The McGill Tribune Vol. 42 Issue 7

The McGill Tribune

FEATURE

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

SSMU event explores McGill’s investment ties to Uyghur genocide

Panel discusses motion to expedite the arrival of 10,000 Uyghur refugees by 2024

Adeline Fisher Staff Writer

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) hosted an advocacy event in support of Uyghur rights on Oct.

18. Uyghurs are a Muslim minority group mostly residing in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, and for years have been the victims of human rights violations and forced labour by the Chinese government. The event, led by the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (URAP), featured a

McGill Farmer’s Market builds a community of passionate vendors and students

Check out final edition this Thursday before winter calls

Margo Berthier Staff Writer

The McGill Farmer’s Market has been a signa ture component of the Mc Gill community since 2009. Every Thursday until Oct. 27 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mc Tavish Street overflows with local food producers and ex cited students. Rain or shine,

the passionate vendors at the McGill Farmer’s Mar ket come weekly, eager to share their stories, products, and insights with invested and enthusiastic McGillians. From fresh fruits and veg etables to sweet baked goods and local dishes, the market offers a wide variety of op tions to satisfy everyone’s taste buds.

Inspiring vendors

Tea, coffee, maple syrup, fresh vegetables, and even adorable potted plants are some of the many items up for grabs at the market.

Vendors with fascinating sto ries set up shop to sell their wares, interact with students, and answer questions about their products.

panel discussion about McGill’s endowment fund―specifi cally, investments into companies complicit in the Uyghur genocide―as well as Motion M-62 which aims to expedite the entry of 10,000 Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims into Canada over a two-year period beginning in 2024.

Climbing without a hijab: Iranian athlete subject to morality laws abroad

Elnaz Rekabi placed under house arrest after competing without hijab

Tillie Burlock Sports Editor

Content Warning: Gen der based violence, misogyny

On Oct. 16, Elnaz Rek abi, a 33-year-old Iranian rock climber, competed at the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Asian Championship in Seoul. Rekabi—who, just

last year, became the first Ira nian woman to win a medal at the IFSC World Champi onship—competed without a hijab, defying the strict dress code restrictions that the Ira nian government enforces on women, including its women athletes abroad.

Rekabi’s climb comes in the wake of the murder of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was tortured and killed

in Tehran by morality police forces for violating the Is lamic state’s mandatory hijab laws. Since Amini’s death, nationwide protests and fur thered state repression have gripped Iran, leaving many to view Rekabi’s climb as an act of resistance.

Shortly after the com petition, where she finished fourth, Rekabi disappeared and severe concerns for her safety began to circulate.

Round-up: What you missed in McGill sports from Oct. 19 to 23

16

(Maeve Reilly / The McGill Tribune)

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

SSMU event explores McGill’s investment ties to Uyghur genocide Panel discusses motion to expedite the arrival of 10,000 Uyghur refugees by 2024

Adeline Fisher Staff Writer

Continued from page 1.

Miri Teich, Policy and Advocacy Director at URAP, said that a Tribune investigation during the Winter 2022 semester—which revealed that McGill has millions of dollars invested in companies complicit in the genocide—inspired URAP’s most recent project. URAP began its advocacy work in May 2020 and since then, have conducted extensive research and data analysis into the university’s portfolio holdings.

Eli Offman, a volunteer data analyst at URAP, explained in an interview with the Tribune that the algorithm he created helps URAP determine which of McGill’s stock holdings are placed in companies implicated in forced labour.

“I take publicly available data and I compare it with the McGill portfolio,” Offman said. “I essentially created a relatively basic search function that [determines if] any of the companies listed in these stock holdings match with any of the companies implicated [in forced Uyghur labour].”

Teich added that the organization has found many connections between McGill’s stock portfolio and companies using forced labour.

“We found 437 entities [that] matched

directly, amounting to $67,630,181 in market value (around four per cent of McGill’s holdings),” Teich wrote in a statement to the Tribune . “This is a low estimate; if you include Chinese companies, the number goes up to 660 companies amounting to $139,770,302 in market value (nine per cent of their holdings).”

According to Teich, most of the worst offenders are China-based companies that supply both raw materials and software to bigger-name brands, many of which are based in North America. Occasionally, these companies supply security and surveillance technology to the Chinese government directly.

“Some of the biggest offenders are Zijin Mining Group, which digs in Xinjiang using forced labour ($1,036,347.65 invested), Alibaba, which sold cloud computing tech to the Xinjiang government for surveillance ($3,079,684.66 invested) and Tencent Holdings, which helps operate ‘smart prisons’ in Xinjiang ($4,987,171.21 invested),” Teich wrote.

Although the Uyghur genocide is occurring over 9,000 kilometres away, panellists at the endowment fund discussion stressed that many Canadians are personally affected. Sameer Zuberi, Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party of Canada and Chair of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights, encouraged McGill students to take action against the

exploitation of the Uyghur people by the Chinese Communist Party.

“Bottom-up activism is critical. There are different ways of having impact, but definitely people on the ground are part of it,” said Zuberi. “Legislatures respond because people want things to happen. There is a lot of power in people gathering together [and] having their voices heard, be it in the form of protest, be it in the form of letter writing, or engaging with one’s elected official.”

On Oct. 26, Zuberi’s motion M-62 will undergo its first hour of debate in the Canadian House of Commons. Zuberi warned, however, that passing the motion

is easy compared to implementing it, which will require broader public support.

In a statement to the Tribune , McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle wrote that McGill is working towards building a more socially conscious investment portfolio, but did not comment on the endowment fund’s ties to the Uyghur genocide.

“The Board of Governors has approved in June 2020 changes to the Statement of Investment Policy of the Endowment Fund to include [Environmental, Social, and Governance] considerations and a Socially responsible investment concrete action plan.”

Thousands in Montreal join solidarity rallies for anti-government protests in Iran The killing of Jina (Mahsa) Amini sparked women-led protests around the world

Shani Laskin Staff Writer

Montrealers

gathered in solidarity with Iranians on Oct. 22 to protest Iran’s oppressive regime and detainment and killing of Jina (Mahsa) Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police

for improperly wearing a hijab. The rally was one in a series of similar events in Montreal and across the globe to support the womenled movement.Recent reports estimate that 244 Iranian protesters have been killed and another 12,500 have been detained since the uprising began.

The march began in the afternoon outside the Berri-UQAM metro station with “Baraye” by Shervin Hajipour blasting from speakers. The song, which has become an anthem for protestors, elicited heavy emotion as many in attendance sang along through tears. As the march continued, Persian, Kurdish, English, and French iterations of the chant

“woman, life, freedom,” the slogan of the movement, echoed through the streets of downtown Montreal. Other chants included “silence is violence,” “revolution,” and “down with dictators.”

As Reza Azarpoor marched, he held a Persian sweet lemon sapling with fake blood dripping down his hand. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Azarpoor explained that this representation mourns the youth who have been and are being killed and detained by Iranian authorities, while also celebrating their resilience.

“This is a symbol of the kids, youth, and young people that are dying,” Azarpoor said. “But honestly, they’re

not dying. Every day, every moment, there is another tree coming out of [Iran], and it’s not gonna stop. This is a revolution, there is no going back.”

When the march reached Place du Canada, organizers made speeches and announced the demands of ralliers: That Canada sever ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran, sanction and try people connected to the regime in Iran, and designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Marchers also asked the Canadian government to address PS752—a Ukrainian International Airline flight which was shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, killing all 176 people on board including 57 Canadian citizens and permanent residents—with a criminal proceeding.

One of the organizers of the rally, Darya Almasi, noted that, compared with previous events held in Montreal, there was a larger presence of non-Iranian supporters and attendees overall on Oct. 22.

“The world is ready to hear what people demand in Iran,” Almasi said. “At this point in history, there’s a revolution happening in Iran. It has escalated from a movement or a riot or a protest. It’s a revolution and seeing non-Iranians’ support little by little, it’s growing, it’s ever-expanding, and seeing their support is really heartwarming.”

Another organizer and President of the Iranian Student Association of Concordia University (ISACU), Shayan Asgharian,

believes that students, as political entities, ought to get involved.

“Our institutions are political, therefore, it is important for us to have a presence in the political scene,” Asgharian said in an interview with the Tribune. “[At] institutions of higher education, where freedom of expression is a core pillar, we believe it is our duty as students to be the voice of the voiceless.”

Amidst the Iranian regime’s deadly crackdown on protests and imposed internet outages, members of the Iranian diaspora in Montreal and other parts of the world have been using rallies such as the one on Oct. 22 to show their solidarity and support.

“It’s a big shout-out to Iranian people that we heard you, we are watching you, we are standing behind you, holding your back,” Almasi said. “We are here for you and the world is watching your courage and your bravery. You’re not alone.”

McGill announced in a universitywide email on Sept. 22 that the university is offering academic accommodations and priority counselling appointments at the Student Wellness Hub to community members affected by the situation in Iran. The McGill Iranian Student Association (MISA) has also encouraged those who could benefit from support at this time to reach out to Keep.meSafe, a 24/7 mental health service that provides access to licensed counsellors through telephone and mobile chat for free.

Content warning: Mentions of violence and misogyny

There are currently an estimated 380 forced labour camps in the Xinjiang region. (twitter.com_uyghurad vocacy)

Workers in Iran’s petroleum and oil sectors have gone on strike amid worsening crackdown. (Shani Laskin / The McGill Tribune)

Archeological work at the New Vic site dominates McGill Senate meeting Senators raise concerns about McGill’s lack of collaboration with Mohawk Mothers

Lily Cason News Editor

During the university’s second Senate meeting of the academic year on Oct. 19, senators discussed the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera’s (Mohawk Mothers) legal dispute with McGill over the New Vic Project and the university’s COVID-19 protocols. The meeting began with memorial tributes for professors who had passed away this year, followed by opening remarks from interim principal and vice-chancellor Christopher Manfredi.

After Manfredi’s opening remarks, those gathered launched into a discussion session

about McGill’s controversial archeological work on the New Vic site.

Senator David Vaillancourt questioned why McGill’s archeological approach deviates from the Canadian Archeological Association’s (CAA) framework for investigating sites of potential unmarked graves, a concern the Kahnistensera have also raised. Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Fabrice Labeau responded, justifying the archeological approach by claiming that the area under investigation may have Indigenous artifacts from pre-colonial times, but almost certainly does not have unmarked graves.

“We are really looking at a place that is in front of the Hersey Pavilion, that is very far away from the Allen Memorial Hospital,” Labeau said. “The likelihood of unmarked graves in that area is very, very low [....] We also want to mention that the way the archeological search will be carried out later in other areas is not predetermined.”

Dicki Chhoyang, McGill’s Director

of Stakeholder Relations, stressed that Quebec, not McGill, is responsible for the site and that McGill’s efforts to investigate the Mohawk Mothers’ claims are simply out of care for the Indigenous community. (The Mothers have repeatedly stated that their treatment from McGill has been hostile.)

“We spoke to the elected council of Kahnawake, communicated with Kanesatake, Akwesasne, Hurons-Wendat, Anishinabeg, the Assembly of First Nations,” Chhoyang said. “Then we reached out to all the elders, we explained to them, ‘we’re not officially responsible, but our community is very concerned, so in due diligence as a responsibility to them, we are reaching out to you. How would you like us to handle this?’”

Senator Margaret Levey countered Labeau and Chhoyang by pointing out the benefits for the university of complying with the CAA’s guidelines and collaborating with the Kahnistensera.

“Isn’t the advantage clear that it would be good publicity, that it would be a good step toward reconciliation?” Levey said.

Senators then briefly discussed COVID-19 policies. Senator Miranda Hickman expressed a desire for greater information and guidance from the university surrounding the pandemic, particularly in light of the dissolution of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on COVID Academic Planning and Policies.

“It is often hard to keep tabs on what’s happening around COVID-related issues [...] and especially hard to tune into collective

wisdom and best practices, as we all have to make ad hoc decisions in response to what is happening,” Hickman said.

Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) Angela Campbell responded that the committee on COVID-19-related issues was always meant to be temporary and that no revival of the committee is being considered at this time.

Campbell later presented the new Regulations on Academic Staff Grievances and Disciplinary Procedures, which she had outlined at the Sept. 21 Senate meeting. The Senate approved these regulations.

MOMENT OF THE MEETING

During his opening remarks, Manfredi affirmed the University’s commitment to working with the re-elected Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government, and specifically the Minister of Education, to advance joint goals.

SOUNDBITE

“McGill here has an opportunity to model a form of collaboration and peacemaking in the process of developing the New Vic [....] It seems collaborating with the Mothers would be far less expensive, time-consuming than a court case, and it’s difficult to understand why McGill is so certain that no remains will be found, why they would not choose to hear the Mothers.”

— Senator Ipek Türeli, Faculty of Engineering, on the New Vic project

Students call for greater cross-university collaboration on sexual violence policies

Eric Birzneck Contributor

ThreeConcordia University student organizations announced on Oct. 5 that they would not participate in, nor nominate representatives to, the university’s Standing Committee on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Violence (SMSV). Their statement of non-participation claimed that the SMSV committee undermined student participation and was “hostile” toward students’ attempts to change Concordia’s policy. The McGill Tribune looked into the role student participation plays in McGill’s Policy against Sexual Violence (PSV) and whether similar criticisms apply to McGill when considering student input during its revision process.

McGill’s PSV is reviewed triennially and was last approved by the Senate and the Board of Governors in September and October of this year respectively. An implementation committee—including four student representatives, one member of the university’s academic staff, and representatives of various campus services, among other campus stakeholders—meets four times annually to oversee the PSV and to issue recommendations for revision. These recommendations are taken to the PSV’s working group, which then revises the PSV. The working group is composed of 19 members, one from each student association and union at McGill, as well as a representative from the Office of Dean of Students, Human Resources, Sexual Violence Centre of the McGill Students’

policies on sexual violence separate from McGill’s

Society (SACOMSS), and more.

Although they hold seats on the PSV’s working group, student associations at McGill do not hold seats on the implementation committee. This is because student associations are legally separate entities from McGill and the PSV does not apply to them. As a result, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) has its own policy: The SSMU Gendered and Sexualized Violence Policy, to combat sexual violence and support survivors.

In a statement to the Tribune, McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle emphasized the importance of student voices in the implementation of the PSV. Mazerolle also noted that the recent revisions to the PSV resulted from significant student advocacy.

“One of the key changes to the PSV is a process that allows survivors of sexual violence who have filed formal reports to access information about the outcome of a disciplinary process where sexual violence was found to have occurred,” Mazerolle wrote. “This policy change was the result of a legislative amendment that stemmed from strong survivor and student advocacy.”

At Concordia, students have led the charge in advocating for better university-level policies.

Saskia Kowalchuk, a Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia (TRAC) Feminist Workplace Committee member, emphasized the importance of student participation in an email to the Tribune

“Students are the experts on our own rights, needs, and experience,” Kowalchuk wrote. “Concordia University must begin treating us as such, but

until they do we cannot continue to participate in their unjust and illegitimate processes at the SMSV.” Arts

Undergraduate Society (AUS)

Senator Sam Baron raised concerns about the McGill PSV’s missing framework for collaboration with student organizations in the policy’s implementation.

“We were invited to make edits to the [PSV] during the summer, and while they took some of our comments, the university was either not willing or not capable of incorporating feedback and information-sharing mechanisms for our undergraduate societies into the policy,” Baron wrote in an email to the Tribune

Though SSMU has its own policy, SSMU vicepresident (VP) University Affairs Kerry Yang believes that there should be more opportunities for collaboration between the university and student representatives for tackling sexual violence on campus.

“We would like to see much more communication

and collaboration on sexual violence from McGill,” Yang wrote in an email to the Tribune

“Although we cannot interact with the policy as SSMU, we would love it if McGill had more open channels of collaboration on this issue.”

Despite these shortcomings, Baron considers the PSV to be a strong, survivor-centric mechanism for combatting sexual violence.

“Regardless of the outcomes, the process is legally sound, provides good opportunities for the support of survivors, and has a lot of flexibility in the measures it can implement upon the completion of a report,” Baron wrote. “If we as students continue holding McGill accountable for when they deviate from their established processes, we can make the [PSV] work for us.”

Concordia student organizations are demanding a “student-led, survivor-centric, and transparent” policy against sexual violence.(Kowin Chen / The McGill Tribune)

Manfredi stressed that the administration could not discuss the ongoing court case with the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera. (mcgill.ca_senate)

PGSS discusses McGill’s lack of accommodations and pay for invigilators

Council hosted town hall with Dean of Students Robin Beech on Oct. 19

Sarina Macleod Copy Editor

ThePost-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) held their second Council meeting of the 2022-23 academic year on Oct. 19 to amend their budget, update students on sustainability projects and invigilators’ rights, and discuss concerns surrounding accessibility and accommodations for graduate students. There was also a town hall portion of the evening attended by McGill’s Dean of Students Robin Beech.

During the town hall segment, Rine Vieth, a PhD candidate in Anthropology, pointed to their personal experience accessing accommodations from Student Accessibility and Achievement (SAA)—formerly the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD)— as a graduate student. Vieth asked Beech about removing some of the SAA registration criteria.

“McGill does not need to medicalize accommodations. While the McGill line is that this is required or otherwise needed by law, that’s not really the case,” Vieth said.

“McGill absolutely could make it a policy to accept accommodations

without a particular doctor’s form.”

In response, Beech stated that there is ongoing discussion between him and Fabrice Labeau, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), about extending the range of accommodations for students. Although they are not sure how, the McGill administration hopes to implement a “no questions asked” three-day accommodation for academic evaluations weighed at under 30 per cent once a semester.

Hayley Krieger, a master’s student at the Max Bell School of Public Policy, added to Vieth’s point about the need for greater accessibility accommodations. After contracting COVID-19 during the second week of classes, Krieger asked to attend classes over Zoom. She was told her program was not hybrid and that she could not join the class synchronously.

“Classes are recorded, but it feels wrong to put the burden on students who have to stay home and make up a week of lectures,” Krieger said. “The university should have policies advocating accommodations for students that get COVID-19 instead of leaving it up to individual programs and professors to decide.”

While explaining the

administration’s lack of uniformly applicable policy, Beech asserted that attending through Zoom is not equivalent to being in class and, thus, is not an appropriate accommodation.

Following the town hall, the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) took the floor to update students on their contract negotiations with McGill regarding invigilators’ wages. The union maintains that the wage should be set to $18 per hour, and is waiting for McGill to return with a satisfactory counter-proposal before signing a new collective agreement.

Kiersten van Vliet, mobilizing officer for the Invigilator Bargaining Committee of the AGSEM, noted that McGill invigilators are paid less than any others in Quebec, and significantly lower than those in other provinces. Van Vliet also said that AGSEM believes McGill is exploiting the position of international students who cannot legally be employed outside the University, and hopes to stop this with firm contract negotiations.

“Many, if not most, of the invigilators at McGill are international students, and these

Tribune Explains: Teaching positions at McGill

students often have visa requirements that restrict their ability to work off campus,” van Vliet said. “They also have to pay international student fees. This is one of the reasons why the union has been firm with our demand.”

To conclude the meeting, the Council approved motions to amend the PGSS budget, ratify interim conditional appointments, and condemn the New Vic project.

MOMENT OF THE MEETING

The first 45 minutes of the meeting were subject to constant interruptions and disregard for procedural formats. In attempting to improperly add a motion to the agenda, one individual cut off fellow committee members and attempted to overrule the speaker’s decision to deny the motion’s addition.

SOUNDBITE

“I was told that there are no supports for students not taking coursework,” Vieth said. “[I am] a little taken aback by [the SAA] seeming to imply thesis-writing is not academic.”

— Rine Vieth, a PhD candidate in Anthropology, discussing the need to expand SAA accommodations for graduate students

Course Lecturers, Instructors, and Teaching Assistants are unionized, but much of the teaching staff is not

Lily Cason News Editor

McGill instructors can hold a variety of titles—Faculty Lecturer, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor are just a few of the many positions that exist. There are tenure and tenure-track staff, contract academic staff, visiting academic staff, and Teaching Assistants (TAs) at the university. The McGill Tribune breaks down the different standings and what they mean.

What are tenure and tenure-track academic staff positions?

Academic tenure is a title that comes with prestige and job security. While tenured professors have already received this designation, tenure-track professors are seen as on the route to securing it. Within the tenuretrack, one can be an Assistant Professor, an Associate Professor, or a Full Professor, and individuals move through the ranks in this order. Full Professors who hold their position for over five years, and who the university sees as having carried out their responsibilities, are afforded the additional honorific title of Emeritus.

Staff must be considered for tenure by the sixth, fifth, and fourth year after appointment to these positions, respectively. Individuals may also apply for early consideration. Each department sets its own specific tenure requirements by which candidates are evaluated. Tenured and tenure-track employees

are expected to teach and conduct research, along with performing other duties for the university, as outlined by their department chair.

What are contract academic staff positions?

Contract academic staff (CAS) are not eligible for tenure and can be either full- or part-time, on definite or indefinite term appointments, and ranked or unranked.

Ranked positions include Faculty Lecturer, Senior Faculty Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Full Professor—instructors move up the ladder in that order. Ranked CAS are expected to have the same baseline qualifications as those in tenure and tenure-track positions, and must apply to be considered for promotion.

Unranked CAS positions include Academic Associate or Senior Academic Associate, Adjunct Professor, Affiliate Member, Associate Member, and Professor of Practice. Notably, some unranked positions such as Course Lecturer and Instructor fall under the umbrella of the McGill Course Lecturers and Instructors Union (MCLIU), meaning they are governed by the union’s collective agreement rather than McGill’s Regulations Relating to the Employment of Contract Academic Staff.

Who are visiting staff?

Visiting academics are invited through an official letter from the Dean and are given a finite term at McGill, usually a maximum of one

year. According to the Regulations Relating to Visiting Academic Appointments, both Visiting Professors”and Visiting Scholars may sometimes engage in teaching activities.

Who are Teaching Assistants?

TAs—current graduate students who aid a primary instructor by helping teach and grade—are yet another form of instructors. They are also contracted employees who are members of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM).

What unions and associations exist?

Some of the teaching staff at McGill are unionized, while others are not. The MCLIU covers Course Lecturers and Instructors, along with some of the CAS; it does not cover tenure or tenure-track academic staff, visiting academic staff, or any ranked CAS. AGSEM covers TAs at the university. All other instructors fall under the umbrella of the McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT), which is not a union.

MCLIU and AGSEM each emphasized

the importance and positive impacts of their collective agreement negotiations with McGill in statements to the Tribune, while still pointing to a need for further progress. Both mentioned that inflation is driving up the cost of living, which they believe must be reflected in their members’ salaries. Raad Jassim, MCLIU President, confirmed that the union is working toward achieving the same pay for McGill Course Lecturers as those at other institutions receive.

“We are trying to get to that level of fairness, of compensation and reflected benefits with it,” Jassim said. “We have been in the unfortunate current situation, inflation has hit us badly and we need to know that this will also be considered going forward.”

AGSEM sees McGill’s bargaining proposal for invigilator wages as unsatisfactory because it does not provide a significant increase above Quebec’s minimum wage. (Brian Schatteman / The McGill Tribune)

Research by the Canadian Union of Public Employees found that 53.6 per cent of faculty members at Canadian universities were on contract, rather than tenured or tenure-track, in 2018. (Corey Zhu / The McGill Tribune)

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Our unconscionable role in the Uyghur genocide

The McGill Tribune Editorial Board

CW: Genocide, sexual violence, islamophobia

OnOct. 18, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) hosted a series of events entitled “Support Uyghur Rights” to raise awareness about the Uyghur genocide and to encourage students to take action. The event highlighted McGill’s involvement in the Uyghur genocide through an examination of the university’s unconscionable endowment fund.

Currently, McGill holds multimillion dollar investments in several corporations that profit directly from the Uyghur genocide, contributing to a culture of complicity that is typical of a historically colonial and profit-driven institution. The university must divest, provide resources for the McGill community to stay informed on the atrocities committed in East Turkestan, and support student activist efforts.

The Chinese government continues to commit human rights violations and crimes against humanity in East Turkestan, constituting the largest mass incarceration campaign of ethnic and religious minorities since the Holocaust. Twelve million

Uyghurs live in East Turkestan, or the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and along with other Turkic peoples native to the region, they have been fighting for independence for almost a century. Since 2017, more than one million people have been detained, and in 2020, researchers documented the existence of 201 reeducation camps and 179 detention centres in East Turkestan. In addition to mass surveillance and indoctrination, Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples have been subjected to torture, brutal and inhumane living conditions, and forced labour. Research has found that over 20 per cent of all cotton in the global clothing market has been tainted by forced Uyghur labour. Countless children have been separated from their families and incarcerated women have been subjected to systematic rape and forced sterilization.

In February 2021, the House of Commons—despite Trudeau and his cabinet abstaining—unanimously adopted a motion recognizing the Chinese government’s genocide against Uyghur, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang. Two legislative proposals are presently being considered in Ottawa. Motion M-62, which is set to be debated in parliament on Oct. 26, calls for the Canadian government to

expedite the entry of 10,000 Uyghur and Turkic refugees that are in need of protection. Bill S-204 would ban all goods imported from East Turkestan whether or not they have been proven to use forced labour.

These urgent pieces of legislation should spur McGill to evaluate its problematic endowment portfolio and to encourage active advocacy and relief efforts. Earlier this year, an investigation by The McGill Tribune revealed the university’s endowment fund allocates $15 million into corporations tied up in the Uyghur genocide. McGill’s portfolio includes companies such as Tencent (WeChat’s parent company) and Alibaba, that surveil Uyghurs, as well as Puma, Nordstrom, and Kohl’s, companies that allegedly use enslaved Uyghur labour in their supply chains. The least the McGill administration can and should do is divest from companies that are profiting from the genocide in East Turkestan.

While divesting is an easy yet necessary first step, McGill must also provide educational resources on the genocide and ways to support the Uyghur rights movement. The administration has been silent on the Uyghur genocide, once again choosing indifference for its staff and students who are racialized minorities. So long as it prides itself on being an

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Ifyou ask any of my friends at McGill, they would tell you that I have switched around my majors and minors eight times since the beginning of my degree. I started as an Environment & Development and International Development Studies (IDS) double major with a History minor. Throughout my three semesters at McGill, I have made countless changes to my second major—changing IDS to History, then Economics, then Geography, and even considering Statistics. It was not over yet— my next decision was to drop the

EDITORIAL

international institution, McGill must encourage its students to advocate against international human rights abuses, and in turn, students must reach out to their Member of Parliament. Furthermore, the university should expand their Students and Scholars at Risk Fund and subsidize the World University Services Canada’s Student Refugee Program at McGill that sponsors young refugees.

We must contextualize our demands for divestment and sanctions in terms of global cooperation, decolonization, and workers’ rights movements. We must not overlook the implications of outsourcing on workers’ rights globally. Many of today’s global supply chains resemble imperialist systems that exist to feed the growing appetite of Western economies and exploit low-level workers in the Global South. We must understand that these globalist structures of exploitation are the same ones that contribute to an international attitude of indifference towards forced Uyghur labour. McGill should recognize its role in this global neoliberal and imperialist framework, and take after Parliament by urgently addressing what is likely the largest ethnic cleansing campaign of the century.

Motion M-62 is being debated in parliament on Oct. 26.

Reclaiming the value of being “undecided”

second major entirely in favour of a minor in Management—and flipflop the domain of my Environment major between Environment & Development and Economics & the Earth’s Environment. My minor underwent similar changes before I decided on Economics.

It was a long and gruelling journey until I finally felt confident in settling on a major in Economics & the Earth’s Environment with minors in Management and Economics. I questioned myself so many times, aimlessly browsing websites about career prospects, and eventually taking a bunch of classes that, while interesting, now count for none of my requirements and are further extending my degree. Looking back, I wish that I had allowed myself a little more flexibility in deciding on a degree plan.

There is a lot of anxiety surrounding the big question: What’s your major? And when will I decide on the perfect one? Picking the “wrong” major can make people feel unprepared for their future, making them miserable throughout undergrad as they are stuck in classes that they do not enjoy or find useful. As a result, students often feel extreme pressure to get

it right on the first try, fearing the consequences of idling too long.

Upon starting university, many people plan their degree around their career aspirations. But how many 17 and 18-year-olds fresh out of high school truly know what kind of career they want to pursue in the ‘real world’? Though there are some students who find their ideal path early on, many students do not have the same luck. High schoolers are just not as exposed to all of the career possibilities and life experiences that college students are, especially if their high school has a weak advising program. Furthermore, many students—like myself— attended high schools where class structures took a ‘Common Core’ form, where there are relatively few options for students to dive deeper into specialized topics to see how much they enjoy them. Beyond the broad knowledge acquired from ‘general-education’ style classes, many high-school students are not exposed to diverse areas of study. For example, somebody who enjoyed general chemistry in high school will not necessarily enjoy pursuing a chemistry major when classes get more difficult and indepth, especially if they later find that it does not align with their

career goals.

Most universities offer their students the option of starting their degrees as undecided, but only 20 to 50 per cent of students make the decision to do so. Many students pick a major upon entering undergrad, taking the risk that they will be one of the 50 to 70 per cent of students studied who change their major at least once. Rather than picking a major and struggling to complete its requirements while attempting to figure out what interests them, students might benefit from going in undecided, taking specialized classes in fields that pique their interest, and then picking a major once they have a more informed picture of what each field of study has to offer.

Stressing about taking classes for the programs I picked early on made it all the more difficult to gauge my enjoyment in a class or interest in a subject. Had I gone into university with an undeclared major—or at least without a concrete decision—it would have been easier for me to discover what I had a passion for and what I wanted to pursue further. Now, I rest easy knowing that I have settled on a degree plan that I am content with… or have I?

Joseph Abounohra, Kareem Abuali, Yasmine El Dukar, Ella Gomes, Sequoia Kim, Shani Laskin, Kennedy McKee-Braide, Madison McLauchlan, Michelle Siegel, Sophie Smith

Birzneck, Gillian Cameron, Kowin Chen, Aimee DeLong, Philippe Haddad, Julie Jacques, Jasmine Jing, Sumire Kierkosz-Ueno, Natasha Kinne, Karan Kumar, Adam Motaouakkil, Nate Northfield, Simi Ogunsola, Henry Olsen, Maddie Perry, Maeve Reilly, Renée Rochefort, Sofia Stankovic

TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STAFF

Margo Berthier, Ella Buckingham, Melissa Carter, Adeline Fisher, Suzanna Graham, Jasjot Grewal, Charlotte Hayes, Monique Kasonga, Chloé Kichenane, Shani Laskin, Zoé Mineret, Harry North, Ella Paulin, Dana Prather, Athina Sitou, Yash Zodgekar

Valentina de la Borbolla Opinion Editor

Nobody enjoys trekking from New Residence Hall to McMed in subzero temperatures to make it to an 8:30 a.m. lecture. Most people take their ability to walk into class or a library building for granted.

Montreal’s winters are particularly brutal, and the city is infamous for its never-ending construction. For able-bodied people, however, these are just

Accessibility on campus is shameful

inconvenient factors to consider before stepping out the door. For disabled students, staff, and faculty members, the lack of physical accessibility at McGill and in Montreal is a constant reminder of the painful reality of an ableist world. If McGill wants to become the inclusive institution it claims to be, it must prioritize an accessible campus for all of their students.

McGill’s campus is an accessibility nightmare. From steep hills, incessant construction work and cracked curbs, getting around quickly and

easily is a privilege reserved for able-bodied people. Even if disabled folks manage to navigate the hellish campus layout, the barriers do not end there. Although the Accessible Canada Act strives to remove accessibility barriers across the country, it only applies to buildings under federal jurisdiction. As such, universities like McGill are not legally bound by the act. This makes for a poorly-planned campus that actively prevents disabled students from accessing education. Although ramps and automatic doors make McGill buildings more accessible, they need to be functional and wellmaintained. Steep and narrow ramps like those leading up to Stewart Biology North are hazards, especially during the winter when they are often covered in snow and ice, rendering them completely useless. Automatic doors do not always work and are often blocked by newsstands, mask dispensers, and idling students.

Although McGill has measures meant to increase accessibility, such as the Adapted Mobility Bus, these initiatives fail to include all of the students who need mobility assistance but may not meet the required standards set by the school. The process requires users to be registered with the Student Accessibility and Achievement office and to have a formal diagnosis or a letter from a health professional. These requirements assume that students have access to quality medical care and essentially push them to prove that they are disabled enough to receive accommodations. Furthermore, the bus services are insufficient as the singular vehicle only runs Mondays to Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This essentially leaves any student whose

classes end after 4:01 p.m. unable to move around campus.

Driving is an option for disabled students, but many do not have access to their own cars. Even if they did, proximity parking permits are reserved for faculty and staff members, who still have to go through a lengthy application process.

Institutional barriers are not the only things making campus inaccessible. Individuals can contribute to the problems, and people often see disability signage as optional. This can range from parking in front of ramps or on curb cuts to leaving bikes on sidewalks and using their feet to open doors and push buttons. When an institution is already actively excluding disabled students, it is discouraging to see our peers contribute to endless inaccessibility issues.

True anti-ableist change must combine institutional efforts as well as social ones. This starts with knowledge and awareness of mobility issues and disability rights. A great way to start is to unlearn ableist biases of what disability looks like in the first place. Not every person with mobility issues is a wheelchair user or visibly disabled. On the other hand, people should critically assess their environments and question why visibly disabled people may not interact with spaces in the same way. Inaccessibility is not a coincidence, and a lack of accessible public spaces marginalizes disabled people and keeps them from accessing their rights to education, medical care, and ultimately, a barrier-free life. McGill owes it to their students to reconsider their accessibility efforts and allocate enough resources to push for transformative change.

Letter to the Editor: Responding to The Ton Campus

Harry North Staff Writer

I’ve decided to go on holiday to the Opinion section this week. I would have preferred Barbados or Mexico, but alas, no flights. Normally I write restaurant reviews in the Student Life section, which is awfully fun. But this week, I’m reviewing your hot takes on campus.

Let’s not overthink this. For a take to be hot, it just needs to be controversial. Plain and simple, at least when you first hear it. Extra points if you make me laugh and minus points if you try too hard. Trying too hard is inherently unfunny, plus no one likes a try-hard. I’ll also comment on how accurate it is as well. The sweet spot, and I’m doubtful we will find this in the first go, is a take which makes you go something like: “Have you gone mental…wait a minute, that’s brilliant.” So, without further ado, what’s the T?

“No amount of finance bro money can save you from the amount of therapy you will need.”

Very funny. I’m glad you got that off your chest. Is this a hot take? Or did you just get your heart broken by a finance bro? The funny thing about finance bros at McGill is they’re not

even proper finance bros yet—they’re wannabe finance bros, still under parental supervision with their pacifiers in, which is even funnier. They want to be taken seriously, like they’re important and busy, but really they can’t even get their balance sheets balancing properly yet.

It’s probably unfair to assume every wannabe finance bro will end up like Christian Bale in American Psycho. And finance bros do get the brunt of the jokes, so this take is not particularly hot, nor funny.

Now here’s a question: Who do you dislike more between finance bros and frat boys? Easy— frat boys, every day of the week. Frat boys are the backwash of the McGill community. Sorry finance bros, I know you love a case comp.

Hotness-barometer: 1/5

Accuracy: 2.5/5

“We should be able to smoke in front of McLennan.”

So, bear in mind most people who loiter outside McLennan have probably been struck with this inspiration at least once—it’s probably a stretch to say this is a hot take. And, frankly, no, you shouldn’t. If everyone was allowed to smoke outside McLennan, it’d be a puffing orgy!

Hotness-barometer: 2/5

Accuracy: 2/5

“Wearing a backpack is so embarrassing, please invest in a different bag” Oh, you definitely carry a tote bag. And let me guess, you thrifted it. I guess this take is beginning to turn up the heat, I’ll give you that. I wear a backpack, or a rucksack as I like to call it. And what can I say: They’re so wonderfully ergonomic and easy to carry. What’s so embarrassing about that? Okay, maybe I do sound like a loser when I say it like that. There is, however, one small problem with your take: Only sorority girls and finance bros believe in it. And having an opinion that aligns with them? Now that’s embarrassing.

Hotness-barometer: 4/5

Accuracy: 2/5

“You can definitely trust the person next to you to look after your stuff.”

If this is sarcastic then this is utterly brilliant. What’s that? You’re being serious? Really? Oh no. Well, this is barely a take then. It’s McGill after all, everyone’s squeaky clean here. That being said, I bloody well hope this take is true because I’ve left my stuff to grab a Kit Kat.

Do watch out though if you’re next to someone with a Concordia laptop sticker. Before you know it, you’ll be in a bidding war for your own laptop on Ebay.

Hotness-barometer: 1/5

Accuracy: 5/5

LAUGHING MATTERS

According to McGill Facilities Management and Ancillary Services, one third of McGill buildings were built before 1940, when no accessibility standards were enforced (Dadu Shin/The New York Times).

article published in the October 18, 2022 issue (Leaving the starving student behind) incorrectly spelled a source’s name, Allison MacNeil. The Tribune regrets this error”

A sad tail: The marine biology of whale strandings in BIOL 355

Mass whale strandings in Tasmania draw attention from marine conservationists

Niamh Stafford Contributor

In late September 2022, a pod of 230 pilot whales washed up onto the shores of Ocean Beach in Tasmania, Australia. Only half of those stranded were still alive when the response team arrived on the scene, and only 32 whales made it back into the water safely. The grim pic ture is sadly not uncommon: Mass whale strand ings occur fairly regularly all over the world and have only increased due to human interference in marine systems.

So, what can McGill students do to raise awareness about whale strandings? Well, like any other topic, there’s a class for that. It’s called BIOL 335: Marine Mammals and if you’re cu rious about whales, seals, or dolphins and don’t suffer from too much seasickness, this is the class to take.

BIOL 335 is offered by McGill’s Depart ment of Biology, but you don’t need to be a bi ology student to partake—having the necessary prerequisites and an interest in marine biology is sufficient. The class was most recently deliv ered over the course of two weeks at the Hunts man Institute in St. Andrews, New Brunswick in August 2022—its first offering since the COVID19 pandemic. Amanda Babin, an environmental analyst at the Whale Sanctuary Project who re ceived her PhD in biology from the University of New Brunswick, pulled from her experience with marine mammals and whale stranding response

procedures to tell students about marine mammal physiology, behaviour, and current conservation efforts.

Over the course of two weeks, students learn about mass whale strandings and their causes, in addition to other topics such as evolution and ma rine species identification. A mass whale strand ing occurs when any two beings that are not a mother and her calf become stranded on land. Both natural phenomena and human-caused dis turbances can trigger strandings. It is not currently understood what happened in the case of the 230 pilot whales, but there is some speculation from experts.

“Pilot whales are very social animals,” Babin wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune

“They follow the leader, which is often an elder female that can sometimes go senile or be suffer ing from an illness. Once the leader strands, it is common for others to follow as they hear the dis tress calls and attempt to help [....] The pod could [also] have been disturbed in an area that is dif ficult to navigate.”

Disturbed areas can include fishing regions where whales become entangled in commercial fishing nets. This leads to injury, disorientation, and even drownings. Shipping also disturbs ma rine life because the noise pollution from massive ships can drown out marine mammals’ commu nication calls. As a result, whales can accidentally make errors while navigating and end up on land. These types of disturbances are avoidable when the appropriate measures are put in place.

“We often protect habitat that is used for feeding or breeding, but pay less attention to the migratory routes,” Babin wrote. “Migration is im pacted by shipping, both direct[ly] through ship strikes and indirect[ly] through noise pollution.”

Some disturbances are more deadly than others: Many whales are hit and injured or killed by ships. This is called a ship strike and is a direct consequence of human activity in whale habitats. That being said, not all human intervention is necessarily bad for whales. Marine life respond ers are a vital asset to marine life conservation. In BIOL 335, students are taught about how to ap

proach a beached whale.

“Response activities include triage, mak ing the animals comfortable by digging out sand so their flippers can be in natural positions and keeping them wet, then attempting to re-float the animals,” Babin detailed. “The decision of which whales to try to rescue and in what order is impor tant so that they don’t re-strand.”

If you come across a beached whale anytime soon, always call the appropriate marine response team, and don’t approach the animal yourself. In Quebec, you can call the Quebec Marine Mam mal Emergency Response Network.

Modernizing investing: The rise of fintech in business lending

Fintech increases access to long-term funding for small and medium-sized enterprises

Athina Sitou Staff Writer

Suppose NeuroConnect, a fic titious company, requested a loan of $300,000 from October, a real financial technol ogy (fintech) lending platform. The loan would be doled out over the course of 36 months to finance the acquisition of lab equipment like an electron microscope and an MRI scanner. October uses an au tomatic loan assessment tool to at tribute NeuroConnect a credit score of B on a scale of A+ to C- based on the company’s financial history, default probability, and projected profit margin. The annual interest rate, or an investor’s profit gain, is estimated at 6.3 per cent. Now, sup pose you want to invest a portion of your savings to make some money. If you were in October’s position, would you consider NeuroConnect worth the risk?

The scenario above is an ex ample of how fintech platforms, also known as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending businesses, attract multiple individual investors who are willing to invest funds in a given firm. This unconventional way of lending is financing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that banks are often unable to assist due to strict requirements on lending, such as evidence of valuable assets and a

well-established business credit profile that these new companies often cannot fulfill.

Although banks dominate the global lending market, the innova tive P2P business model facilitates the financing of SMEs, which has been a traditionally difficult task for

limitations compared to the custom ary bank lending model.

“We’ve been lending the same way [...] for decades,” Beaumont said. “I think it’s good to have this emergence of new actors in the small business lending markets— actors that are less regulated be

clients, fintechs are mainly regulat ed because of the risk they present for fraud.

On average, bank interest rates are three per cent lower than those of fintech loans. This signifi cant difference is one of the major challenges fintechs face as they not

points that give fintechs a competi tive edge over banks.

In spite of these advantages, fintech is not the primary player in the small business lending mar ket. Beaumont says that the use of algorithms to predict whether a company is worth betting on and its probability of defaulting does not absolve fintech lending from the in herent risk associated with the prac tice. After all, the fintech market is still very small.

Beaumont emphasized the im portance of small business lending because of SMEs’ vital contribu tions to both economic and com munity development. For instance, in 2021, small business employees accounted for a whopping 63.8 per cent of the total Canadian labour force according to Statistics Can ada. Medium-sized business em ployees make up for another 21.1 per cent, while large businesses rep resent the remaining 15.1 per cent.

banks to accomplish. In an inter view with The McGill Tribune, Paul Beaumont, an associate professor at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management, discussed fintech’s potential to provide greater access to long-term funding and its unique

cause [these lending firms] expand the set of products [that other inno vative] firms [can now] have access to.”

Compared to banks, which are heavily regulated because they manage the money of millions of

only have to attract lenders, but also firms that are willing to bor row money at a higher interest rate. Despite this potential roadblock, automation based on artificial intel ligence and faster delivery of loan application decisions are selling

Canadian small businesses, therefore, constitute a powerful economic driver that can continue to flourish by receiving funding for their ideas in a more sustainable and accessible fashion than before.

“Fintech platforms may per haps not completely change the market, but [they] still bring [...] innovation in a market that has not been super innovative,” Beaumont said.

Whale stranding rescues are referred to as “responses” to temper expectations about the number of whales that can be saved. (Sofia Stankovic / The McGill Tribune)

Fintechs can use consumers’ digital footprints, such as one’s browsing habits, to gain valuable information to estimate a consumer’s credit score. (Forbes)

SPENT OUT AND STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT MCGILL STUDENTS DISCUSS INFLATION AND ITS IMPACT ON THEIR UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCES

By Wendy Lin, Multimedia Editor

in Canada is at an all-time high: Recent data released shows that the consumer price index (CPI), which represents changes in prices, is up 6.9 per cent year-over-year in September. This month, Montreal’s city-wide average rent rose by $44 to $1,541 for an unfurnished one-bedroom unit. University students come from a variety of financial backgrounds—some are supported by their parents, others work to cover their living expenses, or rely on financial aid. Burdened with the combined expenses of tuition, course books, housing, social outings, and food, many students are feeling the intense pressures of rising costs.

Inflation

Have you noticed any changes in your life this past year due to inflation?

Russell, U2 Management : “During the summer, I didn’t have an internship but I still had to support myself as my parents don’t finan cially support me, so I found a part-time job. I have to go out to a lot of social events with one of my clubs, and I have to spend money. It’s a part of my life that I have to balance, because I want to keep my social life going, but I also don’t want to spend as much so that’s why I took the part-time job [….] I used to work a lot more last year. I took five classes and was part of one club. But this year, since I joined more clubs, I kind of had to cut down my hours.”

Lou, U3 Education: “I’m disabled, so I have lots of fixed weekly spend ings that I have to pay up-front and are usually only partially covered by my insurance. I have been on a wait ing list to get a psychometric testing assessment for a very long time, and when they gave me a quote a year and a half ago, the total was $1,200.

“When I finally got off the waitlist a few weeks ago, they told me that it is $1,500 now. That’s crazy. I’ve been saving for this. I’ve managed to get them to allow me to pay just the original quote, but the increase is still huge: My insurance cov ers $700 of that category of tests a year, and that amount hasn’t changed for three years. It seems like the coverage is the exact same price when clearly professionals are increasing their prices.”

Bérénice, U4 Arts: “I find that when hanging out, whatever you do, you’re going to have to spend money. I’m try ing to have more potlucks, and when dining out as a group somewhere, we take opportunities for buffets because that saves a lot of money. When you have different friends and you want to go out, you don’t have to spend money all the time, of course, but it’s nice to have a coffee, it’s nice to have lunch, just to share a moment like that. But it’s becoming more and more expensive [....] I asked [a friend] to hang out, and she asked me if we can just bring our own packed lunches, as she spent money during the break, and I’m like, yeah sure, let’s not spend another $20 on a meal.

“I’ve noticed an increase in public transportation prices: The one-way tickets are more expensive. The thing is with inflation, products increase by maybe one or two dollars, or even a few cents, but when they are ac cumulated, you can’t buy as much anymore, or you require more funding

[....] I live in the Plateau, in a very small, but cozy, place with three peo ple. But it’s not expensive, my rent is below $600, and everyone pays less than $600. But I’ve been in that apartment for two years now, and for two years, [our landlord] has increased the price per year to accommodate with inflation.”

Michael, U2 Engineering: “For tunately, I’m privileged enough to have my parents give me a monthly allowance. However, that amount has not changed for a bit now, so with the same amount of money I’m buy ing less stuff now. I used to be able to save a bit every month, but it’s a bit harder now because things cost more, so I can’t really keep up with my old spending habits. Inflation has also made WileyPLUS [an online learning program that integrates digital text books with other student resources] super expensive. I haven’t bought that yet and that decision has made my grades in one class suffer a little bit. I would never pirate textbooks, I’d never save money on that.”

How has your financial situation shaped how you are planning and thinking about your future?

Manon, U2 Arts: “Though I was not planning in the first place to stay here, [inflation] really made me realize that I don’t want to live in Cana da. I think that in Canada, when inflation rises, the [government] doesn’t really help nor subsidize essential goods. I feel like in Europe, inflation is more managed, though that’s just my consumer point of view [....] When I compare my grocery expenses to my friends in Europe, it’s completely different.

“Rent-wise, I came to McGill because I was told that ‘oh, Montréal is a very cheap place to live’, which I could argue with: Everyone says that, but they say that only because in Canada, it’s the cheapest place to live. But a lot of people pay almost $1,000 a month, which is huge [....] So now, with food prices rising, all my friends are trying to find the cheapest places to get groceries, which kind of sounds crazy, because it’s a problem we didn’t know we would have to deal with when we moved to Montréal.”

Anjali, U3 Arts : “The thought of the future is really terrifying, especially being an Arts student—not that our employment op portunities are less, just that they are less concrete and solid than those of ‘pragmatic’ majors in faculties like Science. At this point, despite loving my hometown of Toronto, the likelihood that I’ll actually be able to afford housing there is slim [....] Ideally, I would save money by staying at home in Toronto, except prices in Toronto are insane. So maybe I would choose a different program in a smaller city just to save that amount. I wouldn’t be in an en vironment that I love, but I’d financially be more secure. I think generally for young Canadians, we’re all panicking a little bit about housing being completely unaffordable, and it’s not a good situation to be stepping into as we come out of young adulthood.”

Michael Peng, U2 Engineering

Bérénice Collignon, U4 Arts

Lou Secher, U3 Education

Lucille, U2 Arts: “I am pretty sure that I’ll have to reduce my options when choosing where I’ll go for my master’s degree, as I probably won’t be able to afford to go to a private university (with no financial aid from the institution). As an inter national student, inflation has not affected my decision to remain in Montreal. I honestly love this city too much to even think about leav ing before the end of my degree.”

Bérénice: “The Euro lost its value, so that kind of means that it costs more to come here than it used to in the past. So that’s a little annoying, I’m not going to lie. When you consider your cost of transportation and the living expenses before this conver sion rate, it was more accessible because the Euro was stronger, but it’s not the case any more.”

What do you think about the student culture at McGill surrounding money?

Michael : “Everyone likes to act like they’re broke; people like to compare how little money they have. Comparing brokeness is not a great thing to do, it’s annoying and it really undermines the struggle of people who do need to work in order to pay their bills [....] It’s just not a very healthy habit overall for a community like this.”

Manon: “When you talk about money with certain people, they like to talk about it and they’re not ashamed to talk about it. But you can kind of see who doesn’t want to talk about it because they’re struggling, and it kind of creates an [imbalance], which is unfair [....] I feel like there’s a huge gap between people who have a lot of money and people who are on scholarships who are more careful about their money, or people who are here as internation al students and pay more, so they are more careful about their expenses.”

Anjali: “It’s more subconscious than anything: We don’t recognize where people’s limitations exist, because if you are someone with wealth, you don’t have those lim itations. A lot of students at Mc Gill are very privileged and come from socioeconomic backgrounds that are maybe between up per-middle to upper class. There’s not much representation of lower socioeconomic income students, so there’s kind of an assumption that you can afford everything, and that there’s not a consequence to spending money.

“I also think that there is a self-con sciousness about not spending, though there shouldn’t be, because we’re all students and supposedly working on smaller budgets, but there totally is. There’s also a lot of posturing about [offering] financial support if you need it, such as through a reimbursement on your membership fees for a club. But at the end of the day, it does feel very [much like] pos turing. And it’s not there as a real option.”

What is your call to action for McGill, if you have one, for students impacted by inflation?

Manon: “McGill should definitely help people who are on scholarships, like those who have a hard time paying for grocer ies and essentials. I know a lot of people have a very tight bud get, and at the end of the month, they barely eat anything and only snack, which is really unhealthy and also affects your academic work. I think food is the main thing: Products from McGill are quite expensive, so I think sub sidizing them or having cheaper options would be nice. Or, offer ing meal deals in the cafeteria—I know RVC does the $8 breakfast days, which they could also do for lunch and dinner so that more students could benefit from them.”

Anjali : “It’s hard to say, but I feel like the best resources would be more spaces available to prepare food that is brought from home, or providing lockers for students free of charge, so they can maybe keep snacks on campus and [don’t] have to buy something every time they come to school. Also, if you hold a position of power in student clubs, pay attention to accessibility, especially finan cial accessibility for your club members.”

Russell : “I would say to release more on-campus jobs and to promote them more. I found my job at the McGill gym by actively looking for it. If I was not ac tively seeking it, I wouldn’t have found that opportunity. It’s just hard to find.”

Lou : “[McGill could] make health[care] more accessible, and stop telling us to go private and pay upfront, then get reimbursed, because that is just so unrealistic. I’m sure some students can afford it like I can, but it takes a lot of planning and budgeting. One of my roommates once at the phar macy couldn’t figure out her insur ance, and had to pay around $600 out of pocket, and that’s a crazy amount when you are a student. What are you supposed to do if you don’t have a credit card, or when you don’t have parents who can help out? You can’t skip your meds. It would also be great if they could offer more ser vices at the Wellness Hub, because what else are you supposed to do as an international student if you can’t pay the fees up front at the clinic?”

It’s important that we continue to make visible how inflation unevenly affects us as students. Though talking about the issue might not prompt large-scale action from the federal govern ment, it can urge McGill to implement changes on campus that consider the financial barriers behind academic success and overall student wellbeing.

DESIGN BY SHIREEN AAMIR, DESIGN EDITOR PHOTOS BY WENDY LIN, MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

Russell Chen, U2 Management

Manon Fillon-Ashida, U2 Arts

Lucille Applegate, U2 Arts

Anjali Mehindiratta, U3 Arts

Modelling rising sea levels based on planetary warming scenarios

Paris Agreement objectives must be met to prevent substantial sea level increases

Noor Randhawa Contributor

In the past few decades, human-driven glob al warming has left many questioning the future of the Earth’s oceanic dynamics and the implications of altering them. The Antarctic ice sheet (AIS), the largest body of ice on the planet, is retreating at an accelerated rate due to increased greenhouse gas emissions causing sea levels to rise. The Western Antarctic ice sheet is of particular concern to scientists as it contrib utes 25 per cent of total yearly global ice sheet melt.

Ice sheets are formed by snow and oceanic water freezing. They are embedded in bedrock but also have parts that float on the ocean’s sur face, known as ice shelves. Ice shelves play an important role in maintaining the stability of ice sheets, and act as buttresses by slowing down ice flow. Thinning, or loss of ice shelves due to warm oceanic currents and atmospheric tem peratures, causes marine ice sheet instability— when ice thickness drops below certain values and structural failures occur, leading to break age or calving of the ice.

The loss of buttressing ice shelves is a con cern for many researchers, as it can lead to ice sheet loss and a subsequent rise in sea levels.

The 2016 Paris Agreement aimed to limit global warming by the end of this century to a maximum increase of 1.5ºC to 2ºC above preindustrial levels. Natalya Gomez, an associ ate professor at McGill’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, recently co-authored a research article in Nature which modelled pos sible responses of the Antarctic ice sheet to 1.5, 2, and 3 degree rises in global temperatures.

Computer models were made using geo logical records depicting previous Antarctic ice sheet behaviours and their contributions to sea levels. A wide range of parameters, such as hydrofracturing—the disintegration of the bed rock supporting the ice sheet—were integrated into the simulations. Uncertainty within the

parameters was accounted for using geological observations and statistical methods.

“There’s a wide range of projections of what the ice sheets may do in the future. We have captured the worst case scenarios,” Gomez said in an interview with The McGill Tribune “Our model includes processes such as marine cliff instability and ice shelf hydrofracturing [....] Previous works have introduced these ef fects which allow us to consider a more realistic forcing of the ice shelf.”

Gomez’s team found that in the 1.5ºC and 2ºC warming scenarios, models predicted a sim ilar rate of Antarctic ice loss at the end of this century as today, with a median contribution to sea levels of eight and nine centimetres re spectively by 2100. The 3ºC simulations, how ever, predicted accelerated rates of Antarctic ice loss due to thinning and hydrofracturing of ice shelves. In more extreme simulations, ice insta bilities became omnipresent across Antarctica, with a median contribution of 34 centimetres to sea levels by 2100. By 2300, average global sea levels in the 3ºC warming simulations are expected to reach 9.6 metres via Antarctic ice contributions, which is 10 times more than the 1.5ºC warming scenario.

Although imagining the flooding of our home planet is not a comforting thought, climate technologies and renewable energy sources are becoming more prevalent, showing promise for the future.

“We have the technology and solutions al ready there,” Gomez said.

Additionally, more sustainable policies should be adopted, such as green taxes for en vironmentally harmful activities, increased investments in renewable energy sources, and protection of natural ecosystems.

In light of these findings, governments worldwide must closely adhere to the Paris Agreement since the consequences of exceed ing the limits set by the treaty do not paint a bright future for our planet, and all life that in habits it.

If the entire Antarctic ice sheet melted, sea levels would increase by 60 metres. (Sofia Stankovic / The McGill Tribune)

McGill’s Book Fair makes its long-awaited return to Redpath Hall

50th edition brought back thousands of books and bookworms

Melissa Carter Staff Writer

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, McGill’s beloved Book Fair returned to campus. Tens of thousands of books—divided into 37 categories––were crammed into every corner of Redpath Hall. Between Oct. 18 and 20, students, booksellers, and the general public enjoyed the Fair’s 50th edition.

The Book Fair is organized by the McGill Alumni Association and has been part of the McGill community since 1971. The organization collects donations and sells them to raise money for McGill scholarships and bursaries, including the Book Fair Bursary in Music and the Jane B. Hood Bursary in English Literature, in addition to the McGill Book Fair for all undergraduate students.

The Book Fair has overcome many hurdles, the latest being the COVID-19 pandemic. Anne Williams, co-coordinator of the Book Fair, reflected upon how the organizers had to adjust to this setback in an interview with The McGill Tribune

“We had to remember [the

process of preparing the Book Fair], you know, and reinvent everything,” Williams said. “So, there were a few problems along the way, but it’s working out.”

Despite hardships over the last two years, the Book Fair has landed back on its feet. In only three short days, the organization raised approximately $50,000 for their bursaries and scholarships. Williams and her fellow cocoordinator, Susan Woodruff, credit this success to the sheer volume of books and high-quality pieces from donors that are often worth hundreds of dollars.

The Fair sells everything from novels, vinyls, CDs, and DVDs, to sheet music—in both

English and French. Books at the Fair are incredibly affordable, rarely stretching over five dollars even for mint-condition pieces— with the exception of rare and collectible books.

“I don’t see why I would buy a new book for 30 dollars when I can get the same one for like two dollars,” Sophie BrunelleNewman, U4 Arts, told the Tribune

On top of their affordability, most books are in pristine condition. The book’s high quality is due to the Book Fair’s months-long effort of collecting donations, sorting, curating, and pricing books in preparation for the October sale.

Many library frequenters may be familiar with the notorious free book piles left outside Redpath Hall throughout the year. Woodruff explains how only the best among these make it to the shelves of the Book Fair, while less immaculate books are given out in free boxes to the students of McGill, or sent off to Renaissance, the Book Fair’s not-for-profit partner.

Much like the enormous traffic on the fair’s opening day, McGill students’ enthusiasm toward these free piles was a source of astonishment and encouragement for Williams.

“They always amaze us how the boxes go out and [students] are like vultures on the terrace; all of

On finding references, letters, and research connections How to flourish for your future in academia

Matthew Molinaro Managing Editor

You’re thinking of going to graduate school or professional school. You’ve lined up the universities where you wish to apply––research-intensive Canadian universities, British universities with specialized masters, our Southern neighbour’s Ivies, and high-performing public institutions all make the list. You stumble not on the personal and research statement, not on the potential standardized test, and not on the resumé. It is the recommendation letter(s) that have yet to be written, faculty members who have yet to be emailed, and you are at a loss for where to begin.

For those of us who started, finished, and continued our education through the COVID-19 pandemic, with its severe impacts on inequality and mental health, the letters prove to be a challenge that asks us to salvage or even create personal and intimate connections with professors that the public health measures inhibited. But there’s still hope, and possibility, and most importantly, time. To assist students working through applications, The McGill Tribune has compiled a guide to reference letters.

Go through the archives of your education

If you’re applying to graduate school, you have already taken a few years’ worth

of courses. Go through your MyCourses page, back to the years of your youth. What courses stick out? What patterns slowly reveal themselves? Where did you succeed, and how does that tie in to your research interests? For example, you’re working on a portfolio for an MA in English with a specialization in creative writing. The classes where you exhibited innovation and artistry, both in your creative and critical writing, should be your first stop.

You might be trying to head to a specialized graduate program after a degree in one of McGill’s larger undergraduate programs: Engineering, biology, economics, political science, psychology, to name just a few. You are not a number, a black screen in a Zoom meeting, or just a face in a lecture of 600 people. Take it one step at a time, and put it in perspective. Why did your labour economics course make you more interested in a pathway in environmental policy? What about a research course on evolution pushed you toward critical museum studies? Start collecting assignments where you did well. Once again, returning to the past, something central to crafting a personal statement and CV, will prove useful to this process.

Reach out, reach out, reach out

With a welcome return to the present––seemingly never-ending midterms and your obligations to caring for yourself––

start reaching out. You’ve seen the past, and gotten a sense of the professors to contact. If you’ve done research courses, research assistantships, or independent projects, courses, or theses, pat yourself on the back. For those who missed these opportunities––it’s not only difficult overall to break through, but systemic barriers still in place at institutions prevent women, people of colour, queer and trans people, people with disabilities, and lower-income people from entering––look to what’s in your toolkit. Graduate

a sudden [the books] are gone,” Williams said.

Brunelle-Newman agreed that the Book Fair brings something unique to the McGill campus.

“I imagine that a lot of people from the McGill community bring books that they’ve read, and then other people from the McGill community come, and then it’s like a book exchange, like a knowledge exchange,” BrunelleNewman said.

The Book Fair is clearly about much more than just selling books; as Brunelle-Newman points out, it is about growing McGill’s public literary culture and increasing accessibility to literature. The average student is unlikely to splurge on a new book, but when they cost three dollars each, students can enjoy books that they may not have otherwise sought out.

Above all, Woodruff is grateful for the Book Fair’s return following the COVID-19 lockdowns and the positive reception that the fair received.

“We have quite a big fan base,” Woodruff said. “Everybody at McGill was so excited to find us back.”

school should not be reserved for the loudest, the richest, the most privileged, or the closest to the professor.

That course on postcolonial political theory or anthropology of modern Africa or the history of human rights changed the course of your studies in international development, for instance. The professor will have an email listed in that syllabus. Reach out with grace and gratitude, and detail who you are, your interests, and why you wish to ask them. Remember that professors, especially on the tenure-track, untenured, and contract faculty are neither immune to institutional exhaustion, nor to their commitments to the profession, their families, and themselves. Make steps easier for them. Your email should be compelling and respectful, highlighting your performance in their class or asking for a brief meeting or interview.

Keep on keeping on If your professor(s) agree, remember that letters take care and effort to write. Give your referee time and space to think and craft. If your professor(s) do not agree, remember to reach out to multiple faculty members or check if you’re allowed to use professional references if you do not have connections.

Have courage, remember why you made this choice, and know that there are people who want to help you and who want to make space in institutions for bright and dynamic younger scholars.

Redpath Hall came alive from Oct. 18-20 with 37 categories of titles available for purchase. (mcgill.ca)

In-person office hours, networking events, and afterclass chats go a long way in creating professional and personal connections for your future opportuni ties. (Amanda Fiore / The McGill Tribune)

McGill Farmer’s Market builds a community of passionate vendors and students

Check out final edition this Thursday before winter calls

Margo Berthier Staff Writer

Continued from page 1.

Among these vendors is Mike Vasquez, son of Café Elba owner Elba Vasquez. Elba, who once worked as a coffee picker, wishes to give back

directly to these labourers. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Vasquez shared his mother’s story and the importance of selling at farmer’s markets.

“Attending markets is a political act enforcing the local economy to help fight back large corporations,” Vasquez said. “I created this coffee company with my mother, who grew up

on a coffee plantation in El Salvador. Over there, coffee labourers endure harsh conditions, picking grains on hillsides under the hot sun.”

Another exciting find at the market is Ochado, a tea business that bloomed from a brother-sister collaborati–on between Julie and Normand Vaillancourt. These siblings have been selling their locally-grown tea at the McGill Farmer’s Market for the past 10 years. Julie Vaillancourt told the Tribune why she’s so dedicated to selling at this market.

“We enjoy interacting with students. They always ask excellent questions and are very invested in discovering where the tea comes from,” said Vaillancourt. “It is so great to be able to educate people about Canada’s rich tea culture.”

Fresh produce

In addition to connecting students to local vendors, the Farmer’s Market team organizes the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This initiative offers local and seasonal produce through a weekly basket subscription service. The baskets originate from Co-op au Bout du Rang, a farm based in Saint-Félix-deValois that grows over 40 varieties of vegetables. Ranging from mauve aubergines to scarlet-red tomatoes, these colourful baskets are sure to bring flavour to your weekly recipes.

Felix Todd, U3 Geography, is a proud customer of the CSA program.

“Every week I get different items in these

Spooky season socials: Where to go this Halloweekend A guide to the spookiest events for your Halloween plans

Simi Ogunsola Contributor

The leaves everywhere are exploding into technicolour, the wind is urging you to pull your coat just a little closer and— let’s be real, it’s spooky season.

As October comes to a close, one of the greatest weekends of the year’s social calendar approaches: Halloweekend. How many costumes do you need? What parties should you attend? How on earth will one have the energy to party for three days straight before heading into that final midterm? These are all questions that plague students nationwide. But fear not, the Tribune is here with the answer to, possibly, the most important one: What should I do this Halloweekend?

Connect with your community

What’s especially isolating about Halloween is the overrepresentation of white voices, scary stories, and presences in the holiday at large. The following clubs and services, working to combat these problems outside of the context of Halloween year round, can offer you the treat of community.

The Hong Kong Student Network and the McGill Korean

Educational and Cultural Association, for example, are pairing up to host their “Boos and Booze” event at Muzique on Oct. 30.

On Oct. 25, Girls for Ghana will host a trivia night and social to support girls’ education and sustainable leadership in partnership with the Create Change foundation.

If you love the outdoors and have more than a pumpkin-spiced dash of competitive spirit, check out the Black Student Network’s (BSN) scavenger hunt. On Oct. 27, clues will be placed all over campus and players will have the chance to figure out the puzzle for a chance to win tickets to amusement park La Ronde’s annual Fright Night.

If you think treasure-hunting should be left to Luffy and his crew, perhaps a little scary movie night is more your speed. On Halloween, Oct. 31, the BSN will be hosting a scary movie night in collaboration with the Black Student Finance Society. The movie promises to be freaky and fantastical—plus, it’s produced by a Black director.

MASS’s Scary Stories Night

Maybe this round of midterms was a rough ride and you’re looking to kick up your feet and relax this Halloweekend. Hosted in the McGill

African Students’ Society (MASS) office, the club will be having an African horror stories night. You can listen in to ghastly stories and then vote for the story you thought was scariest, with prizes available to the winners. This event promises to be cozy, cute, and just the right amount of freaky.

MASS’s VP Social, Fabie Mbodji, invites you to “come get cozy and scared with MASS!”

Clubbing Ideas

For anyone who might happen to find themselves on St. Laurent around the scariest weekend of the year, the clubs there will have plenty of options for you.

For the creative party-goers who love to pull out all the stops with a costume, Café Campus is hosting a Tim Burton Creepy Halloween party on Oct. 28 and 29. If the Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands or the Mad Hatter are calling your name this Halloween, then this is a party you shouldn’t miss.

For those who have been pushed to the edge of their seats— or thrones—watching HBO’s House of the Dragon, Muzique has the perfect party for you. The dance club is hosting a Muzique x Game of Thrones x House of Dragon-

baskets, which allows me to try something new each time,” Todd said. “Knowing where the produce comes from helps me establish a closer link to the food I eat […] and I especially like coming to the market to socialize with familiar faces.”

Another source of fresh produce at the market comes straight from the Macdonald Campus Farm (MacFarm) at McGill. Florence Pelletier-Solasse, a researcher in nutrition at McGill, is in charge of selling the fresh fruits and vegetables cultivated by fellow university students at the MacFarm.

“Students are involved in research and production at the MacFarm, providing the market with fresh vegetables picked the same day,” Pelletier-Solasse told the Tribune. “I am very interested in dietetics, and at the Farmer’s Market, I like to answer people’s questions about nutrition and vegetables.”

So grab your reusable bag and wallet, and rush to the market to fill your kitchen with local goods and flavourful vegetables grown by farmers and fellow students. During your visit, you can engage with a welcoming community and chat with passionate vendors while supporting the local economy by purchasing from smaller, local businesses.

With a sprinkle of smiles, a handful of fresh produce, a scoop of local foods, and a dash of unique stories, the vendors at the McGill Farmer’s Market come equipped with a recipe to brighten your Thursday afternoons.

themed party. This is sure to be a memorable bash, so head over on Oct. 27…before winter comes.

For those who want to stretch their Halloweekend into more of a Hallow-I’ll-be-partying-this-wholeweek, Bar Blue Dog is having a Midterm Mix party on Oct. 26.

While not specifically Halloweenthemed, this party is a great way to

celebrate the end of this crazy exam season.

Finally, stop by Jet Nightclub on Oct. 28, 29 and 31, or Ecole Privée on Oct. 29 for more Halloween bashes.

Get out there this Halloweekend and do the scariest thing of all— socialize. With these great events, it’s sure to be a wild time.

The Farmer’s Market team at McGill sets up stalls every Thursday along McTavish to welcome local ven dors and hungry students. (farmtheworld.com)

The popular club on Crescent, Jet Nightclub, expects more than 1000 costumed guests at its Halloween party this year. (Sara Hashemi Nasab / The McGill Tribune)

Aimee DeLong Contributor

ARTS

‘The Loneliest Time’ offers up a mixed bag of delights and let-downs

Carly Rae Jepsen’s new album melds silky synth highs with more laidback tracks

Dana Prather Staff Writer

It’s

11:59 on a Thursday night. My friend and I wait with bated breath in Milton B, hurriedly refreshing Spotify. We’re not waiting for the café’s mediocre WiFi to load— we are waiting to listen to Midnights, Taylor Swift’s latest album. I knew all too well that the impending release would cause fans’ obses sions with her to begin again, and sure enough, the project is a compilation of tracks beyond a Swiftie’s wildest dreams.

While her latest original projects folklore (2020) and evermore (2020) adopted a more folksy and cozy vibe, Midnights feels closer to Lover or 1989 in terms of beats and musical ity. It abandons the acoustic sounds and instead opts for synth-infused tracks, which mesh well with the lyrics’ darker overarching tone. This gloomy energy appears in “You’re On Your Own, Kid”, which explores the hardships of a one-sided relationship. Yet, the album also fea tures more upbeat overtones in its explorations of love and heartbreak. Songs like “Midnight Rain” include unassuming electric piano riffs reminiscent of 80s dance music.

Swift starts the album off strong with “Lavender Haze,” which details the sanctity of a relationship remaining unscathed despite crit icisms from outside forces. Meanwhile, “Ques tion…?” stands in stark contrast to the first track by describing the uncertainties between

a couple. The line “And you’re not sure / and I don’t know” paints a picture of a couple with no clear path beyond their feelings for each other.

On the other hand, “Vigilante Shit” embraces Taylor’s darker, more vengeful side with the hook “Don’t get sad / get even.” Swift is still not someone to be trifled with in any capacity.

While all of its songs are delightful indi vidually, Midnights lacks cohesiveness. Given that the album is meant to define different nights from Swift’s life, it makes sense, but the abrupt mood shift between certain songs is jar ring. Additionally, Swift’s highly anticipated collaboration with Lana Del Rey on “Snow On The Beach” is lacking in one department—Del Rey herself. Although her voice can be very faintly heard in a couple lines, her role is less of a feature and more of a brief background ap pearance.

Midnights is everything we love about one of the world’s arguably most talented artists— clever lyrics, compelling storytelling, and relat able themes of love and loss. After all, Taylor Swift has retained her massive following for a reason. In your most vulnerable moments, her music will be there—all you have to do is meet her at midnight.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Midnights is available on all streaming platforms.

Asa long-time Carly Rae Jepsen lover, I have been eagerly awaiting new music since her last project, 2019’s Dedicated and the accompanying Dedicated Side B (2020). While Jepsen’s sixth studio album, The Loneliest Time, certainly doesn’t disappoint, it doesn’t quite knock your socks off either. Released on Oct. 21, the album sees this self-professed ambassador of love expand into slightly more reflective territory. Over 13 songs, she scratches the surface of cynicism, insecurity, and loneliness without ever fully abandoning her starry-eyed perspective.

Sonically, The Loneliest Time straddles a similar divide. A handful of songs flirt with a more mellow, vocals-focused sound, but the lion’s share of the tracklist keeps a tight hold

Batmanglij. The lead single “Western Wind” is as breezy and laidback as its title suggests, and the ballad “Go Find Yourself or What ever” uses soft, moody strings to underscore Jepsen’s resentful but ever-hopeful lyrics.

In terms of its pure pop songs, The Loneliest Time is at its best when Jepsen re visits the shimmering synths that made 2015’s E●MO●TION a critical darling and fan favou rite. Opening track “Surrender My Heart” and single “Talking to Myself” are pristine pop songs that feel like they have an instant place amongst her catalogue of dance-worthy beats.

“Shooting Star,” on the other hand, presents a grating disco-pop track with lyrics as forget table as its melody.

Altogether, The Loneliest Time makes for a fun listen with some delightful highlights, but don’t expect much in terms of surprises— most of the themes tackled are nothing new

Sofia Stankovic Contributor

The1975’s Being Funny in a Foreign Language is an eclectic new album that encapsulates the band’s shift into genre-mixing assortments. Filled with lively synth sounds—courtesy of star producer Jack Antonoff’s production—unlike The 1975’s pre vious work, the album abandons their alt-rock origins in favour of jazzier, pop notes.

“The 1975” introduces the album: The eponymous track that appears on every album, but with different formulations on each to show the band’s musical progression. This version is quicker-paced, more beat-driven, and much lon ger than on previous albums, and features the entire band rather than isolated vocals.

Frontman Matty Healy’s quirky and thought-provoking lyrics are, as always, the highlight of the entry. With lyrics like ‘I like my men like I like my coffee / full of soy milk and so

sweet it won’t offend anybody’ in “Part of the Band”, The 1975 retain their culturally relevant lyrics, while poking fun at their younger, social ly conscious demographic.

The 1975’s success has come largely from

on her signature 80s synth-pop melodies. The result? A fun, albeit fairly incohesive, album that will keep you moving and grooving without much too contemplation of its over all message. Despite its title purporting to be about loneliness, most of the tunes only dive into darker themes for a line or two before re surfacing to take on more light-hearted fare.

The album’s more laid-back tracks ben efit greatly from the skillful production of for mer Vampire Weekend band member Rostam

for Jepsen. Indeed, the Canadian pop star has made a career out of creating soundtracks for her and her audiences’ lovestruck fantasies and blissful first kisses. Amidst her discogra phy of hopeless romantic bubblegum pop, The Loneliest Time fits in perfectly.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Loneliest Time is available now on all streaming platforms. Carly Rae Jepsen is continuing the North American leg of her ‘So Nice Tour’ until November 2022.

their bold lyrical prowess, but also from their collective chemistry, which has only improved in recent years. “Looking For Somebody (To Love)” is one of the album’s highlights, with its upbeat 80s rhythm forming a stark contrast to its

dark lyrics. This juxtaposition is not only strik ing, but is quintessentially Matty Healy. One also can’t forget “About You” - the most en joyable song of the album––featuring guitarist Adam Hann’s longtime partner Carly Holt. The tempo and lyrics are reminiscent of earlier The 1975 songs, such as “Inside Your Mind” (2018) and “Medicine” (2014).

Some fans consider this album weaker than their earlier work due to its lack of catchy alter native ballads, which were largely the reason the band amassed such popularity. The album, however, is a tribute to the band’s personal rap port, as well as their appreciation towards their fans who have supported them through their musical evolution. The album is a must-listen for longtime fans, as well as new listeners look ing to understand The 1975’s ever-changing discography.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Being Funny In a Foreign Language is now streaming on all streaming platforms

Jack Antonoff lends producing credits on the pop-driven album about love

Taylor Swift’s 10th studio album, ‘Midnights,’ does not disappoint

The 1975’s new album is a triumph of genre-mixing tracks

Miss Americana is back, and so is her pop persona

Three hours after the initial release of ’Midnights,’ Swift released ‘Midnights: 3 a.m. edition’ with seven additional songs. (stereogum.com)

UK-based band “The 1975”’s fifth studio album has received critical acclaim for its bold, new-wave sound. (brooklynvegan.com)

In an interview with CBC, Jepsen expressed that she hoped the album’s variety would reflect her own multifaceted identity. (ew.com)

The raw, ubiquitous power of body horror When films elevate horror beyond shock value

Natasha Kinne Contributor

Mild spoilers ahead for Raw and Saint Maud

Withweak plot lines, un derdeveloped charac ters, and often cliché moralistic endings—such as the least-likely-to-survive character ending up as the final girl—slasher films serve one purpose: To disgust. Films like the cult classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and constant rehashings of Evil Dead feature brutal amputations that could make even the most stoic person sick to their stomach. The scope of disgust in these films, however, appeals mainly to our base senses to elicit emotional responses from the audi ence.

Beyond fear of a possible in truder, which Open House and the Strangers franchise can drum up, slashers do not inspire contempla tions of social and political issues, such as women’s rights and religion. Though few would displace slasher films in the horror cosmos, many movie-goers find their body horror gratuitous and pointless. For me, the gore is gratuitous because it is pointless. But body horror should not be interpreted nor deployed in a vacuum––films like Raw and Saint Maud elevate horror from superflu ous gore and story-telling to drama

that evokes both sensory responses and social reflection from viewers.

Julia Ducournau’s acclaimed film Raw (2016) sees Justine, a staunch vegetarian sheltered from the taste of meat by her overbear ing parents, slowly develop a taste for human flesh once she moves away for veterinarian school. While the film misleads viewers by plac ing Justine’s descent into cannibal ism as the central plotline, Raw is a woman’s coming-of-age story at its core. The appalling images of canni balism—complete with blood, hair, and all—portray the grotesqueness and shame of embodying woman hood. Scenes of sexual exploration usually preface the cannibalistic scenes in the film. Ducournau com bines images of cannibalism and sex as both fundamental acts of the flesh. The raw or unrefined act of sex rein forces our presiding animalistic in stincts, which women are often con ditioned to repress. Raw leverages gore to encapsulate the horror that bodies induce, especially in periods of exploration and discovery.

A revered A24 film, Saint Maud (2019) provides complex commentary on religion through modes of bodily suffering. The titu lar character, Maud, takes up a post as a live-in nurse after experiencing a religious awakening. Maud’s pa tient Amanda, a terminally ill athe ist, presents signs of illness which

Maud sees as the affliction of the patient’s misguided soul. Illness and death are the most gripping types of body horror because no one can evade the effects of aging and sick ness. In an attempt to regain control over the inescapable reality of mor tality, humans moralize pain and death. Maud believes the patient’s physical suffering on Earth simply foretells her eternal suffering after death. Relying on this model of correlation between pain and suf fering, director Rose Glass creates a self-conscious paradox of Christian theology, as Maud practices mortifi cation of the flesh to achieve salva tion and part with suffering. Maud’s appalling treatment of her own body in the name of God posits pain as inescapably real and God’s distant, disembodied voice as comparably illusive; religion cannot be substan tiated in the same way that physi cal pain can. Though Glass takes a critical position on religion, she uses Maud’s horrible death to demon

strate the crucial importance of suf fering to Christian theology.

Horror derives its merit as a genre from its inclusions of other genres, such as drama or comedy. Horror can be funny in a morbid way, as in Shyamalan’s The Visit, or emotionally charged, as in Kent’s The Babadook. Unlike drama and comedy, horror has the potential to affect audiences on a sensory and emotional level through disturbing presentations of the body. Many other movies live up to the standards of Raw and Saint Maud in terms of using body horror to make important claims about how the human body grapples with women’s adolescence and religious piety. Ducournau’s Titane, Mirabella-Davis’s Swallow, and Brandon Cronenberg’s Anti viral access themes such as fame, domestic life, disordered eating, and women’s sexuality. I encourage you to give horror another try this Hal loween and embrace the power of the body.

Artist Spotlight: Silverstein and emo rock revival

Canadian band is back to give emo rock a new makeover

Adam Motaouakkil Contributor

Picturethe summer of 2007: Post ers of Linkin Park and Green Day plaster teenagers’ rooms, hair gel is used excessively to style straightened comb-overs, and MP3 players still exist. The emo wave rocked an entire genera tion and defined the scalps of Skrillex, early-career Cristiano Ronaldo, and so many more. Even EDM was going through its emo phase—the Tecktonik. It was the best of times, it was the sad dest of times.

In February 2000, a group of Ca nadian high school students decided to ride the early wave of emo rock music and officially formed the band Silver stein. By May 2003, they had released multiple EPs and a full-length album, all filled with distorted guitar parts along side thick bass riffs and screaming vo cals. Silverstein’s emotional music was tapping into the heavy hearts of millions of Canadians. Later hits from 2005 like “My Heroine” and “Smile in Your Sleep” feature memorable melodies and became anthems of emo rock. With half a million records sold following these successes, Silverstein had a global reach and peaked in popularity.

But at the turn of the decade, with the recession in full force, people were growing tired of feeling sad. Emo faced backlash, and musical acts rebranded. Although emo music fell increasingly out of the billboard charts, Silverstein remained faithful to their roots. Their sound matured throughout album re leases, featuring more synthesizers and sequencers which created a more mod ern repertoire. Lead singer Shane Told recalls this progression with fondness.

“We were just kids, and everyone was the same,” Told said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “Then you re alize that people are into different things. It’s important to try new things [….] We wanted to relinquish all that electronic music. We asked ourselves, ‘Who cares?’ Next thing you know, there’s a whole other world out there and another sound palate to the band.”

In 2020, when the band was about to tour for the release of their album A Beautiful Place to Drown, countries were shuttering their borders because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a can celled tour and a lot of downtime, Sil verstein was back on the writing board.

“Songs were written entirely dur ing quarantine in 2020 and 2021,” Told said. “We weren’t getting together, we

just sent files and hearts back and forth. It was a dark time.”

Those songs became the basis for their recent album Misery Made Me, re corded in 2021 and released in time for their comeback tour in 2022. The album is an exciting blend of their emo and electronic sounds. Layered vocals and reverb permeate the record with effects, immersing listeners in a unique acoustic experience. Told remembers less “mis ery” and more of the joy of being back with the band when they recorded the album.

SSMU Scunt & Movie Night

Join Cocoa & Cacao and K-Rave for their Halloween Scunt (scavenger hunt) and movie night! Teams of 4-5, and winners will get prizes. Costumes encouraged, Movie TBA.

Thursday Oct. 27, Scunt 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m.; Movie 8 p.m.-10 p.m

SSMU University Centre, Lev Pukhman Room (203) Scunt $5 per person, sign up online; Movie free.

Halloween Karaoke/Comedy Show

Come to the ultimate spooky comedy/karaoke mashup at Cafe Cleopatra! Comics will sing and tell jokes, and a karaoke open mic will be after the show!

Sunday Oct. 30, 7 p.m.-11:30 p.m.

Cafe Cleopatra (1230 St. Laurent) $15 online, $20 at door.

Life Drawing Workshop

Practice figure drawing with Montreal’s top art models in a friendly, welcoming environment. Beginners welcome! Bring your own drawing material.

Wednesday Oct. 26 6:25 p.m.-8:30 p.m. 48 Notre Dame Ouest (Loft #201) $22.23 online.

Gather & Ground - A Photo Walk

Get in touch with your surroundings and like-minded photographers. Join local artists and photographers in a guided walk taking spontaneous pictures in real time

Saturday Oct. 29, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Meet at Sherbrooke Metro, exit St. Denis -> Rue de Free, $5 suggested donation.

“When we got together in the stu dio, it felt uplifting,” Told said. “We played golf, drank wine, and recorded the album. We had a cohesive idea about the whole record.”

Nu-metal motifs are scattered throughout the track “Slow Motion.”

“Don’t Wait Up” is a tight-sounding blast from Silverstein’s past sound. “The Altar/Mary” has listeners swimming in the sonic space brought by decaying keyboards and vocals until fast-paced and distorted instrumentals suddenly take over. The album is immaculately

mixed and produced, emphasizing the breadth of the various musical dimen sions Silverstein explores.

I was able to watch Silverstein perform on Oct. 1 at Theatre l’Olympia alongside Amity Affliction, Unity-TX, and Holding Absence. The crowd’s average age was between 30 and 40, a generation that grew up listening to this music more than 15 years ago. The mid2000s emo aesthetic was in full swing, and the crowd’s energy resembled that of the attendees’ raucous and angsty teenage selves. The opening acts were expressive, guitars were distorted, and everyone was chanting out familiar lyrics. When Silverstein came up, the crowd roared with acclamation.

“It’s so fucking good to be back,” yelled an ecstatic Shane to the Olympia crowd.

I would have never imagined myself enjoying emo music, yet there I was, dancing and jumping to their hits. After a two-year hiatus, the stage lights shone brightly on Silverstein once again, reigniting a spark in emo music extinguished long ago. Whatever fire was lit that cold Saturday night, be it on St. Laurent or at the concert, it rekindled within me a sudden desire to mosh like it’s 2007.

In 2021, Julia Ducournau won the Palme d’Or for her film //Titane//, which uses body horror to comment on women’s sexuality. (womenandhollywood.com)

Hailing from Burlington, Ontario, Silverstein was among the numerous faces of the emo genre that dominated the mid-2000s. (Wyatt Clough)

Three NBA players to fill the shoes of Lebron James and Kevin Durant this 2022-2023 season

Nate Northfield Contributor

to the Conference Finals, only to lose to the unmatched depth of the Golden State Warriors.

Oct.

18 represented not only the start of the 2022-2023 NBA season, but a new era of basketball. The 2021-2022 season saw 22-year-old point guard and shooting guard Luka Doncic lead the Dallas Mavericks

Just a round later, fans were treated to veteran-like poise from Boston Celtics forward-guard Jayson Tatum, who confidently led his team to victory in a historically competitive Eastern Conference. The prowess of these young players is beginning

to overshadow the legacies of greats like Kevin Durant and Lebron James. Despite their notoriety and reign of dominance, it is time for new stars to shine. The McGill Tribune presents our picks for three potential players to fill the shoes of Durant and James this upcoming season.

Luka Doncic:

The Slovenian sniper has the deep arsenal and pure dominance it takes to be the next man up. At 23 years old, Luka Doncic became the youngest Mavericks player to reach 5,000 points and is the only NBA player in history to record 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 15 assists in under 30 minutes. With a remarkable 27-point first half in game six of last year’s Western Conference SemiFinal, Doncic gave his team the opportunity they needed for a game seven win against the defending Western champs, the Phoenix Suns.

Despite all signs pointing to a promising career, the absence of Jalen Brunson, who equalized the Mavericks’ offence with an average 21.6 points per game in the playoffs, could be a barrier to the Mavs’ development of a consistent rhythm. This year will be a true test of whether or not Doncic has the leadership qualities to lead a middling Mavs offence on a deep playoff run.

Ja Morant:

‘Ja’-dropping highlights, dynamism, and an unstoppable combination of energy and youth—these are the qualities that best describe Ja Morant. Last season, the young point guard earned his first All-Star and All-NBA selection. Morant was able to prove his clear prowess with the impressive feat of joining Kobe Bryant and Lebron James as one of the only players to record multiple 45-point games before the age of 23. But Morant’s success did not end with the regular season as he carried the Memphis Grizzlies to their first series win in eight years.

Morant’s most encouraging honour last year was his Most Improved Player award. Morant upgraded his field goal percentage from 44.9 to 49.3, along with his points per game from 19.1 to 27.4 in 2020-21. If Morant can continue to refine his game, a run for the title could be in order for the Grizzlies.

Jayson Tatum: Tatum has developed into one of the game’s most dangerous and prolific shot creators. The Duke Blue Devils alumnus made the greatest statement of his young career with a trip to the 2022 NBA finals. Tatum was the definition of a torch carrier for last season’s Celtics team, proven by his All-NBA honours and ranking as sixth in an extremely competitive MVP race. With the acquisition of Malcolm Brogdon, the Celtics are in a prime position to make another run at the title, as Brogdon’s shooting and playmaking should provide the much-needed offensive aid for Tatum.

Tatum’s got the skill, size, and ability it takes to ascend in the modern NBA. Perhaps his only potential setback is his performance in clutch scenarios—Tatum was held to only 13 points in 40 minutes during game six of last year’s NBA Finals. If Tatum wants to rise to greatness, he’s going to need to do better than 21.5 points per game in the NBA finals and learn to embrace the spotlight.

Climbing without a hijab: Iranian athlete subject to morality laws abroad

Tillie Burlock Sports Editor

Continued from page 1.

BBC Persian reported that Rekabi’s passport and mobile phone had been confiscated prior to boarding a plane back to Iran. Early on Oct. 18, an Instagram story was posted from an account said to be run by Rekabi claiming that her hijab “unintentionally had a problem.” It said that she was unexpectedly called on to climb, and that she would be headed back to Iran on her regularly scheduled timeline despite returning a day earlier than anticipated.

When Iranian athletes go abroad for international competition, the government often forces them to leave collateral in order to guarantee their return to Iran. Before leaving for Seoul, Rekabi handed over a cheque for over $35,000 USD and granted full power of attorney to Iran’s Mountaineering Federation to sell her family’s property if she did not return.

Upon her arrival back in Tehran, Rekabi was met by a huge gathering of supporters who united in the hopes of deterring her arrest. In an interview with state television, Rekabi reiterated that her move to compete without a hijab was inadvertent. However, BBC Persian

reported that this apology came as Rekabi had been threatened with the seizure of her family property.

Rekabi was then held at the National Olympics Academy of Iran under the watch of plainclothes officers, where she met with Iran’s sports minister. Despite previous statements by Iran’s Olympic chief that no punishment would come to Rekabi, she has since been placed under house arrest with the pretext of a postcompetition “resting period.”

The oppression of female athletes extends across borders. Rekabi’s story

bears resemblance to that of Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis player who was first forcibly disappeared, and then abruptly retired after making sexual assault allegations against a former Chinese vicepremier.

Rekabi is only the second athlete to defy the Iranian government’s compulsory dress code. In April 2019, Sadaf Khadem became the first Iranian woman to win an official boxing match, defeating Anne Chauvin. Khadem elected not to wear hijab during competition and feared that she would face arrest upon returning to

Iran. She has since defected to France.

Iran has a long and troubling history of silencing its outspoken athletes. Navid Afkari, an Iranian wrestler, was executed following his involvement in antigovernment protests. Iran’s only female Olympic medalist in taekwondo, Kimia Alizadeh, is one of several Iranian women who have chosen to defect from the country altogether. With few exceptions, female sports fans are barred from entering soccer stadiums in Iran. In September 2019, Iranian soccer fan Sahar Khodayari died in protest after setting herself on fire at a courthouse while facing trial for trying to enter a stadium disguised as a man.

Current players on Iran’s national soccer team chose to cover their country’s emblem as the national anthem played during a match against Senegal following Amini’s murder, and forward Sardar Azmoun expressed support for the ongoing protests.

The women’s rights movement in Iran and continued fear for Rekabi’s future and safety must serve as reminders that sports and politics will forever be intertwined.

The oppression of women athletes embodies the state’s broader attempt to regulate women’s bodies—a prerogative that is not exclusive to non-democratic nations, from the United States’ rush of anti-abortion laws to France’s hijab ban.

Women’s lives depend on the freedom to choose what they do with their bodies, in sport and in every aspect of life beyond it.

Doncic, Morant, and Tatum among the rising stars in new era of basketball

Elnaz Rekabi placed under house arrest after competing without a hijab

The 2022-23 season will mark Lebron’s 21st and Durant’s 15th year in the league (Charles Krupa / Associ ated Press).

The 2022-23 season will mark Lebron’s 21st and Durant’s 15th year in the league..

(@elnaz.rekabi:Instagram)

Varsity Round-up: What you missed in McGill sports from Oct. 19 to 23

The McGill Tribune Sports Section sums up the varsity action from this past weekend

Tillie Burlock, Philippe Haddad, Sumire KierkoszUeno, and Karan Kumar Sports Editor & Contributors

Men’s Baseball

After dominating UdeM in last week’s semi-finals 12-4 and 15-2, the Redbirds (21–8) were the sure favourites in the Quebec Baseball Championship matchup against the Concordia Stingers (12–10) on Oct. 22. A 4-0 win in the first game of the best-of-three series set McGill up to go for the sweep in game two.

The game started even-steven with each team recording a run in the first inning. After shutouts in the second and third innings for both teams, the game slipped away from the Stingers early in the fourth. After a leadoff single from third-baseman Matthew Rachman, right-fielder Will Bompey came up with a clutch twoRBI double, giving the team a 3-1 lead. The Redbirds sealed the deal in the top of the sixth after some wild

final 90 seconds of play when fourth-year forward Makenzie McCallum snapped one in, closing off the period with a one-goal lead in the Martlets’ favour.

The second period developed in the same fashion, with fast-paced back-and-forth action between the two teams, including a double minor penalty for Bishop’s that resulted in an unsuccessful four-minute power play for McGill. After a slashing penalty called on the Martlets and 50 seconds of four-on-four play, the Gaiters scored a power play goal to even the score with less than 30 seconds left on the clock.

An early Bishop’s goal at the top of the third sealed the deal, and despite generating a slew of offensive opportunities, McGill was unable to catch up. Even with aggressive offensive pressure all game long, the Martlets fell in a 2-1 final.

In a post-game interview with The McGill Tribune, Martlets head coach Alyssa Cecere emphasized that the loss wasn’t a setback for the team.

“What we’re working towards is getting better as a team every game, I thought that we did that [….] We showed up to play, kudos to them, they played very well.”

The Martlets fell 3-1 to Concordia on Oct. 23 and will play their next game on Oct. 28 against the University of Ottawa at McConnell Arena.

Men’s Lacrosse

pitching from the Stingers and a two-RBI single from centre-fielder Jett Jarvis for an 8-1 final score.

Redbirds starting pitcher Arthur “Cinch” Smith expressed how his teammates’ support helped lead the Redbirds to victory.

“The last time I played Concordia, I gave up seven runs. Today, I went out there, after the first [inning] I just put faith in my boys behind me and just tried to stay within myself and do the best I can to get these guys a win,” said Smith.

As the Redbirds’ roster includes 22 first years, head coach Casey Auerbach expressed his admiration at the team’s improvement since the start of the season.

“We have really been focusing on getting better each week [this season], and we took a big step last week against [UdeM],” said Auerbach. “Our lead-off hitters did a good job getting on base today, and we put some pressure on the defence, and that was our game plan today [....] It was a good team effort.”

Women’s Hockey

On Oct. 21, the McGill Martlets (0–2) faced off against the Bishop’s Gaiters (2–0) in the RSEQ home opener. The first period remained scoreless until the

On Oct. 19, the Redbirds’ (6–4) face-off against Bishop’s (7–3) ended in a thrilling victory to kick off Homecoming Week and Seniors Night. Fifth-year midfielder Ethan Forgrave opened the scoring with just four minutes to go in the first half, burying his first of three goals and embarking on a meaningful four-point night for the graduating senior. The Redbirds exited the first half 3-1 and maintained momentum carrying a 6-2 lead into halftime. In the third quarter, the Gaiters quickly buried two goals to get within striking distance of an even score but were staunched by fourth-year attacker Isaiah Cree’s first goal of the night. With a 7-4 score entering the fourth quarter, Bishop’s threatened again with back-to-back goals, but Cree sealed the deal with his second goal for an 8-6 final score.

Redbirds head coach Nicolas Soubry detailed his excitement for the team, especially the seniors, in a post-game interview with the Tribune.

“This is a group who lost two full seasons because of COVID-19 [and] our new guys really wanted to go out and thank them for keeping watch on our team during those hard years. Personally, I can’t express how proud I am of those guys and how happy I was for them to beat our Quebec rivals Bishop’s one more time.”

The Redbirds concluded their regular season with back-to-back losses this weekend against Queen’s and Trent University but will look to bounce back in the CUFLA sudden-death playoff round on Oct. 28, time TBD.

Men’s Rugby

On Oct. 23, the Redbirds (6–1) took on the Bishop’s Gaiters (4–3) in their final game of the regular season. The Redbirds took hold of the scoring early with thirdyear fullback Martin Laval kicking a penalty on, only to be matched by the Gaiters shortly thereafter. A minute later, first-year winger Alexandre Laurendeau opened the floodgates for the Redbirds, scoring an electric cross-field try right before halftime.

In the second half, Laval made another penalty kick, giving McGill the boost they needed to set up a phenomenal chasedown kick block and try from thirdyear inside centre, Alexandre Armstrong. Laval made two more consecutive penalty kicks to make it 26-3 before Laurendeau and second-year blindside flanker, Elliot Descarreaux, each added another try to give McGill the 36-3 win.

In a post-game interview with the Tribune, Descarreaux commented on the lopsided scoring effort.

“Our team is well balanced [….] We scored off mauls, off open play, off kicks; it shows that we are really clinical in everything we do. We worked to get that and it shows in the game.”

The Redbirds face the Gaiters in the first round of the RSEQ playoffs next weekend at Molson Stadium, time TBD.

*Philippe Haddad is a member of the 2022-2023 varsity Rugby roster but is currently out of play due to an injury.

Men’s Soccer

The McGill Redbirds (2–6–3) faced off against the Concordia Stingers (4–2–5) on Oct. 20 in their penultimate game of the regular season. After a slow start, the Redbirds’ offence began to heat up with a couple of scoring opportunities later in the first half but were unable to capitalize on any of them. With a number of starters out due to injury, including star forwards Joseph Getz and Pedro Gulli, McGill’s midfielders picked up the extra slack to keep pressure on Concordia’s defence while the Redbirds held firm in their own territory.

The second half remained scoreless but was marked by physicality and chippiness on both sides of the field, resulting in a total of seven yellow cards, including four to the Redbirds. A number of phenomenal saves by first-year goalkeeper Ludovyck Ciociola spearheaded a strong defensive effort to maintain the shutout. With a 0-0 final score, the match marked another draw on McGill’s record.

In a post-game interview with the //Tribune//, fourth-year defenceman Julian Huster highlighted the efforts of both the midfield and younger players on the team despite being short-handed.

“We played fearless and fluid football even though the numbers were thin on the bench with injuries. It’s a shame we didn’t come away with all three points because we deserved more than a draw.”

On Oct. 23, McGill dropped their final game of the season 3-0 to Sherbrooke, giving the Vert et Or their first win of the season.

FINAL SCORES

MEN’S BASEBALL

8-1

Redbirds best Stingers in Quebec Baseball Championship

WOMEN’S HOCKEY 2-1

Martlets succumb to Gaiters in home opener

MEN’S LACROSSE 8-6

McGill takes homecoming victory over Bishop’s MEN’S RUGBY 36-6

Redbirds dominate Gaiters in last regular season game

MEN’S SOCCER 0-0

McGill and Concordia draw scoreless.

10 Redbirds currently have batting averages higher than the MLB league wide average (McGill Athletics).

.McGill currently sits fourth in the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association rankings (Maeve Reilly/The McGill Tribune).