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TUNISIA PROTEST COVERAGE 5

Volume Volume 100, 100, Issue Issue 26 25

January January 20, 13, 2011 2011 mcgilldaily.com mcgilldaily.com

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The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

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Report reveals student displeasure McGill Law student’s survey data sheds light on equity and diversity issues Adam Winer

The McGill Daily

A

ccording to a report entitled “An Evaluation of Undergraduate Education Quality at McGill University, 200910” the majority of McGill undergraduates are concerned with how effectively McGill prepares them for future employment, adequate advising, and academic gains. The report, authored by second-year Law student Michael Shortt, was presented to SSMU Council on November 25, 2010.

Shortt has produced an annual report at the behest of each SSMU VP University Affairs for the past four years. This year’s report contains the results of the 2010 Vulcan Student Survey, completed by 1,193 students – about five per cent of the undergraduate class.

One of the report’s main focuses is workforce preparedness. Of the students surveyed, only six per cent of U1 students and nine per cent of U3 students considered themselves very well prepared to enter the workforce, while twenty per cent of U1 students and 33 per cent of U3 students felt well prepared.

In an email to The Daily, Shortt said, “This pattern of poor performance on McGill’s part is particularly troubling, given that most undergraduates place a high importance on employability and workforce-related skills.”

Another point of concern highlighted by the report was academic advising. Only 15 per cent of first-year students and eight per

cent of students in their graduating year agreed that they were satisfied with the program advising they had received. According to the report, many students stated that the program advising they received was often “revealed to be unhelpful over time and in many cases prevented them from reaching their academic and personal goals.”

Findings on academic gains, and students’ abilities to retain information were equally concerning. Only five per cent of students ranked their “ability to recall facts or background material related to [their] discipline” as “very good.” Further, seven per cent of students strongly agreed that “I receive extensive feedback on my assignments and exams.”

The library received high marks, with 68 per cent of students agreeing that, “The library is comfortable and inviting” and 59 per cent agreeing that, “There are enough quiet study spaces for individuals in the library.”

Shortt said, “The library has always been very supportive of the survey and always takes a keen interest in its results.”

Within the Equity and Diversity section of the report, Shortt also reported that, although only nine per cent of white students felt, “or have been made to feel, uncomfortable on campus due to [their] race or ethnicity” – compared to 36 per cent of non-white students – it is important to focus on their feeling included on campus. He wrote that some white students “felt excluded from groups which focused on a

Workforce preparation among fourth-year students

50

Source: An Evaluation of Undergraduate Education Quality at McGill, 2009-10

40

38%

30

33%

20

10

20% 9% Not well prepared at all

specific ethnic group or gender.”

Emily Clare, SSMU Equity Commissioner, was “not surprised” with the report’s findings. She noted the importance of keeping up with the trends mentioned, as “equity is constantly changing and evolving.”

When gender or nationalityspecific groups meet, explained Clare, “It’s not to exclude people.

It’s about community within a specific subset of individuals. These tensions are a part of our human existence. McGill is a really great place to learn about inter-group

Somewhat well prepared

Well prepared

dynamics – it’s a microcosm of the larger world,” said Clare.

Shortt clarified that his role in this process was not to lobby for policy changes.

“As a researcher, my role was to gather and report data. Which means, of course, that the report is all problems and no solutions,” he said.

Josh Abaki, SSMU VP University Affairs, said that “the data that we gathered from the survey will form the basis for discussion on different Senate committees and Faculty councils…and some points will be

Very well prepared raised up at Senate.”

Shortt also stated that Morton Mendelson, Deputy Provost Student Life and Learning, had received and commented upon the report, “He seemed to be genuinely interested in what students had to say, and in identifying how their experiences of McGill’s strengths and weaknesses mapped onto the strengths we aspire to.”

“Of course it’s early,” said Shortt, “so it’s impossible to say whether that commitment will be continued.

I’m optimistic though.”

McGill and MUNACA stumble out of the gate Both parties blame each other for delay in start of collective agreement negotiations Kartiga Thiyagarajah The McGill Daily

N

egotiations for a new collective agreement between McGill and the University’s largest non-academic worker’s union – representing over 1,600 employees – broke down this past Thursday before they even began, with both parties blaming miscommunication and the other side for the delays.

Kevin Whittaker, president of the McGill University Non-Certified Academic Certified Association (MUNACA), has attributed the delay to the administration’s refusal to provide financial information. Whittaker maintained that MUNACA was prepared to present its “non-economical” demands, including increased job protection and better vacation leaves.

However, the union’s request for financial information from McGill regarding payroll, benefits, and

other matters, had not been met.

MUNACA was hence unable to present its economic demands.

“McGill has refused to negotiate with us until we provide its bargaining committee with a full set of our demands. To do this, we first need financial information from McGill,” said Whittaker.

He explained that the only information that McGill provided MUNACA was locked in PDF files that could not be modified. Similarly, MUNACA did not receive any of the scheduling and salary-related information it requested.

A statement issued by McGill’s human relations department claims that it did provide the financial information in the same format as in the past.

According to Lynne Gervais, Associate Vice-Principle of McGill Human Resources, negotiations failed when MUNACA failed to present its full set of demands.

“At our meeting, MUNACA was

not ready with its demands. It had not prepared them,” Gervais said.

“Until negotiations officially begin, there’s not much I can say.”

Gervais explained that, conventionally, negotiations only begin once both parties have set forth their final and complete set of proposals. This was the expectation heading into the meeting, an expectation Gervais said McGill fulfilled.

“MUNACA was given the requested financial information,” said Gervais. “They just didn’t like the format it was given in.”

The delay has left Whittaker frustrated. “We want to continue with negotiations on non-economical concerns, but McGill has insisted on waiting.”

According to Whittaker, during prenegotiations in December MUNACA clearly expressed a need for specific financial data from McGill. However, on January 13, the University informed MUNACA that it felt the union already had all the necessary information to

form its proposals.

“What puzzles me is why McGill did not inform us of this in December rather than refusing to bargain in January,” said Whittaker.

Demands According to Whittaker, one of MUNACA’s main demands is fairer staffing processes. “We want better selection of personnel that respects the seniority of MUNACA workers,” he said. “Currently, McGill overrides our contract by hiring lessexperienced non-union workers because it is cheaper to do so.”

Whittaker feels that it is important for senior personnel to have their seniority respected rather than act as a hiring obstacle. “We want a staffing process that will encourage our members to grow rather than remain in the same place,” he said.

MUNACA is also seeking a more transparent scheduling process.

The union wants to receive specific work schedules from McGill.

It also wants to be notified when the schedules are changed, which McGill has failed to do before.

Once negotiations begin, Whittaker will most likely start with non-economical demands. “Why not start now when both parties have prepared their non-economical demands?” he asked. “Perhaps after seeing McGill’s demands, we can decide how to arrange our priorities and continue accordingly.”

Whittaker speculates that salaries will be the point of greatest contention.

Regarding the timeline of negotiations, Whittaker had little to say.

“We had hoped to reach a resolution within a year,” said Whittaker.

“But since negotiations are being dragged out from the beginning, it could take awhile.”

“When MUNACA is ready with all its proposals, we will be ready to negotiate,” said Gervais.

Both parties are scheduled to meet again on January 26.

4 News

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

Board of Governors reports to Senate New Securitas contract among items approved Rana Encol

The McGill Daily

S

enate easily passed a new policy on cyclical academic unit reviews yesterday. Reviews will be conducted at least twice a month over the course of seven years. Lydia White, a Faculty of Arts Senator, will manage the process.

Eric Caplan, senator for the Faculty of Education, was the only opposition to the motion, on the grounds that it “would be useful [to have] some kind of mechanism for the departments and the evaluating committee to have a conversation.”

When Provost Anthony Masi replied that such a process would be very costly, Caplan disagreed.

“As of right now, the reports that come out are a series of monologues – it would be more collegial to have more dialogue, and as five of the seven reviewers are McGill employees, they could easily be connected through Skype [or such technology],” he said in an interview with The Daily. “So I don’t see any budgetary problems, and nobody raised any procedural problems, so that was the only reason for my opposition.”

Board of Governors report Amir Raz, Senate representa-

NEWS BULLETIN Military courts McGill grad students The Department of National Defence (DND) hosted an informational session Monday afternoon at Thomson House for McGill graduate students interested in career opportunities within the organization.

This was the first time such a high-level event had been held at Thomson house in at least eight years, claims Bliss Ward, the building’s House Manager.

The session was part of the Policy Officers Recruitment Program, a nationwide DND initiative seeking graduate students looking for postgraduate employment. The purpose of the program is to prepare these candidates for senior positions in the Canadian military and elsewhere in the federal government.

The recruitment drive was aimed at students in the upper echelons of policy study – specifically MAs in political science or international relations with concentrations in economics, statistics, or sociology.

“Ideal candidates will have an interest in national and international defence and security issues,” according to their website.

The elite recruitment program offers a base salary of $50,000 for the first two years and can climb to as high as $70,000 within a few years.

The program also provides candidates a $5,000 “relocation allowance” for those who move to Ottawa to

tive from the Board of Governors (BoG), reported to Senate that the BoG approved the purchase of ten “state-of-the-art” sequencers as per the Genomics Funding Proposal at its October 25, 2010 meeting.

In closed session, the BoG Executive Committee also approved “any purchase contracts and accessory documents of $4 million or more associated with the Genomics funding proposal approved by the Executive Committee on March 22, 2010,” according to the Board report.

At closed session on November 30, 2010, the BoG approved of a number of other items that were not presented at Senate, but were included in the report.

These include awarding a contract to Securitas Canada Inc. that will be effective from February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2014, increasing premium rates for the McGill Health and Dental Plans, and authorizing a budget to convert 410 Sherbrooke O. into a residence.

As required by the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec (CSST), the BoG also approved giving “signing authority to the manager of staff benefits in Human Resources Department for claims from the University for 2011,

2012, and 2013.”

work for the department.

McGill’s Career and Planning Service notified graduate students of the session in a broadcast e-mail from Graduate Student Career Advisor Susan Molnar, obtained by The Daily.

Neither Molnar nor officials from the DND could be reached for comment Wednesday.

on their website, “the reputation of the University has been tarnished and the morale of the university community has been eroded.”

Many members of Concordia’s academic community also question the Board’s management of university funds. Several of the senior administrators who have been asked to step down by the Board have received large severance packages.

“These dismissals and departures cost money that faculty members, staff and students are constantly told the university does not have,” read an open letter addressed to Kruyt, “it’s an abuse of power.”

In reply, Kruyt released a letter on January 12 to the Concordia community stating his reasons for withholding specific details surrounding Woodsworth’s departure. Kruyt wrote, “Notwithstanding our support of the principle of transparency, good governance requires, among other things, that the Board respect confidentiality agreements in conducting the business of the University.”

Free Education Montreal (FEM), a Montreal-based advocacy group formed to eliminate tuition, has insisted that the entire Board should resign. “The board is tainted by hubris,” says their website. “It has engaged in behaviour unbecoming of members of a collegial institution.”

FEM also calls upon Line Beauchamp, Minister of Education, Recreation, and Sports for the Quebec Liberal Party, to create an inquiry into the actions and motives of the Board.

In response to the events, Beauchamp expressed distress to the Gazette and said she is watching the proceedings at Concordia intently. ­—Nick Kandel

­— Michael Lee-Murphy

Concordia BOG under fire

After anger and outrage over the behaviour of Concordia University’s Board of Governors, Concordia newspaper The Link published an open letter penned by Concordia faculty members on January 10. The letter, signed by 181 faculty members, demands increased transparency in the actions of Concordia’s Board of Governors. It was addressed to Peter Kruyt, the Chair of the Board, and calls for the Board to issue a statement of their actions.

“The Board appears to have assumed the role of a modern-day star chamber, acting according to its own dictates, accountable and answerable to no one,” the letter reads.

The publication of the letter came on the heels of the Board’s dismissal of former Concordia President Judith Woodsworth on December 23.

Her departure joins a series of unexplained shifts in the senior administrative ranks, including the removal of five Vice Presidents and one President in the last six years.

In addition to the letter, the Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA) issued a motion at a January 17 meeting, calling for Kruyt and the vice-chair of the Board to step down.

“This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue,” wrote the CUFA

Exams, Academic Advising, and Mentorship Morton Mendelson, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), presented a motion yesterday to create a “comprehensive University policy regarding the assessment of students,” to be voted on at the next Senate meeting taking place February 16. VP University Affairs Joshua Abaki is the student representative to a working group on examination regulations.

Student Arts Senator Amara Possian spoke yesterday about the upcoming launch of a new crossfaculty mentorship program. Over the past two years the Dean of Students Jane Everrett and Faculty of Science Senator David Harpp have been developing a program to address “the lack of a sense of community at McGill and the lack of mentorship – especially outside of one’s faculty or development,” said Possian in an interview with The Daily. “There are opportunities for mentorship through CaPS [Career Planning Service] or through one’s program, but McGill doesn’t make an effort to create a sense of community across faculties or departments.” The new program aims to bridge this divide. Student sign-up begins on February 1.

SSMU President looks to end GA Queen Arsem-O’Malley and Maya Shoukri The McGill Daily

S

SMU President Zach Newburgh, along with two of his fellow executives and one Councillor, introduced a notice of motion proposing to abolish the current General Assembly (GA) model, replacing it with an “Annual General Meeting.” SSMU Council is scheduled to vote on the motion at its next meeting, on February 3.

The motion was submitted

by Newburgh, VP Finance and Operations Nick Drew, VP Internal Tom Fabian, and Councillor Emilie Leonard, a fact that was announced only after Management Councillor Eli Freedman inquired about its authorship. Speaker of Council Cathal Rooney-Cespedes ruled that debate on the content of the resolution was out of order, due to its status as a notice of motion.

VP External Myriam Zaidi and VP University Affairs Josh Abaki declined to comment on the resolution’s content until it is debated and voted upon at the next Council meeting.

The motion outlines the removal of SSMU bylaws regarding the GA process as it currently exists.

The resolution’s description of the AGM stipulates that “Annual General Meetings shall not entertain any other resolutions that are not contained within Articles 28.1 and 28.2” These limit the agenda to four items: presentation of the State of the Society, the ratification of nominations to the [SSMU] Board of Directors, a review of audited financial statements, and the nomination of the Financial Auditor.

Under this model, students could submit resolutions for consideration by Council, and no other student body. Resolutions would require motion by fifty Society

members or one Councillor, and would remove the option for nonCouncil members to vote.

The Fall General Assembly, held on October 21, 2010, had difficulty reaching and maintaining quorum: after the GA, Newburgh had told The Daily that the process warranted review and that, due to room occupancy restrictions, the current GA model is “really not a democracy, it’s first-come, first-serve democracy.”

In response to concerns that structural changes to the GA would rid students of an open forum for democratic debate, Newburgh insisted that “now that [the motion] is presented, there are individuals on Council who will ponder this question, [who] will hopefully bring amendments to the floor, and that Steering Committee will now consider the question with real rigor.

There is absolutely an intention to ensure that there is more democracy for individuals in the Society.”

Arch Café finally dead?

Councillor Maggie Knight requested an update on the status of Architecture Café discussions.

Newburgh refused to comment publicly on the issue.

A Board of Governors report on January 19th informed Senate that “the October 25, 2010 Executive Committee meeting included an extensive discussion of a comprehensive report provided by the Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning).”

“The Committee concluded that there was no apparent basis for the Board to reconsider the administrative decision to close the Architecture Café given the thorough consideration and well-documented reasons for the closure,” the report read.

It is unclear whether the subject will be presented again at future Council meetings.

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News

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

5

Ted Sprague | The McGill Daily

Anxiety as local Tunisians rally around revolution at home

Thousands march for the Jasmine Revolution Nic van Beek News Writer

T

housands of supporters of what Western media have dubbed the Jasmine Revolution gathered in Montreal’s Dorchester Square this past Saturday as former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted on January 14.

Haroun Bouazzi, an organizer of the rally and member of the group Collectif de solidarité au Canada avec les luttes sociales en Tunisie, emphasized the participation of Tunisian and non-Tunisian Quebeckers alike. The rally was attended by hundreds of “people that felt close to our cause because Tunisian people were fighting for values that are shared,” he said.

These included members of the political party Québec solidaire, Amnesty International, and various labour unions.

Françoise David, spokesperson for Québec solidaire, attended the rally. “People were in high spirits, but also concerned because on the one hand they were able to oust the dictator Ben Ali from power, but on the other hand, at the same time people were obviously concerned about what was going to happen in the future,” she told The Daily in French.

In the days following Ben Ali’s ouster, attention has turned toward a Westmount mansion that, according to property records obtained by the Gazette, is owned by Mohamed

Sakher El Materi, the billionaire son-in-law of the ousted dictator.

Members of the Tunisian community have protested outside the house in recent days, throwing ketchup and placing a sign that declares the mansion the “property of the Tunisian people.” El Materi is currently renting out the house, however Montreal has been cited as a possible asylum destination for the billionaire.

There was no sign of activity or vandalism, and the mansion showed clear signs of being under renovations Monday evening. The property overlooks downtown Montreal, with an expansive view of the city from the slopes of Mount Royal.

In the now oft-quoted diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, American Ambassador to Tunisia Robert F. Godec wrote that, after a July 2009 dinner, El Materi “repeatedly pointed out the lovely view from his home and frequently corrected his staff, issued orders and barked reprimands.” The ambassador criticized El Materi for the “wealth and excess” and “over-thetop” nature in which he and his family lived alongside the poverty of Tunisia. According to the BBC, El Materi’s mansion in Tunis, where he entertained Godec and kept a pet tiger named Pasha, has since been looted by demonstrators and left in ruins.

Bouazzi insists he had nothing to do with organizing the demonstrations outside the El Materi mansion in Montreal, but will campaign

to bring El Materi to justice all the same.

“The day we will have real justice in Tunisia, we’ll ask any country where he is – Canada or France or Saudi Arabia – to send him back to Tunisia and to have a trial in the Tunisian justice system,” he said.

The role of WikiLeaks in the popular revolution has been downplayed by many bloggers as well as activists, including Bouazzi. “This revolution was made by Tunisian people and just because of the struggle for justice, and it is not because of WikiLeaks.”

Bouazzi gave more credit to the role of social media and mobile technology – such as Twitter and Facebook, outside the control of Ben Ali – as a means of organizing demonstrations.

When asked about the possibility of El Materi and his family seeking asylum in Canada, Ahmed Ben Fekih of the Tunisian Embassy in Ottawa said that “it’s not for the embassy to decide – this is a Canadian immigration issue,” though he also stated he too was interested in locating El Materi, who is reportedly in France.

Robert Gervais, the Media Relations Spokesperson for the Immigration and Refugee Board for the Eastern Region of Canada, refused to discuss El Materi, stating, “We don’t comment on international events.” He further stressed that Canadian immigration policy was to evaluate refugees fleeing Tunisia on a “case-by-case basis.”

Melissa Lantsman, representing Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, urged “all Tunisians to work together to end the violence that continues to threaten the safety of the people and safety on the ground. What he [Cannon] has been clear about is that he has welcomed the news of elections to be held in the near future and Canada urges the government of Tunisia to ensure those elections will be both free and fair.”

Ben Fekih hopes that the Canadian government will promote continued economic investment in the country, and despite the current travel advisory against non-essential travel to Tunisia issued by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, one day “encourage tourists to spend their vacations in Tunisia.”

He also warned that “television does not show the real reality, and it only throws gas on the fire,” referring to the depiction of riots and unrest in international news. “The real reality is that this started a month ago and it is a social demonstration. People are demanding employment,” he said.

When Bouazzi was asked what is next for international Tunisian activism, he stated. “The Tunisian people had no help from any outside power whatsoever, but now there [are] a lot of powers, especially in the Arab world…that don’t want this experience to succeed. So now we’ll have new things to deal with. … Intelligence services are going to try to destroy the experience,” he said.

“The reality is that this started a month ago and it is a social demonstration.

People are demanding employment” Ahmed Ben Fekih Spokesperson, Tunisian embassy in Ottawa

6 News

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

Fraternity for gay students to recruit new members Delta Lambda Phi, McGill’s first fraternity explicitly for gay and bisexual men Erin O’Callaghan

The McGill Daily

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wo years ago, Sam Reisler, a U3 History and Political Science student, annoyed with the lack of non-political queer student groups, Googled the term “gay fraternity,” and found the website for Delta Lambda Phi. With the tagline “National Social Fraternity for Gay, Bisexual and Progressive Men,” McGill’s chapter of Delta Lambda Phi (DLP) is the first of its kind at a Canadian university.

Today, Reisler is President of the DLP colony at McGill, currently in a probationary period before it can become a full chapter of the national fraternity. The colony is holding its third official recruitment this week, beginning Monday, January 17 and ending Sunday, January 23. “[This colony] came out of the frustration of trying to meet, on campus, other people who identified as gay or bisexual who are not necessarily as politically oriented as others,” explained Reisler.

“That was one of the major issues with Queer McGill (QM) at the time – [it] is very political. QM is a great resource, but very limiting in the sense of who it appeals to,” added Reisler.

In contrast, DLP aims to be a more social and less political space for gay, bi, or questioning men to meet and interact.

The first chapter of the DLP was founded by Vernon L. Strickland III in Washington, D.C. in 1987, with the support of a trust established to create a social fraternity that would not discriminate based on sexual orientation. Since that time, the fraternity has burgeoned into an extensive fraternity with thirty chapters and colonies across the United States.

Currently, the colony Reisler founded is the only DLP presence in Canada.

Victor Tangermann | The McGill Daily

McGill’s DLP colony, before they head out to the bowling alley during Winter Rush Week.

Traditionally, fraternities and sororities are associated with very conservative, heteronormative stereotypes; however, Reisler hopes that the DLP will help to change this perception.

“We need to shake off that image that fraternities are what you see in the movies…because they’re not,” said Reisler. “What it’s about is brotherhood or sisterhood and developing lifelong relationships.”

SSMU Equity Commissioner Emily Clare agreed. “[A gay fraternity] changes our understanding of frats, their place on campus, and role as a social place,” she said.

According to Reisler, the Greek community at McGill was very open to the fraternity when he applied to join the Inter-Greek Letter Council, a body that governs fraternities and sororities at McGill.

DLP is now an official member of

the council. “[IGLC] has actually been very supportive of us,” stated Reisler.

He went on to explain that the IGLC even sped up their application process by a few months because they were impressed by DLP’s commitment to its purpose, as well as its growth in the Greek community.

This semester, DLP is in contact with two sororities to plan future events; however, Reisler did note that fraternities have demonstrated more resistance.

“Generally frats are a more conservative structure,” explained Reisler.

Nevertheless, former Sigma Chi president Jesse Pratt, U3 Agricultural Economics, agreed that the demand for a gay fraternity on campus should be met.

“I think most people [in the Greek system] understand where

[DLP is] coming from. This is a group that has traditionally been excluded from fraternities, and I hope some of that is changing,” Pratt stated.

“There are gay members in [other] fraternities, [and] here at McGill [Sigma Chi] is not going to exclude anyone like that. But everyone associates with who they feel comfortable with, each house is different and not right for everyone,” continued Pratt.

Reisler acknowledged these differences, though he insisted on the need for a chapter that offers a space specifically directed toward those who identify as male, and that may, but do not have to be, gay, bisexual, or questioning.

“Yes, [other fraternities] are open to all sexual orientations, but when have [they] ever had a mixer at a gay club?” questioned Reisler.

DLP also upholds a strict policy regarding relationships between members. Unofficially deemed the “hands off policy,” the Brother-Pledge Relations Policy strictly prohibits relationships between new recruits and frat members. However, relationships between members are permitted, and Reisler explained that relationships can, and have, worked extremely well within the fraternity. Nevertheless, all members are required to behave professionally and to refrain from demonstrating physical affection during official frat meetings or events.

In terms of fitting into the queer community, DLP has received some criticism for subscribing to the traditional gender binary of male and female.

Officially, Queer McGill has no relationship with DLP because the frat subscribes to the gender binary, as well as a hierarchical structure inherent in Greek society that contradicts QM’s mandate.

However, Ryan Thom and Parker Villalpando, co-administrators of QM, both agreed that the fraternity was a positive addition to McGill, and the queer community as a whole.

“QM has always been supportive of bolstering the queer community on campus, [and the frat] definitely contributes a lot to the queer community,” said Villalpando, also a member of DLP. Thom added, “A lot of people who are part of both [QM and DLP] gain a sense of community and mutual collaboration from the frat which I think is really important.”

While subscribing to the traditional male-female binary, DLP remains trans-friendly, and the frat hopes to help deconstruct the accepted heteronormativity of the Greek system.

Bastarache commission clears Charest of influence-peddling Alexia Jablonski

The McGill Daily

F

ollowing weeks of public hearings and vitriolic accusations, Premier Jean Charest has been cleared of allegations of influence peddling in the judicial appointment process.

At 2:30 p.m. yesterday, former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michel Bastarache announced that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that Charest was complicit in rigging the judicial nomination process for appointing three judges – Michel Simard, Marc Bisson, and Line Gosselin-

Després – from 2003 to 2004.

On April 14, 2010, the provincial government tasked Bastarache with heading an investigation into former Justice Minister Marc Bellemare’s accusations that he received undue pressure from Liberal fundraisers to select particular judges. After weeks of public speculation and controversial testimonies, the Bastarache commission finally concluded in an approximately 300-page report.

“The majority of the evidence leads me to conclude that these nominations were those of Mr. Bellemare,” said Bastarache in a press conference, reported by Le

Devoir. “He was not forced to act against his will.”

Shortly afterward, Charest made a statement to the press reaffirming the report’s conclusions: “Quebeckers can be reassured about the integrity of the judicial system in Quebec,” said the premier in French, reported

by TVA, “and so can the men and women who occupy the positions of judges, and who lived with great difficulty last year as false accusations sowed doubts about our judicial system.”

However, Bastarache noted that the appointment of provincial judges is susceptible to political influence, and recommended clarifying

the role of different government actors and instituting a more rigid structure to the judicial nomination process.

“He did not really apportion blame, but instead raised some red flags about the ‘porousness’ of the appointment process and its potential to be subject to political influence, including the discretionary power of the minister of justice,” wrote Antonia Maioni, the director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, in an email to The Daily.

Despite the positive resolution of the Bastarache commission for Charest, according to a LégerMarketing poll the premier’s Liberal

government still faces a severe lack of credibility among Quebeckers.

The poll, conducted from January 10 to 12, revealed that 75 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with the Liberal party.

According to Maioni, it is doubtful whether the commission’s outcome will restore Charest’s legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

“The facts were the object of conflicting testimony; most damaging was the spectacle of having the sitting premier being accused in this way and of having the judicial appointment process being called into question under his administration,” she said.

Commentary

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

7

Watch out, I’mma censor you foo’ Political correctness, protest, and the Kay family The gadfly Shaina Agbayani

shaina.agbayani@mcgilldaily.com

O

nce upon a last summer, I worked at an “equine industry consulting firm” in a quaint, sparsely-peopled quarter of northern Ontario, phone interviewing bereft-of-human-contact horse habitués who would not infrequently (or unwarrantedly) harangue me for emblemizing the abandon with which government has distilled horse-life of its honey via industry over-regulation.

It was there that after a bank teller belligerently cast spiteful invectives at me, hastening to accuse me of being the culprit behind BMO’s missing newspapers (under the pretext that I was primly reading the newspaper across the street), I bellowed back: “If I were an old, white man, you wouldn’t feel entitled speak to me this way without giving me the chance to defend myself.”

This mirthful exchange I contemplated after being edified by “Adventures among the anti-racists” (November 19, 2007). The article, by right-leaning National Post columnist Jonathan Kay, summarizes his role at a left-leaning convention christened “Combating Hatred” as “the angry right-wing freak who, for reasons known only to himself, was ruining this otherwise respectable festival of white guilt.” He concludes that “I am an opinion jour-

nalist who can write about these issues candidly,” lamenting on behalf of orthodox anti-racists, “the jurists, NGO types, tenured academics, and public servants staring back at me from the audience [who] enjoyed no such freedom” (because of their rabid political correctness).

Perusing other articles in which he decries various corporations’ decisions to exercise their freedom to express their solidarity with the BDS movement, proceeding onto his mother, Barbara Kay’s columns (“Support Pride or You’re a Homophobe”), I marvelled at the volatility in the co-optation of the “freedom of expression” card.

Certainly, more draconian international materializations of expressionistic restraint reign supreme.

Pakistani governor Salman Taseer was recently assassinated for promulgating his rebuke of the nation’s blasphemy law, which has summoned a Christian woman to death row for defaming Muhammad.

Tunisian activists, bloggers and journalists reproaching their plutocrats’ embezzlement of public funds for investment in pet tigers are routinely detained and arrested. For their deeply-limited access to internet and communication with one another, Tunisians can express gratitude to Americanmanufactured network-intercepting software (Oh, Hillary would be proud after trumpeting, in a speech venerating internet freedom, that “On their own, new technologies

do not take sides in the struggle for freedom and progress, but the United States does”).

Of course, in the corporate realm, freedom of expression remains unfettered in the United States. “Corporate personhood” under the 14th Amendment grants a carte blanche for CEOs claiming that erecting parameters around enterprise development (which itself curbs the freedom of expression of the indigenous peoples whose lands they adulterate and whose freedoms to protest they curtail) limits their freedom of expression.

While peaceful protest against corporate activity continue to result in the deaths of innumerable activists, Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression estimate that 87 government-scrutinizing journalists died last year worldwide, most of whose perpetrators were met with impunity.

Without the wherewithal to channel and defend peaceful, free expression, possessing the moral vocabulary to discern and dissent from the miasmas emanating from every corridor is but being a seed that languishes in fallow soils. Just as over-regulating the equine industry drains the soul of hickety-ho horse life, as deplored by my interviewees, over-regulating peaceful expression asphyxiates the virtues of human life. Protecting the streams for our voices should be of pre-eminent value, regardless of what comprises the outpour.

Tom Acker | The McGill Daily

As Chomsky states, “If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for those we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” So while I actually concur with many of Johnny’s reproaches against anti-racists, let

Censoring the N-word Removing racist slurs from Huck Finn covers up racist brutality Davide Mastracci Hyde Park

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rade 11 American History class. I had obviously heard the word before, in movies, hundreds of times in rap, and in literature, but this was new. That class marked the first time I heard the word “nigger” used in an academic context by a teacher. I suspect it was the first time for many of my classmates, too. The atmosphere in the class became menacing. A black student asked to leave, someone chuckled awkwardly, and the teacher explained.

The lesson was clear: in an academic sense, when appropriate, the term could be used. As I moved on from high school and into McGill, I faced this situation again in Gil Troy’s course, American History

from 1865.. This time, the response was far more casual. He did offer a disclaimer of sorts, explaining that the use of the word was crucial to the attitude toward black people at the time. But the disclaimer wasn’t needed. We understood.

The time that Troy made reference to was the 19th century. The century of the Civil War, the freeing of the slaves, and the creation of the KKK. But also, the time of Mark Twain, one of the greatest American authors. And now, in the 21st century, Mark Twain is still relevant as ever. In the last week a storm of controversy has been brewing over the publication of a new version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This version is identical to all others, save one thing: all uses of the word “nigger” and “injun” have been swapped with more “politically correct”

terms, like slave.

In swapping a mere 219 words, the editors at the ironically-named publishing company NewSouth have perverted this American classic. The whole thing is a scam, a get-rich-quick scheme for the swine at NewSouth. But really, it is brilliant in an uncomfortable sense. With the rampant explosion of the abuse of political correctness, there is sure to be a few quacks that will purchase this edition. NewSouth has every legal right to publish this censored version of Twain, since the copyright has long expired. But the right to speak doesn’t guarantee an audience, and I would not purchase this diluted edition.

While the changes to the novel took little effort, they represent a major change to the novel’s atmosphere. Just as Troy explained in his

lecture, the use of the word “nigger” was critical in depciting the treatment of blacks that Twain’s classic so brilliantly portrayed. By stripping the novel of the word, the abuse of blacks at the hands of whites is glossed over and mitigated. While this may serve to the purposes of spineless teachers and readers unable to handle the truths conveyed in the novel, it does not do justice to history, nor to the obstacles black Americans overcame.

The history of the mistreatment of blacks in America cannot be covered up or distorted. Political correctness should not hold precedence over the truth. Truth must reign – now, and always.

Davide Mastracci is a U0 Arts student. You can reach him at davide. mastracci@mail.mcgill.ca.

them spew their orthodoxy, and leave Barbara Kay with a pulpit for her apocrypha that sex education (“The Cult of Multisexualism,” April 28, 2010) is “a rudimentary form of collective voyeurism.” p

Think only the Prince Arthur Herald will publish your opinion?

Try us. commentary@ mcgilldaily.com Publishing opinions from left, right, and centre since 1911...

Not last week.

8 Commentary

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

Discussion is not divisive A worrying depoliticization ensnares campus

Combating the QPIRG opt-out campaign’s misinformation Alex Briggs Hyde Park

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Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

“In fact, why think at all if we can be ‘green together?’”

Erin Hale

Hyde Park

T

here’s an alarming phrase I hear at McGill from time to time, and with increasing frequency this year: “Don’t be political,” or “Politics doesn’t belong here.” It’s said openly by students supporting the antiQPIRG Opt-Out campaign, or implied in more practiced – seemingly “neutral” – terms by some of our student Councillors.

What they’re saying, though, is: “Don’t engage in critical thought.”

Because what is politics, really, but a critique of power – and who should hold that power?

Take an on-campus example: The McGill Daily and the online outlet the Prince Arthur Herald – or the left and emerging right of campus opinion pages. Though they like to bicker and mock each other, they really aren’t that different. The Daily and the Herald are both based in part on the perception that certain minority groups ought to have their voices heard, and the power structures examined that suppress them.

They just disagree on the fine print of who is being victimized.

But the real threats to thought and expression at McGill aren’t the people who openly align with a political ideology or cause – the Spencer Burgers and Sarah Woolfs

of the world. It’s the people who seek to suppress it under the banner of decency and “togetherness” that are the real danger. It’s a reminder to be “complacent together” in the status quo, implying that there is something unsightly about discourse. Why ask any questions at all if people are just going to get agitated? In fact, why think at all if we can be “green together?”

It’s true political discourse is an ugly beast, especially on a university campus. The discussion around Choose Life last year was a bloodbath – as was the General Assembly motion invoking a reference to Israel/Palestine: people cried, people made accusations, people flew flags and reverted to knee jerk identity politics. A lot of mistakes were made on both sides, and these examples are held up as reasons why we shouldn’t have General Assemblies or fund politically controversial groups we might not agree with. I made my own mistakes during the Choose Life debate, but I also learned a lot about how to form and express a political opinion, and when the dust finally settled, I bet that there were a lot of people who came out of it with the same realization.

An article in the New York Times Magazine this summer (“What is it about 20-Somethings?” Robin Marantz Henig, August 18, 2010) discussed the emerging theory that the early twenties are a dis-

tinct stage of development, as our brains are still changing – in particular, the prefrontal cortex and cerebellum, or “the regions involved in emotional control and higher-order cognitive function.”

Applying this to political discourse, it would appear that university is the exact stage of life when we should be learning how to practically apply and expand critical thinking. It’s going to be messy – blame it on our brains or lack of emotional maturity. But killing off institutions like QPIRG and the General Assembly, or letting ourselves be bullied into complacency could mean that we lose the important developmental experiences of forming independent criticism and expression outside the classroom.

This is the time to make mistakes, and learn from them.

In the end, elites will take care of elites. They’ll make sure their own stay in positions of power – at McGill and beyond. It’s in their interest that students never mobilize to express their political will, because they might learn something and apply it later to the overarching structures of power in Canada and the United States. And then there would be a real problem.

You might see the man behind the curtain.

Erin Hale is a U3 Philosophy student and a former Daily editor. Write her at erin.hale@mail.mcgill.ca.

he Opt-Out campaign has three main points: QPIRG is anarchist and undemocratic, QPIRG hates Israel and Jews, and you can get a sandwich with the money you save. If you’re considering opting-out, I hope to dissuade you, but even if you’re not, this article is meant to give talking points for when you hear people (especially friends, acquaintances, or Optout campaigners) talking about it, and to encourage you to speak up.

It’s true that $3.75 will get you a sandwich or a beer. But it’s also true that Midnight Kitchen will feed you for free, and Campus Crops (a QPIRG working group whose legs are being cut from under them) will teach you how to ferment your own alcohol for the rest of your life.

McGill imparts a certain amount of privilege on its students simply through their attendance, and I believe that we thus hold a responsibility to contribute to our troubled world in a positive way. I feel the idea that we students are entitled to an extra sandwich, to the detriment of a social justice group like QPIRG, is horribly self-centred.

It’s true that QPIRG supports Tadamon! (an Arabic word that means “solidarity”), but if you take the time to read the About section of their website, you’ll find they explicitly oppose anti-Semitism, along with Islamaphobia. And if you take the opportunity to meet a Tadamon! member, you may gain a personal perspective on the Middle Eastern conflict.

Tadamon! is not anti-Semitic, and neither is QPIRG. They are antiimperialist, and this is a position that I think is held by the majority of McGill students. Claiming they are otherwise only damages their funding, while generating more hate and ignorance – directly fuel-

ling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

That QPIRG is anarchist and anti-democratic is a contradiction.

Organizing around anarchist principles means complete democracy through intolerance to oppression and opposition to power structures that impose upon people’s freedom. It’s the politics of freedom, and in this light, I believe most students would agree with it, but it is painted with burning buildings and smashed windows. QPIRG has no affiliation to such tactics, and if you took the time to engage them, you’d know this.

This is the ultimate problem with the opt-out campaign. QPIRG itself called for students to have the option to opt-out of the fees long before it was imposed – an opt-out that only required students come to the office, see what it was like, and then end their support permanently if they so chose.

So the problem isn’t with the opt-out. It’s with the campaign, and the ease with which some students can sell-out of their responsibility to social justice without learning a thing about it. Our planet has incredible diversity, distrust, and conflict. We are running out of resources and space, and our only chance for a bright future is cooperation. The first step to reconciliation is dialogue, and QPIRG strives to give a voice to those who often go unheard. University should expose students to the whole spectrum of ideas – and QPIRG is a very important part of that spectrum.

The opt-out campaign is one based on misinformation and ignorance driven by greed – if your politics force you to opt-out, I can’t change that. I only hope that your decision is informed.

Alex Briggs is a U2 Mechanical Engineering student. Write him at ajhbriggs@gmail.com For more information about QPIRG, go to: http://qpirgmcgill.org/

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Regarding the allegations made

by Mr. Bellemare, I have found that there were no pressures exercised that would have caused him to make any decisions that were against his will.”

—Michel Bastarache, former Supreme Court Justice, concluding his commission’s report on possible influence peddling in the nomination of judges in Quebec.

Commentary

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

9

Why the left should opt out of campus PIRGs Ignoring Hezbollah war crimes is not progressive politics Michael Hunziker Hyde Park

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here is nothing progressive or “left-wing” about Hezbollah. It is authoritarian and patriarchal, condones discrimination against Palestinians living in south Lebanon, broadcasts hate propaganda on its satellite TV network, and has been accused by Human Rights Watch and other human rights NGOs of launching rocket attacks on civilians and other war crimes. In recent days, it has pushed Lebanon into political crisis as part of a strategy to prevent its members from being officially accused by UN investigators of murdering former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and 21 others.

Yet in October 2007, McGill’s Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) spent student money to host a public talk on Canada’s anti-terrorism laws at which one speaker downplayed Hezbollah’s commission of war crimes, and justified its militarization of south Lebanon. Each year QPIRG gives student money to Tadamon!, a group that opposes restrictions limiting Hezbollah’s ability to raise money in Canada for its activities abroad.

How, then, is it that QPIRG and its supporters claim they are pro-

gressive advocates for social justice?

What is left wing about advocating for an armed militia that murders civilians?

The answer is simply that Hezbollah’s principal enemies are Israel and the United States. Many people on university campuses have come to embrace an ideology that defines opposition to Zionism, America, and liberal-democratic institutions as the essence of what it means to be progressive. So long as a political movement has a suitably anti-Western bent, any crimes that it commits can be forgiven on the basis that Western hegemony is the root cause of anything bad that happens in the world. Anyone who doubts this line of thought is dismissed as being a shill for the capitalist elite, or the victim of brainwashing by corporatecontrolled popular culture. Witness, for example, QPIRG’s recent efforts to portray student opt-outs as the result of the plots of sinister capitalists.

This is not progressive thinking. It is conspiracy theory of the kind more suitable for late-night right-wing talk radio. It precisely mirrors George W. Bush’s division of the world into those who are “with us” and those who are not. Yet this confused ideology is passed off as the “anti-oppression” analysis applied by QPIRG and its affiliates to the funding decisions

they take.

A real danger of this kind of thinking is that it translates concerns about Israeli or American policies into sympathy or support for groups that are anything but progressive. Absent its hatred for Israel and America, there is no way that an armed religious movement in

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

the pay and thrall of Iran’s authoritarian and theocratic government would ever be considered an ally of the oppressed. Yet as long as a political movement is anti-Zionist, its human rights record will not get much scrutiny from campus activists. The result is that the plight of those victimized and oppressed by

QPIRG: A public institution

The university’s mission should not be dictated by private interest alone Trevor Chow-Fraser Hyde Park

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n the past few years, a collection of campus conservatives has been campaigning against the Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG McGill, or just QPIRG in shorthand). Their techniques are crass, pushing students to trade their fee levy for beer or pizza. In spirit, their campaign is selfish and regressive.

There’s not much else to say about them. Nevertheless, their activities do present a space for discussing an important question: what kind of work should students make the university do in today’s society? Aside from our student unions, QPIRG was the first student-run organization to collect fees directly from students.

Its research and advocacy work are an original and small but essential part of what McGill accomplishes in the world. What exactly is the nature of this accomplishment?

Why do campus conservatives abhor the sort of university that QPIRG is building?

They take issue with QPIRG’s

public interest mandate. They misunderstand, perhaps intentionally, what it means to act as a public institution. To get a proper sense of “public” as used by QPIRG, I find it useful to think of other public institutions – let us consider, therefore, the public broadcaster.

What makes a public broadcaster (CBC, BBC, NPR, et cetera) different from a private broadcaster? In Canada, we look to public broadcasters to present stories and news that private networks overlook. We don’t expect private networks to take hard, critical looks at the governments and corporations they rely on for advertising dollars. We are not naive about the business world and its inherently corrosive influence on journalistic ethics.

To counter this problem, we have established public broadcasters. We have blessed them with stable funding. We have insulated them from political influence. And most crucially, we hold them to a public mandate: to always value public over private interests.

The CBC, for instance, is mandated to inform, enlighten, and entertain. It must do so while giving

special consideration to Canada’s regions, to French and English minorities, and to our multicultural and multiracial nature. What a telling articulation of the public interest! For the CBC, the public interest is not served by a merely general, widely-shared sort of enlightenment. Instead, we are told, the public interest is best served when the perspectives and concerns of underprivileged communities are actively inserted into the mainstream.

This vision is highly compatible with QPIRG’s. Three decades ago, McGill students decided through a university-wide referendum to establish QPIRG as a kind of public institution: an arm’s-length organization with stable funding and democratic oversight. QPIRG was mandated to utilize the resources of our large, relatively conservative university to serve the public interest. It does so by bringing underprivileged communities and perspectives to the mainstream of campus scholarship and culture.

Our university, like the broadcasting system, is built and financed by the government.

Private interests make use of the

university – and that’s okay. Many students think of their degree merely as a stepping stone to a comfortable job in middle management. Many academics and companies take research born in the university and bring it to market – whether we’re talking about publishing textbooks or selling inventions. These private interests are not necessarily bad – sometimes quite the contrary.

But we cannot allow private interest to dominate and direct the university. Our degree must not be an expensive ticket to a cushy lifestyle. Our professional scholarship must avoid narcissism and irrelevance. If the university as a whole, after weighing and balancing each of our individual endeavours, does not serve the public interest, then we are all negligent.

Funding QPIRG McGill is one crucial step that students have made to ensure that our university serves society – by serving the underprivileged voices in our midst.

Trevor Chow-Fraser was on QPIRG McGill’s Board of Directors from 2004 to 2008. He can be reached at trevor.fraser@mail.mcgill.ca.

groups like Hezbollah is ignored by groups like QPIRG, who should be speaking out on their behalf.

Another problem with the conspiracy model of politics is that it can result in discrimination and harassment on university campuses. On the basis of this ideology, groups supporting progressive causes can be marginalized and denied funding simply for believing that Israel has the right to exist. In 2008, for example, the PIRG at the University of Ottawa refused to sponsor a visit by a Ugandan education and sustainable development activist because the Jewish group that invited her was perceived to be sympathetic to Israel. That isn’t social justice.

That’s just bigotry.

For too long, QPIRG leaders have been guided by an ideology that induces campus activists into supporting anti-progressive causes. Until we hear from them a full-throated commitment to the right of everyone to live in freedom, equality and peace – Israelis and Americans included – they are not entitled to carry the flag of social justice activism and are not entitled to your money.

Opt out now.

Michael Hunziker is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Law. He can be reached at mike.hunziker@ gmail.com.

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Submit your photography, paintings, drawings, and anything else you have to

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10 Features

Family Histories

Untitled, oil on canvas, courtesy of George Wilson

My Avant-Grandfather

by Naomi Endicott

M

y granddad George Wilson grew up in a rented council house in 1930s Jarrow. This impoverished part of northeastern England was an industrial hub of shipbuilding, an industry that employed about eighty per cent of the town’s population – most of whom left school at 14 to work. But as the son of a railway clerk, he had brighter prospects. The first person in his family, along with his twin sister Joan, to go into post-secondary education, he continued to art college.

His father had left school at 14, as did everyone at the time unless they could afford to pay to go on to grammar school. But eventually he landed at the rail yards. “My father thought he had a wonderful job,” my granddad says.

“He said he was enormously lucky because he had a job for life. And he was quite happy just to stay in that job, there was no competition, no applying for jobs. … Whereas if you were in the shipyards in those days, or building, as soon as the ship was launched you were out of a job. … You had no permanence, no surety; it was a very tricky thing.”

This all-or-nothing career was still the main option facing young people in my grandfather’s day, forty years later. For him, the difference between going into the shipyards or going into the railway was decided by a now-legendary exam: the 11+. If you passed, you stayed in school until 18. If you failed,

you stayed in school until 14 – not doing very much in the meantime, by my granddad’s account – and then you went to work. “I remember going to school, and when I came home for lunch I could pass people who had been in the junior school with me who were black from head to foot working in the shipyards at 14 and 15 years old,” my granddad remembers.

When the Jarrow shipyard closed in 1934, unemployment plunged the area into depression. The response was one of the landmark labour movements of the 20th century. The Jarrow March of 1936 is still remembered today as being remarkable not only for its scale – 200 marchers walked almost 300 miles to Westminster – but its lack of significant impact. Unemployment remained high until, and even after, the renovation of industry brought a ship-breaking yard and engineering works in 1938, and the protesters returned on the train, using the £1, which was all they were given for their efforts.

Art was the only thing that mattered for my granddad, but he has unable to practice it at school. His first exhibition, at age ten, was at a local agricultural fair – called a Leek Show because of the North East’s specialty: huge leeks. His painting was crammed in among the pastries and the jams and the cabbages.

The Second World War, which broke out when he was nine years old – meant that when the previous art teacher retired, he was never replaced.

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

No one was unaffected by the war. But when my grandparents talk about it, they don’t have much to say because it became their daily lives, imbued with an banality that seems unbelievable today. Why do they not clam up with horror at the memories? No one in my family died, was bombed or evacuated far from their family, or fought in the front lines. Listening to their memories, I get the impression that my grandparents grew up with an awareness that they were at war, but at the same time, that was just how life was.

My granddad’s school was taken over for “the war effort,” and my granddad was evacuated to his grandmother’s for a couple of years to escape the bombings that faced most of Britain’s built up residential areas. With his father being called up for the Royal Navy, my granddad’s mother was too lonely at home, and so he and his sister returned home, attending school for the half-day a week that was available to them.

My granny also felt the effects on her education, but that was about all that was affected. She was five at the time, and homeschooled. “Granny had a lovely war,” she says.

“I stayed in Alnwick with granny and granddad. Granddad was invalided out of the First World War, he was a stretcher-bearer.”

When my granddad later continued to grammar school, after the 11+, “an awful irascible old headmaster” made him take an extra year. My granddad pinpoints this instant specifically as “one of those great quirks of fate.” It was while he was doing his extra year at school that he met my granny – “If he hadn’t come to the grammar school, to re-sit his O-levels, you might not be here!”

“Oh that’s right, I met little Beatrice Humble,” she says. “Do you know, she was only four-foot-two. Tiny little thing she was.”

Their banter is wonderful to watch, makes me long to be back in their big suburban-village house, the wall-to-wall carpets and bacon sandwiches and entering through the back door because the front is saved for formal guests and the postman. “Every year they took a full photograph of the whole school and when I was in the third year I was sat at the front with the first years,” my granny continues.

“Cross-legged, at the front, because she was only two-foot-three.”

“No, four-foot-two!” No one in my family – on either side; my parents both came from families of late bloomers – is allowed to forget the heights of various members during their teenage years. My mother was in children’s shoes until she was 14, I have grown two inches in seven years, and my father was three inches shorter than his younger sister at 15.

This extra year not only served to ensure my own birth, but brought my granddad so close to the mandatory age for conscription that he put off his entry into art college. Even though the war ended when he was 15, conscription continued until 1960. After completing his service in the airforce – during which he never actually got off the ground – he followed his father into being a railway clerk.

“He was hopeless at it!” my granny points out.

The stationmaster declared him “a disgrace,” and it was then that he finally decided the only recourse was art college.

My granddad went to art college in Sunderland. A working-class boy from an impoverished corner of the northeast going to art college was an unusual thing. His mother was originally against his ambition, fearing that all painters were drunkards. (She herself had left school at 14 to work at a local build-

ing company, where all the painters – presumably, because of their exposure to turpentine – turned to drink.) Nevertheless, it was she who went to the art college in Sunderland and asked about applying. “My mother instigated it,” he says, “because she realized I couldn’t do anything else. And I think everybody thought that.”

Because of his teacher at Sunderland, Harry Thubron, he managed to get into the Royal College of Art in London. Thubron revolutionized post-secondary art education, shifting its focus to the general study of colour and space, rather than specific skills. From his teaching, the Foundation Course evolved.

This is still the standard qualification required for studying art, design, and architecture in the UK, and many of my high school friends went on to do it after graduating.

Under Thubron’s tutelage, my granddad also won a competition held by the Daily Express newspaper. The painting was bought

by Lord Beaverbrook, who put it in his gallery in New Brunswick. And as a result of this competition, he won a travelling scholarship, took a break from the Royal College – which he admits he “shouldn’t have done,” but was again pushed into it by Thubron – and lived in Venice for a year.

During this year, in 1955, he didn’t learn a word of Italian. But he made a lasting friendship at a trattoria in the tiny and obscure Campo San Toma, which proved useful when I visited Venice almost fifty years later with my mother and brother, as the overjoyed owner plied us with bread. He later used the leftover scholarship money to take his wife there for their honeymoon.

As an art student, my granddad’s education had revolved around the use of the life model. He spoke at length about the influence of the Greeks on Western civilization through their art. “Greek sculpture was unlike anything else. It drove you to movement.

Egyptian sculpture, Mesopotamian, Sumerian, you name it – you fell down in front of it, it was massive, absolutely awe-inspiring. Greek sculpture wasn’t, Greek sculpture was mansized and it was dynamic, and you wanted to walk round the back of it, you wanted to dance with it! It’s marvelous, Greek sculpture, when you see the final high point of Greek sculpture, it’s absolutely lifelike, naturalistic.”

Once employing three nude models, Sunderland – and most other art colleges – no longer employs any. With the collapse of the life model came the collapse, says my granddad, of figurative art. Art students became individualistic creatures, and art became about the psychology of the individual. The individuals who would go on to form the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, all went to art college. That they all evolved into performing artists was no coincidence – they were part of a movement whose purpose was to blur the lines between art and performance. “They just wanted to perform,” my granddad points out. “The artist became more important than the art he produced in many ways. … The Andy Warhols, the Damien Hirsts, are stars in their own right – they just make objects that become sensational, you know. But a lot of it is ‘roll up, roll up, come and see the fat lady.’”

My granddad taught at art school after coming out of college, entering the world of teaching just as that role was losing its impact on those taught. “Slowly but surely there were students doing this sort of thing that really didn’t want any connections with life drawing at all, and the model and this sort of thing,” he

remembers. “They would bring things in that they found on a scrapheap and put them all together and give it a name, just stick things together and hope that it would be greater than the sum of these parts eventually.”

As an art teacher, my granddad found it hard to adapt to these attitudes and perceptions of art. He says it became very difficult to teach art history – to teach principles and ideas and foundations that were readily rejected.

Instead, rejecting teaching studio art entirely, he taught a history of ideas – what is non-figurative art about, what is Impressionism about: the painting of ideas rather than action. Brought up to believe that art was naturalistic, a straightforward explanation of history and culture, teaching studio art became difficult.

“And ever since then,” he continues, “my job as a painter has been to find a language, a way of producing paintings that try and make some sense of that collapse of tradition, of figuration.” Growing up, I only saw a certain style of his artwork – ruined castles nestling in grassy sand dunes, summer afternoon cricket scenes, little cartoon birthday cards stuck to the mantelpiece. But these, he says, he painted to make money. He says he no longer paints figuratively. “It’s not what I paint because I have ideas, you see. If you saw the ideas things, now they’re not figurative anymore. Now there’s a reason why they’re not figurative anymore and this is the difference. … Why don’t they have any life models anymore? Largely because if you’ve heard of the Enlightenment, you’ve heard of revolutions: political, social – it changed the way society regarded history and the past. We ditched things, got rid of things, revolted against all sort of things – kings, we cut kings’ heads off, and things like that. Now what does it leave you with if you ditch history? You ditch figuration.”

The study of art has been the driving force behind my granddad ever since he can remember, and the circumstances surrounding his becoming an artist are a remarkable example of coincidence. “My father never thought, never imagined he would make any progress,” my granddad tells me. “Now, I was probably one of those people who said, ‘oh no, I think I can do better than that.’ I could have been a railway clerk! I hadn’t had any ambition and if my mother hadn’t had any ambition I probably would have been.” He broke out of the social hierarchy ingrained in his upbringing (he was once chastised by a great-aunt for daring to have a conversation with the vicar) and travelled the world.

But to keep this in context, the beginning of his post-secondary education was representative of a growing trend. More people were staying in school, could afford to stay in school. Whereas his parents left at 14 because they didn’t have the money for grammar school, the only requirement for him to keep going was a basic knowledge of math and English. Despite being a “late bloomer,” he had the opportunity to bloom, and the hourlong treatise he gave me on his theory of art was the result.

My granny comes back into the room to say goodbye. “I bet you’re bamboozled!” she says. “It would have been a much simpler thing to ask granny about what she did in the war. She had a much simpler life.”

“Gathering mushrooms!” my granddad laughs.

“I had a lovely war, Naomi.”

“Gathering mushrooms.”

11

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Health&Education

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

13

No is no, yes is no

How can our conceptions of sexual consent be more nuanced?

Critical Condition Debbie Wang

debbie.wang@mcgilldaily.com

C

onsent – a word every rez student is familiar with, thanks to the “Safe Space“ workshops our floor-fellows prodded and persuaded us into attending during that first orientation week at McGill.

We grudgingly stopped whatever we were doing for a mandatory twohour long chat with strangers about topics that, while we acknowledged were important, weren’t on our list of “fun things to talk about this evening.” But, ever so obedient and respectful, fresh-faced, eager first years delved into the world of transgender issues, respect, and sexual consent. And consent, it turns out, is never implied. It must be stated verbatim (i.e. “yes”) for the sexual

act to be considered consensual under Canadian law.

Such defined conditions are why the ongoing debate over preconsenting to sex is drawing so much controversy in Canadian courts. According to a recent CBC news story, the case of an Ottawa woman consenting to sex prior to being voluntarily choked unconscious has escalated to the Supreme Court of Canada. While this may on the surface appear to be an isolated, abnormal incident, the true implication is the notion that you can say “yes” to sex in the future, and that sexual acts committed at a future date can be guaranteed consensual.

Of course, any eventual decision made in favour of sexual preconsent would have to be accompanied by strict conditions, lest this be a window of opportunity for sexual assault. But consider the situation of elderly couples, where

one spouse may be mentally incapacitated through any one of a myriad of age-related cognitive diseases. Could a long-time husband continue to have sex with his wife with Alzheimer’s, who may not even recognize him?

According to Isabel Grant, a law professor at the University of British Columbia, consent is “do you want to have sex this time with this person? And we can’t imply that from the fact that you’ve had sex with him before.”

Geriatric centres across the nation contend daily with the fine balance between emotionally healthy intimacy and sexual acts that might cause distress in a resident. Individuals with dementia, according to Mary Schulz, director of education for the Alzheimer Society of Canada, have a “need for intimacy, including sexual intimacy, [that] doesn’t change with age or the onset of dementia.” The

challenge, thus, is in differentiating between desired and forced intimacy, which likely would need to be determined on a case-by-case basis by staff sensitive to minute, indicative changes of behaviour in residents.

If we can sexually pre-consent, can we also refuse in advance?

Under the influence of certain mind-altering substances, many young adults become sexually promiscuous, and wake up regretfully the next day to the consequences of their drunken escapades.

Should one be allowed to say no ahead of time, essentially deferring responsibility and imparting it on the other person, who’s then forced to ensure abstinence? The concept may seem preposterous, as we are interminably responsible for the decisions we make at every moment in time. But is there merit in the argument that if it possible for us to be unable to say no, once

we’ve pre-consented, we should be unable to say yes as well?

In the upcoming months, the Supreme Court will be making its decision regarding the case of the Ottawa woman who pre-consented to sex, simultaneously setting a precedent for all other pre-consent cases that follow suit. Despite what the official laws assert individuals will always hold personal beliefs regarding such sensitive matters.

For a certain Ontario man in his seventies, who asked his name not to be used, sex with his wife with late stage Alzheimer’s was never an option.

“I thought if I was to do that, it would be like raping somebody.

And I could not rape my wife.”

Critical Condition is Debbie Wang’s new Health&Ed column. Every other week, she’ll write about issues of mainstream and student health.

Testing the eco-experiment Melanie Kim

Health&Education Writer

F

requent usage of pipette tips, regular shipments of quotidian laboratory products, numerous trials with non eco-friendly reagents – these are all environmental issues to be tackled, but which do not necessarily pertain to the general public.

Addressing such specific issues is the role of the Pharmacology Green Committee (PGC), a Department of Pharmacology and Therapeuticsbased council of McGill graduate students and staff within the department. The committee’s goals include decreasing the amount of waste produced by labs, encouraging ecofriendly behaviour, and making the Pharmacology and Therapeutics department more “green” in its own science-savvy way.

The PGC has undertaken important projects such as providing recycling bins for plastic and paper in every lab, replacing Styrofoam cups with ceramic mugs for weekly guest speaker presentations, and putting up posters elucidating which lab products can be recycled.

“The most common theme [regarding pharmacological research] is that people tend not to know what’s better [environmentally],” explained Sebastian Boridy, PhD IV student in pharmacology and therepeutics, and co-chair of

PGC. “As a committee we’re trying to emphasize the impact our dayto-day activities in the lab are having and give options. Because for humans, if they know there’s a better option, they’ll use it.”

In order to provide more avenues for busy students and staff to engage in eco-friendly behaviour, the PGC has set further goals for 2011.

One goal is to promote the purchase of environmentally-friendly products. For those who aren’t necessarily willing to pay more, the committee is trying to raise enough money to be able to cover the difference in cost, compared to products that are cheaper and less eco-friendly. These products span from things as simple as hand-soap to chemical solvents.

The committee has also looked into replacing certain reagents in the protocol - substituting certain chemicals with others that are greener and produce the same end result as far as the experiment goes. In fact, several people in the committee have been carrying out these tests and generating results.

For instance, ethanol can be used instead of methanol for the Western Blot technique, which is used frequently in labs to detect specific proteins in a given tissue.

“We’re all scientists,” said Tina Scardochio, co-chair of PGC and PhD III in Pharmacology and Therapeutics, “So we’re trying to

approach it in a way in which others will understand and believe.

We’re coming at it from a very science perspective. We have proof, we’ve ran the experiments, you can replace this with this, for example.”

A long-term goal is to consolidate orders from a given company amongst laboratories in the department. Products shipped to labs usually come in plastic #6 boxes, which are non-recyclable in Quebec, and are then further packaged in more boxes, including one made of foam. The committee hopes that by improving communication between different labs, and possibly setting up an online site that people can easily access, orders can be consolidated. As a result, there will be less shipping, less packaging, and less waste.

The committee also hopes to remove the negative associations with these changes and make them easier.

“Basically, we want to be effective,” said Scardochio. “We have a specialized, unique focus because here, in the science department and labs essentially - you have different concerns than the general public, and I don’t think those needs are necessarily catered to by any green committee that I know of at McGill.

So we’re trying to create a trend so that other departments will set up similar committees and then join forces to have bigger impact.”

Esma Balkir with Sheehan Moore | The McGill Daily

A new McGill committee aims to turn laboratories green

14Health&Education

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

Getting sauced

Diversified discussion The “Equity and Media” conference plans to show undergraduate research

Tomato sauce’s wondrous adaptability

Maria Surilas

Health&Education Writer

O

Victor Tangermann | The McGill Daily

Dine with Dash Thomas Dashwood dinewithdash@mcgilldaily.com

K

nowing how to make a simple tomato sauce is crucial for one’s pasta recipe repertoire. I personally will go out of my way to make a huge batch of pasta (especially the eggplant recipe below) just so I

can eat it cold for a few days (I hope I am not alone when I say cold pasta is one of my favourite things to eat). The basic recipe is a perfect standalone with any pasta, but is incredibly versatile and, most importantly, satisfying.

Indispensable Tomato Sauce Ingredients: Olive oil 1 medium onion, diced 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely or grated One large can of tomatoes (whole, diced, or crushed), or one large bottle of passata (blended Italian tomatoes)

Directions: In a large pot, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat for a minute or two Add the onion, and sweat (that is, cook slowly, without browning) for about five minutes Add the garlic to the onion and cook for 30 seconds only Add the tomatoes (if whole, crush them to a pulp with your hands, one at a time, before adding), and then add about half a can’s worth of water Bring to a boil and then cook for at least fifteen minutes over low heat, adding more water if it seems to be getting excessively thick Makes: Enough for most standard recipes.

Variations:

•

• •

Eggplant sauce: This is one of my favourite sauces to go with pastas like spaghetti. Dice half of a medium eggplant and cook with the onions in plenty of olive oil (about a quarter cup). Extend this frying time until the eggplant is soft and turning golden. Continue with the rest of the recipe normally.

Bolognese: before cooking the onions, brown about 500g of ground beef. Drain some of the fat, remove to a plate, and then cook the onion as per usual. Add the beef back after adding the garlic. Extend the cooking time of the sauce to about half an hour and add a bay leaf or two. If you can, use red wine instead of water.

Meatless Bolognese, courtesy of my roommate: After you have added the tomato, add a full can of water instead of half and then add either a cup of quinoa, a grated or finely chopped block of tofu, or a mixture of the two. This works well with canned lentils, chickpeas, or cannellini beans.

Other Suggestions:

• •

Add any of the following after the onions cook for a while: big chunks of red pepper, sliced chillies, red pepper flakes, mushrooms, bacon (pancetta or prosciutto would be even better), sausage, chicken, or a can of tomato paste (for extra richness).

Add any of the following in the last five minutes of cooking: olives, tuna, mussels (cook until they all open, which may be up to ten minutes, and do not eat any unopened ones), artichokes, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, fresh basil or parsley, roasted garlic, cooked meatballs, grilled vegetables, sautéed prawns or shrimp, chunks of white fish (cook for about ten minutes) or ¼ cup of cream with a few glugs of vodka or wine.

n March 25 and 26, the SSMU Equity Committee will host the “Equity and Media” conference, the first of its kind at McGill. A two-part project, the conference’s first day consists of a panel discussion on modern Islamaphobia in North American media. Following the panel discussion, the second day of the conference will feature the research of undergraduate students concerning topics of “Equity and Media,” a unique opportunity at McGill.

The idea was first conceived

by Brendan Shanahan, U3 History student and chairperson of the conference’s subcommittee, in collaboration with the SSMU Equity Committee. In an interview with The Daily, Shanahan mentioned that previous to “Equity and Media,” he had never been involved with issues of equity before this year. However, with his academic interest in history he decided to plan a conference where undergraduates could share their ideas and research instead of simply writing about them for class.

Shanahan described equity as “the breaking down of conceptions of the Other.” To facilitate the dialogue, the second day of the conference is loosely divided into a few sub-themes: social media and social movements, equity, media and concepts of the body, and the media and civil rights.

SSMU Equity Commissioner and U4 Political Science student Emily Clare told The Daily “The point of the conference is to mainstream equity into academia and to see that everyone can participate in the dialogue of equity.”

According to the conference’s press release, student paper top-

ics can vary greatly and can examine the use of media and race, ethnicity, religion, gender, class, sexuality, disabilities, First Nations relations, and the environment.

However both Shanahan and Clare agree that there is no ideal paper. The conference aims to be as open as possible, enabling submissions to craft the conference rather than letting the conference dictate the nature of the submissions.

The conference is partly a reaction to false and destructive information provided by media outlets.

“When I look at the American media I see a system where there is no productive debate, there is no productive forum. One side has established talking points and they talk amongst people who are already of their persuasion,” Shanahan explained.

“Equity and Media” will reach out to students who may not have previously considered themselves active in the dialogue surrounding equity. Clare added that, “we can change the formula of a general conference…because sometimes conferences can be alienating for people who don’t know too much about the subject or [who] may not have the academic vernacular to participate.” Shanahan explained, “It’s really an event for everyone. ...It is in the spirit of McGill to promote tolerance, anti-oppression ,and the idea of equality.”

Shanahan and Clare both hope that the conference will continue into the future. Clare explained that, “the mantra that we are going with throughout the whole entire committee is that we want what we are doing now to continue.”

“Equity and Media” is being held March 25 and 26 at the Thomson House, and submissions are due Feburary 1. Go to ssmu.mcgill.ca/ about/ssmu-equity for more information.

L’art pour le Daily Submit to The Daily’s Art Issue Send your art to art@mcgilldaily.com by midnight this Saturday.

Culture

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

15

The pursuit of truth Cinémathèque series looks at the journalist through cinema’s lens Sarah Mortimer

The McGill Daily

J

ournalists are rarely the stars of their own stories. Tucked behind stacks of documents in the backs of editing rooms, or hidden behind cameras in the midst of the action, the journalist is a sort of public apparition, a figure we often know only by their byline. In its obsession with this mysterious figure, Hollywood has offered up various hypotheses over the years about the journalist’s persona.

Most often, it has portrayed the journalist as a citizen hero who bravely risks everything in the pursuit of truth, and is rewarded for their courage with the prestige of exposing the next Watergate. In reality, however, coming across such revelations in one’s journalism career is a rare event. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward may have struck it lucky by uncovering Watergate in the 1970s, but neither of them ever found another story of such importance in their careers.

Given its tendencies to distort or exaggerate, then, cinema might seem like a controversial place to start understanding journalists.

However, with the guidance of Le Devoir film critic Andre Lavoie, gleaning a deeper understanding of journalists from the film reel might just be possible.

This month, Cinémathèque québécoise will host “Images du Journaliste” – a film series organized by Lavoie that aims to give a more nuanced portrait of the elusive figure of the journalist. The series comprises 12 films, mostly from

American directors. Highlighting the diverse aspects of the journalist’s professional and personal life – from the difficulty of reporting on something that is politically controversial (All the President’s Men) to the personal temptation journalists sometimes face to forge seductive details in their articles (Shattered Glass) – it will also include presentations from various film critics of the Canadian media.

“I tried to present an accurate vision of how it is to be a journalist,” Lavoie told The Daily of the series. “I want people not only to see heroes but human beings that are involved in moral dilemmas and ethical problems.” In achieving this end, Lavoie’s line up is certainly successful. While films like All the President’s Men and State of Play reiterate familiar stereotypes of the journalist as the lone truth seeker, many others challenge and diversify this image. George Cukor’s Philadelphia Story (1940), for example, which screened this past Saturday, offers a kitschy and heart-warming glimpse of the journalist fumbling on the job as he falls in love with his subject. In the film, tabloid reporter Mike Connor (James Stewart) goes undercover to report on the wedding of wealthy mainline Philadelphia socialite, Tracy Samantha Lord Haven (Katherine Hepburn), and subsequently becomes enmeshed in a comic love quadrangle between Tracy, her fiancé, and her ex-husband. The film ends with Tracy rejecting a marriage proposal from Mike after she has broken off her engagement to her fiancé – leaving Mike with a story that’s full of juicy tabloid twists but marred by personal heartache.

Amina Batyreva for The McGill Daily

Other films in the series showcase similar intersections between one’s profession and one’s heart: a reporter becomes emotionally invested in a community he once barely knew in Robert Morrin’s Windigo, and an amateur music journalist struggles to balance glamourous friendships with pressing deadlines in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. Viewed in its entirety, the series offers an assess-

ment of journalists which seems bluntly balanced: sometimes journalists are good at their job and sometimes they fuck up.

Lavoie’s enterprise is undoubtably a laudable and much needed attempt to dispel misleading stereotypes, and anyone thinking about embarking on a career in journalism would do well pay attention. Lavoie warns, “If you see the reality of jour-

nalists with only All the President’s Men as a guide and become a journalist, you will be disappointed by the reality”; these films will help you move beyond the common cliches.

meaning is lost amongst its overflow of elements. Much like the many twenty-somethings at the wine table, Femme Panier looked like it belonged in an Urban Outfitters store window with the angular pose of an American Apparel model. Only this vintage piece sells for $20,000.

Featured in “The Bunker” (the basement) of Parisian Laundry, Susi Brister’s show “Menagerie” is the Austin based photographer’s first solo exhibition. Described by the press release as “blurring the line between nature and humans,” Brister’s work explores the dichotomy between man and animal by photographing figures draped in furs or sheepskin blankets.

Extremely charming, D and Blonde Bear in Grass features a small white bear cub. That is, until one takes a closer look, revealing

a child in a white blanket sitting on the autumn ground. Similar to that of Blass, the artwork is fun, yet superficial. Where Blass attempts too many meanings, Brister’s work only has one. To see one of her photographs is to have seen them all.

As the director of Parisian Laundry Jeanie Riddle recently said in an interview with La Presse, the show is “the Planet of the Apes meets fairy tales and abstract language.” I do like fairy tales, and at least the original sixties version of Planet of the Apes was cool, but it is precisely this “abstract language” that makes modern art so inaccessible at times.

Images du Journaliste runs until January 29 at Cinémathèque québècoise, 335 Maisonneuve E. See cinematheque.qc.ca for listings and more information.

Fairytale abstraction Parisian Laundry’s latest offering is fun, but with little substance The McGill Daily

T

he art gallery Parisian Laundry began the new year with work from mixed-media artist Valerie Blass and photographer Susi Brister. A recent addition to the Museé d’art contemporain Museum of Contemporary Art, Blass’s new piece Femme Panier sparked lots of conversation amongst the curious onlookers. Many dissected the various facets of the mannequinlike sculpture, often with the humdrum conclusion of “Mmmhmm… well it really just speaks to me.” Speaks to me, speaks to me, speaks to me.

“Speaks what, exactly?” remained my unanswered question.

Having covered art exhibitions in the past, specifically at Parisian Laundry, my experience generally

goes something like this: Step one: I glance at the first piece of art, then at the intimidating, funky Montreal art crowd around me and immediately believe I don’t understand the art nor am I qualified to be there.

Step two: I take a deep breath, or possibly a sip of the free vernissage wine, and do my journalism thing.

Unfortunately this time around, I never quite made it to step two.

Blass’s show “Petit Losange Laqué Veiné” (Lacquered, Veined Small Lozenge) consists of 16 personal works, three of which were created in 2011. In Femme Panier she uses found objects, from either thrift stores or the urban setting, juxtaposing tacky seventies shirts onto mannequins with hands painted as skulls. The result is incredibly fun to look at, sexy in a fierce sort of way as the mannequin’s fish-

nets tightly stretch over her bent body. With only a basket as a torso, the compilation of many parts of Femme Panier work together for a very unique effect, but one specific Naomi Endicott | The McGill Daily

Christina Colizza

$20,000?

Valerie Blass and Susie Brister are at Parisian Laundry, 3550 St Antoine O., Metro Lionel-Groulx until February 19. Entry free.

16Culture

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

Synagogue snacks New cafe opens in Ghetto Shul, offering budget food and board games

Vera Khramova for The McGill Daily

milk for your coffee. Nonetheless, the food is damn tasty. Using fresh ingredients, the cafe’s menu changes every day, offering a different soup, salad, or dish each time you visit. And then there are their staples, such as vegan pizza, all day breakfast, and sandwiches. I ordered the dish of the day, which

Left Hanging A fish hangs from a branch in front of McConnell Engineering Photo: David Huehn

included lentil soup, homemade veggie burger patties, stewed chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and a small salad for only $6. My friend ordered the hummus salad, which came fully loaded with peppers and pickles on a homemade bun, also with soup and salad, also for a mere $6.

The meals were both tasty and

Campus Eye

satisfying and needless to say I was full well before I could rise to the Beggar’s Banquet $10 spending limit. Next time I should just load up on cookies to go.

Ghetto Shul cafe is located at 3458 Parc. Open from 12 p.m. top 7 p.m.

Monday to Thursday.

art@mcgilldaily.com

Winer pointed out that the cafe is also environmentally conscious – very little is thrown to waste, and they make avid use of recycling and composting. At such a short walk from campus, Ghetto Shul Cafe is sure to satisfy the hungry and overworked student with only a few dollars to their name.

Along with the usual cafe fare of coffee, tea, and baked goods, Ghetto Shul Cafe offers a fair number of food items that are simple, fresh, and homemade. It should be stated from the start that Ghetto Shul offers only vegetarian and vegan options – you won’t even find

OR ART TURNS INTO A PUMPKIN

L

ook out, Second Cup and Presse Cafe: there’s a new cafe on the block. Ten years after its inception, Ghetto Shul, a grassroots, student-run synagogue in the McGill ghetto, is opening its doors to a wider clientele in the form of a casual cafe. Montrealers, whether they are practising Jews or not, can enjoy a cup of coffee or a healthy meal for an extremely low cost.

Adam Winer, one of the Ghetto Shul’s Jam-Night coordinators, and a Daily staffer, brought the idea of opening a cafe to spiritual leaders Dena and Leibish Hundert, who were initially apprehensive about turning a spiritual, community space into a commercial enterprise.

Rather than seeking to corporatize the Ghetto Shul, Winer instead sought to extend the space’s hours, which was previously open for only a few days a week. With the cafe, Ghetto Shul is now open throughout the week, offering a space for students and members of the community to socialize, relax, or study – the cafe comes fully equipped with free wi-fi. As Winer describes, “We want our cafe to be a cheap and relaxed alternative to other cafes in the neighbourhood. Above all, it is a space to hang out, recalling the beatnik coffeehouses of the past.”

ART ISSUE SUBMISSIONS DUE JANUARY 22 AT MIDNIGHT

The McGill Daily

The atmosphere is certainly warm for a space used previously for concerts. As a large, open room, the Ghetto Shul Cafe feels and looks different from most cafes. Littered with tables, couches, and even a piano, the space feels more like a university residence’s common room than a “traditional,” formal cafe. Recreation and leisure seem to be key features of the space, which holds occasional concerts and jam sessions. You can even find a number of board games to play.

Carly Shenfeld | The McGill Daily

John Watson

Photo Essay

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

17

CKUT Thursday {a}live

Gabriel Ellison-Scowcroft

Compendium!

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldailly.com

Lies, half-truths, and bumble crumble

Gabrielle Giffords can walk (with help)!

Inside Job

O

kay, so I just saw this movie Inside Job. Have you seen it? What the fuck is wrong with the world? At first, I thought they were all stupid. Then I realized that they are all fucking brilliant. Revolving doors: from the finance industry to government, from both to academia, and back again. You have the people making money off unregulated financial transactions writing the policies; the same people, paid by their colleagues, write “academic” papers that purport to offer evidence in favour of deregulation. Everyone gets paid millions, billions. Everyone except... nonstraight-white-males. FUUUUUUUUUUCK THAT. (See the movie though.)

Fuck this! is an occasional anonymous rant column. Send your rants to fuckthis@mcgilldaily.com.

SEND US SOME JOKES OR COMIXXX OR FUCKS THESE OR FUCKS YEAH OR QUALITY OF LIFE INDICES please. compendium@ mcgilldaily. com

18

PLUS 50

Tunisian people rise up!!

PLUS 200

SSSSSSSSSSMU president Zach Newburgh wants to get rid of direct democracy

MINUS 50

His replacement? Non-binding blah blah

MINUS 50

It’s pretty bright out, tho’ still pretty cold

EVEN

Did you know there’s a super cool zine stand every Wednesday at MK? I didn’t!

PLUS 25

Democracy Now! on Monday reminded me of how awesome MLK Jr. was

PLUS 50

Feeling increasingly disconnected from campus news; need help describing quality of life

MINUS 1 PLUS 224

TOTAL

MINUS 325

LAST WEEK’S TOTAL Help me be accurate: compendium@mcgilldaily.com.

ART COMMENTARY

two fifty-word stories

I

’m cleaning.” She galloped away from me, but came back immediately. She forgot that she hates to be alone. Still on my knees, ammonia rising into my eyes, my nose twitched. So did hers. I navigated around the fridge, noticed her gone, found her, asleep. The floor was still wet.

—Naomi Endicott

The artist’s use of arbitrary colour adds a modern glow to a timeless image. She has stretched the boundaries of the limitations that accompany a lone black marker as shown through her use of the fast, messy – yet purposeful – shading of the heart. What remains truly unique about this piece is its use of space on the backdrop in an unconventional location just left of the toilet paper dispenser, clearly aiming to forge the art world in a new direction.

—Bryanne Leeming

ALSO FUCK THIS

“Ugly Heart Flower” Anonymous c. 2010 Sharpie on bathroom stall 29 in x 9.5in (73.7cm x 23cm) Leacock Basement Washroom (next to Subway) Stall 5.

Montreal, QC.

I

’m cleaning.” This was an occasion in itself, the first indication of assertion, of action, of not watching hours happen on the wall. I threw out the other, dusty pillow case that had stayed on the floor. Muddy snow tracks were melting by the door. The floor was still wet.

—Joseph Henry

19

The McGill Daily | Thursday, January 20, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

volume 100 number 26

editorial 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com coordinating editor

Emilio Comay del Junco coordinating@mcgilldaily.com

EDITORIAL

Military recruitment has no place on campus Representatives from the Department of National Defence (DND) visited McGill this past Monday to give an informational session about their Policy Officer Recruitment Program. The session was aimed at recruiting students to the DND’s Policy Group in Ottawa, whose mandate – according to the program website – is to craft international defence policy and manage the public’s perception of defence activities.

coordinating news editor

Michael Lee-Murphy news editors

Rana Encol Henry Gass features editor

Niko Block

commentary&compendium! editor

William M. Burton

coordinating culture editor

Naomi Endicott culture editors

Oliver Lurz Sarah Mortimer science+technology editor

Vacant

health&education editor

Joseph Henry sports editor

Eric Wen

photo editor

Victor Tangermann illustrations editor

0livia Messer

production&design editors

Sheehan Moore Joan Moses copy editor

Courtney Graham online editor

Tom Acker cover design

Ted Sprague* le délit

This kind of recruitment, advertised by McGill Career Planning Services (CaPS), is deceptively billed as merely a career placement opportunity in politics or international development. Ideal candidates are described as “having an interest in national and international defence and security issues,” and are promised “many opportunities to travel.”

Choosing to join in the military effort is an individual’s right, but a position with the DND or the Canadian Forces isn’t a job without consequences. A job in the military isn’t just another career path, and it shouldn’t be advertised as if it were. Whether on the ground in Afghanistan or writing speeches in Ottawa, those involved in the military are part of a system that propagates oppression and domination, and that uses violence and murder to defend the interests of Canada and its allies. The DND’s Policy Group program, like all military recruitment, sanitizes and whitewashes war, and its attempts to attract students by glorifying this system as a high-end political career are disturbing.

McGill students have repeatedly spoken out against military recruitment on campus, from the October 2008 and February 2009 General Assembly motions attempting to ban military publicity and recruitment from Shatner, to the efforts of Demilitarize McGill in banning recruitment and military research on campus, to protests against the presence of Israeli soldiers on campus this past November. Though the GA motions failed, they mark a strong consciousness on campus about the harmfulness of military recruitment.

Military recruitment couched in the language of positive political advancement is a dangerous presence on campuses, not only due to the misrepresentation, but also for the manipulative way in which such recruitment preys on motivated students who may fear that they won’t get another job opportunity of the same pay grade (the recruiting site explains that new hires start at $50,000 per year). Military recruitment should not exist inside the confines of academic institutions – all the more so when it is sold as a competitive career opportunity with travel benefits.

Mai Anh Tran-Ho rec@delitfrancais.com Contributors

Shaina Agbayani, Queen Arsem-O’Malley, Esma Balkir, Amina Batyreva, Alex Briggs, Trevor ChowFraser, Christina Colizza, Thomas Dashwood, Flora Ourom Dunster, Gabriel Ellison-Scowcroft, Erin Hale, David Huehn, Michael Hunziker, Alexia Jablonski, Nick Kandel, Melanie Kim, Bryanne Leeming, Fabien Maltais-Bayda, Davide Mastracci, Erin O’Callaghan, Corinne Parker, Maya Shoukri, Ted Sprague* Maria Surilas, Kartiga Thiyagarajah, Debbie Wang, John Watson, Adam Winer, Nic Van Beek *Pseudonym

The Daily is published on most Mondays and Thursdays by the Daily Publications Society, an autonomous, not-for-profit organization whose membership includes all McGill undergraduates and most graduate students.

3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-26 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6790 fax 514.398.8318

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advertising & general manager treasury & fiscal manager ad layout & design

dps board of directors

William M. Burton, Emilio Comay del Junco (chair@dailypublications.org), Humera Jabir, Whitney Mallett, Sana Saeed, Mai Anh Tran-Ho, Will Vanderbilt, Aaron Vansintjan

The Daily is proud to be a founding member of the Canadian University Press.

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ISSN 1192-4608.

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily