McGill Tribune Vol. 38 Issue 11

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018 | VOL. 38 | ISSUE 11

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

FEATURE

IN MEMORY

Social work students deserve compensation

Why we stay silent

Remembering Izy

PG. 5

PGs. 8-9

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(Gabe Helfant / The McGill Tribune)

Martlet basketball dominates to top Gaiters

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SSMU votes to change the name. What now?

Hannibal de Pencier Columnist In the Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Fall 2018 referendum, 78.8 per cent of students voted in favour of changing the McGill men’s varsity athletics teams’ name. The result comes in

the wake of a petition launched by SSMU Indigenous Affairs Commissioner Tomas Jirousek, which has over 10,000 signatures, and a recent on-campus demonstration that garnered widespread support.

The SSMU referendum vote is the culmination of the massively-successful #ChangeTheName student movement. It is a triumph, but also the disconcerting

In Conversation with Gregory Alan Isakov

Given the rustic tone of his music, it seems appropriate that Gregory Alan Isakov recorded his fourth full length record, Evening Machines, in his barn-turnedstudio in Colorado. The album, released Oct. 5, blends

a familiar palette of indiefolk tropes with elements of haunting electronic production.

Isakov’s interest in music first emerged during his early teens, when he was inspired by Americana legends like Greg Brown and Richie Havens playing the folk festival circuit around

change the name ultimately rests within the hands of the administration, who will be acutely aware of the change’s potential costs.

In order to outweigh the influence of the deterrents confronting the administration, students must continue to publicly engage with this issue and remind the administration that concession to this motion is their moral imperative.

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Social work students strike against unpaid internships

The folk singer reflects on songwriting, turning forty and his love of farming Bronwyn Cole Contributor

beginning of a new chapter in the process of changing the name: That of the McGill administration’s response, over which students have little control. While the referendum result and #ChangeTheName campaign have demonstrated the widespread sentiment of the student body, the McGill administration is only beholden to this sentiment by principle. The decision to

Classes upheld despite strike

Philadelphia. By age 16, he was touring with bands as a multi-instrumentalist.

“It was all in my parents’ basement,” Isakov said in an interview with The McGill Tribune, recalling his early projects. “All the bands that I was in were in people’s parents’ basements. We just hung out.”

PG. 12

Jacqueline Yao Staff Writer Social work students will participate in a strike against mandatory unpaid internships Nov. 19-23. The Social Work Student Association (SWSA) had previously voted at their Oct.

24 General Assembly to join undergraduate student associations at UQAM and Université de Montréal in demanding internship remuneration from the provincial government. In solidarity, the McGill School of Social Work (SSW) had intended on cancelling

classes on Nov. 19-23, but is legally bound to maintain instruction.

SWSA has been planning the strike since the beginning of the semester and had previously supported the Feb. 20 Global Intern Strike that called on employers to pay their interns.

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news

TUESDAY, november 20, 2018

Changes to S/U grading scheme show promise

Proposal allowing students to switch out of S/U gains support Jacqueline Yao Staff Writer The proposal to amend the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U) grading scheme has gained traction following its endorsement by the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council on Nov. 1. Spearheaded by Vice-President (VP) University Affairs (UA) Jacob Shapiro, the S/U project advocates providing students with the choice to receive a letter grade for their S/U courses. Under this amendment, students could change their ‘S’ or ‘U’ grade to the letter grade they would have received with the normal grading scheme after seeing their results. Shapiro is currently conferring with the McGill administration about amendment details and technological logistics.

The S/U option currently allows students to receive a final grade of ‘S’ or ‘U’—which stand for ‘Satisfactory’ and ‘Unsatisfactory’—rather than a letter grade for a selected course. As it stands, students cannot switch between the S/U and letter grading scheme after the Add/Drop deadline. Eligible students can only use the S/U grading option for one elective course each semester and for an overall total of 10 per cent of their total course credits. Professors do not know which students take their course as S/U and, consequently, report letter grades for all.

Since Summer 2018, Shapiro has been campaigning to change the S/U regulations. Shapiro explained that the Enrolment and Student Affairs Committee (ESAC), which oversees student records among other academic policies, generally favours his amendment to allow for students to switch from S/U to a letter grade. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that there will be implementation challenges if the McGill administration accepts his proposal. “[The option to uncover a letter grade] seems to help both the students who are in the overachiever gap and students who need [more leeway],” Shapiro said. “The way I envision this right now [...] is that the [S/U] policy would stay exactly as it is with [the option to switch to a letter grade] within two to three weeks after final grades are distributed.”

In response to Shapiro’s campaign, the Faculty of Science Academic Committee (AC), comprised of science professors and members of the Science Undergraduate So-

ciety (SUS), discussed the possibility of amending the S/U system at its Sept. 25 meeting. Committee members agreed that the amendment would benefit students who perform extremely well in elective courses but suggested that McGill would need to enforce more stringent S/U opt-out time limits. However, despite discussion, according to SUS President Reem Mandil, there have been no formal proposals for the S/U amendment put forth at the AC. “[SUS VP Academic] Michael [Ogundeji] and I offered some of our own input [at the Sept. 25 AC meeting] and decided to receive opinions from [SUS] General Council [on Sept. 26],” Mandil wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “Should [the S/U amendment proposal] move forward with a formal motion, myself, along with the other student members of the AC, will be sure to represent the voices heard at General Council and the overall Science and Arts & Science student bodies.”

Lawrence Ho, U3 Arts, supports the S/U amendment.

He believes that the university should put education first.

“This change [in the S/U policy] would allow students to feel comfortable with stepping outside their comfort zone academically,” Ho said. “McGill should be encouraging students to take all kinds of different classes instead of having students be picky with their course selection because [they are scared of getting a low] GPA.” Shapiro’s proposal has also faced opposition from some students, including Daniel Miller, U1 Arts. Miller voiced concerns about possible grade inflation, stating that students who are ineligible to take courses under S/U option will be at a disadvantage.

“Certain students, such as those doing a double major and a minor, [...] would not be able to use the S/U option in the first place, and thus would be put at a disadvantage in comparison to their peers who could,” Miller said. “In my view, there could appear a grade on the student’s unofficial transcript indicating what [the letter grade] could have been, but this grade would have to be clearly marked as having no bearing on the GPA.” The McGill Senate plans to review the proposed changes on Nov. 21, with a final vote scheduled for Dec. 5.

Feedback can be directed to the Office of the Dean of Students.

Cracking the code

Comprehensive contextual clause expands Code of Student Conduct’s confines

Keating Reid Opinion Editor

For the first time since 2013, McGill’s Code of Student Conduct is set to be revised. Proposed changes include expanding the formal definition of the ‘university context’ which sets the code’s jurisdiction, removing intent as a requirement for charges of harassment and unnecessary endangerment, and expanding powers for disciplinary officers to issue Orders of Exclusion from campus.

The Office of the Dean of Students is responsible for the change, in coordination with a working group of over 40 representatives from student groups, faculty, and staff, which has been advising the office since Spring 2018. The group includes representatives from the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), McGill’s Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education (O-SVRSE), the Legal Information Clinic at Mc-

Gill (LICM), and last year’s Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice President (VP) University Affairs, Isabelle Oke. On Nov. 8 and 9, Dean of Students Christopher Buddle held two open consultations at his office, giving students a chance to voice their opinions on the changes. No students attended the first consultation.

“We’ve received almost no comments from our online form, which suggests people either aren’t interested, they’re pleased with what we’re doing, or [...] they [don’t] care about it,” Buddle said. “We’ve been pretty vocal with consultations [….]

It’s a hard time of year, though. I know that.”

According to Buddle, creating a written definition of the university context was one of the primary motivations for the revision process. In April 2017, The McGill Tribune published an article revealing that, in 2015, then-dean of students Andre Costopoulos did not bring

disciplinary charges against Conrad Gaysford after he assaulted Kathryn Leci at a party in Montreal’s MiltonParc neighbourhood. Although both were U3 students at McGill, Costopoulos argued that the events occurred outside the university context.

According to SSMU VP University Affairs Jacob Shapiro, the university context was a significant point of discussion during stakeholder consultations.

“It’s something most students resonate with, the question of whether we’re focusing in on someone’s intent or the outcome and what someone experienced,” Shapiro said.

“Hearing the other voices once [the proposed change] was raised, I don’t think there’s anything [to the issue that’s] more complex than that. It’s a question of what’s being prioritized by that word being there or not.”

Shapiro also highlighted plans for a guaranteed minimum amount of time for the accused to review evidence before a disciplinary interview

occurs. The exact amount of time is still under debate.

“Time limits are important,” Shapiro said. “Anything that helps students’ expectations when they’re going into [the disciplinary] process [such as] understanding how long it’s is going to take [or] the minimum amount of time [for students to review evidence before disciplinary interviews is useful]. Anything that can give students clarity in what can be a bureaucratic and difficult procedure is important.”

The word ‘knowingly’ is struck from sections 10(b) and 10(d) in the proposed update, which would mean that the university no longer has to prove intent when finding a student responsible for endangering or harassing another student. The current section 10(b) prohibits students from creating conditions that jeopardize another person’s safety or well-being. Luke Walker, Residence Life Manager for New Residence Hall, pursues complaints under these sec-

tions the most often.

“That’s the article of the code that applies to smoking in residence,” Walker said. “For a repeat offender, that would be where we would go.”

According to Walker, disciplinary officers will still take intent into account, even though it doesn’t need to be proved.

“The definition of ‘knowingly’ is far more complex than the definition that’s provided [in the Code],” Walker said. “Even though it’s crossed out now, especially since residence is supposed to be a developmental thing for a lot of students […] that’s something that I think that [disciplinary officers], at least in residence, have to take into consideration, that these are members of the community.”

The McGill Senate plans to review the proposed changes on Nov. 21, with a final vote scheduled for Dec. 5. Feedback can be directed to the Office of the Dean of Students.

news

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Richard King discusses history of indigenous representation in sports

Social work students strike against unpaid internships

SSMU Indigenous Affairs hosts mascot expert

Classes upheld despite strike

McEan Taylor Contributor On Nov. 8, the McGill Indigenous Studies Program and Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Indigenous Affairs hosted a lecture by Columbia College Chicago Professor Richard King on indigenous stereotypes in sports. For over 25 years, King has researched racial politics and representation in sports, publishing several books on the topic.

While the origin of the ‘Redmen’ name is unclear to most students, the McGill Athletics website supports the claim that the name stems from founder James McGill’s Scottish roots and from when Celts and the Scots were known as ‘Red Men’ because of their red hair. Jozéphine Crimp, U2 Arts, attended the lecture to learn more about indigenous representation in sports in connection to the Change the Name campaign.

“McGill’s records clearly show that, in the past, this school had a [large number] of indigenous slurs used in connection to our varsity teams,” Crimp said. “Therefore, [McGill is] the furthest thing from innocent when it comes to a racist past.”

From naming the women’s hockey team the ‘Squaws’ in the 1970s, to the stylized logo appearing on the football and hockey equipment in the 1980s, McGill’s use of indigenous slurs and stereotypical imagery extends far back in the university’s sports history.

King discussed his past experience with inappropriate uses of indigeneity. While he was completing a PhD at University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, the mascot and symbol of the athletic teams was Chief Illiniwek. Intended to represent the state’s Native American heritage, the mascot dressed in Sioux regalia—despite the Sioux not historically populating Illinois—danced at halftime shows, and led the crowd in chants. According to King, these experiences inspired him to continue researching the topic.

“This honourific rendering of indigeneity was always accompanied by a kind of [representation] in which mimicry and mockery go hand in hand,” King said.

In King’s examples of indigenous logos

and names, mimicry transforms into mockery. What worries him most is that, no matter the original purpose or origin of a team’s name, there exists the possibility to alter the meaning in a ‘dehumanizing’ way.

However, many alumni and athletic groups, such as Friends of McGill Hockey and Friends of McGill Football, believe the origin of the Redmen name deserves more respect and have mobilized in an attempt to keep it Bruno Pietrobon, honourary president of Friends of McGill Football, spoke as a representative of the coalition.

“It is unfortunate that the name has been associated with any indigenous connotation,” Pietrobon said. “Even though that connotation was erroneously and regrettably attributed to the name at brief intervals [throughout more than] 140 years of McGill Athletics through the use of other names and imagery, the university acknowledged that, publicly apologized for it, and corrected it almost 30 years ago.”

To King, the context in which a team name is presented overshadows its specific origin.

“You can’t tell someone how to feel about a stereotype,” King said. “When you have a context in which people are belittled or dehumanized, it doesn’t matter what you intended. That’s what’s happening.”

With 78.8 per cent of students in favour of a name change according to the SSMU referendum which took place Nov. 9-12, Vice-President (VP) Internal Affairs Matthew McLaughlin affirmed SSMU’s support in an email to the student body.

“Tomorrow, and every day after it, we, as SSMU members, will continue to take every step necessary until McGill acknowledges the damage that the Redmen name has done, and addresses those damages by, first of all, changing it,” McLaughlin said.

Next month, the McGill administration will receive its final report on the history of the name from the Working Group on Principles of Commemoration and Renaming.

According to an Oct. 23 email from McGill Provost Christopher Manfredi, the Board of Governors, which has the final decisionmaking power, will give a verdict shortly thereafter.

The men’s varsity team name originated as reference to Celtic hair color, but holds an indigenous connotation. (mcgill.ca)

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Students are participating ina Quebec-wide strike urging the government to compensate unpaid interns and regulate workplace conditions.(mcgill.ca) Jacqueline Yao Staff Writer Continued from page 1.

U2 and U3 students enrolled in the BSW program are required to complete 200 hours of unpaid field placement work for 3 credits each year. According to Jacqueline Ohayon, SWSA activities coordinator, many BSW students work unpaid for 16 hours per week in addition to completing a full course load.

She believes that unpaid internships widen the wage gap and are inaccessible to marginalized groups.

“The fields that have unpaid internships are not only women-dominated but are [also] care-centered,” Ohayon said. “The narrative that people [in social work] are made for self-sacrifice [...] has to be fought, and [the misconception shows that] society doesn’t value and doesn’t care about our profession.”

SWSA hopes that the Quebec Ministry of Education can compensate students for their work and establish labour standards for internships that are part of a degree program. Quebec’s Act Respecting Labour Standards protects only employees and paid interns by enforcing minimum acceptable working conditions on wage, length of a workweek, vacation time, and psychological harassment. Ohayon explained that the absence of an overarching policy about workplace standards puts unpaid interns at risk.

“All the conditions of the intern lie in the hands of [authorities such as the] field supervisor, field director, professor, [or] seminar professor,” Ohayon said. “There are a lot of people who were asked to be closeted during field placements because [their supervisors] said that [revealing one’s sexual orientation] was not appropriate.”

At the Nov. 14 SSW faculty meeting, the teaching faculty unanimously voted to cancel classes Nov. 19-23 in favour of extra classes in December or additional assignments.

However, the McGill administration

has since reminded teachers of their duty to follow the schedule.

“Teaching faculty support the concerns of the students, but we do have a requirement to teach classes, both as part of our legal requirements and with respect to the requirement [to provide instruction],” Nico Trocmé, director of the School of Social Work, said. “Any student who requests class is entitled to have class.”

Trocmé still expressed support for students participating in the strike and hopes that the Ministry of Education can relieve their financial burden.

“The School [of Social Work] has no funds to pay for internships, and many of the community agencies that students do their internships in have very limited budgets,” Trocmé wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “Not only would [financial compensation for internships] relieve some pressure on students who have to assume part-time jobs or go into debt, but it would also [...] attract students who, otherwise, cannot afford to obtain a professional degree and help increase the diversity of students in our programs.”

Students in most programs will not need to schedule extra field hours. Masters in Couple and Family Therapy studies must make up for missed internship hours because the Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec has strict accreditation standards for their program. SSW is currently trying to negotiate for fewer field placement requirements with accreditation organizations for social work programs.

Theresa*, U1 Arts, supports the strike and believes that either the government or the agencies should pay for students’ work.

“If you want students to spend time, energy, and money on a certain cause, they must be remunerated,” Theresa said. “Time spent on these placements is money lost.” *The source’s name has been changed at their request.

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news

TUESDAY, november 20, 2018

North Korean defector Alice Kim emphasizes the power of policies Growing up in South Korea as a North Korean

Helen Wu Staff Writer McGill Students for HanVoice, a nonprofit that advocates for North Korean human rights, hosted “Alice Kim: The Journey of a North Korean Defector” on Nov. 16. The event featured two speakers: Kazue Takamura, professor at McGill’s Institute for the Study of International Development, and Alice Kim herself, who is in Canada as part of the HanVoice Pioneer Project. The sixmonth project offers North Korean refugees internships with Canadian parliamentarians in addition to training in advocacy and leadership. Kim finished a bachelor’s degree at Yonsei University in South Korea and just completed her first semester as a master’s candidate in political science and international studies.

Takamura discussed barriers to refugees accessing healthcare, education, shelter, and food. She emphasized that the estimated 100,000 to 300,000 North Korean refugees living abroad experience ‘protracted rightlessness’ when they defect to neighbouring countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Laos.

“Their rightlessness begins within the territory of North Korea,” Takamura said.

“We hear so many stories about starvation and hunger in North Korea [. . .] so, before the departure, they face violence by their own country.”

Alice Kim was only two-years-old when her family arrived in South Korea in 1997. Born in Pyongyang, she grew up in a 500-square foot apartment in Seoul with her parents and younger sister, only discovering her family’s history when peers at school began to speculate about her origins.

“One day at school, a friend approached me and accused me of something I will never forget, ‘North Koreans like you survive on our South Korean taxes, so you are my slave.

You have to follow my order,”’ Kim said.

Kim explained that she was a target for bullies because some South Koreans did not believe that aiding North Korean refugees was a good use of public funds.

“In the minds of South Koreans, they saw it as taxpayers’ dollars falling into my family’s hands,” Kim said.

Kim learned that her parents had both been government officials of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. In 1996, her father

was promoted to a diplomatic position in China, which allowed the family to travel internationally as long as they complied to the government’s specifications.

“Like all other diplomats, moving abroad means that the family could accompany on one condition: One member of the family has to be left behind [in North Korea],” Kim said.

“As an infant, I was prone to illness, so my parents chose to take me instead of my older sister. She was just six [years-old].”

Kim’s father began to criticize Kim Jong-Il’s policies during the 1994-1998 North Korean famine, jeopardizing the family’s safety.

“My father commented to others that Kim Jong-Il’s policies caused more harm than good,” Kim said. “My dad understood he had become a threat to Kim Jong-Il’s power [....] One night, he felt a bullet fly by his ear, and my parents immediately planned to escape.”

Arriving in South Korea during Kim Dae-jung’s presidency and the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Kim’s family did not find much support. She critiqued Kim Dae-jung’s Sunshine Policy, for which he received the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize, for being detrimen-

tal to North Korean refugees.

Kevin Seo, co-president of McGill Students for HanVoice, believes that Canada could be a prime destination for North Korean refugees. He urged the adoption of HanVoice’s North to North Project, which enables private sponsorship for North Korean refugee resettlement in Canada.

As Kim learned about the events that shaped North and South Korea’s history, she began to understand the influence of global leaders on the lives of countless people.

“In discovering my family history, I learned about the arbitrary lines that were drawn at moments in history which would change the course of my life,” Kim said. “If President Roosevelt and Stalin had not split our country in half in 1945, would there be a North or South Korea?”

Tearfully, Kim finished her story by describing plans to use her education as a tool to develop policies which will mitigate the pain experienced by Koreans.

“I plan to use policy tools like erasers and pens to redraw the lines that have changed the lives of countless North Korean people, and I hope, maybe, this imaginary line will lead me back to my older sister.”

Cundill History Prize lecture explores colonization and punishment in Siberia

2017 Cundill History Prize winner Dr. Daniel Beer delivers lecture on Siberian penal colonies Elizabeth Kearney Contributor On Nov.16, the 2018 Cundill History Prize was awarded to Maya Jasanoff for her account of the life of Joseph Conrad in her book “The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World.” Juror Jeffrey Simpson, former Globe and Mail national affairs columnist and winner of Canadian literary prizes, commented on the winning book in a press release on the Cundill Prize website.

“Extremely well plotted, technically brilliant, and beautifully written, this is a work of history that presents us with new ways of reading about authors and their times,” Simpson said.

Last year in 2017, the jury of the Cundill History Prize, administered by McGill University in honour of its founder and McGill alumnus Peter Cundill, made the unanimous decision to award the first prize to Daniel Beer, a professor at Royal Holloway, University of London. Beer received USD$75,000 for his groundbreaking study of Siberian penal colonies in his book “The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars,” while the two runners-up each received USD$10,000.

McGill invited Beer to return to McGill to deliver a lecture on his book as part of the 2018 Cundill History Prize event series. Beer’s lecture followed the gruelling 3,600 kilometre journey across Siberia made by one million Russian convicts on foot, in an attempt to both punish the prisoners and colonize the territory. Siberia had become a dumping ground for Russian criminals and political rebels from the beginning of the 19th century until the Russian Revolution. “[In the book], I tried to humanize the large canvas of the exile system through a focus on individuals who were caught up in it,” Beer said. “That has its own frustrations, of course, because very large numbers of people who were illiterate left no record [....] Many of them vanish from historical records.”

One such untold story is that of Nataylia Sigida, a woman who was exiled for operating an underground printing press. Following the failed 1889 hunger strike protesting the harsh treatment in Kara, a Siberian women’s prison, Sigida escalated the conflict between the female prisoners and the authorities.

“Sigida requested a meeting to see the head of the prison, Masyukov,” Beer said. “[After being] admitted into his office, Sigida walked up to Masyukov and slapped him in the face.”

Beer explained that slapping Masyukov was considered a symbolic assault on the Tsarist system as a whole, an offence punishable by 100 strokes of a birch rod. Since educated Russians and women were usually exempt from corporal punishment, this event was considered an atrocity by Sigida, other prisoners, and the prison doctor who refused to condone the sentence.

“In the moments before flogging, Sigida declared [that] the punishment was, for her, the equivalent to a death sentence,” Beer said. “These were not empty words. After she was returned to her cell later that day, Sigida and three fellow women poisoned themselves.”

Beer critically examined the inadequacy of the Tsarist Empire’s exile system in the time period before the revolutions, explaining the difficulties the authorities faced in their attempts to control the exiled population.

“The authorities struggled to contain the exiles, let alone organize them into labour,” Beer said. “They couldn’t stop them simply walking out [....] In the last quarter of the 19th century [...], up to a third of Siberia’s 300,000 exiles [were] on the run!”

Lyudmila Parts, associate professor in Russian Studies at McGill, concluded the lecture with a reflection on the significance and relevance of Beer’s lecture.

“The discussion this evening reminded us of how and to what extent the mechanisms of power continue to function across time and space,” Parts said.

The Cundill Foundation annually awards a prize of US$75,000 to the best book of historical scholarship, the richest in nonfiction for a single work in English. (cundillprize.com)

OPINION

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Marie Labrosse editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Elli Slavitch eslavitch@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Ariella Garmaise agarmaise@mcgilltribune.com Stephen Gill sgill@mcgilltribune.com Calvin Trottier-Chi ctrottier-chi@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Andras Nemeth, Caitlin Kindig & Laura Oprescu news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Keating K. Reid & Abeer Almahdi opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Katherine Lord scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Emma Carr studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Dylan Adamson features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Katia Innes & Sophie Brzozowski arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Gabe Nisker & Miya Keilin sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Arshaaq Jiffry & Erica Stefano design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editor Gabriel Helfant photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editor Tristan Surman multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Luya Ding webdev@mcgilltribune.com Tristan Sparks online@mcgilltribune.com

Social work students deserve compensation Unpaid and underpaid labour is pandemic in university culture; from internships to extracurriculars, students are often encouraged to take on work that pays in ‘experience’ rather than monetary compensation.

From Nov. 19 to 23, the Social Work Students’ Association (SWSA) and the Social Work Association of Graduate Students (SWAGS) are on strike to protest their programs’ mandatory unpaid internships. Unpaid internships are an economic barrier that unfairly restrict students from lower-income backgrounds, and students deserve to be compensated for their labour.

Not only are social work students’ mandatory fieldwork hours unpaid, but, students pay to work them: According to SWSA, students have to pay tuition for fieldwork courses as they would for any other course. Students are not even compensated fairly in credits, as they must complete 12 credits of field placement courses to graduate with a BSW. Each course entails 200 hours of practicum work, or 15 hours per week.

By definition, three-credit courses should consist of three hours a week of instructional time. The 12 hours of extra work a week that social work students perform without academic credit mean that, over the 800 hours of required for a BSW, social work students are short-changed 624 credits.

Furthermore, social work students are

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Erica Stefano Design Editor Among other deeply instilled habits I’ve developed as a sociallyanxious introvert, I make a point of not sharing my political opinions.

Somewhere in the midst of the chaotic depression of high school, I found myself a political outsider in my liberal home state of Massachusetts.

I was convinced I would certainly become a victim of political violence upon arrival to the so-called leftist hordes of university, a fear ignited by the countless riots in response to conservative speakers at colleges across the country. There’s a misconception in conservative circles that there is no need for safe spaces. However, with the prevalence of violent polarization and the social precedent it sets, everyone

expected to commute for up to one hour to their placements if necessary, adding to the unrecognized burden they carry.

The social work students’ strike is part of a broader protest against unpaid internships in Quebec which is organized by the Comités unitaires sur le travail étudiant (CUTE).

Working without pay is a common experience for students, be it at community or campus organizations or as part of a degree: Like social work students, undergraduate students in education are required to complete four unpaid fieldwork assignments.

These field placements are necessary and mandatory additions to the social work program. Social work requires immersive training, and it is imperative that students’ educations reflect that reality. Experiential learning is a valuable educational method, especially in a field like social work where much of the work is demanding, especially from an emotional perspective.

Even when unpaid labour is not an academic requirement, students’ desires to build work experience or help their fellow students make them vulnerable to exploitation. This is especially true of students’ emotional labour. The Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), a Students’ Society of

McGill University (SSMU) service that provides support to students who have experienced sexual violence, is staffed exclusively by volunteers; McGill’s Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education (OS-VRSE) also has student volunteers. Walksafe, a SSMU service that accompanies students walking home alone at night, similarly depends on unpaid work. McGill and SSMU must offer financial support to these essential services in order to ensure that employees’ work is properly compensated.

Paying social work students for their fieldwork entails obvious financial complications, as most host organizations are non-profits.

However, the School of Social Work (SSW) and its community partners have an ethical obligation to work with social work students’ associations to find a sustainable long-term solution to these issues. That solution should include pay. For example, McGill, unlike most Canadian universities of its size, does not offer a co-op program; adopting a similar model for social work students ought to be considered.

The SSW faculty planned to stand in solidarity with the strikers by cancelling classes this week, but were directed to continue instruction as usual in an email sent by School of Social Work Director Nico Trocmé and Dean

5

EDITORIAL of Arts Christopher Manfredi.

“Teaching faculty support the concerns of the students, but we do have a requirement to teach classes, both as part of our legal requirements and with respect to the requirement [to provide instruction],” Trocmé, director of the School of Social Work, said to The McGill Tribune. “Any student who requests class is entitled to have class.”

The SSW faculty efforts to support SWSA strikers were upended

by Trocmé and Manfredi’s sudden decision to continue classes. Trocmé and Manfredi’s statement blatantly ignores students’ actual requests: Social work students overwhelmingly voted to strike, and this decision should be respected by the McGill administration.

Unpaid internships are not just detrimental to those undertaking them, and their inaccessibility to those without outside financial support perpetuates broader social and economic inequalities. Social work students provide an essential service to society by helping those who need it most. They deserve compensation and a better deal—from their school and host organizations alike SWSA’s protest will be held from 3-6 p.m. on Nov. 21 at Place ÉmilieGamelin.

The elephant in the room needs a sanctuary among the mayhem, conservatives included.

My concerns are perhaps overwrought, but I never got over the lingering fear that the outing of my political beliefs would sever ties with those who love me the most. This fear was only amplified during the 2016 American presidential primaries, when my mother made an uncomfortable habit of pointing out my support for Republican candidate John Kasich to my extended family. This was often met with the well-meaning but overtlypatronizing remark that, surely, I was just mistaken. When my grandfather passed away, I was haunted by the idea that, had I spoken out about my politics when he was alive, he would have had a similar reaction.

Politics has a way of breaking the boundaries of unconditional love.

Beyond unfriending Facebook friends with opposing political opinions after elections, the experience of being cut off from one’s family as a result of divergent political views has too often become a reality. As American Thanksgiving looms, so do the articles on how to cope with a loved one being a Trump supporter. As politics are increasingly viewed as synonymous with morality and values, splitting from family members with differing political opinions seems to have materialized as an ethically-viable position. Dehumanizing Republicans

Politics can be divisive, even among family. (Erca Stefano / The McGill Tribune) has become both morally acceptable and the progressive norm.

The theoretical gap between moral values and stances on government policies is often neglected. Believing in something universal, such as wanting to help others, means different things for different people in the realm of politics.

Being for or against gun control does not affect the general stance that mass shootings are abhorrent and unnecessary tragedies. Regardless of political beliefs, most people ultimately want the best for themselves and those they love.

It’s hard for people to separate arguments and ideas from the individuals pronouncing them. People avoid open debates because of their uncomfortable tendency to strain relationships. In the predominantly

centre-left university context, this affects who chooses to speak up, and, at a more fundamental level, who feels safe to do so.

After two years at McGill, I have found environments in which open debates are both appreciated and encouraged. Events at McGill such as Freedom Week, run by the Institute for Liberal Studies, supplies a long series of lectures on libertarian topics and is open to undergraduate and graduate students of various political leanings. I’ve also found clubs such as Conservative McGill, as well as friends with similar views. Finding those groups has given me the confidence that I never thought I would have to speak out in class and conferences. For our emotional well-being, we all need a place to feel at home.

6

OPINION

IN MEMORY

Evelyn Goessling Contributor My beloved friend Isabella Guerrico, U3 Arts, passed away in a sudden accident on Thursday, Nov. 15. We will remember Izy, who was beloved by many in the McGill community, for her fiery and generous spirit.

When I moved into Gardner three years ago, I had no idea what was in store for me. I thought I would make new friends, have fun partying, and learn a few things in school, but I had no idea that I would meet some of the most important people in my life. Izy was one of those people.

For a while I just knew her from afar by her bright turquoise hair and cool tattoos and piercings. Her style was absolutely iconic. Before long, I could tell that she was something really special. She had this amazing ability to be completely herself and very independent, but at the same time make others feel included.

As I know many people from Gardner that year fondly remember, in the first months of school, when it was still warm enough outside, we would all sit on the stoop and smoke and talk and talk and talk. Izy had an amazingly loud voice and a laugh that drew me in. She had so much energy and passion for whatever she talked about, and she made me feel like it was okay to be myself, and be myself as loudly as possible. She would probably be embarrassed that I’m saying that she was loud, but I loved that about her. Izy was one of the most social people I knew.

She always wanted to be out there in the world, in the centre of it all, experiencing things as fiercely as possible.

COMMENTARY

Hannibal de Pencier Columnist Continued from page 1.

Jirousek recently told the CBC that he plans on releasing a letter of support signed by more than 100 professors. This

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Remembering Izy Although Izy was extroverted in some ways, she was also shy about certain things. I didn’t know the extent of her passion for music until we were in a music history class together in third year. I learned that Izy was a cellist and a singer and had toured with her orchestra and choir in high school. We would study together at her apartment and listen to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. One time we watched the Mozart movie Amadeus together,

which is one of our favorite movies.

Then, the next day, she told me she watched it over again! That movie is three hours long! I laughed but was not surprised. Izy was always doing things like that. Just the other day, she bought and started reading a very large book about the history of soccer tactics. She was so passionate about the things she loved, whether it was her family or her favorite soccer team, FC Barcelona.

When Izy became my roommate at the beginning of this year, I

wondered how I had ever lived without her. In the morning, she would always emerge from her room and say good morning, with a smile already on her face. She had such a beautiful smile. It truly radiated from her whole being and always put me in a good mood.

It’s impossible to write down all the things I want to remember about Izy. She had the funniest expressions and reactions to things.

While I cooked, she would hang out with me and do funny little dances—’jigs,’ we always joked. In fact, we had to make a rule against jigs because it was too loud for our downstairs neighbours. Only quiet jigs allowed! We both had the habit of singing or humming to ourselves, and I loved how I would pick up on whatever she was singing, or she would do the same, and we would quietly sing together.

Izy loved very spicy hot sauce and coffee. She loved watching TV, everything from Fargo and Curb Your Enthusiasm to any and every soccer game. She loved reading.

One of her favorite books was The Brothers Karamazov. Izy spoke Spanish and often talked about moving back to Spain, where her family lives. We always talked about what kind of dogs we would get when we were old enough. Izy said she would never get married or have kids, and, instead, have three or four huge dogs, maybe a German shepherd, a dalmation, and a cockapoo like her dog at home, Gus. Izy, I will miss you forever. I can’t believe you won’t be graduating with me this year, but whatever the future brings, I promise I will try and live by your light. Thinking of you, I will push myself to live and love hard and bright, like you did.

SSMU votes to change the name. What now? ongoing public engagement and demonstration of support will apply necessary pressure on the administration.

In an email sent to McGill students on Oct. 28, Interim Deputy Provost, Student Life and Learning Fabrice Labeau, told students that the administration would be approaching a decision in December.

“In December, we will hear from the Working Group on Principles of Commemoration and Renaming, and be able to use their findings as a source of guidance on this issue,” Labeau wrote.

It seems dubious that the group will be able to present the administration with empirical ‘findings’ that make the decision to change the name simple. This is not an empirical

issue, but a moral one in which the greatest instruments of influence are students’ voices.

McGill students must insist that the administration take the referendum result seriously.

However, the administration will likely be wary of alienating the support of older conservative donors, whose conception of the McGill identity includes the name as a central element.

Given the relatively-minimal cost of attending McGill for in-province students, McGill is more reliant on donors than other universities to fund extracurricular programs. Alienating donors could put a significant strain on athletic programs.

The logistics involved in dismantling Redman-branded accoutrements— such as jerseys and murals—would be daunting,

both financially and practically.

Additionally, the nagging appeal of preserving the university’s historical identity persists.

Yet, reconciliation and acknowledgement of wrongdoing to the indigenous peoples of Canada must take precedence over the relative triviality of preserving an athletic brand.

Furthermore, if the McGill administration were to disregard

the sentiment of the student body—as communicated through the SSMU referendum—they would be setting a precedent deleterious to our student government’s leverage to effect change. We are now in the precarious position of relying upon the administration’s deference to principle. For change to occur, we must make this position a vocal one.

ERRATUM An article published in the Nov. 13 issue titled “Women, Media and Politics”: the changing role of women in politics” incorrectly stated that Justine McIntyre was a member of the Montreal City Council since 2013. In fact, she left the position in 2017. The Tribune regrets this error.

STUDENT LIVING

TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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PGSS Zero-Waste Market encourages sustainability Eco-Week event offers sustainable shopping Mary Keith Staff Writer The Post Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) held its inaugural Eco-Week Nov. 12-25. Over the course of the event, PGSS is hosting talks and workshops that encourage students to reduce their waste outputs. Students from across campus browsed eco-friendly products at the the Nov. 16 Zero-Waste Market, which demonstrated a promising wave of enthusiasm for zero-waste and eco-friendly initiatives.

Konstantina Chalastara, PGSS internal affairs officer and Jenna McMullan, PGSS student life coordinator, organized the ZeroWaste Market. According to Chalastara, the market’s purpose is to teach the McGill community about zero-waste alternatives and to showcase the work of Montrealbased, eco-friendly businesses. “[PGSS] wants to bring awareness to the McGill community about local businesses [...] through talks on becoming eco-friendly and reducing waste [in order] to recognize that [living an environmentally-friendly

lifestyle] doesn’t have to be a huge change,” Chalastara said.

Chalastara and McMullan hope that, after attending the event, participants will integrate environmentally-friendly practices into their daily routines.

“We want to show how you can make small changes because we understand that as students, you need options that are going to be feasible, both economically and with your time,” McMullan said.

Each business at the market offered products to help students move toward a zero-waste lifestyle. Boutique DDD, one of the participating businesses, sells a range of reusable household items such as straws and sandwich bags.

Founder Luce Mainguy’s objective is to provide high-quality and aesthetically-pleasing products that are produced responsibly.

“The goal of [Boutique DDD] is [that] all of our products encompass [certain] criteria [focusing on...] design [and] environment,” Mainguy said. “We sell a large range of products [...] for zero-waste lifestyles, [...some of which are] made from

biodegradable [materials].”

L’Atelier Candide, another vendor at the event, produces sustainable cosmetics. At the market, founder Solis Nahum showcased a range of everyday essentials, including solid shampoos, deodorants, and soaps, that are packaged without plastic.

“I started [L’Atelier Candide] to feature socially-conscious brands [...] that positively impact our society,” Nahum said. “The idea of the online website is to bring companies together in the same place [...] that reflect [similar] values. We sell personal care products [that] are wrapped in small, compostable cartons [or] fabric.”

Alongside the vendors’ kiosks, PGSS and the Social Equity and Diversity Education Office (SEDE) hosted a clothing swap to which attendees could bring old wardrobe items to exchange for other donated clothes. The swap aimed to help move away from the consumer mindset of buying and throwing away, since the fashion industry generates large amounts of pollution and waste.

“With the clothing swap, sometimes [zero-waste] is indirect,

At the Zero-Waste Market brands showcased environmentally-friendly products. (Julia Spicer / The McGill Tribune)

[...] but the fashion industry represents [a notable amount] of the world’s pollution,” McMullan said.

“So, a clothing swap allows you to have the same fun of something new without adding to that pollution.”

Chalastara and McMullan believe that Eco-Week events have encouraged a necessary discussion about wastefulness on campus.

“Universities are a great place for conversations about how individuals can make a difference,” McMullan said.

Through this work, the organizers hope that students exposed to zerowaste products during the festivities will be more inclined to adopt more sustainable habits and reduce their personal environmental impact.

WINTER PREP 101

Tips to get through a Montreal weather Lucy Keller Contributor For students who have lived in a cold climate and those new to the negative temperatures alike, Montreal winters are brutal. The McGill Tribune details a few ways to make these dark months feel a bit brighter.

Invest in winter gear Most students know to splurge on a winter parka and snow boots; however, it is also helpful to have other cold-weather accessories on hand. Wearing a hat and scarf helps stop body heat loss. Alternatively, students can invest in a blanket scarf, which multitasks as both a quilt and a neck warmer. Blanket scarves are particularly useful inside chilly buildings on campus, and, when bundled up under the scarf, students can even trick themselves into thinking that they are still in bed.

Go to the gym While it is easy to hide out in bed when there is snow on the ground, going to the gym can drastically improve students’ moods. Exercise can also help decrease symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). At the McGill Fitness Centre, students can participate in a wide variety of pay-as-you-go exercise classes and intramural sports.

Additionally, research shows that regular exercise can strengthen the immune system. This health boost is particularly important in the dead of winter when the flu and colds are circulating among students.

Experiment with winter hobbies

Memorize McGill’s underground tunnel system

Going outside in these dark winter months can seem like an impossible task, but Montreal’s lively social scene can make the season feel shorter. One of the best ways to take part in Montreal’s offering of fun outdoor activities is to visit the skating rinks across the city.

From the skating rink located on Beaver Lake on top of the scenic Mount Royal to McGill’s very own rink, there are plenty of different parts of the city to explore through ice skating. Alternatively, students can rent snowshoes from the McGill Recreation Centre and hike along the base of the mountain.

While the tunnels on campus are not as extensive as the Underground City, many McGill buildings are connected so that students can stay inside in between classes and avoid low temperatures during the school day. The system is marked by snail icons, and its entrance is easy to spot beside the large staircases outside of the front of the Burnside Building.

Students can also access directions for the tunnels on Google Maps by searching for ‘McGill tunnels.’ Though icy pavements can make the campus commute laborious, the tunnel system can make students’ winter days a little more bearable.

Socialize with friends at home Coat checks and the hassle of wearing boots can make winter outings arduous and expensive. For an easy and fun Saturday night at home, host a board game night with friends.

While many students might deem board games childish, they can provide endless hours of entertainment— especially when paired with a bottle of wine. At Le Valet d’Coeur, a charming game store in the Plateau, shoppers can peruse an eclectic selection of alternative, independent board games. This popular spot has a plethora of board games, puzzles, and interactive games that can make any night in more entertaining.

Winter is coming., but that doesn’t mean students have to hibernate at home. (Sunny Kim / The McGill Tribune)

Abeer Almahdi, Opinion Editor

WhY I stayed Understanding the barriers to disclosing sexual violence

silent

I was nine when I first became a victim of sexual violence. I was assaulted again when I was 12, then again when I was 13, and then I stopped counting—so many different people, and so many different faces to remember. Flashbacks are unpredictable. The first snow of the season reminded me of his cold, ashy breath on my neck. I started picking at my nails because of him, and, now, whenever I look at my hands, I think of him. Sometimes, when I’m completing a mundane task like washing my clothes or brushing my teeth, I recall an event that I had almost forgotten about. I see my abusers’ faces in every nightmare, in shadows while I’m trying to sleep.

My trauma manifests itself in every activity. I can’t shower with the curtain closed because I need to see the door. I’ll leave text messages unanswered for months because, sometimes, when I pick up my phone, I’ll remember being blackmailed. I get anxious while walking home in broad daylight; I am reluctant to go to office hours; I sit next to walls and close to exits, and I

Content warning - sexual violence bought a $50 lock for my bedroom door because it didn’t come with one.

I am not alone. Millions of survivors in Canada are still coping with trauma.

Despite the popular momentum of the #MeToo movement, sexual violence is still the only violent crime that is not declining in Canada. One in three women and one in six men will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime, with the vast majority going unreported. In addition, people of colour, indigenous, queer, trans, and disabled people are disproportionately affected by sexual violence.

Navigating trauma can be a singularly isolating experience, and each survivor has their own specific experiences with trauma. Reporting sexual violence is also a very traumatic and emotionally-exhausting endeavour that not all survivors choose to pursue. The McGill Tribune conducted a survey** and several interviews with survivors attending McGill about their own trauma and disclosure experiences to better understand some of the barriers to disclosure.

Maya*, U2 Arts, was sexually abused when she was around four years old. She didn’t realize what had happened to her until she was much older.

“I was actually lured into the situation by [...] princess movies,” Maya said. “I hate Sleeping Beauty for this reason.”

Her abuse has completely changed how she navigates her relationships.

“I cannot [imagine] being with a man,” Maya said. “I can’t. I’m a straight woman, but I’m completely averse to ever even being with a man because if anyone ever touches me or hugs me without being very close to me, [...] I would always flinch [....] It’s just something you live with, and I know that I’m not going to be with a man until I [...] really trust someone [....] I hate men because of this.”

Michelle* was assaulted by someone she knew. She still deals with lasting anxiety from her trauma.

“Mentally and emotionally, I have improved over time, but I still deal with [...trouble sleeping, anxiety, negative thoughts, and feelings] on bad days,” Michelle said. “Occasionally I have physical reactions [shaking, crying, and rapid breathing] to the topic of [my abuser] or sexual violence if I’m caught off guard or if I’m having a bad day.”

Hannah*, U1 Arts, was repeatedly raped by her coach during her freshman year of high school.

“Any decision I make regarding where I go, who I see, what I wear, revolves around avoiding rape,” Hannah said. “I’m so afraid in situations where it's me and a man in one room alone [....] I think about my safety and where I am in circumstances like that all the time. I get a lot of night terrors. I rarely sleep through the night. Even consensual sex is hard because [I] can remember feeling invaded, even if it's with someone you genuinely care about [....] It’s terrifying.”

Disclosing sexual violence is draining for survivors. Bianca Tétrault, sexual violence education advisor at the Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support, and Education (OS-VRSE), detailed some of the many reasons that survivors choose not to disclose their experiences.

“Some folks may not think that the police or [administration] can adequately help them, that their stories will [not be] believed,” Tétrault said. “They may fear retaliation for the person who harmed them or from the people they disclose or report to. They may not want to report because they still care for the person who hurt them or they don’t want to disrupt the social structure of their community. They may feel shame or blame, or they may not think that what happened is worth disclosing or reporting.”

Before writing this piece, I had only told my friends about my experiences. That was intentional. I didn’t want to see my mother’s heart shatter every time. I had already lived through my traumas, and I didn’t want to relive them with each disclosure and court date. I didn’t want to face any of my abusers again, either.

In addition, I mistakenly believed that my trauma wasn’t justified. I saw my experiences as trivial, and I fell for the misconception that I should just be over it by now. Too often, my disclosures were met with patronizing remarks about what I was wearing, or whether I could have made it clearer that I wasn’t interested in my abusers’ advances. Despite being a survivor of multiple traumas, I found it hard to see myself as the victim. In the back of my mind, dangerous thoughts still linger. I’m kept awake at night by the thought that I am somehow responsible for my assaults and that I’m inflating the severity of the situation. In these moments, I

still see myself as pathetic and weak.

Fear of retaliation as a result of disclosing is legitimate. Our culture consistently favours perpetrators. For example, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is still receiving death threats for testifying against her alleged abuser, Supreme Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh. She has had to move four times, and she still can’t resume her professorship at Palo Alto University.

In the survey that the Tribune conducted, only 11 per cent of the respondents reported seeking help from the police or their university administration. The other respondents cited many reasons for not wanting to report their trauma: Fear of not being believed, reliving their trauma, social stigma, or retaliation from abusers in positions of power. Other survivors feared that they would be questioned about why they didn’t come forward with their story sooner, just as Ford was asked during her testimony against Kavanaugh. Some respondents believed that their experiences were not ‘serious’ enough, or that the fault was their own.

Ahmed*, U2 Arts, was raped twice by men much older than him. He identifies as gay, but hasn’t come out to his family yet. Due to cultural stigmas and the fear of his parents finding out about his sexuality, Ahmed never felt safe disclosing his trauma.

“Going to the police was literally not an option for me,” Ahmed said. “There’s no concept of rape toward men in most cultures. Even if it was a possibility, taking it to court would mean that I would have to come out to my parents. I would have to rehash my trauma [....] I don’t know why I would ever want to bring up that [trauma] again. Taking it to court just defines me as a victim, and all I want to do is to move forward.”

Maya still feels responsible for the safety of her abuser.

“I still haven’t told my parents [...] because I know that [my abuser] still lives in my family’s village, and I know my dad would kill him. I know it.”

Hannah’s abuser was in a position of power, and the lack of a survivor-centric culture at her school made the possibility of resolution following a disclosure seem remote.

“I didn’t go because I didn’t know that I could,” Hannah said. “I was 14 years old [....]

If there was the [same] survivor-centric conversation that’s happening now, then I probably would’ve gone to the police [or] gone to my school, [but] he was my superior by many levels, [...] and I didn’t want to jeopardize my [athletic] career.”

The cultivation of a survivor-centric culture is incredibly important for survivors to feel adequately supported and validated. Survivor-centric support prioritizes the emotional and physical well-being of survivors and makes the act of disclosing feel safer. According to Statistics Canada, the number of victims who reported their sexual violence experiences peaked in October 2017, coinciding with the beginning of the survivor-centric #MeToo movement on social media.

McGill has its own share of on-campus resources to help survivors. The Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Student’s Society (SACOMSS) is a volunteer-run organization that serves the McGill and Montreal community. They offer services like the Drop-In and Line (DIAL), various support groups, advocacy, and outreach. OS-VRSE offers crisis intervention and shortterm crisis counselling for students and staff alike. The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) is also available for sexual violence survivors suffering from mental health issues including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The OSD has accessibility initiatives for students including note-taking programs and alternative exam rooms.

Another new campus initiative is the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) Gendered and Sexual Violence Policy (GSVP). The policy aims to tackle rape culture on campus through prevention, support, advocacy for survivors, and disciplinary procedures.

SSMU will begin implementing the GSVP in Jan. 2019.

On the other hand, as last year’s student walkout can testify, McGill’s culture surrounding sexual violence still has its shortcomings. Bee Khaleeli, U3 Arts, is a SSMU mental health commissioner, a GSVP implementation coordinator, and SACOMSS volunteer. They see limitations in the campus resources available to survivors.

“A lot of the resources that exist on campus for survivors are very confined to the McGill context,” Khaleeli said. “I don’t think that there are enough mechanisms for material forms of support like money, housing changes, and accommodations that do not default to putting [survivors] in touch with someone from the police.

[Resources] like OSVRSE and

SACOMSS are implicitly or explicitly focused on students. I think there’s a lot to be said about how faculty and how staff may navigate a lot of the realities of sexual violence and rape culture on campus.”

Despite the array of resources available on campus, survivors may still choose to confine their trauma to their smaller personal support networks like friends or family. Tétrault stressed the importance of educating oneself on how to be a better ally.

“On [the OS-VRSE] website, you can find steps to providing support to someone impacted by sexual and gender-based violence,” Tétrault said. “We also offer workshops on how to respond to disclosures of sexual violence to all members of our McGill community.

Groups, courses, faculties, departments, and services can and have requested workshops to better equip them to support people impacted by sexual violence. In addition, learning how to be active bystanders [and] challenging harmful social norms and practices that continue to marginalize and oppress certain groups and individuals is all part of the larger movement to address harm in our community.”

For Khaleeli, it is not enough for students to just publicly voice their support for survivors. Students also need to translate their words into action.

“I think students need to show up more,” Khaleeli said. “There’s this really upsetting tendency for people to [...] put the words in but not the action in, too. People need to be a lot more mindful of when they are bringing up the issue of sexual violence [...] for political expediency [...and of] what actual material actions need to go into what they’re saying for it to be meaningful. You can share a Facebook post, but are you showing up to policy revision consultations? Are you emailing your faculty senator to ask them to bring things up? Are you actively making an effort to support the survivors in your life?”

There are millions of cases of sexual violence that never see a court date or administrative action. Students play a large role in the dismantling of rape culture, and have an opportunity to assume larger roles in advocating for and supporting the survivors in our lives—including ourselves. *Names have been changed to preserve the interviewees’ anonymity. **About the survey: The student survey referenced in this article does not meet scientific standards. The author of this article distributed the survey to the McGill student body using an anonymous Google form. The survey used a combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions about students experiences with sexual violence and disclosures. During the datacollection period, the author posted the survey link to various McGill community groups on Facebook and Reddit over the course of 26 days from Oct. 23 to Nov. 18. In total, 79 students responded to the survey.

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STUDENT LIVING

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

How students can use ASMR to decompress

A look into the YouTube phenomenon helping students unwind Alaana Kumar Contributor Whispering, crumpling, tapping, and buzzing. These are among the most popular autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) techniques that millions enjoy over the internet.

ASMR allows consumers to experience low levels of euphoria triggered by specific auditory or visual stimuli. Though some people do not experience this phenomenon, it is a growing trend among young adults and students who use it as an easily accessible means of relaxation.

Individuals who experience ASMR triggers believe that they help to cope with stress, anxiety, and even insomnia. Some describe the feeling as a ‘brain massage’— the equivalent of having someone play with their hair or trace their back. Though research on the effects of ASMR is still unfolding, a recent study at the University of Sheffield found that there are several mental and physical health benefits for those who frequently watch ASMR videos. The study concluded that individuals who experience ASMR tend to have lower heart rates and show significant increases in positive

feelings such as relaxation and social connection.

Madison Palmer, U1 Arts, explained that, for her, listening to ASMR videos is a form of self care.

“ASMR has a great calming effect,” Palmer said. “If you feel a panic attack coming on or are in the middle of one, it can really help.”

In recent years, ASMR videos have grown in popularity and developed into an art form of their own. ASMR producers, known as ASMRtists, creatively incorporate theatrics and detailed visuals into their video and, sometimes, even tell a story for the duration of the video.

There are currently more than 11 million ASMR videos on YouTube. The most in-demand video to date has over 20 million views. It features an ASMRtist speaking in whispered tones through a 3-D microphone which produces a binaural recording, mimicking how ears hear live sounds. Over the years, many ASMR videos have used this technology in combination with a variety of trigger-inducing techniques like cutting hair, turning pages, and speaking softly.

ASMR videos are ideal for university students since they

are a free and calming coping mechanism for academic pressure.

In fact, according to Think with Google, individuals between the ages of 18-24 make up more than half of the overall ASMR audience. To Vanessa Barron, U1 Arts, ASMR videos are appealing because they require no thought or brain power to view and are even less strenuous on the mind than music.

“It appeals to our generation because, let’s face it, we’re all stressed,” Barron said. “Hearing and watching something so simple, [...] it’s just relaxing.”

Despite its usefulness, ASMR has a polarizing effect among individuals: Some are intrigued, while others struggle to understand the fascination and find the videos’ pseudo-intimacy odd or disturbing. However, no online content is the same. ASMRtists use different approaches and techniques. As a result, artists recommend sampling different content or watching a compilation of triggers. Christopher Cadigan, U2 Arts, agreed that viewers should explore a variety of ASMR videos and explained that sampling different genres may better help students relieve stress. “[In general], I struggle to

watch ASMR videos,” Cadigan said. “But there’s one in particular that I can watch for hours. [...] It’s just about finding what works for you.”

ASMR videos provide a

simple and creative way for individuals to de-stress. For overwhelmed university students, the world of ASMR could be key to many students’ mental wellbeing.

fill a gap in your program

Athabasca University has over 850 courses to choose from to meet your needs and courses start every month. AU has over 6,600 transfer agreements around the world (including with this institution).

Get cooking: Five recipe channels to let out your inner MasterChef Go-to sources for weeknight meals Gabriela McGuinty Staff Writer With countless day-to-day academic and social responsibilities, spending time buying groceries, deciding what to cook, and then actually preparing a well-balanced, nutritious meal can be an arduous task for students. To cater to those difficulties, online student-cooking outlets have sprouted up. The McGill Tribune has compiled a diverse list of cooking YouTube channels that break down how to make easy meals.

SPAIN ON A FORK

SPOON UNIVERSITY This channel has built a loyal fanbase with its quick and easy tutorials fit for cramped dorm kitchens. The videos range from a couple of seconds to a minute and a half in length, and the ingredients used in every recipe are pantry staples likely to be in any university student’s cupboard. They require little to no background in cooking, making them ideal for novices. Designed for undergraduates, these effortless meals will still give you a sense of gratification after a long night at the library.

HEALTHNUT NUTRITION Those inspired to curate an aesthetically-pleasing lifestyle should follow HealthNut Nutrition. The channel is run by the passionate and health-conscious Nikole, who encourages her viewers to maintain healthy habits by showing them how easy it can be. Her channel also features some lifestyle commentary like “Morning Green Smoothie

Recipe, Fears about Public Speaking and Yoga Event” and “A Week in My Life.” Some of the channel’s most popular videos include food life-hacks such as “20 Healthy Food Swaps” and “How to eat Chia Seeds- 3 ways.”

TASTY Probably the most famous and sweetest channel on the list is Tasty; no student on Facebook has yet to come across one of these irresistible recipes during their hours of procrastination on social media. This channel is well-suited for sugar lovers, kitchen whizzes and complete culinary newbies alike. Tasty makes a point of using accessible, and, for the most part, cheap ingredients to create deliciouslooking dishes that range from “creamy and satisfying pasta recipes” to a cinnamon roll apple pie.

If you’re looking for a recipe channel that doubles as a step-by-step guide on how to cook a diverse cuisine outside of your comfort zone, then Spain on a Fork is your new go-to culinary channel. The YouTube page, run by a Spanish-born American, offers a guide to Spanish cuisine in an affordable and approachable way. Featuring tutorials on how to make the nation’s most beloved dishes, these videos aim to educate viewers on the wonders of Spanish cuisine. Students can learn to appreciate Spanish culture by making anything from a traditional tortilla de patatas to an abundant plate of paella. There’s no better way to learn about a culture than by enjoying some fine, homemade cuisine.

NIKKIVEGAN As the handle suggests, this channel shares vegan recipes; however, Nikkivegan stands out for its colourful feed and its emphasis on affordability. The creator, Nicole Vranjican, regularly highlights vegan recipes that are accessible to a broad range of people by ensuring that they use common and budget-friendly ingredients to produce nutrient-rich recipes. She also believes in the art of balance and treating yourself while staying fit. In one of her most popular videos, Nicole even touches on how to can stay healthy on a lazy day, giving her viewers no excuse to eat junk food. Visit her channel to stay motivated while maintaining a flexible, nutritious diet.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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RIDM offers stunning portraits of humanity International documentary festival upends cinematic norms Leo Stillinger Staff Writer The 2018 Rencontres Internationale du Documentaire de Montreal (RIDM) took viewers on an unconventional cinematic journey. In ReMell Ross’ Hale County This Morning, This Evening the director takes a job as a teacher and basketball coach in small-town Alabama, while Distant Constellation sees Shevaun Mizrahi visiting residents in a Turkish retirement home. Such themes may not be typical subject matter for the big screen, but anything goes at RIDM, the documentary film festival that brings stories from every nook and cranny of the globe to theatres around Montreal.

Hale County is Ross’ portrait of a small, predominantly-black town in rural Alabama. Filmed over the course of five years, Ross accumulated more than a thousand hours of footage. The result is an intimate and impressionistic picture of life in Hale County. Viewers watch grandmothers play and banter with grandchildren and men stay up late playing video games. The sounds of teenage boys yearning to make it as basketball players, hope and doubt mingling in their voices, echo throughout. Hale County follows a child named Kyrie as he grows up, from the crib to a small plastic basketball hoop of his own. There is a certain tenderness immanent in every situation and every shot.

In a post-screening Q&A, Ross explained that his emphasis on tenderness was intentional: He wanted to defy traditional narratives of blackness in America. The documentary does not gloss over systemic injustice—the red and blue lights of police cruisers lurk in the backgrounds of multiple scenes—but nor does it dwell upon it.

Rather than the typical essentializing narratives of oppression, which Ross only half-jokingly called ‘trauma-porn,’ Hale County shows the real lives of real people, illuminated equally by beauty and pain.

Distant Constellation takes the viewer to an entirely different world: A retirement home for minorities in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey. Mizrahi’s patient camera captures the testimony of various residents, and the results are amusing, insightful, and sometimes heartbreaking. Two friends ride an elevator up and down,

just to chat; a stuttering ex-photographer manages to take a photo out the window. One woman recalls her childhood experience of the Armenian genocide. Best of all, a man proposes to Mizrahi midinterview.

“You’re very nice to me,” he says. “And, besides, I’ll die before you anyways.”

Outside the windows of the nursing home, an immense construction project is taking place, laying the groundwork for a massive skyscraper. In the Q&A portion, Mizrahi described her desire to construct a visual dialectic between two worlds: The realm of memories within the home and the rapidly modernizing face of urban Turkey just across the street.

The dialectic between nation and citizen is one with pointed political implications: Turkey’s surge toward modernization has left the country in an economic crisis, while Erdogan’s increasingly autocratic government has censored dissent and persecuted minorities.

To even acknowledge the Armenian genocide is prohibited, and Mizrahi duly gives a measure of anonymity to her subjects, never revealing their names or the home’s location. This context elevates Distant Constellations from simply an interesting art film to a radical tribute to memory.

Mizrahi, like Ross, touches on such political realities obliquely.

Both Hale County and Distant Constellation seek to recover what lies at the bottom of political, historical and geographical circumstances: That is, the people themselves.

By slowing down, taking a deep breath, and really listening, each film bestows its narrative power to those in front of the lens. In an age dominated by visual culture, Mizrahi and Ross have each sought to defy the standard subject-object relations of documentary filmmaking.

“I wanted to avoid the traditional use of photography as an objectifying lens,” said Ross.

Ross’ choice to privilege his subjects’ perspectives is as political as it is aesthetic. Depicting very different circumstances, the films are united in their reminder that behind every headline, every stereotype, and every work of art, lies a human face.

Image+Nation Film Festival Canada’s first queer film festival is celebrating 31 years of LGBTQ cinema!

Until Dec. 2.

to live as an organ within oneself

Iranian-Canadian artist Naghmeh Sharifi examines themes of identity and psychology of the body in her latest exhibition.

Until Dec. 15, open from Tuesday to Saturday 12-6p.m, MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance Street).

Coven Drag Show

Featuring some of Montreal’s fiercest drag witches! $12 or PWYC, Nov. 23, 10-12 p.m., The Diving Bell Social Club (3956 St. Laurent Blvd).

H.E.R.

R&B pop singer H.E.R. showcases her new EP with a stop in Montreal.

Nov. 20, 8-11 p.m., MTELUS.

‘Wearing our Identity’ explores the cultural significance of indigenous clothing McCord Museum’s latest addition to their permanent collection is long overdue

Keira Seidenberg Contributor The McCord Museum’s newest addition to their permanent collection, Wearing our Identity.

The First Peoples Collection, explores the historical, cultural, and spiritual significance of indigenous clothing. The exhibition showcases garments and artifacts associated with clothing production, such as needles and bone scrapers, to demonstrate how clothing shapes identity and the role of fashion as a tool for self expression within indigenous and First Nations cultures across Canada. The exhibition also documents the effects of colonialism and the relationship between westerners and indigenous people, as captured by their clothing.

The exhibition is organized around loose themes; placards on the wall describe indigenous clothing in relation to concepts such as belief, history, and suffering. The show explains that, within indigenous cultures, clothing connects a person to the natural world, and garments fashioned from animal hide or using plant resources display the

bridge between the human and the non-human spheres. Clothing often combined the aesthetic and spiritual with the practical, and ornamental items such as beaded moccasins and cradleboards are used in everyday life.

Wearing our Identity approaches colonialist discourse by describing the ways in which Western settlements and institutional oppression shaped indigenous cultures and clothing.

One of the placards addresses residential schools, detailing how administrators stripped indigenous children of their garments and visible cultural signifiers. This discrimination is made all the more visceral when contextualized within evidence of the importance First Nations people place on their dress and expression.

Clothing represents both a mode of resistance and a means of acknowledging indigenous history.

Documenting the evolution of particular items of clothing can illustrate cross-cultural exchange and also helps to assess a previously self-contained culture’s evolution as it is forced to integrate and adapt. Having distinctive clothing

with cultural meaning that extends in which historically, westerners that the wealthy and often white beyond aesthetics marks them as have often appropriated indigenous viewer pays a fee to observe. different not in a way that others goods. Placing artifacts significant While Wearing our Identity marks them so much as celebrates their to indigenous religious and cultural an important step in reconciling distinctiveness. practices without proper credit of colonial Canadian and indigenous Wearing our Identity curates the journey by which the artefacts relationships, the limitations of the sacred artifacts for a museum traveled from their creators to gallery context leaves room for format in a way that is respectful the museum strips them of their active understanding and greater of their cultural significance. By historical and cultural worth, representation of First Nations contextualizing the work with rendering them commodities media background information, the exhibition encourages engaged viewing, rather than relying on the often brief relationship between the active viewer and the passive art object. The exhibition also features work by contemporary indigenous artists such as Terrance Houle and Maria Hupfield and is curated by the Aboriginal artist and curator Nadia Myre, indicating an involved indigenous presence in the creative process.

However, Wearing our Identity also prompts concerns surrounding consent and Western contextualization. Many of the works list names of donors or private owners; an overarching narrative of cross-cultural exchange appears missing. Simply listing a name at the bottom of a museum The McCord Museum’s latest exhibition blends the cultural and historical label ignores colonialist discourse, importance of clothing. (Julia Spicer / The McGill Tribune)

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Where does ‘Roma’ belong?

Netflix and the battle for cinema’s future

Noah Simon Contributor

With new streaming platforms appearing left and right, the battle for viewers’ attention has become increasingly diffuse. And with more and more content to sift through on a daily basis right from the comfort of one’s couch, the movie theatre’s centrality in the cultural zeitgeist has taken a major hit. It has become a major source of debate: As movies assimilate further into the household, studios will cater their projects to that kind of viewing experience.

Filmmakers around the world are wondering what this shift might mean for their work and whether there will be sufficient opportunities to make movies for the big-screen as well as streaming sites like Netflix. Additionally, film purists worry that streaming giants will completely overtake the entertainment industry, resenting the move away from tradition.

Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma falls squarely into this debate. The film tells the story of Cleo, a housekeeper working in Mexico City, and her relationship to her wealthy employers. Set in the 1970s, the film’s gorgeous black-and-white cinematography portrays a time vividly inspired by Cuarón’s own memories. Filmed in a large 65mm format, Cuarón creates an immersive experience for the viewer. Only a master like Cuarón could draw as much beauty from shots of water going down a sewer as they could from wide Mexican landscapes. Critics and fans alike have said this affect requires the big screen: It necessitates the clearest projection systems and best speakers.

But here’s the catch: In April, Netflix purchased

Roma’s distribution rights and the film is set for release on Dec. 14. For many, this wonder of sight and sound will be relegated to their laptops. As the old adage goes, cinema is dead.

Netflix offers eight billion dollars worth of content for its 137 million subscribers worldwide, which makes it a massive stage for curated productions. Meanwhile, the average movie ticket price in North America is $9.27 and well over $10 in major cities. Netflix’s standard plan is $7.99/month. Once you add transportation, snacks, or the added cost of a 3-D or IMAX screening, going to the movies has become an unsustainable expense. And with prices only increasing, more consumers are turning toward streaming platforms. Cinephiles see the service as a blight, which is perhaps more indicative of the elitism of the industry and film nerds than anything else. Given the sheer number of people who have access to their work, in addition to Netflix’s relative creative control for filmmakers, it makes sense that independent directors like Joe Swanberg, and international auteurs like Cuarón and Bong Joon-ho, are flocking to the platform for distribution.

Industry giants have long contested this transition: Steven Spielberg doesn’t believe that Netflix movies are real movies, and Quentin Tarantino hates streaming. But, streaming is the new reality of the entertainment industry, and Cuarón, who, admittedly, was granted a major theatrical release, still concedes to it.

“We’re going to live with this format,” Cuarón said in a press conference. “It’s important the two things exist not clash. It’s just a question of

Roma’s beauty transcends the screen. (netflix.com)

finding something that works.”

Fortunately, it appears that Netflix and theatre companies are approaching some sort of synthesis: Roma will be released in select theatres on Nov. 21 before expanding nationwide up until its Netflix premiere. The Coen brothers are employing a similar model for their new film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, as is David Mackenzie with Outlaw King, which hopefully predicts a new symbiotic relationship between movie theatres and Netflix.

With the successes of films such as Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories and Bong-Joon Ho’s Okja, Netflix has shown it can nurture prestige films of any scale. Additionally, other recent films like Beasts of No Nation and Mudbound have solidified Netflix’s place as a perennial Oscar contender. With Netflix churning

out quality films, it’s ideal that they are trying to get them onto the big screen in addition to their platform. This will allow viewers to watch movies how they want; they can seek out the theatre experience or stay at home. Having the choice is optimal. To deny that is to perpetuate the tradition of dividing art between the binary of ‘real’ and ‘populist,’ as if Netflix’s accessibility inherently worsens the film.

I was fortunate to catch Roma at the Toronto International Film Festival and can vouch for the impact of seeing it in theatres. However, not everybody shares the same priorities when it comes to watching movies. Roma is a cinematic masterpiece, but it’s also a personal, poignant tale of how to find meaning and fulfillment despite life’s adversities. There is no need for a big screen to convey that message.

In Conversation with Gregory Alan Isakov

The folk singer reflects on songwriting, turning forty and his love of farming Bronwyn Cole Contributor Continued from page 1.

“We were bad and we loved it. We got a chance to be really terrible [....] I think that time in a musician’s life is so important because you can actually explore. Your taste changes every other day and everything changes all the time. It’s so fun.”

Isakov draws from a breadth of influences, praising Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen as his ‘folk heroes,’ lauding Leonard Cohen’s lyricism, and professing his love for Michael Jackson and the pop music he grew up with.The USA for Africa 1985 single, “We Are the World” was the first record he ever obsessed over, and he remembers spinning it endlessly as a child.

Working in an industry obsessed with innovation, Isakov remains ever a fan of the classics. When it comes to songwriting, the artist is more interested in making albums feel like complete pieces from beginning to end than trying to force a unique sound.

“We’re not writing anything for the first time,” Isakov said. “There are only so many chords and so many ideas.”

When planning Evening Machines, Isakov focused on cultivating a dark atmosphere that unifies the whole album, cutting songs he loved but felt disrupted the cohesion of his work. The tracks vary from modest acoustic moments to lushly-layered experimentation; however a sense of completeness transcends these sonic differences. Isakov manages to say a lot while using words sparingly, penning sparse yet introspective lyrics brimming with haunting natural imagery. The conflicting feelings of warmth and eeriness expected of folk music permeate Evening Machines.

The five-year gap between Evwening Machines and Isakov’s prior release, The Weatherman (2013), was not merely the result of a process of writing and recording. In

Isakov played Corona Theatre to a sold out crowd on Nov. 9. (Sabrina Girard-Lamas / The McGill Tribune)

2016, Isakov released and toured a compilation album of 11 of his most popular songs, rearranged and performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. On top of his music, Isakov focused on expanding his farm outside of Boulder, Colorado.

The farm is more than a mere hobby or retreat from the hectic lifestyle of touring; it is Isakov’s first calling and complements his music career.

“I always farmed,” Isakov said. “I went to school for it.

Next to my bed is a bunch of horticulture books–that’s mostly what I read. Music was something I did with my free time, and I got a chance to work on little bits of writing while I was

working. It supplements my life in such an amazing way, not only monetarily [...] but the work was good for me and good for the writing. I don’t know how they correlate exactly, but I feel like I need them both.”

As Isakov prepares for his 40th birthday, looming in the not-so-distant future, he feels nothing but grateful disbelief when he reflects on his career.

“I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m not 20 anymore,” Isakov said. “Just running around with my band and trying to make the farm work, I feel like I’m doing the exact same stuff, but I’m not as stressed about it.”

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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Tuberculosis: Where are we now?

Madhukar Pai provides insights into the first UN High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis Krithika Ragupathi Contributor “We need to science the shit out of tuberculosis,” Madhukar Pai, director of the McGill Global Health Programs, said in front of the United Nations (UN) at their headquarters in New York in September.

The meeting was a historic event; it was the first-ever high-level UN meeting organized to address the ongoing tuberculosis (TB) crisis. Pai’s statement to the General Assembly was an appeal for politicians to increase investment in research and development.

TB continues to be the leading infectious disease killer, claiming the lives of about 1.7 million people in 2016—approximately equal to the entire population of Montreal the same year. An estimated USD$1.3 billion per year supplement to the existing budget is required to fund newer drugs and discontinue the use of antiquated diagnostic tools. Current drugs used to treat MDR-TB, a drug-resistant form of the disease, are highly toxic with side-effects that include deafness. Given the necessary funding, the UN aims to eradicate the disease by 2030.

Although those fighting to eradicate TB pushed country leaders to be present at the meeting in New York and to support the initiative,

attendance was underwhelming. None of the G7 heads of state, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, were present. The only key political invitee present was South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Pai described the turnout as disappointing.

“It is still very hard for TB to be a political priority,” Pai said in an interview with The McGill

Tribune.

Between 2014 and 2016, Ebola caused an estimated 11,000 deaths while, in that same period, TB killed more than three million. Pai attributes the lack of concern among politicians to the fact that, unlike other epidemics in the past, TB continues to affect the poorest strata of the world’s population.

“People are quietly dying”, Pai said.“[Politicians] have become desensitized to it.”

In an op-ed for the Huffington Post, Pai stated that, if each country spent 0.1 per cent of its annual gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) on TB, the UN could collectively meet the $1.3 billion USD per year budget. Pai believes that the ongoing TB crisis is a result of an unwillingness on the part of political leaders to allocate funds, rather than a difficult scientific problem to solve. His sentiments allude to the colonial roots of global health, which the numbers suggest are still an influence today.

“The fact that we have TB up north in our

Director of McGill Global Health Programs Madhukar Pai spoke to the UN contingent. (un.org) Inuit communities three hundred-fold higher than here tells you that this is not a science issue,” Pai said.

With regard to the future of tuberculosis research, Pai stressed that high-burden TB countries should lead the discourse going forward. “[The] TB agenda is still being dictated by rich white people from countries with hardly any TB,” Pai said.

Currently, global health initiatives are mostly funded by the United States. According to Pai, this puts global health in a one-sided and precarious

position.

“All of global health is under threat under the Trump administration,” Pai said.

Passing the baton to high-burden TB countries that have the money and tools to tackle the problem would be the next advisable step. Pai believes that China and India have the resources and money to take the lead. Furthermore, he thinks it is crucial to involve TB survivors in the conversation to foster a strong civil society movement that will hold politicians accountable for their progress on the issue.

The McGill Department of Physics hosts its third Hackathon Students from across Quebec and Ontario gather to problem solve Keli Geers Contributor “I think everyone wins, and that’s not just a fluff sentence,” Nikolas Provatas, professor in the Department of Physics, said at McGill’s Physics Hackathon.

“Everyone wins just by being here. If they go back home and they have something positive to say about science, to me, that’s a success.”

From Nov. 3 to 4, 120 eager hackathon participants were assigned to teams of two to five members to collaborate and solve any physics problem of their choosing.

“The idea is [to] come and hack a solution to a problem you think is interesting [….] At this high level, we try to limit it to some kind of fusion of science, arts, and creativity,” Provatas said. “At the end of the Hackathon, a panel of judges will go around the room, and you have five minutes to sell your hack.”

Participants designed projects able to solve a variety of problems. From finding a way to determine the most fuel-efficient route between two points to modelling Fresnel diffraction and distinguishing patterns created by waves when light is shown through a narrow opening, the projects were diverse. McGill University student Louis Richez, U2 Science, and his team began the hackathon with a preconceived idea: To design a program that is able to process images of handwritten numbers, particularly whether someone has written a three or a seven.

“We are classifying images of handdrawn digits, particularly digits three and seven,” Richez said. “For each picture of a

Science enthusiasts from across Quebec and Ontario gathered on Nov. 3 and 4 for a weekend of collaborative coding. (physics.mcgill.ca) three or a seven, the neural network will try to identify it as a three or seven [....] The perturbations we are adding are to make the distinctions in the original images more ambiguous, so making threes look more like sevens and sevens more like threes and testing to see whether the network can still distinguish the images.”

Participation was open to high school students through to PhD candidates, and most participants hailed from schools in either Quebec or Ontario. The Hackathon encouraged students of any background or specialization to register, offering a chance for younger or non-STEM students to spend a 25-hours learning from their more experienced counterparts.

“Let’s be honest,” Danylo Perkov, a grade 11 student at l’École secondaire Félix-Leclerc, said of the marathon coding event. “In a normal week, with all the activities and the homework, we don’t have much time to just sit and concentrate on a program. It [provides] an opportunity to bring everyone together in one place where we can work together constantly without other [interferences].”

At the end of the competition, judges assessed the final projects not just on technical ability, but also the respective team’s presentation quality and teamwork.

The judging process was guided by each team’s individual skill level and experience, providing opportunity for

young and inexperienced hackers to compete alongside their more advanced peers. The fair judging method levelling of the playing field allowed for a team of CEGEP students who modelled Fresnel diffraction to finish the competition in first place.

An enthusiastic team of nine organizers spent six months preparing for the event.

At the Phi Centre in Montreal’s Old Port, an additional 20 mentors, many of whom were prize-winning participants of years past, joined the team. The hackathon hosted presentations by their partners including Google throughout the event, which also featured introductory workshops on Arduino, Python, and Machine Learning.

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Can you sea the floor?

Anthropogenic CO2 emissions are dissolving the seafloor’s geological record

Caroline Lou Contributor From the heights of the ozone layer to the depths of the ocean, greenhouse gas emissions have far reaching impacts and damage natural systems in often unexpected ways.

A recent study conducted by McGill researchers found that the seafloor is rapidly dissolving due to manmade CO2 emissions, with particularly notable effects in the northern Atlantic and near the Southern Ocean.

The seafloor is covered by layers of sediment that contain the mineral calcite (CaCO3), which is formed from the remains of plankton and corals. Calcite combats ocean acidification by neutralizing CO2, a compound which lowers the pH of seawater when dissolved. Additionally, calcite serves as a historical environmental record; scientists have extracted and dated core samples from the ocean floor and found that thinner layers of calcite correspond with time periods that had higher atmospheric CO2 levels. This means that the mitigation of ocean acidification comes at a high price: The dissolution of calcite is also erasing the geological record of greenhouse periods and ocean acidification episodes throughout millions of years of history.

Bernie Boudreau, a member of the research team and a professor at Dalhousie University’s Department of Oceanography, noted the importance of the geological record in predicting future climate change developments.

“Unfortunately, we cannot now predict exactly how drastic future changes will be.” Boudreau wrote in an email toThe McGill Tribune. “However, if we look at the geological record of past acidification, we might be able to see what happened back then [... by examining] species extinctions, temperature changes, continental flooding [etcetera] which are all recorded in past sediments. Scientists can then inform the public what happened then and what might happen in the future. So, the geological information is highly significant.”

To examine the effects of CO2 on calcite dissolution, the researchers replicated seafloor environments in the lab using information from recent databases of bottom-water chemistry, sediment surface-level currents, and the calcite content of deep-sea sediments. After comparing pre-industrial and present-day dissolution rates, the researchers found that, in the western North Atlantic Ocean, a significant portion of seafloor dissolution—between 40 to 100 per cent in certain locations—is attributable to human activity.

Researchers noted increased dissolution rates at various locations in the south of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.

While the destruction of the geological records is a loss for scientific history, Olivier Sulpis, a PhD candidate in McGill’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, is especially concerned with the impacts on living organisms.

“If we start dissolving corals or plankton, it’s much more problematic [than just dissolving the geological record],” Sulpis said.

“All the algae that live at the surface have shells made of calcite, and they are producing a lot of oxygen. That [oxygen is] useful.”

Sulpis explained that the dissolution of the seafloor is only a symptom of the larger problem: That anthropogenic CO2 emissions have reached such high levels in the first place.

“I think the important [fact to realize] is [that] we are slowly changing the chemistry of the ocean,” Sulpis said. “It’s more about CO2 than the dissolving seafloor itself. What’s scary is the fact that, because the seafloor is already dissolving in various areas of the world, it means that we have emitted enough CO2 to cause this.”

Moving forward, the researchers plan to model how seabed dissolution may evolve in potential future CO2 emission scenarios. In the meantime, their findings serve as yet another warning that humans must find a way to curb greenhouse gas emissions, since a business-as-usual approach will have devastating impacts on the ocean and its inhabitants.

CARTOON

Tracking ‘Jaws’

Following marine life movement with eDNA Margaret Wdowiak Contributor Many lives could have been saved in the movie Jaws if only the town had an effective way of tracking the shark terrorizing their waters. Analysis of environmental DNA, or eDNA, is a revolutionary new technique that enables scientists to follow marine animals, no matter their size. eDNA refers to the genetic material, such as feces or shedded skin, left behind by a living organism in their environment. Such materials previously had limited use, but, now, scientists can use gene sequencing techniques to extract and amplify DNA fragments from eDNA. This DNA can help to determine which species left the eDNA samples.

This technology is useful for efficiently tracking animals in waterways, enabling scientists to detect populations of a species in particular environments and their movements in an aquatic system. Being able to analyze eDNA also enables scientists to monitor the biodiversity of an entire region, helping them detect invasive species as well as monitor endangered and at-risk species that may be difficult to find. All of this information enables scientists to better understand how how humans impact biodiversity. eDNA also has many other unexpected uses.

“It can help us to discover where many species go in the winter-time, which is understudied” Jennifer Sunday, assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Biology, wrote in an email toThe McGill Tribune.

“Over time, it can help us to learn how fluid and variable

eDNA enables scientists to track an aquatic animal using their feces. (hdanimalswallpapers.com)

species distributions and community compositions are across short and long time scales,” Being able to see how the distribution of species changes over time as well as their movement patterns during the winter could further broaden our understanding of how changes in aquatic environments impact biodiversity. eDNA offers certain advantages over traditional methods used to track marine life, chief of which is its non-invasive nature. Many traditional techniques for tracking marine life have harmful effects on animals.

For example, fish tracked with electrofishing, which immobilizes them using electrical currents, frequently sustain injuries. “eDNA has the potential to dramatically reduce the time and effort put into visual and capture surveys in the field, i.e. traditional methods,” Sunday said. “In doing so, it opens the door to much more frequent sampling over both space and time. This is key, especially [for] marine environments which are difficult to sample repeatedly [and] especially in the winter months. [It can] completely transform how we can observe biodiversity in the oceans.”

Therefore, eDNA can provide a more detailed picture of an ecosystem than traditional techniques. It provides a better picture because it is more accurate and it can detect more species than conventional methods.

“The future of this technology is, if organized well, a systematic, grounded in-truth observation network across Canada and hopefully across the world, to completely change the way that we observe changes in the oceans,” Sunday said.

Like all advances, though, the technology is not perfect.

“Much work needs to be done to overcome uncertainties in methodologies, including sources of bias from field to bench methods, and also to organize the efforts so that samples are comparable,” Sunday said.

Like many tracking systems, a major limit of this technology is that it only gives an indication of where the animal has been, not where it is currently. Animals can move long distances in the time it takes for eDNA to degrade. Additionally, eDNA particles can drift dramatically due to currents, reducing researchers’ ability to pinpoint the location of a particular animal.

Episode II: Attack of the babies Arshaaq Jiffry Design Editor

SPORTS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

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In conversation with Sylvie Béliveau

Béliveau is changing the landscape for women in sports Miya Keilin Sports Editor This fall, McGill Athletics appointed Sylvie Béliveau as a senior advisor to its varsity sports program in the first step of the Women In Sports initiative. The initiative is funded by a $3.5 million donation from McGill varsity hockey alumni Sheryl Kerr (BCom ‘67) and David Kerr (BSc ‘65). The Sherbrooke native is perfect for the job: She has been involved with sports for her whole life and has a diverse professional background. Béliveau got her start in soccer, but, at a young age, discovered a lack of opportunities to continue playing at a competitive level beyond youth leagues.

“At some point, [I got] into the senior age group, and there were not enough players,” Béliveau said. “We had won national [championships], and, in those days, that was the highest level of competition. So my coach said, ‘Why don’t you come and join us as an assistant coach?’”

Béliveau progressed quickly from there: She started by coaching a youth select team, moved up to the Quebec provincial team, and, eventually, became the head coach of the Canadian women’s national team. She received mixed support from her colleagues. Wherever she went, whether it was in coaching or administrative positions, she was always just one of a few women—if there even were any others.

“You’re the only woman,” Béliveau

McGill appointed two full-time Martlet assistant coaches with the Women In Sports initiative along with Béliveau (far right). (Elliot Demelier / The McGill Reporter) said. “Some will support you, and some will not support you. You kind of have to survive.”

After Béliveau stepped down from her role with the national team in 1995, she joined the board of directors of the Canadian Soccer Association. Later, she became a member of FIFA’s technical study group, which analyzed international games and reported on the progression of play at the highest level of women’s soccer. Béliveau praised FIFA’s efforts in trying to get more women involved, noting how beneficial the experience was for her as a coach.

“You’re exposed to the best level of playing, [...] you’re speaking full-time on not [merely] policies, not signing papers,

but the game, which helps you,” Béliveau said. “You go back, and that gives you more tools to get back into your coaching tasks.”

In her new role at McGill, Béliveau wants to make female athletes aware of the wide variety of options available to them after university sports and encourages them to stay involved.

“My question to them is, when they stop playing, what will they give back?,” Béliveau said. “It could be, ‘I’ll be a volunteer at some point, and I’ll have a voice for women because I’ve played in those shoes [....] There’s so many different roles [they] could play. Refereeing, coaching, being an administrator, being on a board in some sport [....] It’s not [...] necessarily

right after you’re finished, [...] but it’s [...] putting in their mind, ‘I got so much out of it. Now what?’”

With the Women in Sports initiative, Béliveau hopes to help them answer that question. She preaches the significance of having women involved in sports in whatever position that may be because she believes that it is important for the athletes to see that those careers are available to them.

Béliveau supports female athletes in her home province outside of McGill.

Alongside six other female champions of women in sports, Béliveau founded Égale Action, an organization that supports women and girls in sports in Quebec, with the goal that no other woman will have to face the barriers she has come up against during her career. Égale Action works with the Quebec government to allocate funds to projects across the province that serve women in sports. They also organize workshops on topics such as leadership, self-esteem, and understanding the dynamic between male coaches and female athletes.

Ultimately, her success is rooted in a competitive mentality that started at home with her brothers and her sister, Rachele, who currently coaches the McGill women’s volleyball team.

“We played games, all sorts of games,” Béliveau said. “Gymnastics in the house, head down and feet up, whatever [....] So, because we are a family of playing, it’s more than just a job, it’s fun.”

Know Your Athlete: Emilie Matte de Grasse

The Martlet volleyball star begins her final chapter at McGill Kaja Surborg Contributor Fifth-year power hitter Emilie Matte De Grasse grew up already immersed in the sporting world. Her mother was a physical education teacher; her father was a hockey player. Now, Matte de Grasse is in her 13th volleyball season, but before volleyball, she practiced other sports, too.

“I did gymnastics when I was younger, but I quit because I was too tall,” Matte de Grasse said.

“Sport has always been around me, though.”

At the start of high school, Matte de Grasse tried out for both the basketball and volleyball teams, but, ultimately, decided to stick to volleyball. At that point, she knew that she wanted to play for McGill, especially since her high school assistant coach was coaching at McGill as well. Matte de Grasse was convinced that McGill was where she wanted to be.

“She brought us to the games [and] gave us McGill gear,” Matte de Grasse said. “She had a big influence on how I saw McGill,

[...] as an awesome place to play.”

Long-time Martlet Head Coach Rachele Béliveau has also played an important part in Matte de Grasse’s volleyball journey.

“Rachele is awesome,” Matte de Grasse said. “If I have nothing to do, I can just go talk to her for hours about volleyball or anything. She’s honestly the best coach I’ve had [....] We know that she believes in us.”

Matte De Grasse has changed how she approaches the game over the years.

“My first year, I was just there to get on the court,” Matte De Grasse said. “[As a] rookie, you don’t expect to play all the time. With the years, you learn to take up more space and talk more, and, this year, I’m just playing to have fun.”

Now in her final year, Matte De Grasse feels that the older members of the team share the leadership responsibilities.

Personally, she tries to lead by example.

“You want to show the firstyears how to do it,” Matte De Grasse said. “If we have weights to do, I’m not going to force you

to come, but I’m going to do it to show that it’s important and that the results show on the court.”

Matte De Grasse has not yet decided on a path after graduation, but she thinks that she’ll stay involved with volleyball in some way; her degree in physical education gives her an avenue to do so.

“I think I’ll try to stay involved with the team as much as possible, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to commit to coaching a full team yet,” Matte de Grasse said.

Matte De Grasse feels that volleyball has helped her prepare for the real world beyond university. Learning to work with a team and developing a good work ethic are both skills that she has developed in her years on the court. Like many other students nearing the end of their

undergraduate careers, however, she still has hesitations.

“I have no clue what I’m doing next year,” Matte De Grasse said. “I’m not sure I’m ready to fully commit to being a grown-up.”

Matte de Grasse will leave a significant legacy behind her when she leaves the Martlets. The

Fifth-year power hitter Emilie Matte de Grasse jumps to spike the ball. (Derek Drummond / McGill Athletics)

power-hitter has been a key offensive player for the Martlets this season: En route to their 8-1 record thus far, she has been the highest-scoring McGill player in six out of nine games, averaging 13.9 points per game.

McGill has come up short in the RSEQ semifinals in their last two seasons, but, hopefully Matte De Grasse can lead her team to a championship season in her final campaign.

16

SPORTS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2018

Martlet basketball stifles Gaiters

Diarra’s double-double leads McGill past Bishop’s 67-44 Ogbudibe spoke to the team’s defensive mindset, which allowed the Martlets to dominate Bishop’s throughout the night.

“It was [all about] the details on defence,” Ogbudibe said. “[We] tried to prevent them from rebounding and getting easy put-backs.”

The Martlets will look to build on the win on Nov. 22 when they host cross-town rival Concordia (1-1) for the annual Pots and Pans game.

Ender McDuff Staff Writer On Nov. 15, the McGill Martlets (21) made an early-season statement in Love Competition Hall against Bishop’s University (1-1). Their aggressive performance on both ends of the court enabled them to dismantle the Gaiters by a score of 67-44.

In a game during which McGill never trailed, the Martlets smothered Bishop’s on the defensive end: They limited the Gaiters to just 18.8 per cent shooting during the evening. The Martlets also benefitted from the heroics of fourth-year transfer centre Sirah Diarra, who posted a monstrous doubledouble with 20 points and 23 rebounds.

Scoring was slow to start: The first few minutes of action were a hectic and ultimately fruitless back-and-forth for both teams. McGill struck first on a well-executed out-of-bounds play when second-year guard Charlotte Clayton, who finished with 11 points, knocked down a baseline jumper.

After a subsequent 10-unansweredpoint run, the Martlets found themselves up 12-2. However, after several turnovers and fouls, Bishop’s pulled back within four—the closest margin of the night. The period ended with the Martlets back up 10, leading 21-11.

In the second quarter, the Martlets truly took command of the game. McGill benefitted from a string of great defensive plays from Diarra and second-year forward Kamsi Ogbudibe as well as swift offensive execution. The Gaiters managed just seven points all quarter, shooting an anemic 8.7 per

MOMENT OF THE GAME

McGill’s offence was on fire Thursday night., too. (Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune) cent from the field.

In the third quarter, the Gaiters managed to pull within 14 points of the Martlets. Diarra responded with crucial plays at the rim, and Clayton drilled a deep, buzzer-beating threepointer, ending the quarter at 48-31 McGill.

By the fourth quarter, every Martlet had gotten involved, either breaking the full-court press for layups, driving hard to the basket to make a play, or knocking down the open jumper. To the delight of the packed house, the Martlet lead ballooned to 24 points at one point before the final buzzer sounded with a final score of 67-44.

Head Coach Ryan Thorne felt that this was one of McGill’s most impressive wins in a long time.

“Usually, we’re very methodical with what we do offensively, and, […] today, we started to change it up to be a little more aggressive,” Thorne said.

Thorne stressed the importance his team put on matchups in their game plan, both in exploiting their interior advantage on offence and in focusing the Martlet defensive effort on Bishop’s two primary threats. Diarra, who attributed her personal success to quick and decisive playmaking, agreed that the team had done well in following through with its game plan.

“This week, we practiced [attacking the basket, moving the ball, and cutting], and today we executed [it] on the court,” Diarra said.

The Martlet offence went cold toward the end of the third period until second-year starting guard Charlotte Clayton hit a pull-up, buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the quarter and put McGill back up by 17 points.

QUOTABLE “I think this was probably one of the most impressive wins that we’ve had in a long time, just with a bit of a different style to it.” – Head Coach Ryan Thorne on his team’s aggressive offense.

STAT CORNER Sirah Diarra led the way for the Martlets with a dominant performance, as she hauled down 23 of her team’s total 49 rebounds, to go along with her 20 points and four blocks.

McGill artistic swimming laps the competition

McGill’s novice team wins first place at only home meet of the season Emma Carr Student Living Editor On Nov. 17, Canadian University Artistic Swimming League (CUASL) teams gathered at Memorial Pool to compete in the 2018 McGill Invitational. Universities competed in solo, duet, and team events while a panel of judges evaluated swimmers on artistic impression, execution, and difficulty. Though the scores from the annual event do not count towards the teams’ national rankings, the friendly competition set high standards for the upcoming competitive season. McGill’s novice team placed first in the novice competition, and the white team, one of McGill’s two varsity-level teams, took first place in the team finals.

In the team finals, the McGill white team swam a graceful and energetic routine to a medley of Whitney Houston songs and earned a combined score of 71.47. Lindsay Duncan, McGill Varsity artistic swimming team head coach, expressed her overall satisfaction with the team’s performance.

“I feel really positive,” Duncan said. “We had a great meet [....] I had high expectations because everybody has been looking really good in practice leading into this competition. I think

everybody really put good work in today [and] pulled off really good performances.”

The invitational was an opportunity for McGill swimmers to show fans what the team has been working on thus far. For many of the athletes on the novice team, the season opener was the first performance of their university athletic careers. Firstyear artistic swimmer Leah Birch, who competed in the novice duet and solo competitions, spoke of the united, supportive team environment that she has experienced in her first season of artistic swimming at McGill.

“It’s such a family,” Birch said. “[Though there are] three teams within the McGill synchronized swimming [program], it’s not divided by teams.

Everyone is friends with everyone.”

The invitational was the only time this season that the Martlets will compete in home water. For novice team swimmer Paulina Piankova, it was enlivening to perform in front of a crowd of familiar faces.

“It’s really exciting because we get to invite our family [and] close friends to cheer us on,” Piankova said. “We know the pool well, we are comfortable in this pool, and seeing the people that support us is amazing for sure. Also, this was an invitational, so

The McGill artistic swimming teams dazzled the home crowd at this weekend’s McGill Invitational meet.

(Emily Hunt / The McGill Tribune) it was a friendlier kind of environment rather than an actual competition where it’s a little bit more stressful.”

The Martlets will next compete at the CUASL Eastern Canadian Meet at Laurentian University on Feb. 3. In the meantime, Duncan hopes to polish the team’s presentation and technique.

“Our swims today weren’t perfect,” Duncan said. “They were really thoughtful [and] really focused.

You could see that the girls were really thinking about the corrections they have been getting from their coaches at practice, but, next, we have to layer in

the finesse, bring in more energy, bring in more power, make sure that we can

be performing everything, and make it look effortless.”

MOMENT OF THE MEET The white team entered the pool to Whitney Houston’s “Somebody to Love,” with a theatrical dance routine.

QUOTABLE “[Our typical training schedule is] crazy. We have lots of training. I am doing an extra routine [....] The standard team schedule is three times a week, and then you add an extra practice a week [....] Some people come in six days a week to the pool.” -Paulina Piankova on the team’s preparation leading up to this meet.