Vol102Iss12

Volume 102, Issue 12

October 15, 2012 mcgilldaily.com

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NEWS 03 NEWS

The McGill Daily Monday, October 15, 2012 mcgilldaily.com

Inequality on the rise in Montreal

McGill advertising targets Quebec students

Report emphasizes effects of housing prices, unemployment

Controversy over AUS by-elections Weinstein talks Campaign McGill SSMU Council treks to Macdonald Campus

08 COMMENTARY Is online voting at GAs a good thing?

Fighting student radicalism Reflections on sexism in physics Does the Republican party have any credibility left?

11

SCIENCE+TECH

The untold history of computer science Navigating a hard skilldominated field Bringing undergraduate research to the forefront How important is getting published, really?

14 SPORTS

Hannah Besseau The McGill Daily

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eleased earlier this month, the Foundation of Greater Montreal’s annual quality of life report, “Vital Signs,” found that economic inequality in Montreal has been steadily increasing.

Vital Signs is a “community check-up” that “measures the vitality of our communities, identifies major trends, and assigns grades in a range of areas critical to our quality of life,” according to its website.

According to the report, Montreal’s poverty rate based on after-tax income is about 14 per cent, a rate 5 per cent higher than the national average and 4 per cent higher than Toronto.

This escalating disparity is also reflected in the city’s housing trends. In the past two years, the average rent has increased from $643 to $708 per month, accompanied by a decrease in rental vacancies and the overall cleanliness and safety of housing conditions. The Régie du logement received 1,638 complaints about unsanitary housing conditions in the last five years.

Marina Boulos-Winton, President and CEO of the Foundation of Greater Montreal and a McGill graduate, attributed some of these housing issues to the aging population.

In an interview with The Daily, Boulos-Winton explained that the aging population has a greater

Talking labia-shaped rings with designer Morgan Black Zine creation with St. Henri’s “Culture Slut” A preview of QPIRG/ SSMU’s Culture Shock

18 COMPENDIUM! Petro Canada wins Nobel Prize Couple go on date Diary of a police officer

19 EDITORIAL The Daily’s endorsements for today’s SSMU GA

demand for condominiums than rental apartments. As the population grows, the limited number of rental units becomes problematic.

She also attributed the complaints of unsanitary conditions to the age of the majority of rental buildings.

“Many rental buildings in Montreal are very old and are starting to show their wear and tear,” she said. “It is becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain these buildings.”

According to a McGill Off-Campus Housing representative, much of the building damage in the Milton-Parc area is due to the nature of lease transfers, which often do not give landlords time to facilitate the necessary repairs between tenants.

The shifts in housing pricing and quality have hit those of lower socioeconomic status particularly hard, as reflected in Vital Signs’ focus on the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor in Montreal.

Suzanne Bourret, intervention coordinator at Montreal women’s shelter La rue des Femmes, told The Daily that there has been a significant increase in the use of shelter services as a result of increased rent pricing.

The recent rise in food prices has also led to a growing demand for La rue des Femmes’ food bank services.

“We are very worried about the situation in Montreal,” said Bourret. “We can see misery and despair in these women coming in to the shelter.”

Unemployment remains a major issue for non-Quebec residents.

Illustration Amina Batyreva | The McGill Daily

According to Vital Signs, Quebecers with foreign surnames looking to work in Montreal face a discrimination rate of 35 per cent, and one in three are excluded from the interview process.

“A candidate with a French surname and equal skills and competencies has at least a 60 per cent chance of being granted a job inter-

view, compared to someone with an African, Arab, or Latin-American surname,” the report found.

Bourret noted that immigrants have been hit particularly hard.

“When they come in from other countries, they are vulnerable,” she said. “They start with no money and look for work, but it’s hard to find appropriate work.”

Committee searches for Mendelson’s replacement

The growing disconnect between fans and athletes

15 CULTURE

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Provost portfolio to remain largely unchanged following consultation Michael Lee-Murphy The McGill Daily

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he search is on for Morton Mendelson’s replacement, as the newly minted advisory committee charged with the task meets for the second time today.

The term of the current Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) ends in August 2013, and a recently created committee chaired by Provost Anthony Masi will meet at least four times between now and mid-November.

Details of what the committee will actually discuss are bound by confidentiality.

Created in 2006, the position of Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) is, by design, a liaison between students and administration.

As such, Mendelson has often been the target of student anger surrounding administrative decisions.

Last February, Mendelson’s office

was occupied for several days by students protesting the decision not to recognise the results of an existence referendum for QPIRG and campuscommunity radio station CKUT. The occupation came weeks after a university-wide consultation process, which resulted in the leaders of 11 student associations signing a letter to Masi raising concerns about the size and scope of Mendelson’s portfolio.

According to a statement from Masi’s office, no major changes are being made to the portfolio, which currently oversees the Office of the Dean of Students, the Student Services Office, Enrolment Services, Food and Dining Services, Athletics and Recreation, University Residences, and the Office of International Education.

“Any minor changes would await the appointment of the new incumbent,” the statement read.

As per University Statutes, the new advisory committee is composed of three representatives from the Board of Governors, four from Senate, and

two students. Of the four Senate representatives, three are professors.

Music Undergraduate Students’ Association (MUSA) VP External Katie Larson is one of the student representatives to the committee.

She was a signatory to a document sent to Masi last year suggesting that changes be made to the Deputy Provost’s portfolio.

Larson’s name was put forward by SSMU VP Internal Haley Dinel, who said she chose Larson because of her familiarity with Mendelson’s office through activities like helping organize Frosh and as a MUSA executive.

The other student representative is Elizabeth Cawley, a PhD candidate in Psychiatry and the Member Services Officer at the Post-Graduate Students’ Society.

School of Nursing professor and committee representative Madeleine Buck said that the position requires a “balanced sensitivity to student issues,” and that any candidate must meet that criterion.

Buck added that because of the evolving nature of the position, the exact criteria are in flux.

Alex Popp, a special advisor to the committee from the McGill Association of Continuing Education Students, told The Daily that he values a candidate that is “open [and] wants communication.”

Asked if she would like to see the new hire come from within the University, Cawley said, “there’s something to be said for experience and a knowledge of McGill’s history, but whether or not that means they have to come from within, I don’t think so.”

The advisory committee’s suggestion will ultimately be subject to the approval of the Board of Governors.

In an email to The Daily, the Provost’s office said that it has hired a headhunting firm that will “[provide] the Committee with all the necessary information it will need to determine the best candidate for the position.”

LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM

Take the opportunity to sign up for the Leadership

Training Program’s FREE Skills Development Workshops!

These workshops were created to give students the chance to develop and build leadership and life skills. These skills often prove to enhance academic success. downtown campus.

Come and check out the following workshops ...

A to Z’s of Running a Student Organization

MMPA

Tuesday, October 23, 5:35-7:35 pm Are you new to a position of leadership or involved in a club or service? Learn the basics from the Pros, including funding and budgeting tips, to make your McGill organizing ride a lot smoother!

Master of Management & Professional Accounting

t %FTJHOFE QSJNBSJMZ GPS OPO CVTJOFTT VOEFSHSBEVBUFT t 'PS DBSFFST JO .BOBHFNFOU 'JOBODF BOE "DDPVOUJOH t &YUSFNFMZ IJHI DP PQ BOE QFSNBOFOU QMBDFNFOU

Event Planning

5P MFBSO NPSF BCPVU UIF ..1" 1SPHSBN BUUFOE PVS JOGPSNBUJPO TFTTJPOT

Tuesday, October 30, 5:35-7:35 pm Red tape got you down? Learn the ins and outs of event planning at McGill. If you’re in a club or services planning on holding a fundraiser - make sure you’re there!

)ULday, 2FWREHU , 2012 11:00 am – 1:00 pm 3PPN #SPXO 4UVEFOU 4FSWJDFT #MEH .D5BWJTI .D(JMM 6OJWFSTJUZ )ULday, 2FWREHU , 2012 11:00 am – 1:00 pm 3PPN #SPXO 4UVEFOU 4FSWJDFT #MEH .D5BWJTI .D(JMM 6OJWFSTJUZ WHGQHVday, 2FWREHU , 2012 11: 0 am – 1: 0 pm 3PPN #SPXO 4UVEFOU 4FSWJDFT #MEH .D5BWJTI .D(JMM 6OJWFSTJUZ

Global Leadership

www.utoronto.ca/mmpa

Tuesday, November 6, 5:35-7:35pm How can you prepare yourself to be a critical thinker for effective and ethical leadership who is ready to act as a global citizen in addressing international and national issues across cultures? This workshop will introduce you to some of the key elements and realities of global leadership.

This is a section. Send us your funnies.

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For more info, drop by the Leadership Training Program in the Firstin the Brown Building, Suite 2100, or call 514-398-6913

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October 9 until December 2012 Complete closure between Docteur-Penfield and McTavish.

Two-way traffic on Docteur-Penfield and McTavish.

Some bus routes will be changed.

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Optional route Av. du Parc to the east, rue Sherbrooke to the south, Ch. de la CĂ´te-des-Neiges to the west Info-travaux: 514 872-3777 ville.montreal.qc.ca/chantiers /Mtl_Circulation

NEWS

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The McGill Daily | Monday, October 15, 2012 | mcgilldaily.com

McGill caters to Quebec students in advertising Francophone television commercial a “major success” Hera Chan The McGill Daily

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s universities across the province continue to search for sources of additional funding, students from Quebec are increasingly becoming the target of university advertising campaigns.

Universities in Quebec receive their funding based on the number of enrolled students. McGill receives $2,421.90 per student, regardless of whether the student is a Quebec resident, a non-Quebec Canadian, or an international student. The remainder of the tuition goes to the government.

But for Quebec students, McGill receives an additional grant on top of the original $2,421.90.

According to McGill Director of Internal Communications Doug Sweet, “After the government has clawed back some of the per-student grant for the Quebec loans and bursaries program, we get a bit less than $8,000 per undergrad, on average, plus Quebec tuition.”

“This is a very broad number that shouldn’t be considered exact,” he added.

The University spent $2,318 million on advertising between 2009 and 2010 and $2,322 million from 2010 to 2011, according to the Office of the Vice-Principal of Administration and Finance.

One of the University’s most significant advertising efforts was a thirty-second commercial that

A frame from the McGill francophone television ad. aired in the previous two years on primetime francophone television. Sweet described the initiative as a “major success.” “[The commercial] cost us less than an average of $300 per spot, much of which was on prime-time shows such as Tout le monde en parle,” Sweet told The Daily. “This is remarkably good value for the money we spent, which was about $200,000 per year in the media buy, plus an average of a bit more than

$40,000 per year in creative costs.”

Sweet added that as far as he could remember, the commercial was the first television ad McGill had run.

The Université de Montréal – the most prolific spender in Quebec – allocated roughly $3.9 million to its advertising budget from 2009 to 2010, according to the Ministry of Education.

Together, Quebec universities have spent approximately $80 million in the past five years, a 19 per cent

Credit YouTube

increase, according to La Presse.

In March, Fédération étudiante universitaire du Quebec (FEUQ) President Martine Desjardins criticized promotional spending.

“It’s gotten out of hand,” she told La Presse in French.

“Universities are fighting one another only to get more money from [the government].”

Determining a single number for McGill’s advertising costs is complicated. Every faculty at

McGill conducts its own advertising, and the sum total is calculated by the Office of the Vice-Principal of Administration and Finance.

The advertising budget for 20112012 has not yet been released, but Sweet expects that it will be less than in previous years.

“Universities compete,” said Sweet. “They compete for the best students, the best professors, donors, and leaders. They need to be visible.”

Controversy surrounds AUS by-elections Legitimacy of Arts and Science students’ votes questioned Juan Camilo Velásquez The McGill Daily

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he recent by-elections for an Arts representative to SSMU have been called into question following allegations that Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) bylaws were violated.

The by-elections occurred after former Arts representative Sean Phipps resigned from his post earlier this semester. AUS Council elected President Devon LaBuik as the interim representative to SSMU on September 19 by secret ballot.

The election results released last Wednesday showed that Claire Stewart-Kanigan won the by-election with 408 votes.

The election started on October 4, when ballots were released to Arts

students by email. On October 6, the online ballot was released for students enrolled in Arts and Science, despite last year’s creation of a position on SSMU Council to represent students in Arts and Science.

Arts and Science representative to SSMU Victor Lam told The Daily, “Last year there was a constitution change, so Arts and Science students are no longer eligible to run for Arts representative to SSMU.” “The thing about this year is that during this by-election, Arts and Science students could still nominate and vote for Arts reps to SSMU although technically they are not supposed to because in the spirit of who is represented at SSMU Council…after being elected by just Arts and Science students I am the dedicated Arts and Sci Rep,” said Lam. According to Bachelor of Arts and Science Integrative Council

(BASiC) VP External Kate Sheridan, the ability of Arts and Science students to vote was due to a loophole in the AUS by-elections.

Lam also referred to the fact that ballots for Arts and Science students were released after those of Arts students.

“When the ballot got sent out to all students, Arts students for some reason got the ballot earlier than Arts-Sci students did,” said Lam. AUS President Devon LaBuik told The Daily that after going through the by-laws and noting these discrepancies, AUS sought to make sure Arts and Science students could vote for five or six days.

BASiC sent an email to Arts and Science students immediately after their ballots were sent that stated: “while you are entitled to vote, we want to reiterate that the winner of this election is not responsible for representing you at the SSMU Legislative

Council sessions.”

LaBuik explained that the AUS constitution was not changed last year to reflect the new Arts and Science seat in council because of an oversight.

“We tried to change [the bylaw] during the electoral period but our constitution explicitly states that we are not allowed to make changes during the electoral period. We tried to change it and it will take place immediately after these elections,” said LaBuik.

A motion to change the by-law that allows Arts and Science students to vote was passed by AUS Council on October 3, and will be enforced following this by-election.

“This will be the last Arts rep to SSMU that Arts and Science students will be able to vote for,” read the email sent by BASiC. Lam said that the AUS Elections Chief Returning Officer (CRO) should have “[sent] out more information to actually inform everyone

through the special listserv, saying that technically students are allowed to vote but in the spirit of having created an [Arts and Science Rep] last semester through the SSMU referendum, Arts and Science students should not be voting in this election,” said Lam. However, LaBuik told The Daily that it “was absolutely not the fault of our CRO. She was carrying out what was stipulated.”

Lam told The Daily that he is currently trying to invalidate the votes by Arts and Science students.

“Right now I’m drafting an email to ask Elections AUS to ask whether it would be possible to invalidate the Arts and Sciences votes, but I’m not entirely sure if it is allowed in the constitution or in the bylaws,” said Lam. Lam also said he is considering the possibility of filing a Judicial Board case to invalidate the votes.

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NEWS

The McGill Daily | Monday, October 15, 2012 | mcgilldaily.com

Lola Duffort The McGill Daily

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ice-Principal of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) Marc Weinstein sat down with The Daily, Le Délit, and the McGill Tribune to discuss Campaign McGill, the University’s five-year, $750 million fundraising campaign set to wrap up this April. Issues discussed also included University financing more generally, as well as McGillLeaks, the anonymous website which leaked confidential donor profiles from the DAR office last March. .

Weinstein emphasized the use of a donor-centric approach to fundraising during the campaign, which allowed donors to earmark their donations to specific departments, goals, or programs.

The $230 million raised and earmarked for student support – which can include anything from scholarships, fellowships, internships, and advising – represents the largest fundraising unit, according to Weinstein.

“It’s been our most successful piece of the puzzle to date,” he said.

DAR Director of Communications Derek Cassoff also noted that since the beginning of the campaign, 154 new scholarships, 94 new bursary programs, 118 fellowships, 77 new academic prizes, 24 new athletic awards, and 56 new internships awards have been created.

Total enrolment at McGill has gone up by 13.8 per cent since 2006, and some funding opportunities – such as the research grants available to undergraduate Arts students – have dried up or downsized in recent years.

The Daily asked whether, given these facts, student aid was more or less accessible in spite of Campaign McGill.

Weinstein pointed to figures which showed that philanthropic giving had

helped minimize the gap between doctoral funding at McGill and other research-intensive Canadian universities, but admitted, “I don’t know if on the aggregate we are – I mean, I presume we’re making a difference […] but I don’t have those numbers.”

Weinstein also attempted to address concerns about the corporate influence at the University.

“There is a feeling, depending on who you talk to...that this is somehow corporatizing the University, and to set the record straight, corporate giving represents less than 15 per cent of our total raised to date.”

Le Délit asked whether or not donations made by prominent members of corporations were accounted for in this figure. Weinstein explained that they were not, and that only gifts made explicitly by corporations were recorded as corporate gifts.

“At the end of the day, it’s who writes the cheque, if we’re going to be really crass about it,” he said.

The Tribune asked how these numbers compared to other Canadian universities, and Weinstein replied that because universities do not record donations in a consistent manner, accurate comparisons could not be made.

However, he did say that “McGill is extremely strong on raising philanthropic dollars from individuals compared to some of our sister universities across Canada and especially in Quebec.”

Le Délit asked if McGill’s reliance on private donations made it more susceptible to economic downturns, and, while Weinstein did not directly address whether or not a reliance on philanthropy made McGill more financially vulnerable, he did note that the 2008 recession marked an important shift in the character of philanthropy at McGill.

“People are a lot less concerned

Photo Camille Chabrol | The McGill Daily

about the long-term than the shortterm now, so we’ve seen a shift in the donor community wanting to move away from endowment to more direct-funded programs,” he said.

Endowed money is not immediately spent, but is instead invested to create a steady income in perpetuity, paying out a limited amount every year while principal grows.

Director of Internal Relations Doug Sweet also noted that “an abnormally long period of time for low interest rates” had also adversely affected McGill’s endowment.

In the final minutes of the interview, Le Délit asked how McGillLeaks had affected Campaign McGill’s fundraising efforts.

Weinstein and Cassoff explained

that the immediate priority of the office had been to relay information to donors – especially those who had sensitive information leaked – and that this had been a successful tactic.

“Well, we knew about it, and that it would get in the media the next day, and we said let’s get emails out to our donor community tonight, we don’t want anyone to have to pick up the newspaper in the morning…and hear about this and wonder,” said Cassoff. “I don’t think we lost a single penny of potential donations.”

The University threatened The Daily with legal action after it published an article on March 5 about McGillLeaks, which included a link to the now-defunct website.

Society to hold series of roaming Councils

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hursday’s SSMU Legislative Council meeting was held at Macdonald Campus as part of the newly implemented “Roaming Council” initiative.

Developed in a joint executive meeting between SSMU and the Macdonald Campus Students’ Society (MCSS), the Roaming Council initiative seeks to increase the visibility of SSMU and expose the councillors to the greater University community.

According to SSMU President Josh Redel, “The SSMU Legislative Council makes decisions on a regular basis that impact student life across the University, and I think it is a shame that we operate out of a single building.”

“By going to different places across campus, it allows councillors to gain perspective of other

students at McGill and allows other students to…ask questions at Council in the comfort of a familiar environment,” he continued.

SSMU VP External Robin ReidFraser added, “We hope that this will encourage people who wouldn’t normally come to Council to pop in and see what their student government in action actually looks like.”

With the exception of in-camera, or confidential, sessions, SSMU Legislative Council meetings are opened to the members of the gallery.

Council’s trip to the Macdonald Campus was the first in the Roaming Council series.

“Since [MCSS] operates inside the same university as us and since many of their students partake in SSMU clubs and services and spend at least some time in their academic career at the downtown campus, I thought it would be great for the councillors to gain perspective of the challenges

Monday, October 15, 5 p.m.

Leacock 232 In Part 1 of Media@ McGill’s series, “The Murdoch Affair and the Leveson Inquiry: A Critical Assessment,” Peter Oborne – a witness in the public inquiry investigation of the ethics and practices of the British press, the phone-hacking allegations that began with the nowdefunct News of the World tabloid – will discuss the Murdoch scandal. His talk will address journalistic practices as well as the ties between key media figures and politicians in Britain, while offering insight into the expected outcomes of the Leveson inquiry.

Workshop: Health and Science Reporting

SSMU heads to Mac Campus Esther Lee The McGill Daily

WHAT’S THE HAPS

Weinstein talks Campaign McGill

The Murdoch Scandal: A Story of Collusion between British Politics and Media

Mac students face,” said Redel.

“Future [Roaming Council] locations will include residences, faculty, student areas, and certain interesting venue across campus,” he added.

Council will not meet outside of the University.

MCSS VP Finance Nicolas ChatelLaunay concluded the Council meeting with a short presentation on the Macdonald Campus constituency.

SSMU executives were also invited to tour the Macdonald Campus’s student spaces after the meeting.

“In terms of having relationships with SSMU, our goal is to work together when we tackle issues that affect both our memberships such as University-wide policies,” said Chatel-Launay. “We also organize some social events – including frosh events – in common, where both our members attend. Our goal is to make this sort of relationship a bit more efficient than it is right now.”

MCSS does not currently have any plans to attend the SSMU Legislative Council at the downtown campus.

Twenty-one councillors and Chatel-Launay attended the meeting, which included a presentation

by SSMU Sustainability Coordinator David Gray-Donald.

Council was also joined by newly elected Arts Undergraduate Society representative Claire StewartKanigan, Inter-Residence Council VP External Sarah Southey, and Medical Students’ Society Representative Pedram Mossallanejad.

The councillors voted on the “Motion Regarding Referendum Question Regarding Increase of the SSMU Base Fee Towards the McGill Student Emergency Response Team,” which passed with 21 approvals, two oppositions, and one abstention.

The first SSMU General Assembly of the academic year takes place today.

Wednesday, October 17 5 to 7 p.m.

Centre Culturel GeorgesVanier 2450 Rue Workman This workshop is part of the Community Journalism Across Generations workshop series. It will be an interactive workshop and technical skill share on issues related to science and health reporting, followed by a discussion on what is being covered in the mainstream and alternative media, what is not being covered, and why.

The event is free and open to the public.

Public-Private Partnership Forum

Thursday, October 18 Montreal Science Centre The Public-Private Partnership Institute (PPPI) will be holding its fourth annual “Grand Forum” with the theme “invest in the future.” Taking place at a time when Quebec has been particularly active in implementing various PPP projects in various fields, the forum will include discussions with economists Marcel Boyer and Pierre Fortin on the roles of PPP.

The Quebec Community Newspapers Association’s Professional Day

Friday, October 26 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

1740 René Lévesque W. QCNA presents a Photojournalism Session with Peter McCabe and a “Practical Guide to the Quebec Access to Information Act” with media lawyer Mark Bantey.

Deadline for registration is October 19. $35 for one person, $60 for two, $75 for three.

art essay

Nicholas Roy

The McGill Daily | Monday, October 15, 2012 | mcgilldaily.com

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The McGill Daily | Monday, October 15, 2012 | mcgilldaily.com

Commentary

One click, one vote?

Reflections on online voting and GAs

Illustration Jacqueline Brandon and Amina Batyreva | The McGill Daily

Mona Luxion Through the Looking Glass

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s you may be aware, (but let’s face it, most people probably aren’t), the SSMU Fall General Assembly (GA) will be held on October 15 at 4:30 p.m.

SSMU holds general assemblies once per term (unless a special GA is called on some topic), and they can make decisions on all types of issues concerning SSMU and its membership, except changes to the SSMU constitution, staff, or finances.

Until recently, the rules for voting in a GA were straightforward: one person, one vote. Anyone can present a motion, and anyone can second it. If you can’t make it to the assembly, take it up at the next one. Simple. But with a rash of GAs actually accomplishing things this

spring, certain factions pushed through motions that would fundamentally change the character of general assemblies by putting voting online.

Now, I’ve been to a fair number of GAs, and here’s the thing: I’m basically never an expert on all of the topics discussed, and, in some cases, I don’t even have an opinion going in. But because of the unique structure of GAs, in which people get up to speak for and against the motions proposed, I always learn something in the process. And even on topics I feel passionate about, I’ve supported amendments that would scale back a particularly strong position when it becomes clear that a more moderate stand would better represent the feeling of the room. I’ve seen others do the same. Because in the end, the point of a GA is to make decisions collectively.

None of this can happen in

the same way online. If you’ve spent any time looking at The Daily’s comment sections online, you’ll understand why I’m skeptical of our community’s ability to speak to each other respectfully and listen to each other thoughtfully enough to actually change each others’ minds on the internet. Up- and down-votes don’t give nearly as much useful feedback as a room full of people nodding along or glaring at you.

More practically, within a GA, people typically use a process of discussion and amendment to get to positions a majority of voters can get behind. With voting extended online, some voters will have heard arguments from their classmates, asked clarifying questions, thought about the issues together, and perhaps even introduced amendments to the motions, while others will vote with a single yes/no click as if it were a referendum. Do you

believe that both of those votes carry the same weight? I’m not at all convinced.

Proponents of online voting argued that requiring people to be physically present at a GA in order to vote discriminates against those who can’t be there.

The solution to this problem is not to weaken GAs by turning them into referenda, but instead to hold more general assemblies.

Members of SSMU need more than one opportunity per semester to make their voices heard on the issues that matter to them.

Students in various departments could accomplish a lot more by holding monthly GAs within their majors rather than by griping about the limited course offerings, unfair profs, and lack of student space. If GAs become a regular occurrence at the departmental, faculty, and universitywide levels, missing one won’t be a big deal. Moreover, GAs will be

shorter and thus more accessible by not trying to handle the entire semester’s business in one go.

At the same time, for everyone to want to participate in assemblies they must be places where the loudest voices don’t dominate the conversation and shut out marginalized people. As we go into the upcoming SSMU GA and those of other clubs, services, and associations, let’s adopt anti-oppressive rules for our discussions and ask moderators to seek out the contributions of women and gender minorities, people of colour, firstyear students, and those who simply haven’t spoken up as much.

Those changes will do a million times more for the equity of our GAs than any online votes.

In Through the Looking Glass, Mona Luxion reflects on activism, current events, and looking beyond identity politics. You can email Mona at lookingglass@mcgilldaily.com.

Take direct action!

A simple way to fight student radicalism Jon Booth Commentary Writer

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ere you one of the students who opposed this year’s student strike, which has somehow ‘succeeded’?

Do you believe that tuition hikes are a necessary reform in these times of ballooning budget deficits? Then I suspect that you, like me, are sorely disappointed with Premier Marois’ cancellation of the hike, which panders to violent radicals instead of properly engaging stakeholders who can put Quebec

on a path to a balanced budget and economic growth. I also suspect that you feel stuck, as I do, between your own self-interest and what you know is right. That is why I will offer a simple way to assuage your conscience without giving in to radicalism. The solution is simple: have the courage of your convictions, take direct action, and pay the hike.

I believe we should take a page from the playbook of the anarchists who set strike policy, and take direct action. The logic is quite simple. We believe that tuition should go up and there is

no reason for us to sit back and let it stay at such an unreasonably low rate. The lowest on the continent for goodness’ sake!

While some details of our plan obviously must be worked out, I do have one suggestion. Instead of writing a cheque to the black hole that is the provincial government, write it directly to the McGill administration. Or better yet, directly to your department.

That way your money will stay out of the hands of corrupt government contractors and McGill’s bloated administration.

Last semester, we proved

our points beyond a reasonable doubt. Brendan Steven, in an incredibly hard-hitting YouTube video explained how the “moderate increase in tuition” is “necessary in order to ensure the longterm viability and prosperity of the Quebec university system.”

Since we, as Murtaza Shambhoora elaborated in a Daily article last year, should not raise taxes on the job creators in order to fund our universities, it is up to us to make a change. The idea that users should pay for public benefits is at the core of our belief system, and it seems unfair to expect hard-

working job creators to pay for other people’s education.

We must not give up now and hand victory to, as Prime Minister Harper said, the “socialists and sovereigntists.” We are not entitled, spoiled brats; we know what must be done. Let us take direct action for what is right. We should, to paraphrase Gandhi, be the change we wish to see in Quebec and pay the tuition hike!

Jon Booth is a U4 History and Economics Joint Honours student. He can be reached at jonathon.booth@mail.mcgill.ca.

commentary

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The McGill Daily | Monday, October 15, 2012 | mcgilldaily.com

Illustration Amina Batyreva | The McGill Daily

Bring back Marie Curie

Understanding the gender divide in Physics Hugh Podmore Commentary Writer

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wanted to write a follow up to Shannon Palus’ article “Fine Men, Sexist Pigs” published in the Daily on October 11 (Commentary, page 7) in the hopes of sketching out the background and widening the scope of the discussion on the gender divide in physics. Specifically, I want to talk about the pervasive underrepresentation of women in the applied mathematical sciences and how this can affect gender discrimination.

First, let me clear away any misconceptions you may have before entering this discourse: men are not better than women at math – the primary indicators of success in all levels of math worldwide are correlated with socioeconomic status and access to education, not gender.

In 2005, it was proposed that men outperform women in standardized math tests because of greater intellectual variability between males; this hypothesis has since been proven false and current studies show evidence that it is in fact the format of testing that leads to the slight gender gap in physics and maths scores on the SAT and GRE. Why, then, is it that Physics and Engineering continue to retain the largest gender gaps at both the

undergraduate and graduate levels? A study called “What’s it Worth?

The Economic Value of College Majors” by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce found that only 18 per cent of physics majors nationwide are female; for engineers, it’s even worse: 16 per cent female enrolment across the board, and the engineering subjects that break 20 per cent are the least intensive mathematically. Pure mathematics, by contrast, features a nearly even gender split with 44 per cent female enrolment, so there must be some unknown factor that is deterring women from entering applied mathematical fields.

Basit Zafar of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York interviewed college students at Northwestern University and found that for women, the biggest deterrent from entering majors such as engineering and physics was a belief that they would not enjoy the coursework – a belief that was strongly correlated with the perceived gender breakdown of the subject. The study suggests that women are backing out of engineering and physics programs because they believe that since so few women are enrolled, they will not enjoy the subject. If true, this would mean that the view of physics as the realm of males is directly,

and wrongly, affecting the decision of women to enrol in physics and engineering programs.

My own view is that cultural stereotypes and a lack of role models are responsible for the lack of interest in these fields. I challenge you to stop reading this right now and try to think of one female physicist that’s not a McGill professor or Marie Curie. Got one? Was it Ellie Arroway? (Jodie Foster in Contact.)

Unfortunately all classical (read: high school-level) physics was established by old white guys, so all the role models presented are male: Bill Nye, Einstein, Hawking, Sagan, Cox, et cetera. The closest we come to a female physicist role model is Marie Curie, and she’s usually presented as a chemist (Chemistry is 44 per cent female). Even the classes themselves are taught by men: it wasn’t until this year, when I enrolled in a 500-level elective, that I had a physics professor who wasn’t male.

Physics as an-all male field is also continuously reinforced by pop culture, only 18 per cent of movies that feature scientists have female scientists (and that includes blatant sexual objects like Dr. Christmas Jones from The World is Not Enough). TV shows like The Big Bang Theory have done nothing to shake the generally accepted image of physicists

as lonely, unattractive, and socially immature men. This stereotype is so strong that when 5,000 school children were asked to “draw a scientist” for a study in 1984, only 28 children drew a female scientist. It is my belief that the very real issues presented in Shannon’s article are the product of the extreme gender gap and of a subconscious cultural assumption that physics is a male-only field.

These assumptions are what prompt women to reconsider enrolling in physics and engineering fields, under the impression that they will not enjoy the subject matter.

Disabusing North America of our shared presumptions and expectations of what a physicist or engineer should look like and act like is an impossible goal. One effective way to break down cultural barriers in physics and engineering is merely to enrol more women in these programs. Up until quite recently, the higher strata of medical practice was considered a male -only profession; this stereotype is slowly being eroded by a massive influx of qualified female applicants. In 1976 women made up only 20 per cent of enrolment in medical schools, but now the number of degrees awarded to female students is at 48 per cent. The number of female surgical trainees grows each year, and the gender gap in general

surgery is shrinking as more and more women are taking the place of their retiring male colleagues.

The solution may lie in providing young female students with more high-visibility female role models in physics and engineering: Canadian astronaut Julie Payette is an ideal example, but Kari Byron of Mythbusters – though lacking in scientific credentials – could nonetheless be considered a role model in the field of engineering. High school physics classes are routinely underattended by female students, high schools would do well to encourage female math students to continue to study physics during their final years.

A female friend of mine who has a master’s in aerospace engineering once told me that whenever she tells people about her career, their reaction is always disbelief. Her favourite line was: “Really? I thought you’d be a waitress.” By increasing the number of students in physics and engineering programs as well as high-visibility women in these fields, we can hopefully eliminate or marginalize reactions like this one and, with them, discrimination against women in physics.

Hugh Podmore is a fifth year Physics student. He can be reached at hugh.podmore@mail.mcgill.ca.

Falling Snowe The end of Republican legitimacy Daniel Braden Commentary Writer

W

hen I first heard about the retirement of United States Senator

Olympia Snowe (Republican – Maine), my immediate reaction was one of dismay and sympathy.

She was driven from Congress by what she characterized as a political environment too polarized to yield effective governance.

Snowe’s departure embodied much of the sentiment felt by millions of Americans who saw the 2010 midterm victories of far-right Tea Party Republicans as marking the death knell of compromise and civility in American politics.

Indeed, throughout her 17-year career in the Senate, Snowe has garnered praise from hardline ideologues on both the right and left of the political spectrum, and has been lauded for her ability to work across the aisle and

dispel the notion that partisan divides are irreconcilable. But make no mistake about it; for the past four years Olympia Snowe has been anything but moderate.

Serving as a pawn in a Congress continued on page 10

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The McGill Daily | Monday, October 15, 2012 | mcgilldaily.com

continued from page 9 full of apostles of the radical right, Snowe’s fame as a centrist legislator is possibly the biggest diversion in Washington today.

In many ways, the canonization of Olympia Snowe as a moderate reads like an epitaph of the Republican Party. Many older Republicans who remember the days of Eisenhower and the even more politically conservative Nixon (who proposed universal healthcare through private employers and government subsidies) feel that today’s GOP has left them behind. The rise of social conservatism that began with the 1964 Republican presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater and took off with Ronald Reagan has overshadowed the traditional Republican focus on jobs and the

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economy, and the belief that a rising tide lifts all ships and that bringing about such prosperity necessitates minimal government interference. This naturally begs the question: how does a woman like Snowe, heralded for her prowess at negotiation and level-headed thinking, incur the moniker of right-wing policy maker? The answer lies in her voting record.

Those who bemoan the retirement of Senator Snowe as marking an end to compromise in America’s upper chamber and Congress as a whole would do well to remember that since the inauguration of Barack Obama in January of 2009, Snowe has voted in lockstep with her much more conservative-minded colleagues.

While having stated that she looked forward to working with

President Obama on healthcare policy, her vote against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which allows children to stay on their parents’ healthcare plans until the age of 26 and bans insurance companies from denying health care to anyone based on a preexisting condition, was a reflection of her values and those of the Republican Party as a whole. When faced with the easiest of political wins, she and every other Senate Republican voted against giving health care to 9/11 first responders, instead choosing to prioritize tax breaks for wealthy Americans. Following in the same vein, she joined her GOP colleagues in voting against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, designed to ensure equal pay for equal work and initially opposed

the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which prevented LGBTQ Americans from serving openly in the military, changing her vote only when public opinion and a lame duck Congress gave her the opportunity to escape political scrutiny. She also contributed to the first credit downgrade in American history by originally voting against raising the debt ceiling, causing a furor that highlighted the destructiveness of political brinksmanship.

In an age where compromise is seen as a dirty word, where ideology is valued above efficiency, and where partisan loyalties count for more than civility, it’s easy to become nostalgic at the mention of anyone who appears to retain some shred of level-headed decency and objective analytical

COMMENTARY thought. For many Americans, Snowe represented the hope of a more cultured and sophisticated discourse. But before we sanctify the last of perceived Republican moderation, it is essential that we understand that today’s GOP is no longer the party of Eisenhower, Rockefeller, and Specter, but a politically-charged, divisive faction that seeks to take America back to a time of institutionalized discrimination, to a condition in which government provided no protection from the destructive populism of organized bigotry.

Daniel Braden is a U3 Political Science student and member of Democrats Abroad. He also dabbles in satire through his blog McGill Memes. You can reach him at danielmbraden@gmail.com.

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Women at the dawn of the computer age Revisiting the history of computer science Maria Mastorakos Science+Technology Writer

W

hen people think of a computer programmer, many picture a man, usually a bespectacled “nerd” type staring at a computer screen. Even though this description is reductive and generalizes a field that encompasses all types of men (and women), it’s prevalent enough that many people think computer science is historically a guy thing.

What few people know is that women were key players in the computer’s history.

Have you heard of Ada Lovelace?

Probably not. Born in 1815, Ada was the poet Lord Byron’s only child with his wife Anne Isabella Milbanke. She never knew her father due to her parent’s acrimonious divorce. Her mother, convinced that Lord Byron was immoral and insane, had Ada rigorously educated in mathematics and science in an attempt to root out any potential insanity that Byron might have passed down to his daughter. It was during this time that Ada’s abilities in mathematics flourished.

She remained heavily involved in mathematics as an adult and worked with Charles Babbage on the development of the analytical engine. The analytical engine was a mechanical computer which was the first con-

ceptually designed general purpose computer. Babbage was never able to build his engine due to funding constraints, but Lovelace’s notes during her work with Babbage explained how the analytical engine worked.

She developed the algorithm to make the machine functional – the first algorithm ever developed. It is also considered the first computer program ever written. As a result, Ada Lovelace is widely considered to be the first computer programmer in history.

Women were also among the first modern-day programmers. The term “computer” originally meant human computers – people who would compute complex mathematical problems by hand before electronic computers were developed. During World War II, human computers were employed by the U.S. government to work on top secret projects such as the Manhattan Project and ballistic missile trajectory calculations. The majority of these computers were highly educated women, many with PhDs in mathematics and physics. Six women computers from the ballistic missile trajectory group at Penn State were recruited to build the program for ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) – the first electronic general purpose computer. As a result of the influence of the women involved with ENIAC and other women like them, in the 1940s and 1950s computer programming was considered a

woman’s job. Back when employment advertisements were gender segregated, computer programming jobs were advertised in the sections listing employment for females.

So this information begs the question: why haven’t we heard about these women? In the case of the ENIAC programmers, their involvement with the project was largely unrecognized until the recent past. Photos exist of the women programmers working on ENIAC; however, for over fifty years the public was told that they were “Refrigerator Ladies” – female models paid to pose with the machine. The male engineers involved with ENIAC became famous whereas the female programmers weren’t even invited to the celebratory dinner after the successful launch of the machine.

Women have been involved with the development of historically important technology, but we don’t learn about them. As a result, we have an incomplete knowledge of our own history, and in the case of computer science, our preconceived notions of what kind of work is historically male or female is skewed.

What was originally considered a woman’s world is now – at least in the public consciousness – a man’s.

So when we picture a computer programmer, instead of that nerdy guy, we should try to picture Ada Lovelace or the “Refrigerator Ladies.”

They’ve been ignored long enough

Illustration Amina Batyreva | The McGill Daily

and deserve the recognition. And frankly, they were there first.

For more information on females in Science, Technology,

Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields, visit www.findingada.com.

Ada Lovelace Day is celebrated on October 16 and aims to raise the profiles of women in STEM fields.

Between a rock and a hard place Retaining ‘soft skills’ as women enter the tech field Maya Richman Science+Technology Writer

T

hese days it appears that women are taking the tech field by storm, securing high ranking positions at major companies, for example: Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, Meg Whitman, president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg, among many others.

However important and powerful these roles may be, they tend to fall into what are now ‘accepted’ areas of expertise for women, such as the business or management sectors. The presence and visibility of women in technology leadership may allude to a parallel increase in women at every level within the engineering or computer science domain. But this is not the case, nor do such exemplars signify female inclusion in the production of bleeding-edge technology – that is, the very forefront of technological advancement.

It is not surprising, given the historical positions that women have occupied in the workforce, that the women in the tech industry work as operations managers, playing a larger role in communications for a company instead of creating the tools that come to define the brand.

While it’s impressive and encouraging that women have risen – and have the opportunity to rise – to high-level management, the more challenging goal is to bring women to technical positions.

I by no means intend to deny the importance of social science expertise and a ‘soft-skill’ set – the emotional and personality-based assets that enhance individual interactions – to a CEO’s success.

In fact, all individuals in both technical and non-technical positions should strive to develop these skills, even in light of society’s preference for ‘hard skills.’

The numbers show that more women now pursue a ‘hard skill’focused education. While we are familiar with women holding nontechnical positions at technology

companies, we now are also seeing increases in female enrolment within engineering and technical fields worldwide. Alongside this trend, there are growing international exchanges created by many public and private organizations dedicated to empowering women in tech.

One such example is the U.S. State Department program TechGirls, meant to “give women and girls the support that they need to become leaders in [the tech] field.” The program brings 25 teenage girls from Middle Eastern countries on a technology-focused exchange program to Silicon Valley. Evidently, the field is rapidly becoming less homogenous and more geared toward gender accessibility.

Personally, as an aspiring web developer/designer and a novice programmer with a multidisciplinary education in International Development, I find it both thrilling and challenging to transcend these traditional dichotomies. I am struck by the value placed by others on my computer science experience over my extensive education

in social science and have found myself identifying more with the former, portraying myself as more tech-savvy than academic. This is due to two factors: first, the consistent response of admiration that I receive from friends and strangers alike, and second – as a result of the first – my own mental shift to valuing ‘hard skills’ over ‘soft skills.’

Maybe these are the reasons that I claim computer science first when asked for my area of study before mumbling something about international development afterwards.

Or maybe, while attempting to conquer new territory for women in this discipline, I have neglected the fundamental value of ‘soft skills,’ those that have come to define the role of women in the field.

If this is nothing more than a letter to students teetering on the edge of more technical skills, I hope to remind or impart this: the ability to communicate and understand people, to synthesize information, and to consider human interactions is significant and necessary. There are invaluable skills

that can be developed through active listening and serious study in a non-scientific domain that feed back into – and facilitate – the production of technology.

Strangers might be impressed when I tell them I code, believing I am some sort of hacker. They may be surprised, due to the sexism that is still commonplace in the field; however, now I see the merit in parading my liberal arts degree, and the corresponding social knowledge I’ve gained, alongside the attentiongrabbing computer science degree.

This knowledge informs every stage of my work in computer science courses and my navigation of the chaotic professional network. We must remember this as we encourage women and girls to enter the male-centric, ‘hard skill’-revering culture, which touts mathematical and engineering mastery as prerequisites to success. We must encourage exploration without denying or simply replacing these women’s previously held values, values that may support them far more than mere concrete technical knowledge.

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Showcasing research through competition Conference provides forum for exchange of scientific ideas Alexander Chang Science+Technology Writer

O

n Thursday, October 4, McGill’s Faculty of Science hosted its eighth annual Undergraduate Research Conference, in an effort to celebrate collaboration between professors and undergraduates as they produce never-beforeseen research. While most undergraduates are perfectly content with getting through a week of classes with an occasional drink or three, those presenting research at this conference have spent an exhausting amount of time over the last year striving to convert ideas and questions into answers, all of which are ultimately represented on large cardboard posters mottled with text, graphs, diagrams, and the occasional prop. The question is: how does one conference encompass a diversity of student research?

Enter Victor Chisholm, McGill’s undergraduate research officer and the coordinator of the conference since its founding in 2005.

Standing well above 2 metres tall

– and often touted by the Dean of Science as “the tallest man in the room” – he glided around the lobby of the Arts building armed with a clipboard and keen observation, interviewing this year’s contributors about their research as well as maintaining constant communication with other organizers.

Every year, the many fields of science are organized into six categories; each is asked to contribute five to eight projects, which are individually chosen by the supervising professors. These subcategories – Biological, Earth System, Health and Social, Mathematical and Computational, Medical, and Physical Sciences – contributed a total of 49 presenters this year, each of whom faced three judges each from different scientific backgrounds, ultimately leaving two winners for each department.

“I leave the criteria to the judges,” Chisholm stated in an interview with The Daily when asked about what determines a winning project, “but typically it’s based on how [organized] the

posters are, as well as the level of knowledge and commitment demonstrated by the students.”

But not all contestants found judging to be constructive, and some were not even aware that there were awards until a day before the conference.

Eric Bellefroid, a U3 student in Geology spent countless summer weeks mining iron samples in the Yukon and felt his hard work did not receive the criticism he desired, as none of the judges were from his field.

“It would have been nice to been asked more questions about the data,” he said with a sigh, complaining about how he received empty looks of confusion rather than constructive comments – comments that potentially could improve “the research [that sucked up] all the free time [he] used to have.”

Bellefroid’s struggle struck a consistent refrain as I spoke to the presenters; the collection and processing of data for a formal research project is an integral

and often stressful task. “What makes research so difficult is that there is no right answer… so you begin to critique yourself constantly over the quality of your data,” explained participant Joseph Lewnard as he stood next to his large Excel graph displaying data correlating the strength of 17 types of diseases with global temperature. Lewnard’s professor gave him the topic a whole year ago and despite the progress he has already made, he still faces further challenges with handling the massive quantity of data needed to solidify his correlation.

Naturally, a large part of the purpose of displaying research is peer review and when asked about what he thought of the other projects, Lewnard felt slightly intimidated and “quite nervous seeing everybody else’s research.”

On the other hand, presenter Asad Harris found the environment inspiring. “Other people’s research is quite impressive, and I like to think I can sometimes compare it to mine and draw from it,” Harris,

a U3 student in Mathematics, asserted. His project of formula integration only took four months to complete and his topic was selfconceived, not assigned by a professor like many others.

For Harris, “it [was] just nice to see a summer’s work being put up and presented in front of everyone.” This sentiment was shared by many of those contributing to the conference.

In summation, there was little concern for awards, grants, or publishing opportunities, but rather a collective happiness that hours of hard work can be displayed and appreciated. No matter the winner, each project stands as an example to encourage undergraduates to not simply learn from a classroom, but rather to make discoveries in the real world environment. And with McGill’s Faculty of Science as the awardwinning, knowledge-generating machine that it is, it’s events like this that are necessary to keep students engaged in a subject and faculty that are ever-evolving.

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Publish or perish?

Why academic publishing should not be the end goal

Illustration Amina Batyreva | The McGill Daily Caitlin Mouri Science+Technology Writer

I

n academia, publications are everything. They are used to rank universities, make tenure decisions, and judge job applications. The race to publish starts early: by the time doctoral students graduate, they are expected to have several first author publications to be competitive in the academic market.

The race has become so intense that even undergraduates are feeling the heat. For students applying to graduate programs, “a publication certainly makes an application stand out,” said Dr. Bärbel Knäuper, graduate program director of the Psychology Department at McGill. But having a publication doesn’t just look nice; it has practical value as well. “The potential supervisor will also know that the application will have good chances of winning a fellowship, which is definitely another plus,” added Knäuper.

Graduate fellowships certainly compound the benefits of publishing early. A fellowship means another prized line on a CV and, in many cases, the financial freedom to skip a teaching assistant position and devote more time to research.

Undergraduate publications aren’t crucial in all the sciences,

though. Areas steeped in theory or high-level mathematics offer undergraduates little chance to get their names on a published work. Dr. Jan Seuntjens, director of the Medical Physics Unit, told The Daily that while research experience is important, undergraduate students simply don’t have the background to make scholarly contributions in his field. “Research shouldn’t come at the expense of getting a good basis [of understanding],” he added.

On the other hand, in biologybased fields like neuroscience and pharmacology, publications are more important than ever.

“There’s less and less money for fellowships and grants,” observed Dr. Josephine Nalbantoglu, director of the Integrated Program in Neuroscience, “so people are setting the bar higher and higher.

Now, they do give quite a few marks if you’ve presented or published [as an undergraduate]. This was unheard of five, six years ago.”

Still, many in academia caution against overemphasizing publications, fearing that quantity may come at the expense of quality. Professor Joaquín “Quim” Madrenas, chair of the McGill Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Canada Research Chair in Human Immunology, is emphatic on the issue. “Publications should not be the goal,” he told The Daily. “The

goal is discoveries, and these discoveries translate into publications.” Undergraduate Research Officer at McGill Victor Chisholm pointed out that if a student is disappointed about not getting a publication, they might be in it for the wrong reasons. “It’s more important to get an appreciation of what science is,” he said.

“When you’re in the lab, you’re participating in the creation of new knowledge.”

Much of the pressure on undergraduates to publish stems from funding agencies, rather than from the research community. Dr. Sivakumaran Nadarajah, graduate admissions and scholarship director for the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill, questions the space on Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) applications that asks for previous publications. “It makes students worry needlessly,” he said in an interview with The Daily. “Most [engineering] faculties don’t expect undergraduates to have publications.”

Students should focus instead on finding research topics that engage them intellectually. Dr. Laura Nilson, associate professor of Biology and associate dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies believes this can be just as important as getting published.

A sophisticated understanding of their own research is a huge

strength, she observed of graduate applicants. “If you can develop that, that’s something.”

Unfortunately, many undergraduate researchers find themselves doing grunt work, with little chance to engage in the research, let alone get publication credit. “They end up in these work study positions that involve feeding fish or just running gels,” said Irene Xie, coeditor-in-chief of the McGill Science Undergraduate Research Journal (MSURJ). “And of course, that’s not the really intellectually stimulating thing they want to be doing.”

So how does an undergraduate get involved in high quality research? It helps to become integrated into the fabric of the lab. That takes a lot of time and commitment, and not just from the undergraduate student. “The hardest thing to do is to match them up with a graduate student who’s prepared to put their time in,” said Dr. Derek Bowie, associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

Dr. Bowie also motivates his undergraduates by giving them small projects with the potential to become short papers. But for one former undergraduate, Patricia Brown, it wasn’t the possibility of a publication that kept her motivated, but her engagement in the lab itself.

“When I wasn’t in class, I was in the lab,” she recalled. “I had a spot, I

had a computer where I could put my stuff. It was very much like you were part of a team. I don’t know if, without that, I would have stayed.”

Brown did publish a paper from her undergraduate work, and stayed in Dr. Bowie’s lab for graduate studies in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience. To students familiar with the ups and downs of research, Brown’s story may sound too good to be true.

Her supervisor, however, emphasized the importance of sheer determination. “When they want it to happen, they make it happen,” he said of his students.

Dr. Hugh Bennett, graduate program director for the Division of Experimental Medicine, agreed.

“There’s a lot of luck involved, but you make your own luck. You’re not going to get anywhere if you’re too passive.” He added, “You’re not going to put the hours in if you’re not interested.” Most professors agreed that one of the most important benefits of research experience is figuring out where your interests lie. “You don’t go into research because it’s a job. You go into it because it’s a passion.”

In the end, passion, not publications, is the greatest asset an aspiring researcher can have.

“If you’re sincerely interested in research,” said Dr. Nilson, “that will show through whether you get published or not.”

sports

The McGill Daily Monday, October 15, 2012 mcgilldaily.com

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Illustration Amina Batyreva | The McGill Daily

Us and them The growing divide between fans and athletes Evan Dent The McGill Daily

M

att Cassel is the quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. This season, he hasn’t been particularly good, but neither has the rest of the team: the Chiefs have begun with a 1-4 record. On October 7, Cassel was playing poorly, but his team was keeping the score close against the heavily favoured Baltimore Ravens – the score stood 9-6 in Baltimore’s favour during the fouth quarter. Cassel dropped back and was hit hard, apparently suffering a concussion. The fans cheered as Cassel was taken off the field and replaced. And this game wasn’t even in Baltimore, even if that could excuse it; it was in Kansas City. Cassel’s own fans were cheering his injury.

Chiefs guard Eric Winston sounded off on the incident after the game, telling the press gathered around his locker that “we are athletes, we are not gladiators…

This isn’t the Roman Coliseum…I believe [fans] can boo, they can cheer, they can do whatever they want. But when you cheer some-

body getting knocked out, I don’t care who it is…it’s sickening. …If [Cassel]’s not the best quarterback, he’s not the best quarterback, and that’s okay. But he’s a person. And he got knocked out in a game, and we got 70,000 people cheering.”

While this behaviour was, frankly, disgusting, it didn’t really surprise me. And maybe that’s more troubling. The idea of 70,000 people cheering because a person has been so badly injured that they need to leave the game – that idea isn’t shocking or foreign to me, or to many others who have spent a lot of time watching sports.

The slow dehumanization of players is readily apparent to anyone looking for it; it is a gradual move from we, the athletes and the fans – think baseball stars stopping to play stickball with kids on their way to the game, or star quarterbacks, in the offseason, working at their other, blue-collar job (no matter how unrealistic this image is, the perception of it exists) – to us and them. On one side are the fans, whose hard-earned money goes toward watching each game; on the other are the people who play that game, who are here for our entertainment, who are paid

millions of dollars.

The growth of the separation between fan and athlete is linked to the evolution of sports into entertainment. With the rise of national sports networks, sports gambling, and the proliferation of fantasy sports, fans now watch more games – especially for teams outside their local area – and have a monetary or emotional stake in more games.

Meanwhile, the fans’ TV screens separate them from the athletes, who become just like the actors on TV shows – people playing a part for the viewer’s enjoyment. It all builds into a narrative of entertainment, one which obscures the mess of humanity that sports truly are. The players don’t always perform perfectly; there is no linear plot. Viewed through the lens of entertainment, though, the athletes who don’t provide the desired outcome are to be derided and replaced. Fans find themselves cheering for an injury because it makes the game better for them, no matter the humanity of the athletes involved.

The media create tropes for players – the star quarterback, the shaky goalie, the clutch threepoint shooter – that their coverage

continually shoehorns players into, one after the other. Players begin to become interchangeable, and, from there, we stop thinking of them as humans and begin to think of them as characters created for our own entertainment. When a player is ‘past their prime’ – that is, not living up to their expectations anymore – the fan is no longer interested in them, and they are casually discarded. Similarly, if a player is performing poorly, why not cheer when they have to exit stage left, injury or not?

Injuries, too, have become part of the entertainment narrative – how one team reacts to a star player going down, or how one player is able to fill in for someone else, is key to the narrative. The parlance of injuries has become so commonplace that the language surrounding injury basically means nothing, and some fans treat only the gravest injuries as truly important.

Apropos, fans have been criticizing injured players for years. Jay Cutler, the Chicago Bears’ quarterback, was derided by many Bears fans after a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL), one of the major ligaments in the knee, forced him out of the 2010 National Football Conference championship game.

Some Chicago fans and media members have questioned Cutler’s “toughness” ever since then, despite the extreme difficulty one would have playing quarterback without full knee function. National Hockey League star Sidney Crosby has also faced criticism from segments of his fan base as he missed many games as a result of the lingering effects of multiple concussions.

While some may argue that the majority of fans are more reasonable than these examples, one needs only to go to the comment section on any major sports website, or listen to the conversation in a stadium, to hear the din of what is at least a growing minority of sports fans.

They spout the idea that athletes are indebted to provide a service to fans, that they are interchangeable pieces in a narrative that should provide maximum entertainment to fans, no matter what. Forget them as humans; what the fans want is selfish joy.

So they clap as their quarterback is taken off, injured, as the hope of a new player that will bring better results strides onto the field. Listen to the crowd and you’ll hear what they want: characters and narrative, not humans.

CULTURE

The McGill Daily Monday, October 15, 2012 mcgilldaily.com

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No pussyfooting A conversation with jewellery designer Morgan Black Ralph Haddad Culture Writer

I

was completely lost on the corner of Parc and Beaubien when Morgan Black opened his front door and invited me into his studio. Black, upon first sight, gives the impression of a kind stranger.

“Watch out for the beast,” he tells me, as I almost step on his cat, while making my way into his workspace. Counters and tables lay cluttered around the small room, and the adjoining space is no different. Moving through the studio, I start noticing little things: skulls, moulds, trinkets, and machines.

These all contribute to my feeling that his space is an extension of his own self. Though Black apologizes for the mess, it only adds to the overall atmosphere of the studio.

The McGill Daily: How do you describe your work?

Morgan Black: […] Any object I make is more of the reaction of the consumer to the art work than making the object.

MD: What are your most important influences?

MB: Popular media, culture, the occult…

MD: Would you like to elaborate on that?

MB: Google it, kind of thing.

In the world there are so many things going on, so I’m interested in the many facets of nature.

I get a lot of my inspiration from natural forms and organic forms.

I grew up in the country, so being in an urban setting is very familiar, but also very foreign, so it’s a different set of objects I draw from. It’s the juxtaposition of, say, taking a pinecone and casting it in metal, and then selling it in a boutique, and then some fashionista wearing it down a runway. That’s the kind of juxtaposition of forms and shapes and how we react to these forms and shapes … so, it’s like a bouquet of flowers, only

with a bouquet of subconscious reactions to objects.

MD: Is it like getting your own personality and viewpoint into the stuff you see around you?

MB: Yeah, well let me tell you, for my artwork I kind of coined the term “neo-urban rococo,” that’s the style of most of my work. So, it could be a ring, it could be a headpiece, it could be an entire room, like rococo was back in the day, if that makes sense.

MD: The famous “pussy rings” [jewellery in the shape of the vagina]: what was your main inspiration for those, and how did it happen?

MB: Okay, the Grimes pussy rings came after meeting Claire [Boucher, aka Grimes] at different parties, and I did a photo shoot with her, and I’d given her one of my skull rings and she was wearing that. Then when we did another photo shoot I gave her one of the pussy rings – as she likes to call it – which was the first one I made. It was almost a joke, because I have vaginas all over my shop.

The reason why I made these is that when I started experimenting with mould making, I used to do a lot of body piercings, so I’d see a lot of women’s bits. Then, someone asked me to mould them, and I was [just] learning how to do this so it sort of caught on fire, and that was in Halifax. What do you do with these objects, right?

Working at the job I’m working at now (a means to an end), a client came in wanting a pin that was like a vagina and a flower. I basically had to take one of these preexisting vagina moulds I had and shrink it to make a pin out of it, so I got all of these objects lying around that were basically moulded, reduced vaginas.

Then one day, I made a ring out of it, and it was like super chichi fashion, it was sort of vulgar but chichi enough that anyone could wear it.

I gave one to Claire and she wore it in a photo shoot, and [then] she went away and came back

famous and asked me to design a bunch of merch for her. So that’s basically how it came about.

MD: How did you begin your designing career?

MB: I’ve always been making stuff, and it all kind of started out like making stuff in my backyard. Then I went to art school, and after that I used to own a piercing and tattoo shop, so that sort of consumed my life for a few years. Then I moved to Montreal, because I had a job with an eyewear company, Harry Toulch Vision, and they basically did industrial design. “Designer Technician” was my official title, and it started from that. That was eight years ago, but at the same time I got a job working for a high-end jewellery company (it used to be called Luka). I was making rings for the president of Rocawear Canada. I did a platinum diamond ring for this guy with a built in LED that went under a five karat blue diamond, and when he squeezed his pinky finger it would light up the LED system and light up the stone. Then, [doing design work] kind of just [snowballed], then I started getting back into artwork more seriously. But I’ve always been doing my own stuff as well, just playing around with different ideas.

MD: So you’ve always had this idea that you wanted to venture into this field?

MB: I just like creating things.

One of my totems is a termite. I have to chew stuff up and reconstitute it and spit it out again to survive; [I] get rather cranky if I don’t.

That’s basically what it comes down to, and trying to adapt [my] lifestyle around this compulsion to make stuff.

MD: Do you have any upcoming projects you’re currently working on?

MB: Well, I have two business concepts. One is “Morgan Black: the Art,” and then there’s “Cult Members

Photo Ralph Haddad

Only.” The Grimes ring would sort of fit into Cult Members Only, which is novelty goods, and promotional items, so I want to get into doing band merch and stuff like that. Morgan Black: the Art is sort of like things you would find in gumball machines; I’m also doing anonymous mask rings…

MD: These are amazing. Do you sell them anywhere?

MB: I don’t sell them in stores or online; I only sell them from one person to another. I give them to a

lot of my friends who are travelling and they go and hustle them and make some money to survive, and then I get five bucks! It’s kind of like anarchist Avon. I’m also building a gumball machine to sell my rings.

After a brief, but very intriguing tour of his space, he ends with, “If you want any jewellery, just email me and I’d be more than happy to send you some.” I thank him and head to the bus stop, mulling over pussies, skulls, and creative anarchy.

16

culture

The McGill Daily | Monday, October 15, 2012 | mcgilldaily.com

The zine scene with Amber Dearest St. Henri’s “Culture Slut” discusses DIY print media Jessica Fu Culture Writer

A

mber Dearest does zines.

Not magazines, but zines – a concept barely on the fringe of the radar of mainstream publications. Yet, as unheard of as they may seem, these minute print platforms promote the discussion of some of today’s most influential and controversial challenges and ideas.

Dearest’s themes include feminist, queer, and anarchist content, with pages photocopied into a miniature, often homemade magazine or book. In an email interview with The Daily, Dearest divulged the insand-outs of the zine community.

“I’ve never found a succinct

answer that I’m satisfied with,” said Dearest, when asked to define a ‘zine’, “anyone can make one, [and] on any topic they choose.”

Dearest started creating zines when she was 17 years old. “[My twin sister and I] were trading with others that we’d met online, or through fliers that were distributed with other zines. My print run grew as I continued to write […]. We mostly scanned copies from the local 7-Eleven during my midnight shifts,” said Dearest.

Ten years have passed since then, and Dearest has now moved to Montreal from her small hometown of Lindsay, Ontario. After a decade of work, her passion for zines remains undiminished.

“For all of the small crises that I

Art Essay - Vivian Gu

experience over having made public so many personal details about my life, my mental health, my addiction, et cetera, I’ve received countless letters from people telling me that it was via my zines that they learned about feminism (and terms like girl-hate and slut-shaming), and found the motivation to tell their own stories.”

In addition to making zines, Dearest runs a distro (an alternative press distribution center) called Fight Boredom. “[The distro is] a means of promoting and distributing zines that were meaningful to me, that I wanted to share with others,” said Dearest. “I’ve made many close friends through writing zines and letters, and travel frequently to

zinefests, where I table with my distro, experience new cities, and get the chance to converse for real with people that I’ve only known through writing. Running a distro sometimes gives me even greater joy than making my own zines, because I’m able to share the work of so many people that I love.”

In further support of zine culture, Dearest also hosts a zine residency program.

Dearest said, “Basically, someone comes to stay here for two weeks, and in that time, they make a zine, and throw a launch party.”

While she is not working at her distro or working on her Culture Slut zines, Dearest volunteers on the Sidetracks Team at the SteÉmilie Skillshare in St. Henri. She

is also a collective member at the Union For Gender Empowerment at McGill.

“When I’m not [sitting] at my kitchen table with my typewriter and a cup of tea, I can be found riding my bike, going to punk shows, karaokeing my heart out, reading Anaïs Nin’s journals on the metro, participating in pharmaceutical studies to avoid soul-crushing wage labour, and scouring the city for free food.”

There is no doubt that Dearest is as far from bored as anyone can be. And sure enough, as noted on her website, Dearest’s theory is that “only boring people get bored.”

Dearest said, “I love what I do every single day when I check the mail to find letters from friends and strangers, and new zines to read.”

culture

17

The McGill Daily | Monday, October 15, 2012 | mcgilldaily.com

QPIRG/SSMU event focuses on migrant rights

CULTURE HAPS

Culture Shock!

Albin de la Simone’s Films Fantômes

October 13 PHI Centre, Space A 407 Saint-Pierre 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m. $20 In conjunction with the French Consulate and the Festival du nouveau cinéma, the PHI Centre will be offering what initially seems to be a series of films by French contemporary artist Albin de la Simone. Simone promises “nine films you can make up in your own heads.”

Sadly, the catch is that “the films will never actually get made.” Please email us if you figure out what, if anything, Simone’s project actually consists of.

The Shining Illustration Amina Batyreva | The McGill Daily

Bipasha Sultana Culture Writer

F

or the seventh year in a row, the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) at McGill and SSMU are collaborating to bring us “Culture Shock.”

This weeklong event starts Monday, October 15, offering the public free admission to a series of informative happenings including panels, exhibitions, talks, and screenings. Andrea Figueroa, the external coordinator of QPIRG and Culture Shock, explained that the event aims to explore the myths surrounding “immigrants, refugees, indigenous people, and communities of colour” in a way that would enable them to directly share their stories and experiences with the public.

According to Figueroa, the event was initially organized

by QPIRG as “Culture Fest” and approached the idea of cultural exploration in a tokenizing fashion, where the exploration of different cultures was relegated to a booth-to-booth visitation style that did nothing to address the complex and often oppressive situations of ethnic minorities. The desire to push past this tokenization prompted a reworking of the event to reflect and include their personal anecdotes. As Figueroa stresses, Culture Shock succeeded in becoming an avenue for members of these communities to relay their stories of hardship.

This year, Culture Shock includes panels, interactive workshops, and film screenings, in addition to an art exhibition by JustC, an art collective whose work espouses a strong ethic of social justice. Their featured exhibition, Migration Now, explores migrants’ anxiety in relation to

national borders. JustC advocates for the rights of migrants because they see population transfer as an inevitable process.

This year’s Culture Shock is structured around a main panel entitled “Migration, Prisons, and Art,” led by Favianna Rodriguez, a printmaker and digital artist based in Oakland, California. As illustrated by Rodriguez’s participation, Culture Shock refuses to take a passive stance in portraying minority experience. It aims not only to inform but also to mobilize the public to take a stance against problems that reach beyond minority groups, such as flaws within our prison system.

Groups such as The Termite Collective will be featured to advocate for the abolition of the prison system in Canada, while No One is Illegal will discuss the practice of “double punishment” for refugees and immigrants. This

process involves punishing prisoners twice over by stripping them of certain fundamental rights once they are in prison. In their upcoming panel at Culture Shock, No One is Illegal will specifically contest the application of double punishment to immigrant prisoners, who are subject to immediate deportation if they serve a minimum term of five years.

Following its weeklong series of socially and politically conscious panels, workshops, and screenings, Culture Shock will end on a lighter note by hosting a fundraising party on October 19 at Il Motore. The party will include local DJs and is intended to raise funds for Solidarity Across Borders and the Immigrant Workers Center.

For further information, check out the full schedule of events at qpirgmcgill.org/culture-shock.

Unfit to print The McGill Daily radio show, episode 3:

That funny feeling On this week’s Unfit to Print, we take you to the strange, Dali-esque landscape where art, the brain, emotion, and sensation interact. Why Dali, you ask? Because, my friends, things get surreal fast out here.

In this episode: Robots teach humans how to experience emotion An online community seeks “brain-gasms” from YouTube videos while fighting for legitimacy Airs Monday, October 15 on CKUT 90.3 at 11 a.m. | Available for streaming on mcgilldaily.com and download on iTunes

October 16 to 18 Cinema du Parc 3575 Avenue du Parc $8.50 for under 25, $11.50 general admission Celebrate Halloween by coming to Cinema du Parc’s screening of Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic, The Shining. Don’t miss your chance to see the psychotic actions of Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson in an unforgettably creepy performance, on the big screen.

Barbra Streisand

October 17 8:00 p.m.

Bell Centre $48 to $989 A lthough seemingly expensive, seeing Barbara Streisand live is actually an invaluable experience, similar to finding your soulmate, or watching your children graduate college. While her detractors libelously refer to Babs as “vapid” and “a poor singer,” they are just haters. Spending one thousand dollars ($989 + tax) to sit in Row A at her show becomes more appealing when you remember that true stars become only more beautiful and talented over time.

Bharath and his Rhythm Four

October 18 8:30, 9:45, 11:00 p.m.

Upstairs Jazz Bar 1254 Mackay $10 The venerable downtown jazz institution Upstairs will be hosting one of the city’s most prominent blues quartets. Bharath sings and plays guitar and harmonica, accompanied by standup bass and drums.

The band takes inspiration from the classic sound of the American South, as interpreted in the bars of Chicago and the Midwest.

compendium!

The McGill Daily Monday, October 15, 2012 mcgilldaily.com

lies, half-truths, and lentilslentilslentils GIVEUSMONEY

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Petro Canada wins 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Angry critics pick up arms in response Euan EK The Twice-a-Weekly

P

etro Canada has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for four decades of work in advancing peace around the world.

The Nobel committee in Oslo said Petro Canada had helped to transform the world “from a backwards land of stones and pebbles to a world of tamagotchis.”

The award comes as Petro Canada faces increasing criticism for its role in digging up thousands and thousands of years worth of the sun’s energy buried beneath the pristine landscape of Alberta in order to slowly suffocate humanity to death with toxic fumes.

Announcing the award, Nobel committee President Thorbjoern Jagland acknowledged Petro Canada’s current attempts to exterminate mankind and “force the third apocalypse” onto seven billion people, but said “people like Nelson Mandela needed [sic] cars to get around in.”

“Without Petro Canada, or its fellow oil companies, people would be just walking or biking everywhere.

Can you imagine someone like Martin Luther King walking around from place to place? Spreading his message on two wheels? Do you know how long that would have taken? Literally no one would have cared. He’d have

just been ‘that guy on a bike.’ You’d have been all like ‘Oh, that’s Martin, the guy on the bike, he did absolutely nothing for me today. Nothing. But that’s okay, because he’s just a guy on the bike, just minding his own business on his two wheels, and that’s cool,’” said Jagland.

“You know what makes ordinary people fucking Nobel Prize winners? Not cycling their cheapasses everywhere. You wanna win the Prize? Start taking yourself seriously, for a start. And. Fuck. On a bike? Look, no one, and I mean no one, can take you seriously on a bike. It’s like all the big dawg peace-savers are fucking speeding away in a Ferrari or some other swag shit, and you’re just back in Nowheresville, Ontario eating your fucking banana. Get rid of the banana, get off those two wheels, and join the fucking big leagues. Yeah, Petro Canada wins ‘cause they bring the big leagues.

No bananas, no bullshit, they just bring it big and everywhere and all of the time. And boom. Nobel prize. Boom.” Jagland said.

The last organization to be given the prize outright was Médecins Sans Frontières, which won in 1999 for saving literally millions of people around the world from almost certain death.

A representative from Médecins Sans Frontières called this year’s award “fully stupid” and said the organization will

now begin sending arms to “each and every doctor, nurse, and health-care worker out there.”

“This is such a joke. Seriously.

The Nobel Peace Prize committee needs to read something. Just a thing. But it’s too late. So lock and load. Médecins Sans Frontières is going in. Straight up boom-boom blap blap fucking in there with our guns like big bags of dicks swinging around and around our heads. First Obama and now this? If this is the Nobel committee’s idea of peace we will show them what their ‘peace’ looks like. It looks like war in their faces. We gonna have doctors up in their grillz.”

A spokesperson for Petro Canada said the company welcomed the acclaim, and that they had been working toward a moment like this since before the company’s inception in 1975.

“I believe it is justified for Petro Canada to see its work for peace recognized, not only in the context of Canada, but the world,” he said.

“We started way back before the wheel was invented, just six people and a vision. And now Petro Canada is the most impor-

tant project in the world for peace in terms of transnational, supranational cooperation. Without us no one could do anything.”

Euan EK is the David Sugar Professor of Rationality. He can be reached at d.sugar@mcgill.ca.

New Rez couple have nice date at Juliette & Chocolat “Relationship might develop further,” says one

D

ear Diary,

It was a tough day at work today, so I’m feeling really down. The anarchists had their usual manif contre moi and I swear to God some of them were throwing orange cones.

Like you know the cones that they use to direct traffic? They were actually throwing them at us. It was unbelievable, the lack of respect. I’m almost at a loss for words. I mean, that rubber is like really, really hard. I think I even have a bruise forming on my arm. Can you believe it? When the anarchists behave like that I mean it really just makes you feel...unwelcome. Like you’re not wanted, you know? I mean, it just really hurts your feelings when they act like that. Like I know that kid lost an eye from that flash bang gre-

nade we threw at him, but like c’mon we had to do that, y’know? It was totally like, a necessary action, because they didn’t tell us where they were going on their march. But the cones is just way too far! I didn’t sign up for this at the police academy.

Thank God I had that billy club, and helmet, and shield, and flak jacket, and horse, and gun, and pepper spray. Like, those anarchists should really just respect our space you know? We need a space that is, like, safe, for us. Like a safe space for cops.

Ugh, anyway off to bed, will definitely sleep tight, my arms are so tired from cracking skulls and sending skinny anarchists to the hospital.

Goodnight.

an SPVM riot cop

Photo Zeus Chan | The Twice-a-Weekly

EDITORIAL

volume 102 number 12

19

The Daily’s SSMU GA endorsements

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

Queen Arsem-O’Malley

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com

coordinating news editor

Juan Camilo Velásquez news editors

Laurent Bastien Corbeil Lola Duffort Annie Shiel commentary&compendium! editors

Jacqueline Brandon Steve Eldon Kerr culture editors

Kaj Huddart Victoria Lessard features editor

Christina Colizza science+technology editor

Anqi Zhang

health&education editor

Peter Shyba sports editor

Evan Dent

multimedia editor

Kate McGillivray photo editor

Hera Chan Illustrations editor

Amina Batyreva

Motion Regarding Renewing Support for Accessible Education — YES The Daily strongly endorses this motion, which would renew SSMU’s recently-expired mandate to work with student movements and the government to call for investment in postsecondary education and oppose non-consensual fee increases. Given the key role of SSMU’s accessible education policy in motivating the Society to fight tuition increases over the past year, renewing it is crucial in the ongoing fight to keep Quebec education accessible. This is particularly important when one considers the plight of international students, who make up a large portion of our peers and for whom tuition is not frozen.

Motion Regarding Renaming the SSMU Breakout Room — YES In a motion to rename the SSMU Breakout Room – because, let’s face it, “Breakout Room” is the worst name for a room ever – there is a proposal to honour the late Montreal activist (and McGill grad) Madeleine Parent.

Parent would join Gertrude Stein in being a female namesake for Shatner Building rooms, though Parent’s room will probably feature less alcohol.

SSMU has the right idea in mind by remembering Parent’s work in a visible and important way, so The Daily says hell yeah feminism.

Motion Regarding Installation of a Bouldering Wall — NO Without a firm plan in place, installing a bouldering wall should not necessarily be at the top of the priorities list. A bouldering room would be cool and would probably mean most of us skip class to use it, however, such an expensive undertaking needs a more extensive proposal. Other poorly-addressed issues are the safety concerns around the project, a risk and expense that SSMU just isn’t capable of handling. Perhaps this is a better project for the newly remodeled McGill gym.

Motion Regarding Ethical Investments at McGill — YES Don’t be discouraged by the scientific jargon and footnotes at the start of this motion – it boils down to this: we don’t like Tar Sands or other environmentally damaging initiatives. The motion calls for SSMU to lobby the federal government to thoroughly examine the impact that Tar Sands have, and for us to pressure McGill to divest from companies that are invested in Tar Sands and from companies that have negative impacts on their surroundings.

design&production editors

Edna Chan Rebecca Katzman

copy editor

Nicole Leonard web editor

Tom Acker le délit

Nicolas Quiazua

rec@delitfrancais.com

cover design Hera Chan contributors Hannah Besseau, Jon Booth, Daniel Braden, Alexander Chang, Camille Chabrol, Jessica Fu, Vivian Gu, Ralph Haddad, Esther Lee, Michael Lee-Murphy, Mona Luxion, Maria Mastorakos, Caitlin Mouri, Hugh Podmore, Maya Richman, Nicholas Roy, Bipasha Sultana

Motion Regarding Opposition to Canadian Military Involvement in Iran — YES The Daily strongly opposes the potential war with Iran, as well as McGill’s ties to the military. This motion is essential in order to ensure that the hundreds of Iranian students among us are supported in the event that Canadian military aggression erupts into conflict. As a public research university, McGill should play no part in supporting the military-industrial complex.

While The Daily supports the motion wholly, we do think that the fourth “resolved” clause needs to be clarified in its statement that SSMU should “create a policy opposing military activity,” as such an open-ended statement could have broad implications such as denying humanitarian interventions.

The SSMU GA will be held at 4:30 p.m. today in the SSMU Ballroom.

3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-26 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6790 fax 514.398.8318 advertising & general manager Boris

Shedov sales representative Letty Matteo ad layout & design Geneviève Robert Mathieu Ménard dps board of directors

Queen Arsem-O’Malley, Joseph Henry, Erin Hudson, Rebecca Katzman, Anthony Lecossois, Matthew Milne, Olivia Messer, Sheehan Moore (chair@dailypublications.org), Farid Muttalib, Shannon Palus, Nicolas Quiazua, Boris Shedov

All contents © 2012 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff.

Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec.

ISSN 1192-4608.

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