SSMU sanctions UGE for a week amidst debates on gender-neutral washroom motion
and the path toward knowing oneself
SPHR and Engineering Students for Palestine campaign against companies with ties to Israel’s genocide in Palestine at TechFair
Asher Kui Staff Writer
On Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, the McGill Engineering Career Centre hosted its annual TechFair at New Residence Hall, with more than 70 companies in attendance. Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance (SPHR) at McGill alleged that five of the participating corporations—Airbus,
Cisco Inc., Galvion, L’Oreal, and MDA Space—are linked to Israel’s genocide in Palestine.
According to SPHR, these five companies have direct ties with Israel’s military, manufacturing, or surveillance activities. Airbus, Galvion, and MDA Space have produced weapons and war technology that Israel deploys against Palestinians, L’Oreal operates some of its manufacturing plants on Palestinian lands, and Cisco Inc.’s technology is used to support the Israeli mili-
Where becomesknowledgecommunity
tary’s surveillance practices.
SPHR, along with Engineering Students for Palestine at McGill, have since initiated a “No Genociders at TechFair” email campaign that started on Jan. 22, urging McGill to immediately terminate its partnerships with these companies. On Jan. 30, SPHR also hosted a rally outside the McConnell Engineering Building, where a couple dozen people assembled to demand McGill remove the companies from the TechFair.
History Month on campus with BSN McGill
Events to look forward to throughout February McGill maintains it will not cut ties with the companies
Monique Kasonga Opinion Editor
This Black History Month, Montreal’s public libraries are doing what they do best: Creating space for learning, reflection, and community. Across the city, library programming—from interactive workshops introducing children to important Black historical figures, to film screenings exploring Black art, culture, and politics—highlights the richness of Black history. Standing alongside bilingual
reading lists created to highlight Black authors and texts, these events are a reminder that libraries are more than archives of knowledge; they are living, breathing spaces where history is preserved, stories are shared, and communities come together.
Libraries don’t just help people navigate the present—they anchor us to the past. In a city where Black communities have been pushed to the margins time and again, Montreal’s libraries safeguard and revive histories that might otherwise be erased.
Yasmine Mkaddam Contributor
The Black Students’ Network (BSN), a McGill club dedicated to addressing the interests and needs of Black McGill students, has a variety of activities planned in honour of this year’s Black History Month. BSN’s first week of Black History Month will focus on education and community building, with
events such as Black Women’s Entrepreneurship: Research vs. Reality on Feb. 4. On Thursday, Feb. 6, BSN will host the BSN x McGill African Students’ Society (MASS) First-Year Event, which marks the first collaborative event between two Black student clubs this month. The first week wraps up on Friday, Feb. 7 with CKUT Sounds & Pressure: Reggae in a Foreign Land, a night dedicated to the Caribbean diaspora and culture in Canada with film, music, food, and community.
(Julia Buckle / The Tribune)
SPHR and Engineering Students for Palestine campaign against companies with ties to Israel’s genocide in Palestine at TechFair
McGill maintains it will not cut ties with the companies
Asher Kui Staff Writer
Continued from page 1.
In an interview with The Tribune, a SPHR representative explained that the five companies have been primary focuses of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in recent years. BDS, formed in 2005 by a coalition of more than 170 Palestinian unions, professional associations, refugee networks, and other civic groups, aims to challenge international support of Israel.
“As primary targets of the BDS campaign, students have expressed their opinions again and again [...] that [they] will not tolerate the presence of weapon manufacturers or otherwise complicit companies on [their] campus,” the representative said. “We will take action against these companies, and I don’t see that changing until McGill [...] refuses to allow them on campus.”
A TechFair attendee, U1 Engineering, who wished to remain unnamed, expressed their reluctance to apply to Cisco Inc., one of the five companies, after learning about its involvement with Israel’s surveillance activity in Palestine and McGill’s failure to reprimand this involvement.
“[McGill is] not taking [the concerns raised by students] into consideration,” they told The Tribune
The SPHR representative also claimed that McGill has a long history of overlooking student concerns.
“Throughout the last year, students have made themselves clear time and time again,” they said. “McGill has responded […] by ignoring student demands, by brushing them off, and diverting students’ bureaucratic channels, by arresting students, by taking disciplinary cases against students who protest, and by calling private security to brutalize students’ protests on their own campus,” they said.
They referred to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)’s 2023 Fall Referendum, where students put forward the Policy Against Genocide in Palestine.
“What we saw at the time was a voter turnout for that referendum question that was higher than any voter turnout in [recent] McGill history,” the SPHR representative said.
Despite McGill’s warning that it would cut ties with SSMU if they adopted the policy, 78.7 per cent of non-abstaining voters—or 5,974 students—voted in favour of it. However, the policy was never passed as the Superior Court of Québec ordered an interlocutory injunction ordering the SSMU to refrain from its implementation.
In a written statement to The Tribune, the McGill Media Relations Office (MRO)
wrote that McGill does not assume responsibility for barring companies involved with Zionist interests from any involvement on campus, so long as their activities remain lawful.
“McGill career fairs tend to reflect market trends, notably industries with many positions open to university graduates,” the MRO wrote. “The University respects the
freedom of its diverse students to decide which industries and individual firms are of interest to them as employers.”
The SPHR representative maintained that protestors’ demands should be heard.
“It’s a majority of McGill students who support this cause,” the SPHR representative said. “It’s time that McGill responds to students with real change.”
SSMU announces direct reimbursement program for gender-affirming care health insurance claims
UGE and TPU worry about transparency and sustainability of new, non-Studentcare reimbursements
Mairin Burke News Editor
The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)’s Board of Directors (BoD) announced changes to its Gender Affirming Care (GAC) Plan via email on Jan. 23. Under the new plan, students seeking reimbursement for GAC will now submit requests to SSMU’s internal Gender and Sexuality Commissioner. Previously, these individuals would have submitted their claims to GreenShield, the insurance provider that offers SSMU’s broader Studentcare health and dental plan.
In SSMU’s email, the BoD reported that the Commissioner will anonymize GAC claims for review by their Gender and Sexuality Advocacy Committee. The current Commissioner, Bronwyn Walsh, confirmed in an interview with The Tribune that once the Committee approves these claims, the Commissioner will forward them to SSMU’s Finance Department, who will then distribute reimbursements.
“I hope it’s a comfort to people to know that their applications are going through a group of queer and trans people, rather than some kind of nebulous insurance company,” Walsh said.
Walsh further clarified that, unlike Studentcare’s GAC, SSMU would not require a gender dysphoria diagnosis for reimbursement.
Alice Postovskiy, representative of the Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE), spoke with The Tribune about how SSMU could be an improvement from Studentcare, which she claimed was a
“I, unfortunately, don’t think that most of the execs [...] [had] trans students’ best interests at heart, it was more [about] money,” Walsh said.
SSMU President Dymetri Taylor told The Tribune that planning publicly would have put the union at risk of being taken advantage of financially.
Rachel Bainbridge-Sedivy, a member of the Trans Patient Union (TPU), reported that the TPU was not consulted, despite their sustained efforts to improve the Studentcare plan.
ries about the program’s long-term stability once Walsh leaves their role.
“We worry that it would be very easy, a few years from now, for this to be either forgotten and underfunded or cut entirely without notifying students,” Bainbridge-Sedivy wrote.
Taylor stated that SSMU’s status as reimburser will not be “the new norm,” as SSMU is aware that it does not have the infrastructure or expertise to provide GAC reimbursement long-term.
“Put frankly, this isn’t the position we wanted to be in either”, Taylor wrote. “It’s a stopgap until finances can be properly rectified.”
“predatory insurance broker.”
“I trust the Gender and Sexuality Commissioner to not arbitrarily reject claims much more than I do an insurance company,” Postovskiy said.
However, both Walsh and Postovskiy expressed concerns about SSMU’s motivations behind the policy change, and the process through which this shift was made. According to Walsh, they learned of SSMU’s decision to assign their role reimbursement duties only a few weeks before all SSMU members were informed. Prior to this, the BoD had discussed the issue in confidential sessions. Walsh also claimed that the BoD proceeded with the change predominantly for financial reasons, after noticing they were losing money from the Studentcare model.
“We’ve met with representatives from Studentcare and Greenshield over this: we have valuable expertise on this topic in many ways, and we should have been consulted,” Bainbridge-Sedivy wrote to The Tribune
Postovskiy also criticized the SSMU’s decision to act in an insurance-provider role without putting proper accountability mechanisms to ensure the longevity of the reimbursement program.
“The SSMU does not have, in the same way an insurance company who signed a contract does, a commitment to [reimburse GAC],” Postovskiy said. “If an insurance company refuses to provide insurance, you can send them a formal demand letter and take legal action [....] [SSMU] could just cancel [the program]. They could just refuse to do it.”
Bainbridge-Sedivy also expressed wor-
Despite the changes SSMU has made to its GAC reimbursement structure, GAC will continue to follow the Studentcare plan’s terms of coverage. This means that Studentcare’s maximum reimbursement of $5000 CAD per GAC procedure, and lifetime maximum of $10,000 CAD, remain intact.
Bainbridge-Sedivy discussed the TPU’s concerns about the policy’s uncertain status.
“This is an improvement if and only if the SSMU has a rigorous plan to fund and manage this, and protections to ensure that keeps happening long term,” Bainbridge-Sedivy wrote. “The problem is that there is currently no evidence that they can do so competently, and if this falls apart, transgender students are worse off than they ever were.”
To submit a GAC claim for procedures happening this semester, fill out the SSMU Form for Gender Affirming Care. To be covered for procedures that occurred before Jan. 1, 2025, submit claims directly to Studentcare.
The Gender and Sexuality Advocacy Committee already reviews financial applications for the SSMU’s Queer Improvement and Partnership Solidarity bursary, which distributes funding to queer students for necessities and community projects. ( Sara Yim / The Tribune )
SPHR aimed to garner 500 letter signatures demanding that the Engineering Career Centre cease hosting five companies linked to Israel’s genocide on Gaza. ( Armen Erzingatzian / The Tribune )
SSMU sanctions UGE for a week amidst debates on gender-neutral washroom motion
UGE claims SSMU’s disciplinary action over unapproved posters w as illegitimate
Eliza Lee News Editor
On Jan. 20, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) imposed a seven-day financial sanction on the Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE) for putting up unapproved posters in the Leacock Building. This penalty meant that any purchases the UGE submitted to SSMU from Jan. 20 to Jan. 27 would be delayed reimbursement until after the sanction had ended.
UGE is a SSMU-affiliated group that aims to provide anti-oppressive, feminist, and trans-inclusive services to the McGill community and general public, including a pay-what-you-can co-op that supplies gender-affirming products and an alternative library.
UGE alleges that SSMU’s sanction was designed to suppress the group’s criticisms of SSMU’s handling of the Motion Regarding SSMU Building Gender Neutral Washrooms. The motion—which the SSMU Legislative Council approved on Dec. 5—aims to increase the number of gender-neutral washrooms in the University Centre. However, SSMU’s Board of Directors (BoD) postponed the motion’s ratification in its Jan. 7 and Jan. 28 meetings as the motion awaits legal review.
Alice Postovskiy, a representative of the UGE and former SSMU VicePresident (VP) Student Life candidate, explained that in the week of Jan. 13, the UGE put up a series of posters in Leacock and other buildings that were critical of the BoD’s decision to delay ratification. These posters included a QR code linking to an email template demanding the BoD pass the motion. The template argued ratification would increase the accessibility and privacy of washrooms for trans people, disabled people, people with children, and all community members at McGill.
Postovskiy noted that the email template also explicitly names SSMU Arts Representatives Rishi Kalaga and Emma Chen, who UGE alleges have been the most vocal opponents of the motion at recent BoD meetings.
“There are lots of people who perhaps have some authority over the postering in the Leacock Building, and also at SSMU, who would be unhappy with our calling out of their actions and also their legitimacy,” Postovskiy said. “So that, followed by a sanction [...] about these posters, which we think is clearly illegitimate and punitive, is why we’re pretty confident about calling this political retaliation.”
In a written statement to The Tribune , Kalaga explained that his opposition to the motion reflected concerns constituents had brought to him regarding student safety and security, particularly surrounding Gerts. In addition, he claimed there is a need for a legal review to take place to ensure that the motion adheres to the law before implementation.
“I completely support increased accessibility for transgender and non-binary students, and that some amendments to this motion will make it so that it is beneficial to all students,” Kalaga wrote.
Chen could not be reached for comment.
The group first received a warning of a postering violation from SSMU President Dymetri Taylor and Director of Clubs and Services Hamza Abu Alkhair on Jan. 16. Taylor and Abu Alkhair claimed that UGE had violated section 8.2.6 of the SSMU’s Internal Regulations for Student Groups by putting up posters in Leacock that the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) had not approved. Section 8.2.6 stipulates that clubs must follow SSMU and McGill’s by-laws and internal policies, as well as the law.
Postovskiy alleged that after the group received this warning, a UGE member walked through Leacock and claimed they did not find any of the group’s posters remaining. Based on their findings, UGE assumed the posters had all been taken down.
On Jan. 20, the group received another email from Taylor and Abu Alkhair notifying them that the student union was placing a financial sanction on UGE for unapproved posters.
Postovskiy told The Tribune that to her knowledge, no group members had put up additional posters since they received the warning. For this reason, she believed both the warning and the sanction referenced the initial batch of posters. Postovskiy speculated that SSMU enforced a sanction on posters that both AUS and UGE had overlooked, and had not removed, after the warning was issued.
Taylor maintained that the sanction was legitimate and that they were only put in place after UGE had twice put up posters without AUS’s approval. He denied that the sanction could have been applied to the same batch of posters, stating that AUS would have removed all the posters when the warning was issued.
AUS President Sophia Garofalo explained that she and her assistants removed UGE’s posters and stamped them with the time and date to ensure they were not accounted for twice. Garofalo also noted that the AUS has sent warnings to other groups such as Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance at McGill, Prep 101, and SSMU Elections for unapproved posters in the past.
“We are dedicated to ensuring that the UGE has a platform to make their voice heard, we have allowed them to poster after being stamped for their other events,” Garofalo wrote. “I hope we can encourage an open dialogue which utilizes their resources, and our resources in appropriate manners.”
Taylor also affirmed that sanctions for unapproved posters are not uncommon, and that SSMU has used this disciplinary measure on other groups this academic year for similar offences.
“The whole point of a sanction is to put pressure on an individual or a group, to correct misbehaviour,” Taylor said. “There’s not too many of those [kinds of sanctions] that exist, aside from either locking [a group] out of their room [in the University Centre], removing the room, removing their access to the building if
they have it, or a financial sanction.”
Although Postovskiy recognized that there was confusion about how UGE’s unapproved posters came to be sanctioned, she highlighted the greater importance of other concerns surrounding the penalty. For instance, Postovskiy pointed to the fact that Taylor and Abu Alkhair’s original emails did not explain what a financial sanction meant for UGE. She also alleged that SSMU did not respond to the group’s follow-up email inquiring about the details.
“The fact that [SSMU hasn’t] been willing to communicate, the fact that a financial sanction clearly has nothing to do with postering—it’s not like the sanction says you can’t put up posters for a week—makes it clear that the sanction itself is being done in retaliation, because it can’t really do anything besides hurt our services,” Postovskiy said.
UGE has not observed any financial impacts from the sanction so far, but Postovskiy reported that members remain unsure of the disciplinary measure’s effects after it has expired.
Taylor admitted that there should have been greater clarity surrounding the sanction against the UGE, and suggested potentially adding an appendix to the Internal Regulations that explains what different types of sanctions mean.
Addressing criticisms of SSMU’s delay of the motion, Taylor emphasized the need for the BoD to establish a clear path for funding and implementation before the motion is ratified.
“Converting bathrooms into [gender]neutral ones [...] takes money, and it takes the approval of McGill to even go on the step of getting fully-enclosed bathrooms that aren’t just stalls,” Taylor said. “The intention behind why it’s been held up is because of that lack of clear implementation, because the one thing no one wants to [do] is to approve something that doesn’t get done because [...] that plan does not exist.”
Taylor also noted that Abu Alkhair was given the power to sanction SSMU groups and services when the BoD delegated the responsibilities of the VP Student Life to his role as Director of Clubs and Services. As Taylor told The Tribune , this transferral of responsibilities is possi -
ble under 4.2.1 in section 9 of SSMU’s Internal Regulations of Governance, which states that the student union can delegate the duties of a vacant officer position to another SSMU executive or staff. According to Taylor, this regulation also aligns with Quebec’s Companies Act, which SSMU is legally beholden to.
Abe Berglas, SSMU VP University Affairs and the Legislative Council member who first proposed the motion, underscored the importance of increasing the number of gender-neutral washrooms in the University Centre in a written statement to The Tribune . They described this action as having “incredible symbolic significance,” particularly amidst the ongoing rise of transphobia on campus and in the general public.
“Increasing the number of genderneutral bathrooms in the University Centre is an important project for trans safety,” Berglas wrote. “Right now, the University Centre doesn’t conform to McGill’s resolution regarding gender-inclusive washrooms—we have no multi-stall gender-neutral washrooms, and over half of our floors don’t have one at all.”
Looking to the future, Postovskiy hopes to see SSMU ratify the motion and take steps to support trans advocacy on campus. For Postovskiy, this means that SSMU must go beyond simply “managing” clubs toward actively supporting them.
“The management of student groups according to SSMU’s other policies like the Equity Policy and the Trans Advocacy Plan requires supporting the advocacy that student groups do and requires putting in place [...] equitable practices, including for trans people,” Postovskiy said.
Berglas also called on SSMU to adhere to its Trans Advocacy Plan, which includes commitments such as platforming the work of trans students on campus and offering funding and support to student groups. Berglas also drew attention to the Plan’s condemnation of hate speech, “including hate speech that attempts to disguise itself as legitimate academic discussion or human rights concerns.”
“I hope that at the end of their term, all directors and executives can say that we have upheld these commitments,” Berglas wrote.
One of UGE’s services is offering a discretionary fund to non-profit groups in Montreal for social justice initiatives. ( Hannah Nobile / The Tribune )
Students report getting trapped in elevators of Sherbrooke 680/688 Building
McGill claims elevators are regularly inspected and should not cause problems
Olivia Ardito Staff Writer
On Oct. 3, Ella Bachrach, U1 Arts, walked into the elevator of Sherbrooke 680/688 on the ground floor, intending to travel up to the 13th floor. However, after Bachrach entered the elevator, the doors did not fully close behind her, leaving an inch-wide gap. While ascending, the elevator suddenly stopped moving and all the lights turned off. Bachrach remembers trying to find an emergency call button within the elevator but was unable to do so in the darkness. Fearing the elevator would fall 13 stories, she forced the doors open and managed to squeeze out.
“I was so scared that the elevator had lost power and would suddenly drop [.…] The adrenaline helped me,” Bachrach wrote to The Tribune
Sherbrooke 680/688 is home to a variety of programs, including the McGill Community for Lifelong Learning (MCLL) and its Language and Intercultural Communication unit, which are part of the School of Continuing Studies. The building also hosts a popular study area on its ninth floor. Because of this, the 21-storey building sees a high number of students entering, exiting, and travelling between floors daily.
After she was trapped in the elevator, Bachrach reported the incident to the building staff. She alleged that staff replied by saying such elevator-related incidents were extremely common.
Bachrach is not the only student to report technical difficulties with elevators. Sarah Alfaro, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) undergraduate, also reported being trapped in a 680/688 Sherbrooke elevator.
In Fall 2024, Alfaro took the elevator to the 19th or 20th floor of the building to go to class. Alfaro claimed that when the elevator reached her floor, the doors would not open to let her out. She repeatedly pressed the button to open the elevator door for minutes before they finally opened.
Alfaro recalls being unsure what to do in such a situation, especially since she did not know any classmates to contact to alert them of the problem. She also remembers wanting to call for help, but was unsure of who to contact.
“[The elevators] could be better, especially because it would really suck to be late in class because the elevator [got] stuck,” Alfaro said.
Bachrach told The Tribune that the building staff told her there is an electrical issue in the building that frequently causes these elevator problems.
In a written statement to The Tribune, the McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) denied these claims. The MRO explained that it is aware of a minimal number of elevator stoppages in the past year, citing nine, and that all were resolved within a minute before a response team could reach the elevators in question.
“The number of stoppages in the recent years does not point [to] any type of regular malfunctioning […] though we regret the inconvenience that even a single breakdown causes, elevators can malfunction for various reasons,” the MRO wrote.
The MRO noted that elevator stoppages are unrelated to any power or electrical issues in the building, and claimed that elevators are inspected on a regular basis to ensure the safety of staff and students.
“Elevator breakdowns are a regrettable inconvenience, but they should not be confused with safety issues,” the MRO wrote. “Furthermore, we have a rapid response protocol in place, including if someone is inside and anxious.”
Despite this, Bachrach expressed anxiety about taking the elevators in Sherbrooke 680/688 following her ex-
The Tribune Explains: Black Students’ Network Community Library
Student group seeking new volunteers to help manage the space
Kaitlyn Schramm News Editor
McGill’s Black Students’ Network (BSN) opened a Community Library on Feb. 28, 2024, for Black History Month. The Community Library is funded by SSMU student fees that uphold the BSN’s budget alongside the Black Equity Fund, which McGill launched as part of its Action Plan to Address AntiBlack Racism in 2020.
Why was it opened?
BSN President Nkwanzi Banage, U3 Arts, is responsible for the creation of the Library, and is currently in charge of running it. Banage aims to keep the library accessible and free for the entire student body, relying on the participation of volunteers to spread awareness.
perience.
“I always take the stairs in [Sherbrooke 680/688] now because I’m scared that it’ll happen again and I don’t know what I would do if the door wasn’t open a crack,” Bachrach wrote. “[I’m] not sure why it hasn’t been fixed yet but it definitely should be because getting stuck in the elevator is a big deterrent to students attending class.”
Schulich in Concert: McGill Celebrates Oscar Peterson at 100
Date: Feb. 5 (7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.)
Location: Elizabeth Wirth Music Building (and online webcast)
Price: $15 (Tickets available online or at the Schulich School of Music)
McGill’s Schulich School of Music will host an evening of jazz in honour of the iconic Oscar Peterson.
Distant Echoes of Africa
Date: Feb. 6 (7:30 p.m.)
Location: Centre Pierre-Péladeau, Salle Pierre-Mercure (UQÀM)
The Community Library is in the BSN office, unit 415 on the fourth floor of the University Centre, and includes a selection of over 400 books curated for Black students.
“The project was born out of my personal frustration from when I was unable to find an Angela Davis book that [McLennan Library Building] claimed to carry,” Banage elaborated. “These libraries house books that are often not prioritized in mainstream academic collections, and they offer an accessible space for underrepresented perspectives in academia.”
Banage elaborated on why she finds community libraries to be important spaces within larger institutions.
“These student-led libraries often curate collections that reflect the interests and realities of McGill’s student body, while providing a platform for peer-driven engagement with Black literature,” she emphasized.
What other McGill community libraries exist?
The Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG-McGill) hosts another student-run community library that focuses on provid -
ing anti-oppressive literature.
QPIRG-McGill has been operating since the 1980s, providing resources for students such as offering textbook loans and hosting events over the years.
QPIRG-McGill’s Resource Centre Coordinator, Tatiana Povoroznyuk, reflected on the group’s library space. “One of the biggest values of having a community library is that it truly is run by the community and we can make decisions quickly and
without a lot of the barriers that, for example, McGill libraries face in trying to improve their collections and add voices that may not be super well-spread,” Povoroznyuk said in an interview with The Tribune
The Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE) and Queer McGill jointly run the reportedly largest anglophone queer library with over 1,000 titles. The library is located in the UGE’s office—room 413 of the University Centre.
Price: $20 (Tickets available online) The Orchestre Classique de Montréal’s upcoming concert features Cameroonian-Canadian soprano Suzanne Taffot and Panamanian-American composer Kalena Bovell. It includes the premiere of Montrealbased Haitian composer David Bontemps’ Le Deuil des roses qui s’effeuillent premiere of Montreal-based Haitian composer David Bontemps’ Le Deuil des roses qui s’effeuillent
Rhythms & Resistance—Sounds & Pressure: Reggae in a Foreign Land
Date: Feb. 7 (5:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.)
Location: Espace ONF (Place des Arts)
Price: Free (tickets available online)
A screening of Sounds & Pressure: Reggae in a Foreign Land exploring the history of Toronto’s reggae scene through stories of trailblazers such as Roy Panton, Yvonne Harrison, Johnny Osbourne, and Nana McLean. The event includes a panel with directors Chris Flanagan and Graeme Mathieson, an exhibition launch by Afrosonic Innovation Lab, music by CKUT, and food by The Caribbean Food Factory.
Festival Afropolitain Nomade Concert
Date: Feb. 15 and 16 (6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.)
Location: McCord Stewart Museum
Price: $5 (Tickets available online or at the museum)
The McCord Stewart Museum and Festival Afropolitain Nomade are hosting a concert featuring the collaborative musical work of four artists in residence: Laura Niquay (Atikamekw), Lerie Sankofa (Côte d’Ivoire), Dalie Dandala (Congo), and Natasha Kanapé Fontaine (Innue).
Until 2017, Sherbrooke 680/688 was a shared space with Industrielle Alliance Insurance. ( Hannah Nobile / The Tribune )
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Concordia has
a Black Studies program. Why doesn’t McGill?
The Tribune Editorial Board
Concordia University recently announced the scheduled launching of a Minor in Black and African Diaspora Studies in the Canadian Context—the first Black Studies program in Quebec. This program, planned to start in Fall 2025, will contextualize Blackness through its local and global histories, cultures, and experiences. It aims to offer an academic space to explore and preserve Black histories, perspectives, and contributions to Canada. As a world-renowned institution, McGill has both the responsibility and the resources to follow suit and establish its own Black Studies program—one that would elevate Black scholarship and begin to reconcile the university’s long-standing institutional failures in addressing anti-Black racism. In the face of repeated demands for action by both students and faculty, and under their obligation as a signatory of the Scarborough Charter, McGill must demonstrate its commitment to inclusive and comprehensive postsecondary education. This conversation is not new to the university; the Black Students’ Network (BSN) has been advocating for an Africana Studies program since
Mairin Burke News Editor
CONTRIBUTORS
Growing up, I had near-perfect attendance. In Grade 1, my school pre-emptively excused us all due to a blizzard forecasted for the next day. But my dad and I still crunched stubbornly through the snowfall the following morning, where he deposited me with the only teacher who had managed to trek in.
I spent the whole day in the Grade 6 classroom, reverently listening to the teacher read Hatchet by Gary Paulson aloud.
When I got concussed during recess in Grade 5, my dad took me to the emergency clinic, made sure
1991, when a proposal was initially submitted and rejected. In 2018, the BSN brought the initiative back once more, proposing a Black Studies program in the Faculty of Arts aimed at providing an interdisciplinary approach to African and African diasporic histories, cultures, and contributions across the world. McGill has yet to implement a Black Studies program of any kind.
While McGill offers separate African Studies, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies, and World Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies programs, a dedicated Black Studies program would bridge these fields and provide a more comprehensive perspective on global Blackness. Unlike the targeted areas of East Asian Studies or Russian Studies, McGill’s current African Studies program treats the entire continent as one undifferentiated entity, reinforcing the reductive conception of Africa as a monolith, despite its 54 diverse countries. McGill’s failure to establish a focused Black Studies program after all this time highlights its unwillingness to take the demands of its student body—and the anti-Black racism that persists within its institutions— seriously.
The issue is also epistemological. McGill’s study of Africa and the
African diaspora often centres on colonialism, conflict, and crisis, rather than celebrating the intellectual, cultural, and historical richness of the continent and the diverse experiences of the Black diaspora. This gap is particularly concerning given Montreal’s long-established Haitian community whose contributions are absent from McGill’s curricula—a gap which represents a missed opportunity for students to understand the local and global dimensions of Black life.
Establishing a Black Studies program at McGill would not only enhance the university’s academic landscape but also set a powerful precedent. By creating such a program, McGill would affirm that Black studies are essential to academic rigour, prompting other Canadian universities to follow suit. A Black Studies program would also diversify the university’s intellectual and demographic makeup. This program has the potential to attract Black students and faculty with expertise, providing a space where they can engage with Black scholarship without the burden of justifying its place in the broader McGill curriculum or being tasked with the emotional and intellectual responsibility of educating their non-racialized peers.
McGill must also confront its history as an institution built on colonial wealth, including James McGill’s ties to slavery. The continued use of his name is a stark reminder of the university’s refusal to reckon with its past. Institutions worldwide have renamed themselves and their buildings associated with enslavers and colonial figures. McGill must do the same if it seeks to promote academic decolonization and address the historic role of higher education institutions in shaping knowledge about marginalized groups. The university has committed to fighting anti-Black racism through tangible institutional action, and a Black Studies program is the perfect way to enact this commitment. The push for a Black Studies program is also part of a broader call to action: McGill must prioritize hiring more Black faculty, encourage Black enrollment, and invest in long-term funding for Black academic research. This field of study is not an optional niche; it is a vital part of the future of academia. If McGill is committed to providing a worldclass education, it must prioritize a curriculum that authentically reflects the histories, cultures, and intellectual contributions of Black people worldwide.
Skipping class can be a studious choice
I didn’t need to be hospitalized, and then dropped me back at school right in time for last period. My Senior Skip Day filled me with immense anxiety: I had dropped the family mantle by playing hooky.
But at university, I have absolutely none of these qualms (sorry, Dad!). The agency that cutting class can give you, the productivity it can foster, and the mental hygiene it can support are truly magical. Last semester, when I was juggling six classes, ditching certain ones not only allowed me to effectively manage my academic and personal commitments; it kept me sane.
Skipping can’t just be done willy-nilly, though. It’s “strategic”: There are certain courses that you simply can and can’t be skipping while still aiming for academic achievement. Last semester’s 8:30 a.m. in Stewart Bio, recorded, with no participation grade? Perfect for a later catch-up. Conversely, any conference or small 400-level should never be missed; racking up all possible attendance points in such a class is crucial. Overall, the better you can gaslight yourself into believing it was necessary or appropriate to sleep through your Monday morning lecture
or ignore your Tuesday afternoon class, the less guilt you’ll feel skipping. All jokes aside, I’m a big fan of the strategic skip. Skipping class can immensely increase your capacity as both a student and a person. It’s important to rest and refocus your mind in the face of McGill’s rigorous academic environment. Occasionally skipping a class whose content you’re sure you can learn on your own when you’re feeling mentally overwhelmed can actually help you do your best. You won’t retain any information in class when you’re too stressed, anyway. Whether ditching to lock in at the library or to enjoy a hot dog on the Redpath Museum steps, this form of skip allows you to clear your brain and be more present moving forward. And now we get to my favourite part of skipping class: It reminds me of how much I actually want to be there. The greatest privilege of my life is to get to learn. To be at university, taught by incredible faculty among really bright people, is something I feel lucky for every single day. The relationships you can build with profs, TAs, and peers by going to class are often more worthwhile than even the greatest skip. At a school as large as McGill, feeling like people know you
and are personally there to support your learning is a huge win—one that can’t be realized without showing up for them, too.
I am a firm believer in committing as best as you can to all you’ve signed up for, and in seizing all the opportunities you are privileged enough to have in reach. This means that skipping—while more necessary than profs and admin might believe— must be done with the greatest discretion. Which is why I really don’t do it all that much. It’s an ace in the hole for reevaluating academic priorities from time to time, but shouldn’t stand in for the fulfillment a good class provokes.
Ultimately, the chance to learn something transformative and be suspended in wonder is what inspires me to show up and stay in class. I will never forget the enthrallment six-yearold me felt getting to sit beside older kids on that snow day, all of us hanging onto every word of Hatchet. At its best, a university class inspires that very same feeling: An overwhelming gratitude for being in the exact right room, at the exact right moment, with the exact right students, out of all the places and times and people in this world. I hope you feel that too.
Celine Li, Daniel Miksha, Ella Gomes, Jasjot Grewal Katie Lau
TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS TRIBUNE OFFICE STAFF
Alex Hawes Silva, Amelia Clark, Asher Kui, Annabella Lawlor, Bianca Sugunasiri, Bianca Tri, Daniel Miksha, Daniel Pyo, Ethan Kahn, Jamie Xie, Luken Castañeda Garces, Mahin Siddiki, Mairin Burke, Olivia Ardito, Reuben Noam, Samathar Senso, Sarah McDonald, Tamiyana Roemer, Zain Ahmed.
Aiqing Qiu, Anna Seger, Ariella Morgan, Eliot Loose, Lilly Guilbeault, Nour Khouri, Ruby Reimer, Ryan Dvorak.
Alexandra Lasser, Jenna Payette, Olivia Wigod, Siena Torres, Simona Culotta
Armen Erzingatzian, Julia Buckle, Sara Yim
COMMENTARY
Monique Kasonga Opinion Editor
Continued from page 1.
Where knowledge becomes community
Their collections document the city’s Black heritage, their programming celebrates Black voices, and their spaces offer room for Black conversation, organizing, and connection. In Montréal-Nord, Bibliothèque JulioJean-Pierre is hosting an art exhibit featuring a diverse range of Black artists, celebrating their foundational contribution to the city’s rich artistic heritage. Beyond the city’s public library system, archives documenting Black history in Montreal continue to expand at Concordia’s Vanier Library, while other municipalities across Quebec have also hosted exhibits in their libraries highlighting significant Black figures in the province’s history. Libraries are one of the few places left where one can exist without expectation, and where the simple act of gathering can be an act of resistance.
As students, libraries are so deeply embedded in our daily lives, and so connected to our rigorous academic schedules, that we often forget what a privilege it is to access them. With the stress of academic life, many of us move through our routines on autopilot, focused on the tasks we complete while in the library rather than the libraryvisiting experience itself. It mustn’t
COMMENTARY
Simona Culotta
Contributor
Dbe forgotten that libraries remain the cornerstones of the communities we come from and enter, offering space for knowledge acquisition and open access to information beyond the classroom. While library engagement in Quebec has been on the rise during recent years, the public library system has yet to return to its pre-pandemic levels of visits and document loans. A major issue is the constant shortage of staff: In 2022, over 1,300 full-time positions remained unfilled across Quebec’s library network. In an era of digital transformation, libraries are being asked to do more with less. And yet, they persist, steadfast in ensuring knowledge remains accessible to all.
More than anything, libraries offer something that can’t be measured: The simple dignity of access. They are one of the few remaining third places in urban life, providing a space for community interaction without requiring a transaction. As Montreal becomes increasingly unaffordable and inhospitable to marginalized populations, libraries stand as an unwavering force of inclusion. For many, a library is one of the first places where they feel a sense of belonging. These spaces also provide essential services: Job search assistance, free Wi-Fi and computers, French and English language classes, and workshops
on everything from financial literacy to tenant rights. For those navigating Canada’s complex legal system, many libraries house legal aid clinics. Libraries’ commitment to access extends even further, offering support for marginalized communities through providing undocumented residents proof-of-identity cards to ensure that those without legal status can still participate in the city’s cultural and intellectual life without fear. This is a radical act in a city that so often excludes its most vulnerable.
Libraries are active sites of
preservation, empowerment, and resistance. While online access to e-books and archives has its advantages, physical libraries offer something digital platforms cannot: tangible, communitycentred spaces that actively break down barriers. They are where erased histories find a voice, where stories are reclaimed and shared. As Black communities continue to fight for equality and justice through education and communitybased activism, libraries remain one of the few places where all are welcome— proving, time and again, that survival and knowledge are deeply intertwined.
Building 21 is the future of interdisciplinary education
id you know that McGill offers a space where you can combine fields of study to explore, innovate, and learn beyond your program? This is Building 21 (B21). Located at 651 Sherbrooke Street West, this research facility welcomes McGill students at all levels—from undergraduate to PhD—to collaborate on groundbreaking interdisciplinary research. However, despite its inviting nature, many students at McGill have never heard of it. Why?
With McGill’s various extracurriculars, programs, and research initiatives, paired with its large student body, B21 flies under many students’ radars. Because B21 facilities provide an abundance of resources for research in uniquely interdisciplinary fields—offering an incredibly valuable dimension to a McGill degree—its programs and resources must be more streamlined into McGill’s curricula.
B21 offers students creative and academic freedom, setting it apart from other curriculum options at McGill. It provides a space for students to explore any area of study, without the constraints of required courses. While required courses are important in their own way, they offer little autonomy to the students enrolled. Research at B21 not only encourages but requires individual motivation, meaning that any student who walks through its doors does so with an enthusiasm unique to self-directed research. McGill scholars and alumni like Victoria Macheroub
Kramer, researching neurodivergence with entrepreneurship, and Mathilde Papillon, who researched multimedia technology with dance, are prime examples of McGill students who merged their academic interests with their interest to develop fascinating projects and research.
Students are further motivated to take on research projects at the B21 building because their work is not graded nor does it count for course credit. In contrast to McGill’s relentless push for academic rigour, B21 emphasizes the journey and research discovery based on an individual’s personal motivation to learn. Thus, B21 fosters genuine creativity, determination, and higher quality of work, enhancing students’ learning through their creative liberties and disciplinary overlap. This should be the goal of all academic programs at McGill, and a dimension of an academic career promoted and made easily available as part of a given courseload.
B21 has its finger on the pulse of the most valuable aspects of a university education, but its opportunities are neither well-advertized nor incorporated easily into a regular course load. Investment in interdisciplinary research is not only beneficial for students individually but is also reflective of the real world outside of academia, where nothing exists in a vacuum. Especially because studying at McGill is already compartmentalized into faculties, the freedom to transcend these barriers and put the world-class McGill education to work at intersections of multiple fields is a necessary counterpart to a student’s education.
Such emphasis would increase participation, discussion, innovation, and support, and subsequently establish B21 as a crucial and prestigious facet of McGill’s academic resources. A growing community like this—of both professors and other students—would also push students to explore research areas that have not yet been explored. Such work sets one apart from other students, and can even lead to personalized research and internships, or standing as a successful launchpad for careers.
B21 supports students through meaningful creative journeys and gives them the chance to join a community where exploration, imagination, and creation are the status quo. Being surrounded by people whose unique identities shine through their
work is individually inspiring, and constitutes the foundation of a high-quality education.
McGill’s degree might offer many advantages on its own, but it is clear that the B21 facilitates an unmatched opportunity for students eager to explore beyond their field of study. Without greater integration of B21 into McGill’s curriculum, students risk missing out on a transformative academic experience— one that encourages intellectual exploration and personal growth. The freedom to merge fields, free from the imposed constraints of a degree, empowers students to create and discover in ways that redefine the purpose of higher education. B21 fosters an environment where students can thrive, enjoy learning, and reach their full potential, paving the way for ambitious future pursuits.
Canada’s public library systems have been ranked among the best in the world, with Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver earning top global scores. (Armen Erzingatzian / The Tribune)
The B21 facilities host over 900 workshops, community gatherings, and speaker events every year. (Hannah Nobile / The Tribune)
How non-coding RNA molecules could advance mental health treatment
New research uncovers the surprising role of snoRNAs in brain function and psychiatric
Lana Liquard Staff Writer
The human genome is more than just a blueprint of DNA and RNA—it is a complex network of molecules working together to regulate the processes that keep us alive. These hidden architects are critical for cell function and gene expression. Recent research has begun to shed light on how they might also be associated with mental health disorders.
Dr. Gustavo Turecki, Chair of McGill’s Department of Psychiatry and Director of the McGill Group for Suicide Studies, recently published a review article in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science exploring the role of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) in psychiatric disorders.
While the human genome primarily encodes proteins, it also produces a variety of non-coding RNAs—molecules that do not directly code for proteins but instead regulate gene expression. These non-coding RNAs can be classified by size into small and long categories. Among the small non-coding RNAs are microRNAs, short sequences with regulatory functions, and snoRNAs.
SnoRNAs are typically known for their role in modifying ribosomal RNAs, influencing their stability and function. However, emerging research suggests they may have broader functions, particularly in the brain.
“We decided to compile growing information on the role of these small nucleolar RNAs in relation to brain-related phenomena, particularly in the area of mental health,” Turecki explained in an interview with The Tribune
This review was motivated by one of his previous studies on a specific snoRNA, SNORD90. This snoRNA differs from its typical function in that it regulates glutamatergic signalling in the brain, which is associated with how well patients respond to antidepressant treatment.
The link between these snoRNA molecules and neurological disorders is increasingly clear. Research has shown that a total of 80 different snoRNAs are associated with autism spectrum disorder, while another 25 are linked to schizophrenia. These findings suggest that snoRNAs could be key players in mental health, influencing brain functions in ways we are only beginning to understand.
However, studying snoRNAs in the context of mental health presents significant practical challenges.
“If I want to study what changes in the brain as a function of treatment or as a result of improvement, I cannot take a sample of a patient’s brain,” Turecki said.
Researchers must rely on indirect methods to examine molecular changes in the brain. One approach involves examining molecular markers—biological signatures
that provide indirect insights into brain function. Another method is postmortem brain tissue analysis, though this comes with inherent limitations as the brain may change after death.
“There are a number of challenges in accessing the tissue after death,” Turecki explained. “Several things can happen between the moment you wish to study the brain and the moment that person dies.”
In recent years, scientists have also turned to extracellular vesicles (EVs)—tiny particles released by brain cells that carry molecular cargo. These vesicles circulate in peripheral bodily fluids, offering a potential glimpse into brain activity.
“On the other hand, we are just beginning to understand to what extent what we detect in an EV is representative of what is happening in the brain,” Turecki said.
While research in this field is still in its early stages, the potential applications of snoRNAs are promising.
“One of the things I like a lot about working with small non-coding RNA is that they [...] can act as therapeutic agents,” Turecki said.
Because these molecules are relatively
easy to detect, manipulate, and target, they present a promising avenue in the field of RNA therapeutics. SnoRNA research is not only helpful for understanding the mechanisms of illness but could also open new doors for developing innovative treatments.
As the field progresses, snoRNAs may emerge as important biomarkers for diagnosing psychiatric disorders and as potential targets for treatment interventions.
Outpatient knee replacement: A cost-effective alternative McGill research explores the benefits of outpatient knee surgery
Daniel Pyo Staff Writer
Bone surgeries, particularly total hip replacement (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA), are common procedures for treating advanced joint conditions like arthritis and avascular necrosis. While these surgeries are highly effective, they are also invasive and resource-intensive, posing challenges for healthcare systems striving to manage costs. However, with the emergence of new surgical techniques and advancements, the average length of hospital stays for these procedures has decreased.
The demand for hip and knee replacements among patients over 65 has been projected to rise significantly due to an increase in Canada’s aging population. In 2019–2020, TKA surgeries alone cost Canada’s healthcare system $700 million CAD, with each inpatient procedure averaging $12,223 CAD.
As these surgeries become more common, healthcare systems are under increasing pressure to find cost-effective solutions to expand access to care. One potential option is same-day discharge arthroplasty, also known as outpatient TKA, where patients have the procedure and go home on the same day. A recent study investigated the cost differences between outpatient and inpatient TKA to assess whether this approach could help alleviate some of the financial strain while maintaining the quality of care.
The study was led by Simon Martel, a
fifth-year chief resident in Orthopedic Surgery, and involved researchers from McGill’s Department of Surgery.
The research team examined the costs associated with both outpatient and inpatient TKA by analyzing data from 50 patients—25 treated as outpatients and 25 as inpatients— at a Canadian academic centre. To measure the costs accurately, the team used an activity-based costing (ABC) framework, which breaks down the total resources and expenses involved in patient care.
The findings reveal that inpatient care was more expensive than outpatient care, mainly due to the costs of hospital admissions and associated services like pharmacy use. While outpatient care was slightly more expensive in terms of operating room logistics, it avoided the costs associated with hospital stays, such as room charges and prolonged nursing care. By shifting to outpatient procedures, healthcare systems could reduce the strain on hospital resources, allowing for more patients to receive timely surgeries.
“For fairly healthy patients, there’s no difference in their long-term outcome, whether they stay at the hospital for a few days or whether they’re sent home,” Martel said in an interview with The Tribune
However, to qualify for outpatient hip and knee replacement surgery, patients must be in good overall health, be motivated to participate in physical therapy after surgery, and have a supportive environment for postoperative recovery and rehabilitation.
The study also found that both outpatient and inpatient groups experienced similar rates of complications and follow-up visits, confirming that outpatient procedures are equally safe when patients are carefully selected. In an era of nursing shortages across North America, reducing post-operative hospital stays for elective joint surgeries could significantly ease the strain on healthcare systems and improve access to orthopedic care.
“The majority of their progress occurs two weeks after the surgery and continues for up to six weeks, so whether they stay in the hospital [overnight] or not, we don’t see much difference in their recovery period,” Martel explained.
If half of Canada’s knee replacement procedures were to transition to the outpatient model, the healthcare system could save over $45 million CAD annually. In addition to the financial savings, outpatient TKA would alleviate hospital burden, improve access to timely surgeries, and address critical workforce challenges, such as nursing shortages.
While these findings are promising, the study has some limitations, such as its single-centre design and small sample size. Larger studies across diverse healthcare settings are needed to confirm the results and evaluate the broader applicability of outpa-
tient TKA.
“If you can save $1,000 [CAD], or 50 per cent of post-operative costs per case, it adds up to a significant amount,” Martel added.
The field of RNA therapeutics uses RNA, including small noncoding RNAs, to intervene in disease progression. (Lilly Guilbeault / The Tribune)
Total knee arthroplasty is the most commonly performed joint replacement procedure in North America. (Ariella Morgan / The Tribune )
Wback home during the winter break, I had been longing to slow down the rapid pace of life that characterizes my semesters, but winter break never offers enough time to rest. Those two weeks go by in the blink of an eye, and between celebrating Christmas, trying to find time for both family and friends from home, struggling to register for classes for the coming semester, and figuring out goals for the new year, rest is usually not a part of the schedule. This time, scheduling New Year’s plans sent me over the edge.
While my heart wanted to start 2025 with the person I love the most on Earth—my mom—my brain knew that missing my friend’s huge celebration was not an option. I didn’t want to skip the party and neglect the opportunity to see my peers during the few moments I would be back on the same continent. Plus, I was afraid to miss what was always expected to be “the best party of the year.” Anxiety quickly kicked in, making it hard to rationally evaluate the actual pros and cons of my options. As it turns out, that uncontrollable feeling has a name: FOMO—the fear of missing out. This experience made me reflect on what I take into consideration when making choices. FOMO appeared to be at the core of every decision I made, leading me to wonder why this social concern is such a powerful force. The fear of missing out on an experience or losing an option has been especially prevalent in my life over the past few years—between majors and classes and preparing for future careers, students are constantly asked life-changing questions and expected to make choices. Some major life choices—like moving to Canada for university instead of staying in France—felt so simple, while some inconsequential decisions
troubled me. It got me thinking: Why do I always feel like I’m about to make the wrong choice? How does the fear of missing out and leaving opportunities behind affect our development as young people? What can we do to help ourselves take back control of our
FOMO: The knowingpath Taking back control
First, it’s important to consider how FOMO can both negatively influence decisions through social pressure, and override our better instincts. When considering whether to stay home and rest or go out with a bunch of people you may or may not know, I bet everyone has thought at least once that they had to go out or people would think they were weird or boring. In that sense, your life becomes dictated by the imagined expectations of you end up not taking your own needs and desires into account.
While attending high school in France, I met a boarding student named Elisa Quelen. While I was going home every day after school, she spent the whole week there and only went home for the weekends, making our high school experiences very different. As a boarding school student—where peer pressure and group dynamics often run wild making it hard to say “no” when your entire class is going out—she highlighted that FOMO can even have an impact on your health.
“When you’re tired [and you still go out], you’re not respecting the signals your body is sending you,” she wrote.
Psychology offers an explanation for this. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, directly after our basic needs—including our physiological and safety needs that are crucial for survival—comes our need for love and belonging. No wonder, then, that we experience FOMO: Not attending events could mean the erosion of friendship ties and intimacy in the long run, undermining our basic survival needs. Kristina Tchalova, lecturer in McGill’s Department of Psychology, expanded on the potential evolutionary roots of FOMO in a written statement to The Tribune
“From an evolutionary perspective, FOMO could be related to emotions that served an adaptive function for our ancestors,” Tchalova wrote. “Humans are thought to be wired to seek out social connection opportunities and to be vigilant for cues of social exclusion. These tendencies would have served our evolutionary ancestors well, given that they would have been highly vulnerable in their hostile environment unless they stuck together with a social group.”
The nature of the “hostile environment” has changed, but our reliance on membership in a group remains vital. Living in a hyper-connected society that values the appearance of having
Written by Auxane Bussac, & Designed by Zoe
lots of social relationships also exacerbates our existing fear of being excluded by the group. Having a lot of followers on social media is synonymous with popularity, and to be popular, you must go out and put yourself in a position where you’re likely to meet new people.
FOMO’s scope expands as we create new friendships, join student groups, and attend an increasing number of events each week. Juliette Soma, U3 Arts, explained to The Tribune how her fear of feeling excluded commands the way she makes decisions. Not attending an event means missing an opportunity to meet new people and extend your network—students are always craving LinkedIn connections—which could also mean missing out on the “true university experience.” FOMO thus makes deciding not to go out feel like the obviously wrong choice.
FOMO can also be ever-present for those who are not as financially privileged as McGill student life can demand. I didn’t do Frosh because of the cost, and in first year, I often felt like I needed to compensate for missing that opportunity to create friendships. Feeling like you’re not experiencing the undergraduate life you expected is frustrating, especially when you see others enjoying it to the fullest. As a consequence, every cheaper event becomes unmissable, even when you’re super tired, busy with school, or simply not in the mood. Beyond impacting decision-making, FOMO is also a source of anxiety. When my phone buzzes with group chat messages from my hometown friends planning their next outing, I can’t help but think about all the little moments and private jokes I might be missing. As an international student, it’s difficult to accept that there are some events that would simply be impossible to go to. This hit me especially hard when I realized I would have to be absent for my little brother’s 18th birthday. This feeling is only worsened by social media. As soon as I open Instagram, BeReal, Snapchat, TikTok, or even Facebook for that matter, I’m immediately confronted with my absence in the photos on my feed. But social media is a playground for curation: What is shown on those apps are carefully chosen, ostentatious moments that can easily make you believe that you missed out on something extraordinary. It creates a vicious circle in which our FOMO is reinforced when we are faced with the idea that we actually missed something great, leading to increased fear of missing out again.
path towards knowing oneself control over my decisions
Bussac, Student Life Editor
Lee, Design editor
Alexandre Tedesco, a student at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a research university in Switzerland, wrote in a statement to The Tribune that he discovered the concept of FOMO recently on social media, and it resonated with him immediately.
“The whole issue lies in the fact that I’m comparing two things that shouldn’t be com pared: My regular life and the highlights of oth ers’ lives,” Tedesco wrote. “Social media doesn’t just trigger FOMO—it makes it addictive. Even if talking about the broader sense of the term, I feel like, being of curious nature, sometimes I find myself checking my phone to see the [lat est] sports result or headline in the newspaper just because I NEED TO KNOW.”
The hyper-exposure created by social media also means that your presence, or lack thereof, at events, could theoretically be noticed by any one you know. This in turn reinforces anxiety as you start wondering what people will think of you for staying in, whatever the reason.
We must also consider why FOMO affects some people more than others and potential ways to work with the feeling. First off, there is an obvious generational gap. I feel like my par ents don’t experience that feeling at all; I don’t hear them complain about their friends throw ing an event and them not being there, or at least not to the point that they become anxious about it. My own mother says she used to feel that way, but as an adult who is more settled and secure in herself and her social circle, she doesn’t rely on this as much.
“As we get older, we get tired of this agita tion—always more! Finally, the gaze of others is less significant,” she explained. “But even without mentioning age, a certain fatigue aris es over the years and many people realize that they are tired of this overdose of information.”*
Social media is also a key reason for gen erational differences in experiencing FOMO, given our generation’s record levels of social media use, although Tchalova emphasized that it can be detrimental for users of any age.
“Some research has shown that FOMO is related to loneliness, lower self-compassion, and lower self-esteem across different age cohorts. So, if you feel disconnected from others, or if you tend to take a more critical view of yourself and struggle with feelings [of] self-worth, you may be more susceptible to FOMO regardless of your age,” Tchalova wrote. “Similarly, that link between social media use and FOMO is present across different age cohorts, so if you’re
an older adult who spends a lot of time on social media you could be vulnerable as well.”
that I didn’t want to go. But I knew my friends were going to have fun without me, and that would force me to get up and join the class. Every single time, I came home with a huge smile
Who are these guys, anyway?
Investigating the men
Ella Paulin Managing Editor
Have you ever taken the tunnel from Otto Maass to Burnside to MacDonald Engineering and wondered which dead, old, white men these buildings were named after? Have you picked up a bag of Redpath sugar and wondered if there was any connection with the library? Read on for a deep dive into the colonial and violent histories of some of McGill’s most prominent benefactors.
MacDonald
William Christopher MacDonald, who gave his name to the MacDonald Engineering Building, amassed his wealth in the tobacco industry in the late 19th century. He established a tobacco factory on what is now Rue de la Commune in the 1860s, primarily employing women and adolescents. When the American Civil War broke out in 1863, he exploited the opportunity by purchasing tobacco leaf from the Southern United States, manufacturing tobacco products in Montreal, and reselling them to the Northern states, which were in the midst of a tobacco shortage due to the war.
Redpath
You may recognize the name Redpath from the supermarket aisle, in addition to
behind the names of McGill science buildings
McGill’s Burnside estate got its name from a Scottish word “burn,” which referred to a small stream that used to run near the building. (Hannah Nobile / The Tribune )
the McGill Museum and Library buildings. The Redpath family, who financed the latter McGill buildings, also started the Redpath Sugar Company—originally named the Canada Sugar Refining Company—in 1858, which imported sugar cane from the Caribbean and refined it on the banks of the Lachine Canal. Although the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 had made slavery illegal in British colonies, brutal and exploitative working conditions persisted in the sugar cane industry. Redpath Sugar continues to be a major Canadian company, with its primary refinery based in Toronto.
Burnside
Although technically not someone’s name, Burnside is a building name that cannot be overlooked in the history of McGill as an institution. The present-day building, which houses Mathematics, Geography, and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the university, draws its name from Burnside Hall, James McGill’s Montreal estate. McGill, who enslaved at least five Black and Indigenous people during his lifetime, left the original bequest of £10,000 that founded the university that now bears his name. After demands from students and vandalism, a statue that depicted McGill was taken down by the administration in 2021. The Tribune has also called for McGill to change its name in light of its founder’s involvement in colonial and racist violence.
Strathcona
The Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry Building and the Strathcona Music Building both derive their name from
Donald Alexander Smith, a Scottish-born businessman who bore the title “First Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.” Strathcona supplied the funding and land for the anatomy and dentistry building after a fire destroyed the old Faculty of Medicine building in 1907. His laundry list of colonial engagements includes a term as chairman of Burmah Oil Co., which discovered large oil fields in Iran and eventually spawned the famous British Petroleum (BP) company, as well as personally raising and equipping an entire regiment to fight in the Second Boer War in South Africa.
Otto Maass
While Maass, who died in 1961, is more recent than some of the other names on this list, he made his mark as the director of two very different institutions: The Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada on the one hand, and the Directorate of Chemical Warfare and Smoke on the other. In his role as Director of the latter organization, he was involved in Canadian biological weapons research in a variety of ways, including the distribution of grant funding for chemical weapons, and serving as a go-between for British and American scientists during World War II. During his career, he worked on multiple other weapons-related projects, including the development of chemicals used for rocket fuel.
How debiasing techniques could help combat discrimination Corrections to decision-making errors and how they fit into discrimination reduction
Leanne Cherry Science & Technology Editor
When making key decisions like who to hire for a job or who to trust in a crisis, we all like to imagine that we are rational actors, making reliable, objective decisions. However, we are known for being quite the opposite, and bias can creep into every aspect of our decision-making, even—or especially—when we aren’t aware of it.
In a recent publication in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Review, Jordan Axt, an assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Psychology, explored how debiasing techniques designed to address judgement and decision-making errors might also be effective in addressing the bias behind intergroup discrimination.
For researchers exploring judgement and decision-making errors, bias typically refers to how irrelevant pieces of information can inappropriately influence an individual’s beliefs and behaviours. Research in this field often concentrates on debiasing techniques, with the goal of limiting the impact of this irrelevant information on decision-making.
When researching intergroup relations, however, bias takes on a different form. In this case, it refers to our tendency to prefer a certain social group, namely our own. This is often based on personal characteristics like race, gender, or age. Researchers in this area aim to reduce intergroup discrimination—the
unequal treatment of individuals based on their group membership—rather than address the bias that informs discriminatory behaviour.
Axt reviewed four broad classes of debiasing techniques that are typically applied in judgement and decision-making research, exploring their potential to address the bias behind intergroup discrimination and ultimately reduce such discriminatory behaviour.
The first class of debiasing techniques involves changing an individual’s ability to assess the relevance of different information through practice and training, in hopes of increasing their capacity to avoid bias. However, this kind of training can be quite difficult to implement effectively.
“There’s some reason to believe that training could be effective in intergroup discrimination, but oftentimes I find that there’s a limited transfer effect: You can do a good job training on one thing, but it doesn’t necessarily carry over well into other contexts where you might want it to,” Axt said in an interview with The Tribune.
The second class of debiasing techniques addresses an individual’s motivation to avoid bias, rather than their ability to do so. The goal of these techniques is to get the individual to put more effort into considering decisions. For example, although financial incentives have been shown to be effective in weight loss and exercise settings, they are less effective for cognitively demanding tasks like noticing and combatting one’s own bi-
ases.
The third class of debiasing techniques gives specific interventions and ideas to help avoid common errors in judgement and decision-making tasks, and looks at how decisions are processed. Though not yet applied in intergroup discrimination literature, this class of techniques is promising in its ability to address intergroup bias and ultimately reduce discrimination.
“The goal of a lot of intervention research is to change the way you approach the task,” Axt said. “There’s good research showing that if you have to think not first about why you’re right, but why you might be wrong, then you include a wider range of information when you’re making your decision, and you become more accurate more of the time.”
The final class of debiasing techniques changes the context in which a decision is made. This could mean adjusting how relevant information is presented, or how the decision itself is structured.
“In cases where you change the context
to give people enough time to really think through these decisions, that could be one manipulation of context that gets people to be more accurate and less likely to discriminate towards others,” Axt said.
Axt’s lab tends to focus on intergroup relations, rather than debiasing techniques. He explained that, while both areas of research are concerned with bias, there is very little overlap between the fields’ respective corpora.
“At a very global level, both [areas of research] are embracing this idea of getting people to avoid irrelevant information in their beliefs and behaviours. I’m hoping that this [review] can paint a nice small bridge between these two literatures,” Axt said.
Apophenia is a bias to see unrelated things as connected. (Ariella Morgan / The Tribune)
Black History Month on campus with BSN McGill
Events to look forward to throughout February
Yasmine Mkaddam Contributor
Continued from page 1.
The second week of BSN’s Black History Month agenda aims to highlight Black excellence, health, and self-love, beginning on Wednesday, Feb. 12 with a talk from the McGill School of Social Work titled Celebrating Black Excellence and Perseverance. The following day will dive into “Health Promotion Interventions in Black Communities Across Canada.” On Valentine’s Day, BSN’s Black Beauty Day will celebrate Black beauty and self-care, featuring a free hair braiding raffle with sign-ups currently open.
Week three features community, culture, and advocacy with a special Black History Month screening at the Peel Street Cinema Movie Night on Tuesday, Feb. 18. The next day, a Black Community Gathering, Caps Career Drop-In, and the NSBE Black Legacy Dinner honouring Black achievement will take place. On Thursday, Feb. 20, BSN will host a “Know Your Rights” Workshop, equipping students with crucial legal knowledge on their rights. The week concludes on Saturday, Feb. 22, with the MASS Africa Speaks Conference.
Finally, the BSN will wrap up the month
Tamiyana Roemer Staff Writer
Wwith their Feb. 28 event, “BSN Soul Food Friday.”
The BSN’s Vice-President Social Events, Reggiany Bourguillon, U2 Arts, spoke with The Tribune about this year’s BSN’s Black History Month.
“I recognize BSN’s values as hosting multi-diversity among the Black McGill community, Black empowerment, and the cultivation of Black young minds,” Bourguillon said.
One of her favourite BSN events is “Youth Day”, which promotes initiatives for Black high school and college students to apply to McGill. The event thus contributes to increasing the diversity in the university—where only 4.4 per cent of the student body self-identify as Black.
“BSN makes sure to include students of any background whether it is cultural, educational, personal, or sexual. They want all Black students to feel seen and understood,” Bourguillon said.
Despite BSN’s efforts, Bourguillon remarks that there is an evident lack of recognition and sincere support of the McGill Black students community on campus.
“[There should be] more funding regarding scholarship for Black students in different educational fields, as well as more recognition from the university to put to the forefront the different accomplishments of BSN and other black clubs
Spicing up
into the university main site to demonstrate the club’s efforts,” Bourguillon said.
Indeed, the responsibility to foster a truly equitable environment on campus cannot rest solely on BSN and other Black student-led clubs. McGill has the duty to actively support Black students’ academic journeys and push for lasting changes. This includes increasing funding for Black student enrollment and the creation of Black studies programs, greater institutional support of Black faculty and experiences of Black students, and stronger collaborations with
BSN recently opened a community library where students can access numerous books on Black literature. ( Black Students’ Network McGill )
Black organizations. Active participation helps uplift the voices of Black students and pushes for necessary institutional changes that promote diversity, equity, and representation at McGill.
To learn more about the BSN club and its events, visit their Instagram page.
the snack game
McGill student brings international flavours to Canada
you get a taste of it, but it’s not the same, so then you’re just complaining about how bad it is.”
hen hunger strikes between classes or during late-night study sessions, the usual snack options can start to feel repetitive. To change things up, Aram Shayesteh, U2 Arts, launched a website named Allsnack in 2024, offering a curated selection of hard-to-find treats from around the world, and delivering them directly to Canadian customers. Inspired by his ongoing experience as a student, Shayesteh created Allsnack to make international snacking more accessible.
Born and raised in Montreal, Shayesteh is no stranger to the city’s multicultural landscape. Still, when he stepped foot on campus as a first-year student, he was struck by the rich diversity that characterizes the McGill student body.
“I noticed all the different languages that I hear on campus, all the different backgrounds,” Shayesteh said in an interview with The Tribune . “I told myself it would be very interesting if there was a way [to] taste the snacks of all these places that McGill students come from.”
Shayesteh has also found that international students themselves crave the taste of authentic flavours from back home.
“Honestly, there’s a lot of food that I miss from home,” Aashna Lakhani, U3 Science, told The Tribune . “Snacks like Kurkure and aloo bhujia, [...] you can find them in supermarkets in Canada, but for some reason they just don’t taste the same. So, I feel like that’s worse because
Shayesteh looked for a store in Montreal that carried a wide range of international snacks, but there weren’t many. To him, the dearth of such stores was incongruent with the vast cultural diversity around him—so he saw an opportunity.
Busy schedules and tight budgets make travelling during the semester difficult for many students, but food offers a way to explore the world without leaving Montreal. It connects people, bridging cultures through shared flavours and experiences.
“It’s like you’re travelling when you’re tasting different foods,” Shayesteh explained.
While studying abroad in the United States, Shayesteh created a nine-question Google Form assessing University of North Carolina Chapel Hill students’ interest in international snacks. To his surprise, the results indicated that students were eager to try a range of flavour combinations they’d never encountered. Among options like matcha-flavoured KitKats and cola-flavoured Haribo, the Snickers Kesta Pista—a saffron and pistachio version of the candy found in India— emerged as students’ most popular choice. Having found that there was enthusiasm for international snack foods, he decided to try and bring Allsnack to life.
In the fall, Shayesteh spent months developing his website, which offers what he calls “The essential C’s”: Candy,
Chips, Chocolate, Cookies, and Crackers. Snacks featured on the website are personally tested by his 12-year-old brother, ensuring a stamp of approval before making it to customers.
Unlike existing brick-and-mortar snack stores in Montreal, Allsnack focuses on limited-edition international food collaborations, such as Hubba Bubba x Skittles gum from the United States. While the website currently carries major brands like Oreo, Doritos, and KitKat, Shayesteh hopes to expand his selection to include regionally popular treats from
lesser-known brands. Looking ahead, he envisions adding snacks from even more countries and one day launching an Allsnack pop-up store.
For students ordering from Allsnack for the first time, Shayesteh recommends trying American Wings-flavoured Doritos from Taiwan or coffee-flavoured Doritos from Australia.
When asked about his favourite part of running Allsnack, Shayesteh’s answer was simple: “It’s a fun business. People are very happy when they eat. I love eating. I love trying new food.”
Allsnack currently carries 37 products from around the world. ( Mia Helfrich / The Tribune )
The landscape of clubs and initiatives supporting Black students at McGill Black students reflect on inclusivity and Black History Month
Malika Logossou Student Life Editor
In light of Black History Month, The Tribune spoke with Black students at McGill about their experiences and perspectives on the university’s efforts to foster inclusivity.
The role of Black student organizations
Across both international and local perspectives, students emphasized how Black student-led organizations were key to their sense of belonging by offering professional support and safe spaces.
“Clubs like [Black Student Network] BSN and [McGill African Students’ Society] MASS provide a great support system, and clubs like [McGill Social Business Network] MSBN do their best at making sure Black people are also exposed to opportunities that may help them professionally,” Hakim Mowkena, U2 Desautels, shared.
Noemie Milca Nouala, U1 Arts, credited these organizations with easing her transition to McGill as an international student adapting to Montreal’s culture, weather, and lifestyle.
“It is not unusual for me to be the only Black person in the room,” she said. “Being able to have this sense of commu -
nity and not feel alone or like the odd one out is good. All the friends that I consider close to me, I met them at MASS or BSN during my first week at McGill. ”
Similarly, Emma-Sheryl Nana, U2 Science, told the The Tribune : “I do think I have been able to build a sense of community throughout my time at McGill, but not because of the initiative McGill takes, but because of people like Antoine [-Samuel Mauffette Alavo, McGill’s Black Student Affairs Liaison], and MASS doing many things where we get to meet our people and build a sense of community.”
Student social life
When asked about their social integration at McGill, student experiences varied, with international students, especially those who came from countries where they were not racial minorities, reporting more positive experiences.
“I have made friends and I haven’t really had any bad experiences,” shared Makhtar Andre Keny Ndoye, a U1 Science student.
Mowkena echoed similar sentiments: “Given that McGill is a historically white institution, it’s no secret that Black people are underrepresented in many of the faculties. However, with the multiple clubs it has catered to Black students, and
Montreal being the diverse city it is, my experience has been mostly pleasant.”
Karen Nguewou, U2 Engineering, described McGill as a supportive environment.
“It’s been a good [experience] because I feel like we have a community and a lot of spaces for Black students as well as funding for diversity and anti-racism initiatives,” she said.
Nouala has also had a positive experience and made many friends given her involvement in numerous extracurriculars.
“I was able to find a sense of community [during my time here], and not only was I able to meet Black people but also international students,” she added.
Black History Month: Meaningful or performative?
While many students feel a sense of belonging at McGill, some were skeptical about the university’s role in committing to supporting Black students beyond its Black History Month initiatives.
“It feels very performative because it’s one month out of the year where we get bombarded and then there’s nothing else,” Nana shared. “[If it were not performative], our history and struggles would be advertised more during Black
History Month but also be integrated more seamlessly. These stories should be highlighted every single day.”
Others acknowledged that, while some initiatives may feel performative, having events dedicated to Black students organized by student groups is better than having none at all, as those efforts seem meaningful.
Take The Trib’s Black History Month quiz
What do you really
know about Black history at McGill, and beyond?
Auxane Bussac Student Life Editor
In what year did William Wright, the first person of colour to earn a medical degree in Canada, receive his degree from McGill’s Faculty of Medicine?
a) 1824
b) 1848
c) 1863
d) 1907
What is the Canadian government’s theme for this year’s Black History Month?
a) Black Liberation
b) Black Excellence
c) Black Legacy and Leadership
d) Ours To Tell
What was the name of the first Black students’ group at McGill, founded in 1940?
a) The Black Student Network
b) The British West Indian Society
c) The African Students’ Society
d) McGill Black Community Association
When was Black History Month created?
a) 1926
b) 1891
c) 2015
d) 1900
What was the first version of Black History Month, initiated by Carter G. Woodson in the US?
a) It has always been Black History Month
b) Negro History Week
c) Carter G. Woodson did not create Black History Month
d) African American History Month
The son of which prominent civil rights activist attended McGill?
a) W.E.B. DuBois
b) Rosa Parks
c) Marcus Garvey
d) Bayard Rustin
Why was February chosen as Black History Month?
a) It was a random choice
b) To commemorate the birth month of two influential figures in Black American history: Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln
c) The first person of African heritage known to have come to what is now Canada arrived in February
d) Carter G. Woodson was born in February
As of the most recent Student Census Report (2023), what percentage of McGill students identified as Black?
a) 3.2 per cent
b) 4.4 per cent
c) 6.8 per cent
d) 9.2 per cent
When did the House of Commons officially recognize February as Black History Month in Canada?
a) 1976
b) 1926
c) It is still not officially recognized
d) 1995
d) 1995
b) 4.4 per cent
lass and Abraham Lincoln
b) To commemorate the birth month of two influential figures in Black American history: Frederick Doug -
c) Marcus Garvey
b) Negro History Week
a) 1926
b) The British West Indian Society
c) Black Legacy and Leadership
b) 1848
Answers :
McGill has planned 10 events for Black History Month this year. ( Hannah Nobile/ The Tribune )
Step dancers performing. ( Mia Helfrich / The Tribune )
Black History Month in the big leagues—is it enough?
Investigating the successes and shortcomings of celebrations in the world of sports
Ella Paulin Managing Editor
From Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists during the 1968 Olympics to Muhammad Ali’s refusal of the Vietnam draft to Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the “StarSpangled Banner,” Black athletes have a storied history of using sporting events as platforms for political statements—and of being punished heavily for it by leagues. Ali, who narrowly avoided prison over his refusal of the draft, was unable to compete professionally for years. Kaepernick hasn’t played an NFL game since 2016. In the midst of struggles for political voice from racialized players, major sporting leagues are increasingly attempting to honour Black History Month with a variety of programming, special games, and initiatives.
Despite the importance of sporting events as critical opportunities for Black athletes to make political statements to a national—or even international—audience, the NFL has tried to stamp out any hint of political messaging. Its current policy states that players cannot visibly display “personal messages” of any kind on game days, including those of a political nature. While this policy has also been used to prevent pro-Trump symbols, with Nick Bosa having recently incurred an $11,255 USD fine for wearing a Make America Great Again hat, there is a dou -
Willie O’Ree made hockey history in 1958 when he joined the Boston Bruins, becoming the first Black player to compete in the NHL. ( Zoe Lee / The Tribune )
ble standard where leagues fine white players for actions that would have ended the careers of Black athletes. The prohibition on political gestures raises questions about how authentically leagues like the NFL can commit to Black History Month celebrations.
In particular, the implication that it is possible to celebrate Black history in sports without being political is troubling and ignores the fact that Black athletes’ fight for inclusion in professional sports has always been political. The NAACP even went so far as to urge the NFL in a formal resolution from 2015 to officially celebrate Black History Month, referencing the high number of Black players and officials in the league, and the fact that
the NFL has historically celebrated both Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. While the NFL has an official Black History Month webpage, containing stories of Black players from the last 50 years, these gestures ring hollow in the context of the league’s silencing of players’ attempts to speak out about racial injustice.
The NBA, which began celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with an annual game in 1986, has a better track record of allowing players to speak out against racially motivated violence. In 2014, LeBron James wore a shirt reading “I Can’t Breathe” during a warm-up to protest the police killing of Eric Garner. More recently, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play entirely following the 2020 shooting of Jacob Blake during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Alongside the increased openness to political statements comes a more concerted and centralized Black History Month campaign, including both video showcases of important moments in the
history of Black players’ involvement in the NBA and special events like the HBCU Classic game.
The NHL is incorporating celebrations of Black history into many of its scheduled February games. On Feb. 22 and Feb. 27, there are themed “Black Excellence” and “Black Heritage” matches during the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Calgary Flames games, respectively.
Closer to home, the Montreal Canadiens ran a fundraiser during last year’s Black History Month, selling signed items and merch designed by Kezna Dalz, a Montreal-based artist of Haitian descent. While this is a step in the right direction, NHL teams must engage in continued celebration and action during Black History Month, rather than one-off events and partnerships.
For the NHL, 3.74 per cent of whose employees identified as Black as of a 2022 report, the success or failure of their support of Black players and fans will be found in long-term trends of inclusion and acceptance, not the production value of their Black History Month programming.
Across the board, leagues—and their fans—must do more to remember, celebrate, and uplift Black players. In the midst of rising backlash against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity programs, it is crucial that leagues remain committed to combatting racism both during Black History Month and beyond.
A sibling pick and roll: Matt and Alec Phaneuf’s rival routes
The brothers play varsity basketball at rival universities, McGill and Concordia
Zain Ahmed Staff Writer
In the heart of Montreal’s university sports scene, a unique sibling rivalry is unfolding on the basketball court. Matt Phaneuf, playing for the McGill Redbirds, and his brother Alec Phaneuf, representing the Concordia Stingers, share more than just DNA. Their love for each other and their competitive spirit has been fostered through countless hours of backyard games and has shaped them into the athletes they are today. The brothers sat down with The Tribun e to discuss their sibling bond.
“Anything we did growing up was always competitive,” Alec reflected.
“Playing football one-on-one, whatever it was—after 15 minutes of doing nothing, we just had to compete against each other,” Matt added.
Growing up in a family where sports were not just played but lived, the Phaneufs were destined for athletic success. Their mother, Marie Drapeau, was a competitive swimmer at Université Laval (ULaval) who nearly made the Olympics. Their uncle, Simon Noël, won the National Championships with ULaval Volleyball in 1993-94. Their cousin, François Gauthier-Drapeau, recently competed in the 2024 Olympics in Judo, and cousin Isaac Noël played football for the Carleton Ravens.
The brothers’ shared profound love
for basketball began in their family’s driveway. Their father Chrystian Phaneuf has been their biggest supporter, going as far as to serve as the two boys’ coach. In fact, Matt and Alec attributed their mastery of the mid-range shot—a favourite for both players on the court—to their father.
“He was never really into one sport— he was [a] multi-sport [athlete] when he played, but now that we play basketball for rival universities, he’s not shy to say, ‘I’m living my dream through you guys,’ which is kind of inspiring,” Matt said. “It’s always nice to know that you have people in your corner.”
Today, they find themselves on opposite sides of one of Quebec’s most intense university rivalries. In their most recent matchups on Jan. 16 and 18, Concordia emerged victorious with 76-54 and 94-47 wins over McGill. However, the score tells only part of the story.
With around 30 family members attending each of their matchups, these games are more than just regular season contests; they become family-wide affairs.
“I think I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little more importance when I play against [McGill],” Alec said.
The uniqueness of their situation is not lost on Matt, either.
“It still feels unreal. On the court, it’s just a regular basketball game. But as soon as [Alec] steps on I feel like I’m
back home,” he added. Living together on Montreal’s South Shore adds another dimension to their relationship. After games, regardless of the outcome, they drive home together. When describing the aftermath of their games, the boys highlighted how they maintain perspective. After all, basketball is just one part of their relationship.
Matt’s view on living with a rival—and sibling—is refreshing.
“When I’m at home, post-practice, or a game, or a long day of school, I just want to be ‘Matt who cooks,’ or ‘Matt who likes to watch Sunday Night Football,’ so we do that together on our one day off (Sunday) during the season,” he noted. “It’s nice, you know, to wind down and relax together without talking about basketball all the time.”
When asked about their advice for younger players entering collegiate sport, both brothers emphasized the importance of growth and balance.
“Keep progressing, keep working on new stuff, keep improving,” Alec said.
“Take it day by day,” Matt also added. “Don’t put all your eggs in the
same basket. Don’t focus on just basketball, when it feels like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, you have to remind yourself that it is one day at a time, so enjoy it while you can.”
As their careers progress, both brothers may wonder what it would be like to play together rather than against each other. But for now, they will continue their rivalry, pushing each other to greater heights while maintaining a bond that only brothers can share. Currently, in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec, Concordia sits just under the Bishop’s University Gaiters in second place, while McGill is last in the standings. Both teams are aiming for playoff positions—potentially setting up another chapter in the Phaneuf brothers’ story.
McGill are currently 2–9, while Concordia are 9–1 at this stage in their respective conferences. ( Matt Phaneuf / The Tribune )
Clara Smyrski Sports Editor
DBlack women athletes who changed the game
Four American history-makers who everyone should know
espite significant contributions to the sporting world, Black athletes have often been held back by discriminatory regulations that kept them from participating in the world’s prestigious sports competitions. Today, there are many Black women athletes recognized as the best in the world—Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, to name a few. These American women have made astounding strides in both racial and gender equity, but their triumphs may not have been possible without the Black women athletes that preceded them.
Alice Coachman, Wilma Rudolph, Sheryl Swoopes, and Althea Gibson are just four of the many Black women athletes who paved the way for athletic excellence, but who history has neglected.
Alice Coachman, born in Georgia, USA, in 1923, made sports history despite navigating both sexism and racism in her youth. As a woman, she was discouraged from playing sports because of societal notions that it was unladylike. As a Black woman, she was banned from training in white facilities. Instead, she ran barefoot on roads and created makeshift bars to practice the high jump.
Her tireless work paid off, and as a collegiate athlete, she won the American national title for high jump for nine consecutive years (1939-1948). However, her most impressive feat was at Wembley Stadium in 1948,
where she flew 5 feet 6 ⅛ inches, breaking the Olympic high jump record. When the medal was placed around her neck, Alice Coachman became the first Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
Wilma Rudolph, “the fastest woman in the world,” was born in Tennessee in 1940. Childhood bouts of pneumonia, polio, and scarlet fever left her with a leg brace and a diagnosis that she would never walk. However, with her family’s support, she proved this wrong and became an elite sprinter.
At the age of 16, Rudolph attended the 1956 Olympics, where she won bronze in the 4x100 relay. At the 1960 Olympics, she made history by becoming the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic Games. She returned from this victory to a racially-segregated banquet planned in her honour. When she refused to attend, her activism forced organizers to adjust, and her banquet became the first integrated public event in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Sheryl Swoopes, born in 1971 in Texas, was the first-ever player to sign with the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). Swoopes led the Houston Comets to four consecutive WNBA Championships (1997-2000). She is recognized for her offensive and defensive prowess and was the first player, NBA or WNBA, to win three Most Valuable Player awards and three Defensive Player of the Year awards. Additionally, Swoopes played for the USA Women’s National Team, with whom she won three Olympic Gold Medals. On Oct. 26, 2005, Sheryl Swoopes came out as gay, becoming
the first high-profile African American basketball player to publicly do so. She was a trailblazer not only for women in sports but for the Black and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
Althea Gibson, born in South Carolina in 1927, was a pioneer for Black women in not one, but two sports. She started with paddle tennis, winning New York City’s Women’s Paddle Tennis Championship at just 12 years old. She then dominated the American Tennis Association (ATA)—the oldest African American sports organization in the world— winning 10 consecutive national titles (19471957).
Despite her talent, racism kept her out of mainstream tennis until 1950, when players Alice Marble and Sarah Palfrey lobbied for her inclusion. That year, she became the first Black athlete to compete in the US National Championship and later at Wimbledon. 1957 was the year of Althea Gibson, as she won both the singles and doubles Wimbledon trophies, and
secured gold at the U.S. Nationals. She went on to repeat these titles in 1958. She retired from amateur tennis and quickly made history again as the first Black woman to play in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).
It is crucial to recognize Black women athletes for their groundbreaking achievements, as racism has long silenced their contributions to sports history. Bringing the stories of American athletes Alice Coachman, Wilma Rudolph, Sheryl Swoopes, and Althea Gibson to light celebrates their triumphs, secures their rightful place in the narrative of athletic excellence, and ensures that their legacies inspire future generations of athletes.
Title IX, passed in 1972, is famed for its guarantee to stop discrimination on the basis of sex in sports. However, the document—which is 37 words in length—fails to mention race entirely. ( Julia Buckle / The Tribune )
Golden glory for McGill stars as Canada triumphs at FISU Games
Gagnon, Rouleau, and Coach Urquhart lead Team Canada to victory
Jenna Payette Contributor
From Jan. 13 to 23, Torino, Italy, hosted the 2025 Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) World University Games: A oncein-a-lifetime opportunity for exceptional collegiate student-athletes to compete in a ‘mini-Olympics’ of winter sports.
Three of McGill’s own were called up to the big stage. Mathieu Gagnon, U3 Management, William Rouleau, U3 Management, and Redbirds Hockey Head Coach David Urquhart travelled overseas and secured Canada’s second consecutive Men’s Hockey FISU gold.
“Playing for Team Canada is something that was kind of unexpected for both of us [Gagnon and Rouleau], at this point in our hockey careers,” Gagnon told The Tribune in an interview.
“We just cherished every second of it,” Rouleau added. “It was amazing to wear that jersey. And the way we were treated too, we quickly realized how important it is to play for Team Canada.”
Playing hockey for Canada goes beyond representing the country—it is about carrying on the legacy of a sport that is deeply woven into the nation’s identity. For Rouleau and Gagnon, wearing the national jersey was a chance to be part of a proud history, to understand the responsibility that comes with it, and to experi -
ence the passion that makes hockey such an integral part of Canada’s identity. Despite being consistent powerhouses in the hockey world, Gagnon assured that the team “definitely had to earn [their] wins.”
Coach Urquhart, one of four Assistant Coaches for FISU Team Canada, is well acquainted with the Italian hockey scene, having played for Valpellice (201112), Pontebba (2012-13), and Ritten-Renon (2013-14) in Italy. A proud McGill Hockey alum, Urquhart’s coaching expertise and track record of success at McGill made him a valuable addition to the team.
Set to compete in seven gruelling games over 14 days, Team Canada quickly came together, featuring top talent from across U SPORTS. Despite having to adjust to Olympic-sized ice and new teammates, the group remained composed, powering through the preliminary round while building chemistry along the way.
“Our coaching staff did an amazing job proposing team-building exercises,” Rouleau said. “A great one forced us to share personal things that you wouldn’t necessarily share with ‘strangers’ and it made us want to win for each other.”
“Everyone accepted to be vulnerable with each member of the team, and we gained a lot of trust from everybody,” Gagnon added.
In hockey, where split-second decisions can determine the outcome of a game, chemistry and trust are what separate good
teams from great ones.
“Personally, I’ve always been a huge advocate of combining sports and studies,” Gagnon shared. “I just think it’s a great way to learn about life, [understand how] to manage a busy schedule, and build a good work ethic.”
Gagnon and Rouleau felt they were chosen not only for their skill, but for their integrity as individuals and students. The trust delivered results, as Team Canada came away with a commanding 10-2 win over the United States in the semi-finals and a 3-1 victory over Slovakia in the finals.
By the end of the tournament, Gagnon tallied 1G, 1A, and 9 SOG, while Rouleau put up 3A and 15 SOG. ( Zoe Lee / The Tribune )
Both Rouleau and Gagnon admitted they knew little about the FISU Games before joining U SPORTS, but now hope to see the Games’ popularity soar. As Gagnon put it, the tournament provided them with “the best hockey experience of [their] lives.”
Off the ice, the athletes had the chance to explore Torino and take part in an opening ceremony that brought many young Olympic dreams to life. While bringing home gold was the ultimate goal, the two athletes found themselves cherishing the
small moments along the way. For Gagnon, the highlight of the games was walking out behind the flag and connecting with fellow athletes at the opening ceremony. Rouleau, on the other hand, treasures the simple joys of hanging out with the team, sharing stories, and playing cards—experiences that left a lasting memory.
Now back in Montreal, Rouleau and Gagnon hope to build on this momentum with McGill as they hit the ice again on Feb. 7 to face off against the University of Guelph Gryphons. With a 14–10 record this season, the gold medalists are powering McGill Men’s Hockey.
‘The Light in the Piazza’: A call for hope
The McGill Opera and Symphony Orchestra’s production of Adam Guettel’s musical shines
Alexandra Lasser Contributor
Love and acceptance—our primal desires—are laid bare in Opera McGill and McGill Symphony Orchestra’s opening night production of Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza. The story explores love and hope through the intercultural romance between Clara, an American, and Fabrizio, an Italian. The plot is layered and complex, yet remains comedic and focused, thanks to the excellent cast and soaring melodies.
Kate Fogg, M2 Music, delivered a gripping and beautiful rendition of Clara, a young woman who suffered a brain injury as a child, limiting her emotional and mental development. Fogg’s gentle yet brilliant voice encapsulated the dichotomy between Clara’s youthful demeanour and the fierce emotions that burgeon as she embarks on a life for herself without her mother.
Though the romance between Clara and Fabrizio (Kyle Briscoe, M2 Music) was playful, and the blending of their voices was mesmerizing, I found the relationship between Clara and her mother Margaret (MacKenzie Sechi, M2 Music) to be the most compelling. The deep love between Clara and Margaret remained at the heart of their struggles with independence and identity. Fogg and Sechi were able to display these intricacies through their nuanced performances, revealing that
their close bond was forever at odds with their respective individuality.
Despite being partially in Italian, the show overcame the language barrier through the cast’s expressiveness. The operatic Italian songs suited the classically trained cast and showed an impressive grasp of not only Italian but Italian-accented English. The cast of the Naccarellis—Fabrizio’s family—did an exceptional job. Their Italian was precise and convincing, yet I understood each scene through their gesturing and expression. Giuseppe (Christopher Pitre-McBride, M1 Music), had an electric stage presence and comedic timing, making his scenes especially memorable.
Though the show contained serious subject matter—struggles with mental disabilities and marital disappointment—it remained funny and captivating. The staging, costuming, and lighting, under the direction of David Gately, worked together to bring out the melange of cultures in the narrative. Many scenes were staged like a tableau vivant in the style of the Florentine Renaissance artwork that surrounds the characters. The costuming was remarkable, transforming the stage into a parade of 1950s fashion that subtly highlighted the cultural differences between the Americans’ casual vacation wear and the Italians’ sophisticated dresswear.
The use of spotlights was particularly effective at bringing out the relationships between characters. While other characters’ soft
spotlights placed them within the amber lighting of the stage, Clara’s father was under harsh white lighting that alienated him from the setting. On his final phone call to his wife, he paced desperately between the confines of his spotlight as he learned he would not be able to stop his daughter’s wedding.
Even though musicals are outside the usual repertoire of McGill Opera students, their execution was true to the style of the piece.
“Opera has changed. There’s been a big shift in the repertoire that opera companies are doing,” Patrick Hansen, the Artistic Director of Opera McGill, said in an interview with The Tribune
The Light in the Piazza acts as a way to prepare students for the opera world’s changing landscape. While this piece is a musical, operatic elements come through in the orchestration, wide singing range, and Italian traditions that make it uniquely powerful. These elements were able to bring out the larger-
‘The Brutalist’ is a triumph that left me unsatisfied
Siena Torres Contributor
The word “monumental” has been impossible to avoid in discussions around The Brutalist, the latest feature film by former actor Brady Corbet. It’s been cemented as a frontrunner in the Oscar race after winning Best Motion Picture (Drama) at the Golden Globes and picking up 10 Oscar nominations. Keeping in line with this scandalfilled Oscar season, online uproar began just a few days after the ceremony when film editor Dávid Jancsó revealed that he used artificial intelligence to assist in refining the actors’ Hungarian accents.
And yet, none of these factors deterred my interest in the film—not even the 215-minute runtime, an impressive length that has reportedly scared off Oscar voters. In fact, the discourse surrounding The Brutalist made me eagerly await spending an entire afternoon in the movie theatre, immersing myself in its world.
The film is centred around László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Jewish Hungarian architect who survives the Holocaust and arrives in America to begin a new life. When a wealthy patron, Harrison Van Buren (Guy Pearce), contracts Tóth for his architectural talent, he is warily immersed into upper-class society. However, this does not come easily as he grapples with antisemitism in his new home. Unusually, there is an intermission that splits the film into two distinct parts that give the film a unique appeal. The arrival of Tóth’s wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), marks the sec-
ond half and a major tonal shift as the reality of the American Dream comes crashing down around him.
In a time when Netflix blockbusters can cost $200 million USD, Corbet worked with a budget of just $10 million USD. This is made more impressive upon learning it was primarily shot on VistaVision filmstock, a process made popular by Hitchcock that hasn’t been used since 1961. The fact that I could watch the movie in 70mm—the intended high-resolution film format—was all the more exciting. There is a meta element as the film deals with tension between patron and client, similar to Corbet’s difficulties getting his work made and financed.
As much as the level of detail and care for the craft spoke to me, I did not love The Brutalist as much as I had hoped to. The second half felt emotionally distant from the first, largely due to a particularly violent plot point that left an emotional impression but felt too literal in its message. The cinematography remained stunning, especially a sequence in an Italian marble mine where long takes linger on the enormous slabs of marble that tower over the characters accessing them.
Visually, The Brutalist is astounding. The stark and cold brutalist architecture mirrors the film’s themes of isolation and patronage. The VistaVision cinematography makes every frame feel grand through its widescreen format. Daniel Blumberg’s score is a highlight; its main theme is imposing and memorable which works with the brutalist aesthetic at its core.
Brody holds the film steady and delivers
a deeply committed and emotionally raw performance as László that is worthy of a second Academy Award. Pearce plays the eccentric Harrison Van Buren, whose complicated relationship and patronage over Tóth is fascinating to watch as it develops and gradually crumbles. For all its aesthetic precision and committed performances, the emotional core feels somewhat lacking by the time the credits roll, and I was left unfulfilled by the epilogue. The political message is convoluted as the speaker switches out of László’s perspective to his niece who moved to Israel and is now introducing his work in a retrospective years later. In a darkly ironic move, László can no longer speak for his work, and it is now interpreted only in perspective to the trauma he has endured.
than-life emotions of Clara’s newfound freedom, breathing new life into familiar themes of traditional musicals. The orchestra, conducted by Jonathan Monro, played beautifully, balancing the difficult act of expressively playing the phrases without overpowering the singers or the dialogue. The striking orchestration and use of coloratura register evoked the dramaticism of young love and emphasized Clara’s deep desire for acceptance. In the final moments of the show, Margaret faced the audience and finally embraced the promise of Clara’s future, closing with a beautifully haunting plea for the light of her love to never dim in a moving declaration of hope.
Despite personal reservations, The Bru-
vision and the power of cinema as an art form.
talist remains an audacious and admirable achievement. It’s a rare film that demands patience and rewards close attention, a testament to Corbet’s
The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glimmerglass Festival, and Central City Opera are all incorporating musical theatre into their repertoire. (Stephanie Sedlbauer / Opera McGill)
Brady Corbet and his co-writer and wife Mona Fastvold spent seven years making the film. (Lilly Guilbeault / The Tribune)
Wait, Timothée Chalamet can sing now?
Timothée Chalamet becomes the first non-professional
Olivia Wigod Contributor
When NBC posted their January Saturday Night Live (SNL) lineups to social media, the casting for the Jan. 25 show generated a lot of buzz. SNL announced that Oscar-nominated actor Timothée Chalamet would serve as both host and musical guest for the second live show of the year. While it excited fans, the announcement received a confused reaction from the public. Though it is not uncommon for SNL to enlist musicians as both hosts and musical guests, Timothée Chalamet constitutes a rare case
in which a non-professional singer takes on both roles; the last example of this occurred 30 years ago with Lily Tomlin in 1975. Last week, Chalamet joined a coveted and sparse group of just four other non-professional musical guests in the show’s history.
Chalamet’s lack of experience as a professional musician raised the question: What will he sing? The actor has no original music on streaming platforms and thus no discography from which to pull. The only songs attached to Chalamet’s artist profile on streaming sites come from his filmography; the actor is a credited artist for the soundtracks to Wonka and A Com -
“SNL”
musical guest in 30 years
plete Unknown . Considering this barren discography, some joked (and even hoped) that Chalamet might perform “Statistics,” a viral meme starring the actor’s high school rap persona, Lil’ Timmy Tim. Others assumed, more rationally, that Chalamet would perform songs from his Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown , to promote the film now in theatres. Because the public knows so little of Chalamet’s singing ability, his SNL debut as a musical guest intrigued fans as it invited many possibilities for his performance.
Ultimately, Chalamet laid Lil’ Timmy Tim to rest and covered three Bob Dylan songs. The actor opened his musical set with a high-energy performance of “Outlaw Blues.” He commanded the stage, removing his hood partway through the song to highlight his “dark sunglasses,” of which the song speaks. Chalamet’s charismatic performance propelled the momentum initiated by the hilarious monologue and sketches already presented that evening.
After “Outlaw Blues,” Chalamet removed his jacket and sat near the front of the SNL stage to give an intimate performance of “Three Angels.” As with all songs performed, Chalamet used a different arrangement from the original version of Dylan’s track. Here, he provided the audience with a break from SNL ’s energetic tone by selecting a spoken-word song. This performance not only allowed repose from the enthusiasm and angst expressed in “Outlaw Blues,” but demonstrated Cha -
FKA Twigs liberates the body to free the soul
Exploring the powerful chasms of EUSEXUA
Annabella Lawlor Staff Writer
Pounding electric bass. Neon lights strobing across the curvatures of moving muscle, flexing and softening in rhythmic tandem. Delicate and flowering falsetto melodies. Strangers coalescing in states of hedonistic dynamism. Violent snaps of the drum, spurting its vibrational heartbeats across the dancefloor. Choral pleas for unfamiliarity and euphoric authenticity pounding beneath the bounding footsteps, twirling in luminescent pleasure. Amidst the gritty atmosphere of dancing forms and synthetic song, FKA Twigs questions: “Have you experienced eusexua?”
On Jan. 24, FKA Twigs released her third studio album, EUSEXUA. An exploration of the artistic body and self, Twigs experimented with pure techno sounds on the record following her temporary residence in Prague. Inspired by the effervescent physicality and bodily surrender of the city’s club scene, Twigs made its auditory influence the underlying theme of her album. It was a landscape so undefinable that she crafted an entirely new vocabulary for describing its transcendental qualities, which led to the creation of words like “EUSEXUA.” Twigs’ unending inventiveness, both linguistically and musically, invites the listener to explore this world on her terms, replicating the ethereal quality of her life-altering experiences and the eusexual essence of life waiting to be unlocked.
In conversation with Imogen Heap, Twigs
discussed the process of creating her records, explaining: “I started to think about—when making the album—these 11 pillars that hold up EUSEXUA. And the 11 pillars were aspects of my life that I felt, if I looked at and if I made adjustments to, then I could be closer to EUSEXUA. And for me, EUSEXUA is creating, purely and unabashedly. It’s feeling more comfortable in my body sexually. It is being more present and being able to be at that pinnacle of experience.”
Throughout the tracks, Twigs lyrically expresses her desire to be fully understood by another person. She longs for this sense of anonymous intimacy, of surrendering the soul to a stranger as a means to fill the concavities of loneliness that plague her form. In perhaps what is the most emotional track on the record, “Sticky,” she laments, “My body aches to be known / To be expressive in itself / I want to forgive myself / I want to release myself from the pain I have inside.” It’s an understated ballad situated amongst the electronically rapturous tracks that surround it, reflecting on the struggle of finding the inner core of personhood through bodily exploration. The track drifts between acoustic restraint and robotic climax, almost mirroring the nonlinear cycle of selfhood—the ebbing anxieties and simultaneous softness that accompanies life.
At the heart of the record, FKA Twigs asks: Can we find EUSEXUA in all aspects of life? The “Drums of Death” music video certainly shows its pre-existing presence
lamet’s range as a performer and his ability to captivate an audience without a tune— just words and instrumentals.
In his final musical performance of the night, Chalamet sits with his guitar to sing a meditative rendition of “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” The song’s slow pace showcases Chalamet’s vocal ability and, like “Three Angels,” contrasts the show’s otherwise unserious tone.
So, how did audiences receive Timothée Chalamet’s musical debut? While skeptics may view the actor’s choice to perform Bob Dylan songs as an obvious publicity stunt to draw attention to A Complete Unknown , Chalamet’s talent is nonetheless undeniable. The Oscar nominee took advantage of the fact that most viewers have never heard his voice and performed impressively. He selected deep cuts from Dylan’s discography and made the songs his own, pulling inspiration from Dylan’s inflections while changing the instrumental arrangements to stand out. By leaning into the edge of “Outlaw Blues” and emphasizing the melancholic tone of the other tracks, Chalamet maintained his individuality while impersonating Dylan. Notably, none of the songs Chalamet sang are on the soundtrack for A Complete Unknown ; this was an exclusive performance. Chalamet thus left more to the imagination, giving the audience a taste of what to expect from the film without spoiling his performances. Chalamet’s performance undoubtedly made Miss Lawton proud.
in corporate culture. Even in the scenery of pin-striped greys, clacking keyboards, and glitching emails, one can still assume a being of unabashed authenticity. The corresponding track finds itself at the heart of the record’s utterly combative and dynamic sound; its rupturing instrumentation and skipping electronic vocals practically necessitate a responding movement in its listening. Whether clad in club clothes, khakis, or black tie, one can submit oneself to the unconstrained nature of Twigs’ songwriting to embrace this transcendental essence of being.
The current discourse surrounding this album tends to gloss over the powerful inten-
tions of its whole, instead vocalizing singular criticisms for the song “Childlike Things,” which features North West. Though it’s hard to deny the mediocrity of the track, it should not overshadow the spiritual beauty of all else. We can instead take it as a lesson to encourage children to perhaps find creative solace in a private journal.
The alluring grittiness of EUSEXUA allows listeners to enrapture themselves in pure states of ethereal reflection. FKA Twigs’ creations are undeniably unique and purely authentic to her person. With one of the most astonishing and stunning cultural voices in the world, she is an artist in output and life.
Timothée Chalamet attended LaGuardia High School for the performing arts. (Eliot Loose / The Tribune)
FKA Twigs premiered her first song off EUSEXUA, “Striptease,” in a 2023 Calvin Klein advertisement. (Drea Garcia Avila / The Tribune)
