McGill Tribune Vol. 37 Issue 4

The McGill Tribune Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2017 | VOL. 37 | ISSUE 4

FEATURE

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

EDITORIAL

POP RHETORIC

The irony of social media How technology makes us lonely

McGill residences: More than just a roof overhead

PGs. 8-9

PG. 5

Selling post-horror

Studios mismarket art-house thrillers, viewers pay the price at the box office

PG. 12

(Daria Kiseleva / The McGill Tribune)

Markets of Montreal: A guide to exploring Montreal’s fall food venues PG 16

Playing the polite host: How Harbison critics made a statement without saying anything at all Keating Reid Contributor As I sat waiting for George Harbison’s “The Victims of Socialism” talk, hosted by the Conservative Association at McGill University, one thing was clear: Its organizers

were hoping for the best, but had prepared for the worst. A uniformed security officer guarded the door, and several more were inside, along with at least one in plain clothes.

The Conservative McGill executives, seated in the front row, seemed to be making nervous small talk. Their anxiety wasn’t without cause: In the days prior, the event’s Facebook

Intersessions encourages accessibility and diversity in DJ culture Meagan Peters

Contributor

There is a distinct lack of diversity in the Montreal electronic music scene. Many hopeful musicians feel the music industry is inaccessible because of the group of predominantly heteronormative males controlling it. Intersessions, founded in Vancouver by electronic musicians Rhi Blossom and Chippy Nonstop, is a series of workshops working to change this lack of diversity

by providing underrepresented demographics with DJ and music production classes. The project’s goal is to address the electronic music industry’s remarkable gender and sexuality-based imbalance by providing inexpensive classes for people on the LGBTQIA2S+ spectrum.

On Sept. 19, Montreal’s first production workshop was hosted at Outro, a local company that provides creators with access to free artist-to-artist samples and loops. Musicians Blossom and Maddie Ross led the workshop in Outro’s studio space.

PG. 12

event page had degenerated into a lawless Internet brawl, replete with accusations of threat-making and white supremacism. While Harbison’s talk consisted mostly of recapping the undeniable atrocities committed by communist regimes, he went on to claim that left-wing academics possess an “intellectual, self-serving pathology.”

And then… nothing. No chanting protestors, no shouting audience, and no pulled fire alarms. The talk was completed without interruption. During the Q&A session that followed, several audience members made comments challenging Harbison, which generally led to brief, civil debates.

PG. 6

Phishing scam plagues McGill student inboxes McGill IT Department warns against dangers of fraudulent links Caitlyn McConnell Contributor Since the summer, students have reported receiving ‘phished’ messages in their McGill emails.

‘Phishing’ is the fraudulent practice of impersonating a credible source and sending emails requesting the reader to hand over personal details.

The emails had subject lines such as “Verify Your Email!,” or “Important Alert from McGill University Admin” and contained fraudulent links requesting personal account

information.

Phishing attempts have recently received national media attention with organizations like Wells Fargo, Yahoo!, and the Democratic National Committee reporting breaches. Such attacks occur more frequently during times of the year when people need to submit personal information. For the general public, this is often during holidays such as Cyber Monday, Boxing Day, and Christmas, when massive increases in online shopping take place. In McGill’s case, the start of

the semester and course registration typically mark a significant increase in fraudulent emails. In a statement to The McGill Tribune, the McGill IT Department explained how these phishing attempts endanger students.

“Once a criminal gets access to your data, they will likely sell personal information to third parties, and look for additional information that they may use to gain access into more lucrative sources, like your online bank account,” the statement read.

PG. 4

2 NEWS

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

SSMU Legislative Council nominates Jemark Earle to Board of Directors Councillors discuss pros and cons of AVEQ referendum and bike facility Selin Altuntur Managing Editor On Sept. 28, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council met to appoint a fourth executive to the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD). In addition, Council discussed their affiliation with the Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ), a province-wide student union, as well as the proposed bike facility project, which would build a high-capacity facility for students, staff, and faculty to lock their bikes in the Shatner building.

Guest speakers propose bike facility At the start of the meeting, Council welcomed guest speaker Amelia

Brinkerhoff, coordinator of Vision 2020, McGill’s sustainability action plan. Brinkerhoff presented a project proposal for an indoor bike facility on campus, located in the basement of the SSMU building. The space would serve as a safe location to store up to 350 bikes for students, faculty, and members of the McGill community, complete with a shower and locker room for those who endure long commutes to campus. Brinkerhoff sought support from Council to move ahead with the project.

“I see [the bike facility] as a really interesting proposal because it’s a very visible and tangible symbol of climate action,” Brinkerhoff said. “If you look at McGill’s greenhouse gas emissions, 12 per cent of our emissions are from commuting activities

[...] and this might be a tool to reduce that number.”

The proposal was not met with full support, however. Several executives voiced concern about accessibility considering the project would only allow space for 350 students to use it, a small fraction of the number of bikers on campus. SSMU Vice-President (VP) External Connor Spencer echoed these worries, and noted the irony of the initiative, given McGill’s failure to take other sustainable actions, such as divesting from fossil fuel corporations.

“I agree that this [would be] a very visible project,” Spencer said. “[But] I’m wondering, within the McGill climate and [the] sustainability action plan [...], when we have a university that refuses to divest from the $70,000 that it has in environmentally irresponsible funds right now, why [would] having [...] a $1.9-milliondollar project for bike storage [be feasible] if we are already running out of space for this project and might want to look into getting a new building in the future?”

Guest speaker Kristin Perry presents on AVEQ

SSMU legislative council discussed the election of VP Student Life Jemarke Earle to the Board of Directors. (Noah Sutton / The McGill Tribune)

SSMU Council also welcomed guest speakers Kristin Perry, the Coordinator of Mobilization and Associative Development, Sophia Sahrane, the Coordinator of Education and Research, and Isaac Stethem, the

Advisor to the Executive from the Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ). AVEQ is a provincial organization that aims to advocate for the social needs of Quebec’s student population through activism and research. Sahrane discussed AVEQ’s research pillar, and shared its findings on student healthcare access.

“We have [done] research on health insurance for international students,” Sahrane said. “It came out last semester and it talks about [how], if you are an international student or [a friend of one], you would know that their health insurance sucks. They [do not receive] the same standards as Quebec[ois] or Canadian students.”

In 2015, the referendum question of AVEQ affiliation with SSMU ultimately failed to pass, with SSMU continuing its non-voting observer status. Now, Council plans to bring the question of AVEQ affiliation to referendum again next week. Though several Council members expressed worries about the referendum not passing once again, Spencer emphasized that AVEQ’s previous failure could be attributed to a lack of understanding.

“The vote in 2015 was [...] split, and most students voted abstaining instead of no,” Spencer said. “So that shows that there wasn’t much knowledge of AVEQ, [and] students didn’t properly know what they were voting for [....] AVEQ has been around for two more years now and is much

more visible, so, probably, students would be able to make a more informed decision now.”

Motion regarding nominations to the SSMU Board of Directors After the guest speakers’ presentations, Council voted to nominate SSMU VP Student Life Jemark Earle to the BoD. At its last meeting on Sept.

24, the BoD discussed the murky constitutionality of its current arrangement of members. With a maximum of 12 members, the Board is currently composed of nine members-at-large and three executives, which does not leave room for the constitutionallymandated fourth executive.

VP Internal Affairs Maya Koparkar confirmed that if this motion were to be approved by Council, one of the nine members-at-large would need to step down.

“As we discussed in our last Board of Directors meeting, in order for the board to maintain its composition of 12 members, there will be one member-at-large of the board who will need to resign from their position in order for Vice President Earle to take their spot,” Koparkar said.

The vote passed, and Earle was successfully elected to the BoD, effective immediately. The decision was approved at the BoD meeting on Oct. 1, following the resignation of Director Nikolas Dolmat.

Council will next meet on Oct. 12.

“The Victims of Socialism” presentation stirs up controversy on campus Presentation on communist regimes receives divided reception Julia Métraux Contributor On Sept. 25, George Harbison, chief financial officer of Unitek Learning, gave a talk on the “The Victims of Socialism.” The talk was hosted by the Conservative Association (CA) at McGill University in conjunction with The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. Though the event title alluded to a discussion of socialist societies, Harbison’s speech actually focused on past communist dictatorships— though the terms were used interchangeably throughout the presentation. He touched on the USSR under Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, China under Mao Zedong, and Cambodia under Pot Pol. His presentation included examples of communist propaganda, images of emaciated and dead bodies, and dramatic background music.

“Make no mistake about it, the millions of deaths caused by these three communist regimes were no accident,” Harbison said. “Communism’s goal of achieving a utopian society with absolute and forced equality for all [was] at such odds with human nature that it required an imposition of brutal and total control by the state over every aspect of the lives of those subjected to it.”

One counterargument to Harbison’s ideas about communism is that the damages the modern capitalist state causes, including environmental degradation and income inequality, are far worse than those caused by past communist regimes. Yet Harbison argued that this was untrue.

“We have been presented with numerical comparisons set forth [of] the sheer magnitude of the number of people

killed by three communist regimes,” Harbison said. “To deny this, or to invoke the argument [that] capitalism’s [damages are worse], is to engage in abject intellectual dishonesty.”

At the end of his talk, Harbison took questions from the audience. One audience member asked whether it’s possible for a socialist democracy to succeed, to which Harbison responded by reminding the audience of the overthrow of socialist Chilean president Salvador Allende. “[Salvador] Allende was a socialist [president in Chile], he was overthrown,” Harbison said. “Then [Augusto] Pinochet came in, not a great guy, did some bad stuff, [but he] put in economic reforms, [and by] 1990 Chile was a highlyfunctioning democracy. It’s actually up near the top of the Economic Freedom Scale.”

The event’s Facebook page provoked discussion between the event’s proponents and critics. An event mockingly titled ‘The Victims of DeVry University’ was created to protest the CA’s decision to invite Harbison, a former CFO of the Medical and Healthcare group of DeVry, a forprofit university. The event page criticized Harbison’s lack of qualifications to speak about socialism.

In an email to The McGill Tribune, the creator of the ‘The Victims of Devry University’ event, Victor Redko, U3 Science, cited several of Harbison’s articles for Forbes.com and RealClearMarkets.com as evidence of a bias against socialism.

“I made the meme event because I was taken by the absurdity of the campus tories inviting someone whose degree is an MBA focusing on finance and accounting and whose career is mostly focused in the for-profit education indus-

try [to] act as an authority on the history of communism,” Redko wrote. “Especially given the fact that the various pieces [that] he has written for various sites make it very clear that he’s [...] on the right end of the spectrum and is likely completely unable to speak objectively on the history of communism or its merits in comparison to capitalism.”

While the event served to bring attention to the victims of communist regimes, Arts underclassman Sophia Kopnya felt the presentation took advantage of people who lived in communist regimes. “[This event] essentially equates victims of these regimes to simple analogies to denounce any sort of left-wing politics,” Kopnya wrote. “The fact that people are using the genocide of my people [Ukrainians] to further the idea that any sort of social welfare or social support is by association evil.”

Conservative Association (CA) at McGill University President Jordan Sinder introduced a talk on the past transgressions of communist regimes.

(Ava Zwolinski / The McGill Tribune)

NEWS 3

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Consent McGill highlights the existence The Office for Students with of sexual assault and how to react to it Disabilities provides new Two-week long campaign aims to educate assessments for ADHD diagnoses past and potential survivors through a variety of workshops and presentations

Caitlyn Atkinson Contributor

Caitlin Kindig Contributor

Consent McGill educates students on being active bystanders and the resources at their disposal. (Consent McGill)

Consent McGill has returned for its fourth consecutive year to provide students with education and support on campus sexual violence. Bianca Tétrault, the sexual violence education advisor at the Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support, and Education (O-SVRSE), continues to lead the campaign with O-SVRSE sexual response advisor Émilie Marcotte and a team of year-long volunteers. Events promoting self-care, survivor support resources, and bystander intervention are scheduled for the ongoing two-week campaign, taking place from Sept. 25 to Oct. 6.

Bystander intervention workshop stresses importance of speaking up On Sept. 27 Tétrault and peer educators Felicia Kavuma and Neelakshi Pandey led a workshop to raise awareness of the bystander effect, the human tendency to remain inactive when witnessing acts of violence or injustice if other witnesses are doing so as well.

Facilitators provided strategies to correct this behaviour, and defined the role of an active bystander as one who looking for ways to disrupt sexual violence while also maintaining their own personal safety.

“Bystander intervention [workshops] are proven, through research, to have an impact on campus sexual violence and in reducing it,” Tétrault said. “But not every campus is the same […] so we wanted to make sure the information was going to fit our population, [which is why] the information was tailored by our students.”

The facilitators also made it clear that bystanders need not be heroes; individuals can only intervene in emergencies if they feel their own safety is not at risk. Even small efforts from bystanders, however, can stop harmful situations. Though intervention ideally occurs before assault ever does, stepping in mid-attack, or even afterward, can be just as important.

“Some people have been targeted [...] because of their social identity and worry about their own safety, so […] that affects our likelihood of becoming an active bystander,” Tétrault said. “But that is why the after part of the situation is so critical. If we can’t do something in the moment, we have a responsibility to follow up with [the survivor]. It may be the only source of support they get immediately after.”

Learning Assessment service launch provides more affordable tests for disability diagnosis

Resources for survivors explored during networks of support walking tour Another noteworthy event in Consent McGill’s campaign was the walking tour of survivor resources in Montreal. Departing from the O-SVRSE office, tour guides brought attendees around the city to look at the different offices and resources that survivors of sexual assault can pursue for support. The first stop was the police station PDQ 20, where Constable Giuseppe Bacardi informed the group about the investigative procedures that are needed to verify the validity of a sexual assault. Bacardi’s account highlighted a recurring concern for many survivors in reporting their experiences—that police officers won’t believe them.

“When someone calls 911, police get dispatched,” Bacardi said. “Police officers go over there and basically find out their story […] just to make sure there is enough evidence to sustain a report. This is not to be mean, or cynical, or make people think we don’t believe [the callers], but sometimes, when someone hates another person so much, they can make up any story.”

Marcotte, who was helping facilitate the tour, then posed a question about the logistical process of filing a sexual assault report, which Bacardi failed to explain sufficiently. The result was an awkward, and relatively tense, discussion before Marcotte and Tétrault politely exited with the group.

Meanwhile, the three other locations on the tour—Concordia University’s Centre for Gender Advocacy, Montreal Sexual Assault Centre (MSAC), and Project 10—were more in accordance with Consent McGill’s prosurvivor mandate and all emphasized their commitment toward believing and supporting survivors above all else. Though the Centre for Gender Advocacy and Project 10 assist survivors, they are more directly involved in providing resources and safe spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals. MSAC, however, is entirely dedicated to helping sexual assault survivors work through their experiences. Though it is not an alternative to reporting to the police, MSAC can help individuals through the process of filing a formal report.

“If you come to MSAC, we will support you in whatever route you wish to pursue,” Debbie Trent, the director of MSAC, said. “We do, however, strongly encourage survivors to come in […] and have medical information collected, just in case they change their mind in the future.”

The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) launched a new Learning Assessment Service in the first week of September that aims to make official diagnoses of learning disabilities like Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) more effective and financially accessible for students. While the standard cost of diagnosing learning disabilities is $1500, the new psychoeducational testing service will provide an assessment for $600, most of which can be covered by students’ health insurance.

The OSD also plans to expand its support services to include self-directed resources for academic support such as tutoring and one-on-one help. The Office will accommodate students who have yet to receive a Learning Assessment appointment by providing support during the waiting period.

Before this semester, students seeking a diagnosis for learning disabilities had to take extensive tests, pay hefty fees, and wait to be permitted extra time for tests or use laptops in courses that have a restriction. All of these procedures were coordinated through the OSD, which currently serves 2,100 McGill undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students on both the Downtown and Macdonald campuses. The new changes will decrease wait times while increasing student access to advising staff.

An integral part of the OSD’s changes also includes hiring more staff at the Office. According to Teri Phillips, director of the OSD, having more employees on hand will facilitate students’ access to support.

“My hope is that a greater number of students feel that they have the support and tools needed to succeed during their time at McGill,” Phillips said. “Access and support, in both of these areas, without having to go outside McGill, demonstrates a deep commitment to meeting the needs of our campus from both a student and institutional perspective. These changes represent a financial investment in areas that will have significant and measurable effects on the lives of McGill students.”

The OSD explains its changes in its “Unit Update,” a document that outlines initiatives at the Office. The Update reported that students and staff considered the OSD’s services to be up to par, but that help for students with physical disabilities had declined in recent years as a result of its shift in focus to addressing students learning disabilities and mental health issues. In response, the OSD also developed a Universal Access Team throughout August 2017, which will focus on assisting individuals with disabilities that affect their mobility, vision, and hearing impairment.

A recent infusion of funding and investment in the OSD has made these changes possible. In an email to The McGill Tribune, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens explained that the non-restricted Quebec government annual fund helped him secure $1 million funding for the OSD. “For the last few years, the government of Quebec gave us a fund that was not restricted, meaning, we could use it for services to students in general to enhance the student with disabilities experience,” Dyens wrote. “Last year, we decided that the most pressing needs were in OSD and that the biggest positive impact on students with disabilities would be to address needs in OSD directly.”

The OSD’s changes come after many years of successfully providing support for students. Alyssa Rooster, U3 Arts, who is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, praised the OSD for providing her a space to concentrate during exams in past years. “[Staff at the OSD] were nothing but wonderful and helpful,” Rooster said. “[The OSD] gave me lots of resources. It helps me by letting me take my exams in a smaller room and I get to take stopwatch time, which is amazing so I can take time to calm down if I’m feeling anxious.”

With these changes, the OSD hopes to improve the academic experience for students suffering from anxiety and other disorders in years to come.

The OSD now offers $600 health assessments and has an increased number of staff. (Millie Valencia / The McGill Tribune)

4 NEWS

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Ferrier computer lab shut down, Speaker resignation announced at AUS legislative council Council debates drastic updates and implications for student body Grace Bahler Student Living Editor On Sept. 27, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) Legislative Council met for the second time this year to discuss a handful of topics, including equity training, new study spaces, and a commuter committee.

Speaker of Council Jason Barron resigns At the start of the meeting, President Erik Partridge opened with news of Council Speaker Jason Barron stepping down for personal reasons. The AUS has put out an application for a new speaker and will appoint one in two weeks, according to Partridge.

This is the second AUS resignation this semester, with vice-president (VP) External Catherine Jeffery stepping down on Sept. 12.

Equity training now required for AUS departmental executives and senators AUS Council passed a motion to amend the Equity Policy to require all AUS departmental executives and senators to undergo equity training. Equity commissioners Amisha Parikh-Friese and Chloe Kemeni introduced the motion, which requires staff to complete the course, taught by the equity commissioners before Saturday, Oct. 14.

“We believe that, obviously, equity is the focal point and pillar for a respectful and functioning society,” Kemeni said.

“The only way we can set a high standard is when everyone is trained, and trained

properly.”

Originally, the equity policy only required AUS executives—not departmental executives or senators—to be trained. The new equity training is required alongside the already mandatory consent training that all executives and staff complete.

“I think [it’s] a good idea [to combine consent and equity training] and [it’s] definitely a possibility for the future,” ParikhFriese said. “I think for this year, obviously that won’t happen, and that’s partially because the consent training is new this year, and also the equity training is new [...but] I definitely think in the future [...] some of those [trainings] could be combined.”

AUS computer lab in the Ferrier building will be discontinued VP Internal Rebecca Scarra took the podium to address the use of the AUS computer lab spaces on the third floor of the Ferrier building and in the AUS lounge.

With AUS’ laptop lending program serving students’ needs, desktop computers are no longer in huge demand.

“Right now, we have a computer lab up in Ferrier that has been significantly underutilized,” Scarra said. “Myself and a couple [of] other executives had a meeting with one of the building directors, and we have a request from IT to use this space [as offices....] However, we believe this space could be [more] beneficial to AUS students.”

As an alternative to handing over the space to IT, Scarra proposed turning the computer lab into a group study space, which she pointed out that many other faculties have. Council was quick to pass this

motion, with the AUS thus retaining its space in Ferrier. A use for the area will be decided in coming meetings.

“We sometimes need that [study] space, and we don’t necessarily have [a designated study area solely for Arts students],” Scarra said. “Additionally, this space could be allocated to departments or [for] meeting spaces.”

The beginnings of a committee for school commuters Toward the end of the meeting, VP Academic Madeline Wilson moved a motion to strike a committee to serve the needs of off-campus commuters, which swiftly passed.

“I think that the AUS should [create] the commuter support and engagement committee,” Wilson said. “I’ve noticed

recently that commuter students and offcampus students are underrepresented in the AUS.” Wilson pointed to the Fall 2016 Enrolment Report, which shows that 51.7 per cent of McGill’s student body originates from Quebec. For such a large portion of the student body that commutes to campus every day, the needs of this population are often forgotten in student communities like the AUS. “[A goal is to] make [commuters] feel more at home at McGill, which is ironic, but I’ve heard complaints, or concerns [...] from off-campus commuter students,” Wilson said. “Hopefully, we’ll have a more solidified idea [of] what we want to do [next meeting].”

AUS council will next meet on October 11 at 6 p.m. in Leacock 232.

The AUS debated potential uses for the newly empty Ferrier computer lab. (mcgill.ca)

Phishing scam plagues McGill student inboxes McGill IT Department warns against dangers of fraudulent links Caitlyn McConnell Contributor

The McGill IT Department has screening procedures to prevent scams from reaching the student body. In an email to the Tribune, Rowena Espinosa, director of

volves spoofing the sender address in an email to appear as a reputable McGill University source and request sensitive information,” Espinosa wrote. “This is why it

Continued from page 1.

On Sept. 11, the History Students’ Association (HSA) released a statement to its student body verifying that they had fallen victim to a phishing scheme. HSA attempted to prevent further damage by sending out a follow-up email to its members, warning them not to click on the fraudulent links.

“The History Students’ Association list-serv was used as a vector [for] a phishing scam, claiming to be from the Better Business Bureau,” the HSA statement read.

“Phishing scams generally work by using a trustworthy or well-known organization’s name [...] and then a secondary email address [...] to lure users into clicking on a link that will then attempt to take their private information.”

Rowena Espinosa from McGill IT suggests unique passwords and careful use of personal information to avoid phishing scams (Arshaaq Jiffry / The McGill Tribune) IT Communications, explained why these phishing scams were able to penetrate their cybersecurity defences.

“Filtering such attacks becomes more difficult when the phishing attempt in-

is so important that each of us recognize our individual responsibility to educate and protect ourselves and our information by remaining vigilant in our use of these technologies.”

The IT Department will continue to offer resources on how to avoid these scams, including informational videos, antivirus software for staff and students, and steps for reporting security incidents.

There is also a list of known phishing emails published on the McGill website.

Beyond these resources, Espinosa urges students to educate themselves on cybersecurity programs, to practice common sense for keeping their accounts safe, and to keep an eye out for signs of fraudulent emails.

“We can [...] mitigate risks significantly by using a variety of best practices such as strong passwords unique for each [service], frequently changing [passwords], not sharing [passwords], and not recycling previously used ones,” Espinosa wrote. “We must be careful where we browse and what emails, texts and advertisements we respond to. We should also be more conscientious of the types and amount of personal data we make available through social networking platforms.”

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

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

OPINION 5

McGill guarantees residence for all first-year students under the age of 22. Yet, the conditions of this guarantee are murky. McGill’s residence system intentionally accepts more applications than it has capacity for, counting on cancellations to accommodate all of the incoming first year students. This year, without enough cancellations, McGill was faced with a housing demand larger than supply. To solve the problem, McGill has partnered with EVO to fulfill its promise of accommodation for all first years who wish to live in university housing. Overflow students were finally notified of their new housing arrangement in mid-August, after waiting on a “temporary housing status” for months.

Faced with limited resources, it is important that McGill does whatever it can to fulfill its promise of a residence community for all first years. Living in residence is a foundational experience— particularly for out-of-province and international students—and its significance goes far beyond the necessity of having a place to sleep.

For students leaving home for the first time, knowing that they’ll have access to a residence hall with built-in support systems is a

OFF THE BOARD

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

TPS Board of Directors

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

Contributors

Anna Wallin, Arshaaq Jiffry, Caitlin Kindig, Caitlyn Atkinson, Caitlyn McConnell, Catherine Morrison, Cicily Du, Daria Kiseleva, David Watson, Elijah Wenzel, Emma Carr, Gabe Nisker, Gabriel Helfant, Janine Xu, Jasmine Acharya, Jozéphine Crimp, Julia Metraux, Keating Reid, Kelsey McKeon, Leo Stillinger, Margaux Delalex, Maria Blanco, Mary Keith, Maxime Scraire, Meagan Peters, Nishat Provat, Oceane Marescal, Ronny Litvack-Katzman, Selen Ercan, Summer Liu

Tribune Office

Shatner University Centre Suite 110, 3480 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A 0E7 T: 514.398.6789 The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Société de Publication de la Tribune, a student society of McGill University. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of The McGill Tribune and the Société de Publication de la Tribune, and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University.

Letters to the editor may be sent to editor@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions. Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

EDITORIAL

McGill residences: More than just a roof overhead

Jackie Houston Opinion Editor To my knowledge, I’ve been on one formal date in my life—and I say “formal date” in the movie-anddinner, Gilmore Girls sense of the word. It was July in Toronto, and I met him at a midtown pub. I was sweaty, because July in Toronto is sweaty, but he told me I looked pretty anyway. It was a pleasant, if underwhelming, experience.

The plot twist didn’t come until the end of the night, when he turned to me and asked, point blank, “When will I see you again?”

I was taken aback. When would he see me again? ‘Til that point, I’d been under the impression that that sort of directness and sustained eye contact was reserved for marriage proposals. Did this make us married now? Was I even ready for that kind

crucial source of comfort. First-year students in residence have access to a Floor Fellow to help them navigate the ups and downs of university life.

For many, residence is an important way to get integrated into social life at McGill. From Saturday brunches in the cafeteria to hanging out in the common room, from study nights and floor teas to planned interresidence events, living in residence allows students to build lifelong friendships.

For all students in residence, this community is the first environment at McGill that they will call home. As such, McGill must address student housing situations not only with care for the base-level expectations of guaranteed first-year housing, but also an understanding of the importance of residence as an introduction to university life for so many students.

McGill offers a diverse range of housing in order to accommodate the personal living preferences of all students. From dorm-style, to hotel-style, to apartment-style residences, McGill ensures that students are able to select the living environment that will make them feel the most comfortable. McGill’s unique selection of residence options allows for a diversity of residence communities. However,

the discrepancies between housing options are also matched by a discrepancy in price, not to mention that McGill has the most expensive residences in Canada— costs range from around $9,000 per eight months to live in the Upper Residences to over $11,500 for a room in La Citadelle.

While the cost scale allows students to select which residences best fit their lifestyles and budgets, unfortunately there is no promise that students will receive their first choice. Some may be unable to afford the steep costs of the hotelstyle residences, and as such, opt for Upper Rez or University Hall for their residence selection. Students who have been moved into EVO this year are paying $1,100 per month for a double room.

Given the volume of applications McGill receives, students may be placed in residences outside their comfort or price range.

While it is understandable that the university is not able to give every student their first choice, McGill must consider financial accessibility when placing students in the more costly halls. Given the lasting significance of first-year residence over the course of a student’s entire university career, McGill should seek to make this

experience accessible to as many students as possible. This includes finding a more long-term solution for meeting student demand for residence rooms in recent years.

In moving this year’s surplus of students into EVO, McGill did what it could given limited resources. Still, it is crucial that the university communicate to future tenants where they will be living in a way that gives them more than a few weeks’ advance notice. This certainty is essential for students undergoing such an exciting—but potentially unsettling—transition.

The McGill administration must treat students with this sensitivity in mind. While it is understandably difficult to predict the demand for residence on a year-by-year basis, McGill must have legitimate backup plans well in advance, so as not to leave any incoming first years in the dark until just a few weeks before the start of classes.

By giving students support and resources, a place to gather and eat, and the opportunity to build foundational friendships, McGill residences provide firstyear students with the ideal jumping point to begin life at university.

McGill must keep in mind that the comfort of residence goes beyond having a place to sleep.

Navigating “just hooking up” of hard commitment?

My shock at such a seemingly innocent gesture stemmed from a weirdness in the way young people date now: Among—and probably as a byproduct of—other things, we’ve become god-awful at emotional communication. With the normalization of casual sex and the glorification of “chill” within those relationships—or, per a common phrase, hookup culture—it seems like sweaty-palmed confessions have largely evolved into DMs and 2 a.m. “u up?” texts. Maybe that’s just evolution at work: In matters of the heart, our generation has effectively mastered expediency and risk-reduction. The upshot, though, is a warped understanding of how we ought to treat the people we enter relationships with—even when we’re just hooking up.

The idea of 20-somethingyear-olds being terrible at communicating emotions isn’t new. If it were, When Harry Met Sally wouldn’t have a plot. So long as college-aged people stay as uncertain and vulnerable as we’ve always been, taking the leap of faith that is telling someone you’re into them will continue to be terrifying.

What is new, however, is the increasingly sophisticated number of ways we’re able to avoid making that leap of faith. Calling your crush’s house phone and hanging up

as soon as they answer is primitive warfare. Between iMessage read receipts, subtweets, and sniper-like targeted Snap stories, in 2017, our arsenal of feels-evasion tactics has gone nuclear.

This isn’t meant as a tirade against kids these days, nor as a rejection of hookup culture writ large. In some ways, the dating

“

In 2017, our arsenal of feels-evasion tactics has gone nuclear.

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landscape has changed for better: Casual relationships can be hazardous, but they can also be practical, fun, and liberating.

The problem is when the ways we interact—or don’t—slip into the norms that sociologist Lisa Wade identifies in her book, American Hookup: The New Culture of Sex on Campus. Namely, the new common wisdom that for a no-stringsattached relationship to work, every string of respectful interaction with

another human also needs to go.

Treating a partner with enough dignity to communicate directly with them could be mistaken for catching feelings, or, as Wade defines it, the ultimate breach of hookup rules of engagement.

Gradually ignoring this person out of existence is clearly the easier alternative, especially when you can do it from behind an iPhone screen.

However, per some older common wisdom, doing what’s easy isn’t always doing what’s right. Norms of intimacy and sex have expanded and shifted, as have varied means of navigating relationships. Yet, by and large, being honest and respectful with another person still means the same thing that it did back when you first mustered up the courage to talk to your elementary-school crush. It means navigating the emotional grey zone that is “just hooking up” with due care for the human being next to you.

I haven’t seen the guy who wanted to know when he’d see me again in a few years now. When it ended, in the amicable, yet fizzling, way that casual relationships often do, I remember he prefaced the conversation with, “Sorry, I’m really bad at this kind of thing.”

He was right—we are. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to be better.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

6 OPINION

COMMENTARY

David Watson Contributor If you didn’t understand last week’s highly technical debate over the constitutionality of the composition of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)’s Board of Directors (BoD), you may be in luck.

Underlying that debate was an entirely different issue, one much more familiar to students— the dispute over the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement at McGill.

On the surface, the Board meeting on Sept. 26 was dominated by a lengthy discussion of whether or not

COMMENTARY

Keating Reid Contributor

Continued from page 1.

At 6:30 p.m., the event ended and everybody went home. And that was it for “The Victims of Socialism.” By the next morning, it seemed everybody had forgotten about Harbison and the event itself. I’ve certainly heard no mention of either since, and rightly so: 90 minutes of juvenile Reagan-worship isn’t worth the mental storage. By not showing up to protest, the event’s opponents issued the greatest condemnation of all—irrelevance.

Compare the quietude at Victims of Socialism with the

McGill campus still stuck in BDS debate the 12 directors currently sitting on the Board fulfilled the requirements of the SSMU constitution, which stipulates that four of the members should come from the SSMU executive.

Given multiple resignations in Winter 2017, subsequently vacant spots were filled with members-at-large, producing a board composition of nine members-at-large and only three executive officers.

But, while the debate may have been framed around constitutional issues, the way it unfolded suggested that it wasn’t just a debate about the BoD constitution. It was about BDS. More than any constitutional issue, the whole controversy surrounding the Board of Directors showed how deeply the issue of BDS has become embedded in McGill’s student politics, and the kind of dysfunction that it can cause.

Upper-year students are by now well-accustomed to the ongoing controversy over the BDS movement at McGill. The latest round of the debate began after the Board’s Sept. 17 vote

to ratify the Judicial Board’s (J-Board) ruling on BDS passed with 11 votes in favour, and one abstention. The week after—at the very next meeting of the Board—came the issue of the Board’s constitutionality.

This timing was an early sign that the debate over the constitutionality of the Board had an additional dimension to it.

Minutes from previous sessions show that the Board had been meeting and passing motions with less than four SSMU executives since at least March 2017, and yet, the issue of constitutionality was never raised, nor were the Board’s decisions questioned.

It was only after the decision to ratify the BDS ruling that objections were made to a composition that by then had been in effect for months.

Even more revealing is that the charge of unconstitutionality was brought forward by the only Director who had not voted in favour of the previous week’s ratification of the J-Board’s ruling against BDS. Although she voted in favour of the ruling, after the fact, Vice-President

(VP) Internal Maya Koparkar also agreed with allegations of the board’s unconstitutionality.

The unfolding of the Board’s discussion on Sept. 26 provided further signs that the issue of constitutionality was being approached through the lens of BDS. The sensitivity of BDS explains why the subject of the validity of the Board’s recent decisions came up early, and often. It explains why the discussion carried on even after SSMU General Manager Ryan Hughes informed the Board that the SSMU’s legal counsel had assured him that, while the Board must move to appoint another executive by its next meeting, its composition was still constitutional, if murky.

And it certainly explains how a discussion about constitutionality eventually devolved into a director accusing other members of politicizing the previous week’s decision, and of sharing information with Jewish advocacy groups.

The BDS movement has been defeated in a referendum and declared unconstitutional

by the J-Board, yet it continues to shape debates over seemingly unrelated issues even at the highest levels of student governance. This dispute at the Board of Directors is just the latest example of how the BDS issue can tear at the fabric of McGill’s student society.

Prolonging the BDS debate by injecting it into the Board of Directors is irresponsible and damaging behaviour. It falsely undermines the legitimacy of the Board of Directors, and ultimately, hurts students. The institutions of SSMU exist to serve the student body; wasting their time by prolonging a debate that has already been settled by the Judicial Board distracts them from their core duties toward students.

It’s increasingly looking like SSMU will be incapable of operating at its full potential until students finally resolve to put the issue of BDS aside.

SSMU’s biggest problem doesn’t lie in its Constitution, but in the persistence of this divisive issue on campus.

Playing the polite host: How Harbison critics made a statement without saying anything at all infamous men’s rights talk at the University of Toronto in 2013, where disruptors pulled a fire alarm and forced a temporary evacuation; or the more recent airhorn-blowing protest at a Jordan Peterson talk at McMaster University.

Admittedly, Harbison’s topic doesn’t have the same personal resonance as the social rights issues of these other talks, but the mud-slinging discussion generated on the event’s Facebook page showed that it still had definite potential to incite conflict.

The aforementioned protests have been described as attempts to “no-platform” speakers. That is, counter-protesters show up to prevent them from using a university event to spread their views. Proponents of noplatforming believe it is the best way to quarantine bigoted ideas.

Opponents see it as censorship and worry about a creeping loss of freedom of speech.

But “no-platforming” is a misnomer. With their sound and fury, attempted no-platformers capture the media spotlight— and invariably share it with the speakers they seek to suppress. All of that attention gives the speaker access to a new, much larger

audience, some of whom will find the speaker more persuasive than the protestors. In this way, protestors have been duped into doing their enemy’s work for him, boosting the influence of the enfants terribles they want silenced. For all the debate about whether no-platforming is morally right, we’ve forgotten to ask if it’s effective.

This is doubly true south of the border, where student rioting at an attempted Milo Yiannopoulos talk at UC Berkeley received national cable news coverage. Overnight, an alt-right groundling, previously concentrated in the great media latrine Breitbart News , was on the news in every living room in North America. And he brought his jargon with him: Who could have imagined ‘cuck’ would enter our national vocabulary?

Yiannopoulos could only have dreamed of creating this kind of exposure by himself.

It’s unfair to dismiss noplatforming’s proponents as whiny liberals or social-justice fundamentalists.

Most are motivated by an earnest concern for the well-being of minority students and see no-platforming as the best way to stifle hate

speech. But, no-platforming is more than tragically ironic; it is divisive. Moderate liberals are social justice advocates’ ideological kin, but many of them are turned off by tactics that they see as threatening free speech.

Consequently, two of their deeply held values are pitted against each other—concern for minorities and social libertarianism. In making moderates choose between them, activists risk alienating potential allies.

The student body’s response to Harbison’s “The Victims of Socialism” talk was immaculate.

Those who disagreed with him expressed themselves with admirable civility. And most importantly, they didn’t gift him free publicity. While it’s unfortunately fashionable to bash the media these days, one criticism is true: It loves a good circus. Students were wise to not to greet the visiting elephant with trumpets and fireworks.

ERRATA An article published in the Sept. 26 issue titled “Refugees flee the US for Canada, stay in McGill’s Royal Victoria Hospital” incorrectly stated that the Royal Victoria Hospital site belongs to McGill. In fact, it belongs to the province of Quebec.

An article published in the Sept. 26 issue titled “Tank tops, hoodies, and boys points” incorrectly stated that Dhruv Janmeja was 2016 Management Frosh Coordinator. In fact, he was Coordinator in 2015.

An article published in the Sept. 26 issue titled “McGill rowing team christens seven new boats” incorrectly stated that the McGill men’s lightweight 8 earned gold at the Head of the Rideau regatta. In fact, the Redmen finished in silver. Additionally, Queen’s University was not present at the meet.

The Tribune regrets these errors.

7 science & technology

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Fantastic science professors and where to find them Newly hired science professors at McGill discuss their research, courses, and hobbies Oceane Marescal, Contributor As one of the top universities in Canada, McGill boasts top-notch professors—dedicated academics and researchers from all around the world. According to Gregor Fussmann, chair of the Department of Biology, as many as 200 candidates initially apply for a single tenure track position. From these, a search committee identifies a long list of around 25 applicants based on research excellence, publication record, and teaching ability. Around five of these candidates are then invited for an interview, and one is ultimately hired. This year, eight new outstanding professors joined the Faculty of Science.

Via email, a few of these professors shared exciting aspects of their research, the classes they will teach, life advice, and hobbies with The McGill Tribune, because they’re people too. Although each of these professors has different interests, they all share a common passion for their research and a willingness to include the rest of the McGill community.

Photographs by Gabriel Helfant

Carolina Dufour Department of atmospheric and oceanic sciences

Sarah Racine Department of Psychology

Yann le Polain de Waroux Department of geology

Jessica Lin department of mathematics and statistics

Matthew Harrington department 0f chemistry

Associate Professor Carolina Dufour is a physical oceanographer, and has thus joined the McGill Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. Her research is particularly relevant in light of global warming. She studies the role of the Southern Ocean—the southern parts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans that surround Antarctica—in the climate system and its response to climate change. Polar oceans such as the Southern Ocean are key regions for mitigating global warming.

“They take up significant amounts of excess heat and carbon released to the atmosphere by human activities,” Dufour wrote. “[At] the same time, polar oceans are experiencing very fast changes that are believed to continue over the next decades.”

To study the response of ocean circulation and the carbon cycle on climate change, Dufour uses numerical models.

She will be teaching ATOC 182, Introduction to Oceanic Sciences, next winter. “[I want to] share my passion about the ocean, […] as [it] plays such an important role in climate change,” Dufour wrote.

Dufour enjoys Montreal’s festivals, parks, and bakeries, as well as playing volleyball at a local club. She advises students to strive to achieve a good work-life balance and to relieve stress.

Associate Professor Sarah Racine obtained her Honours BSc degree at McGill before continuing her studies in the US. She is thrilled to be back at her alma mater as a member of the Department of Psychology.

Racine’s research focuses on examining the risk and maintenance factors for eating disorders. According to a 2014 McGill Student Psychological Wellbeing survey, one to three per cent of McGill students struggle with eating disorders, and McGill has recently cut its Eating Disorder Program.

Racine’s research is therefore crucial for the students that fall within this percentage. Right now, she and a team of researchers are working on “a study in which [they] examine whether different emotional responses to food [can] predict different eating disorder symptoms.” If you hope to learn more about Racine and her work, she will be teaching PSYC 408, Principles of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, in the Winter semester.

Racine advises undergraduates to seriously reflect on whether going to graduate school is the right path for them.

“I suggest getting involved in numerous research lab[s] as early as possible in your degree […] and learn about the joys and hardships of graduate study and academia,” Racine wrote.

Outside of work, Racine enjoys Zumba and dance classes, visiting Montreal museums, and trying out the city’s amazing restaurants.

Unique among the other professors, Yann le Polain de Waroux is a joint professor for both the Geography Department in the Faculty of Science and the Institute for the Study of International Development in the Faculty of Arts.

Right now, le Polain de Waroux is researching deforestation, focusing on how large companies in South America “make decisions about expanding agriculture on forested land, and the ways in which we can better regulate this deforestation.”

He is also interested in what happens once deforestation has taken place in terms of how people adapt, move, or change their lifestyles.

Listening to experiences from people in deforested areas ultimately gives him a better understanding of how these people telling them relate to the land and to the rest of the world. “[I love] the stories of all these different people,” le Polain de Waroux wrote. “Whether it is poor people in the mountains of Morocco […] or rich farmers in the Argentine pampas.”

Le Polain de Waroux will be teaching a new class this winter: INTD 497, a research seminar on international development, as well as GEOG 210, Global Place and People, and GEOG 310, Development and Livelihood.

Le Polain de Waroux suggests that undergrads not stress about doing things just for the sake of building a CV or resume; sometimes the most valuable life experiences come from unexpected places, such as travelling or random jobs.

Le Polain de Waroux enjoys Aikido and would be a Ravenclaw at Hogwarts.

Associate Professor Jessica Lin joins the Department of Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Madison— Wisconsin, where she pursued her postdoctoral studies. She specializes in “Stochastic Homogenization,” a discipline that uses both partial differential equations and probability theory.

“I’m interested in physical models which have microscopic, random effects,” Lin wrote.

“Random effects certainly influence a physical system, and if those effects are sufficiently small, then I can say on average what is happening. [I] can build the right mathematical formulation to model a wide variety of ‘typical’ physical settings.”

Such random processes include how fires can spread in randomly positioned trees, or how conductive a metal can be with random deposits of rust.

Lin describes the department as a “great fit” for her research and particularly enjoys her colleagues, who have been helpful and welcoming since she has arrived.

Lin advises students to make full use of McGill’s amazing resources, students, and professors.

“You might not have someone holding your hand telling you what to do or where to find things,” Lin said, “but if you go looking for something, I am sure you will be able to find it.”

Outside of McGill, Lin is an avid dancer, studying both ballet and salsa during the weekends.

Associate Professor Matthew Harrington joined the Department of Chemistry at McGill from Berlin, where he led a research group in the Department of Biomaterials at the Max Planck Institute. At McGill, he continues to pursue the same line of research: Investigating materials made from biological organisms. He hopes to create new synthetic materials mimicking animal-made polymers’ sustainable properties.

As an example, Harrington cites the velvet worm, whose slime can form into stiff, water-soluble fibers that, when dissolved, can then reform into new fibers from the solution—a perfect model for developing recyclable polymers.

For those interested in these topics, Harrington will teach CHEM 334, Advanced Materials, next semester. This class will focus on biological materials research and “smart” materials, which “respond in a programmed way to specific environmental stimuli.”

Harrington advises students to reach out to professors. He urges undergraduate students to interact with their profs and get involved in research.

“I was intimidated by the professors and didn’t want to bother them with my questions,” Harrington said of himself as an undergrad, “but now that I’m on the other side, I really appreciate it when a student shows interest.”

Outside of his career as a McGill professor, Harrington enjoys riding his bike, playing guitar and banjo, and eating poutine.

IRONY

The of Social Media

there’s one word to describe our generation, it’s ‘connected.’ We’re connected to each other, to events, to pop culture—and it is all a mere touch-screen away. We have hundreds, sometimes thousands, of ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ who like our posts and pictures—but something is missing. Despite the web of relationships social media provides us with, we are lonely.

On Sept. 2, Frank Bruni, a columnist for The New York Times, addressed the epidemic of loneliness plaguing college campuses, and how the use of social media can be seen as a major cause.

“They’re lonely,” Bruni wrote of university students. “In a sea of people, they find themselves adrift. The technology that keeps them connected to parents and high school friends only reminds them of their physical separation from just about everyone they know best.”

Bruni is onto something: Social media, no matter the platform, has provided us with instant connection to friends and family. It’s a tether to the people we love most, keeping us close no matter the physical distance. But is the leash a little too short?

The social media platforms that we have come to embrace and enjoy today are fairly new, having emerged within the past 15 years. Facebook, which originally started as a Harvard-only website, opened to the public in 2006. It currently has over 2.1 billion users, and is arguably the best platform for staying in touch and maintaining relationships, especially with the advent of Facebook Messenger. In comparison, Instagram, a visuals-based platform, emerged six years later and now has over 800 million users.

Out of the various messaging and networking applications, these two top the charts. With over 2.7 billion active accounts combined per month, Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram have established themselves as media monopolies. There are however, other key players: Snapchat, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, LinkedIn, and more. The common denominator between all of these networking sites seems obvious: They form connections. Social media is social, after all.

A recurring phenomenon is the formation of online communities—no matter where you are in the world, you’ll be able to find your niche on any site. At McGill, Facebook is among the most popular sites, and not just for its networking aspect. Through various events and groups—like Free & For Sale or Samosa Search—Facebook demonstrates social media’s ability to spread awareness, join people together, and boost productivity.

Yet, the profoundness and meaning behind the connections social media encourages is something worth considering. Social media plays a major role in an age of instant-gratification; it delivers what we want, when we want it. Social stimulation has never been easier. Still, a gap remains within the connections we are constantly forming: The way things are displayed online doesn’t quite match the way they play out in the real world. In fact, the digital world often tends to skew reality.

On a psychological level, social networking has farther-reaching consequences than its benefits might imply.

How technology makes us lonely Grace Bahler Student Livinvg Editor

If

A 2016 University of Memphis study on cyberpsychology, and in particular the use of Instagram—deemed the worst platform for mental health—revealed that users who post more photos on Instagram tend to experience higher levels of loneliness. This is in part due to the potential for comparison between oneself and others using the platform. People lean toward posting the highlights of their lives, showing only the successful and happy moments; rarely do they post, let alone acknowledge, their low points. According to the same study, this aspect of social media often fosters intense feelings of envy and low self-esteem.

Social media’s reliance on attractive visual cues has a hand in creating such emotional burdens. A picture is worth a thousand words, but the lack of genuineness behind a Snapchat story or Instagram feed complicates this time-old notion. Just because we can browse through images of someone’s life doesn’t mean we know them on more than a superficial level. The inundation of images displaying those ‘perfect’ moments paints more than a picture—it creates expectations. Though the lines between virtual and real life are increasingly blurred, there’s an obvious difference between the online world and the one we live in—and McGill students are noticing.

Evelyn Dom, U3 Arts, is one of the billions of social media users for a variety of reasons. Primarily involved with Instagram, Snapchat, and occasionally Facebook, Dom has experienced both the pros and cons of extensive social media use.

“I’m very intrigued by the whole social media [trend] and [how it builds] communities and all that, because I definitely do think it has a lot of benefits, while at the same time it does frighten me a little bit,” Dom said.

As such, Dom hasn’t been spared from the nerve-wracking effects that social media can spur. She has been diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder, and often finds herself making comparisons to the people she sees on Snapchat stories and Instagram feeds.

“I compare myself with what others [are doing] and that can kind of get stuck in my head,” Dom said. “Individually, everyone is doing something else, but if you add that up […] it makes it seem like you’re the only person who is not doing something.”

This is a common sentiment among social media users—sharing on these platforms is superficial to the point where posting, scrolling, sharing, and liking can seem vapid; like a waste of time. And while that might be so, social media does have its benefits. From easing long-distance communication to facilitating socialization at faster speeds than ever before, it’s no wonder that sites like Facebook and Instagram are so popular.

There comes a time, however, when a line must be drawn. Being able to rely on social media platforms to connect with others feels helpful, but all it really does is mask and accentuate a lack of authentic human connection. The pervasiveness of social media usage is becoming a crutch; people turn to their virtual lives to fill the voids that persist day-to-day.

In hard times, when we are most vulnerable, social networking’s benefits go right out the window. The platforms our society venerates become an abyss, echoing the loneliness we feel—it is then that social media has the potential to harm more than it helps.

For university students, one of the most vulnerable times is during their first year. For many it’s their first time living away from home and everything is new, from the weather, to the living situation, to the people. In particular, the pressure to make friends and have perpetual fun can make the transition a lot harder. There is a pressure to succeed, to thrive.

Social media augments this, and when we see others portraying perfection, we often jump to make comparisons. How are they going out every night and I’m not? How are they always studying with friends, and I’m home alone?

According to psychologist Hilary Duncan, social media can create a sense of ‘missing out.’ In an email to The McGill Tribune, Duncan explains the tricks social media can play on our minds. Instead of the classic “fear of missing out” (FOMO) that may come to mind, the comparisons we make can lead to the “perception of missing out” (POMO).

“In my clinical work, what I see most often is young adults being very hard on themselves,” Duncan wrote. “They tend to consider [social media] to be, at best, a mindless time-suck and at worst, perpetuating self-comparisons and lowering self-esteem [....] Instead of FOMO, it’s more of a POMO [....] The illusion that everyone else is out and doing lots of exciting, fun things and you’re at home alone in bed, scrolling through their photos.”

While the fear and loneliness that social media can incite is a mere illusion, it’s perhaps the most impactful narrative among university students. As Bruni wrote, students are alone in a “sea” of people. At McGill—a school of over 40,000 students—odds are, more people than we know grapple with such loneliness.

An underlying factor that must be taken into consideration is the status of a student’s mental health before the introduction to social media. For some, the digital world is simply full of benefits; the cons either do not exist or are negligible. But for those who already struggle with anxiety and depression, the downsides of online networks and sharing platforms can exacerbate previously sensitive situations. Multiple studies have shown that stress, anxiety, and depression levels are on the rise among university-level students. When you add social media to the mix, it can make mental health take a turn for the worst.

Perhaps another reason why perceived isolation increases the way we use social media is that all of the posting, sharing, and retweeting can take away the ability to live in the moment. As cliché as it sounds, being present and mindful has meaningful impacts on mental health, and more specifically on loneliness. The constant presence of our phones—whether we pull them out at the dinner table or at a party—has the potential to take away from the moment, erasing the benefits of social interaction.

Manon Debuire, U3 Management, has observed the effects social media has on being present and aware.

“I love pictures [...] but I feel like we have that reminder in the back of our heads [that] we have to record this,” Debuire said. “I think we get so carried away in showing people what we’re up to that often [we] forget to enjoy [the moment]. I don’t think [filming or photographing a moment] is actually as fulfilling as living it.”

The concept of “fulfillment” that Debuire mentions is an important one. Social media is undoubtedly stimulating, but its capacity to fulfill the connection and interaction that humans crave—and need—is up for debate. And this is where the root of the problem lies for university students. We are constantly connected through social media—everyone knows what’s going on in their friends’ and family members’ lives, and that is wonderful. But beyond that arises the question of how meaningful this connection is. Though engaging, social media is no replacement for social life.

It comes down to this: Social media usage has great potential, yes, but it also has the ability to take away from meaningful connections to people and surroundings. And when that happens, loneliness is at the forefront of the many emotions we experience. A ‘like’ on Facebook is not the same as a hug; a ‘retweet’ is not the same as chatting over coffee with friends. Humans are a communicative species. While social media can certainly ease and facilitate communication, it cannot replace the billions of face-to-face interactions we took part in in the past.

This isn’t to say that it’s time to delete your accounts and throw your iPhone out the window, but it’s time to find stability. Nick Ferranti, U4 Arts and Science, is an advocate of a balanced approach. As the owner of the popular Instagram meme account, chaotic_martlet_memes, Ferranti is present on a variety of online platforms, like Tumblr, Facebook, and Snapchat. In an email to the Tribune, Ferranti disagreed with Bruni’s take.

“I dislike the point of view that our generation's social media obsession is hindering social interaction. It is literally doing the opposite,” Ferranti wrote. “There's a balance between using your phone and living and I don't think I've met or seen a single person who is not capable of striking it.”

Ferranti's insistence upon striking a balance is important—studies show that on average, we spend up to nine hours a day online. While usage is entirely up to the user, it’s worth considering how that time may be spent otherwise. Balancing between the online and ‘real world’ doesn’t have to be difficult. From switching to calls instead of texts to digitally detoxing, it’s possible to enjoy social media without the mental drainage.

Additionally, social media must be taken with a grain of salt. When browsing, liking, and favouriting, it’s important to remember that each post doesn’t show the whole story. Nevertheless, cyber spaces play a subtle yet strong role in our lives. We use them to document, to share, to browse and enjoy. But without a balanced approach, we’re playing a dangerous game—and our mental health is often the first thing to suffer.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

science & technology 10

Dealing with tragedy thousands of kilometres away

A physiological look at how disasters affect international students Ronny Litvack-Katzman Contributor Tupperware containers in hand, two Mexican McGill students implored hundreds of strangers in Leacock 132 to spare some change to support relief efforts in the wake of the Sept. 19 earthquake in Mexico City.

Living away from home is not easy, let alone watching tragedy strike from afar. Challenging routine tasks, such as schoolwork, become unbearable in the wake of tragedy. When the brain experiences uncertainty due to stress, it signals a physiological response, activating the nervous, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems, among others. The adverse changes in brain chemistry can cause physiological trauma that can outlast even the most horrific memories of the experience.

Maritere Hernández, a U1 student in sociology, knows this feeling first-hand. She is a member of the Spanish and Latin American Students’ Association

(SLASA), the same group that spent the last week fundraising for relief efforts in Mexico.

Along with SLASA President Ivan Gonzalez, a PhD student in mathematics at McGill, both students have family and friends still living in Mexico City.

“At first I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Hernández said. “I was in the middle of my class and I received hundreds of messages in my family group, and they couldn’t find one of my cousins [...] no one knew if she was [...] alive.”

In a joint study released by the Université de Montréal and Rockefeller University, a direct connection linked the age at which the traumatic experience occurs and the detrimental effects on development.

“Exposure to stress or adversity during these key vulnerable periods might slow the development of those brain regions for the duration of the adversity,” the study reported. “When measured in adulthood, the reduced volumes of these brain regions could be a strong marker of the time of exposure to early adversity.”

Similarly, Gonzalez described feeling powerless upon hearing the news of the earthquake, as well as in the subsequent days.

“When my father called me I got really scared,” Gonzalez said.

“My father is a man who never speaks with a [trembling] voice and for the first time in my 24 years of life, I [heard] him speak with a tremble in his voice. He was really scared.”

Coupled with the everyday stresses of midterms and assignments, a psychological breakdown in young adults experiencing trauma becomes increasingly likely.

The earlier in life that these incidents occur, the longer the brain is bombarded with a prolonged sense of panic, thereby raising steroid levels and inhibiting the functions a student needs to be successful in their studies.

The regions that are most affected, the hippocampus, amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex, are the same as the ones used in declarative memory—the retaining of fact-based information— which is an integral component

U1 student Maritere Hernández ‘s family at the Jumex Museum in Mexico City.

(Maria Blanco / The McGill Tribune) to all facets of education.

“For me the first three days were horrible, Gonzalez said. “I couldn’t concentrate whatsoever and I had to go to a seminar. And I was just sitting there and I said ‘No I cannot be here. I have to be doing something’ and I had to leave.”

Both Gonzalez and Hernández desperately wanted to be home and help with reconstruction efforts. They decided to do the best thing they could given their situation: Raise money at McGill to support the cause from

afar.

Supporting students facing trauma, or donating to the Mexican Red Cross, are small ways that we can make a difficult time easier for our international peers.

For those affected by trauma, McGill Counselling and Mental Health services, as well as a variety of Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) hotlines, are available. Furthermore, the Depression Support and Bipolar Alliance provides many options for grievers and supporters alike.

La vie en jaune: Preventing damage caused by blue light

How student dependency on screens can lead to retinal problems and concentration issues Selen Ercan Contributor Midterm season is approaching, and with it, many hours of studying. After long periods of staring at a laptop screen, eye strain can break focus levels. Two factors cause this deterioration in focus: Intense concentration on an object within close proximity of our eyes, and the ‘glare’ of the blue light emitted from laptop screens.

“Light is the stimulus of the retina but can also have a detrimental effect on our eyes depending on its intensity, direction, and composition,” Pierre Lachapelle, professor in the McGill Department of Ophthalmology and researcher at RI-MUHC, said. “Blue light is more damaging to the retina than red light. That has been known for years.”

However, he attributes intense focus on the laptop or

phone at hand equally as responsible for damage.

“When you are focused on a screen, the muscles in your eyes are constantly contracted,” Lachapelle said.

“This muscle contraction is unnatural, and therefore very tiring, especially when [...] prolonged.”

Blue light coming from our screens has higher energy and shorter wavelengths that reach deeper into the retina—cumulatively causing more damage. For this reason, screens have an eerie glow at night compared to our surroundings.

Both for work and for pleasure, students’ dependency on screens is inescapable. Because swearing off electronics before bedtime during exam season represents an impossible task, Lachapelle provided a couple tricks to help lighten eye strain.

“What [I would] suggest is to look at a target 10 metres

Intense concentration on an object within close proximity of our eyes, and the glare of blue light, can cause retinal damage. (Summer Liu / The McGill Tribune)

away from you from time to time,” Lachapelle said. “This way, you are giving your eyes a break from concentrating on a screen which is usually within 30 centimetres of your face, which is really close.”

This action counteracts some of the strain caused by the proximity of the screen and the intensity of our concentration.

Mediating the ‘glare effect’ of blue light requires changing the shorter wavelengths to longer ones— or reducing the amount of blue light in the screens.

Lachapelle’s advice is to wear a yellow spectacle to filter out shorter wavelengths. Apps like F.lux can provide this service.

F.lux applies a filter to the light from your computer, adapting it to the user’s local time of day. This feature automatically allows laptop screens to blend into the colors of light emitted by their surroundings. At night, F.lux adds red undertones to the backlight of screens in order to omit the blue—and shorter—wavelengths of light. The screen’s light looks ‘softer’ and more yellow, so there is significantly less eye strain and glare from the screen. The effect makes reading long articles or typing for extended periods of time less damaging to one’s retinal health. Furthermore, apps like F.lux make concentrating easier, since the eyes tire more slowly. However, young students have an advantage over older students.

Young eyes can adapt more easily to changing light conditions than older individuals.

“As we age, the ability of the eye to accommodate [to] different lighting situations deteriorates, so an older person would probably have more fatigue than a college student,” Lachapelle explained.

We cannot abuse this advantage though—because young people are not immune to eye strain and fatigue.

The long-term effects of prolonged exposure to screens remain a mystery. Perhaps screens will cause degeneration of the retina, or perhaps not. For now, these short-term solutions help minimize the negative effects of blue light on health—particularly during exam season.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 11

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

‘Resurrecting Hassan’ offers no easy answers Montreal-centred doc explores grief’s varying manifestations Leo Stillinger Contributor

On Sept. 22, Cinema du Parc opened showings for Resurrecting Hassan, a documentary of local interest. Directed

by Chilean-Canadian filmmaker Carlo Guillermo Proto, Resurrecting Hassan tells the story of a Montreal family coping with the loss of a child. Unflinching and quietly compassionate, Proto’s film is an examination of grief, and the ways we look back and struggle to move forward.

It is also a reminder that, unlike in movies, real life rarely provides a simple happy ending.

Resurrecting Hassan follows the lives of Denis Hartung, Peggy Roux, and their adult daughter Lauviah. All three are blind, and they make their living by singing for donations in the Montreal metro. Their lives, however, seem to revolve primarily around Denis and Peggy’s second child, Hassan, who drowned in 2002 at the age of six. The family has falls under the sway of a Russian mystic Grigory Petrovich Grabavoy and his community of followers, who believe in organ regeneration as a way to reach immortality. Denis and Peggy decide to attempt the ultimate form of organ regeneration: Resurrection. As Peggy says with a wry grin, “Even the esoteric community isn’t so keen on the idea.”

The film moves slowly and quietly, doing its best to immerse its viewers into the family’s world of lonely metro stations and supernatural seminars. The Hartungs are humorously engaging subjects, and their faces are very expressive. Proto is a perceptive cameraman, and the film’s best moments come when he captures off-hand moments of tenderness or beauty, such as Lauviah playing with the family cat.

The scenes depicting performances in the metro are memorable, both for the power of the Hartungs’ voices and because of the rare optimism they evoke.

As the film goes on and resurrection proves difficult, the faces of the family come to be animated less by laughter or hope and more by bitter argument. During a brutal shouting match, Proto’s camera remains unblinking, even though the viewers, like the bystanders in the metro, would prefer to avert their gaze.

The subtext in these arguments is the loss of Hassan, whose absence permeates every scene. The Hartungs are very open, reminiscing about the day he drowned and disarmingly wondering what age he’ll be when he returns to life. In their very preoccupation with Hassan, however, and their desperate faith that his resurrection will succeed, they reveal the force with which they are still feeling his loss, years later.

Real life does not always go in expected directions, and the same holds true for documentary films. Halfway

through, Resurrecting Hassan takes a surprising turn when Peggy encounters a new love interest—Philippe, a blind Frenchman she meets in a supernatural WhatsApp group (she and Denis have an open relationship). Slowly, the film turns away from resurrection, and towards Peggy and Denis’ crumbling relationship, as Peggy begins a long-distance romance with Philippe, and Denis begins to fear living alone. Hassan’s presence is still felt, but more subtly; if the first part of the film is about mourning, the second half

explores the prospect of moving on—or, rather, the failure to do so.

Resurrecting Hassan is a difficult movie, and it’s rarely enjoyable. It offers no easy answers. Rather than entertain, Proto wants to communicate the lived experience of his subjects: Grief and loneliness on the margins of Montreal society, and momentary redemption in the form of music or romance. He successfully paints a painfully real portrait of human loss and the way it quietly ripples across the months and years that pass.

w e b rea d s

Fifteen years later, the Hartung family attempts to ressurect their son. (cinephil.com)

‘The Road Forward’ is an ever-vital call to attention on colonial injustices Indigenous Awareness Week hosts documentary screening before tearful student audience Jozéphine Crimp Contributor On the night of Sept. 21, the Arts West Wing hosted a National Film Board screening reminding tearful students of the hardships that Canada’s

‘The Road Forward’ takes a multimedia approach to colonial issues. (edenmills.ca)

indigenous population continues to face today. As part of its 7th annual Indigenous Awareness Week, McGill’s Indigenous Student Alliance (ISA) screened The Road Forward (2017), a documentary written and directed by Marie Clements. The film showcases the difficult journey that First Nations Peoples endure in order to survive in a settler colonial country. Through a powerful mix of both traditional and contemporary indigenous music and cinematography, the film explores salient, age-old questions with new forms of media and communication.

As the credits roll, it is clear that The Road Forward succeeds at showing the audience just how much hurt still exists within this country we often admire.

The Road Forward captures viewers’ attention through the use of songs and powerful testimonials. This multimedia approach to documentary filmmaking, with contributions from a variety of creators, enables often uneducated viewers to interact with indigenous issues in a new way.

The documentary focuses on an indigenous newspaper called The Native Voice, which has played an integral role in publishing and connecting indigenous voices across the country including influential union groups like the Native Brotherhood.

The Native Voice is one example of Indigenous peoples creating their own spaces to discuss issues of importance—the film itself acts as another. Clements, being Métis, likes to use the traditional concept of storytelling to communicate with the audience. She has made a variety of films and documentaries specializing in showing how indigenous music can heal and strengthen the indigenous community. In her previous work, she

explored National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

One headline in The Native Voice reads: “1965: Indian Reserves Compared to Concentration Camps.”

While purposefully uncomfortable viewing for a predominantly white audience, the film insists upon educating youth as a means of defeating the patterns of erasure pervading Canada’s history. Throughout the documentary, there are many powerful statements that make the audience think critically about abuse, exploitation, and reconciliation. The aforementioned headline was accompanied by two black-and-white photographs of an Indigenous reserve. Both photos revealed the reserves’ dire conditions, with the shocking reality that one of the pictures was taken in 2013.

These pictures are what force audience members to have uncomfortable conversations—they’re meant to shock, but they’re also meant to promote a much-needed dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples.

A brief discussion with the ISA after the movie led to students asking how they can help. This question was hard to answer, but the ISA students said that education is an important start. For instance, it is surprising how many people do not know about Residential Schools and the 60s Scoop—the government-sanctioned kidnapping of thousands of indigenous children for adoption. Due to this ignorance, indigenous protesters today are fighting for the same rights that were demanded centuries before.

The Road Forward may not tread much new ground in terms of subject matter, but its message is just as vital as it always has been.

12 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Pop Rhetoric: Selling post-horror Studios mismarket art-house thrillers, viewers pay the price at the box office Maxime Scraire Contributor Three weekends into its theatre run, Andrés Muschietti’s It continued to lead the box-office with an impressive $29.8 million three-day total. Simultaneously, Darren Aronofsky’s mother! kept collecting dust with a meek $3.3 million in its second weekend despite strong TIFF wordof-mouth and Jennifer Lawrence’s star power. Both films are critically-acclaimed, classified horror, and aimed at the same demographic, which begs the question: Why the discrepancy? Simple: Although they had similar marketing, they lie at polar opposites of the horror spectrum.

Ever since the unexpected success of David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows (2015), “post-horror” has slowly been creeping out from the dark corners of the American art-house scene, establishing itself as a bona fide cultural phenomenon.

Mood-oriented, slow, quiet, uncomfortable, amoral, and uninterested in clear answers, the movement represents a drastic departure from the loud, exposition-heavy, and jumpscare-riddled horror movies to which the public has become accustomed. Indeed, post-horror wide-releases like The Witch (2016), It Comes at Night (2017), and The Neon Demon (2016) have little to do with the likes of crowd-pleasers such as The Conjuring (2013), Paranormal Activity (2009), Insidious (2011), and their respective sequels. While critics could not be happier, audiences are divided. According to the polling website

Cinemascore, moviegoers attributed a “D” average to It Comes at Night, while mother! joined the select club of “F” graded films.

By means of comparison, the regrettable 2013 3D remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre scored a C+.

Aside from the fact that post-horror is a more challenging experience than the standard genre fare, the public’s overwhelmingly negative response could be attributed to distributors’ inability to pinpoint the sub-genre’s audience, and the dishonest marketing campaigns ensuing

from this dilemma. For instance, take the trailer for Robert Eggers’s The Witch: It features creepy children, possession, hints of bloody action sequences, and paranormal activities. The two-minute, heart-pounding sequence does nothing to prepare viewers for this slow-burning exercise in discomfort.

Sure, it is a remarkable achievement in filmmaking. But when one pays $14 for what is sold as a new take on The Blair Witch Project (1999), only to be greeted with Middle-English folktales and carefully crafted stills of grasslands, there is sure to

Post-horror films earn less because of poor marketing. (Cicily Du / The McGill Tribune)

be disappointment.

In addition, there is widespread debate about what a horror movie should be. Variations on “it is suspenseful [...] but in no way horror” riddle the publicreview pages of the above-mentioned films. Unfortunately, none of these amateur critics laid down what they mean by “horror.” Likely, most filmgoers have a very narrow definition of the term, one that probably includes the physical presence of a frightening antagonist, sequences that will make them jump off their seat, and multiple bloody deaths. However, that is not what horror, by definition, entails. Horror is defined by “an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting.” As such, horror should be a difficult, disorienting, draining experience. It should push moral boundaries, ask uncomfortable questions, and inspire heated arguments. If that is indeed what horror means, then posthorror is more “horror” than any number of Paranormal Activity sequels.

Distributors are stuck with a dilemma.

Either they trick more movie-goers into seeing a film they likely will hate, or they aim at the right audience and pray they make their money back. Personally, I find a third option more compelling: Educate viewers through fair, global marketing campaigns, and keep pushing for wide releases. It might take a while before it pays off, but if they are set on making post-horror a long-term profitable venture, studios have no other option. Maybe then Aronosfky will outsell the reboot of the hour.

Intersessions encourages accessibility and diversity in DJ culture Local producers target workshop at aspiring female, LGBTQIA2S+ artists Meagan Peters Contributor

Continued from page 1.

For the first portion of the evening, two local producers gave a tutorial on the respective production tools that they use: JaymieSilk on FL Studio, and Valeda on Ableton. Attendees were encouraged to follow along on their laptops, and could come to the event early if they needed help downloading the software. I had never produced music before—the case for about two-thirds of the attendees— and found this a little overwhelming.

However, the point of the class was not to make us pros, but to give us a foundation for doing our own exploratory work using the software. Following their instructions, attendees were given a chance to play around with the software and ask questions, before the panel discussion that would close the night.

The panel discussion, which centered around the two artists’ experiences, was the most interesting part of the workshop.

It began with Blossom asking Jaymie Silk and Valeda how they started making electronic music. Both artists revealed that they are predominantly self-taught, and praised YouTube as a great place to

learn. They emphasized that expensive equipment is not necessary to make music, and that they still rely heavily on creating using their laptops. Silk spoke of “a new generation of producers” who are self-taught like them and less concerned with the formal techniques of production, but still able to create really interesting music. Both artists are grateful for the large community of DIY music producers in Montreal which they have become a part of.

Valeda and Silk then discussed the issue of tokenization—a problem that many of Montreal’s local musicians continue to face. Silk recalled being put on a lineup that had little in common with his sound, other than the fact that all of the DJs were black. Valeda recounted playing some bigger venues, where it seemed like the people who booked her didn’t even like her music, but needed a girl for their lineup. It is an inner struggle when confronted with these situations.

The exposure is still valuable, and the artist needs to make money, but it can be obvious that they are getting booked just to fill a quota or to project an image.

Finally, there was a fruitful discussion about cultural appropriation and the exploitation of certain genres. Jaymie Silk, who comes from the ballroom scene—a ball culture that originated in Harlem as a place of refuge from societal oppression

of sexuality, race, and gender—explained that many DJs will make ballroom style house music, while not acknowledging the style’s complex and important history. The same goes for the current trend of appropriating Jamaican culture by sampling dancehall beats. In order to pay respect to the music they sample, DJs need to be familiar with the history behind the genre they work within. Artists should ask themselves whether they truly

care about the music they’re sampling.

Power imbalance within any given context must be assumed, rather than overlooked. As much as we love to place our Montreal music scene on a pedestal of progressivism, oppressive practices continue to obstruct equality and fairness for all. Events like Intersessions are integral in shaping the musical culture of the future—one that is more responsible and accessible.

Aspiring producers were taught the basics of FL Studio and Ableton. (Nishat Provat / The McGill Tribune)

SPORTS 13

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif proves his value to the emergent Chiefs Kansas City takes off as the former Redmen takes another step in his game Stephen Gill Sports Editor Unpredictability has been a motif in Kansas City Chiefs guard—and former McGill Redman—Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s career. Picked in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, DuvernayTardif became the only McGill alumnus to earn a spot on an NFL roster. In his offseasons, he is working toward a medical degree at McGill—an unprecedented, nigh-impossible feat for an NFL player.

After failing to see regular-season action in his rookie season, the now 26 year-old’s professional football prospects were questionable at best. He proved ready when called upon, starting in 13 of 16 games after injuries cleared his path to playing time.

Duvernay-Tardif took a large step in 2016, transitioning into a reliable offensive lineman who would start each game he was healthy enough to play in. During the ensuing offseason, the Chiefs rewarded him with a five-year, US $41.25 million contract, making him the 11th highest-paid guard in football.

It would’ve been safe to assume—as that contract would indicate—that the 321-pound med student would plateau after his third season: NFL players usually experience just one notable uptick in production across their careers, which almost always occurs in their first three seasons. Again, Duvernay-Tardif has surprised the football world, as the start to his fourth season suggests he has made his third major NFL progression.

In just a few games, “LDT” has displayed an upgraded skill set.

He’s cleaned up his pass blocking technique, which allows him to effectively channel his inherently dominant power and athleticism.

Meanwhile, he’s vastly improved his football intelligence while run blocking. Both traits were at full display in his Week 2 matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, where Duvernay-Tardif easily got the best of Pro Bowler Fletcher Cox, one of the league’s best defensive linemen. Evidently, he has been similarly effective in his other games.

Duvernay-Tardif’s contribution has helped the Kansas City offensive line reach new heights in 2017. Analysts at Football Out-

Duvernay-Tardif sets up to protect his quarterback. (ftw.usatoday.com) siders rank the unit first in the league at run blocking, laughably far ahead of the rest of the pack. Duvernay-Tardif is arguably the best member of the rock-solid offensive line group, playing a leading role in clearing gaping holes for rookie-sensation Kareem Hunt to run through.

This development up front has catalyzed a greater breakthrough for the entire team. In years past, the Chiefs have struggled to put points on the board, relying instead on their defence to shut down the opposition. Heading into 2017, the Chiefs were a top candidate for regression, with an aging defensive line and another disappointing offensive performance appearing imminent. However, with a restored running game, the Kansas City offence has opened up and scored points at an impressive clip. Coupled with a still-strong defen-

sive unit, the Chiefs are reaching new heights in 2017. Better yet, the good times shouldn’t be coming to an end soon.

Signed to a long-term contract that looks to be increasingly favourable to the Chiefs with every game he plays, Duvernay-Tardif is a well-suited, lasting match with Kansas City. On an offence that should continue to rise, he will stop pass rushers in their tracks and create opportunities for Hunt for years to come. In the offseason, the Chiefs should continue to be flexible with his ultimate goal of becoming a doctor. Perhaps what makes the Chiefs the best fit for LDT, however, is that, like him, they carry their own unpredictability: After the football world largely left them for dead in 2017, the Chiefs—with the McGill man’s help—have become a member of the NFL’s elite.

Everybody hurts, sometimes

Social media accounts reveal Kevin Durant’s emotional side Gabe Nisker Contributor Last summer, Kevin Durant made possibly the biggest decision he’ll ever make. After eight years with the Oklahoma City Thunder, he published an article on The Player’s Tribune, announcing his intention to sign with the 73-win Warriors—not long after his Thunder had blown a 3-1 series lead against them in the Western Conference Finals. The fan base’s backlash was swift and strong, with followers burning jerseys and calling him names all over the Internet. Still, he remained steadfast in his decision.

“I believe I am doing what I feel is the right thing at this point in my life and my playing career,” Durant wrote in his article.

He was tired of finishing second, and he appeared in an April 2013 issue of Sports Illustrated saying just as much. He wanted a championship, and he wanted to win. He wanted to be on top of the basketball world.

One year later, Durant got exactly that—a championship and a Finals MVP. And in an effort to catch up to his title-defending Warriors team, other contenders were extremely active this offseason, with the Rockets trading for Chris Paul and the Thunder forming their own super-team.

However, Durant’s social media

interactions were the more notable events of the Golden State offseason.

For any frequent Twitter user, it’s pretty easy to tell that Durant’s favourite activity on the platform is responding to critics. As a result, his tweeting episode on Sept. 18 and 19 wasn’t really surprising. In the debacle, Durant’s account replied to a tweet in the third person, explaining why he made his free agency decision and trashing the Thunder’s coach, organization, and roster—except for Russell Westbrook. Some of the Internet community latched onto the theory that Durant had “burner accounts,” or accounts he could use to defend himself without being attached to his own name and had simply forgotten to switch to one of those accounts before this particular set of tweets. Durant, however, rejected that explanation, admitting to having written the contentious tweets himself.

Although Durant’s unprofessional and immature actions were indefensible, his original decision can be justified—regardless of the commotion it caused. His departure for greener pastures was unpopular.

From the looks of it, either he didn’t expect fans to turn on him so quickly, or he expected to handle the backlash much better. As a consequence, social media use has turned into his instrument for self-defence. Judging from his high frequency of response

to criticism, it seems as though he still feels the need to justify his year-old decision to everyone.

This reaction is decidedly human. It’s tough to always be in the spotlight. The task gets immeasurably harder when every decision an athlete makes gets put under a microscope— they’ll be be discussed for hours upon hours during the never-ending sports news cycle. It can be especially difficult for someone like Durant, whose decisions are particularly controversial.

Kevin Durant’s strange, humanizing summer on social media didn’t end with the tweets. He’s an active YouTube user and responds to fans there as well. One comment from his verified account caught everyone’s eye last week, giving the basketball world another revealing look at Kevin Durant.

“I play basketball, I got acne, I grew up with nothing,” Durant wrote. “[I’m] still figuring myself out in my late [20’s....] I’m closer to you than [you] think.”

This comment is just another example of how Durant has opened up more and more frequently this offseason, with appearances on Bill Simmons’s podcasts, replies to nobodies on Twitter, and other newsworthy YouTube comments. As a result, it’s much more useful to understand and see him as just another ordinary per-

Durant examines his phone before a practice. (nypost.com) son thrust into extraordinary circum- and finished first. With that result, he stances. As far as his decision goes, got what he wanted, but now it seems he was clearly tired of coming in sec- that what he needs is for the sports ond. He chose to join Golden State universe to accept his decision.

14 SPORTS

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Martlets rugby resilient in loss to Carleton

GAME REPORT

Optimism surrounds the McGill squad after their most promising effort of the season

Spirits are high for the Martlets rugby team despite a difficult season. (Lauren Benson-Armer / The McGill Tribune)

Selwynne Hawkins Sports Editor On Sept. 30, a sunny fall day, the McGill Martlets women’s rugby team (0-5) took on the visiting Carleton Ravens (3-1). Carleton took an early lead, but the Martlets rallied in a losing cause to finish the game with a 33-21 scoreline.

Carleton pulled ahead with a dominant first half: They scored two tries in the first 25 minutes, and kept the Martlets from breaking out of their own half. The Ravens led 12-0 as the squads headed into the halftime break.

Early in the second half, Carleton

scored two more tries, widening the gap to 26-0, but the Martlets refused to go down without a fight. In the 53rd minute of play, forward Dori Yeats scored McGill’s first try of the game. Spurred on by Yeat’s efforts, the Martlets pushed for another try and were rewarded when Emily Challice scored their second try only five minutes later.

Buoyed by that momentum, the Martlets secured a third try—a team effort driven by big runs from centres Madeline Avery and Nicole Deacon. McGill managed to quell Carleton’s offence for much of the second half, fighting to keep the ball off the ground

in the try zone, and making big tackles close to their own line.

“I think that we had a lot of momentum going,” Challice said. “We kept possession, we were winning our own ball, [and] had a lot of good line breaks the entire game.”

The Ravens eventually managed to score an additional try, but the Martlets maintained their high work rate and were competitive in their individual matchups for the remainder of the game.

Though the team was dealt its fifth consecutive loss of the season, spirits were high in the McGill camp after the final whistle.

Head Coach Magali Harvey, who is partway through her first season, credits the resurgence to their fitness level and spoke highly of the team’s tenacity.

“From beginning to end, we pushed,” Harvey said. “Often, when we get scored on two or three times, we just stop playing. This time, we kept going, and [...] we scored tries and we played as a team.”

The Martlets have two games left in their seven-game season: A home tilt with Bishop’s University on Oct. 6, and an away game against Université de Montréal on Oct. 14. After a difficult start, Harvey was encouraged by Saturday’s result, and hopes the team can continue to grow for the rest of the season.

“A lot of [our] players who are starting right now are rookies, first years, second years, so they haven’t done a lot of rugby in their lives,” Harvey said. “At this point, seeing this game, I really think we can win both [of our remaining] games.”

Since winning the RSEQ champion-

ship in 2013, McGill has struggled to make an impact in their talent-heavy conference.

Prior to Saturday’s match, the Martlets lost by large margins to league-leading Ottawa and Laval squads, but the team was reassured by their result against the Ravens. Challice, a fifth-year anatomy and cell biology student, is happy with the progress the team has made in her tenure, and shares Harvey’s positive outlook on the team’s future.

“For the last couple years, we’ve had a rough go of it with our team,” Challice said.

“Now we’re a downtown team. All of our practices are downtown, which allows us to have a lot more practices, a lot more commitment, and I think that’s really going to push this team.”

This article first appeared online on Oct. 1.

- Moment of the game -

In the 58th minute of play, eight-man Emily Chalice picked the ball out of a ruck and dove across the line, scoring McGill’s second try of the game.

- Quotable -

“I think really, after this game, we’ve seen that we can get numbers on the board. It’s not out of reach.”

- U3 Civil Engineering student and Martlets rugby forward Dori Yeats.

- Stat corner -

Kicker Dana Silvera went 3-for-3 on her conversion attempts.

Behind the Bench: Polarity and empathy with the Cleveland Indians A baseball fan’s search to unite two divided sides Elijah Wenzel Contributor I love baseball. In late February every year, stale, heavy winter air is punctured by the clap of a baseball burning into the back of a leather glove. It’s my favourite sound.

I grew up in Central Ohio and—like many of my childhood friends and neighbours—I am a passionate Ohio sports fan.

Most of all, I love the Cleveland Indians.

For those who aren’t familiar, they’re the MLB team with the terribly offensive logo—a buck-toothed, red-faced, featherwearing caricature—to accompany an already offensive name. Naturally, this logo causes controversy. The sides to the debate are predictable: Outsiders demand the logo be changed since it’s remarkably insensitive to the long history of discrimination against Native American peoples, while fans defend it as an iconic symbol that has no bad intentions—the logo has been associated with their beloved team since 1901. Not many people are members of both parties; I am.

As a child, I didn’t understand why the logo was so offensive. In fact, I loved the team for it: One of my ancestors was a Native American from the Illinois Territory. I do not remember exactly when I heard the word racist associated with the team,

but I was shocked. Years after this revelation, however, it’s clear to me how hurtful the depiction is to so many people. I maintain, however, that I don’t necessarily pick one side—I can empathize with both.

Fan bases form for teams, not branding, so changing the logo to something more appropriate is not an attack on fans. It’s simply the righting of a long-standing wrong.

I am both a diehard fan who believes in the purity of the team, and someone who realizes that this century-old symbol undermines entire cultures. Still, no mat-

ter how I approach such a polarized issue, I am left out in the cold and pressured to choose one party or the other. I can’t comfortably set myself alongside other devoted fans who wish to retain the logo, but I don’t completely agree with the opposition’s tactics either. The fundamental problem is that there is so little common ground in a debate where I understand both sides.

This should not be a debate of two sides; rather, fans and opponents should be working together to find the best al-

A group of activists rally to protest the offensive Cleveland mascot. (businessinsider.com)

ternative. There is only one ultimate solution: Changing the logo and the corresponding name. I maintain that devoted Indians fans are, at heart, like me: They are fans of Cleveland the city and therefore the team, not the team and therefore the city. While the logo is the single image that represents the team, it is not the foundation of the city, nor our fandom—it is merely an expression of it. This means it can change with time.

Being a lightning rod for controversy is not best for the team nor the city of Cleveland. In straddling the divide, I try to get opposers to understand that life-long fans will not give up so easily, and hurling insults is no way to their heart. Instead, Cleveland supporters must help their fellow fans face the reality that a name and logo cooked up in 1901 really should not have any bearing on who we are today.

As long as we root for the team from Cleveland, it doesn’t ultimately matter what their name is. People who root for a team embroiled in controversy over an offensive logo do it primarily because they love their home. In trying to politely convince them of what is right, it is important to remember that even if they agree, accepting a change in logo may still be hard.

It is essential to have a conversation— not a dispute—in order to enact positive change.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

15 STUDENT LIVING

How students can better support survivors of sexual assault

Consent McGill workshop gives students the tools to respond to disclosures of sexual violence Emma Carr Contributor Sexual violence is pervasive on McGill’s campus— according to the Annual Report on the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and Discrimination Prohibited by Law, reports of sexual harassment increased significantly during the 2016-2017 academic year. Worse, many students feel ill-prepared to support a survivor when they disclose their experience of a violent or non-consensual sexual act. Consent McGill, an annual campaign running from Sept. 25 to Oct. 5, aims to address this problem.

Coordinated by the Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education (O-SVRSE), the campus-wide campaign seeks to facilitate a dialogue about how the student population can make the McGill campus safer and more supportive for sexual assault survivors, while preventing future incidents from occurring. Among the activities at the fourth annual Consent McGill was the ‘How to Respond to Disclosures of Sexual Violence’ workshop, designed to equip students with the skills to “respond to and support people affected by sexual violence by using appropriate tools and approaches.”

To learn more about this workshop—which is also offered throughout the academic year for co-curricular credit—and about how students should respond when trusted with a disclosure of sexual violence, The McGill Tribune spoke with Bianca Tétrault, Sexual Violence Education Advisor at O-SVRSE, and the founder of Consent McGill.

The McGill Tribune (MT) Why is learning how to respond to disclosures of sexual violence an important skill for students to learn?

Bianca Tetrault (BT) The way one responds to a disclosure can severely impact the way that [a survivor] processes their experiences. [It] can perpetuate further harm if they are not met with supportive, validating responses. There are so many barriers to even just coming forward, and if [the person listening] holds misconceptions or judgements, or doesn’t use appropriate language, it just further perpetuates the difficulties and barriers for people that are struggling to come forward.

MT

It’s probably hard for survivors to talk about their experiences with non-survivors. If I haven’t experienced sexual harassment or assault, how can I possibly offer this person my support?

BT

I think the first point of reflection as the responder is that this is never about you, so regardless [of whether] you have experienced sexual violence in some way, your experience will always be different from the person disclosing. No one person’s experience is the same, and so it’s not about you or your lived experience, or how you can understand what someone went through. It’s about how you can best support the person talking to you in this moment.

MT

What are the most important things to keep in mind when survivors of sexual assault disclose information to you?

BT There are four key steps. The first one is [to] listen and believe [....] If you make the conversation about you, or you continue to cut somebody off, they are not going to feel that they can trust you or want to continue talking, so listen. [The] second [step] is [to] believe and validate. You

don’t need to know the details of any case or situation, all you need to know is that it has negatively impacted somebody and that you are there to support them. The third [step] is [to] support non-judgmentally, [...which includes] checking your misconceptions [and] checking your privileges or your biases. Often we hear the first response being ‘you need to report this,’ or ‘you should tell somebody,’ but that [choice] may not be right for the person disclosing. Ask them how you can best support them. What do they want or need from you?

And lastly, [understand] that all feelings are valid [....] I think there are a lot of misconceptions around how someone should act after a sexual assault, and we need to deconstruct [these].

MT

What do you do if you feel like you are unable to help the survivor?

BT

Ultimately, we are telling our participants in the workshop that we are not training you to be counsellors or therapists, we are training you to be first-responders. And first-responders are going through the key points that I just mentioned, letting this person know that they are not alone, and that you will support them to get the services [...] and trained [professionals] to support survivors of sexual assault.

If you are a survivor of sexual violence or a friend responding to a disclosure, there are a number of campus services available to support you, including The Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education, Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), and the Peer Support Centre , among others. A complete list of services can be found on The Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education’s website.

Campus Spotlight: McGill Permaculture Club A chat with the founder of McGill’s own sustainable agriculture hub Janine Xu Contributor Sustainability and ethics are the two general pillars of a form of agriculture known as ‘permaculture.’ A combination of the words ‘permanent’ and ‘culture,’ the term refers to the development of sustainable and ethical agricultural ecosystems. The practice—and the 12 specific principles behind it, which advocate for reducing waste, increasing biodiversity, and using resources efficiently within one garden space—was invented in 1978 by Australian ecologists Bill Mollison and David Holmgren.

Eventually, the agricultural tradition expanded out of Australia and is now widely used in courses, institutes, and on farms all over the world.

The McGill Permaculture Club, founded

by Audrey Wagner, U3 Environment, brings this knowledge and practice to McGill students. In an effort to attract potential volunteers and raise awareness about the potential of permaculture, the club recently hosted their Permaculture Week at the Macdonald Campus. They coordinated over 10 different events, including tours of the student-built permaculture garden, gardening workshops, and an Iron Chef competition using food grown in the garden.

“What [permaculture] really is, is you’re trying to mimic nature,” Wagner said. “It’s based on three ethics, [mainly] earth care, people care, and fair share […Permaculture] has a very ethical core […] that goes beyond sustainability.”

The Macdonald Showcase Permaculture Garden Project—which Wagner developed with the help of Christopher Wrobel, a 2009 McGill graduate (M.Sc Science)—occupies a formerly-unused space by the Farm Centre at the Macdonald Campus. Over the summer, Wrobel and other members of the club built the garden with permaculture principles in mind. One such principle is creating a full ecosystem within a single garden space—so Wrobel and Wagner planted non-edible plants such as milkweed and borage to attract pollinators.

T h e garden project includes many edible plants as well,

including tomatoes, apples, peas, and a hybrid blueberry plant containing three different species on one bush. Many of the plants in the garden are perennials, meaning that they grow back year after year rather than dying after one season and needing replanting—and this isn’t by coincidence.

“Perennials grow back every year, so we don’t have to disturb the soil [or the plant roots] as much,” Wagner said. “[Another reason] why we plant perennials is because […] we want to work with nature. We want to facilitate [the] succession [of nature from bare soil to forest].”

Wagner’s goal is for the garden to

Permaculture combines sustainability and ethics with classic agricultural practices.

(McGill Permaculture Club / The McGill Tribune)

become entirely self-sufficient. One way to achieve this is by adding swales, which are dug out tracts of land outside a garden that collect and filter rainwater, decreasing the need for watering.

“In a permaculture system, we want to try to have the least amount of input possible,” Wagner said. “We don’t want to add any fertilizer. Even though we originally added compost [to the soil], a few years down the road […] we want it to be a closed loop.”

For now, the permaculture garden is still in its early stages. The plan for the future is to expand the garden by growing a wider variety of plants and at a greater quantity of so that the Permaculture Club can someday produce enough fruits and vegetables to sell to students and donate to local food charities. The Permaculture Club has a downtown branch as well, which Wagner believes will help promote the project and build connections between downtown and Macdonald Campus students. “[We want] permaculture knowledge to be accessible to all McGill students, not just Mac Campus students,” Wagner said.

For Wagner, permaculture is not only about the impact it has on the environment, but also about changing students’ views on agriculture and how it affects the planet.

“Generally, [environmentalists] think of [humans] as a destructive force leaving an ecological footprint,” Wagner said. “We don’t really talk about how good of an impact we can make [or] how we can make [our land] better than it was before we found it.”

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

STUDENT LIVING 16

Markets of Montreal A guide to exploring Montreal’s fall food venues Now that the seemingly endless summer has wrapped up, fall is finally upon us—and with the changing seasons comes the perfect weather for strolling through Montreal’s food markets. Make the best of the city’s beautiful, albeit short-lived, fall season with The McGill Tribune’s rundown of the best venues around.

JEAN TALON MARKET

Atwater MARKET

7070 Ave Henri Julien, Montreal, QC H2S 3S3

138 Ave Atwater, Montreal, QC H4C 2H6

Hours of operation: Mon, Tues, Weds, Sat from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. & Thurs, Fri from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. & Sun from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Hours of Operation: Mon, Tues, Weds from 7 a.m. 6 p.m. & Thurs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. & Fri from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. & Sat, Sun from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A 30-minute metro ride from McGill, Marché Jean-Talon is a maze of fresh produce, seasonal flowers, and small shops. As the largest market in the city with the greatest diversity of products, it’s the perfect place to stop for a coffee and croissant before filling your grocery bags. At any of the bakeries, fisheries, or chocolatiers, you are guaranteed to encounter plenty of free samples as you meander through all the market has to offer—so feel free to come hungry and make a lunch out of it.

A few bus stops west of campus, Marché Atwater is in full fall swing. Though the market has less fresh produce than Marché Jean Talon, Marché Atwater makes up for it with its amazing selections of cheese, bread, and meat. Snack on fondue cheese bread, warm chilli, or pastries from the large Première Moisson as you wander through.

For those who are already planning their Halloween, Marché Atwater’s display of pumpkins is a mustsee.

Marche Saint Jacques McGill Farmers Market

2035 Rue Amherst, Montreal, QC H2L 3L8 Hours of Operation: Mon, Tues, Weds, Thurs, Fri from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. & Sat from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. & Sun from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Marché Saint Jacques, located just north of Montreal’s Gay Village, is a quaint market, ideal for those who get overwhelmed by the extensive choices at the city’s larger markets. But even in its smaller setting, Marché Saint Jacques manages to satisfy your fall market needs.

You’ll still find everything you need for the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend in one place: Pastas, pastries, produce, and coffees.

Rue McTavish, Montreal, QC H3A 0C9 Hours of Operation: Thurs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., ending on Oct. 26 Found on McTavish every Thursday, the McGill Farmers’ Market is our very own one-stop-shop for Thursday’s lunches and dinners. Here you’ll find the key ingredients to make your own meals—breads, jams, honeys, and organically-grown produce from the Macdonald Campus—but you can also buy smaller goodies, like coffee, tea, baked goods, and plates of Indian food.

Save traveling to the aforementioned markets on the weekends and indulge in McGill’s very own market for its remaining four Thursdays of the fall.

Illustrations by Daria Kiseleva