The McGill Daily Vol105Iss1 by McGill Daily

The Disorientation Guide: into the Woods

Volume 105, Issue 1 Tuesday, September 1, 2015

McGill THE

DAILY

Lost in the woods since 1911 mcgilldaily.com

Published by The Daily Publications Society, a student society of McGill University.

Table of Contents 03 News

LIVE WORK. LIVE. WORK PLAY. PLAY LEARN. LEARN

Workers react to McGill’s financial scandals

CONSTRUCTION CO S UC O ISS NOW O WELL UNDERWAY U

In case you missed the summer coverage Activists denounce social network control research Student-run cafe opens At only 300 metres from McGill campus, Le Peterson is in the heart of the city and all its best amenities.

New provost talks with The Daily

t Located on a quiet street t 24-hour concierge service

09 Commentary

t 25th floor Sky terrace with gym

overlooking the Quartier des Spectacles t Professionally designed guest suite

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to host your friends and family t Ranked the #1 project by

BuzzBuzzHome t Down payment as low as 5%

Elizabeth May, immigration, and a family reunion 75% SOLD 1-BEDROOM CONDOS FROM $256,900

11 Features

The illustration is an artist’s representation.

The Disorientation Guide

2-BEDROOM CONDOS FROM $339,900

Imagine life at Le Peterson thanks to our virtual visits and our interactive touchscreens. DISCOVER ALL THAT LE PETERSON HAS TO OFFER AT 445 PRESIDENT-KENNEDY (NEAR BLEURY).

STILL AVAILABLE

LePeterson.com

A student/teacher affair

14 Sci+Tech

Do you love to draw?

Apps for accessibility UdeM: Fatty foods cause changes to your brain

16 Sports

Our illustrations section is looking for contributors, and we want you!

Carter High movie preview

17 Culture The Daily sits down with Jonathan Emile Queercore’s punk dilemma Bands to see at OAP

Send an email to illustrations@mcgilldaily.com or stop by our office to learn how you can help beautify this paper.

19 Editorial Greetings from The McGill Daily edboard

20 Compendium! A campus hole

Check out our website for more disorienting content!

News

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Workers on campus troubled by alleged Bill 100 violation Former principal paid for two years after leaving position

Vincent Simboli News Writer

n July 27, the Quebec’s Ministry of Education announced that McGill’s funding may be further cut for violating provincial Bill 100, which restricts the way in which pay raises can be given in order to combat provincial debt. According to Bill 100, “no bonus, allowance, premium, compensation or other additional remuneration based on personal performance for either of the fiscal years beginning in 2010 and 2011, may be granted to [...] a senior executive or the management personnel in the education network or a university.” According to the Montreal Gazette, Julie White, spokesperson for Education Minister François Blais, believes that the performance-based bonuses provided to McGill administrative staff in the last five years may have been illegal. In addition, this June, the Journal de Montréal reported that McGill’s former principal Heather MunroeBlum allegedly received two years’ worth of paychecks – amounting to more than $750,000 – from McGill after leaving the university in 2013, while employed by Stanford University. Munroe-Blum’s term at McGill was marked by student strikes against an attempted tuition hike and the exacerbation of an already tense relationship between students and administration.

“In the current economic system, a decent wage is one of the few things that shows an employer’s respect for workers, and the low wages support staff receive show a serious lack of respect from the administration,” Molly Swain, AMUSE President

Lia Elbaz | The McGill Daily Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE), one of the campus unions, has found both of these allegations concerning, especially as McGill continues to face unprecedented budget cuts as part of the provincial austerity measures. “It’s sad that the Quebec government, which has a reputation as being one of the most corrupt in Canada, has to be the one to call the McGill administration out on its illegal pay raises,” Molly Swain, president of AMUSE, told The Daily. Swain further explained that it would be concerning for AMUSE, if the allegations about McGill’s decision to continue paying MunroeBlum for two extra years were true despite the mass cancellation of Arts courses in the 2013-14 academic year and other austerity measures. In an email to The Daily, McGill’s Director of Internal Communications, Doug Sweet, responded to the allegations regarding Bill 100 and Munroe-Blum’s post-employment salary. Sweet stated that the administration believes it “[has] been following Bill 100 directives. In a recent meeting with the government, we realized we are using different definitions of terms and therefore more clarification is needed by both parties.”

Regarding Munroe-Blum’s continued pay, Sweet said, “It is normal practice for a senior academic administrator to earn a one-year leave following a five-year term in office. Additionally, faculty members are eligible for the academic retirement program, to which the Principal Emeritus was entitled.” “15 and Fair” campaign According to Swain, McGill has a history of poor treatment of its faculty and support staff. “[McGill] is, and always has been, a factory for the elite – and the administration [is] very proud of this,” Swain explained. As an example, Swain pointed to the McGill University NonAcademic Certified Association (MUNACA)’s strike in 2011. Notably, during the strike, McGill filed two injunctions against MUNACA, which restricted the union’s picketing ability on campus and around senior administrators’ houses. In addition, there were reports of scab labour – workers going to work despite the strike – though the university was cleared of all charges. “The administration dismisses, downplays, and ridicules those who try to change things. In the current economic system, a decent wage is one of the few things that shows an employer’s respect for

workers, and the low wages support staff receive show a serious lack of respect from the administration,” Swain explained. According to AMUSE, many of its union members, especially students in the work-study program, are paid at or barely above the provincial minimum wage of $10.55 per hour, which the union does not consider a living wage in 2015.

“Full-time employees with benefits are slowly being replaced with casual employees with unpredictable hours and little job security.” “15 and Fair McGill” campaign AMUSE is also part of the 15 and Fair McGill campaign, which calls for a $15 per hour minimum wage on campus. Other unions that are participating in the campaign are the Association of McGill University Research Employees (AMURE), McGill’s

teaching assistants’ and invigilators’ union AGSEM, McGill Course Lecturers and Instructors Union (MCLIU), and MUNACA. In addition, the campaign is supported by the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) and the McGill Chapter of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG). One way by which the McGill administration has implemented provincial austerity measures is the institution of a hiring freeze on noncasual positions. According to 15 and Fair McGill’s website, this means that “full-time employees with benefits are slowly being replaced with casual employees with unpredictable hours and little job security.” The effects of these measures are especially drastic for students, coupled with their low wages and student debt, and dramatically decrease the accessibility of education for students in the workstudy program. Swain explained the two options McGill has: “Either the administration must suddenly realize that their pay system is flawed and change it on their own, or we, the workers and support staff who really make the university run, must try to change things and work for a more ethical and fair pay system.”

News

September 1, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

In case you missed it Headlines from the summer Written by Cem Ertekin and Arianee Wang As always, the summer has been full of action in Montreal and at McGill. The city witnessed unions launching their new campaigns, police cracking down on protests, a petition to fight the patriarchy, and we even saw a scandal regarding the McGill Faculty of Medicine. If you weren’t paying attention over the summer, now’s your chance to catch up on the news.

Solidarity for the Unist’ot’en camp. Cem Ertekin | The McGill Daily

Accessible housing protest.

March in solidarity with Unist’ot’en Camp ends in arrests On July 24, approximately twenty demonstrators gathered at Roddick Gates to show support for the Unist’ot’en Camp in British Columbia. The camp is located in unceded Wet’suwet’en territories, which are currently endangered by 11 different pipeline proposals, including Chevron’s Pacific Trails Pipeline project. An organizer who wished to remain anonymous explained that the Unist’ot’en have been practicing “free prior and informed consent protocols.” This method entails asking potential visitors about their intentions when they access the territory. “If [the visitors] are not approved by the hereditary chiefs, then they’re not allowed on the territory,” stated the organizer, adding, “[the Unist’ot’en have] made it very clear that […] Chevron is not allowed in the territory and the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police], who is just acting to enforce this capitalist agenda, is not allowed on their territory either.” The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) responded to the protest with several arrests and tickets. On August 26, the members of the camp announced on their Facebook page that they were “on high alert and if [their families didn’t] hear back from [them] in 24 hours, it means [they were] unable to get word out” about their situation. They later made other posts about increased police activity around the territories.

Unions at McGill join $15 minimum wage campaign On May 1, McGill’s Inter-Union Council (IUC) organized a rally at Community Square in front of the James Administration building to celebrate International Workers’ Day and to stand in solidarity with the university’s academic and non-academic workers. Following the rally, which included speeches by community members, the organizers of the rally delivered a letter to the University, signed by the event’s participants. The letter condemned many of the University’s policy decisions in response to the provincial budget cuts. McGill worker Agatha Slupek, speaking on behalf of the IUC, announced that unions at McGill would be joining their “comrades in the fast food and retail industries [in calling] for a $15 campus-wide minimum wage.” As the collective agreements of most unions, such as the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA), are about to expire, it is expected that the campaign will affect the renegotiation processes.

McGill’s undergraduate medicine program put on probation Over the summer, McGill’s undergraduate medicine program was placed on probation by the Committee on the Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. The announcement came in the form of a letter, dated June 15 and addressed to McGill’s Principal Suzanne Fortier. While the letter expressed that “probation is an action reflecting the summative judgment that a medical education program is not in substantial compliance with accreditation standards,” McGill’s undergraduate medicine program has not lost its accreditation. Amongst reasons cited for the probation was inadequate instruction in women’s health and family and domestic violence. The faculty has until 2017 to address the issues mentioned in the letter in order for the program to be taken off probation, and it has already begun to do so.

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily

Petition starts “alcohol does not equal consent” campaign Earlier this spring, a petition was launched demanding that the Quebec government make it mandatory for alcohol bottles to have the slogan “alcohol does not equal consent” written on them, as well as for establishments with alcohol permits to display the same slogan at their bars and restrooms. According to Kharoll-Ann Souffrant, one of the people behind the petition and a social work student at McGill, the petition sought to make the message visible and create awareness about the issue of sexual assault. Mélanie Lemay, an administrator at the Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (CALACS) Agression Estrie, the first step to fight rape culture is admitting that it exists. “That’s the biggest test, and most people don’t do it, because it’s hard to believe that actually everything’s made up so that women [are not even the owners of their own bodies],” Lemay told The Daily. By the petition’s deadline on July 24, 574 people had signed the online petition; however, the organizers claimed that the total number exceeds 1,000 if paper versions of the petition are included.

Affordable housing group’s camp dispersed by the police The Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), an affordable housing group, took to the streets on May 21 to denounce the limited funding for social housing from the federal and provincial governments and protest housing inaccessibility. Several hundred demonstrators joined the march in downtown Montreal. Around 2:30 p.m., the congregation arrived at the Quartier des spectacles, where approximately sixty campers from Montreal and surrounding regions, who were either facing housing difficulties or were tenants of social housing, intended to stay in tents. At approximately 4 p.m., the SPVM intervened, making three arrests and seizing some of the protesters’ tents. Eventually, police surrounded the camp from multiple directions and by 5 p.m. had dismantled the protest.

News

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Demilitarize McGill denounces social network research

Activists criticize social control applications of surveillance Cem Ertekin The McGill Daily

n August 3, campus direct action group Demilitarize McGill released a set of access to information (ATI) documents pertaining to the research done by Derek Ruths, an associate professor at the McGill School of Computer Science and the supervisor of the Network Dynamics Lab. According to its website, the Network Dynamics Lab does research on measuring and predicting large-scale human behaviour. The lab receives up to $85,100 in funding from the federal government as part of the Kanishka Project Contribution Program, a multi-year investment in terrorism-focused research, to study “a system for measuring population response to a crisis in online social networks.” Demilitarize McGill pointed to two particular sets of slides that have been released as part of the ATI documents. The slides, which Ruths has presented to Public Safety Canada (PSC), include the Montreal student protests of 2012 as an example of “uncoordinated mobilization.” Demilitarize McGill alleges that Ruths’ research could be used by police and intelligence agencies not only to surveil social movements, but also to control them. “The thing about Ruths’ research is that it’s not peer surveillance. We know that peer surveillance is already happening, we know the stories about the [Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)] creating fake Facebook profiles and following activists, and we know that activist spaces get regularly infiltrated,” Mona Luxion, a PhD candidate in the School of Urban Planning and an organizer with Demilitarize McGill, told The Daily. “What’s interesting and concerning about Ruths’ research is that it’s pushing the boundaries of what you can do with the surveillance and with that data,” continued Luxion. “Ideally, this work is not just about understanding people’s responses, but also about how the government can influence those responses by intervening in those social networks – especially virtual social networks, but also the real-world social networks that they represent.” In an interview with The Daily, Ruths admitted that his research, which attempts to model and infer people’s characteristics based on their

Alexandra Villalobos | Photographer social media activity, could be used in ways other than originally intended. “I fully acknowledge that there are nefarious actors out there, who could pick up and use this technology. [...] You know, bad guys are going to do this. Bad guys, whether they be badly intentioned police officers, or government officials, or just bad governments… They’re just going to do this. The technology is fairly out there,” Ruths said. “What I think is really important about this work is that it happens in the open. We are as transparent as you can get,” he continued. Ruths also characterized the allegations made by Demilitarize McGill as “ridiculous.” “There is nothing that I have provided [to the PSC] that is actually usable. I haven’t given them software, I haven’t actually conducted detailed analysis, there is no person that I’ve been in contact [with] who is in any way capable of picking up the systems in the form that I’ve built them and using them for this purpose,” he explained. According to Luxion, however, “The point here [...] is not only about what the researcher’s intent is with any one particular project, but the way in which that fits into broader trends and the potential applications once that technology or knowledge is available.” “The point is, academic re-

search is to disseminate and add to knowledge and, to some extent, the point of governments is to consolidate that knowledge and implement it through policy and action,” Luxion continued. Nevertheless, Ruths maintains that his research aims to help law enforcement engage with social movements in a constructive way, by making them understand the reasons why people engage in direct action. Montreal-based community organizer Jaggi Singh said Ruths’ response was an example of “an astounding naivete about the police and how they operate.” “If you believe the police are a neutral force within society that somehow [navigate] neutrally between governments and corporations and military and social movements, then that might make some sense. But that, of course, is not the reality. The police do not act as a neutral or quasi-neutral force in society,” Singh told The Daily. “Unfortunately, it’s a naive point of view you often get [in] academia, where people, because they are within the framework of an academic setting, feel like they can make some sort of proclamation towards neutrality or objectivity.” Surveillance versus control According to Brenda McPhail, the Privacy, Surveillance, and Technology Project Director at

“There are already clear structural ways in which this level of surveillance and repression operates within our society and, unfortunately, it’s widely accepted.” Jaggi Singh, Montreal-based community organizer the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), there is a major difference between monitoring a social movement and controlling it. “Any effort to control citizens, preventing them from exercising their Charter-protected rights, I think, is profoundly troubling. That doesn’t seem to have a place in a Canadian society that believes in democratic process, that believes in the right to dissent, that believes in the value of free expression,” McPhail told The Daily. Singh emphasized that surveillance is a widespread issue. “Already we know that the police

and army are part of an apparatus [that is] involved in surveillance – that already exists,” Singh said, adding that the criticism of the Network Dynamics Lab’s work shouldn’t distract from existing repressive surveillance. “There are already clear structural ways in which this level of surveillance and repression operates within our society and, unfortunately, it’s widely accepted.” McPhail believes that “knowledge is power and knowing how these things work can be used for either good or ill. I think that it is problematic if the purpose of the research is to provide tactics for law enforcement or surveillance intelligence bodies to exercise social control.” For Luxion, law enforcement’s interest in Ruths’ research represents “a desire to co-opt movements, [and] direct people’s thinking without ever having to get into physical altercations.” “Being transparent about what it is you’re doing doesn’t eliminate that risk [of co-option],” said Luxion. “Is it ethical to do research that you know will have that result of enhancing states’ capabilities to repress movements? It’s not just the states that you agree with. At some point, that capacity is available to anyone regardless of who is in power, regardless of what the government is.”

News

September 1, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Student-run cafeteria replaces Bocadillo SSMU mandated by resolution to remove commercial tenant activity Nadir Khan News Writer

ollowing extensive renovations, the privately owned Bocadillo has been pushed out to make way for a new student-run food service, which opened August 24. Together with the Nest, the new food service will make up the student-run cafeteria (SRC) on the second floor of the Shatner Building. The new food operation will serve salads, soups, pizza, burgers, french fries, sandwiches and more. Burgers and sandwiches cost between $6.75 and $8.50, depending on the toppings, while soup and salads run in the $3 to $4 range. Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP Finance and Operation Zacheriah Houston explained that the food will be affordable, underscoring that the mission of the SRC is “to provide high-quality meals at an affordable price.” However, McGill meal plans are not accepted. The decision for a new student-run food service follows a mandate set out by a motion passed at SSMU Council in March. Confidentially discussed, the motion resolved that “the SSMU remove all commercial tenant activity in the University Centre,” in an effort to “prioritize student endeavours above any other taken up in the SSMU space.” At the moment, however, the extent to which this motion will be implemented is unclear. SSMU VP Clubs & Services Kimber Bialik

“[The student-run cafe] allows us to be a more tightknit community. It allows us to give things to students, allows us to improve.” Edward McCrady, employee at the student-run cafeteria

Bailey Cohen-Krichevsky | Illustrator explained to The Daily that “the motion had no established timeline outlined when it was originally passed,” and that “any plans for logistics or implementation would also need to be reviewed and discussed by Council prior to making any decisions.” With regards to commercial activity in the Shatner Building and the corporatization of campus in general, Bialik said she would not be able to comment at the time. Houston argued that the new initiative has both positive and negative financial consequences. In an email to The Daily, Houston explained, “The removal of the second-floor commercial tenants had an unfavourable impact on the building budget, as it resulted in decreased revenue. In February, ‘business rent’ was budgeted for $216,000 in revenue. Now, in the July revision of the 2015-16

budget, it is budgeted for only $145,000 in revenue.” Still, Houston believes that the decrease can be offset by revenue generated from the new food operation, which is budgeted to earn a profit of $64,000. Edward McCrady, a cashier among the approximately 35 staff members which include Gerts kitchen staff, welcomed another student-run food initiative on campus. “It allows us to be a more tightknit community, it allows us to give things to students, allows us to improve,” McCrady told The Daily. On implementing the SSMU Council resolution and removing the remaining commercial tenants, McCrady argued that “as long as they’re good business, I wouldn’t say anything about having them removed. As long as they’re making money for SSMU and McGill, and being successful

businesses that provide students with healthy options and cheap options, that’s good.” According to information from a presentation to Council by last year’s VP Finance and Operations Kathleen Bradley, commercial tenants account for approximately 86 per cent of annual sales in the building. Now that Bocadillo and Bamboo Bowl have left the Shatner Building, La Prep (approximately 55 per cent of annual sales) and Liquid Nutrition (approximately 8 per cent of all sales) are the only commercial tenants left, excluding the vending machines. Jonathan Taylor, the owner of Liquid Nutrition, when asked about the place of private commercial activity in student-run spaces, said, “Franchises like ours have a lot to offer. [...] I think it would be a shame if we [were] pushed out.”

Froshies fresh from home, Senioritis soon begins. You should write for news.

“At the end of the day, people like diversity. [...] If you force something on somebody, you’re going to end up with a pretty empty building [...]; that’s my gut feeling,” Taylor said. Taylor would like to renew Liquid Nutrition’s lease, which expires in June 2016, but has yet to begin negotiations with the incoming SSMU executive. La Prep’s lease is also set to expire in June. For now, the future of the SRC remains unclear. Given that the renovation of the second floor of the Shatner building “required a significant capital investment,” Houston “would like the SRC to remain for the foreseeable future.” Houston noted that ultimately, “as is the case with all other SSMU projects, the future of the SRC is still contingent upon positive feedback from students and the financial feasibility of the cafe.”

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News

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

New provost takes over

Former Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi chats with The Daily Cem Ertekin The McGill Daily

n August 26, McGill’s new Provost and Vice-President (VP) Academic Christopher Manfredi sat down with The Daily to talk about his new position, McGill’s budget, and dealing with the troubles caused by provincial budget cuts. The McGill Daily (MD): Provost Christopher Manfredi, you held the position of Dean of Arts last year and for a while before that. As provost, what is your vision for the position? Christopher Manfredi (CM): So you are right, I was Dean of Arts for nine years, from 2006 until I took this job. That was a very rewarding position. [...] I want the provost – the office of the Provost and the VP Academic – to be really integrated into the community, be connected with the community, in a really full way. I am at heart a university professor and a researcher, who just happens to have a set of administrative responsibilities. So I want to maintain the office’s close connection to the community and make sure that it’s really integrated into everything that the University does. MD: One of the most important portfolios of the Provost is managing the budget. That said, do you have any specific plans for the budget right now? What are some of your priorities in terms of directing McGill’s funds? CM: We have a budget already set for [the 2016 fiscal year] by [exProvost Anthony] Masi, approved by the Board [of Governors], which we’ll follow through on. There’s also a five-year plan, which we will adjust incrementally as we see what’s happening on the government side. [...] And this year we’ll be engaging in a lot of consultations with the community, with the deans, with students, with the rest of the university community. One of the things I think Provost Masi did extremely well was keeping open the lines of communication around the budget and particularly being very transparent about how our budget is constructed. [...] And that’s something I hope to be able to continue, to make sure [...] that we continue to let the community know very well what’s going on with respect to the budget. MD: Provost Masi would go to various student council meetings and Senate and talk about the budget. CM: Yeah, so I plan on doing that too. I did that as dean. One of the things [I] asked the staff to set up when I was Dean of Arts – I used to hold regular office hours in the lounge, the Arts Student Lounge, in

Provost Christopher Manfredi the basement of the Leacock Building. So I’ve actually asked my staff to do that this year, of course, at a bigger scale, at the SSMU building. See if I can spend an hour once a month, [...] for students to come and drop in and talk to me. So that’s something I’d like to do this year. MD: I want to talk more about the budget, because that’s a very big issue, considering the provincial budget cuts. Are there any updates? CM: Well, I hope we’re getting to the bottom of the trough of budget cuts. We’ve got another $70 to $73 million in cuts for this year that the government has announced. Fortunately, they haven’t

“With respect to former principal, Munroe-Blum, I think she was provided with [...] what she was permitted to get under her contract.” Provost Christopher Manfredi given us any news that it is going to be higher than that. So that’s good news for us. You know, Quebec’s fiscal situation is difficult. There is a gov-

Katerina Mosquera-Cardi| Photographer ernment policy trying to get back to a balanced budget and all sectors of Quebec society are being asked to do their part: the health sector, the educational sector, and so on. So we can expect, you know, not having a whole lot of injections of new money from the province, at least. What McGill would like to see is some flexibility with respect to how we build our budget. And one of the things I’ve been surprised by, in the two months I’ve been here, is not so much about the cuts or the budget, but the kind of erratic nature of how the government informs the University of our budget, the rules being changed in the middle of the game, and so on and so forth; that makes planning very difficult. MD: Even though the University has been asking for more flexibility, it hasn’t really taken a stance against the budget cuts imposed by the provincial government. So, do you think it would be within your vision for the position, or rather, within your purview to maybe lobby the Senate or the Board of Governors to take an explicit stand against the austerity measures? CM: Well, I think that’s a question for the principal, [Suzanne Fortier]. I mean, she’s the one who’s the most responsible for our relationship with the provincial government. So I think that’s her decision as to how we develop that relationship. MD: Still, as a professor of political science yourself, and as a person who has a lot of control over McGill’s budget, I am wondering if

you would like to talk about your opinions on this. CM: Well, certainly, we’d welcome a re-investment into education by the government of Quebec.

“On the course cuts, what we actually did was – those were sort of expenditure neutral cuts.” Provost Christopher Manfredi We’d welcome greater flexibility with respect to how we develop our budget. And I think that those are the things we’ve been working on in terms of our relationship with the government. MD: There are many side effects of the budget cuts on McGill and some of the most ostensible ones [...] have been on the Faculty of Arts. There were the course cuts, which got a massive reaction from students. There’s a general feeling amongst students that courses within certain disciplines, such as those in the humanities, are the first to get cut. How would you respond to this? CM: First of all, on the course cuts, what we actually did was – those were sort of expenditure neutral cuts. The idea was to try to find efficiencies with respect to how we delivered courses, so

we could free up money to increase the amounts we could provide for teaching assistantships (TAs). That’s what we did. We in fact were able to increase our TA budget in the Faculty of Arts by somewhere between 10 and 15 per cent. So, what we want to do is to find the best way to reallocate resources from one area to another, because, you know, it’s a bit of a zero-sum. If you want to do more of X, you have to do less of Y. And that’s the choice that I had to make as dean, and that’s the choice that we took. MD: I’d also like to ask you about certain allegations surfaced over the summer. It is alleged that former principal, Heather Munroe-Blum, received a full-year’s salary for two years after leaving McGill. In addition, the Montreal Gazette recently reported that McGill has been raising executive salaries in a manner that could be deemed illegal under Quebec’s Bill 100. How would you respond to these allegations? CM: Yeah, so I think, with respect to principal, former principal, Munroe-Blum, I think she was provided with what her contract – what she was permitted to get under her contract. On the other issue, I think the best person to talk about that is [Vice-Principal (Communications and External Relations) Olivier Marcil], who has been working on that field. This interview has been edited for space and clarity. A longer version of this article is available online.

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the 2015-2016 editorial board. We hope you’ll consider running for one of our open positions. If you are interested in joining our nonhierarchical team, here’s a quick guide on the election process for becoming a Daily editor.

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Commentary

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Let them learn French

A word of advice to graduating international students June Jang Commentary Writer

moved to Toronto from South Korea at age 13 without my parents. Now I’m 24, but still, I am neither a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident. Although I overcame numerous obstacles to feel “Canadian” – the cultural and the English language barrier – I still face other challenges that prevent me from obtaining “Canadian” status. I want to talk about one thing in particular that has added to my sense of alienation: the complexity and inaccessibility of resources and information about the French language courses that international students should take as they try to immigrate to Quebec. In the summer of 2014, I applied for an internship at one of the English TV networks in Montreal. On my first day, the director welcomed me with a string of questions about why I was in Montreal when I couldn’t speak French. There was no chance of me finding a journalism job in Montreal, since knowledge of French is essential. For instance, a conversation with a police officer on the phone is usually conducted in French, and a lot of documents available online are offered only in French. Yet, discouragingly, there is a complete lack of support from both McGill and the government, in terms of providing accessible information about learning French for immigration purposes after graduation. Four things are required from international students to apply for permanent residency in Quebec through the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ): $765, a Quebec university diploma, an application form for a Quebec selection certificate (CSQ), and an official document demonstrating an “advanced intermediate” knowledge of oral French (level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference). Yet, until late 2014, McGill’s International Student Services did not provide a document stating which French courses available at McGill satisfy the French level requirement. Between 2009 and 2014, I took eight French as a Second Language (FRSL) classes at McGill, including FRSL 302 and FRSL 303. Despite having the prerequisites, I did not take FRSL 321 or FRSL 325 (Oral and Written French 2), not

knowing that only those classes and more advanced ones are recognized by the Quebec government as meeting the language requirement. I emailed the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion (MIDI), and received confirmation that it would not recognize the eight French classes I took at McGill as sufficient. I was left to fend for myself, and spent the next year taking two TCFQs (Test de connaissance du français pour le Québec), one French course at Centre Saint-Paul, and ultimately, FRSL 325 at McGill. Saint-Paul, run by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM), is a free language school that accepts non-Canadian students only if they have a certain type of work permit. In January 2015, I started a course at SaintPaul, but in February, I was asked to leave or pay over $1,000 at the next session of class. My post-graduate work permit was not acceptable, the school said, and it had enrolled me by mistake. So I went back to McGill. While browsing McGill’s website in March 2015, I found a recently uploaded document about French courses that meet the B2 level requirement. But since I was no longer a McGill student, I was registered as a independent student and asked to pay $3,500 for that one French course. Due to the failure of McGill, the MIDI, and the CSDM to equip international students with the skills and information necessary to adapt themselves to Quebec’s linguistic expectations after graduation, I had to pay for their mistake, wasting not only time, but also a lot of money, which could be a significant burden for many people. I have learned a lot in the past year; working part-time as a waitress for an entire year while I was taking the additional classes – with the knowledge at the back of my mind that I owed my parents roughly $200,000 – made me proud of myself and boosted my self-confidence. Nevertheless, I would like to make some recommendations to help students avoid my mistakes and some suggestions to McGill offices and Quebec policymakers. To international students who want to apply for permanent residency: first, take the necessary French course at McGill and apply for a CSQ as soon as possible, as the level of French required for

Katherine Rosenfeld | Illustrator immigration has only been getting more difficult. It’s currently the advanced intermediate B2 level, while. In 2013, it was the intermediate B1 level. Before that, only a one-on-one interview with an MIDI official was required. Second, if you have not yet obtained a CSQ at the time of your graduation, apply for a year-long working holiday visa instead of applying for a post-grad visa. This will allow you to take French for free at one of the CSDM schools – in fact, you can even take free classes at some of these schools with your student visa. Finally, after obtaining your CSQ, apply for permanent residency right away. Usually, it takes less than a month to get a CSQ, and although it takes a year to two to get your permanent residency, you will be given a number in two to four months after applying. With your CSQ and that number alone, you can start taking French full-time while receiving at least $115 of government aid per week.

As for the Quebec government and institutions offering French classes, what I would most like to see is transparency. I was given new – and sometimes contradictory – information at every turn. I think that the confusion among language schools and governmental offices is due to a lack of transparency on behalf of the government regarding the regulations. For instance, to my great confusion, I was given three different answers each time I called the MIDI. The first time, I was told to contact the CEGEP du Vieux Montréal to set up an appointment to evaluate my French proficiency in order to take French classes for free with my CSQ. The second time, I was told I should apply online and then mail other documents to be tested by an evaluator from the MIDI. The third time, after my application had been rejected, I was told I could take French only part-time. I asked a lot of questions to gain as much information as I could, since

details are not available online. At the end of that conversation, I asked for a document that had the information I needed, but I was told that they could not give me a document. But why not? As a recently graduated international student, I want to stay in Montreal even if that means I have to take time off from looking for a job to invest time in learning French. I personally see this as a great opportunity rather than a burden. However, some days I feel so dejected by all the hurdles I have to jump over, the walls I have to turn away from, and the confusion I have to swim through due to a sea of misinformation that I just want to throw in the towel and call it quits. No one should have to jump through this many hoops to meet the basic language requirements for immigration. June Jang is a recent English Literature graduate. To contact her, email joo.jang@mail.mcgill.ca.

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Commentary

September 1, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

On waiting for representation Cutting through red tape with a Green MP

Xiaoxiao (Alice) Liu Commentary Writer

n an April evening in 2014, I opened an email and panicked. It was from a Model United Nations (Model UN) conference I was supposed to attend. The conference was in five days, and I had just been told that I would be part of a special committee – the House of Commons – and that I would act as the leader of the Green Party. Little did I know that this one email would mark the beginning of a valuable engagement with the human side of politics. Coincidentally, I was a high school student in Saanich, B.C. at the time. As such, I was especially aware of Elizabeth May. I knew that she was my Member of Parliament (MP), and that her job was to represent the people in her constituency. While preparing for the conference, I realized that my ideas were only based on guesses of what May might do, and those ideas seemed vague, unconvincing, and somewhat immature. I wanted to be an outstanding Green, even though it was just a mock House of Commons.

[I] would no longer tolerate people, especially those who have the most power, dictating the circumstances of others’ lives only to further their own interests. I tweeted at May the next day, and she responded within hours. I probably asked a few too many questions over the next two days as eventually she asked, politely, whether we could correspond by email. So I sent her an email at 6 p.m., and she responded at 11 p.m., which was 2 a.m. in Ottawa, with an email twice as long as mine. I asked the question, “How often, and when, do you compromise in the House?” She responded, “I DON’T.” With this strict principle as my guidance, I did very well in the Model UN – I wrote a great paper on the assigned topic and delivered speeches that got right to the heart

of the problems in the mock House. I was surprised and grateful that Elizabeth May had stayed up late for me, an unknown high-schooler, and answered my questions. As a thank you, I gave her a copy of my paper at the next town hall meeting she hosted, and thought I would never meet her again. But she had left a strong impression, and I was motivated to do further research into the issues I had tackled in the mock House. I realized that I found the Greens to be a very inspiring party, and that, although her party did not hold many seats in Parliament, May was a significant political figure. I also watched a number of her speeches. Although I often drifted off in the middle (as any English learner would), I still felt the power, determination, and passion with which she approached each issue at hand. What she had told me before was true: she never compromises. Until then, I had always been an acquiescent follower. I could remain silent when confronted, and apologize for something that was not my fault. After watching her speeches and reading all sorts of articles about May and the Greens, I decided that I too would no longer tolerate people, especially those who have the most power, dictating the circumstances of others’ lives only to further their own interests. Canada’s immigration system, for one, imposes heavy constraint on immigrants’ lives – all with a purpose that remains unclear to me. My own family was at the time split across three timezones: myself studying in Victoria, my father in China, and my mother in Toronto, working as a nanny. Extremely underpaid, she was trying her best to ensure that within two years, she would be able to fill out a permanent residency application for our whole family. She began working last June, just before the federal government passed Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act. The bill narrowed the definition of a “dependent child,” and now full-time students aged 19 and over, instead of 21 and over, are not allowed to apply for permanent residency along with their parents. In just less than a year, as my mother finishes her two-year contract, I will turn 19. Determined that these three years of separation wouldn’t be for nothing, my mother volunteered to be paid less in order to log more hours, with the hope of accruing the 3,900 hours of work

Courtesy of Xiaoxiao (Alice) Liu required to file the application one month earlier. Bill C-24 also makes it harder for students who have graduated from Canadian institutions to obtain Canadian citizenship, and mandates language proficiency tests for those aged 14 and up. Recently, an amendment made Canadians born outside of Canada susceptible to the revocation of their citizenship. I kept in touch with Elizabeth for a year after our initial encounter. I found out that she would soon be organizing a youth town hall meeting at my high school – I was excited to join her, along with a dozen other students and a few staff members, for a luncheon. The conversation at the event was in-depth, and I feel that I have to apologize here to others who were in attendance who had their own questions, as I talked about immigration issues for so long. When I asked what role the government wanted foreign students, workers, and landed immigrants to play in Canada, I was expecting a clear, definitive answer. However, the fact that Elizabeth May, a competent and honest MP, was not able to provide such an answer was scary. Perhaps I would need to interrogate the prime minister myself one day to understand the motivations behind Canada’s immigration system. In contrast to many of the realities that my family faces, a lot of government immigration materials I have read talk about how

much Canada welcomes, even needs, newcomers. At the youth town hall, I expressed concerns about getting mixed signals regarding the government’s attitude towards foreign students and workers. In the end, Elizabeth promised to help my family with our struggle. I felt like the luckiest, most privileged girl on earth. I was well aware that my family was in the so-called ‘normal’ immigration system, just with bad timing. We were not stuck in a refugee camp unable to access the outside world, we were not being deported unreasonably, nor were we homeless. We were only waiting, and I was the only one who would be affected if things went wrong. I’m young, and I can always try again. I didn’t feel like I deserved attention or sympathy. There were so many people worse off than me. At the same time, I was neither a citizen, nor a permanent resident. I was an international student, able (albeit barely) to pay her through-the-roof tuition, and I did not feel entitled to Elizabeth’s help. I remember my face burning. “I’m not a Canadian yet,” I said. I stared down at the sour cream left over on my plate to hide my disappointment. I could feel that everyone in the room was staring at me, or trying not to stare. The person beside me, another Chinese girl, froze. Elizabeth’s next sentence almost threw me out of my chair.

“You’re in my constituency. I’m responsible for helping you,” she said. “Even if I’m international?” “Even if you’re international. I’m your MP. It’s my responsibility to take care of everyone who lives in my riding.” Later that day, I wrote an email to her riding office, explaining in detail my family’s situation, my concerns, and what I thought should be done. There was no response for weeks. Then, one day, I got an email asking me when I would like to visit my mother in Toronto. The trip would be paid for with Elizabeth’s travel reward points. After several emails and phone calls, we had booked a oneway ticket to Toronto for that summer. I was moving, and I would have no more official connection with Elizabeth. Summer came. A surprise family reunion in B.C. made me laugh and cry at the same time. It had been two years since both of my parents and I had been together. I wanted to share my joy with Elizabeth, yet she was nowhere to be found. We went to the riding office for the first and maybe last time, to say thank you. The next day, on the plane to Toronto, I secretly wished for another MP who would say “you’re in my constituency, I’m responsible for helping you” to an unknown international student. XiaoXiao (Alice) Liu is a U0 Science student. To contact her, please email xiaoxiao.liu@mail.mcgill.ca.

THE DISORIENTATION GUIDE 2015

Disorientation Guide 2 McGill University and The McGill Daily are on unceded land The Daily’s editorial board would like to begin the Disorientation Guide by acknowledging the unceded land on which our office is built. The first step in getting to know McGill is recognizing that the university is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka (‘People of the Flint,’ also known as ‘Mohawk’) traditional territory. While just last year the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) adopted a policy to include a land acknowledgement on its website and in emails sent by SSMU, the University has thus far failed to adopt a similar policy to publicly acknowledge that McGill is located on stolen Indigenous land. The University has for the most part kept quiet about McGill being built on the land of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and it has been resistant to other efforts to make Haudenosaunee symbols like the Hiawatha Belt flag and the Hochelaga rock visible and prominent on campus. The Hochelaga rock, currently located on Lower Field, honours the Haudenosaunee village of Hochelaga where McGill was built. There have been calls for McGill to move the rock to a more visible location, for example closer to the current location of the statue of James McGill. The rock remains in a less visible location, while the statue of James McGill, who owned and traded enslaved Indigenous people, remains central on campus. Better late than never, McGill did take a first step toward decolonizing the university last year by launching the Indigenous Studies minor program. KANATA, the McGill-based support community for anyone interested in Indigenous Studies, submitted a proposal for the establishment of the program in 2010. Keeping Indigeneity visible on campus, the First Peoples’ House will be hosting its 14th annual Pow Wow on September 18. The Pow Wow is a full day of dancing and traditional drumming, as well as a paramount first stop for new and returning students alike to learn about student groups and Indigenous organizations. The next stop is the fifth annual Indigenous Awareness Week, where students can learn more about the lesserknown history of Indigenous people in Canada and Quebec. As we begin a new school year as McGill students, let’s be aware of where we are.

Know your rights at MCGill At McGill, students are guaranteed certain rights under the university’s Charter of Students’ Rights and in the Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities with respect to academics, discrimination, and safety. Unfortunately, you may find your rights as a student violated at some point during your time at McGill. If this happens, here are a few resources that can help you advocate for your rights.

Office for Students Disabilities (OSD)

with

McGill students with disabilities are entitled to certain services from the OSD. In addition to providing these services and support, the OSD also helps students with disabilities advocate for their rights in both informal and formal conflicts regarding issues such as medical leave or late course withdrawals.

SSMU Equity Policy

Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMMS)

The SSMU Equity Policy – which protects you from harassment, discrimination, and inequitable treatment – applies to all SSMU staff and representatives, all activities and events hosted by SSMU or in the SSMU building, as well as to all SSMU clubs, services, and operations (such as Gerts or The Nest). A complaint lodged with the SSMU Equity Committee may go through both an informal mediation and a formal investigation, and may result in the suspension or dismissal of a SSMU staffer or representative, or in the suspension of a group’s SSMU funding.

One of SACOMSS’ main services, other than survivor support and consent education, is its advocacy branch (or “A-branch”). The A-branch assists members of the McGill community in navigating McGill’s Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and Discrimination Prohibited by Law. While A-branch volunteers do not offer legal advice, they can help you better understand your rights, access resources, and accompany you to any proceedings.

Grievance Particularly relevant to disputes over academic rights and items in the Student Code of Conduct, filing a grievance is McGill’s official route for challenging violations of your student rights. The recommended process is to begin by informally bringing your complaint to your instructor, which can escalate to the office of the Dean of Students and the McGill Ombudsperson if the dispute is not resolved. If this is unsuccessful, you can write to the chair of the Committee on Student Grievances. The committee will either resolve the dispute, or initiate a series of appeals processes. You may want to reach out to a student advocacy service, such as the Legal Information Clinic to navigate this process.

Legal Information Clinic The Legal Information Clinic, run by McGill Law students, has a Student Advocacy Program that can help you navigate the official grievance process and other conflicts at McGill. Program volunteers can help you negotiate with the University and advise you of the rights and procedures relevant to your situation. They can also represent you during grievance or disciplinary proceedings, and help you prepare documents and evidence.

Disorientation Guide Who is representing you?

An introduction to student politics Whoever you are – whether a first-year undergrad or a PhD candidate – there are student associations at McGill University that are mandated to represent you. If you are an undergraduate student, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU, pronounced “smoo”) is your voice. SSMU lobbies for students’ interests on many levels, from administrative to provincial. It provides services that often go unnoticed. For instance, are you excited for Reading Week? That’s something SSMU has won for us. In addition, SSMU holds bi-weekly legislative council meetings to make big decisions, and bi-annual General Assemblies (GAs) to make even bigger decisions.

What can you do to make sure your student union represents you?

PGSS: Post-graduate students have the PostGraduate Students’ Society (PGSS) as their student association. PGSS runs the show at Thomson House, the central hub for postgrads, and provides essential services for its members, just like SSMU. PGSS holds monthly legislative council meetings and an annual general meeting (AGM) every semester.

Last but not least, you could run for a position yourself. Most elections take place in March and are almost always guaranteed to get your heart pumping. However, you do not have to start at SSMU – most do not. Rather, students usually start their involvement in student politics on a smaller stage. For starters, there are departmental associations – like the Political Science Students’ Association or the McGill Biology Students Union – and faculty associations – like the Arts Undergraduate Society or the Engineering Undergraduate Society. There are so many opportunities to run for a position of political power, and while student politics does have its problems and can get frustrating at times, taking part is ultimately a great way to get involved and make changes happen on campus.

Talk to them. Last year, many students criticized SSMU for not representing their interests. They argued that SSMU followed the directives of a highly “esoteric” and vocal minority. There were two sides to this story: It might have felt like an active minority was being too loud, but that was because the majority of students remained very silent. As elected representatives, student politicians are tasked with listening to you and bringing your concerns to legislative council meetings. You can send reps emails, which are posted on their respective websites, or talk to them directly during their office hours. You can also collect signatures for a petition to have your faculty rep bring a motion to the council – or you could move your own motion at one of the GAs.

The students strike back What is a student strike? Similar to a labour strike, a student strike is a collective decision to stop attending classes and engaging in academic activities in order to put pressure on the government. In Quebec, both CEGEP and university students have used this tactic on a large scale on several occasions since the 1960s, resulting in rollbacks of tuition hikes and improvements to student loan and bursary programs.

How do students go on strike? Strikes are voted on democratically at general assemblies (GAs), most often at the level of departmental or faculty student associations. Through federations of student associations, such as the Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ), striking members can share resources and coordinate among themselves. During or after a strike, a student association may negotiate changes to the evaluation scheme (delay exams, cancel classes et cetera) with the university administration and faculty.

What strikes have occurred recently? In 2005, Quebec students strike for eight weeks to protest cuts to student aid. Involving over 230,000 students at its peak, the strike results in moderate concessions from the government.

2005

2012

In 2012, Quebec students go on strike for almost six months to protest the Liberal government’s decision to raise tuition fees by 75 per cent. Nearly three quarters of all Quebec students participate. The strikes end after an election is called and the tuition hike is mostly rolled back.

Are student strikes legal? No Quebec law regulates student strikes, differentiating them from labour strikes. Although some say student strikes exist in a legal grey area, they are implicitly legal. Student associations are legally recognized as representatives of their entire membership, and decisions made at GAs in accordance with the association’s constitution and bylaws, such as strike votes, are binding on the membership. Despite this, in 2012 and 2015, university administrations in Quebec have been successful in obtaining court injunctions which prohibit picket lines blocking access to classes.

In 2012, over 2,400 McGill students go on strike for at least five days. Some associations hold one-day strikes, while the Post-Graduate Students' Society (PGSS) goes on strike for three days. Despite McGill’s refusal to accommodate striking students, five associations representing over 500 students remain on strike going into the Winter 2012 exam period.

2015 In 2015, French Language and Literature students go on strike for one week, while Women’s Studies and Sexual Diversity Studies students hold a two-week strike. Graduate French Language and Literature students, as well as undergraduate Law and Medicine students, go on strike for one day.

In March 2015, several student associations representing 60,000 students launch a strike against Liberal austerity policies. With no concessions from the government, students put the strikes on hold until Fall.

How do I get involved in fighting austerity or helping organize a departmental strike? - Visit fckausterity.com and attend SSMU’s anti-austerity week, to be held from September 14 to 18. - Read your departmental association’s constitution to learn about its requirements for organizing a general meeting or strike GA. - Contact SSMU’s mobilization coordinator at external@ssmu.mcgill.ca to get involved with SSMU’s anti-austerity campaign or to learn more about holding a departmental GA.

Disorientation Guide

The activist’s guide to McGill There are a number of activist groups that you can get involved with at McGill. Whether you are interested in feminism, environmental issues, or just want to try something new, here are a few of the many groups on campus that are doing social justice work. Divest McGill Divest McGill campaigns for the university to cease its financial involvement in the fossil fuel industry. Its members have twice petitioned the Board of Governors to divest, once in 2013 and most recently in Winter 2015, with the second petition currently under review. Last year, Divest helped organize a bus to take students from McGill and Concordia to the People’s Climate March in New York City. Divest has also done tabling and banner making, and has hosted events to increase awareness of the destructive nature of the fossil fuel industry, calling on McGill to end its complicity by divesting from the industry.

SEDE The Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) office provides volunteering opportunities, conducts equity research, and creates spaces to talk about social justice. SEDE organizes programs that allow McGill students to engage with the greater Montreal community, such as Homework Zone, a program through which McGill students can help with tutoring at local schools. It also runs Community Engagement Day, which offers volunteer projects with community organizations that prioritize solidarity over charity, and an annual Indigenous Awareness Week. SEDE acts as a link between students and the community, pushing McGillians to step outside the student bubble to take a more critical look at social issues.

Demilitarize McGill Demilitarize McGill (or “Demil”) opposes McGill’s involvement in military research and development and aims to raise awareness of the University’s involvement in unethical research. The group uses direct action techniques, most notably blockading, and holds walking tours of the university to highlight areas where military-funded research takes place. Last year, the group spoke out against an anti-terrorism study performed by a McGill psychology professor whose survey participants, all Somali Canadian, were not informed of the nature of the study, nor of the fact that it was funded by the Canadian military. Demilitarize also disrupted a conference on military space law, condemning McGill’s air and space law program for being an extension of imperialist warfare.

SPHR After years of inactivity, McGill Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) re-launched last year to work toward educating the McGill community about the illegal Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. SPHR staged demonstrations at the Y-intersection, hosted workshops and panels, and participated in Israeli Apartheid Week in March 2015. The group also ran a photo campaign featuring McGill students and the reasons they care, both as individuals and as students, about the violation of Palestinian human rights. SPHR works to end McGill’s complicity in the occupation; at the 2015 SSMU Winter General Assembly (GA), the group put forward a motion to divest from companies that profit from the occupation of the Palestinian territories. The motion was endorsed by 19 other student groups, but it did not pass.

UGE The Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE) is a trans-positive feminist group on campus that focuses on education and providing access to gender empowerment resources. The UGE offers an alternative library, a co-op of pay-what-you-can items like safer sex supplies and alternative menstrual products, as well as resources on topics such as counselling and queer- and trans-friendly health services. Last year, the UGE worked with Queer McGill to organize Rad Sex Week in February, a queer- and trans-positive week of workshops and social events.

QPIRG-McGill McGill’s branch of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) operates within an anti-oppressive framework. Groups and projects funded by QPIRG-McGill are termed “working groups,” and do research and work surrounding various local and global issues that affect McGill students and other Montreal residents. Every year, QPIRG-McGill hosts Culture Shock, a week-long event series that explores the myths surrounding immigrants, refugees, Indigenous people, and communities of colour. QPIRG-McGill also co-hosts Study in Action, a grassroots conference for people interested in discussing research that combats oppression.

Standing up to the administration Activism at McGill is not confined to student organizations. For example, last spring, a fight for women-only gym hours was spearheaded by two students in the Faculty of Law. Soumia Allalou and Raymond Grafton were in negotiations with McGill Athletics over how to instate women-only gym hours at the university, sparking controversy. Their request was eventually shut down by the Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) and the McGill Athletics Director. But the fight is not over yet, and these negotiations serve as an example of how students can affect the conversations taking place on campus, without the official backing of an organization.

Disorientation Guide

Unions of McGill The ever-growing list of unionized employees at McGill includes floor fellows, teaching assistants, invigilators, non-academic staff, and service and support employees. If you get a job on campus, chances are that you will belong to a union that will look out for your rights and interests. This year will bear particular importance to those of McGill’s 14 bargaining units whose collective agreements are currently being negotiated or renegotiated. In addition, McGill’s Inter-Union Council – through which the unions coordinate campaigns and outreach – has recently delivered an open letter to the administration, denouncing the abolishment of many full-time employment positions at McGill, and has begun a campaign calling for a campus-wide $15 minimum wage.

AGSEM – Teaching Assistants and Invigilators MUNACA – McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association MUNACA, originally certified in 1994 and affiliated with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), represents non-academic permanent staff. It consists of a single bargaining group that represents clerical, laboratory, and IT technicians, as well as support staff, and library assistants. Following almost a year of negotiations, MUNACA staged a semester-long strike in 2011, which ended with the University acceding to the union’s main demands. The agreed upon collective agreement is set to expire at the end of November 2015.

AGSEM, representing teaching assistants and invigilators, is affiliated with the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ), one of nine federations in the CSN. The teaching assistants’ collective agreement expired in June 2014. The negotiations – still ongoing – began in August 2014 and led to a strike on the first day of final exams last April. Similarly, the invigilators’ agreement expired last April, and the negotiations started last June. AMUSE – Association of McGill University Support Employees AMUSE, also affiliated with PSAC, consists of two bargaining units representing respectively non-academic casual workers (certified in January 2010) and McGill’s floor fellows (certified in May 2014). The collective agreement for non-academic casual workers expired in April 2015, while the floor fellow agreement is currently being negotiated. Last February, the memberships of AMUSE and MUNACA voted to merge, creating a joint council for the administration of the two unions, but maintaining three distinct bargaining units. The merger is currently under implementation.

AMURE – Association of McGill University Research Employees AMURE is a union representing research employees and is affiliated with PSAC. It has represented research assistants since December 2010, research associates since July 2010, and postdoctoral fellows since June 2015. The collective agreements of the first two bargaining units are set to expire in April 2016, while the postdocs are still negotiating their first collective agreement.

MCLIU – McGill Course Lecturers & Instructors Union MCLIU represents course lecturers and instructors and is affiliated with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN). The bargaining unit was originally certified in August 2011 as part of AGSEM, but broke away from it in October 2013. It is still negotiating its first collective agreement with the University.

SEU – Service Employees Union The bargaining units of SEU are among the oldest at McGill – the computing centre unit was certified in July 1978. The union also represents employees working in printing services, facilities management, residences, Faculty Club, powerhouses, and trades. The renegotiation of the collective agreements for all of these units is ongoing.

Disorientation Guide

Where to find volunteer exp you can’t get on camp

Montreal is a hotbed of community work and activism, with hundreds of grassroots organizations working to f more livable for marginalized individuals and communities. As students, we often get absorbed in campus life, b community is a great way to learn about local issues, explore the city, and meet new people. Here are some Mon with during your time at McGill, from food banks, to youth programs, to sexual assault centres. Take a look, and be worth your while to invest in a student OPUS card to get around the city and volunteer. CACTUS Montréal 1300 Sanguinet

Association pour la Défense des Droits et l’Inclusion des personnes qui Consomment des drogues du Québec (ADDICQ) 1495 Bennett

These organisations support drug users through harm-reduction programs such as needle exchanges. They also advocate on behalf of drug users for social and political reform, working hard to bring safe injection sites to Montreal a couple of years back, though the process has been stalled by the Quebec government. CACTUS Montréal offers both volunteering and internship opportunities. To get involved with ADDICQ, contact the organisation at addicq-mtl@live.ca.

Action Santé Travesti(e)s et Transsexuel(le)s du Québec (ASTT(e)Q) 300 Ste. Catherine

Focused on filling the need for trans-specific health care and support services, ASTT(e)Q runs peer support, outreach, and education programs, and advocates for trans rights in the health care system through community empowerment and mobilization. The organization was created by CACTUS-Montréal in 1998. There are various ways for volunteers to get involved, such as helping with CHARGE, a project intended to empower trans people to be educators who can create social change, or with Taking Charge, a resource project which aims to compile information by and for trans people accessing social services. Volunteers at ASTT(e)Q can also help with cooking, doing whisper translations at events, and planning

Stella 2065 Parthenais, office 404

Stella advocates fair working conditions for sex workers. Stella also educates the public about sex work (and provides resources for sex workers) amongst many other initiatives, all with the aim of decreasing the violence faced by sex workers and improving their quality of life. You can get involved with the organization by volunteering to work at the drop-in center, run workshops, and help out at events.

Native Friendship Centre of Montreal 2001 St. Laurent

The Native Friendship Centre of Montreal provides a host of programs and resources to Montreal’s Indigenous community, including health, legal, and social services. A non-profit that has been active for 40 years, the Centre welcomes volunteers in a variety of programs, including the Ka’wáhse Street Patrol a mobile referral, harm reduction, and transport unit.

The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal NWS keeps its address confidential to protect the people using its services. You can contact the organisation at (514) 933-4688, or send an email to nwsm.volunteering@gmail.com.

The Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal is an organization that provides support and safe shelter to Indigenous women and their children. Volunteers are accepted every four months (next in September 2015) for office work, child care, organizing the donations room, and providing staff support.

Montreal Sexual Assault Centre CVASM keeps its address confidential to protect the people using its services. For more information on volunteering, see www.cvasm.org/main.asp?page=devenir_benevole.

The Montreal Sexual Assault Centre (CVASM) provides medical, therapeutic, and counselling services for all victims of sexual assault over the age of 18. While in-house services are limited to those over 18 years old, the hotline service is available to all. Volunteers can be trained to provide active listening services and can also help with support services for the centre such as with financial activities and volunteer recruitment.

MultiCaf 3591 Appleton

A cafeteria for low-income families and individuals, MultiCaf serves over 260 lunches per day and provides various other services, such as workshops on nutrition. You can contact MultiCaf at info@multicaf.org if you are interested in getting involved.

Black Community Resource Centre 6767 Chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges

The Black Community Resource Centre (BCRC) is a volunteer organization that provides resources and programs for Montreal’s English-speaking youth. Through its “Holistic Project” approach, the BCRC aims to address and support the socio-cultural, educational, and economic needs of visible minority youth. Volunteers can engage in the community through a variety of projects.

The Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) 1431 Fullum, Office 201

The Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU) fights for housing rights in Montreal, staging protests and sending out newsletters concerning issues such as urban planning, poverty, and basic human rights. FRAPRU currently has about 160 members. There are a number of ways to become a member, and different memberships pay a different annual fee. On the cheaper end are individual members (or “sympathisantEs”), who pay $20 annually if they are employed and $10 annually if they are not. They are invited to all FRAPRU activities, and receive newsletters and documents. You can also support FRAPRU by showing up to their protests, even if you’re not a member.

Disorientation Guide

periences pus

7 11

fight for social justice and help make the city but getting involved in the broader Montreal ntreal clubs and organizations to get involved if you see a group that interests you, it might

NOVA 310 Victoria

NOVA is a community-based organization offering medical care free of charge to those in need. Services include in-home nursing, child care, and health care training. Volunteers are assigned to a NOVA program or committee, like Home Support or the Children’s Respite Program, based on their interests. Volunteers can also choose to work from home.

Solidarity Across Borders While Solidarity Across Borders has no permanent address, you can contact them by email at solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com or phone (438-933-7654) to get involved.

Solidarity Across Borders is a migrant justice network that works with and intervenes and educates on behalf of individuals and families facing Canada’s unjust immigration system. Their five demands include the right to full status for all and the end of deportations. If you want to get involved with the group, you can join one of its working committees to tackle variety of issues facing migrant communities in Montreal.

Centre Bienvenue 12694 Gouin

Under the motto, “I am a person, not an illness,” Centre Bienvenue offers mental health services and programs to foster community and fight the idea that people must deal with mental health issues on their own. As a nonprofit, the Centre relies heavily on the help of volunteers. Note that the Centre operates only in French.

Prisoners Correspondence Project 1455 de Maisonneuve

A working group of QPIRG-Concordia and QPIRG-McGill, the Prisoners Correspondence Project aims to link imprisoned gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, twospirit, intersex, bisexual and queer folks in Canada and the U.S. to members of their communities who aren’t imprisoned. The project also seeks to ensure that prisoner justice and solidarity remain priorities in queer movements. You can email the group at info@prisonercorrespondenceproject.com to become a penpal or to get involved in translation, outreach, or coordination of special events. 14 19

Rosie Animal Adoption 3551 St. Charles, Suite 440

Tucked away in the West Island, Rosie Animal Adoption is a small dog shelter that helps dogs find new homes. Volunteers help with office work, fundraising, marketing, and more.

The Benedict Labre House 308 Young

A day centre for homeless people, The Benedict Labre House offers daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as clean clothes and showers on certain days. Patrons also have access to crisis intervention and active listening services, along with a host of other programs and activities. Both volunteering and internship positions are available for students wanting to get involved.

Agir Montreal Because AGIR is a working group, they do not have an address of their own. They can, however, be contacted at info@agirmontreal.org.

AGIR Montreal is a non-profit organization created by, and for, LGBTQ individuals newly arrived in Canada. The organization provides various services to newcomers going through the immigration or refugee process, such as accompaniment, support, and referrals. Founded in 2008 with a focus on community-building, AGIR has since campaigned against oppressive immigration bills C-11 and C-31.

Share the Warmth 625 Fortune

Share the Warmth is a community group that runs youth development, food security, and work training programs. Volunteers are needed to help support the group’s servces, such as its food bank and clothing shop. Other opportunities include helping with youth programs, music courses, and choir.

Head & Hands 5833 Sherbrooke

A nonprofit that helps youth maintain physical and mental wellness, Head & Hands was founded in 1970 and remains active today due to the support of the NDG community. The organization uses several approaches, such as harm reduction, youth education, and holistic care to give young people the support and services they need. Volunteers often help with events, publicity initiatives, and the development of donor relationships.

Disorientation Guide

The martlet monarchy

A look at the kings, queens, and jokers of McGill’s administration Suzanne Fortier

Principal and Vice-Chancellor As McGill’s chief executive officer, the principal sits on the Board of Governors (BoG), chairs the Senate, and acts as McGill’s liaison to other universities and to the provincial and federal governments. Fortier took over the position in 2013 from Heather MunroeBlum, becoming the second woman in McGill’s history to hold the office.

Christopher Manfredi Provost Academic

Since 2013, as provost, Masi resolutely saw the implementation of continued provincial budget cuts, introducing controversial measures such as a hiring freeze, a voluntary retirement program, and a salary freeze affecting some of the non-unionized administrative staff. Despite their severe effect on the university, Masi has refused to speak out against the cuts.

Ollivier Dyens

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) (DPSLL)

Dyens was appointed DPSLL in 2013, and is the second person to hold the position. Over the past year, Dyens has made several heavy-handed decisions, drawing criticism from the student body. Dyens remained uncompromising in the face of student backlash after SNAX, a student-run snack kiosk, was served with a cease-and-desist order to halt the sale of its popular and affordable sandwiches. He also unilaterally shut down the dialogue over a proposal for women-only gym hours.

Vice-Principal

The provost is mainly responsible for the development of McGill’s budget, including the distribution of funds and resources between units according to McGill’s academic priorities. Previously the Dean of Arts, Manfredi was appointed provost this year, replacing Anthony Masi.

Thus far in her post, along with other members of the senior administration, Fortier has maintained a hardline stance on the necessity of austerity measures and budget cuts. She has also been perceived as out of touch with the community, due to, for example, her ignorance of the high cost of food on campus.

Reporting to the provost, the DPSLL acts as a liaison between students and the administration with the goal of improving student life and learning. Student Services, athletics, and residences fall under the position’s portfolio.

and

Senate With its numerous committees and subcommittees, Senate governs all academic matters at McGill, such as degree programs and academic policy. Recently expanded from 107 to 113 members, it is composed of deans of faculties, professors, administrators, and 21 student representatives. Last year, Senate passed a policy allowing late withdrawal from classes without notice on the transcript in exceptional circumstances. A sexual assault policy is expected to come to Senate for discussion and approval this fall.

BoG The Board of Governors (BoG) is McGill’s supreme governing body, with ultimate authority over decisions made by Senate. It has 25 voting members, which include the principal, alumni and staff representatives, only two voting student representatives – one from the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and one from the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) – and two non-voting student representatives (one from MacDonald campus and one from the School of Continuing Studies), as well as 12 members-at-large from the corporate sector. Over the past two years, campus group Divest McGill has repeatedly petitioned the Board’s Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) to recommend divestment from the fossil fuel industry, but so far the BoG has failed to take action.

Disorientation Guide

Get creative like leonard cohen Outlets, groups and resources on campus for the artistic student Music So you basically lived in ensemble rehearsal during high school, and you’re worried about experiencing rehearsal withdrawal? Or maybe you’ve always wanted to join a choir but never had the chance? Then take a look at all of the extracurricular music groups at McGill to start off your year on the right note. Those of you who know the riff-off in Pitch Perfect by heart might want to audition for one of McGill’s four acca-mazing acapella groups: Chromatones, Effusion, Tonal Ecstasy, and Soulstice. For the more classically minded, there’s also Les Muses Chorale, a women’s choir, and the McGill Choral Society, which requires no audition. If you’re more of the band geek persuasion, then you might like the Symphonic Band club, a group that picks up where your high school band left off. If you’re looking to take your tuba skills to the next level, however, you can also check out the Schulich School of Music ensembles – even though priority is given to music students, all McGill students are eligible to audition. Last but not least, if you’re not interested in formal ensembles and just want to jam, the SSMU Musicians Collective has got your back. The Collective is a network that connects you with other students looking to play, whether you’re in search of a hard rock guitarist or a jazz drummer. It also provides jam spaces – take advantage of these, because your rez will not be happy when you’re practising your new Arctic Monkeys cover in the middle of midterms.

Literature & Poetry Creative writing courses are scant and scattered at McGill, but don’t fear, self-proclaimed wordsmiths, because you are not alone. Paper’s Edge Creative Writing Club unites budding authors and poets at McGill, bringing them together for workshops, critique sessions, and other activities to help you get over that damn writer’s block. If you’d rather write solo in a dim-lit Montreal cafe, there are a few campus-based literary journals where you might consider submitting your work. Published bi-annually, The VEG is a student-run literary magazine that celebrates the non-academic written word and features some artwork too. The VEG allegedly likes “double entendres, crisp prose, and poetry that burns.” Also published twice each year in a pocket-sized format is Steps, an undergraduate literary publication at McGill. The Daily publishes an annual literary supplement as well – once the artistic outlet of choice for a young Leonard Cohen, whose poem it printed when he was just twenty. More thematic publications that also feature creative work are F WORD, which publishes visual and written content exploring feminisms, and KANATA, the Undergraduate Journal of the Indigenous Studies Community, which publishes both academic and non-academic writing, including poetry, short stories, and personal reflections.

Visual Arts Whether you have a passion for art or you just like to doodle, there are a few groups on campus that you can look to for visual arts outlets and communities. The McGill Sketching Club provides a casual space to sharpen your skills and hosts weekly events including model life drawing, watercolour sessions, and field trips. The McGill University Photography Students’ Society (MUPSS) is the hub for photo lovers of all skill levels. MUPSS gives its members access to equipment rentals for $10 per semester and darkroom access for $80 per year, and it also hosts technical workshops throughout the year. Last but not least, if you miss seeing your art on the fridge door at home, the Fridge Door Gallery is your place. Founded by Art History students in 2007, the Fridge Door Gallery holds an exhibition once a semester where students from all faculties are invited to share their creative work. Thanks to these groups, you can always dabble in something new, develop your skills, or admire other students’ art.

Theatre Let loose your inner thespian this year by joining or auditioning for one of McGill’s many theatre groups. Players’ Theatre and Tuesday Night Cafe (TNC) Theatre are McGill’s most active companies, both producing a full season of quality plays each year. For those who like a little music with their theatre, you might want to audition for the Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society’s annual musical. Other dramatic outlets include the Savoy Society, the Classics department’s annual play, and McGill’s only French theatre club, Franc-Jeu. If you’re more into humour than drama, you might want to check out Bring Your Own Juice, McGill’s sketch comedy club. Whether you want to leave your audience laughing, dancing, or crying, there is a stage for you at McGill.

Disorientation Guide Getting Inspired in Montreal

ACCESSIBLE ART

You don’t need to be an artist to appreciate the work of Montreal’s many art communities. Unfortunately, you do need be able to afford the entrance fee. Plays and performances can get pricey, so here are some tips on how to get the most out of Montreal art while paying the least.

MUSIC All incoming Montrealers should know the sibling venues that are Casa del Popolo, La Sala Rossa, and La Vitrola. Casa del Popolo is a restaurant that doubles as a music venue and hosts a plethora of local talent, as well as festivals and fundraisers. With the addition of La Sala Rossa and La Vitrola, playing one of the three venues has become a rite of passage for up-and-coming Montreal musicians. Head to any of these venues for inexpensive, must-see music. Most shows cost between $5 and $15. Also check out: Divan Orange, Coop Katacombes, Kalmunity THEATRE Montreal Improv is the home of unexpected and unhibited theatre in Montreal. Its speciality is improvised plays, but the shows come in all varieties, including comedy smackdowns and sketches. Usually, shows are only $5 or $6, and they are rarely more than $10. Also check out: MainLine Theatre, National Theatre School (public performances) INTERDISCIPLINARY Howl! Arts Collective is composed of artists of all disciplines, from music to poetry to dance. What ties these artists together is their commitment to social justice and their role in providing an alternative arts community that resists corporatization. Howl! organizes pay-what-you-can concerts and benefits throughout the year, most notably an annual arts festival. Also check out: the MAI (Montréal, Arts Interculturels)

VISUAL ART DHC/ART is a contemporary art gallery that provides free programming all year round, including large exhibits, collaborative projects, and an education program. DHC/ART is located in two heritage buildings in Old Montreal, both of which are accessible. Also check out: Montreal Art Centre, Rats 9, Galerie de l’UQAM, Fresh Paint Gallery

OPEN MICS

While McGill has many creative outlets, this sometimes makes it all too easy to stay within the McGill artistic bubble. If you’re interested in developing your craft a little further, it’s well worth your while to explore the art world beyond the Roddick Gates.

For musicians, Grumpy’s is a classic. Your typical local pub, it features jazz jams, bluegrass jams, and comedy nights. Brutopia is another stalwart in the open mic scene. There’s also the Yellow Door open mic, hosted every Friday by the community youth organization of the same name. Where comedy is concerned, Burritoville’s Shut Up & Laugh! welcomes open mic routines every Wednesday – and you can eat a tasty burrito while you watch. If you like to weave your jokes into narratives, maybe you’d prefer Confabulation, a monthly storytelling night at MainLine Theatre which is always open to newcomers. Another outlet for more serious spoken word is the Throw Poetry Collective, which hosts regular open mics and poetry slams. Finally, if you’re looking for a safer space to express yourself (and be yourself), check out Gender Blender, Montreal’s self-described “unique queer open stage.” On the last Friday of each month, performers and supporters come together at Café l’Artère for a night of poetry, songs, drag, performance art, and much more.

Study smarter, better, faster, stronger COZY PLACES TO DOZEY The lounge on the main floor of the SSMU building is full of very soft couches. Sometimes they smell like feet, but this is only because people take off their shoes to curl up for a cozy snooze. The first floor of the Redpath Library has a fair number of softer chairs and there are a few bean bags that get dragged between the group study rooms as well. If you’re napping on campus, remember to keep your belongings secure (using them as a pillow works pretty well). GOT THE MUNCHIES? McGill’s libraries technically don’t allow food. If you or a study buddy are in the Faculty of Arts, the Arts lounge in the basement of the Leacock building often has people hanging around, catching up on work and snacking as they do so. While there might be a bit of background noise, the cafeteria on the second floor of the SSMU building has a lot of tables, some power outlets, and plenty of microwaves. Also check in with your specific department’s student association to see if it has its own lounge, as it may be more food-friendly than the libraries and you’re more likely to find someone working on the same coursework as you.

GROUP WORK Book group study rooms in the Redpath, McLennan, Schulich, Duchow Music, and the MacDonald Campus Libraries for up to two hours at a time through the McGill library website. The basement and second floor of the Bronfman building also have a fair number of tables and power outlets. STUDY DRUNK It happens. Gerts, the student bar located in the basement of the SSMU building, is usually pretty quiet during the day. Beer, sangria, and/or nachos are all perfectly acceptable brain food.

PLACES WITH A VIEW The Birks Reading Room, located in the Birks building, is a great study spot with warm lighting and decorative windows. Wear socks if you plan to go there – you’ll have to take off your shoes. The Octagon Room in the back of the Islamic Studies Library is also a highdemand study spot, likely due to its stainedglass windows and bookshelves that reach its very high ceiling. Keep in mind that both the Birks Reading Room and Islamic Studies Library tend to be very quiet study spaces, and people in those spaces are prone to get irritated if you’re chatty. PULLING ALL-NIGHTERS The McLennan, Schulich, and Law libraries all have 24 hour access during exam season, and are open until midnight on most weekdays during the semester. Make sure to have your McGill ID card with you if you plan to stay late at the library, as McGill security will make you sign in. If you’re willing to venture slightly off campus, Second Cup on Parc and Milton, Tim Hortons on Sherbrooke and University, and Second Cup on McGill College are all open 24 hours and have wifi access.

Disorientation Guide Dare to Self-Care

While it is easy to fall into the rabbit hole of academic life and neglect your personal well-being, practicing self-care is FUNdamental. For your convenience, here is a compiled list of resources and calm spaces to help you on your way.

Marvin Duchow Music Library 527 Sherbrooke Perhaps the most underrated member of our list is McGill’s own Music Library. Located on campus, its atmosphere and therapeutic attributes manifest primarily in the form of auditory refuge. Though not quite as scenic as the Westmount Library, students can escape from everyday stresses by using the library’s high quality headphones to tune out between classes. The library is also home to a vast collection of music resources for students to enjoy. The Marvin Duchow Music Library is located on the third floor of the New Music Building on Sherbrooke. Monster Academy monsteracademy.wordpress.com Created by and for youth in Montreal, Monster Academy offers accessible, anti-oppressive mental health skills training. The Academy aims to open a dialogue around the stigma that surrounds “being crazy.” The training program is a free eightweek workshop series that includes practical self-care and mental health intervention skills as well as discussion on mental health topics. Any necessary meals and childcare are provided.

Westmount Public Library 4574 Sherbrooke Nestled in Westmount Park, a quick bus ride away from the McGill campus, this library is a great refuge from the chaos of McLennan and is a good spot to read, away from the intense hustle of campus libraries. It connects to the Westmount Conservatory, a tranquil greenhouse featuring a wide array of plants and even a pond. The surrounding park is also a good space to step back, reflect, and enjoy nature. SACOMSS 3480 McTavish | sacomss.org The Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), located in the basement of the SSMU building, is a safe, accessible, and nonjudgmental space for survivors of sexual assault. SACOMSS offers services such as a crisis helpline, in-person support, support groups, and advocacy. All of the group’s services are provided free of charge to McGill students as well as the general public. Through September and October, SACOMSS also holds extensive training to those who are interested in volunteering.

WANT MORE SELF-CARE? CHECK OUT www.mcgilldaily.com

Getting employed on campus

Whether you need to fully support yourself or just earn a little extra cash, getting a job on campus can often be better - both financially and professionally - than the average minimum wage job. Many of these positions look impressive to potential graduate schools and employers, serve as useful professional experience, and also tend to pay well. Most of these jobs are open to both Canadian and international students whose study permits indicate that they can work. Organizations A number of cool groups around campus that mainly rely on volunteer contributions also hire for a few paid positions. For example, Midnight Kitchen, a volunteer-run collective that provides by-donation vegan lunches, CKUT, an alternative news, culture, and music campuscommunity radio station, and the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) McGill, all occasionally advertise for paid part and fulltime positions on their websites. Another large employer on campus is the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU), which hires employees to work at Gerts, the Nest, and now the new Student Run Cafeteria (SRC). SSMU also hires for a wide range of positions ranging from judicial posts and equity committees to event planning. Working for many of the before-mentioned groups can be a cool experience if you are interested in alternative, and grassroots, organizations. CaPS The McGill Career and Planning Service (CaPS) is a resource centre that helps students develop their careers by advising them on career related matters, such as interviewing, giving workshops on topics like leadership, and hosting the myFuture job database, a listing that includes both on and off campus job opportunities. A classic one-stop career shop, the resourceful staff at CaPS can assist you in finding an on campus job, or an internship and in looking for a more permanent job at the end of your studies. They also have an extensive library with career-related books and magazines.

Work Study McGill offers a Work Study program wherein certain library, clerical, technical, research, and other on-campus positions, both full and parttime, are reserved for students with financial need. Students must disclose their financial situation to apply and acceptance is based foremost on financial need. The database for the program features a variety of positions ranging from office assistant to lab technician to uPrint public support team. Research Although CaPS has a Research Opportunity Database, which lists opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students on the McGill website, these tend mostly to highlight positions in the natural sciences. Approaching professors whose work you are interested in, whether in person at their office hours or by email, with your CV and a cover letter, is another way of finding or creating research opportunities. Often, these kinds of positions are not advertised and are filled up by word of mouth. Tutoring Mastering your course material can pay off – quite literally – if you can find a tutoring job. The McGill Tutorial Service offers tutoring positions to students who have received an A minus or higher in the course to be tutored and an overall 3.2 CGPA or the equivalent at a different institution or class that used the same material. Tutoring can also be done informally by offering your services through word of mouth, flyers, and online.

Disorientation Guide

McGill MythBusters Lies you’ve been told that you can stop worrying about If you’re new to McGill this fall, odds are you’ve spent the last few months trying to get an idea of what you’re in for. What classes should I take? Will I have friends? How cold does Montreal really get? The internet probably had some answers, but you shouldn’t trust everything you read on the internet. Here are a few common McGill myths, busted just for you.

MYTH

McGill is a ‘party school’ (as per Playboy rankings).

Failing a class is the end of your academic career.

REALITY

If you want to party at McGill, you will be able to. The drinking age is 18, which is a big plus for alcohol-inclined first years from places like Ontario or the U.S. that have a higher drinking age. However, contrary to bro-blog legends, partying is not actually McGill’s defining feature. If you aren’t a big partier, there are plenty of dry events during orientation, in residences, and in other first-year spaces. It’s a university – some people do manage to keep up with their studies while intoxicated, but most have to tone it down once the semester starts. Also, McGill residences follow a “harm reduction” policy with respect to drug use, as opposed to a punitive one. Drug sales are strictly prohibited, but floor fellows encourage their residents to disclose any drugs they’re trying for emergency purposes.

MYTH

If you opt out of rez or frosh, you won’t make any friends.

REALITY

Rez is an easy place to make friends, but it is by no means the only place to do so. Campus clubs and organizations are a great way to meet people that you share interests with (which may or may not be the case for your floormates or friends you make during frosh). Be sure to check out SSMU’s Fall Activities Night, on September 8 and 9, where virtually every group on campus will have a table. Some of it is being held outside this year, so there won’t be as much of a lineup.

REALITY

It’s not ideal, but it happens to more people than you’d think. First-year is probably the best time in your degree to fail a course as it’s sometimes weighted less or ignored entirely by grad and professional schools. Keep in mind that you can take supplemental exams and retake required courses. Regulations for these processes vary by faculty, but can often reduce the impact of the failing grade on your GPA. If you think you’re likely to fail a class, McGill has tutoring services for many first-year courses. Final exam deferral and course withdrawal are also options under extenuating circumstances, which include physical and mental health issues. If, after a few years, you have only one failing grade on your transcript, it’s possible to work with your academic advisor to petition the Dean for an ‘E’-Flag, which can exclude the failing grade from your GPA and credits.

MYTH

Missing an exam means you automatically fail your exam.

REALITY

There are a lot of acceptable reasons for missing an exam, including physical illness, family tragedies, or mental health issues. You can apply for a deferral with proper documentation if you miss an exam for this type of reason. If you don’t have a “good” reason (maybe you slept in) but you’ve never missed an exam before, particularly if you’re in your first year, the unspoken and unofficial policy is that you get one free pass for a deferral.

MYTH

Montreal winters are severe enough to warrant an expensive jacket designed for Arctic expeditions.

REALITY

It gets pretty cold for a pretty long time. If you’re from somewhere that doesn’t have real winters, walking around in -20 degrees Celsius might be a bit of a shock. However, unless you have the ability and desire to burn hundreds of dollars, you may as well forget about the Canada Goose jacket. A standard winter coat from any store that sells athletic wear will get the job done, and many come with tags that tell you what temperature range the garment is suitable for. Invest in some mittens. You will survive. Even better, McGill International Student Services has a winter jacket program for first-time winterers that lets you borrow a lightly used winter coat for the season, for free.

The app hap: A few apps to make student life just a tiny bit easier AXS

Map

v2:

AXS, pronounced “access,” is a free crowd-sourced map app that shows building accessibility in Montreal. Users can rate the accessibility of entryways and bathrooms with a fivestar rating system. For Android and iPhone

EasyBib: This app helps

students with the tedious task of essay citations. Type in the name of the book, and the app will do all the work for you. EasyBib can be used for over 7,000 citation styles, including MLA and APA. For Android, iPhone, and web.

Notability: This $3 app

facilitates note-taking and annotations on lecture slide PDFs. Students can choose to handwrite or type their notes. The app can also automatically back up files onto various file storage platforms. For iPhone and iPad.

Get a Seat: Developed by a Sleep Cycle: This application, McGill Management student in 2013, this web application helps students get coveted spots during the add/drop period. The app sends you a free email when a seat opens up in a given class. For web only.

tries to help you get a full night of rest. By utilizing your phone’s sensors to examine your sleep movements and cycles, this alarm clock is able to determine the ideal time for you to wake up. For Android and iPhone.

Features

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Let’s talk about teacher I slept with my professor and here’s why it shouldn’t have happened in the first place Written anonymously Cover by Alice Shen & Illustration by Cassandra Ryan

Features

September 1, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

or about half of my undergrad, I was having an affair with the professor I worked for. This man had been one of the biggest influences on my thought and education while at university — he had my utmost respect as a scholar. But my experience with him was far from the glamorized narrative often found in people’s minds. While still a taboo, this is the kind of subject that titillates imaginations, often causing people to gloss over the inevitable ethical confusion regarding both consent and the abuse of power. My former professor has a side to this story too, but the story that you are about to read is mine and mine alone. I got to know him the way most students get to know their professors — by taking one of his classes. The first time I went into his office, we ended up chatting more about the town I’m from, which is where he did his graduate work, than the actual course material. It felt good to have someone to talk to who knew where I came from. I remember thinking he was funny, kind, and attractive. I felt terrible about that last one. I don’t find that many people attractive to begin with, but as a student, I felt particularly guilt-ridden about attraction to a teacher. Over the course of that semester, I would be sure to only go to his office hours when I had a questions about the class material, even though I wanted to go and chat with him more. I felt that, more than my professor, he was becoming my friend. I reminded myself that going in for any other reason would be a waste of both my time and his, not to mention any other students who had course-related questions. I also didn’t know if he was married or seeing anyone monogamously, which made the way I viewed him seem even more inappropriate. I’m not saying these things to cast judgement on anyone else who’s been in these situations or on how they’ve navigated through them. I’m just saying these were the standards I held myself to and the way I viewed my situation at the time. Toward the end of the semester, he asked me if I wanted to work as a research assistant for him. In hindsight, I’m sure he had reasons for offering me the job beside his belief in my capabilities as a researcher; but at the time, I was just happy to be offered a job that didn’t involve making lattes. As I spent more and more time with my professor, my attraction to him grew.

hings came to a head one night in winter, when he asked me to come in to scan a book after hours. I didn’t think twice about it. We were chatting, as we normally did, and he joked about how short I am. I asked him how tall he was, and he gave me an answer in centimetres, which was next to useless to me. So he stood up and walked over to me, and we stood back to back so we could compare our heights. Then we turned around and faced each other again. We were close enough to kiss. And had he tried to kiss me, I wouldn’t have stopped him. He didn’t, though, so I broke our glance and said that I should really

scan the book. “Well, that was awkward,” he said, giving a little chuckle. After I scanned the book, we got to talking again, and soon we were sitting so close to each other that our knees were touching. Our talk got more personal, and he asked me to keep the first of many secrets that he would tell me. I pinky-promised him I wouldn’t tell, and as our fingers linked, his hand lingered. We talked some more, and then all of a sudden, my hand was completely in his. He looked at me. “I really shouldn’t be doing this,” he said, but he made no move to let go. “I mean, I’m not saying no,” I re-

could take a break from seeing each other until I felt better. His response was to ask if we could have sex one last time, and then to say “hopefully [I was making] the right choice.” That last comment spooked me. I gave us both a bit of space, and then asked if he was interested in seeing each other again. I was given an ambiguous response, but then we resumed right where we were before: sleeping together. Not too long after, I got a phone call from him where he told me “a friend” overheard two students talking about how he was sleeping with one of his RAs. “You told someone! You told someone!” he kept repeating.

“He took my hand, and unlike the first time he did so, I very much wanted him to let me go. But I was too shocked to do anything about it.” plied, shrugging. “I can just tell I can trust you,” he said.

bout a week later, he needed another book scanned. Are you starting to recognize a pattern here? If you are, you’re quicker than I was. He went out to a bar with another professor in the department, but came back to his office so he could give me the book. He was tipsy. We were talking, and he went and sat on the couch . I sat next to him, and he kissed me. He laid me down and pulled up my shirt. He put his hand in my pants but I pulled it away. He put my hand on his pants and asked if I wanted to see it. “Not here!” I blurted out. He looked me in the eyes. “I want more,” he said. We left his office together that night. As we walked through JeanneMance park, he grabbed me and kissed me again. At the time it felt amazing. I hadn’t been kissed like that since, well, ever, because I was nineteen years old and seriously, what the fuck did I know? We established that we weren’t officially dating. I wasn’t in a place at the time where I felt I could handle anything serious, and he felt the same, because he’d just gotten out of a relationship, and given our circumstances, we couldn’t go out in public — not to mention I didn’t want anyone knowing about what I was doing. He swore to me that I was the only student he was seeing, and I swore I wouldn’t tell anyone about us — which I didn’t, not until the very end.

e fell into a habit where I would work in his office during the day, and then see him almost every other night. I came to care for him greatly, but regardless of the nature of our interactions, it was nice just to have someone to really talk to. At the end of the year, he went off to do research, and I went back home for the summer. Things weren’t the same when we got back to Montreal in the fall. I had stopped working for him over the summer due to mental health concerns I was having, and I asked if we

Luckily, I was at home when he called, because I was hyperventilating and on the verge of tears. If students knew, then professors knew, and in my mind that meant I could say goodbye to my career, or at least a career where people weren’t con-

about me. How he’d been masturbating to thoughts of me. He took my hand, and unlike the first time he did so, I very much wanted him to let me go. But I was too shocked to do anything about it. “Did you feel the same way [after seeing each other]?” he asked me. I mumbled something about how I’d been scared because of the gossip and so I hadn’t really thought of it. Then he kissed me, and things that hadn’t seemed important before, suddenly seemed overbearing — he was my boss, I was in his office, and we had this history. How could I call things off now? So I went with it. I went with it for the rest of my time at McGill. I went with it when he signed his name on a letter of recommendation for graduate school.

tried to avoid him, but minimizing our time together just frustrated him. He told me to just tell him if I ever lost interest, but he would also say that he’d try to seduce me even if I did. Given that the only time I had asked for a break, all I’d gotten from him in return was a bunch of ominous commentary, I did what I thought was best. I just dealt with it, continuing along be-

“This man had been one of the biggest influences on my thought and education while at university — he had my utmost respect as a scholar. But my experience with him was far from the glamorized narrative often found in people’s minds.” stantly whispering that I’d slept with my boss to get the opportunities I was presented with. “I didn’t tell anyone, I swear!” I kept protesting. He ended things and hung up the phone, and eventually my panic subsided. All I could do was hope that my name wouldn’t get connected with this gossip. A few weeks later, I got a text from him. “Can we talk about what happened? It’s still bothering me.” I had no desire to talk to someone who had, in my eyes, abandoned me. So I told him that I wasn’t ready to talk at that time but I would let him know when I was ready. Later that week, he needed a book scanned — again. I asked if he could leave it in his mailbox so that I could pick it up without having to be seen going into his office, as I was still on edge from the alleged rumours. I scanned the book and emailed him the files, but he still asked if I could come into his office quickly, saying it wouldn’t take long. I conceded. When I got into his office, he asked how I’d been. I told him I’d been fine, and asked how he was. He responded with, “not great.” I asked what was wrong, thinking he was discussing something unrelated to our interactions — I refuse to call what we were doing a relationship. He sat down across from me, and told me he couldn’t stop thinking

cause I knew there was an end-date. I saw him off on the day he left for summer break. As I walked home, I expected to feel some kind of sadness. After all, the man I’d been involved with for most of the past year and a half was gone, and I wouldn’t be seeing him again for close to a year. All I felt was shaky and relieved.

few days later, I was at a department event, and one of my friends told me my prof had asked her out when they’d run into each other off campus. “She must have misunderstood something,” I thought to myself. The next night, I was out for shisha and drinks with friends. We got onto the subject of my professor. “A student in the department told me he asked her out on the street,” one of my friends exclaimed. “I saw him holding hands with a really young looking woman in the Mile End back in winter,” another friend remarked. After that, I couldn’t shake the comments. I told one of the friends I was out with that I’d been having an affair with him, and she urged me to confront him. So I did. When I told him what I’d heard, he asked to Skype me, and he denied all the allegations. He said there must have a been a misunderstanding, if not, the claims were completely fabricated on the part of the students. I bought it, and we started talking about other things.

Features

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

After we finished talking, I called my friend and said there had just been a misunderstanding. “No. No. No. Red flag. Red flag! This is me waving a biiiiiig red flag!” she said. “...what do you know?” I asked.

riences. While I can’t speak for them, I can only guess from my own experience that they fear retribution, on professional or personal levels, or feel that nothing could be gained from coming forward, which makes sense.

“He was a predator. He was a manipulator. He was a liar. He was using young women as vessels for self-validation. He was abusing his power, and he had no intention of stopping.” She paused. “You’re not the only student he’s doing this with,” she said. I went numb. This was a complete game-changer. Even though I couldn’t articulate it yet, in that moment, the nature of what I had been involved in became crystal clear. I had known he was seeing other women while he had been seeing me, part and parcel of not being in a relationship, but I didn’t know some of them had been students. He was a predator. He was a manipulator. He was a liar. He was using young women as vessels for selfvalidation. He was abusing his power, and he had no intention of stopping. I told him not to contact me personally again, and only professionally if absolutely necessary. Then I blocked his number and his email so that he could only contact me using my student email address. I was devastated for a long time after I realized that I wasn’t anything but a mildly entertaining wet hole to this man. I felt betrayed, and beyond disappointed in him. I had been dedicated to his ideas and to his work, and he had taught me most of what I knew at that point

“Until then, McGill University’s silence implicitly condones a culture where professors treat their classrooms like real-life Tinder accounts.” about academia itself. But I guess my respect didn’t really mean shit to him, on any level. Eventually I got in touch with another woman he’d been sleeping with, a woman who I considered a friend during our time at McGill. We talked about our experiences with him, laughed at some of his quirkier sexual tendencies, and tried to figure out what, if anything, we were going to do.

I Cassandra Ryan | The McGill Daily

t turns out ‘anything’ is going to be more difficult than I thought — other women this professor has slept with, propositioned, sent inappropriate emails to, or generally made uncomfortable are unwilling to come forward and talk about their expe-

cGill has no official policy or process regarding complaints against professional misconduct such as this on the part of professors. While the McGill Charter of Students’ Rights states that “every student has a right to be free from a sexual solicitation or advance made by a person in a position to offer or deny to the student an academic advantage or any opportunity pertaining to the status of student, where this person knows or ought reasonably to know that this solicitation is unwelcome,” and that “every student has a right to be free from a reprisal or threat of reprisal for the rejection of a sexual solicitation or advance,” the process going forward with such a complaint is murky at best, with no guarantee of accountability action on the part of the University. Furthermore, there is no mention of situations to which students appear to consent, but given the power differentials between students and professors, only do so within that agency we, as students, really don’t have. There is a sexual harassment policy, but it’s debatable to what degree professor-student affairs fall under this category, and the sexual harassment policy at McGill has a reputation of being traumatizing for the plaintifs, with little to no results. Additionally, the names of the perpetrators of sexual harassment are kept anonymous in the process, and not released to the broader university community. I don’t really see how the policy of anonymity about professors who sexually harass their students maintains “safe and suitable conditions of learning and study,” as guaranteed in the Charter of Students’ Rights, but that’s another discussion. While this may seem like an isolated incident, as I revealed my experiences to others, I discovered that these cases are hardly rarities. Talking with other students turned up names of professors from nearly half a dozen departments who had reputations of either serially harassing or sleeping with their students. Where some professors were concerned, students spoke of the incidents like they were common knowledge. The prevalence of such an abuse of power on campus causes me great concern, as a recent alumnus, for the well-being of McGill students. The best way to curtail such behaviours that threaten the safety and integrity of students would be an explicit policy on student-professor relationships, accompanied by a supportive and clear process for action for students. Until then, McGill University’s silence implicitly condones a culture where professors treat their classrooms like real-life Tinder accounts.

Sci+Tech

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Using apps to combat inaccessibility Researchers collaborate to compile data on barriers to various spaces Rackeb Tesfaye The McGill Daily

ver 1.5 million mobile apps are currently available for Android and iOs users to download. With an estimated 55 per cent of the Canadian population owning a smart phone, apps have seamlessly integrated themselves into our daily routines. From getting the latest news, to crushing candy, to swiping for affection, these days there is an app for almost everything. While gaming-, business-, and entertainment-focused apps seem to dominate the app market, one area that has remained largely untapped is accessibility apps. Some of these apps were created right here in Montreal, using innovative techniques and vast data collection to provide people with the information they need to determine the accessibility and to find the best spaces to fit their access needs.

“Families consistently expressed [that] one of the main barriers to accessing leisure activity for their child with a disability was not knowing what activities were available.” Keiko Shikako-Thomas, assistant professor, McGill School of Physical and Occupational Therapy Jooay: access for children with disabilities and their families For a child, there aren’t many priorities greater than being able to play and have fun. In fact, the United Nations and the World Health Organization have recognized playing and recreation as a crucial right for children, given their role in healthy childhood development.

Jooay (a play on the word “jouer,” French for “to play”) is a mobile app that helps children with disabilities and their families find leisure opportunities that are accessible and suited to their needs. This easy-to-use app allows parents to browse nearby activities through a variety of categories – such as arts, camps, and sports – by entering certain keywords. The GPS component gives anyone in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan information on activity locations close to them. However, according to cocreator Keiko Shikako-Thomas, an assistant professor at McGill’s School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, “the idea isn’t only to list the resources available, but to create a community around participation and leisure.” Hence, other components of Jooay include user comments, reviews, and suggestions, all of which foster a community dialogue and keep activity providers accountable for the quality of their services. The app also links users to CHILD LesisureNet, which provides parents with additional resources on finding accessible recreation, and community members with advice on how to make leisure activities adaptable for children with disabilities. Jooay was developed based on research by Shikako-Thomas and Annette Majnemer, director and associate dean of McGill’s School of Physical and Occupational Therapy. They found leisure participation was significantly lower in children with disabilities, even though most children expressed a desire to partake in physical and skill-based activity. Lacking the physical and social support, these children tended to defer to more passive activities, like watching television. “Families consistently expressed [that] one of the main barriers to accessing leisure activity for their child with a disability was not knowing what activities were available,” explains Shikako-Thomas. In order to address this problem, Shikako-Thomas and Majnemer partnered with the Montreal Children’s Hospital and spoke to numerous parents across three provinces. They received overwhelming interest in an app that would give information on how to find accessible spaces for their children, which prompted them to begin development of Jooay. “So how do you make an app?” Shikako-Thomas remembers ask-

ing many of her “tech friends,” having no experience herself. Not knowing much about app development, Shinkako-Thomas and Majnemer teamed up with Montreal organization Hacking Health, which “brings together healthcare professionals, developers, designers [...] and anyone who is interested in revolutionizing healthcare,” according to Julia Delrieu, the organization’s director of operations. With a team of volunteers, they were able to create a prototype of Jooay. The app received funding from NeuroDevNet, the Rick Hansen Foundation, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Through partnerships with the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Trevor Williams Foundation, both an English and French version of Jooay were eventually made available as a free iOS app, and soon an Android app will be released as well. Looking to the future, ShikakoThomas believes the next step is “to work with policymakers. [...] As we have a good mapping now, we can see which regions are deprived in terms of activities [offered] and work with policymakers to fix that.” Radical Accessibility Audit Project (RAAP): an app in-progress Although still in its planning stages, RAAP Montreal is a collaboration between the advocacy group Accessibilize Montreal and the Community-University Research Exchange (CURE) that aims to initiate a project mapping accessible venues, restaurants, studios, and performance spaces in Montreal for individuals with limited mobility.

“Many places will say they’re accessible, but maybe their washroom isn’t, or the restaurant requires a large step to get in.” Madde Halupka, former Concordia student Accessibility is currently a major issue in Montreal, as in most metropolitan cities, with many older buildings, bars, and restaurants remaining completely inaccessible.

Kevin Da Silva Castanheira | Illustrator In fact, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) says that only 9 out of its 68 metro stations are wheelchair accessible, a number Accessibilize Montreal believes to be actually lower, due to unnoted barriers such as construction. The idea of a mapping project came to Madde Halupka, a former Concordia student, as she “was taking a GIS [Geographic Information Systems] course at Concordia and hoped to collaborate with Accessibilize Montreal.” Halupka explains, “We don’t have enough resources to involve app developers at this stage. What we require is the very basic data that can eventually be turned into something more presentable and usable. ” The required information Halupka points to are accessibility audits, which are done on a volunteer basis and can be found on the RAAP website. These audits can take hours to complete in order to be meticulous, which Halupka explains is necessary as “many places will say they’re accessible, but maybe their washroom isn’t, or the restaurant requires a large step to get in.” Halupka hopes that, once the team can gather more audits, they will then be able to work with interested app developers to create a prototype.

An intersection of technology and healthcare All in all, it seems that many are starting to realize that mobile platforms can be used to assist those who experience physical or social barriers that make daily life hard to navigate or simply unsafe. However, given how readily available and simple to use apps are, the complexity of their development is easy to overlook. Healthcare providers don’t always have the resources or the physical capacity to compile information necessary for an accessibility app, which must take into account a plethora of elements to evaluate the accessibility of a space. In addition, accessibility apps are often conceived by people who have a particular knowledge of inaccessibility, but know little about app development. Organizations such as Hacking Health have grown exponentially in recent years, in an effort to revolutionize healthcare accessibility through technology. The success of these organizations stems from the fact that there is a clear need to build a bridge between expertise in healthcare and technology in order to realize the full potential of apps in helping to navigate inaccessible spaces. For more information about accessibility apps, check out a longer version of this article at www.mcgilldaily.com.

Sci+Tech

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

The influence of saturated fat on your brain New UdeM study reveals neurological effects of various fats Jill Laurin Sci+Tech Writer

“

Just one,” you tell yourself, biting into a freshly baked cookie. The chocolate chips are gooey and sweet in your mouth; the warm dough is still soft and crumbles as soon as it hits your tongue. That first bite is blissful – and gone too soon. Okay, maybe just two, you decide. A recent study conducted at Université de Montréal (UdeM) and published in Neuropsychopharmacology illustrates the neurological effects of high fat content foods, and provides insight into why we might be tempted to go for seconds. Cecile Hryhorczuk, the first author of the study and a PhD student conducting research at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), explains that this reward system – known as the mesolimbic dopamine system – is the brain’s centre for motivation and pleasure, and it is linked to mood disorders, drug addiction, and overeating. “Several groups before us have studied the impact of fat on the mesolimbic system. However, no one had looked specifically at whether different types of fat have the same effects,” Hryhorczuk told The Daily in an email. Fundamental changes in our brain’s circuitry could be the potential cause rather than a consequence of overeating, obesity, and associated mental and metabolic diseases. And so, Hryhorczuk and a group of her fellow researchers at UdeM set out to determine how diets high in monounsaturated fat and saturated fat influence the dopamine system. Three groups of rats were used in the study. The

first group served as a control and was fed a low-fat diet made up of a mixture of the two types of fat. The second group was given a diet rich in monounsaturated fat, and the third group a diet high in saturated fat. “We chose palmitate, a saturated fatty acid, and oleate, a monounsaturated fatty acid, because they are widely present in the food we eat and they are two of the most abundant fatty acids found in the human body,” said Hryhorczuk.

The most surprising discovery from this study is the fact that fundamental changes in our brain’s circuitry could be the cause rather than a consequence of overeating, obesity, and associated mental and metabolic diseases. By conducting the study on a strain of rats that do not suffer from obesity – a condition linked with many other complications – when fed high fat content foods, the researchers were able to resolve the molecular and behavioural changes induced by the three different diets independent

Fresh baked cookies beckon for you to indulge. of weight gain, as all groups gained the same amount of weight. Following eight weeks on their specific diets, each group of rats underwent a series of tests to ascertain the operational effectiveness of their dopamine systems. The results were clear: the rats on the diet high in saturated fat showed significantly dampened dopamine function in both behavioural and biochemical tests. “Our results demonstrate that longterm consumption of saturated fat negatively impacts the reward system in the absence of obesity and peripheral metabolic abnormalities,” said Hryhorczuk. So back to the cookie. Why is it that one bite of the delicious, fatty, and sugary treat tends to give way to overindulgence? “Both

Jill Bachelder | The McGill Daily

drug and food intake trigger the release of dopamine, a feel-good molecule,” Hryhorczuk explained. “However, [in] the long term, the system gets used to it and becomes less sensitive. This is what occurs in drug addicts, who develop tolerance and need to increase their dose to reach the same amount of pleasure.” And according to Hryhorczuk’s findings, “the same thing happens with high-fat food: [in] the long term it reduces the sensitivity of the system to rewards. If we extrapolate to humans, it suggests it could make people look for and consume more of this type of food to get the same pleasure/satisfaction.” Although clinical studies would be required in order to determine if the effects of diets high in saturated

fat translate from rats to humans, this study suggests that what we eat influences not only our gastrointestinal system, but also our neurological one. The most surprising discovery from this study is the fact that fundamental changes in our brain’s circuitry could be the cause rather than a consequence of overeating, obesity, and associated mental and metabolic diseases. Hryhorczuk noted that with the continuing rise in rates of obesity, a healthy diet and exercise may not be enough. “It is thus important to understand the biological mechanisms at play. This is why we conduct research on how food can impact the central nervous system.” This article previously appeared on The Daily’s website on August 22.

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Sports

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Carter High football team takes to the big screen Writer/director Arthur Muhammad talks race, second chances

Jill Bachelder The McGill Daily

ports movies: the lifeblood of the American psyche. There is nothing quite like how the hard work, personal dramas, and dedication of young athletes move us to tears and make us want to be better people. Sports movies play an important role in documenting cultural values surrounding athletics, and in highlighting the stories that will be remembered for generations to come. But the new sports movie Carter High, aside from bringing to life the epic story of the rise and fall of one of the best high school football teams in history, is different from most well-known sports movies, which raises troubling questions about Hollywood’s portrayal of sports teams. Almost sixty years after the first Black NFL player played his first game, after decades of Black high school football teams, Carter High is the first major movie whose narrative focuses completely on Black athletes and their experiences, without warping their stories to comply with a white narrative, such as in “white saviour” type stories like The Blindside. The film is set in Dallas, 1988: the site of one of the biggest controversies in football history. The famed David W. Carter High School football team took home the Texas state championship after a tumultuous year of being pulled in and out of the league over questions of one player’s eligibility due to a possible failing grade. The story culminated in 1991, when it was revealed that members of the team had been part of a series of robberies, and the team was stripped of its title. The other side of this story came to life on screen in Friday Night Lights, a movie about the Dallas team who lost to Carter High at the final game of the state championships. However, this film has been criticized for stereotyping the Carter players, inaccurately depicting them as low-income when, in reality, the students were from middle-class, suburban households, and for suggesting the team “played dirty” when the team was in fact highly respected. But now, almost thirty years later, Carter High’s story is about to be told on the big screen. Ar-

thur Muhammad, who played on the 1988 team, wrote and directed Carter High, which is scheduled for release in theaters on October 30 in the U.S.. Former Dallas Cowboys player Greg Ellis is the film’s executive producer, and the cast includes Vivica A. Fox, Pooch Hall, and Charles S. Dutton as Coach James, the inspirational leader of the team. The Daily spoke with Muhammad, for whom the production of this film was extremely personal. The McGill Daily (MD): Why did you decide to tell the story of Carter High? Arthur Muhammad (AM): Carter was always a story that I wanted to tell. It’s a first-hand account kind of thing. I was actually a junior that particular year, so I interviewed Coach James, who was the head coach, I talked to all of the players that [were] involved [and I had] my knowledge of the events that took place. I found that the story itself is a very compelling story, because it’s something that’s relevant until today, because you have a lot of athletes making bad choices. [...] Well, this story kind of sheds light on that, and shows the mistakes that was made by real-life people that were very, very confident, but made some bad choices. So I thought it would be good in that way – that it would help someone else make a better choice.

“I found that the story itself is a very compelling story, because it’s something that’s relevant until today, because you have a lot of athletes making bad choices.” Arthur Muhammad Writer/Director MD: Does the film provide a different narrative of the events than the media at the time and the movie Friday Night Lights? AM: I think Friday Night Lights

Lia Elbaz | The McGill Daily really gave a fictitious portrayal of Carter, even of that whole season; but of course, it’s Hollywood – it was the filmmaker’s, so to each his own. But the thing was that we grew up in middle class households back then. Most of us had two parents, [support of ] two families, a house and a home, and we had pretty much new cars even as students, as teenagers. [...] We were just a very confident and good athletic football team, but we weren’t playing dirty and all that kind of stuff, no. We were considered a dirty team by no means. Some people, they’d call us a little arrogant, a little conceited, that sort of thing. You could say that, but we were just confident. MD: You have discussed in past interviews how the fact that the movie is about Black people has made it more difficult to make. Why did it take so long to get this particular story told? AM: I think that’s the reason. Matter of fact, there’s this article in the Observer [where the author] actually was saying that he went through the process of trying to get this story made, and it was through Hollywood. As soon as [he pitched the story to people], they’d thought it was a great idea, so he wrote out the treatment and he sent it to them. And in the character description, it showed that the players were Black

and this was basically about a Black high school, [then] the people said we can’t do that movie. He didn’t understand why. I don’t understand why. I think that this story is a good story regardless, Black or white, but they chose not to do it and said they couldn’t do it because it was a Black film. And maybe that’s the business side of Hollywood, so maybe it’s show business. They feel that a story like this will not be good for business [...] Straight Outta Compton just came out, a film during the same time period, 1988 to 1989, that same time, and it’s done very well, and it’s a true story, again. So I think we have all those same things going for this story. MD: Can you comment on other sports movies with Black characters, such as Remember the Titans? AM: In fact that was the seventies, but I guess they feel like that was more of a Hollywood story because it did have a Black narrative in it but you still have a white, racismtype thing going back and forth, so it wasn’t strictly an urban Black film. MD: Do you think that Carter High will open the door for future movies about Black people and sports and start a conversation about these issues? AM: It’s my hope and prayer that it will begin that [conversation...] Even with Barack Obama recently, in his process of talking

about the criminal justice system and how we have a lot of people locked up for crimes that didn’t involve any violence... I think if you could even see that these 17, 18 yearold teenagers [are] given 15 [to] 20 years is like, you really have taken their whole life away from them.

“I think that this story is a good story regardless, Black or white, but they chose not to do it and said [Hollywood] couldn’t do it because it was a Black film.”

That’s the system. That system that took place in 1988 that gave them that kind of time is still relevant and being implemented today. So I hope it will shed light on that, that this is not a new thing and it’s something that should be really taken a look at.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Soccer. Wakeboarding. Extreme ironing. So many topics you could be writing about, right now. Email sports@mcgilldaily.com to get involved. Go team!

Culture

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Lover, fighter, and artist on the rise

McGill artist Jonathan Emile on his new LP

Sonia Larbi-Aissa The McGill Daily

inger, poet, cancer survivor, and McGill undergraduate Jonathan Emile last appeared in The Daily’s pages in a self-penned exposé about his experience with Kendrick Lamar’s legal team after his song “Heaven Help Dem,” a song about institutionalized racism which features a verse from Lamar, was pulled from the internet. Now the Montreal artist is back, this time discussing his upcoming LP, The Lover/Fighter Document. A labour of love, the project has taken six years of work and preparation leading up to its October 4 release. The McGill Daily (MD): You’ve recently been throwing a lot of shade at the Montreal rap community in your song “The City That Always Sleeps.” Jonathan Emile (JE): What Montreal rap community? MD: Right. JE: It certainly instills resilience, being in a city where nobody cares that you’re making hip-hop. It’s cool. There’s so much diversity in Montreal that hip-hop isn’t the thing, the urban culture that’s the most prevalent, which is understandable. MD: What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered working in that environment? JE: Just on a marketing standpoint, Montreal isn’t one city – it’s two cities side by side, two different languages. When you’re making music in Montreal, you’re not really competing with Montreal artists. You’re competing with 500 plus artists that come visit the city every year. It’s a very arts-culture city, and there’s lots of competition. There [are] some amazing people who do some great hip-hop in Montreal. [But] with the exception of Under Pressure Festival, there’s nothing really going on in terms of building a community, or a network, or having an open dialogue. It’s very much individualistic artistic projects, which is fine, but it’s maybe one of the most difficult cities to emerge in North America, even though it’s a city of four million plus people. MD: You mentioned languages. Do you also do French work? JE: Definitely. I intend to put out

Jonathan Emile. a French project before 2020, but one thing at a time. My mom’s anglophone and my dad’s francophone. [... But] you can’t do everything at once. My first project is going to be in English and Jamaican Patois. That’s diverse enough. And the next one, we’ll see what happens. MD: How do you feel about Kendrick Lamar having a song like “Alright,” that’s chanted by protesters critiquing institutional racism, but at the same time, working with him and collaborating with him is almost blocked because of the corporate mechanism. Do you think that detracts from what he’s trying to do at all? JE: I think yes. It certainly opened my eyes to the way mechanisms really worked in the industry. It makes sense. This is what I signed up for in a capitalist industry. I sort of expected it, but at the same time, it makes it hard for me to see [Lamar] as wholly authentic. He definitely has to do what he has to do to be where he has to be, and I can’t knock that, but if his real priority is to make statements and make change, there’s no reason for him to back out of [our

Sonia Larbi-Aissa | The McGill Daily

“It certainly instills resilience, being in a city where nobody cares that you’re making hip-hop. It’s cool. There’s so much diversity in Montreal that hip-hop isn’t the most prevalent...” Jonathan Emile, artist song, “Heaven Help Dem”]. Since then, there’s been a lot of back-and-forth between my team and my lawyers asking what we should do about this, but this doesn’t discount his work at all. I think he’s a brilliant artist and he has his own lane and every-

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thing, but it definitely makes it harder for me to respect him on that level. MD: Would you work with him again? JE: Not unless we have a real conversation. At this point I’ve been in contact with his management, and [...] it’s been like pulling teeth. When somebody sees you as a small fry and that’s how they treat you, it’s like okay, I understand, but there’s been no chill on the part of his management, no chill, [...] but life goes on and that’s not the focal point of my album. It’s about the content, and unfortunately [Lamar] wasn’t ready to address that content, or he had stuff coming out that was too similar to what I had coming out, so his management said, no, he can’t do this. MD: Within the dichotomy of the Lover/Fighter LP, are you going to undertake a critique of race relations similar to that of “Heaven Help Dem”? JE: Definitely. I address it in multiple songs on the album. Race relations is just a part of what we live as

Black people. All the artists I’m influenced by address it, among other things. Anyone from Marvin Gaye to Bob Marley. If you’re making an album and you want to talk about the world and you gloss over that, [then] that’s not the type of music I want to make. I want to address things in an uplifting way. A lot of my music is reggae-influenced. A lot of my music is hip-hop-influenced. I try to pull out the parts of it that are the most uplifting, the most inspiring, and dwell on that stuff. You’ll see the dichotomy. The lover/fighter dichotomy is infused in every single song and I try to get it into every single verse and every single lyric. When you listen to it, you’ll be able to live the experience of what it’s like to have these two sides of you constantly at war, pulling against each other, and figure out which one to use when, so you don’t self destruct. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The Lover/Fighter LP goes on presale September 4 on iTunes. Its release date is October 4.

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Culture

September 1, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

On the (inevitable) death of queercore as punk Lamenting the co-option of punk’s black sheep

Eleanor Musick Culture Writer

ueercore, perhaps one of the last surviving offshoots of punk rock that has remained true to its anti-capitalist, anarchist, DIY roots, recently hosted its largest gathering ever, an event that brought together hundreds of queercore bands, speakers, artists, and thinkers in Chicago. But as the more radical members of the queercore community transition into mainstream LGBTQ (and simply mainstream) communities through events of this size, queercore may face the same fate as punk. One day, will it too be co-opted by mainstream society enamoured with its aesthetics? 1970s and 1980s punk rock is generally associated with tight jeans, leather jackets, and the inconsolable anger of The Clash. Queercore, which was primarily rooted in Toronto in the late 1970s, railed against the Man but focused more on the gross marginalization of queer people throughout North America. Of course, the concept of ‘queer theory going mainstream’ is nothing new. But as queercore in particular does so, can it remain the most radical offshoot of punk, or punk at all? Does the question even matter, given the benefits of these ideas being considered by mainstream society, or should queercore always seek to destroy the status quo (even as it becomes less oppressive)? Essentially, should queercore remain punk, or seek more recognizable success as a mainstream activist group? In order to answer these ques-

tions, an examination of queercore’s roots in punk rock and its subsequent divergence from the genre is required. Punk rock, founded by members of oppressed working classes in Britain, arrived as musical opposition to the polished rock of the early 1970s, seeking to create a more lo-fi, accessible sound that anyone could

der to make money for the men upstairs. Punk rock rejected all of these as instruments of a manipulative oligarchy without a plan B, thus beginning its association with anarchist movements in the UK and North America. Queercore emerged from the same vein, with the further understanding that it was not merely

quo, refused to accept these more radical, queer punks. Not only that, but early queer punks found themselves rejected by 1970s LGBTQ activists as well, who were fighting to gain recognition of queer people, as ‘normal’ and ‘mainstream” folks who were just like the couple next door. Relegated to the fringes of both

Lia Elbaz | The McGill Daily produce. It was harsh, but easy to nod along to. Early punk rock rejected the classism, bureaucracy, and corporate vice that came with the intensive production of early seventies rock: the greed of enormous record labels that stifled creativity to sell records and the shitty contracts that musicians of that era were often given in or-

lo-fi, impoverished musicians who were being marginalized by the music industry, but queer musicians as well. Queercore’s founders, several runaway teens from the Toronto area, fell in with the punk scene and sought to express the same torment they felt from society. But even punk rock, a scene bent on rejecting the status

societies, early groups like Fifth Column, The Raincoats, the Dicks, and Vaginal Davis began to play small punk rock venues. J.D.’s (initially standing for Juvenile Delinquents), a popular LGBTQ zine in the Toronto area, helped to evolve and grow the burgeoning queercore genre. J.D.’s essentially became the callto arms and official bulletin of

the queercore scene, establishing events throughout Toronto, Chicago, and London, publishing biographies of queercore bands, and urging the LGBTQ and punk scenes to become less oppressive. In fact, queercore had been initially called ‘Homocore,’ but changed its name to move away from the confines of gay and lesbian as monosexual identities, at J.D.’s writers’ urgings. J.D.’s survived as the main bulletin of queercore well into the 1990s, until internet chat rooms took over the task of connecting queer punks across the globe, under a thread name recognizable to youths across the web: “Queer Punks.” Today, as queercore becomes more popular, it faces the ‘punk’s dilemma.’ Events like the one in Chicago thrust queercore into the mainstream scene. Queercore loses its status as something ‘truly punk’ when it throws events that draw such large numbers, which in punk lexicology, make it officially a ‘poseur’ genre. So much of the punk identity is reliant upon identification as the outsider, as someone others don’t want around, as undesirable. When punk is accepted, even in a limited way, it is no longer punk, making it very difficult not to become a ‘poseur’. Larger events allow more conservative influences to water down queercore’s 1970s rhetoric. But perhaps the tides will turn, and the radical philosophy of the queercore scene will trickle down, acting as another player in the fight against the oppression of the LGBTQ community. Even if queercore loses its official status as punk, one hopes we will remember worthier things from the genre rather than vague anti-pop sentiment, leather jackets, and tight jeans.

WHO TO SEE AT OAP Open Air Pub (or OAP) is McGill’s semi-annual back-to-school cookout in Three Bares park, also known as that ditch next to the Arts Building with a fountain in it. It would officially bill itself as “The Happiest Place on Earth,” which it arguably is for its two short weeks, if not for the copyright issue with Disneyland. As OAP has grown in popularity over the years, the entertainment lineup has gotten better and better. Here’s a list of acts you’ll regret not seeing. - Sonia Larbi-Aissa

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

OAP kicks off on Tuesday with Beaux Dégâts, one of the coolest events Montreal has to offer. Beaux Dégâts challenges teams of street and graffiti artists to timed competitions revolving around a common theme. Spectators vote with their beer cans for their favourite piece. This unique event is not to be missed.

Self-identifying as cream pop, Cult Classic is the perfect band to listen to on a warm summer night while sipping a Sleeman surrounded by fairy lights. Be sure to come out and support your local student musicians on Wednesday. Full disclosure: one of the creators of Cult Classic’s blissful sound, Rosie Long Decter, also moonlights as Community Editor at The Daily.

Bringing some musical diversity to OAP’s indie rock-heavy lineup on Thursday, Clay and Friends’ genre-blending mix of hip-hop, funk, jazz, soul, and reggae promises to be a good time. Come prepared to enjoy a spontaneous jam session under the stars.

Boasting an impressive resume of big name performances, Montreal rapper Taigenz (who opened for Wiz Khalifa, Big K.R.I.T, and Denzel Curry, to name a few) is not to be missed. Solid production, witty MC’ing, and party anthems await Friday’s OAP audience.

Editorial

volume 105 number 1

editorial board 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Greetings from the basement

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Sonia Larbi-Aissa features editor

Yasmine Mosimann

Lia Elbaz | The McGill Daily

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Rosie Long-Decter le délit

hanks for picking up a copy of The Daily – even if only to use it as a samosa wrapper. We hope you find our Disorientation Guide adequately orienting and are ready to start a new year in Montreal. You can look for a new issue of The Daily every Monday, for stories from McGill and the greater Montreal community. Much has changed at The Daily since our humble origins as a sports rag in 1911. We began addressing controversial topics in the 1960s, and in recent years, we’ve chronicled the Quebec student strikes, austerity cuts, and the never-ending SSMU drama. This year, we’ve replaced one news editor position with a second web editor position to shift our focus to online coverage. If print is dying, then we refuse to die with it. The Daily is guided by a Statement of Principles (SOP) that mandates us to be critical of societal power structures

in our coverage, and to give space in our paper to voices and issues that are often overlooked in the mainstream media. As a student publication, we aim to hold the McGill administration accountable to its students, as well as highlight the role that postsecondary education plays in maintaining the current oppressive sociopolitical order. Intrigued? Send us an email, drop by one of our meetings, and look out for our upcoming workshop week from September 21 to 25. We welcome everyone, regardless of experience! Whether you want to get more involved on campus, have a say on issues that are important to you, or just want a space to express your creativity, there will always be a place for you here in the cozy basement of the SSMU building, room B-24. —The McGill Daily Editorial Board

Julia Denis

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cover design Lia Elbaz contributors Danielle Amir, Bailey Cohen-Krichevsky, Kevin Da Silva Castanheira, June Jang, Nadir Khan, XiaoXiao (Alice) Liu, James McCafferty, Katerina Mosquera-Cardi, Katherine Rosenfeld, Cassandra Ryan, Alice Shen, Vincent Simboli Tamim Sujat, Rackeb Tesfaye, Alexandra Villalobos, Andy Wei

The Statement of Principles 2.1 The fundamental goal of The McGill Daily shall be to serve as a critical and constructive forum for the exchange of ideas and information relevant to McGill and related communities. 2.2 Within this optic, The Daily recognizes that all events and issues are inherently political, involving relations of social and economic power and privilege. Further, we recognize that power is unevenly distributed, especially – but not solely – on the basis of gender, age, social class, race, sexuality, religion, ability, and cultural identity. We also recognize that keeping silent about these relationships helps to perpetuate oppression. To help correct these inequities, to the best of its ability, The Daily should depict and analyze power relations accurately in its coverage. 2.3 As an autonomous student newspaper, relatively free from commercial and other controls, The Daily can best serve its purposes by examining issues and events most media ignore. In particular, it should deal with the role postsecondary education plays in constructing and maintaining the current order. It should also assist students and other groups working for change in a critical framework, with the aim of giving a voice to individuals and communities marginalized on the basis of the criteria mentioned in section 2.2. The Daily’s non-hierarchal structure serves as a space for education, discussion, and participation. The Daily’s methods should be determined by its staff on the basis of consensus. 2.4 The Daily must remain accessible and accountable, while maintaining its autonomy.

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dps board of directors Zapaer Alip, Niyousha Bastani, Julia Denis, Igor Sadikov, Dana Wray All contents © 2015 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff. Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec. ISSN 1192-4608.

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Compendium!

September 1, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Lies, half-truths, and sad, sad depths.

Bottomless hole of despair to solve McGall’s infrastructure crisis Benefits of hole-based educational approach deemed “pretty high”

Ready to dig.

Katniss Mascara | Photograbber

Heather-Hillary Harper-Hobbes The McGall Weekly

cGall’s new plan to “streamline the university experience” for its students through cost-cutting measures will involve the continued digging of a large, soul-sucking hole on the university’s downtown campus, newly appointed provost Christopa P. Manfreddo announced last week. “With our crumbling buildings in desperate need of repairs that we can in no way afford, we thought it best to defer all maintenance indefinitely,” said Manfreddo. “We chose instead to centralize McGall’s world-class soul-crushing educational experience into a modern, robust, universally acces-

sible location.” The construction of the hole began earlier this month on Lower Field. The hole will be expanded over the next few years, its warm darkness coming to progressively engulf each and every one of McGall’s lecture halls, classrooms, libraries, and laboratories.

“Finally, there is a hole as deep as me and my intellectual capabilities.” Upon cursory observation of the hole, The Weekly foresaw a gaping maw in the middle of Montreal; an aphotic abyss into

Jan Sybron | The McGall Weekly

Construction begins. the depths of the Earth; a black hole from which there is no return; a breach in the body of Mother Earth; a cavernous cavity clearly created with cantankerous care. This infrastructural change will synergize with the continued evolution of McGall’s educational philosophy. The provost’s polemical People, Ploughs, and Partnerships plan will proceed as previously projected, with more and more humanities classes converted into increasingly long and deep “learning lessons” in the new hole. “It’s just so much simpler this way,” Liberal Science professor Ed Geedude told The Weekly. “No longer will I have to bleaken my students’ miserable lives with interminable coursework and impossible examinations – bleakness

and misery will now be available on a self-serve basis in the souldestroying hole.” Incoming froshies were introduced to the updated educational paradigm at a new orientation week event called “Managing Expectations: Digging Yourself Deeper Into the Hole.” “I’m a bit disappointed,” said U0 Space Philosophy student Carla Hagan-Sawking, speaking to The Weekly after the event. “As a new student, I was looking forward to getting involved with clubs on campus like the Young Astronomers’ Guild. I must say, I fear that spending the rest of my life in the hole might not be conducive to my social development.” “I, for one, am happy,” said U12 Existentialist Studies student Geneviève-Pauline Goodseeing. “Fi-

nally, there is a hole as deep as me and my intellectual capabilities. Can you imagine the conversations I will have with all my friends, staring into this abyss?” When asked to comment, Deputy Provost (Student Gripes and Weed) Sir Lolliver Sandwichheart assured The Weekly that the provision of services to students will in no way be affected by the moving of all educational activities to the hole. “Student health – especially mental health – will remain as much of a priority for us as ever, with students spending more and more time in the hole and hopefully reaching a near-permanent state of complete despair,” Sandwichheart said. “I can’t emphasize enough how beneficial this hole will be.”

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