productive,” Kharusi said.

Councillors debated using the GC as a platform for interdepartmental event planning. The majority of speak-

ers in favour, but some expressing reservations.

“I think that part of the idea is that we can do that on our own, in our own departments,” VP External for the McGill Society of Physics Students Liam Halloran said. “We’re using the SUS [for] doing larger scale things, but [the departmental VP externals are] just the liaison.”

President Jasmine Leung then suggested expanding the membership of GC beyond the VP Externals of the departmental councils, which would allow them to share their responsibilities with the other members on their respective councils. However, several executives were concerned that departmental associations would not approve of mandatory attendance at the GC. Many councillors also expressed their confusion over the appropriate use of Robert’s Rules—the rules governing the procedure of all Council meetings—and cited them as a substantial barrier to open communication.

“I also think that motions or the way we do things [...are] a little intimidating,” Physiology Undergraduate League of Students VP External Marissa Aycan said. “If you have a small idea or sort of like the beginnings of an

idea that you’d want to maybe bring up […] until it’s more developed I feel like it’s difficult to bring it up at GC [...] just because of how motions seem to have worked in the past.”

After a brief debate, Council agreed to allow the Speaker to relax Robert’s Rules at their discretion for all subsequent GCs.

Councillors discuss upcoming events and activities Leung started with a reminder of the upcoming gala to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the SUS. The event will take place on Feb. 9 with Leung expecting tickets to cost around $20.

VP Academic Ellie Joung announced that SUS will hold Academia Week—a weeklong series of events educating students about contemporary issues in science and research— from Feb. 5 to 9. The event will feature speakers, lab tours, and scienceoriented activities such as an MCAT challenge.

Kharusi also presented upcoming events within his portfolio. SUS intends to organize a ski trip on Feb. 17 with $40 tickets, a dodgeball tournament on Feb. 3, and a St.-Patrick’s day apartment crawl.

Next, SUS VP External Michelle

Nominations for candidacy for SUS executive positions will be collected in early February, and elections will take place between Feb. 20 and 23. (Alex Gardiner / The McGill Tribune) Guo announced the release of the SUS Youssef updated members on McGill survey on mental health. The SUS ini- Senate activities, highlighting its new tially released the survey in October, initiative to encourage teachers to use but took it down shortly after in order accessible education resources.

“We want to try to get professors for Dean of the Faculty of Science Bruce Lennox to review and approve to adopt free textbooks for students it, as per McGill’s Survey Policy. rather than having [students] pay [...]

However, according to Guo, the SUS or students ending up not buying textwill unilaterally resume the survey books just because they can’t afford to due to delays in the faculty approval and jeopardizing their grades in class,” Youssef said. process.

“The main goal for this survey is that we’re just going to collect data on Motion for SUS election dates Council brought forth a Motion student status quo,” Guo said. “We’re only using the data to make future ad- to Approve 2018-2019 SUS Election vance within the SUS Mental Health Dates, which passed. The nomination Committee, so [the survey is] just for period will take place from Feb. 3 to Feb. 14, with polling dates set for Feb. [the SUS’] use.”

Finally, Science Senator Salma 20 to Feb. 23.

OPINION 5

Tuesday, January 23, 2018 Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Jasinski editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Noah Sutton nsutton@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Audrey Carleton acarleton@mcgilltribune.com Emma Avery eavery@mcgilltribune.com Selin Altuntur saltuntur@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Holly Cabrera, Domenic Casciato, Calvin Trottier-Chi news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Jackie Houston & Alexandra Harvey opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Jade Prevost-Manuel scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Catherine Morrison studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Marie Labrosse features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Dylan Adamson & Ariella Garmaise arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Stephen Gill & Selwynne Hawkins sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Arshaaq Jiffry & Elli Slavitch design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor Ava Zwolinski photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editor Tristan Surman multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Daniel Lutes webdev@mcgilltribune.com Julia Kafato online@mcgilltribune.com

On Jan. 14, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Board of Directors (BoD) ratified the Judicial Board (J-Board) ruling on the case of Glustein v. Koparkar. The J-Board received an appeal after the Oct. 23 Fall General Assembly (GA), when students passed a motion to vote on each BoD member’s ratification individually— the Board is traditionally ratified as a bloc. As a result, three nominees’ positions on the board—Noah Lew, Josephine Wright O’Manique, and Alexander Scheffel—failed to be ratified. The J-Board decision, released on Dec. 31, declared the motion to split the vote unconstitutional, ruling that all BoD members must be ratified as a bloc. The BoD was subsequently ratified online on Jan. 19, with an 84.5 per cent “Yes” vote.

Regardless of the fates of the individual directors or the GA voters’ motivations, the attempt to split the vote speaks to students’ increasingly politicized perceptions of the BoD and its members. These are exacerbated by the Board’s largely unchecked power as SSMU’s highest decision-making body. In addition to four SSMU executives, unlike Legislative Council, the BoD consists of eight student members-at-large appointed via a somewhat invisible internal nomination

OFF THE BOARD

Copy Editor Ayanna De Graff copy@mcgilltribune.com Business Manager Daniel Minuk business@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Executives Grayson Castell, Noah Cohen, Vincent Li ads@mcgilltribune.com Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS Board of Directors

Nicholas Jasinski, Daniel Minuk, Katherine Hutter, Julia Métraux,Anthony Kuan, Elli Slavitch, Holly Cabrera, Jeeventh Kaur, Katherine Milazzo, Becca Hoff

StaffWriters

Kendall McGowan, Cherry Wu, Grace Gunning, Gabriel Rincon, Avleen Mokha, Virginia Shram, Sophie Brzozowski, Sam Min, Oceane Marescal, Miguel Principe, Jordan Foy, Patrick Beacham, Winnie Lin, Cordelia Cho, Erica Stefano, Gabriel Helfant, Margaux Delalex

Contributors

Amanda Fiore, Angel Yu, Ari Charles, Arindam Das, Caitlin Kindig, Claudia Leung, Daniela Garabito, Eloise Haliburton, Emma Gillies, Gabe Nisker, Gabriela McGuinty, Jacqueline Yao, Jasmine Acharya, Josh Marchesini, Julie Guichard, Katia Ines, Kendall McGowan, Kevin Vogel, Laura Oprescu, Leanne Young, Liam Kirkpatrick, Linqiao Zhou, Matthew Hawkins, Maxime Scraire, Natalia Savkovic, Mary Lynne Loftus, Madeline Kinney, Navneet Kaur, Owen Gibbs, Ronny Litvack-Katzman, Summer Liu, Sydney King, Zoe Yalden

Tribune Office

Shatner University Centre Suite 110, 3480 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A 0E7 T: 514.398.6789 The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Société de Publication de la Tribune, a student society of McGill University. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of The McGill Tribune and the Société de Publication de la Tribune, and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Letters to the editor may be sent to editor@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic, or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions. Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board.

All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors, or its staff.

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EDITORIAL

An apolitical BoD is in everyone’s best interests

Stephen Gill Sports Editor “You’re not in Kansas anymore!”

In the limited introductions I’ve made since the start of this semester, I’ve elicited this response four times. Mind you, I can’t blame anyone for failing to think of anything better. The most distinctive piece of trivia about my hometown, Kansas City, is that most of it isn’t actually in Kansas. To mention I live in a suburb called “Prairie Village” means I must promptly add that my Friday nights did not consist of mudding and cow-tipping.

Upon arriving in Montreal, I was disappointed that my peers showed so little interest in my roots. It seemed to indicate how comparatively banal my background was. But, in time, I’ve started to appreciate my entirely ordinary

process. It ratifies or rejects all motions passed at Council, GAs, and referenda periods before they come into effect, as well as all J-Board rulings.

The majority of the time, the BoD’s role is a formality—a rubber stamp approval on a decision made democratically, through the Legislative Council, as it should be. However, recently, the BoD has exercised its power to interfere in SSMU procedures.

For example, at its Oct. 29 meeting, the BoD passed a motion to add a question to the Fall 2017 Referendum proposing to raise the GA quorum to 350 students.

While the decision was preempted by a student petition, the Board challenged SSMU regulations by adding the question to the referendum period after the Oct. 25 submission deadline.

Merits of the motion aside, the fact that the Board went against SSMU internal regulations sets a dangerous precedent.

Circumventing SSMU’s democratic decision-making processes flows from a misunderstanding of the BoD’s purpose and constitutes an abuse of the BoD’s power.

As a corporation in Quebec, SSMU is required to have a board of directors. The BoD “supervises the management and administers the business and affairs of” SSMU. Because it is internally appointed, the

Board lacks the democratic mandate that the student-elected Legislative Council has. As a result, the Board’s main responsibility should be to ensure that decisions coming out of SSMU Council do not expose the Society to financial or legal liability.

Because it is an unelected body, it is essential that the Board not stray from this narrow mandate. In light of recent controversy over the BoD membership and its power, moving forward, further mechanisms must be put in place to ensure that the BoD remains as transparent and apolitical as possible.

As part of an unelected body, Directors are responsible for checking their own political agendas at the door, and serving the student population.

Given that there are no checks on the power of the BoD—not even the J-Board is allowed to rule on matters directly concerning the BoD—a Board that makes unilateral political decisions has the power to negate decisions made by the student body or its elected representatives. This leads to fears that members of the BoD will use its power to protect their own political views and interests. That their expressed interests could ultimately be ignored discourages students from participating in democratic SSMU proceedings, which already have infamously low

participation levels.

In the future, to prevent further controversy around the BoD, improving the Board’s transparency is crucial. BoD weekly meeting minutes must be updated regularly—the most recent minutes currently available online are from October 2017, and the BoD resolution book hasn’t been updated since June 2016. Moreover, SSMU should make the nominating process for directors more transparent, so students have less of a reason to question the individual members. Still, there should be appropriate channels in place for students to voice concerns about individual board members if they arise.

If the Board remains apolitical and functions as it is meant to, existing simply to protect SSMU’s legal and financial interests and handle various business affairs, there is no need for members to be ratified individually. It should not matter who the individual members of the Board are, as they should all be working towards that same apolitical goal. As the J-Board determined, the BoD is meant to be an appointed body, not an elected one. But that should not preclude McGill students from accountable and transparent leadership at the topmost level of their student society.

In appreciation of home—sweet, unremarkable home upbringing for all that it has given me beneath the surface.

A childhood environment is more than a set of surroundings—it molds one’s personality. Growing up in a quiet suburb leaves me inclined to take the low-key lifestyle to its logical extreme; between my casual, deadpan speech and hesitance to say anything controversial, my formal interactions are decidedly understated, no matter how hard I try to change. Some friends tell me that I display a strangely hilarious blend of sass, folksiness, and blunt stoicism.

This is the consequence of growing up in the geographical melting pot of people from the American South, Great Lakes, and agricultural areas in between. Apparently, it sets me apart from the McGill crowd.

What’s better is that these circumstantial influences help to establish fundamental life skills. I’ve learned patience from growing up in a world that, for whatever reason, just moves more slowly. I’ve learned humility and appreciation from a culture that celebrates contributions from big people and little people— the executives and the farmers of the world. I’ve realized that the Midwestern “blue collar work ethic” is more than some fetishized rallying cry; it’s taught me to demand the absolute best from myself.

An upbringing is also special for the memories it offers. In high

school, I won a state championship in football, still my favourite memory after 20 years on Earth.

Arthur Bryant’s—for my money, the greatest barbecue joint in Kansas City, and thus, the world—hangs a picture of my father, A Guy Who Loved Barbecue, next to its front door. These snippets from my childhood are two of the most cherished pieces of my life.

The thing is, my experience isn’t unique. We all have plenty

“

Arthur Bryant’s—for my money, the greatest barbecue joint in Kansas City, and thus, the world—hangs a picture of my father, A Guy Who Loved Barbecue.

”

of memories from our hometowns that give us goosebumps. These

places can make us smile simply by driving by—while also shaping our personalities and core values. Rural life teaches independence. Poverty and the struggle to make ends meet breed perseverance.

What makes a place great is if it lends happiness and virtues to its inhabitants, not if it can boast about its tourism and iconic landmarks. One’s home provides both those benefits in almost every case, through one means or another. For that reason, just about anyone’s hometown is worthy of celebration—and requires no further burden of proof to justify its greatness.

Ultimately, I’ve come to terms with the fact that the most defining characteristic of my home state is that a fictional farmgirl from a 79 yearold movie grew up there. That place, in conjunction with my hometown, is worthy of celebration for all it’s given me. That’s why I will demand that Tech N9ne’s “Hood Go Crazy” be played at any party I attend.

That’s why I will subsequently yell “KANSAS CITY NATIVES AND WE ALL A LITTLE COOCOO” with Tech at the end of his first verse. Regardless of where you’re from, I encourage everyone to celebrate their hometown all the same, and appreciate the memories, people, and values that come from it—but lay off Tech. He’s ours.

6 OPINION

COMMENTARY

Gabriel Rincon Columnist A Jan. 12 Globe and Mail editorial warned smartphone users of the dangers of overusing their phones; however, its conclusions were less than satisfying. The Globe proposed that the government look into the addictive qualities and other consequences of phone use. Yet, there is already a large amount of research into the health risks of smartphone use—and it seems rather obvious that students and youth could do with spending less time on Instagram. Accordingly, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to wait for the government or tech companies to do something. After all, users are still the ones responsible for how long they spend on their phones, regardless of the

COMMENTARY

Liam Kirkpatrick Contributor On Saturday, Jan. 20, hundreds of Montrealers gathered at Place des Arts to march in support of women’s rights. While demonstrations of popular disapproval of U.S. President Donald Trump might give individuals worldwide some hope that human decency remains in society, they will not evict him from office. This is not to say that acts of resistance do not have their place in a healthy democratic society—the success of the 1960s civil rights movement was contingent on civil disobedience and protest.

However, for change-seekers in Canada and the U.S. to realize their political goals, there must

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Put your phone down! challenges presented by their addictive qualities.

The litany of health concerns of from smartphone overuse is alarming.

These range from well-documented effects on sleep, to the possible carcinogenic properties of the radio waves they receive and emit. Aboveaverage smartphone use has been linked with sleep issues, especially when used at bedtime. However, what has tech experts most concerned are not the health implications of the devices themselves, but the addictive properties of the apps they carry.

Several whistleblowers in the tech industry have come forward voicing their concerns about the applications they’ve created. Former Google employee Tristan Harris asserts that applications are designed to keep people using them for as long as possible—think of autoplay on YouTube and Netflix. Harris thinks the tech industry has been too effective in this goal, to the point where mobile devices are taking up far too much of the population’s time due to their addictiveness. Harris even compares scrolling down an Instagram feed or refreshing one’s email inbox to pulling the handle on a slot machine. Phone users pull down their screens looking for instant gratification from new notifications.

A 2016 study by Gutiérrez et al. titled “Cell-phone Addiction: A

Review” in Frontiers in Psychiatry seems to corroborate Harris’s concerns, confirming the existence of smartphone addiction and linking it to a variety of health concerns like anxiety, stress, and depression. It seems clear that users would benefit from moderating their smartphone usage. Given that phone withdrawal, while difficult, probably isn’t dangerous, there isn’t much downside.

John Stuart Mill contended that individuals who habitually wait for the government’s direction on how to act will have their facilities only halfdeveloped. Even if the government studies the health risks of smartphone usage further, the onus still lies with the individual to change how they use their phone. Ironically, there’s an app

for that. Moment is an iPhone screenmonitoring app that shows the user’s phone usage and breakdown by app and gives tips for healthier phone usage. Perhaps if users see how much time they spend on time-wasters and social media, they’ll become more mindful of how they allocate their time.

Another example is Surfblocker, an app that can help students be more productive by blocking time-wasting sites. Surfblocker also helps parents educate their kids on how to moderate their app usage. Changing society’s phone addiction starts with parenting; moderation in device usage is a new responsibility for today’s parents to raise their kids with healthy habits.

For example, I still don’t let myself play video games during the week,

even though my mum can’t stop me anymore. These apps and good habits can help users develop more self-control and overcome a possible addiction. Users and parents hardly need the government to tell them these things.

The jury is out: Modern society is overusing its smartphones. Smartphone users don’t need another study to tell them how much harm their devices are doing to them. Rather, we should all be more mindful of how we use our devices. Time is the most valuable resource we have, and it is key for our development as autonomous humans to learn how to allocate it. Certainly we can find better uses for our time than scrolling through countless Snap stories and memes.

Moderating smartphone usage ultimately comes down to users themselves. (Summer Liu / The McGill Tribune)

After the march: Political parties deliver lasting change be equally exuberant efforts to bring about change through existing democratic institutions.

Joining a political party is the first step to do so. While imperfect, parties are the established vehicles in liberal democracies through which individuals who share a common vision can band together to shape state institutions. In electoral democracies, an individual is powerless to effect change alone; it takes a group effort, and not only once every year, but through continuous engagement and participation.

Yet, political participation in Canada has been in decline over the past 30 years. While voter turnout in the 2015 federal election reached a 20-year high of nearly 68.5 per cent, it failed to breach the 70 per cent benchmark that was common before 1990.

Further, only about two per cent of Canadians are registered members of a political party.

There is one group in society most notably absent from electoral politics—young people. In both Canada and the U.S., turnout is significantly lower among voters aged 18 to 24 than the national averages.

This is not for lack of interest in political issues, however. In a report published following the

2015 Canadian federal election, non-partisan advocacy group Samara Canada found that young voters engaged in political discussions as frequently as older demographics did. Voter turnout in the 2015 federal election reflected this. Young voters boasted the highest increase in turnout of any demographic.

Nevertheless, young people are the most disconnected from political parties. Samara also found that while more than threequarters of Canadians above the age of 30 were contacted by parties during the election, only half of young voters were.

Turning to political parties is imperative if young people are to shape the future of our nations. Parties offer individuals the opportunity to participate in and shape a broader movement, and realize common policy objectives. In Canada, Prime Ministerial candidates are chosen by parties’ membership, and party platforms are determined by members at conventions. For those who complain that elections present limited choices for voters, partisan politics offers the opportunity to have their voice heard. The options for the next Prime Minister presented during federal election campaigns are ultimately determined by the few

“

An individual is powerless to effect change alone; it takes a group effort, and not just once every year, but through continuous engagement and participation.

”

who choose to engage in political parties.

The good news is that political parties in Canada are more accessible than ever.

Canada’s three major parties all choose their current leaders by popular vote as opposed to a delegated convention, meaning that any Canadian can join a party and cast a ballot. The Liberal Party was the first to do this in 2013, and went so far as to allow non-members to cast a ballot, as long as they registered as a Liberal supporter. The party has since eliminated membership fees altogether, rebranding itself as representing an open and

inclusive progressive movement.

By joining political parties, youth have the opportunity to exert unparalleled influence over government policy. Canada is home to one of the largest youth political groups in the world, the Young Liberals of Canada.

Young Liberals are more than just young people within a larger party, they have their own organizational structure and considerable influence over policy. The Liberal Party’s policy on medically-assisted death was proposed by Young Liberals in Quebec. The New Democratic Party also offers young people space to have their voices heard in politics. In 2011, the party had a number of young candidates elected, four of whom were students at McGill at the time.

Political parties on campus are more than the average club—they offer students a real opportunity to shape our society.

In the age of Trump, liberals are facing a considerable challenge.

Nevertheless, as demonstrated by marches across the globe, activists are fighting for social progress. This energy must be harnessed and directed into our political parties to deliver lasting change. Now that the march is over, the real work begins.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 7

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Odd Stumble’s ‘Archipelago’ dunks on traditional gallery experiences Archipelago brings art everywhere—even the bathroom Josh Marchesini Contributor With increasing museum and gallery admission fees in more formal spaces, many spectators look to smaller events to discover artists, pushing the envelope of what it means to make art. From Jan. 11 to 14, Odd Stumble, in collaboration with Théâtre Rialto, organized Archipelago, a collection of interdisciplinary performances and art installations. With an emphasis on collaboration and improvisation, visitors embarked on an interactive experience with a map of the theatre as a guide. Traveling through the different areas of the venue, it was easy to immerse oneself into the various performances, regardless of the medium.

On the main stage, Nicolas Royer Artuso of Thought Experiment Productions performed “4’33 in Baghdad,” presenting his reflections on important socio-political themes. Inspired by John Cage’s “4’33,” he guided his audience to listen to the silence within the theatre.

As video clips of a Baghdad neighbourhood flash onto the screen, he announced a festival celebration accompanied by fireworks.

Sounds of explosions filled the space, with the neighbourhood being demolished right in front of us. Conflating aesthetics and politics, Artuso left audiences with the simple question: “How can we stay silent?”

In the adjacent room, Aquil Virani’s Sit with me invites the audience to sit in front of his developing portrait series, CelebrateHer. Accompanying the portrait was a soundscape in which a woman speaks to the audience, bringing the portrait to life with her own words.

Théâtre Rialto’s beauty is overwhelming. An operating “theatre palace” until the 1990s, the building itself was modelled after the Paris Opera House, distinct for its neo-baroque interior design.

Leaving no space unexplored, I ventured into the restroom. Stepping inside, I entered artmaker Jessica Rae’s The Green Room, which visualized a dream-like world with puppets and bright colours, establishing a certain slight uneasiness as schools of fish jumped from sink to sink. In the adjacent restroom, multidisciplinary artist Naomi Aldrich presented Trace (72): “Evidence or an indication of the former presence or existence of something,” a performance exploring mark making. At first glance, Aldrich’s positioning in between the bathroom stalls seemed off-putting. As she reapplied paint on her feet and hands, she began to count along with the voice that booms above the listener. Within this physical narrative, the passing of time, as well as her repetition of the markings, reinforced her performance.

These performances appeared to be independent of one another, but all somehow made the viewer think about how to interact with the various installations. In the Piccolo room downstairs, Maggie Winston began her performance of Wolf Tea,

like no other. Members William Moon and Christina Enigma cited numerous influences for this project, such as Radiohead, Boards of Canada, and Fleetwood Mac. The band filled the room with a healing energy, providing a needed calm-down within Archipelago’s sensory overload.

Unlike a traditional trip to a gallery, Odd Stumble’s art extravaganza demanded the viewer to actively participate in experiencing the art. Whether it was juxtaposing the mundane with the violent or exploring the healing potential of vocal harmonies, Archipelago reflected a refusal to stay silent, and reworked the definition of how art can be experienced by the everyday viewer.

Archipelago is better described as a funhouse than a gallery.

(Arindam Das / The McGill Tribune) combining handmade masks, puppets, physical theatre, digital projections, and soundscapes. Combining the mundane with fantasy, Winston visualized how they intertwine in this constructed reality.

Across the room, Carlo Polidoro Lopez presented several artworks, visualizing complex socio-political experiences. In a secret staircase, he illustrated the defining moment of his life: Witnessing the deaths of several family members at a young age. Using various discarded materials, Lopez’s artworks demonstrated that you don’t need much to make beautiful art.

A definite highlight of the art funhouse was KyAzMa, an electronic-bass-folk hybrid, creating a cinematic sonic experience

Sam Rockwell shines in ‘Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri’ Everyone is frighteningly human in Martin McDonagh’s latest tale of violence Maxime Scraire Contributor Writer-director Martin McDonagh’s (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths) world is inhabited by broken souls; wellintentioned but flawed people who hurt the ones they love because they have not found any other way to cope. Pain passes between individuals in an endless cycle of violence, and we watch as it grows, infects, and destroys everything in its path.

Sam Rockwell won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Officer Dixon. (variety.com)

Months after her daughter was raped and killed on her way back home, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) rents three decrepit billboards outside her hometown of Ebbing, Missouri. On them, she calls out the beloved local sheriff William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) for his incompetence and failure to find the culprit. Her desperate call for justice soon turns into an all-out war against the police department and most of Ebbing’s small community.

The rest unfolds in ways that would make the Coen Brothers proud, albeit with more explicit violence and swear words than they would dare put to film. Blood is spilled, and moral intuitions are questioned before being furiously shattered. Three Billboards is as darkly funny as anything this side of The Lobster and as emotionally taxing as 2014’s Room, often both at once. A particularly brilliant interrogation scene between Hayes and Willoughby features one of the most shockingly beautiful film moments of the past few years. McDonagh’s script is full of unexpected turns, uproarious snappy dialogues, and fascinating character developments. Count this one in for a Best Screenplay nomination at all major award shows this year.

As the gruff, vengeful Hayes, McDormand offers a performance worthy of her iconic turn as police officer

Marge Gunderson in Fargo. However, this isn’t to say the two have anything in common: Whereas Marge was a ray of sun piercing through the endless Minnesota winter, Hayes is more the type to start brawls at junior league hockey games. Still, there’s a tragedy to her character, as hiding behind a wall of insults and crotch-kicks is a woman who has endured torment all her adult life: One who has deprived herself the right to connect with anyone on a deeper level.

Arguably more impressive, however, is Sam Rockwell’s fantastic turn as Willoughby’s second, Officer Dixon. We get to know him as a power-hungry man-child who never faced any real consequences for beating up an innocent black teenager. He is a man who still lives with his mom despite his graying head, and does not seem quite as displeased with this situation as he pretends. As McDonagh gives the racist cop a redemptive arc, Rockwell works wonders to transform Dixon’s pathetic character into a fully-fledged human being.

It is unclear whether redemption awaits these antiheroes, or even if they truly want it for themselves.

McDonagh argues that self-awareness is only the first step of a tortuous process which the world certainly will not support. But it is a big step nonetheless.

Girls

of

game dev

Exploring multiple paths to success in games Selin Altuntur Managing Editor Illustrations by Amanda Fiore Vanessa Chu is a U0 Science student at McGill University. She is also a member of Game Dev McGill, an on-campus club for students who want to try their hand at making video games. Chu grew up playing her Nintendo DS, and her father was an avid gamer as well. Despite not majoring in a field related to game development, Ontarionative Chu chose to attend McGill because of its community of students interested in gaming, as well as Montreal’s vibrant tech scene.

“One of the bigger reasons I chose McGill [...] is because of the community around Montreal for game development because that's always been one of my big hobbies,” Chu told The McGill Tribune. “And that's why when I came to McGill and found out there was a club for game development, I joined right away.”

Chu sees game development as a creative outlet. After dabbling in creative writing and visual art, Chu believes games are an ideal medium for experimenting with interesting graphics while simultaneously developing a narrative.

“When you look at video games as, say, an art form or just a medium for communicating it's [...] so much more versatile [...], in my opinion, than all these other art forms because it allows for players to interact back [with] the creator and become creators in their own [right by driving] their own narrative and experience,” Chu said.

Chu loves making games as a hobby.

However, she recognizes that it can seem daunting to break into an industry where women are in the minority.

“I think it's a little intimidating when you look at the stats and it's just [...] very male-dominated,” Chu said.

STEM fields and the game development industry have a reputation for lacking in female representation. Although women make up around 41 per cent of gamers in the U.S., only approximately 23 per cent of developers identify as women. The industry markets video games toward straight boys and men, who also represent the majority of industry developers—which can be discouraging for female-identifying individuals interested in pursuing a career in games. Luckily, Montreal is home to a plethora of AAA—leading mainstream corporations—and indie game studios, where many women have successfully landed jobs in game development.

Rebecca Cohen-Palacios played her fair share of Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros growing up. Yet, after completing her Bachelor of Computer Science in Computation Arts and Computer Science

at Concordia University in 2009, she hadn’t considered becoming a game developer until she came across an interesting opportunity.

“I saw a program (called the Difference Engine Initiative) for women to make their first video game, in six weeks, on Twitter,” Cohen-Palacios wrote in an email to the Tribune. “The Difference Engine Initiative was a life-changing experience of discovering that I had the skills to make a game this whole time! My first game was a teaches-typing game about lolcats. A year later, I got my first job at Ubisoft Montreal where I’ve shipped three games since then!”

Cohen-Palacios now works as a user interface (UI) developer at Ubisoft Montreal. She stressed that developers can come from a multitude of backgrounds, and don’t necessarily need a university education in game development. “[I have no] formal training for video games,” Cohen-Palacios wrote. “I was able to transfer my experience in creating user interfaces for web to the field of video games. It’s more common than you think to see people from different fields become game developers.”

Around six months before Cohen-Palacios decided to switch careers from web design to game development, she founded Pixelles along with co-founder Tanya X. Short. A nonprofit initiative dedicated to helping women enter the gaming industry, Pixelles has served as a springboard for multiple women currently working at studios in Montreal. The organization aims to make learning about games more approachable, and Cohen-Palacios emphasized that it’s okay not to be perfect on the first try.

“We do monthly workshops to teach a game dev skill,” Cohen-Palacios wrote. “Pixelles also runs a program called the Pixelles Game Incubator where we help 10 women make their first game [....] Don’t worry about doing things ‘right’ or being cutting-edge when you’re starting out. Remember that you’re learning. Make games that bring you joy.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t belong here!”

Pixelles provides female-identifying game enthusiasts with an avenue to share ideas, learn new skills, and be a part of an empowering community.

“A big part of our programs, events and activities [is] about providing a safe place for women to participate, learn and realize they’re not alone, through the lens of game development,” Cohen-Palacios wrote. “[...A] space to exist [in game development] without the pressure of being the ‘only woman in the room,’ without having to constantly push back, be silenced, feel weirded out, or worry about being judged.

All of these micro-aggressions (on top of the harassment that [the gaming industry] is known for) can add up and be really alienating.

So just being able to leave all that behind, meet other women who share your experience and ask questions freely can be really empowering.”

With these initiatives at Pixelles, Cohen-Palacios aims to address the industry’s “leaky pipeline”—the risk that developers in minority groups end up leaving game development.

“There are many initiatives to teach kids to code and bring awareness of games as a possible career path to new women graduates,” Cohen-Palacios wrote. “Part of

doing that [is] having role models—women, non-binary folks, people of color, [etc.]— to identify with, and to be led by these role models when they enter the industry years later. But with the leaky pipeline, we are seeing these marginalized developers leave games altogether. It's a big and complex problem that the games industry, as a whole, needs to start seriously tackling today!”

Bianca Basso was an aspiring Disney animator who turned to game development after completing her undergraduate degree in Film Animation at Concordia in 2012. She witnessed the effects of the leaky pipeline at the educational level while enrolled at CDI College in an animation and design program. Basso believes that having more women enter and complete these programs can help to combat the issue.

“I definitely think it starts at the education level,” Basso said. “In my program, when I was studying game development, there were only two women [enrolled]. The other woman ended up dropping out because she didn’t feel welcome in the environment. I

did have a good experience studying, but because there aren’t many women in these programs, they get pushed out at the education level before they enter the [job market]. Since the classroom is a reflection of the industry, it’s important to have more women entering these programs.”

Basso now works at Ubisoft Montreal as a Gameplay Animator for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. Although she loves her job, she acknowledged that the lack of female representation in her department can be alienating.

“In some departments, like the department I work in, there are much fewer women than men,” Basso said. “Sometimes you don’t realize how important it is to be able to just turn to another woman working next to you and just [vent]. In the marketing department, [most employees] are women. [They’re able] to just go to each other and talk about any problems they have, [whereas I] feel like I am mainly comfortable coming to my colleagues with work-related issues. That isn’t to say it’s not a great environment to work in, but it can just be really helpful just to have another person to [turn to].”

Although the gaming industry employs a lot of designers, like Cohen-Palacios and Basso, and programmers as well, job opportunities aren’t limited to these fields. Marri Knadle is a McGill alumnus who is now a script writer working on Far Cry 5.

Knadle pursued a somewhat non-traditional route to game development, that began while studying at McGill.

"It was kind of a circuitous route,” Knadle said. “I did my master’s in Medical History and then did some French study, [while] I was a copy editor [at the Tribune].

I kind of wanted to shift gears at least for a while because I was burnt out on academia [....So through copy editing I...] ended up getting a job at an e-learning company as a copy editor making training software for pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies [....] There was kind of a trend in e-learning towards ‘gamification,’ they called it, and basically it's like tricking adult learners into enjoying learning because it's a challenge [....] And I love playing video games, I love games, so that was something that I got put on a lot.”

Knadle started building a portfolio with her work in e-learning. The learning games she created had a similar structure to traditional video games, sparking her interest in the prospect of becoming a developer.

“I used Twine, [a program designed to build interactive stories,] to make a narrative training game,” Knadle said.

“That was a huge deal for a pharmaceutical company [....] That got me a few years of game design [experience] and writing for games. Even though they [were] learning games they had [a] similar structure [to traditional video] games. They had characters, stories, learning objectives on top of what I would consider a chooseyour-own-adventure-style kind of game with scoring. It was really fun.”

Knadle had always been interested in the idea of writing for games, but wasn’t entirely sure how to get her foot in the

door. With some preliminary experience under her belt, she turned to Pixelles to meet like-minded women and collaborate.

“I joined the Pixelles game writing incubator,” Knadle said, “and that was a huge door opener because we had the opportunity to hone our talent, to work in a group where we were getting critique [....]

That's something that is super valuable to show prospective employers, that you're not just writing alone in your room.”

Writing for games requires an alternative creative process when compared to traditional, linear storytelling. Knadle stressed that the main differences between writing a short story or essay, and writing a game are interactivity and pacing. “[When] writing a linear thing like a television show, or a movie, or a book, or short story, you have full control over the order in which the reader or player can see these things,” Knadle said. “But speaking specifically about [...] open-world stuff, which is what I do, you have no idea if the player is going to have story bit A that they see first, or Z or Q because they're wandering the world [....] You don't have control over the emotional beats and how they're paced, so you kind of have to be good at imagining different ways that the player can experience it [....] It's just a different way of thinking about how narrative is experienced [....]"

Games offer an alternate way of conveying information and telling poignant stories.

Knadle sees representation as an important issue because it affects what kinds of interactive stories are told.

“I think that the more perspectives you have going into a story, the more interesting it's going to be,” Knadle said.

“Since there has been a lot of focus on male-hero stories, I think it's really cool to see what kind of stories we can share, with not only women, but non-white people, different genders as well [....] We're seeing a social craving for stories that feel like they haven't been told yet, or have different heroes in the leading role [....] Sociological studies [...] show that if there [are] positive role models for young people, they're more likely to chase their dreams [....]”

Marion Esquian is a game designer and level designer at Tribute Games in Montreal. She also works as a coordinator at Pixelles. Esquian studied interactive design, virtual reality, and UI/UX at L’école de design Nantes Atlantique, before undertaking an internship at Juicy Beast, an indie game studio in Montreal.

“I did the incubator and it’s one of the best experiences I had in my life,” Esquian wrote in an email to the Tribune. “I met so many wonderful people and it really helped me win self-confidence.”

Esquian emphasized that game development is much more beginner-friendly than it appears. She recommends experimenting with

software to make a first game.

“Game dev is really accessible!” Esquian wrote. “It sounds scary at first but as soon as you begin a project you realize it’s way more accessible than you thought [....] It’s a scary challenge for someone who [has] never [done] that before but it’s also the best way to realize you’re capable of doing it! There are so many softwares that don’t need you to actually code [....] I first tried Construct2 which is really accessible and just after a few tutorials I already had an idea [of] how to make my game. Then I started using Game Maker and I actually wrote lines of codes [....] Making a game by yourself is the best way to understand how it works and if you like it or not. It also brings a lot of satisfaction!”

For beginners who want to learn more about 3D modelling, Basso recommends downloading the educational versions of Maya or 3DMax, which are professionalgrade 3D animation programs. Sophie Deng, U0 Computer Engineering and member of Game Dev McGill, stressed that learning on your own is an excellent way to start making games.

“Try to learn it yourself, that’s how I learned,” Deng said. “Or start with RPG Maker because it’s super easy to use.

And YouTube tutorials are super easy to follow.”

Not only can the end product of be extremely satisfying, but Knadle emphasizes that the process of creating stories is just as enjoyable.

“My favourite moments are when [we’re] in the writing room and we're brainstorming together and bouncing ideas off each other,” Knadle said. “It feels like that imagination play when you were a kid where everyone takes a different role and tries it out and plays pretend a little bit [....]

Like getting excited about a funny joke we wrote together, or a really dramatic moment that came out of a few hours of brainstorming, for me, that makes me want to keep going back and [keep] pushing it.”

For Basso, the best part about working in game development is doing what she loves every day.

“I get to do keyframe animation!” Basso said. “What more can you ask for?”

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

10 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

‘Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance’ explores a conflict still unresolved SSMU Indigenous Affairs screens the film as part of its Indigeneity & Solidarity Event Series Kevin Vogel Contributor During the summer of 1990, a centuries-long land dispute between Mohawk members of the Kanehsatà:ke community and the Canadian government developed into an armed confrontation that would last for almost three months.

The conflict broke out because of a proposed golf course expansion in Oka, a small town roughly 60 kilometers west of downtown Montreal. Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin was present at the time of what has now come to be known as the Oka Crisis, and recorded over 250 hours of film from the protesters’ side of barricades erected to block outside access to the contested land. On Jan. 15, as the first part of its Indigeneity & Solidarity Event Series, SSMU Indigenous Affairs screened the final product of Obomsawin’s work covering the Crisis: The 1993 featurelength documentary and winner of 18 Canadian and international awards, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance.

The film certainly deserves its accolades. It serves as a mosaic of the Crisis’ chronology, from its origins

in French colonialism and the (in) actions of Oka Mayor Jean Ouellete, to the eventual end of the standoff in September 1990. While including every single bit of minutia may be difficult, Obomsawin effectively presents as much detail as humanly possible in two hours.

The style employed throughout the film sorts the chaos of clashing perspectives into a cohesive, digestible format for its viewers.

Unlike other documentaries which feature a narrator to guide their audiences with supplemental exposition, Obomsawin simply lets individual people and their actions speak for themselves. She depicts the tensions between Mohawk protesters and members of the Canadian Army in vivid detail. At one moment, the audience witnesses a confrontation that culminates in the brutal beatdown of a protester; at another, protesters plead with the government to send an ambulance for another victim of police brutality.

The use of state violence works as a central theme throughout the film. While Obomsawin focuses largely on the atrocities as they occurred, Kanehsatake’s final scenes look back on the Oka Crisis after its first anniversary. Oka’s

The screening was the first part of SSMU Indigenous Affairs’ event series. (canadianfilmday.ca) population re-elected Jean Ouellete as mayor. Many suffered physical injuries and trauma from their experiences. Despite everything that has transpired, the land claim dispute that prefaced the entire ordeal remains unresolved to this day.

SSMU Indigenous Affairs used this screening to draw attention not just to the Crisis and the aftermath of government actions on the Kanehsatà:ke community, but also to reflect on the legacy that colonial history has on Canadian society.

After the screening, a discussion took place with Mohawk journalist

Taiorenhote Daniel David, who shared some of his own experiences at Oka. Participants also talked about present-day resistance in the Internet-era.

In a Facebook post on the event’s page, SSMU Indigenous Affairs described the reasoning behind the screening and discussion.

“Although the documentary focuses on the events of 1990,” the post read. “We are talking about systemic issues which persist today.

An important step forward is to be aware - of what has happened in the past, of what continues to this day,

and of the work of those fighting for a better future.”

Here at McGill, they hope that the Indigeneity & Solidarity Event Series will enable both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to “learn about and reflect on Indigenous identity and solidarity both inside and outside of the university setting.”

The Series will feature several more events throughout this semester, culminating in an all-day conference hosted in partnership with the Indigenous Student Alliance on March 24.

Rhinoceros tramples into Player’s Theatre Absurdist adaptation responds to fascism with rhinoceroses Katia Innes Contributor

Rhinoceros begins with stillness. While the rest of the production is full of chaotic and frantic energy, the play opens simply, with all seven cast members onstage, clad in identical white jumpsuits, eyes closed, exemplifying the ideal tabula rasa—a blank slate. As a green light dims, Berenger, played by Emily Sheeran (U1 English), raises her hand, snaps her fingers, and the story begins.

Besides the deeper connection to the themes of morality and responsibility that permeate Rhinoceros, director Guy Ettlin’s (U3 Psychology and Economics) choice to place his entire cast onstage for the pre-show is a testament to the production’s biggest asset—its ensemble cast. Adapted from Eugène Ionesco’s 1959 play of the same name, Ettlin, along with the Players’ Theatre, have deftly transposed Ionesco’s script into an ambiguous setting.

Neither time, nor place, is ever made clear. However, the tale of Berenger and the Rhinoceros still rings true in our political climate. Written in the absurdist style that exploded post-Second World War as a response to

Rhinoceros hits a delicate tonal balance with great performances. (Guillaume Doussin) the tales of a small town’s inhabitants, focusing on the alcoholic everyman Berenger, who in this production is gendered ambiguously and

Fascism and Nazism, Rhinoceros serves well here as a warning for modern viewers about the dangers of conformity.

Rhinoceros chronicles

portrayed by Sheeran. Half philosophical rumination on the self and half slapstick comedy, the play centers around a rhinoceros that stomps by a café early one morning. As Berenger and his friend Jean (played by a brilliant Steven Finley, U3 Psychology) argue about the existence of the rhinoceros, debating whether it has one horn or two, or whether it is Asian or African, a mass metamorphosis begins to occur. One by one, the characters lose their humanity until they become—you guessed it—rhinoceroses.

The pure commitment and enthusiasm of the actors allow the script to shine. It’s a shame that the production team couldn’t keep up with its performers— the costuming and set design leave something to be desired. A black box space is a wonderful canvas, however the minimalist set pieces seem hastily done, undermining the legitimacy of the performers.

Thankfully, all seven cast members dive straight into the rich and clever script—nothing is held back in this black box theater. It’s easy to take an absurdist piece and perform it for its superficial humour, and occasionally Rhinoceros

veers into this territory, but, thankfully, there are crisp, striking performances that ensure that the show does not fall flat.

Olivier Bishop-Mercier (U3 Theatre and Math) successfully slips between three roles: The Logician, Mrs. Boeuf, and Tony, all the while creating distinct and lively characterizations.

Liana Brooks (U2 Anatomy and Cell Biology), fluidly switches between genders as the Housewife and Mr. Dudard, appearing in the first act as a voice of mania, then in the second, of reason.

Altogether, this small ensemble manages to generate the energy of a cast twice their size, and their breaking of the fourth wall succeeds in keeping the audience’s attention.

“You must learn to be more detached and… see the funny side of things,” Dudard says to Berenger.

The two look down onto the masses of rhinoceroses that stampede beneath Berenger’s apartment. Besides being the motto of the play, it’s also a message to the audience member: To look past theatrical conventions, and to simply enjoy the play that is being presented to you. Rhinoceros makes it easy.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

STUDENT LIVING 11

McGill Law Fashion Show: Strutting for support Bringing students together to do good things while looking good too

Gabriela McGuinty & Matthew Hawkins Contributors Continued from page 1.

Each Ouzilleau piece seemed to be a mosaic of shapes made entirely of fur in varying shades and thicknesses, rippling down the runway with mesmerizing effect.

The event also showcased Judith and Charles, a local brand tailored to women.

The pieces made heavy use of vertical lines and contrasting colours, with pieces of fabric held together neatly and with tight control.

Many of the evening’s models were first-timers in the craft, but noted feeling comfortable nonetheless. To Gabrielle Landry, first-year Law student and model in the show, the importance of raising money for children in need and the ability to creatively work together with other law students took center stage over pressure to be perfect.

“I wanted to do the show [...] because I had a few friends [...] that were organizing it and it’s for a very good cause,” Landry explained. “I just wanted

to bring a little body diversity because I’m not the tallest girl or skinniest girl ever, and I just wanted to model and represent what real people look like.”

The show’s welcoming atmosphere extended to attendees as well, attracting a wide range of students across McGill. “[The show] was a way to learn about other people’s interests,” Melissa Moore, an alumnus from the Faculty of Law and fashion show attendee, said.

“Some people in the faculty know a lot about fashion and are really interested in it, and it’s always nice to know about people’s interests outside of law.”

The McGill Law Fashion Show, reflected Montreal’s diverse fashion scene. (Arindam Das / The McGill Tribune)

Five ways to make life a little easier this semester

How small lifestyle changes can lead to big academic improvements Eloise Haliburton Contributor With the add-drop period coming to a close, the reality of the back-to-school season has begun to set in. With the inevitable stress and pile-on of assignments, days grow more hectic and small parts of life may begin to unravel. To calm fears about present and future stress, The McGill Tribune compiled a few tried-and-true ways to stay feeling in control of each day.

Freeze your meals Be it after a tiring trek home in the bitter Montreal cold or right before a long day at the library, a healthy meal can work wonders in keeping you energetic and motivated.

Yet, finding the time to cook every day is a challenge. In order to make sure you always have a hot and healthy meal on hand, plan your meals in advance, and give your future self some time off. Before the semester gets too hectic, spend a few hours preparing one or two hearty meals that you can keep in the freezer for up to a few months—think chilli, lasagna, and smoothies. Then, when the time comes, you can take them out, pop them in the microwave, and you’ve got a no-stress meal ready to go. You’ll thank yourself later.

Plan small breaks into your schedule—and respect them Studies show that taking regular study breaks improves productivity and overall mental health. Try taking multiple short breaks over the course of a long day of studying. The

Pomodoro Technique—a study strategy that involves alternating between 25 minutes of studying and five minutes of rest—is a good way to do this. Chrome extensions like Strict Workflow, Break Timer, and Micro Breaks also help with remembering to take short breaks while working.

You may also want to incorporate longer breaks into your weekly schedule. Allocate one specific day and time per week to explore a new part of Montreal or watch a movie you would typically not give yourself the time to see. Make sure to respect this date every week and plan your work schedule around it so you don’t resort to studying through it during busier weeks.

Assign yourself early deadlines Before you get lost in a pile of homework and assignments, take some time to look ahead and schedule your semester. Try putting all of your assignments into your planner and colour-coding each week based on how busy it is. If you see that your workload is particularly light one week, assign yourself a fake deadline to complete an assignment or two from a heavier week early in order to get ahead. By planning out your time in advance, you can mitigate some of the anxiety of cramming to do your work at the last minute.

With a bit of foresight, you can rearrange your workload to be more manageable, and avoid painful coffee-driven all-nighters at McLennan.

Make your bed Studies how that making your bed when

you wake up leads to an all-around more productive day. This practice not only forces you to get out of bed, it also ensures that you don’t get back in it once the sheets are pulled up and

Making a few small changes can make every day more pleasant this semester.

(Madeline Kinney / The McGill Tribune)

pillows neatly arranged.

The feeling of accomplishing this small task will put you in a better mood for the rest of the day.

home, for example. Staying on top of your studying will help alleviate stress when you get to midterms and finals season as you will already be familiar with all the course material.

Review course material for a few minutes each day While it’s tempting to leave studying to the last minute, going over your notes from your daily courses before going to sleep will help you retain information you may have forgotten during the day. If you find that you’re too tired to read before going to sleep, consider finding other down times during your day to review lectures or readings; you can record yourself talking through course material and listen to it on your walks

These strategies are not an alternative to proper mental health treatment. If you are struggling with a chronic mental illness, on-campus support and therapy is available to you at McGill Counselling Services. The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) also offers many peer support programs including the Peer Support Center and the McGill Students’ Nightline.

12 STUDENT LIVING

McGill Outdoors Club makes the most of Montreal winters

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Ice climbing, skiing, and bobsledding: The MOC proves that there’s a winter sport for everyone Natalia Savkovic Contributor Each year, the end of the holiday season inspires dread for the rest of winter. Come January, our swEach year, the end of the holiday season inspires dread for the rest of winter. Come January, our sweaters grow worn with time and our excitement over the first snow has melted with the realization that the ruthless Winter season will stretch on for months longer. The McGill Outdoors Club (MOC), however, has a different take: The club strives to cultivate students’ appreciation for this season through sport—including ice climbing, to cross-country skiing, winter kayaking, and many other winter recreational activities.

Founded in 1936, the MOC is one of the oldest outdoors clubs in Montreal. Led by 29 executive members, this independent student group rents out sporting equipment and leads trips to remote areas outside Montreal. Membership is open to everyone, from beginners to professionals, McGill students to Montrealers, undergrad to post-grad. The MOC welcomes anyone with a passion for the outdoors.

“The MOC is one of the oldest and largest clubs on campus,” Kyle Dolph, MOC President and U4 Arts student, said. “Names and faces change, but the attitude doesn’t [....] we’re committed to getting people outside.”

The MOC owns a house in Prevost, Quebec, a Laurentian town less than an hour’s drive from Montreal. For a fee ranging from $5 to $15—

depending on night and room choice—students can stay in the house overnight and partake in sports nearby, including ice climbing, hiking, and cross-country skiing on trails the club built in the 1930s and 1940s. These trails, which supplement the free skiing trails found on Mont Royal, make cross-country skiing more accessible for McGill students. Joanna Peterschmitt, MOC Cross-country Ski Officer and U3 Science student, regularly takes advantage of the sport’s availability.

“I think when there’s a lot of snow, it’s a more fun way of getting around,” Peterschmitt said. “It’s a nice balance between downhill skiing and hiking.”

In previous years, the MOC has led survival trips, zipper-less camping, and backcountry skating trips where participants hiked to find frozen natural ponds to skate. This semester, the MOC tentatively plans to offer 25 trips, including introductory Telemark skiing trips—a type of downhill skiing with one’s heels unclipped from the back of the ski—for students seeking to embrace the cold.

Additionally, Louis Devaux, MOC House Manager and U3 Engineering student, will run, for the first time in the club’s history, a bobsled trip in early February that pits small teams against each other to build the fastest bobsled using broken skis.

To Dolph, braving negative temperatures and trying out new activities helps with learning to appreciate the Winter season.

“Winter sports are not a way to endure the winter, but to enjoy the winter,” Dolph said. “At least for me, and other people in the MOC, we’re

What are your headline predictions for 2018?

1

MOC members Louis Devaux, Kyle Dolph, Joanna Peterschmitt, and Navoneel Chakraboty love winter sports. (Ava Zwolinki / The McGill Tribune)

By MARY LYNNE LOFTUS Contributor

2

mCGILL STUDENTS PREDICT THE TOP STORIES OF THIS YEAR

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As one of the most eventful years for North American politics in recent history, 2017 offered a slew of surprising and thought-provoking news stories. With the new year upon us, there are endless possibilities for what this year’s major political headlines will be. To get students’ thoughts the on the matter, The McGill Tribune trekked out to the Y-intersection for the first Word on the Y of 2018.

Jun Oh Faculty of Law, Exchange Student

“I think that we’ll see […] things explode.”

3

3 Mark Saadé U3 Chemical Engineering

Q: What are your headline predictions for 2018?

1 Sophia Pauly U0 Life Sciences

Navoneel Chakraborty, Kayak Frosh coordinator and U1 Arts and Science, feels most passionately about winter kayaking, which he describes as an unforgettable experience.

“When we were kayaking [off the coast of British Columbia in February], and it started snowing, it was deathly silent and it was eerie, but also serene,” Chakraborty said. “It’s a very different kind of surrounding to be in, and it was genuinely beautiful.”

No matter what sport students are looking to try out this winter, MOCers are enthusiastic to introduce anyone to the great outdoors.

happy when winter comes. We’re almost sad to see it go.”

Before joining the MOC, Dolph had no experience with winter sports. Since becoming a member and climbing the club’s ranks, however, he has tried various activities including hockey, winter camping, and Telemark skiing. But of all the sports he’s tried with the MOC, ice climbing has become Dolph’s main winter sport.

“I chose [ice climbing] because it feels very real,” Dolph said. “It’s a very unnatural thing to be climbing a sheet of ice. It’s a lot of fun.”

Equally enthusiastic about winter sports,

4

5

“[Hopefully] that more women will get elected in all countries.”

“Lebanon’s Prime Minister recently resigned because Saudi Arabia made him resign [basically] so I’m thinking that the Prime Minister’s gonna get replaced by someone who’s more aligned to Saudi Arabia’s interests because of the whole Saudi Arabia-Iran conflict.”

4 Paula Neocleous U1 Psychology “I feel like it’s gonna get worse before it gets better [...] at least if we’re talking about American politics.”

5 Rodrigo Odjeda U1 Biochemistry

“I don’t have any predictions for this year because I think that everything that happened with Trump and his election pretty much set a bar where anything can go [as far as politics] and the influence of that election basically means that [...] anything can happen at this point. I think that’s for the worse.”

6

6 Darshan Daryanani U1 Political Science “The Brexit process will take a long time and Theresa May’s popularity [in the polls] is not going to get any better. I don’t think Britain will get a special status with the European Union. At the same time, [international politics] is a field of unpredictability so I can’t make any sure assumptions.”

Studets share their 2018 headline predictions. (Jasmine Acharya / The McGill Tribune)

Tuesday, January 23 , 2018

science & technology 13

Why science students shouldn’t be afraid to write

Words of wisdom from McGill professors and their recommended writing-intensive courses

The ability to write well is an undervalued skill in science - should McGill require writing courses of its science majors? (Cordellia Cho / The McGill Tribune)

Océane Marescal Staff Writer Continued from page 1.

“As a result of doing a [Bachelor of Arts] in philosophy, I had to write lots and lots of essays,” Brouhard said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “Every course had three or four 10-page essays that formed the basis of your grade. It was through that process that I got the most practice in writing argumentative essays. That skill has proven as useful, if not more useful, than any other at the current stage in my career.”

In academia, Brouhard identified two major areas where writing skills are crucial: Grant writing and publications. For publications, being able to write well is essential to making difficultto-understand research clear and appealing to both editors and peer reviewers. Often, all it takes is the half-page abstract—the “cover letter” of academia—to convince editors to accept or reject an application. Brouhard identified writing in this case as a catalyst.

“The better you are at writing, the better you are at getting grants,” Brouhard said. “The better you are at writing, the better you are at getting high-impact papers, which increases your chances of getting grants, which are already high because you’re good at writing.”

Whether the end-goal is to become a professor or not, the ability to write a strong argument is an important skill. The harsh reality is that any student interested in pursuing a graduate education will eventually be faced with writing a thesis, which will require them to make an argument, organize their ideas, think critically, and express themselves clearly. This can be a real challenge for students who have had minimal practice writing longformat essays in their undergraduate classes.

According to Associate Professor Tamara Western, associate dean (Academic), the Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) program has failed to teach students the importance of writing skills.

“All of our programs are required-credit heavy, especially if students are doing an honours or joint program, or if they wish to complete a minor,” Western said. “Thus, to allow B.Sc. students to have space in their programs for electives, an English [or] writing course is not an

absolute requirement.”

Science majors often have more than 60 required credits, and honours programs more than 70. In a more extreme case, a non-honours major in biological physics at McGill has to complete 82 credits of required physics, biology, math, and computer science courses. This leaves only eight credits—less than three classes—for the student to use on electives.

“

The harsh reality is that any student interested in pursuing a graduate education will eventually be faced with writing a thesis, which will require them to make an argument, organize their ideas, think critically, and express themselves clearly.

”

Nancy Nelson, advisor for the biology program and member of the Department of Biology curriculum committee, shared her own ideas on the matter.

“One reason I think we don’t insist on English courses in our Science majors is the fact that our largest cohort comes from CEGEP, where they have [already] taken English, French, philosophy, lifestyle gym, and others,” Nelson said.

This cohort of the B.Sc. enters university at the U1 level, and includes students who pursued AP and IB programs in their secondary education.

Science students may face challenges due to their lack of experience in writing argumentative essays. But Western defended the lack of writing requirements by pointing out that many of the upper-level courses required for a science degree do involve some degree of writing.

“With regards to writing practice within our degrees, students are exposed to significant discipline-specific writing activities in a large proportion of our 400-500 level courses,” Western

said. “[These include] paper critiques, grant proposals, and reviews, as well as lab reports.”

Approximately 50 per cent of undergraduate science students undertake an independent research course. These courses require drafting research proposals and reports, putting their writing skills to the test.

For those interested in developing their writing, Nelson and Western both recommended two essential courses for science students: CEAP 250 (Research Essay and Rhetoric) and CCOM 314 (Communicating Science), which share the common aim of improving their students’ ability to communicate effectively with an audience.

Available in the Fall and Winter semesters, CEAP 250 is an academic writing course offered by the McGill Writing Center that is open to students of all disciplines. The class develops students’ scholarly writing and critical thinking skills.

According to Sarah Wolfson, CEAP 250’s instructor, at the end of the term students should be able to summarize scholarly articles, conduct library research, write critiques and research essays, and think critically about texts and arguments. The course also delves into the more technical aspects of writing. Students can expect to learn how to properly cite sources, revise and edit their work, and avoid common grammatical errors.

Wolfson confirmed that science students often do not have the chance to write longer compositions during their time at McGill. Even in the courses Western mentioned that do require writing, the professors’ focus is primarily on the content, and not the style of the writing. CEAP

250, on the other hand, teaches academic writing skills that will later be useful for writing grants, research articles, and funding proposals, to name a few.

Students pursuing CEAP 250 can look forward to smaller class sizes and a greater level of interaction with their professor than in many science courses. Wolfson says that students also receive detailed feedback on their compositions.

“One unique feature of the course is the audio feedback that instructors give students,” Wolfson said. “On each major writing assignment, students receive a personalized MP3 file with specific feedback about how to revise their work. It’s a method that allows for a lot of individual attention.”

The McGill Writing Center also offers CESL 500: Research Essay and Rhetoric, a sister course to CEAP 250 with the same content and assignment structure but geared toward students for whom English is not their first language.

While CEAP 250 is designed to help students with their academic writing skills, CCOM 314 focuses on how students can communicate about science to a broader audience.

The course covers how to explain scientific knowledge to specific audiences, how to take into account social and ethical issues when doing so, and how to employ the appropriate scope and vocabulary to suit a given audience. Diane Dechief, faculty lecturer at the McGill Writing Centre and founder and professor of CCOM 314, wrote about the objectives of the course in an email to the Tribune.

“By the end of the course, I’d like students to be aware of real life opportunities for communicating science to a broader public,” Dechief wrote. “They should be able to explain theories or concepts from their field with an awareness of specific audiences, and to be intentional about using metaphors responsibly and avoiding jargon.”

The course has five different writing assignments: An article that explains and introduces new findings, an Opinion-Editorial, a policy brief, a profile of a McGill researcher, and a podcast.

For the profile assignment, Dechief explained that students have the opportunity to reach out to a McGill researcher by email and make a request to interview them. Students then meet and interview the researcher, transcribe the interview, create an outline, and write a draft for the profile.

Like CEAP 250, CCOM 314 also offers audio feedback for drafts and small class sizes with a 25-student maximum that allows DeChief to give her students a lot of individualized attention to their writing.

Although McGill does not require a writing course for science students, those interested in pursuing a career in science should consider signing up for one. Most science majors do, regrettably, have limited space in their degree for electives—but CEAP 250 and CCOM 314 are excellent options that will pay dividends throughout scientists’ careers.

14 science & technology

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Canada’s fentanyl crisis by the numbers Breaking down the growing threat of street opioids Ronny Litvack-Katzman Contributor The scientific community describes the fentanyl crisis in these general words: Catastrophic and growing. Over the past decade, Canadian researchers have observed the deadly effects of the growing trend of cutting fentanyl into powdered party drugs. With the help of Edith Zorychta, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, The McGill Tribune set out to quantify the dangers of fentanyl.

Fentanyl is 50 times as lethal as other opioid derivatives, including morphine. In an email to the Tribune, Zorychta explained that not all related drugs have the same effect on the human body.

“Their actions on the brain are not the same, and their effects are never limited to the brain alone,” Zorychta said. “Opioids differ from one another in the magnitude and duration of their effects, and they all share the ability to interact with specific opioid receptors.”

Opioids interfere with interactions between neural pathways in the spinal cord and brain, which under medical direction can be used in the treatment of chronic pain. The neural impulses that are affected in the brainstem also control a person’s breathing mechanisms— or in simpler terms, their oxygen

intake and carbon dioxide release. If breathing is suppressed, the brain’s supply of oxygen depletes and the consequences can be fatal.

As little as 0.002 grams of fentanyl can be deadly. This quantity, equivalent to the weight of two grains of salt, can be enough to effectively suffocate the ingester.

“Opioids suppress the sensation of pain and the emotional reaction to pain,” Zorychta explained. “Because they are so potent, the difference between a survivable and a lethal dose can be very small.”

The human body rids itself of toxins via metabolization or excretion, but when neither can occur quickly enough to rid the body of the drug, death becomes imminent.

Canadian drug agencies have noted a 2000 per cent increase from 2012 in the prominence of fentanyl in street drugs. Law enforcement warns of other potentially lethal drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, being cut with fentanyl by drug manufacturers to lower production costs.

“It is relatively easy to smuggle quantities [of fentanyl] that can be sold for millions of dollars,” Zorychta explained. “Illegal drug sellers are not concerned about the safety and well-being of their customers.”

Fentanyl and its derivatives are now being added to just about

50 times as lethal as other opioid derivatives, fentanyl is a growing threat to public health. (CNNh.com) anything to produce a rapid high.

Four thousand Canadians are estimated to have died in 2017 due to an opioid overdose or related complications. This staggering figure from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) comes from a series of increases in opioidrelated deaths across the nation.

“Since the powder is frequently added to other drugs like heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine, an unsuspecting buyer can die from fentanyl while thinking they are consuming something else,” Zorychta said.

Four people die every day in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia due to fentanyl overdose.

More than half of illicit drug deaths in B.C. last year were related to the consumption of fentanyl products.

The most effective treatment currently available is Naloxone, a medication designed to combat opioids in the event of an overdose.

“Naloxone blocks opioid receptors and prevents fentanyl and other opioids from acting,” Zorychta explained. “If it can be administered before breathing stops, death can be averted.”

Unfortunately, in many instances the effects of fentanyl are so rapid that bystanders may not recognize what is happening fast enough to administer the antitoxin.

The fentanyl crisis is a growing threat to the welfare of Canadians that must be addressed by both lawmakers and drug enforcement agencies in the immediate future.

For those who plan to partake in any type of drugs, fentanyl testing kits are commercially available and are a simple, individual solution to ensure that the drugs purchased are the same as those advertised.

Fast radio bursts tangle with unknown forces

McGill astronomers theorize on the magnetic influence of black holes Calvin Trottier-Chi News Editor Streaking across the sky with a luminosity far greater than the sun’s, fast radio bursts (FRBs) remain powerful yet mysterious phenomena. They were discovered in 2007 when curiosity inspired the astronomer Duncan Lorimer to search the farthest reaches of space, with the FRBs being powerful enough to surpass the typical limitations of scientific equipment. Over a decade later, these transient radio phantoms remain a puzzle for modern astronomers; they travel for billions of years with no discernable pattern, only to emit waves for milliseconds. They are reminiscent of the radio waves emitted by pulsars, rotating stars that release waves of electromagnetic radiation like a lighthouse. However, FRBs are much brighter, travel much further, and had not been found to occur in the same spot twice until FRB 121102 was observed in 2012.

“Fast radio bursts are like flashes, they occur randomly in the sky,” Shriharsh Tendulkar, postdoctoral fellow at the McGill Space Institute, said. “We don’t know where the next one will occur so we search a large area of the sky, [however, with FRB 121102,] we knew the location very precisely and we knew this thing repeats, so we knew that we could point at it and keep recording data.”

An international team of astronomers—

whose ranks included Tendulkar and Victoria Kaspi, professor of physics and director of the McGill Space Institute—conducted a study of FRB 121102 and found evidence of huge distortions in the direction of the radio waves.

The astronomers concluded earlier this month that this “twisting” or “rotation” of the radio waves can be sourced to the Faraday effect, a phenomenon describing the influence of magnetic fields on waves. “[FRB 121102] had to have propagated through a strong magnetic field to see that kind of twisting in the electric field,” Kaspi said. “Nobody’s ever seen anything that strong except near really massive black holes like the one in the center of the galaxy.”

There are no known phenomena that can rival the magnetic influence of black holes, which can have a million times more mass than the sun. This suggests that the radio waves pass near a black hole. However, this theory is the result of applying familiar understandings to the observable effects, rather than observations of the environment actually surrounding FRB 121102. Thus, it remains unclear what exactly is exerting the immense magnetic field.

“We’re sure the magnetic field is really high, but we don’t know what causes it,” Tendulkar said. “It is possible that there is some other exotic shell around [FRB 121102] which we don’t completely understand. There are theoretical models where, if you have a

supernova explode, the shell that remains after the explosion—in certain cases—could cause a rotation measure that high.”

The next tool for unshrouding the mysteries of FRBs will come in the form of the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). Although CHIME was originally conceived to study dark energy, it is incidentally perfect for detecting FRBs; whereas only 27 of these anomalies have been observed so far, Tendulkar predicts that CHIME will enable between 5 and 50 detections per day. However, as CHIME is currently still under construction in British Columbia, the recently damaged Arecibo Observatory telescope in Puerto Rico remains crucial for locating FRBs. “We’re really proud they put the telescope on the front page [of the academic journal Nature] because Puerto Rico got really devastated by Hurricane Maria, and the telescope in particular suffered quite a bit of damage,” Kaspi said, referencing awareness for victims of the hurricane and her team’s findings being published on the cover of Nature. “It’s a really bad scene in Puerto Rico but they’ve been working around the clock to get the observatory back up and running in addition to many other basic needs.”

Scientists are eager to see how new technologies and substantive data will help unravel the mysteries of the FRBs.

Fast radio bursts can travel to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. (astronomynow.com) “It’s always fun to have a brand new problem to work on,” Kaspi said. “Nature didn’t have to give us this lovely gift, but nature gave us the gift and we were in the right place at the right time to be able to make progress.”

SPORTS 15

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Dribble basketballs, not heads

As tensions rise between players and referees, conflict follows Gabe Nisker Contributor After the dust settled, Houston Rockets forwards Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green were revealed to be the masterminds behind a plan to enter the Los Angeles Clippers’ locker room to settle a dispute. Using a backdoor passage that connects the two teams’ locker rooms, the two found their way into the Clippers dressing room and started a ruckus.

Both were suspended two games each for their roles in the commotion, which came after a chippy ending to a game on Jan. 15.

All in all, it’s been a crazy last few weeks for fighting in the NBA. Three straight nights, players were ejected for verbal and physical assault. The final damage count was 21 technical fouls and five ejections handed out across 11 games.

NBA figures like San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich have a point when they laugh off these tussles—they almost always come across

as melodramatic and drawn-out. However, there’s a reason the league has reached this point, and it doesn’t have to be this way. Players are growing increasingly frustrated with referees, whose de-escalation techniques have failed to control the game, and have even contributed to the disorder at times.

As players across the league—superstars included—receive discipline, the NBA is starting to face a crisis. To keep all of its talent available to play, the NBA must devote proper attention to how its officiating de-escalates issues, the root of much of the issue.

Following Golden State Warriors player Shaun Livingston’s protest to a call by referee Courtney Kirkland on Dec. 3, Kirkland approached Livingston in a head-to-head confrontation that resembled a boxing weigh-in more than a basketball game. If the referees’ mistakes encourage aggressive behaviour, it’s no surprise that players get pushed over the edge.

Referees make the call regarding game atmosphere, and even when they’re not physically involved in an

altercation, that decision often makes the difference between smooth play and conflict. They must do a better job of establishing and maintaining order without disturbing game flow.

Referees have struggled with when exactly to blow their whistle, and sometimes they are too early to make a call. For fans, it’s disappointing to tune into a game only for one of its star players to get disqualified midway through; for a player, not much is more annoying than an early whistle.

However, late whistles can be dangerous, too, perhaps indirectly causing fights like the one between the Clippers and Rockets. The teams have been lashing out at each other—with physical violence and verbal taunts—but the hostility is really driven by poor officiating.

Announcers often tag this as “letting the players play.” But, this has consequences: When referees let players push, it’s no surprise that players will eventually come to shove. The problem has been gradually escalating across the NBA, and now tensions have risen to the point where the athletes have no qualms about

A not-so-neutral Canadian hockey media

The confrontation between referee Courtney Kirkland and Golden State Warrior Shaun Livingston is a prime example of the issue at hand. (deadspin.com) calling officials out by name.

Staying level and consistent can be difficult for a referee—especially with rowdy fans on their back—but it is crucial to walking the fine line between the right and wrong game atmosphere.

Of course, star athletes are bound to get testy. By nature, they’re intense competitors. The good news is that it’s not an impossible problem for refs to fix.

Just like the rest of the league’s members, NBA referees are the best at what

Toronto-based sports networks and their self-serving bias Owen Gibbs Contributor 2017 was quite a year for the media, coming under attack from the President of the United States, among others, for bias in favour of liberal viewpoints and propagating “fake news.” Members of the Canadian sports media, however, deserve criticism for reasons that have nothing to do with politics.

For those who aren’t familiar with Canadian sports culture, Canada has two major sports media outlets—Rogers Media’s Sportsnet and Bell Media’s The Sports Network (TSN). As the two industry giants, they are responsible for broadcasting and creating content for every Canadian team. Instead, since they are both headquartered in Toronto and their parent companies own stakes in the Toronto Maple Leafs, the networks tend to disproportionately focus their coverage on Toronto teams. This is acceptable when covering baseball and basketball, with Canada’s only MLB and NBA teams based in Toronto. However, the two companies’ hockey coverage highlights a conflict of interest, compromising their journalistic integrity.

Instead of giving the NHL’s seven Canadian teams equal air time, Sportsnet and TSN cover the Toronto Maple Leafs far more than any other team, at the expense of those who really deserve it. The Winnipeg Jets, currently the best Canadian team in the league, receive barebones gameplay coverage. Meanwhile, Leafs fans receive the equal-or-better depth of in-game coverage, accompanied by additional analysis and a slew of barely-newsworthy Leafs gossip, like Patrick Marleau’s hilariously over-covered secondintermission speech. If any team receives

bonus exposure, it should be the one that earns it on the ice.

Additionally, these networks seem incapable of criticizing the Leafs, a key element of journalism. In 2016, a Sportsnet writer wrote about how the lowly Leafs were losing with dignity.

Here’s the catch: Maple Leafs management was openly trading players to tank and get a better draft pick. In other circumstances, a team would be shamed for making a concerted effort to lose games.

Instead, the Leafs got praised.

Ultimately, it’s easy to explain why TSN and Sportsnet disproportionately cover the Maple Leafs: Their parent companies, Rogers Media and Bell Media, each own 37.5 per cent stakes in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, which in turn owns the Maple Leafs, among other teams. When one branch of a company reports on another, its objective shifts from journalistic integrity to profit maximization. It should hardly be a shock to see a disproportionate number of Leafs articles: The more attention the team receives, the greater the value of its parent company.

For now, the excessive Toronto coverage just means more day-to-day articles for Leafs fans to digest. However the networks have already started losing the trust of hockey fans outside Toronto. Both the Sportsnet and TSN Facebook pages are littered with sarcastic, “But what does Auston Matthews think?” comments.

If the major networks are going to focus on Toronto, there need to be networks for all other major markets as well.

TSN and Sportsnet have good reputations, but their obvious bias is overwhelming. It’s time for them to tone it down and more fairly distribute their coverage across Canada to maintain their dignity and national appeal.

they do, even when it doesn’t feel that way. If they work on keeping a professional level of conversation and a Brad Stevens-esque calm, tensions will begin to dissipate.

As it stands, the referee-player relationship is on shaky ground. But, with an All-Star weekend meeting between players and referees on the horizon—a prime opportunity for reconciliation— fans can hold onto hope for a peaceful tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

16 SPORTS

Redmen hockey wipes out Ravens in annual Carnival game McGill blanks Carleton in front of boisterous crowd Jordan Foy Staff Writer On Jan. 19, the Redmen Hockey (19-4-1) team took on the Carleton Ravens (14-5-3) in a physical and exciting Carnival matchup. The Redmen proved victorious, taking the game 4-0.

Over a thousand fans were in attendance, many sporting furry onesies as part of the Management Undergraduate Society’s annual Winter Carnival.

Both teams established hightempo play in the first frame, resulting in chances at both ends and an emotionally charged contest with frequent scuffles. McGill was first to draw blood when third-year forward Jerome Verrier dipsy-doodled around a Carleton defender and wired a shot on net on the power play. Later in the period, McGill again found success on the power play with second-year forward Samuel Tremblay’s ninth goal of the season. McGill led 2-0 after the first period, but shots on net were even at eight apiece.

The Redmen had the majority of the scoring chances in the second stanza, gaining control of the game. They added to their lead with a third power-play goal when Verrier found the back of the net for the second time.

“I took the puck and I really wanted to pass it [… but] the puck fumbled just before I shot [it],” Verrier explained. “So I said,

‘never mind just shoot it’ and it went in.”

Despite not seeing much action in the period, Redmen goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon was excellent at thwarting the Ravens’ few attempts on goal. He was especially heroic at the tail end of the stanza, making a crucial save on a shorthanded Carleton breakaway.

Heading into the final period, McGill was up 3-0, outshooting their opponents 20-10.

The Redmen continued to dominate the Ravens in the third period, although the emotional nature of the game resulted in some scrappy shenanigans. Both teams traded power play opportunities, but neither was able to convert. Guindon stood strong in net, shutting the door on the Ravens’ attack. The game concluded with a 4-0 scoreline after first-year forward Antoine Dufort-Plante chipped in an empty netter in the final minutes.

The rowdy Carnival crowd’s energy provided a welcome boost for the Redmen, who enjoyed when fans cheered on the team and jeered at their opponents throughout the entire game.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” Redmen captain Nathan Chiarlitti said. “Huge shout-out to all the fans, the students. It’s an absolute blast playing in an atmosphere like that, and hopefully we gave them a good show.”

The team’s victory was driven

GAME REPORT

2018’s Carnival matchup was a particularly chippy affair. (Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune) by its power play efforts. Head tributing, offensively and defen- Jan. 20, the Redmen took on the Ottawa Gee-Gees (11-7-4), but fell Coach Kelly Nobes explained that sively.”

The following evening, on 4-3 in overtime.

McGill’s success came from executing the basics.

“We were shooting the puck Moment of the game at the right time, and getting pucks On the power play, third-year forward Jerome Verrier caught a puck out of to the net quickly,” Nobes said. midair, dropped it to the ice, and scored a goal in the same sequence, putting “We didn’t score on the rebound the Redmen up 3-0. tonight, but we did have good net Quotable traffic.”

Overall, Nobes credited the “When I was younger I [would get nervous], but honestly this might be the win to a complete team effort. last couple months of my career, so I’m just trying to soak it in.”

“We had everybody going - Redmen captain Nathan Chiarlitti on his mindset in big games. again tonight, and I think that’s Stat corner been a key for us,” Nobes noted.

McGill went three for eight on the power play (37.5 per cent).

“It’s not just one or two lines, it’s everybody going, everybody con-

McGill women’s volleyball victorious in duel with LAVAL

GAME REPORT

Martlets extend win-streak to six with triumph over Rouge et Or

Selwynne Hawkins Sports Editor On Jan. 21, the Martlet volleyball team (11-2) squared off against the Université Laval Rouge et Or (8-5) in Love Competition Hall. Fresh off a win against the then league-leading Université de Montréal Carabins, the Martlets handed the Rouge et Or a 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-21) loss in their third meeting of the regular season.

Laval pulled ahead with an early lead in the first set and never relinquished control. The Martlets showed signs of a mid-set resurgence when third-year right side Clare Nishikawa came off the bench to hammer home two consecutive aces. Despite McGill’s best efforts, Laval managed to contain the outburst and rode the set to a 25-22 final score.

The start of the second set mirrored the start of the first, but this time, the Martlets succeeded in recovering from an early four-point deficit. McGill drew even at 12-12, prompting a Laval time out. When the two squads returned to the floor, the Martlets put up three quick points to earn their first strong lead of the game. With a pair of big blocks from

second-year right side Rowan Fletcher and fourth-year middle Myriam Robitaille, the Martlets widened the gap.

A late Rouge et Or revival prevented an easy Martlet win, but the home side was still able to close out a comfortable 25-18 finish.

An even start marked the beginning of the third stanza, but several consecutive McGill gaffes allowed Laval to pull ahead. After calling a time out, the Martlets cleaned up their game and regained lost ground. The two teams entered the technical time out separated by only one point, with the Rouge et Or leading 16-15. The sides repeatedly traded points to reach a 23-23 tie, neither able to establish momentum. In a collective effort, the Martlets fought through a long rally to take the game to 24-23, and a momentous block by setter Catherine Duchaine and middle blocker Érika Cournoyer brought the third set to a well-earned Martlet win.

The third set showcased McGill’s focus and mental fortitude. Second-year power Claire Vercheval outlined the team’s mentality throughout the tight competition.

“When it gets really intense, both teams start talking a lot, screaming a lot,”

Vercheval said. “So we just [needed] to stay on [our] own side, concentrate on [our] things, and that’s what we did.”

Similarly, in the fourth set, neither side was able to pull ahead until the end of the period, when the Martlets established a 20-17 lead. Finally, up 24-21, the McGill squad maintained composure through a back-and-forth rally—including a huge block by Cournoyer and a merciless hit by Vercheval. The game drew to an anti-climactic close when two Laval players collided and failed to return the ball.

The win places the Martlets back in a tie for first place atop the RSEQ conference, level with the Carabins. Their next home game is on Jan. 25 against the Université du Québec à Montréal Citadins. With seven games remaining, McGill is focusing on short-term objectives to set themselves up for a strong regular season finish.

“The goal is, when you play highlevel like this, is to really work it out one game a time,” Head Coach Rachèle Béliveau said. “We know we have a good team [….] As we train, we want to improve, and we want to get better, and I think that’s going to carry us for a long time.”

McGill’s dynamic play effectively contained a powerful Laval attack.

(Katherine Slattery / The McGill Tribune)

Moment of the game

Fifth-year middle Érika Cournoyer hit the deck to save a cheeky backward tip from the Laval setter, allowing her team to cement a 20-14 lead in the second set.

Quotable

“I think since Christmas, we’re really more focused and more stable in the back, [….] If we [can control] the ball at the net, we can be perfect, almost.”

- Fourth-year power Emilie Matte de Grasse on her team’s priority for the rest of the season.

Stat corner

Cournoyer tallied five aces—more than Laval’s team total of four.