The Concordian - March 27th, 2018

Concordia University’s weekly, independent student newspaper

theconcordian.com

VOLUME 35, ISSUE 24 | TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2018

theconcordian

 /theconcordian  @theconcordian

“This is no longer a partisan issue; it is simply a question of our humanity.”

News p. 4

feature

life

How to cover a refugee crisis p. 9

A passion for teaching and statistics — A part-time faculty profile

arts

music

sports

p. 16

opinions

Skipping class Interacting with Montreal's spring Johnson ready fibre artwork p. 10 concert lineup p. 12 for comeback p. 14 for self care p. 18

news

NEWS EDITORS /// news@theconcordian.com CANDICE PYE & ETIENNE LAJOIE ( @candicepye @renegadereports)

STUDENT POLITICS

CSU has four referendum questions for students

Library and bookstore funding, two-round voting and more student spaces on the ballot this week MATTHEW LAPIERRE ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR From March 27 to 29, Concordia students will go to the polls to elec t representatives and executives for the Concordia Student Union (CSU), but candidates’ names will not be the only things on the ballot.

There are four issues students will be asked to vote on this week.

Library services

The Library Services Fund is due for renewal. According to Veronika Rydzewski, the CSU’s internal affairs and clubs coordinator, the fund was first established in 2009 but was only ratified for 10 years. The contract will expire in 2019. Without the fund, students would lose 24-hour access to the Vanier and Webster libraries and services, including laptop and tablet lending and access to course reserve textbooks.

This week , students will be asked if they

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

agree to continue contributing $1 per credit to the Libr ar y Services Fund. A Quebec resident student who completes a major (90 credits) will contribute $90 to the fund during their time at Concordia. If approved, the project will be funded for another 10 years, until the fall of 2029.

Two-round voting

In Januar y 2018, the CSU resolved to adopt a two-round voting system for electing executives to fill positions vacated before the end of the mandate.

This week, a referendum question will ask students if they agree with that decision.

According to the motion, the two-round system would guarantee executives are voted in by a majority of representatives on the council. According to C SU documents, there is currently no system in place for choosing an executive to fill a vacant position, which caused delays when electing a

finance coordinator to replace Soulaymane El Alaoui, who resigned for personal reasons in November 2017.

Co-op bookstore fee increase

Question three on the ballot will ask students if they agree wit h an increa se in fees to fund the Concordia Community Solidarity Co-op Bookstore. If accepted, the fees alloted by the CSU to the bookstore would increase from $0.10 to $0.14 per credit for every undergraduate student. The book store also asks shoppers for a one-time $5 fee to become a member of the co-op.

“It’ll pay for itself,” said Eamon Toohey, a part-time employee at the co-op bookstore. According to Toohey, co-op shoppers collectively saved $3,500 through subsidized textbook purchases during the winter semester.

“The bookstore is growing in popularity as textbooks get more

expensive,” he said, noting that the co-op bookstore currently has over 7,000 members.

According to Toohey, the additional funds would allow the bookstore to sustainably pay its employees a livable wage of $15 per hour, increase their inventor y and expand into online book s ales. The bookstore currently employs three Concordia undergraduate students, but with the funding increase, Toohey said they might be able to hire more.

More student and club spaces

The final question put to voters will be whether or not they support the CSU expanding and improving spaces for students and clubs on campus.

“This is purely to mandate the future CSU executives to start investigating what is needed to improve current club spaces,” Rydzewski said. “There is no cost associated to it.”

STUDENT POLITICS

ASFA to pose four referendum questions Federation to consult their electorate on fee levy and bylaw alterations

CANDICE PYE NEWS EDITOR During election polling on March 27, 28 and 29, the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) will be posing four referendum questions to their electorate. They will include two fee levy questions and two bylaw questions.

Increasing ASFA’s fee levy The first referendum question will ask Concordia students whether or not they suppor t increasing ASFA’s fee levy to $1.40 per credit—an increase of $0.18. According to ASFA president Jonathan Roy, the association’s fee levy has not been increased in a few years, and while they are the association with the largest number of students, they ask for the smallest amount of money per credit.

“Inflation plays a role,” Roy said. “Things get more expensive, and we’ve also been growing.” He said ASFA has added three new Member Associations (MAs) this year, and they may be adding

several more. Roy also stated that ASFA plans to increase and improve the projects and services they offer students. This includes providing support to their Task Force on Sexual and Racialized Violence and Harassment—a new initiative that is fully backed

by ASFA. According to Roy, the association plans to expand their advocacy projects as well, by hosting lecture series, mental health talks and providing MAs with more funding.

“We can’t do that without money,” Roy said.

CUCCR seeks funding

The Concordia University Centre for Creative Reuse (CUCCR) will be the subject of ASFA’s second fee levy referendum question.

The centre is seeking funding from students to upgrade their facilities and continue to provide free, reusable items and tools to the community.

Although the funding will not be supplied to CUCCR directly

by ASFA, the association will be proposing the implementation of a $0.04 per credit fee levy on behalf of CUCCR as a referendum question.

According to Roy, ASFA is advocating for the implementation of the fee levy as it will help with CUCCR’s basic operations and allow the Concordia community to benefit from the centre’s resources.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

ASFA bylaw revisions

When it comes to the current state of ASFA’s bylaws, Roy said they have a reputation for being “convoluted,” “confusing” and “a hot mess.” This is why ASFA will be asking its voters to approve a general bylaw revision that will make the administrative aspects of the association more fluid. Roy said the “stripped-down version of the bylaws” will allow ASFA to run more efficiently in the future.

Indigenous sovereignty

Finally, the ASFA executive is asking that their electorate vote “yes” to a bylaw that would require ASFA to take no action in opposition to Indigenous sovereignty. Roy said implementing this bylaw would reaffirm ASFA’s “commitment to supporting Indigenous peoples’ rights.”

According to Roy, in the past, ASFA has taken positions that support Indigenous sovereignty

and rights, such as reciting a territorial acknowledgement before every meeting.

Elliott Boulanger, a First Peoples studies student and an ASFA candidate on the Fill In The Blanks slate, said their team endorses a “yes” vote to this bylaw.

“It would show that ASFA is taking a stance on Indigenous politics and sovereignty,” they said. “I think it’s long overdue.

It should have been done a long time ago.”

To st udent s who may be opposed to the addition of this bylaw, Roy said it’s not about disregarding the rights of any other

particular cultural or ethnic group, but about ensuring equality and respecting the “various cultures and communities that live in the Montreal/Tiohtiá:ke region.

He said having the bylaw implemented would ensure that anyone looking to change it would have to endure a much more laborious process than simply discussing it at a council meeting.

“It makes it a lot harder for anyone to oppose this attempt at standing in solidarity with Indigenous people,” Roy said.

“We hope that students see the merit of this question and will stand with us.”

MARCH 27, 2018

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SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

“I want some accountability from this institution” Former Concordia student files human rights complaint against Concordia university MEGAN HUNT ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR More than two months since the start of the investigation into sexual abuse and misconduct allegations against creative writing instructors, another Concordia professor has been accused of sexual harassment.

A former student, who wished to be identified by the pseudonym “Alya,” filed a human rights complaint with Montreal’s Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) after enduring what she considered to be repeated sexual harassment from a professor in the philosophy department.

Alya not only claims she was subjected to sexual harassment, but that the university did not take sufficient action despite years of discussing her experiences with faculty members, deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy and the universit y ’s Of fice of Rights and Responsibilities (ORR). In her complaint, Alya said she is seeking $60,000 in damages from the university, and is requesting that Concordia take sanctions against the accused professor and “address the systemic failings of its sexual violence and sexual harassment policies” within the next six months.

“I want some accountability from this institution,” Alya said. “I want this to not happen to other people. It’s not fair. It’s not okay.”

THE INITIAL ABUSE Alya claims she met the professor in 2008 when he was teaching a mandatory first-year course for students in the philosophy department. When he first began to show an interest in her outside of the classroom, she hoped it would lead to a friendly student-teacher relationship.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

From her perspective, what happened instead was “creepy” and blatant harassment. He began to email her repeatedly, often late at night, inviting her to concerts and out for drinks. In one of his emails, the professor wrote he could “get you drinking Scotch and [sic] Dancing!!!!”, despite Alya telling him she did not drink. In another email, he wrote: “I could always slip some vodka into your pop when you weren’t looking.”

Alya alleges that, on two occasions, the professor invited her out under the guise of meeting with master’s students, but when she arrived at the bar, it was only the professor and another female student, who Alya said she believes also experienced harassment.

Feeling powerless and violated, Alya said the harassment drove her to discontinue her studies at Concordia and leave Montreal before completing her second semester to pursue a summer job.

“Even now, if I see someone that resembles him, it freaks me out,” Alya said. “I haven’t gone into the philosophy department since then [...] There was no way in hell I was going to step foot in the philosophy department again with that man still working there.”

NINE YEARS, NO ACTION

According to Alya, the allegations outlined in her complaint should come as no surprise to the university administration. Since the spring of 2009, Alya said she has discussed her experiences with university officials, including deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy and former ombudsperson Kristen Robillard. Yet, according to Alya, she was bounced around “like a ball in a pinball machine.”

Alya first reached out to the ORR in May 2009, with the hope of being able to hand in and receive credit for assignments she did not finish when she left Concordia before the end of the semester. Alya said the ORR asked her to contact the then-chair of the philosophy department, Matthias Fritsch.

For the course taught by the accused professor, Fritsch granted her an extension and arranged for the outstanding coursework to be marked by an independent grader. However, Fritsch denied her request for an extension on work for two other courses she did not complete, telling her via email that her argument that she felt too uncomfortable to be in the department was “insufficient” and her decision to leave Montreal was made “at [her] own discretion.”

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

In the same email, Fr it s c h a l s o re commended Alya speak to her other professors about extensions, but cautioned her that it “would be best not to mention the harassment case, as it is confidential and also [...] an insufficient reason.” Alya did not tell her other professors about the harassment and failed both courses.

When she returned to Concordia to take classes outside of

the philosophy department in December 2014, Alya reached out to Gregory Lavers, the then-interim chair of the philosophy department, about removing her failed courses f rom her transcript. He referred her back to the ORR, where she was told she had waited too long to file a complaint with the university. She was then referred to Robillard.

Despite filing a complaint with the then-ombudsperson, Alya never received a response, even after she called to follow up.

ONE OF MANY CONCORDIA COMPLAINTS Currently employed in the tattoo industr y, Al y a s aid t hat, w hen she began her studies at Concordia nearly 10 years ago, she had been hoping for a career in academia. Although her transcript was altered in 2017 to change her failed marks to “discontinued,” Alya said her lowered GPA had already cost her opportunities, including rejection from a McGill education program.

Despite filing the complaint on her own, Alya insists she is not the only woman who faced harassment from this professor. As a student, she suspected some of her female peers were also being targeted, and she claims she once spoke to the ORR on behalf of another student making allegations against the professor. She also said she discovered a number of female students avoided taking courses taught by this professor because of his reputation of being inappropriate.

I n O c t o b e r 2 0 1 7, encouraged by the Me Too movement and the subsequent investigation

into Concordia’s own creative writing program, Alya decided to reach out to CRARR and file a complaint.

“With the Me Too thing, I thought, ‘Oh, wow, people can actually do something about what happened.’

This exact thing happened to me, and no one did anything,” Alya said. “I thought, ‘Okay, I have to do something.’”

Although the current investigation being conducted by deputy provost Lisa Ostiguy is focused on Concordia’s English department and creative writing program, there have been multiple complaints filed against the university in recent years. According to Fo Niemi, the executive director of CRARR, the organization has taken on six human rights complaints against the university, four of which are still being considered by Quebec’s Human Rights Commission.

“We believe, in the end, someone at the institution has to be held accountable,” Niemi said.

“We want to pinpoint, specifically, the president and the board of directors [...] Ultimately, the president, Alan Shepard, has to be held accountable.”

GPSA condemns sexual violence ÉTIENNE LAJOIE NEWS EDITOR Concordia’s Graduate Philosophy Students’ Association (GPSA) is demanding cour s es t aug ht by a tenured philosophy professor accused of sexual misconduct be suspended by the university.

Former Concordia student “Alya” claims she endured harassment as an undergraduate beginning in 2009, and the university did not take sufficient action. “ The Graduate Philosophy Students’ Association expresses our suppor t for the victims of these incidents and all se xual violence. We believe you,” read a statement from the GPSA sent to The Concordian .

The GPSA said it’s working to hold the philosophy department responsible for the safet y and well-being of its students. The association is also demanding faculty members “receive training on handling students’ claims of sexual harassment and assault,” according to the statement.

To deal with these issues that affect multiple departments, the GP SA argues, “systematic and structural change in Concordia’s administration is needed.”

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theconcordian

MARCH 27, 2018

COVER STORY

Montrealers march to support Parkland teens A month after Florida tragedy, hundreds of protesters demand gun control reform

Montrealers marched on March 24 in support of victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school shooting. Photos by Mackenzie Lad.

MEGAN HUNT ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR “A year ago, I was sitting in the classrooms of Stoneman Douglas,” said Cyril Yared as he waited for the rally to begin. “I still have two sisters who are there.”

While millions have heard the horrific stor y of the Feb. 14 school shooting that took 17 lives in Parkland, Fla., for Yared, the tragedy is personal. Now a first-year McGill student, Yared graduated last year from Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD), the high school where 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire on teachers and classmates. While Yared’s sisters, who were both at school on the day of the shooting, were unharmed, Yared did know Carmen Schentrup, a 16-year-old girl who was killed by Cruz.

“I knew that one day the world would know her name—perhaps because she found the cure for cancer or some other extraordinary reason,” Yared said about Schentrup, whom he says he remembers as a bright, ambitious student who took classes several

grades ahead of her level. “She was left as evidence of another community shattered by the sound of gunshots.”

Ya r e d w a s o n e o f t h r e e Parkland residents who spoke at the rally in Cabot Square in downtown Montreal on March 24. Debbie Desmettre, a 1997 MSD graduate, and Ellen Malka, a mother of two MSD students, also gave stirring speeches. “ O u r c o m m u n i t y, o u r peaceful little Parkland, was attacked,” Malka said. “These kids experienced things that nobody should ever have to.” She added that, while her children were not physically harmed in the shooting, one of them was traumatized by the sight of the victims’ bodies during the evacuation.

“Although this is an American issue, we feel it is our duty to stand in solidarity with our neighbours,” said Sophie Saidmehr, a McGill student and one of the two primary organizers of the local protest. “This is no longer a partisan issue; it is simply a question of our humanity.”

After the speeches, protesters marched along Ste-Catherine Street West and René-Lévesque Boulevard. Many protesters brandished signs with politically charged messages, including “Protect Children, Not Guns,” “Never Again” and “We Call B.S.”—a reference to MSD student Emma Gonzalez’s now-famous speech given at a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 17. Throughout the march, chants among the crowd included “Take no pay from the N.R.A.” and “Vote them out.”

The event, which gathered hundreds, was a sister march to the one held in Washington, D.C., which organizers estimate was attended by about 800,000 people, reported NBC News—300,000 more than originally predicted.

The protest, officially called March For Our Lives, was created in response to high rates of gun violence in the United States.

According to Time, there have been 239 school shootings in the United States since 2014, resulting in 138 deaths. Many statisticians, activists and mass shooting survivors believe

the astonishing rate of violence is connected to the country’s lax gun laws. In some states, weapons such as AR-15 style rifles can be purchased without a background check or waiting period.

For a long time, the cycle has seemed never-ending: another highly publicized, deadly mass shooting would occur, from Columbine to Las Vegas, and little political action would be taken after the news cycle ended. However, following the Parkland shooting, a number of teenage survivors voiced their outrage on social media and in the press, adopting the role of gun control advocates. In collaboration with the non-profit organization Everytown For Gun Safety, a number of MSD students, including Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg and Sarah Chadwick, organized the original demonstration in the capital.

Since the protest was announced in the days following the Parkland shooting, more than 800 sibling marches were planned across the globe. Other Canadian cities, like Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and St-John’s, also participated.

Despite the topic of gun control often being labeled an “American issue,” some Montreal protesters handed out flyers opposing the fact that AR-15s, the weapon used in the Parkland and other high-profile shootings, are also legal in Canada. There are, however, tighter restrictions on these weapons here than in the United States, such as mandatory background checks and a cap on the number of ammunition rounds that can be owned at one time, set at five.

After just a few weeks, the Parkland shooting survivors have already made significant progress in passing Florida gun control legislation by pushing Senator Marco Rubio to endorse certain gun control measures. However, Yared said there is still work to be done, and it’s important that Canadian and American citizens who are concerned about this issue register to vote and speak with their government representatives.

“This march is just one step,” Yared said. “We just have to keep going forward [...] We’ll have to fight at the polls to get the change that we want.”

MARCH 27, 2018

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CONTROVERSY

ASFA, CSU execs condemn THR-Bar fundraiser Concordia community responds to local bar’s support of convicted sex offender MAGGIE HOPE ARTS EDITOR On the morning of March 15, Le Journal de Montréal published an article revealing that TRHBar—a popular nightlife spot for many students—hosted a fundraiser for former bouncer and convicted sex offender Steve Bouchard.

The Journal’s article was centred around Bouchard’s victim and former girlfriend, Martine Beaudet-Aune.

She expressed her anger at TRHBar’s event and said she felt as though the bar’s organizers were “laughing in my face,” according to the Journal.

Although TRH-Bar has been a frequent destination for many young people and students— especially during holidays and frosh weeks— Nick Gertler, the vice-president of communications and promotions for the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA), and Leyla Sutherland, the student life coordinator for the Concordia Student Union (CSU), both insisted the organizations have never had any sort of relationship with TRH-Bar. Both Gertler and Sutherland also added

t hat n eit h er intended for ASFA nor the the assailant’s CSU will have “reintegration” associations into societ y with the bar in after he was the future. released. In “Certainly, the article by I’d hope that the Journal any future frosh and another leaders would published by discourage Eater Montreal from going shortly after, to TRH-Bar,” Bouchard was Ger tler said, charged in adding that early 2017 and ASFA is working is still behind to address the TRH-Bar is under fire because of a party it organized for former bouncer bars. “social context” and convicted sex offender Steve Bouchard. Photo byKirubel Mehari.

TRH-Bar’s that these types statement said of issues emerge from. so people know what to watch the bar does not support rape Gertler outlined the steps for and know what is and is not culture and has always encouraged t h e f e d e r a t i o n h a s t a ke n acceptable. That is the most direct its clientele and employees to toward encouraging a more action we can take.” maintain a respectful environment. consent-driven, informed comThe afternoon after the Journal It also claims the fundraiser was an munity at Concordia. article was published, TRH-Bar “error of judgement,” and that its “We have a task force that is released a statement on their organizers did not take the victim’s right now, in part, dealing with Facebook page. The post did not experience into account. sexual assault issues within the Arts deny their involvement in the Since the initial article’s release, and Science community. There are event, nor the fact that it was held TRH-Bar’s Facebook page has been consent trainings at frosh now,” he with the goal of raising money for swarmed with negative ratings and said. “I think what we’re trying to Bouchard. According to the Journal, reviews. One contributor wrote that do is work within our domain to the money raised at the fundraiser, she “regret[s] every night spent” at address those kinds of behaviours, which was called “Free Steve,” was the bar, while another urged visitors

to “think about [...] next time you want to encourage a bar that shows no respect whatsoever for rape victims.” As of Monday evening, the bar’s overall Facebook rating sat at 1.5 out of five stars, with more than 2,000 one-star ratings.

In a recent poll The Concordian conducted on Instagram, 96 per cent of participants (most of whom were Concordia students) said they don’t intend to return to TRH-Bar after having heard about the fundraiser.

Julieta Filippo, a third-year Concordia marketing student, said the news left her questioning whether she’d feel safe if she were to return.

“I wouldn’t go back unless I felt like something had changed since this event,” she said. “It would just make me feel unsafe.”

Another Concordia student, who requested to remain anonymous, was interested in whether or not the incident would spark “a community commitment towards supporting survivors.” They added “it is easy to say that you stand behind the condemnation of TRH, but the next step is to actively choose to not support their enterprise.”

TRH-Bar did not respond to a request for comment.

PANEL

Rethinking sexual misconduct policies

Shepard criticized for brief appearance

ALEX HUTCHINS PHOTO EDITOR

ALEX HUTCHINS PHOTO EDITOR

Professor Jennifer Doyle says changes are needed in universities

Queer feminist theorist Jennifer Doyle spoke at a conference hosted at Concordia on March 20. “Harassment and the Unraveling of the Queer Commons” discussed the current climate for queer feminist theorists and the interplay between individuals who report sexual harassment and the power dynamics of post-secondary institutions.

Doyle, an English professor from the University of California, Riverside, has long been interested in the handling of sexual harassment cases within educational institutions. As the daughter of a feminist activist, when she was young, Doyle attended local National Organization for Women chapter meetings where women strategized and compiled Title XI lawsuits.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, Title XI “protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs” in 16,500 school districts and 7,000 post-secondary institutions in the United States. Traditionally, Title XI lawsuits created change on a case-by-case basis, Doyle explained. However, she said that in the last five years, there has been a “wave of activism,” partly consisting of more individuals going to the press or other public avenues, such as personal blogs, to share their stories. “That story is not going to come out any other way,” Doyle said.

However, sharing personal stories

Photo by Alex Hutchins.

with news media outlets often comes as a double-edged sword, Doyle argued, since the publicity that results from the article is almost never in the best interest of the community impacted by the sexual harassment.

“The comments section of that [article becomes] a gutter,” Doyle said, where individual experiences are publicly contested. Those comments sections tend to become a site for further sexual harassment, she added.

Doyle explained that post-secondary institutions need to improve the way they try to help those who come forward navigate the public attention they receive during an ongoing investigation. She described her experience as a faculty member when handling cases of sexual harassment made by students as being “part of a machine.” She added there is typically little commitment

to the well-being of individuals who report cases of sexual misconduct.

On the one hand, while Doyle criticized the tendency of discussions surrounding policy reform to frame “sexual harassment [as] happening because there [is] a policy failure,” she nonetheless recognized the important role those policies play.

Doyle also emphasized that, while post-secondary institutions as a whole are limited in how they can publicly respond to sexual harassment cases, individual faculty departments have more liberty with issuing public statements, particularly when it comes to supporting those who come forward with their stories.

“What a [department] can do is [...] put its weight behind the victims and say, ‘We are grateful to these women who are coming forward and sharing their stories,’” Doyle said, specifically referencing what the astronomy department at the University of California, Berkeley, did during the investigation of professor Geoff Marcy.

The faculty members of the astronomy department collectively agreed to publish a letter on the department's website, stating they "fully support the survivors of harassment [...] and reject any suggestion that [their] sympathies should be with the perpetrators of sexual harassment.”

“I don't think the [department] needs to wait to say that,” Doyle said. “You can communicate a lot of support for victims without actually getting into details about the case.”

In an email to The Concordian, Debby Gemme, the president of the Concordia Association for Students in English (CASE), expressed frustration at Concordia president Alan Shepard’s brief appearance at a talk given by Jennifer Doyle, an English professor from the University of California, Riverside, on March 20.

According to Gemme, Shepard only stayed for 10 to 15 minutes “before discreetly exiting the room while Jennifer Doyle was talking.”

Doyle’s conference, “Harassment and the Unraveling of the Queer Commons,” addressed the current climate surrounding queer and feminist theorists and the handling of sexual harassment cases in universities.

University spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr said Shepard “had several commitments on behalf of the university Tuesday night,” and consequently was not able to attend the conference in its entirety. Barr added that Shepard “had a great conversation with [Doyle] prior to the event.”

Nonetheless, Gemme characterized Shepard’s presence as “nothing more than a transparent PR appearance to perpetuate the illusion that the administration is, in their words, taking the issue [of sexual misconduct allegations] seriously.”

“While we understand that M. Shepard is surely busy,” Gemme wrote, “his decision to show up long enough for attendees to see him, and leave once the discussion actually began, demonstrates, in our view, a complete lack of sensitivity and respect.”

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theconcordian

MARCH 27, 2018

ACCESSIBILITY

ACSD members deserve better: CSU councillor

Rory James wants students to share their concerns about the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities IAN DOWN STAFF WRITER “You don’t look disabled; I don’t see what’s wrong with you.” Rory James says that’s exactly what one professor told him.

James is registered with the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities (ACSD), a resource that supports over 2,000 Concordia students who have physical disabilities, learning disabilities or mental illnesses by providing them with academic accommodations and connecting them with relevant resources.

According to James, their support currently isn’t enough.

James is a marketing and finance student, a John Molson School of Business councillor in the Concordia Student Union, and the council chairperson of the Arts and Science Federation of Associations. Over the past year and a half, he has been informally surveying students and faculty about their experiences with the ACSD. Drawing on these conversations—he has spoken to about 30 students and 10 faculty members—as well as his own experience, he plans to approach the ACSD after final exams with suggestions on how to improve their services.

One of the ACSD’s main services is providing students with accommodations during their exams. However, James said there needs to be an ACSD exam “bill of rights,” an institutional framework that outlines the exam rights of every student registered with the centre.

“Almost all the students I’ve talked to have mentioned invigilators changing things last minute, or not respecting accommodations,” he said.

James cited a personal experience in which an invigilator chastised him for using Microsoft Excel during an exam, even though his professor’s approval of his use of the software was indicated on his exam sheet.

Alexandre St-Onge-Perron, the president of the Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia (TRAC) union, said his organization, which represents invigilators, has never heard of the allegations described by James before.

“If students have felt that their specific needs were not answered properly, they should refer to the ACSD so that the centre can make sure their needs and rights as student are respected,” St-Onge-Perron told The Concordian. “I have heard that some invigilators would like to have even more extensive training, as they want to make sure they give the best possible service,” he added.

James would also like to see the ACSD do a better job of communicating students’ needs to professors. When a student is registered with the centre, each of their professors receives a letter notifying them that a student in their class requires accommodations.

However, the letters do not include the student’s name or the nature of their disability, meaning students must explain their need for accommodations to their teachers themselves. James said this sometimes makes professors reluctant to

Over 2,000 Concordia students are registered with the Access Centre for Students with Disabilities. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

grant accommodations to students like him, who do not have visible disabilities.

James said he has spoken to teachers who take issue with this policy as well, since it makes providing proper accommodations more difficult. He cited one second-hand account of a professor who was unaware one of his students was epileptic, and as a result, didn’t know how to intervene when the student had an epileptic seizure during class.

Anne-Marie Sénécal is registered with the ACSD for chronic tendonitis in her left arm. However, she said she regularly receives emails from the centre adver tising conferences for ADHD and other disabilities she does not have. In addition, Sénécal is allowed a computer during exams, but she said the keyboards provided by the centre have enlarged letters for students with visual impairments, which she finds more difficult to use.

“The people who are on the autism spectrum, the people who are in a w h e elc hair, t h e p e op le w h o have ADHD—we’re all put in the same boat,” she said. Nonetheless, Sénécal praised the openness and generosity of the centre: “They’re really willing to go far [for students].”

Registrations with the ACSD have more than doubled in the last 10 years. In October 2007, The Concordian reported that between 700 and 800 students were registered with the centre, compared to the more than 2,000 today.

However, the ACSD’s website lists just nine staff members, five of whom are advisors. These advisors meet with students to recommend appropriate accommodations, connect students with relevant resources and provide adaptive technologies for classes and exams. James said he spoke to students whose requests for appointments went unacknowledged for weeks. “Sometimes they’re registered three or four weeks

into the semester,” he said.

Even the language used by the centre can be a barrier to students seeking accommodations, James said. Since the ACSD bills itself as a resource for students with disabilities, some students may not seek help because they do not see their own condition as a disability, he explained.

Other improvements James would like to see include stronger self-promotion on the centre’s behalf, the inclusion of parents and pregnant students in the accessibility policy, and more comfortable exam facilities, which he said are often uncomfortably hot.

According to James, about half of the students he surveyed reported positive experiences, although some of them still had concerns about the centre. Other students have had over whelmingly positive experiences with the centre.

Justin Occhionero, a second-year English literature student, is registered with the ACSD for physical impairments caused by a stroke he suffered eight months ago.

“They have been very responsive to my needs,” he said, adding that he has never had trouble receiving accommodations from any of his teachers.

Once he has collected enough feedback, James said he would like to meet with the ACSD’s manager to discuss possible areas of improvement. “As a student senator and as a CSU councillor, this is part of my job: representing students and their concerns,” he said.

At the end of the fall 2017 semester, James raised many of his concerns with the centre’s administration, but did not feel his concerns were acknowledged.

James said he is not worried about pushback from the centre. “I’m assertive about voicing my rights,” he said. “So if anyone discriminates [against me] or treats me differently because I spoke out against the centre, I am okay.”

Assistant to president retires ÉTIENNE LAJOIE NEWS EDITOR An executive assistant to Concordia president Alan Shepard has retired. According to a job posting on Concordia’s website, the university is looking to hire an executive assistant to the president and vice-chancellor.

The president’s office is composed of director of administration Erica Howse, executive assistants Jeanne Bisson and Louise Ryan, as well as administrative assistant Samia Sayias.

University spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr did not specify which assistant has left the president’s staff.

The position’s annual salary will range from $72,918 to $84,604, the posting indicates. The executive assistant’s responsibilities include managing the agenda of the president, overseeing travel and accommodation arrangements, and preparing his expense reports.

The job description also includes authorizing and compiling data from the president’s meetings to report to the government and stakeholders, in addition to serving as a liaison with the office of the chair of the Board of Governors to authorize the president’s expense reports.

ACSD did not respond to The Concordian’s request for comment in time for publication.

life

LIFE EDITOR /// life@theconcordian.com SANDRA HERCEGOVÁ

CULTURE

Voices from the African-Canadian community African Students’ Association and CEED Concordia welcome influential leaders in African development SANDRA HERCEGOVA LIFE EDITOR For the first time, the African Students’ Association of Concordia (ASAC) teamed up with non-profit organization CEED Concordia to present “Roots: Growth on the African Continent" on March 23.

The conference featured four speakers from different African countries, who shared anecdotes and experiences about their identities and the responsibility they feel to give back to their countries of origin.

The panelists spoke about their career paths and the development they have seen in Africa over the past few years, as well as how they have contributed to that growth through various projects. The moderator, Maurice Ngwakum-Akisa, emphasized the importance of connecting with the audience during the panel. “We wanted to find a way for everyone to feel that they learned something and to feel inspired to learn more,” he said.

*** Layial El-Hadi was the first panelist to introduce herself. She works as an assistant professor and program director for the graduate certificate in innovation, technology and society at Concordia. It was important for El-Hadi to discuss her grandparents’ and parents’ journeys before she shared her own. Her grandparents had the opportunity to study abroad and returned to Sudan afterwards. “They were supposed to come back and teach people in Sudan what they have learned,” El-Hadi explained.

However, circumstances were different for her parents’ generation. El-Hadi’s parents obtained international education as well, but quickly realized the opportunities for their children in Sudan were scarce.

El-Hadi moved to Canada at a young age, and identifies as Sudanese-Canadian. “My parents knew very clearly that they were Sudanese [...] but I am Sudanese-Canadian.

What that meant and what that journey meant was very difficult,” El-Hadi said.

“I’ve now come to terms with the fact that I’m very equally and loyally proud of both cultures that I’m from.”

El-Hadi graduated from the University of Calgary with a degree in political science and urban studies, and completed her MBA at HEC Montréal. As a Canadian who had all these opportunities, she asked herself what her role and responsibility was to Sudan.

“Now that I had the opportunity to be Canadian, and with the time duration away from my country and my culture, the question is what is my role,” she told the audience.

“Do I have the right to tell people there what they should or should not do?”

***

The next panelist was Charles Onu, an artificial intelligence (AI) researcher, software engineer and social innovator. Onu spent the first 25 years of his life in Nigeria but moved to Canada two years ago. He was born in

From left: Bliss Morgan, Maurice Ngwakum-Akisa, Raphael Nzirubusa, Layial El-Hadi, Charles Onu and Moses Gashirabake. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.

Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria.

“I remember feeling this need, leaving Nigeria, to learn and use my education and learning to somehow help people back there who are less fortunate than I was,” he said.

Currently, Onu is pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at McGill and is a research assistant at the university. His focus is the applications of AI and machine learning on medical diagnoses. Onu is also the creator of Ubenwa, a software that uses AI, mobile technology and the sound of a newborn’s cry to diagnose birth asphyxia.

Onu created this application in Nigeria, and Concordia’s District 3 Innovation Centre has helped with its development since Onu moved to Canada.

According to Onu, birth asphyxia is a global problem responsible for one million newborn deaths annually. “It is one of the top three causes of infant mortality,” he said. The reason asphyxia is such a big problem, particularly in Nigeria, is because it is difficult to diagnose. According to Onu, the equipment and procedures required to make a diagnosis are expensive and require medical expertise. This causes a lot of undiagnosed and untreated cases.

“There needs to be access to treatment for everybody; but in many communities, they have no doctors, they have no hospitals and the roads are so bad that travelling to the nearest clinic can result in the patient’s death,” Onu explained.

He also acknowledged an even bigger problem that has yet to be addressed.

“There is a big leadership crisis in African countries,” Onu said. “Our leadership in Nigeria especially has not provided fundamental and basic human needs [such as] power, roads and water. It’s going to be extremely hard to innovate a way around these very basic needs.”

***

Growing up in a village in Burundi, Raphael Nzirubusa was inspired by his uncle, who was a jurist and worked for the country’s Supreme Court. Curious, Nzirubusa asked his uncle how he had earned his car and lifestyle, and his uncle answered: “I just went to school.” It was at that moment Nzirubusa decided he wanted to be like his uncle. “I wanted to go on a plane and I also wanted to come back to provide some happiness to the village,” Nzirubusa said.

According to Nzirubusa, in Burundi, there is a national exam administered in elementary schools to determine which students get to attend high school, since there are very few spaces available. “Maybe 10 per cent of graduating elementary students go to high school,” he said. Nzirubusa took the test and received the highest grade in the history of the region and ended up in one of the best high schools in the country.

“You go through experiences in life that push you to work hard,” he said. “If you get a place in school, in a classroom, it’s a privilege.”

According to Nzirubusa, if you are from a village or small slum in Africa, “that triggers the will to change your life to do better, to look better, to eat better. It compels you to say, ‘I don’t want to be hungry; I want to live in a house with electricity,’” he said. Today, Nzirubusa is a founding member of the Coalition for Peace and Justice in Burundi and the executive director at J.P. Morgan.

“I put an emphasis on education because I believe in it,” he said.

***

“I was born in Rwanda, and I ended up in Canada because of circumstances, not by choice. And I consciously decided to make

the best out of it,” said Moses Gashirabake, an environmental lawyer at Fasken, an international law firm. Gashirabake left Rwanda because of the 1994 genocide and moved to Kenya where he lived as a stateless refugee for 13 years. He then moved to Canada, studied political science at Concordia University and received his two law degrees from McGill University in 2017.

“I came from being a refugee to helping elect the current prime minister of Canada,” Gashirabake said.

When he started his law degree at McGill, Gashirabake realized a positive change could be made in Africa. “The reason why I ended up in a law firm is because I believe that conflicts in Africa are going to end if we help economies grow,” he explained. According to Gashirabake, Africa has started to change in the last decade. “It’s because of millennials and young people who have decided to take a risk,” he said.

As an environmental lawyer, Gashirabake gives African countries economic advice to help them review their mining codes and environmental laws. “I am extremely passionate about giving back to society,” he said.

***

Towards the end of the discussion, moderator Ngwakum-Akisa asked the panelists an important question: “How do we paint Africa in a more positive light?”

El-Hadi said the current narrative about Africa in the media is old and tired. “We are not going to put up with that type of narrative anymore,” she said. According to El-Hadi, there are no more excuses; we are the ones who must illicite the change we want to see in the world. "Create a movement, create a social system that brings light to what is happening, educate people around you."

8

theconcordian

MARCH 27, 2018

BOOKS

A reader’s delight

Exploring the triumphs of love, relationships and hopelessness with Colleen Hoover’s novels

Colleen Hoover is a bestselling author, with 11 novels and five novellas making The New York Times bestsellers list.

Her stories are characterized as Young adult or women’s fiction. Hoover goes into great detail when writing each character’s inner thoughts . Her descriptions are so relatable the reader becomes fully immersed in the plot and lives of the characters.

HOPELESS

Eleni Probonas, Contributor Hoover’s 2012 novel is the first of the Hopeless series, preceding Losing Hope and Finding Cinderella. It is a captivating story that explores fear, pain and love in the most vulnerable way. It’s a real page-turner. Sky was homeschooled by her adoptive parents until deciding she wanted to experience high school like everyone else her age. Entering this new environment, she meets Dean Holder, who isn’t the person he claims to be. Holder is irresistibly drawn to Sky’s mysterious and blurred past. The two teenagers experience a beautiful and difficult romance. With Holder, Sky can

Comic by Libby Hopkinson.

love for the first time, and his presence jogs memories of a past she has repressed.

Hopeless explores the rocky journey Sky and Holder experience together. It also draws the reader in with an intense revelation about Sky’s past and the people around her. The plot is heavy, unexpected, heartbreaking and beautiful. The book’s title, Hopeless, which is also a tattoo on Holder’s arm, refers to more than just a lack of hope. It’s a sentimental part of the revelation.

storylines brilliantly. It’s a dual narrative; the chapters alternate between each characters’ perspective, and move from past to present and back again. This makes the characters perfectly three dimensional.

Ugly Love is an emotional rollercoaster that will make you laugh and cry as you fall in love with the characters. It’s a gut-wrenching book in a good way, and every page is filled with emotion.

Mia Anhoury, Assistant Life Editor

MAYBE SOMEDAY SERIES

The novel Ugly Love (2014) is the perfect blend of attraction, intensity, beauty and ugliness. Hoover’s unique and incredibly well-written plot line brings together two characters who are far from perfect for each other. Miles is a broken-hearted pilot, with a past he doesn’t want to share and a future he doesn’t want to plan. Tate is a nurse without any time on her hands.

Physical attraction and sex are the only things that keep Miles and Tate going back for more, despite all the complications.

Hoover develops the characters’

In Maybe Someday , Sydney’s picture-perfect world shatters when she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her with her best friend, who is also her roommate. She ends up homeless, until her mysterious neighbour, Ridge, whom she only knows because he plays guitar on his balcony every night, takes her in.

They begin writing songs together, and she becomes his muse. The writing takes Sydney’s mind off her breakup. Falling for each other isn’t an option, because

UGLY LOVE

Mia Anhoury and Eleni Probonas

Ridge has a girlfriend, Maggie, whom he has sworn he will never leave. With twist after twist and Hoover’s compelling writing, the plot steers away from what the reader expects.

If the story wasn’t captivating enough already, singer Griffin Peterson recorded the emotional songs written by Ridge and Sydney so readers can listen to them as they read. This immerses readers deeper in the plot, as they can audibly experience what the protagonists have created together.

Following the release of her 2014 novel, Hoover wrote a novella, Maybe Not, with a plot set at the same time as Maybe Someday. It tells the story of Ridge and Sydney’s roommates, Warren and Bridgette. Bridgette is a 20-something girl who is angry at the world. Warren theorizes that, if she’s capable of hating with so much passion, then loving with the same amount of passion isn’t impossible.

Hoover then wrote Maybe Now, the sequel to Maybe Someday, which includes the perspectives of not only Ridge and Sydney, but Maggie, Warren and Bridgette as well. This story is also accompanied

by Peterson’s soundtrack.

MARCH 27, 2018

theconcordian

9

DOCUMENTARY

Reporting on the European refugee crisis Cinema Politica screening of Another News Story followed by panel on media representation of crisis MACKENZIE LAD ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR “Another news story” is a phrase one might use when referencing media coverage of Trump’s latest antics, or the most recent development of a long-standing social issue in another corner of the world. It signifies both a habitual regard for and detachment from the social phenomena that make headlines—a reflex that is all too common among those on the receiving end of the news.

In the last few years, coverage of the European refugee crisis by major news outlets around the world has saturated the media landscape with scenes of the calamity. Yet, the story has never been told from the perspective British director Orban Wallace takes in his debut documentary, Another News Story. Wallace steps away from the sea of tripods and media personnel to instead focus his camera on the journalists themselves as they navigate the working conditions and ethical dilemmas of reporting on a humanitarian crisis. This unconventional take on a widely-reported topic isn’t just another news story; it goes beyond surface-level media criticism to probe the relationship between news subjects, producers and consumers.

In this story, there are no heroes or villains; it quickly becomes apparent that the ethical and moral divisions of right and wrong are not so clear cut. Each journalist Wallace encounters projects the honourable intention of bringing truth to viewers so they can grasp the severity of the crisis and care enough to do something about it. However, under the unflinching gaze of Wallace’s camera, it’s unclear whether the journalists themselves care, whether they are at all invested in the reality they report on.

Journalists are essential to society, yet the profession’s nobility is questioned as Wallace follows reporters who seemingly go through the motions, setting up tripods

A cameraman captures the chaos as a raft full of refugees nears the shores of Greece, as seen in Another News Story.

Cinema Politica’s screening of Another News Story on March 19 was followed by a panel discussion moderated by filmmaker Muhammad El-Khairy, in which activists Fatima Azzahra Banane, Dalila Awada and Houda Asal addressed the residual questions posed by the film: With no end to the crisis in sight, where do we go from here? What kind of news coverage is needed?

Awada suggested journalists need to be increasingly aware of the language they use when identifying vulnerable people, and how these prescribed labels are then represented in the news media. Language poses the unique threat of unconsciously alienating individuals and groups, as it’s used carelessly in public discourse, she said. The most subtle linguistic divides—in this case, the interchangeable use of the terms “refugee,” “foreign person” and “illegal immigrant”—can erode any common ground between the vulnerable group and the audience. Azzahra Banane stressed the need for context, to make both journalists and viewers aware of the social, political and cultural roots of the issues they are witnessing. When context is limited to what is considered breaking news, viewers fail to comprehend the extent of the problems and are not compelled to solve them, she said.

In the same way Wallace held a mirror to the frontline of journalists, the film calls for self-reflection among media consumers as well.

News producers and consumers maintain a symbiotic relationship; the interests and preferences of the audience directly inform the nature and content of the news. If we are to honestly criticize the journalist’s vulture-like scavenging of the remains of human lives, then we must also acknowledge the North American appetite for superficial, sensationalized Refugees bail from an overloaded raft and swim towards the shores of Lesbos, Greece, as seen in Another News Story. It is only one news coverage. leg of the treacherous journey across Europe to reach their final destination, Germany. on the shambles of people’s lives without enduring the emotional weight of the situation.

At one point in the journey, Wallace finds out a refugee has been injured in an aggressive confrontation with police. When Wallace questions bystanders, one journalist observes that the man is now swarmed with cameras but hasn’t actually been offered aid. It was one of many instances in which the journalistic imperative to “get the shot” overrides the human instinct to help someone in need.

The documentary does not seek to champion the virtues of journalism, nor does it take a hostile view on the news media.

Another News Story simply poses the question: If the news media holds the government accountable, who holds the media accountable? The answer places Wallace in a new, unfamiliar position—the watchdog’s watchdog.

Though he stays closely attuned to the lives of the journalists, Wallace doesn’t ignore the emotional intensity of the refugees’ journey. He travels alongside Mahasen, a Syrian refugee, and a group of others who

have embarked on the perilous journey to Germany, to experience the bureaucratic minefield and physical stress firsthand.

Wallace juxtaposes the sanitized broadcast news coverage of his colleagues with his own intimate, handheld footage from the field, effectively widening the audience’s field of vision beyond the CNN news desk to see all that lies in the periphery.

The group of refugees is seemingly always being pursued, either by journalists or authorities, to be tokenized or victimized.

Wallace, with his camera and valid passport, is not excluded from the hoards of news media personnel and the security his press pass permits him. In this story, the roles can only be defined by power—who stands on either side of the camera, and subsequently, the television screen.

Towards the end of the film, a reporter Wallace encountered offers an observation: “The story is over from a news point of view.” Yet life goes on for Mahasen and thousands of other refugees who will begin a new life in Europe. Only, now, the cameras have stopped rolling.

arts

ARTS EDITOR /// arts@theconcordian.com MAGGIE HOPE

EXHIBITION

Viewing and experiencing The Material Turn Why does the way we look at and interact with art matter?

Fibres and material practices student Ryth Kesselring records the sound of a loom, activated by sensors in Tajima Sound Wave. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

CHLOË LALONDE ASSISTANT ARTS EDITOR Fibres are a classic art form. Cultures all over the world have adopted fibre ‘art’ and material practices in some form.

While today we can look at a tapestry for purely aesthetic reasons, fibre pieces aren’t always as untouchable as most artworks. Fibre work is known to be useful, providing warmth, shelter and even utilities or tools.

According to the Harvard Gazette, flax fibres dating back to the paleolithic era (34,000 years ago) were discovered in the Republic of Georgia. The archaeologists who found these fibres believe they would have been used for warm clothing, multipurpose cloths and as a binding material, like rope.

The Material Turn acknowledges the traditional methods of fibre work, and pushes the craft to new levels. The 13 artists featured in the FOFA Gallery’s latest exhibit introduce contemporary materials and technology into their work, questioning the context and forming new relationships between traditional fibres and these newage materials.

Artists Robin Kang, Louise Lemieux Bérubé and Shelley Socolofsky incorporate new, metallic fibres into their work, while artists Ryth Kesselring, Barbara Layne and Janis Jefferies sew wiring and computerized elements into their fibre work—an innovation between the

Detail from studio arts graduate Emily Hermant’s Reflections on Perseid (No. 1).

Photo by Chloë Lalonde.

electronic and traditional means of art-making.

I experienced these pieces in a gallery game led by parttime art education professor Christine Stocek and her teaching assistant, Jacob Legallais.

Gallery games are generally dedicated to breaking down the intimidation of art galleries, as well as deconstructing the composition of featured artwork; participants question the context in which the artwork was created and the choices made in the process.

In an effort to recontextualize my relationship with a medium I am unfamiliar with, I was inspired to consider the types of experiences held at Archive of the (Un)Loved invites viewers to feel fabric samples from the artworks art galleries in relation to my featured in The Material Turn . Photo by Alex Hutchins. own experiences with liberal and utilitarian forms of art-making. Instead Hermant’s Reflections on Perseid (No. 1). artworks and a participant in art, and the of standing around the gallery in silence, Captured by the static flow of the piece, I value viewing and/or participating has in the game permitted us to sit down on the doodled spools of wire and sound waves. the artworld.

The exhibition at the FOFA Gallery gallery floor, talk loudly and get up close There was no sound emanating from Hermant’s and personal with the artworks. piece, but I was inspired by the sound of a also contains an interactive component, a The game was twofold; first we were loom recorded in Kesselring’s piece, Tajima feature I think is so relevant and important asked to describe an artwork of our choice to Sound Wave. Hermant’s piece seemed to in this context. The Archive of the (Un)a classmate, who then had to create a drawing expand Kesselring’s, adding colour and texture Loved invites ‘viewers’ to participate, to based on the description. The second part of to the low humming of the loom. From my feel samples of material discarded by the gallery game was completed individually. experience, observing work from multiple the artists featured in The Material Turn.

In addition to the gallery games, The We answered a short series of questions by artists within the same context widens the creating three small drawings. I chose Emily viewer’s perspective. The viewer becomes Material Turn itself attempts to demystify an active member in the exhibition the norms of comportment within a gallery process by creating links between setting by allowing visitors to interact unrelated artwork that at times, the with the artwork, and consequently, the artists themselves would not have artist’s creative processes.

The exhibition is part of a larger project considered.

I realized the pieces could be within Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts and observed as artifacts, products of the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and their time and place in society, and Technology. The Material Turn Project is results of the artists’ own experiences. concerned with the materiality of digital On their own, they don’t exactly matter. The project facilitates a dialogue have a use, other than the garments and exchange of research among artists developed by Layne and Jefferies. and the community at large, and included The projects featured in The Material a symposium (held on March 10) alongside Turn provoke conversation between The Material Turn curated by Kelly Thompson digital matter and physical matter. and WhiteFeather Hunter.

My experience participating in the The Material Turn will be at the gallery games forced me to consider another pathway, relationship or FOFA Gallery from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday until April 23. difference between the viewer of Inspired by Emily Hermant’s Reflections on Perseid (No. 1), I doodled sketchy lines, spools of wire and sound waves. Photo by Chloë Lalonde.

MARCH 27, 2018

theconcordian

11

THINKPIECE

“Put us in your stories”

The importance of (authentic) queer representation in mainstream films

THREE UNATTENDING MOONS According to the exhibition’s description, it’s a “three-day installation exploring the passage of time through melting ice with superimposed audio. The projected sounds combine ASMR recordings of recited poetry and writings, accidental footage and experimental music.”

This exhibition is part of a series held at Closet Gallery. The gallery is located in the closet of local artists Phil Mercier and Lisa Theriault, at their apartment. The artists live-stream the exhibition to their website for viewers to watch at their leisure. This exhibition features the work of Concordia student Juliana Delgado.

WHERE www.closetgallery.ca WHEN March 29 to 31

TREASURED: CREATIVE REUSE RESIDENCY As stated in the exhibition’s description, “Treasured is the culmination of a two month-long artist residency created in collaboration between the VAV Gallery and Concordia University Centre for Creative Reuse (CUCCR).” This exhibition features the work of seven fine arts students, and is held in celebration of CUCCR’s first birthday. The selected artists (all of whom The Concordian profiled in our three previous issues) were tasked with creating pieces using materials found at CUCCR. More information about the artists and the initiative behind the residency can be found on theconcordian.com.

WHERE VAV Gallery, VA building WHEN Now until April 6

CC: Feat Management, a local management project run by the Hart Barnwell siblings (Rafaël and Max), is currently hosting an exhibition by local artist Eve Saint Jean. According to the show’s description, it’s “inspired by themes of conformity and repetition.” Saint Jean's series of acrylics, illustrations, projections and a participatory installation critique concepts of “routine and technological conditioning. Cc: [is] an exhibit ultimately seeking dissociation from the ‘carbon copy.’”

WHERE The Letter Bet,

4919 Notre Dame St. W. WHEN Now until April 11

SOFTLY This exhibition features the work of Madeline Richards, a Concordia almuna and established painter. According to the exhibition’s description, the artist “is drawn to imagery or ideas that cause an emotional response. Her works do not stem from a political or conceptual drive, but rather from a desire to make paintings people want to touch, or curl up into. They are intuitive.” The soft, intriguing pieces are on display at Ymuno Exhibitions, which Richards runs with her partner, Ben Williamson.

WHERE Ymuno Exhibitions, 372 Ste-

Catherine St. W., studio #530 WHEN Now until April 11

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

MAGGIE HOPE ARTS EDITOR TYSON BURGER ASSISTANT OPINIONS EDITOR Art reflects life. But the life it reflects is usually specific to the culture or group that produced it. The norms and values found in mainstream popular art in western society pertain to the dominant groups in that society. The problem lies in these values being unrealistically idealized and presented as “normal.” The more these values are enforced and normalized through pop culture, the more groups that don’t fit the model are alienated and often forced to explain or justify their identity.

This is par ticular ly the c ase in mainstream film and television, which enforce heteronormative values among viewers. These values are often unrealistic and unrepresentative of most people’s lives—especially those who are gender fluid or not heterosexual. Think about most of the comedies, dramas and action movies you’ve seen. The ending usually involves (or is even centred around) the initiation of a heterosexual relationship. Mainstream films almost always run on the assumption that people adhere to certain traits based on a binary model of gender, which usually involves desiring a relationship with a person of the opposite sex—and in that assumption lies the normalizing aspect.

Some examples of this in recent media are It, the second season of Stranger Things and Baby Driver. The plots of these films and shows are driven by universal heteronormativity, which makes it seem natural.

The beginning of relationships at the end of mainstream films often mark the end of the main character’s troubles.

This is unrealistic and damaging. For one, people may not always desire a

sexual relationship, but if this value is portrayed as natural in most of the media they consume, then they may feel unnatural or inadequate. Also, when the endings of mainstream films display a perfect relationship that ends any depression, insecurities or financial problems the main character had, it establishes expectations in the viewer for their own relationships, which—since their life is not a movie—will not be met. Young people, who are especially susceptible to the cultural values they see in society, should not be socialized to want things that are unattainable.

Folks of all sorts of beliefs, values and gender identities make up our diverse society. It is important to have representation for all kinds of lifestyles in films. It is equally important not to present certain lifestyles as “normal,” b u t r at h e r a s a n e x a m p le of o n e person’s unique experience. Queer representation in films is important, and we are seeing it more in mainstream films than we have in the past, which is good, but also comes with its own set of problems.

A question that has guided many discussions about queer representation in film—and in other media, for that matter—is whether any representation is good representation. In a podcast titled LGBTQ Representation by Film Comment, writer and journalist Mark Harris articulates that while it is clear queer communities would like to see themselves reflected in more mainstream media, how this could be achieved is another question entirely. For many, any representation is not necessarily a cause for celebration. Stereotypes, exaggerations and assumptions are prev alent t hroug hout Holl y wo o d representations of queer people, and while some may view these characters as progressive, others might see them as half-hearted attempts to temporarily pacify queer audiences.

The answer then must be to push toward broader, more fluid representations of queerness in film. Because of the narrowness of the space that queer characters are given in film and other media, there is not nearly enough room to express the multiplicities of queer experience that exist in reality.

In the same way that it’s important to debunk the idea that straightness is “normal” and queerness is “abnormal,” it is also necessary to understand that queerness itself also exists in a variety of ways. This is why it is often difficult for filmmakers and studios—especially those in Hollywood—to represent the entirety of the queer community through the experiences of a few characters.

In a 2016 article titled “Still Looking," Harris presents another way films can begin to feature more queer characters.

“Representation is, of course, an acrossthe-board struggle, and the fight for inclusiveness usually comes down to two demands: tell our stories (or better still, let us tell our stories), and put us in ‘your’ stories,” Harris writes. He claims that queer authorship, as well as representation through characters, is key to building a more inclusive, well-rounded collection of queer films.

“We’re [here] already; a film doesn’t have to stop a story in its tracks to acknowledge that, or hand itself a humanitarian award for figuring it out,” Harris concludes. All that’s needed is a little more space.

Noteworthy upcoming event:

The Montreal-based “queer f ilm community” fliQs hosts bi-monthly queer film nights at Notre-Damedes-Quilles (32 Beaubien St. E .) featuring short films by local filmmakers. They are currently accepting submissions for the next edition, which will be on April 23 at 8 p.m.

More information can be found on fliQs’ Facebook page.

music

Quickspins

MUSIC EDITOR /// music@theconcordian.com CALVIN CASHEN

PPED SONGS THAT SLI DA R UNDER OUR RA THIS MONTH

Monthly Concert Calendar Here’s a guide to the best shows in town this April CALVIN CASHEN MUSIC EDITOR

Recently Added

JEFF TWEEDY

April 12 @ Corona Theatre Wilco’s legendary Jeff Tweedy is stopping by the Corona to perform acoustic reworkings of his best songs, solo and with Wilco. So if you’re a fan of artisanal beer, beards and balladry, stop by to hear the best rebellious songs of your teenage years.

April 27 @ TBA

YAEJI

Kathy Yaeji Lee is a 24-year-old DJ from New York, who makes minimalist club music that pays equal respect to the sounds of deep house and K-Pop. Minutes after the announcement of her latest tour in support of 2018’s EP and EP2, the Montreal show sold out in no time. If you were one of the lucky few to score tickets, consider yourself very lucky.

11 FALLING INTO ME Let’s Eat Grandma (Transgressive Records) 11 DIVE Beach House (Sub Pop) 11 WIND UP SPACE 1010 Benja SL (Young Turks)

MACHINE GIRL

April 5 @ Phi Centre

Recently Added

Machine Girl is bringing their abrasive industrial sonics to an unknown Montreal venue. Combining elements of harsh noise and screamo, Machine Girl is a force to be reckoned with, comparable to similar acclaimed acts such as Death Grips and JPEGMafia. The band’s approach to noise and industrial is much more punishing than their contemporaries. I advise you bring earplugs.

11 BELIEVE Amen Dunes (Sacred Bones) 11 IN CONTEMPT Street Sects (The Flenser)

THE NEIGHBOURHO

SOCCER MOMMY

Soccer Mommy’s latest album, Clean , is a package of delicate acoustic balladry and pained lyrics about the pitfalls of early adulthood. In support of the album, they will be performing right at the tail end of the month.

U.S. GIRLS

NO AGE

U.S. Girls’ Meghan Remy is heading on tour in support of her exquisite album, In A Poem Unlimited.

The album is a complex synthesis of bold narrative and downright excellent music that draws influence from disco all the way to post-punk. Remy is a storytelling savant, tackling topics from the state of democracy to personal meditations on sex and representation.

This is a must see show, to say the least.

OD

The Neighbourhood

April 29 @ Quai des Brumes

April 11 @ l’Escogriffe Bar

2

April 29 @ Bar Le Ritz No Age’s dreamy punk soundscapes have been making waves across music blogs for well over a decade. It has been four years since the band graced the world with a new record, until the band dropped Snares Like A Haircut this year. The album doesn’t alter the typical No Age blueprint, but as they say, if it ain’t broke.

(Columbia, 2018) The self-titled album of California indie rock band The Neighbourhood is a mess. The album is a mix of angesty lyrics, dark beats and strange vocal performances by lead singer Jesse Rutherford. While some of the instrumentation is pleasant, like the 80s bells on the song “Void,” the vocals are unbearable. The lyrics are basically comprised of clichéd rhymes and simple platitudes. The lyrics on “Softcore” made me cringe: “I've been confused as of late (yeah) / Watching my youth slip away (yeah) / You're like the sun, you make me young.” The vocals are processed and the melody is uninspiring.

This album is a unexceptional collection of songs that are competently made, and although sometimes pleasant, not worth your time.

11 Trial Track: “Void”

3.7/10 — HUSSAIN ALMAHR, ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR

- EASY

- MEDIUM

- HARD

MARCH 27, 2018

theconcordian

13

ROUND-UP

Top 10 bad rap brags

3

MOUNT EERIE

These lyrical flaunts are anything but good

Now Only (P.W. Elverum & Sun, 2018) Phil Elverum, who performs under the moniker Mount Eerie, sings with an incredible sadness and self-reflection on Now Only.

Like his last album, A Crow Looked at Me , Elverum reflects on life after his wife’s death on this newest album. Elverum’s soft, melancholic voice is accompanied by minimalistic guitars, sparse drums and the occasional distorted instruments. The songs are just as emotional as when he performed them live last year in Montreal. People were crying during every song, and I was struck by the honesty in Elverum’s lyrics—it's like reading someone’s diary and understanding how they truly feel. On the titular song, Elverum reflects on how touring has affected him personally, singing: “As my grief becomes calcified, frozen in stories / And in these songs I keep singing, numbing it down.”

Elverum has come out with another special and emotionally challenging album. Highly recommended.

11 Trial Track: “Now Only”

9.5/10 — HUSSAIN ALMAHR, ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR

PPED SONGS THAT SLI DA R UNDER OUR RA THIS MONTH

Recently Added

Recently Added 11 THE CLUB Hinds (Mom + Pop Music) 11

ALMOST HAD TO START A FIGHT / IN AND OUT OF PATIENCE Parquet Courts (Rough Trade Records)

11 SPIDER HEARD Guerilla Toss (DFA Records) 11 MUSIC IS WORTH LIVING FOR Andrew W.K. 11 PPP Big Ups (Exploding In Sound)

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

BRYN COATES-DAVIES CONTRIBUTOR

1

“I got so much money / I should start a bank!”

– Wiz Khalifa

Unlike most rappers, Wiz is thinking long-term. Nowadays, very few new banks are popping up so this is an untapped market, and Wiz is getting into it on the ground floor. This may seem like a bad line now, but just you wait.

2

“I spit tighter, I’m not like all the rest / I’m not a playa but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express” – KRS-One

One night at a Montreal Holiday Inn Express can cost up to $130 a night.

KRS-One is not an idiot who will stay at a regular Holiday Inn. He doesn’t need that fancy continental breakfast. All he needs is some bread and those weird small containers of peanut butter and jam, which are very hard to scoop out with a knife.

3

“Got so many whips / they call me whipalicious” – Yung Joc

Poor Yung Joc. Not everyone has an entourage that is creative enough to come up with great nicknames. It's unfortunate, but this is something I believe Joc has come to terms with.

4

“Rock star / I’m flyer than an ostrich” – Juelz Santana

We’re onto number four, and I still have yet to see a bad brag. Juelz Santana is a man of the people, therefore he is flyer than an ostrich. Every time I hear this line, it makes me feel like I too am flyer than an ostrich. Plus it’s about time these cocky ostriches were knocked down a peg.

5

"I know how to rip thongs and I'm pretty good at beer pong"

– Joey Bada$$

No one wants to be amazing at beer pong. That means you spend way too much time practicing a game in which success means drinking less. All you want is to be pretty good. You will win some games and you will lose some games, but you will be forever and ever pretty good.

6

"Follow me, follow me I'm the leader / And when I park cars I don't pay for the metre" – Chiddy Bang

Nothing makes you look like a leader more than repeatedly saying, “Follow me.” And not paying for the metre is a legitimate badass move. Those fines add up, but he’s still parking his car and never paying. And I bet that car is an automatic #AUTOBOYZ4EVA

7

“Big house, long hallways, got 10 bathrooms / I could shit all day”

– Lil Wayne

I am merely a humble #AUTOBOY, but I can aspire to someday live in a house with extra long hallways. Lil Wayne now gets to shit all day in all of his bathrooms.

Can you say the same for yourself?

8

“I got so many clothes I keep them at my aunt's house”

– Tinie Tempah

I don’t know about your family, but my Aunt Jan has a very large house. I bet your family could fit all of their clothes in her basement easily, because it turns out running a curling rink pays pretty well.

Having this on the list is a direct insult to my aunt.

9

“Bitch I’m cooler than a cooler” – Chief Keef

This is a classic brag by a classic man.

On a camping trip in the summer, nothing is cooler than a cooler. Chief Keef making this claim is a very bold statement, and it takes guts. Respect to the Chief.

10

“That gun automatic / My car automatic” – French Montana

This is a great brag; automatic cars are the new thing. French Montana is not living that stick shift life. #AUTOBOYZ

sports

SPORTS EDITOR /// sports@theconcordian.com NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI ( @n_digiovanni)

PROFILE

Rebuilding more than a knee

Kenny Johnson needed three surgeries to repair his torn knee. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Three seasons after tearing his ACL, MCL and meniscus, Kenny Johnson is making his comeback MATTHEW COYTE ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR Kenny Johnson hasn’t played in a U Sports football game for the Concordia Stingers since 2015. Three years and three surgeries later, Johnson is finally healthy and set to return to the field to play in his last year of eligibility.

On Sept. 4, 2015, the offensive guard tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL) and meniscus in his left knee, an injury also known as “the unhappy triad.”

It was the home opener for the Stingers, and they were playing the Sherbrooke Vert et Or. It was Johnson’s second year with Concordia.

“Our kicker missed the field goal,” Johnson said. “The receiver for Sherbrooke caught it, so he was running down the field. I went running downfield to make the tackle, and a defender was coming at me. I didn’t see him. He blindsided me, and my knee just twisted and I buckled.

I collapsed, slapping the ground [...] The athletic trainers asked me to get up, and I couldn’t. It was too painful.”

“I wouldn’t wish this on anybody,” he added.

The Stingers lost that game 37-0.

It took a couple of days before the swelling from the initial injury went down.

After getting an MRI scan, team doctors broke the news to Johnson that he had blown out his left knee.

“I was still in denial,” Johnson said.

“Right in front of the doctor, I started crying.

I straightened myself out, I called my mother—that was the first person I could call. I explained to her what happened. I was crying on the phone with her, saying 'my football career is done.’”

ACL injuries are common for football players. A study in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine found that 213 players in the National Football League (NFL) had ACL injuries between 2010 and 2013. The same study found that offensive guards, like Johnson, have a significantly higher chance of suffering knee injuries than other positions.

Serge Savoie and Victoria RobinsonMozejko are two athletic therapy instructors at the PERFORM Centre, a private research facility at Concordia’s Loyola campus. They said the average wait time to receive surgery for torn knee ligaments ranges from a week to a month after the incident, depending on the surgeon. Some surgeons will want to operate right away to reduce the chance of significant muscle loss. Others would rather make sure the athlete is building strength pre-surgery to better prepare for post-surgery rehabilitation.

It took Johnson six months to receive his first surgery. Since he is from Texas, Johnson said he had trouble working through the bureaucracy to get the surgery, which is why it took so long. Once he underwent his operation in March 2016, Johnson said the results were not encouraging. The swelling never went away. He watched as the team prepared for the next season, while he was

unable to properly rehabilitate his knee.

Johnson had a lot of confidence going into that 2015 season, and had set high expectations for himself. Once he got injured, Johnson said he lost that confidence. Even though the rest of the team never made him feel like an outsider, that’s how he felt.

“At one point during the recovery, I was really depressed,” Johnson said. “I felt like I didn't have anyone to talk to [...] Anyone who goes through what I went through should have someone they can go to and ask questions to—somebody they can trust.

It's such a difficult thing to go through; you can't do it by yourself.”

Savoie said watching the team start the season while still being injured is the most difficult aspect of the mental recovery for athletes.

“That season starts, and they see all their teammates going and winning and losing, and they’re on the sideline,” Savoie said. “They get a taste of what it’s like to get back [on the field].”

“The injury is all mental,” Johnson added.

“There’s a physical aspect to it, but the mental part is so draining.”

Three months after his first surgery, Johnson went back under anesthesia so doctors could try to manipulate the area surrounding his knee to deal with the excessive swelling and scar tissue. Again, he came out of the surgery not seeing any progress. Johnson still walked with a bad limp and was unable to get back to training or performing the way he had before his injury. It took another six months

of frustrating rehabilitation following his second surgery before imaging technology showed Johnson still had large amounts of scar tissue left in his knee. He went back for a third surgery in December 2016 and immediately felt a difference.

“As soon as I was out of surgery, I was able to walk out of the hospital. It wasn't a perfect walk, but I was able to walk,” Johnson said. “An hour after the surgery, I got on the [exercise] bike for like 30 minutes. I didn't go hard, I just took it easy, but I knew right away: 'Okay, this is the surgery that did its job.' I gained my confidence right back, just like that.”

The comeback began after that third surgery. It has been a long process for Johnson, and the injury caused him to doubt his future in football. He said he thought about quitting, going back home to Texas, and finishing his studies close to his family. But he said that would be “too easy.” As the preparation and training for the 2018 season continues this summer, Johnson has his confidence back and is eager to finally rejoin the team on the field.

As a second-year at the time of his injury, Johnson felt ready to fill a leadership role.

Now, he’s just hoping to fill whatever role the team needs.

“A lot of people know I can play the game at a high level; I've studied the game for a very long time,” Johnson said. “I just want to come in and be a team player first before I adopt that leadership role. If it comes, I'm going to take it, but for me it's about what I can do to help the team win.”

MARCH 27, 2018

BASEBALL

Blue Jays set sights for playoffs 90-win season realistic for Toronto after a losing 2017 season

BEN FRASER STAFF WRITER As the Toronto Blue Jays prepare for the 2018 Major League Baseball (MLB) season, The Concordian takes a look at how "Canada’s team" will line up in the field, on the mound and behind the plate.

After a disappointing 2017 season where the Blue Jays finished with a record of 76-86 and missed the playoffs, the 2018 team is looking to improve. It was a very busy off-season for general manager Ross Atkins. Long-time Blue Jay and fan-favourite outfielder Jose Bautista will not return after nine seasons in Toronto, prompting Atkins to revamp his outfield.

The Jays acquired outfielder Randal Grichuk from the St-Louis Cardinals in a trade, and signed Curtis Granderson for $5 million in free agency. The Blue Jays outfield, centred by defensive dynamo Kevin Pillar, combined for 64 home runs (HR) and 165 runs batted in (RBI) last season. The problem with the Jays outfield is their lack of on-base percentage (OBP).

Grichuk, despite his power numbers, had a OBP of .285 last year, and Pillar’s OBP was .300. Granderson’s OBP was decent at .323, but not good enough for a player of his calibre. If Granderson is leading Toronto’s hitting line-up at the beginning of the season, he will need to up his OBP in order for the Blue Jays to compete.

In the infield, other new faces will add depth to a very injury-prone group.

The Jays acquired the versatile infielder

Yangervis Solarte from the San Diego Padres and 2016 All-Star shortstop Aledmys Diaz from the Cardinals. Both of these acquisitions are meant to be back-up options for injury-prone infielders such as Troy Tulowitzki (who will miss the start of the season) and Devon Travis.

Don’t be surprised if Solarte or Diaz take their place in the line-up at some point in the season.

Despite being insurance policies, both Solarte and Diaz have the potential to become very serviceable infielders for Toronto. Both are capable of hitting 15-plus HRs in a very hitter-friendly ballpark at the Rogers Centre. Diaz in particular has the chance to return to his 2016 form, when he finished fifth in votes for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

The pitching line-up remains largely unchanged, with the exception of a new starter and setup man. The Jays signed Jaime Garcia in free agency to a one-year contract worth $8 million. Garcia has never been able to replicate the success he had with the Cardinals in 2010 and 2011, and will be the team’s fifth starter.

While looking good in spring training, don’t expect Garcia to be a dominant force in the Jays rotation.

The American League (AL) East division produces some of the most potent offences in baseball. In Garcia’s first taste of AL East play last season with the Yankees, he had a 0-3 record, with an earned runs average (ERA) of 4.82 in eight starts.

The Blue Jays didn’t make significant moves with their relief pitchers in the bullpen. They signed Seung-hwan Oh, who will act as a setup pitcher ahead of All-Star closer Roberto Osuna. Like many of this season’s acquisitions, Oh will try to return to his previous form, when he dominated with the Cardinals in the 2016 season.

The Jays do have several players returning, including 2015 AL MVP Josh Donaldson and All-Star first baseman Justin Smoak , who hit career-highs last season with 38 HRs, 90 RBIs and a .355 OBP. Many of the Jays pitchers will be returning, such as starters Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada. Injuries have hurt the Jays in the past, and if the team intends to compete for a playoff spot, they will need to stay healthy.

There are several ways this season could go. If Donaldson plays like he did during the 2015 season, and the starting rotation is effective enough to win games, the Blue Jays will be able to compete for the second wild-card position. However, if injuries become a problem again, and Smoak regresses to his pre-2017 level of play, the Jays will become a basement-dweller in the American League under the thumb of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. All in all, should the cards fall in their favour, the Blue Jays could expect to win 90 games and fight for a playoff spot this season.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

theconcordian

15

COLOUR COMMENTARY

BY NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI

U Sports needs to review its format for the women’s hockey national championship. The Concordia Stingers were on the wrong side of its strange rules two weeks ago in London, Ont. First off, the Stingers were mysteriously ranked as the fourth seed heading into the tournament, even though they were ranked third in the U Sports top 10 the week before.

Somehow, host Western Mustangs leap-frogged from seventh in the top 10 the week before nationals to third place for the tournament.

The Saint Mary’s Huskies (SMU), who play in a weak Atlantic University Sport (AUS) conference, were ranked second.

In women’s hockey, the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) and the Canada West conferences are the strongest, with 11 of the past 12 national champions coming from either conference. So why did the Stingers, as the RSEQ champion, get ranked as the lowest conference champion? I don’t think even U Sports can answer that question.

The Stingers took care of the St-Francis Xavier X-Women easily in their quarter-final game, winning 8-1. The seventh-ranked Saskatchewan Huskies, the Mustangs and the top-ranked Manitoba Bisons also advanced to the semi-final. Due to U Sports’ inability to do anything right, the Stingers played the Bisons in the semi-final. The best team in the field, the Bisons, should have played Saskatchewan, the worst remaining team.

In almost every other sports league at any level, the best team plays the worst team in every playoff round.

Yet in this eight-team tournament, the winners of the one-versus-eight and the four-versus-five games play each other no matter what. On the U Sports website, they say it’s like this “so that common rest times are protected,” meaning teams who play each other in the semi-final will have played their quarter-final game on the same day.

The semi-final between the Stingers and Bisons, the two champions from the two best conferences, went to overtime. Well, U Sports decided to make its national tournament overtimes four-on-four for 10 minutes, followed by a shootout if the game remained tied. So the Bisons and Stingers tied after a short 10-minute period and needed the individual skills competition (a.k.a. the shootout).

The Stingers lost and went on to win bronze before the Bisons won gold against the Mustangs.

If U Sports didn’t have such a strange format, games in the national championship wouldn't be decided in a shootout. And the real two best teams in the country would have met in the final, and not in the semi-final.

feature

PROFILE

The details of data mining Krzysztof Dzieciolowski shares his passion for teaching and statistics

Krzysztof Dzieciolowski said he strives to create a fun, stress-free learning environment. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

KATERINA GANG COPY EDITOR Krzysztof Dzieciolowski describes himself as a man of two professions, two laptops, two jobs, two locations and two new kittens. However, he’d never want to give any of it up.

For the last 24 years, Dzieciolowski has worked in the telecommunications industry and as a part-time faculty member at the John Molson School of Business (JMSB).

“I’m always on the run between them, conceptually as well as physically,” he said, referring to his two jobs.

Dzieciolowski regularly teaches two courses—statistical software for data management, and analysis and data mining techniques—as part of the data intelligence minor at JMSB. His courses allow students to learn the basic concepts and techniques of data management using Statistical Analysis System (SAS), which is the world’s largest statistical software used by many businesses and government bodies. Dzieciolowski also helps students learn data mining techniques using different kinds of data.

Outside academia, Dzieciolowski leads a modeling and analytics group at Rogers Communications, where he helps create predictive models. These types of models are used by businesses to develop techniques for customer acquisition, customer retention and company growth.

“Commercially, companies exist to satisfy their mission to provide returns to their stakeholders,” Dzieciolowski explained.

“So in a way, we help companies, using busy, whether they’re from marketing or math, become more effective in generating product sales or finance. They often come profit, as well as be more cost effective, to ask me a variety of questions which and providing the products and services are fairly complex. I enjoy working with to customers.” them and solving those questions together, Using mathematical and statistical models, whether it’s related to mathematical aspects Dzieciolowski works to define “events of of the solution or whether it’s actually on interest,” such as making a sale, acquiring the applied side.” a new customer or losing a customer, and Another challenge Dzieciolowski has relate such events to that customer’s profile. always enjoyed is teaching, which has Dzieciolowski and his team can compare always been important to him. When he the profiles of customers who did or did was living in Poland during the 1980s after not experience any given event of interest, and their behaviours prior to this event or non-event, to see if a correlation exists between a given profile or event.

Using this data, Dzieciolowski is able to create a model, such as an equation which relates independent variables to the observed event, that can help Rogers predict the probability on a scale from zero to one of a given event of interest, such as making a sale. This probability score allows Rogers to know who is likely to purchase a product from the company. These tools are very useful for marketing and sales, but also benefit customers by providing them with better and more relevant service.

“It boils down to a simple question—who should we talk to, what about and why?” Dzieciolowski said.

“I like challenging questions, and my colleagues in the office keep me Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

having completed his master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Warsaw, Dzieciolowski worked for four years as a math teacher and social worker at a high school for inner city youth who had dropped out of regular schooling and were at risk for using drugs. “ T h a t w a s a g re a t e x p e r i e n ce ,” Dzieciolowski said. “I was not much older than my students. I was 25.” The school was funded by Poland’s Ministry of Education and Behaviour, but the ministry maintained an arm’s length relationship with the school because, according to

MARCH 27, 2018

Dzieciolowski, they would not officially acknowledge the country’s heroin epidemic.

Dzieciolowski’s young age made teaching an even more rewarding experience.

“We were socializing with them as well, by taking them to camps, school cinema which I used to run, also ski camps and cooking together in the kitchen and cleaning up everything afterwards,” he said. “We had a lot of common activities, and it was a fun place to be.”

During this time in the 80s, Poland’s communist government had put the country under martial law. “I was trying to find a job, but as a non-party member, I didn’t have much of a chance to land anything,” Dzieciolowski said. “I finally decided to come to Canada to do my PhD and follow in the footsteps of my colleagues who were also grads of mathematics and also went abroad to continue their studies in Canada or Europe.”

While studying at the University of Warsaw, Dzieciolowski joined a quantitative seminar in the sociology department. It was there that he was introduced to the quantitative applications of math, which Dzieciolowski explained can be used to model social events, social phenomena and social patterns.

“I discovered that I have an interest in real-life applications and how people use math and how their lives and their social lives can be described using mathematics,” he said. “So it was natural to turn to statistics.”

Dzieciolowski started his PhD in statistics at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. Three months before completing his PhD, Dzieciolowski was offered a position at Bell Canada in Montreal.

“I had to quit my studies and move to Montreal and start the job in three weeks.

It’s always like this in the business; when they have an opening, it’s always for yesterday. I took the job and I became a part-time, off-campus student and finally finished my thesis two years later,” he said. “Professionally, I think it was a good thing to do because I really enjoyed applied work.”

In addition to the job offer, Dzieciolowski said his decision to move was greatly influenced by Montreal itself. “The reason why [my family and I] came to Montreal was mainly because of the lifestyle and culture the city offers, which is so close to our experience in Europe.”

Several years later, Dzieciolowski was offered a position as a part-time faculty member at Concordia, which allowed him

to rekindle this love of teaching.

“The best part is interactions with students and creating a fun environment to learn. I think I promote a lot of teamwork in the classroom. Sharing and presenting and having a learning experience without necessary stress is a great achievement, I think, and I’m always striving to get to that point where people are learning in a

batch of students graduating with this certification this year as well,” Dzieciolowski said. “We’re collecting applications from last year and this year to jointly award them together sometime in May or June.”

Students interested in the certificate must apply to the department of supply chain operations management within JMSB and successfully obtain a B in four out of five option classes. “I’m happy to say I teach two of those classes, and students show a lot of keen interest in learning new methodologies and new thinking and new applications of statistics in data science,” Dzieciolowski said.

“The joint certification means we are now able to use the state-of-the-art statistical software, which has been installed in our labs without fee. Students are learning the leading data mining software that is widely used outside, and they’re getting ready for the jobs that are there which

“My role in the classroom is really to help them learn how to learn. We are in it together.”

- Krzysztof Dzieciolowski stress-free environment,” he said.

Dzieciolowski said his teaching style focuses on allowing students to learn the material on their own, so they are more motivated and interested in the topic. “My role in the classroom is really to help them learn how to learn. We are in it together.”

Dzieciolowski has accomplished a lot during his time at Concordia. One of his proudest achievements, he said, was creating the joint undergraduate certificate between JMSB and SAS in 2016.

“I’m very happy about this, and a lot of students ask about it. We will have another

require them to know SAS and understand the business problems the software is helping to solve,” he said.

Dzieciolowski was recently the recipient of a $10,000 Special Project Award from the Concordia University Part-time Faculty Association (CUPFA) to conduct research into new predictive methodologies and data matching techniques while at Rogers last year. On March 22, Dzieciolowski presented this research, his experience teaching data science to students, and his proliferation of data science applications and artificial intelligence during a talk at JMSB.

theconcordian

17

Dzieciolowski’s research explored how to create predictive models when a company doesn’t have access to information about all events of interest. “In practical terms, you may think about two different databases that have to be connected or merged together, and those databases are often disconnected and do not talk to each other. The only way to identify if the customers have both accounts would be to merge the data based on their name or address,” Dzieciolowski explained.

“But those kind of merges often produce incorrect results. So we think they do have both accounts or they don’t, which is a false positive, or they do actually but we classify them as if they didn’t, which is an example of a false negative.”

Dzieciolowski’s research focused on how to create predictions when confronted with such “fuzzy merges,” and on determining how misclassifications impact the quality of the predictive models. “It’s very much applied, very much up-to-date and of great interest to large companies, whether they’re from telecoms or business, because there’s always a need to conduct those fuzzy matches between the data sources,” he said. “Therefore, there will always be an interest in making sure we predict what we want to predict.”

Although Dzieciolowski enjoys being a part-time faculty member, he said that status has caused some difficulties over the years. “I never had a chance to get a grant, for example for hardware, even though I do conduct research as well as teaching,” he said. However, this is the only disadvantage he has experienced as a part-time professor at Concordia.

“I’ve been a part-time professor since day one 24 years ago. I never had an issue getting courses to teach, especially since I teach the data mining classes which not many people are interested to teach for some reason or another,” Dzieciolowski said. Nonetheless, he appreciates that other part-time professors experience job insecurity.

“As you can see I’m a pretty busy person,” Dzieciolowski added with a laugh. Despite his busy life, Dzieciolowski makes time to travel, recently adopted two kittens, and stays in touch with his former students in Poland. “I keep in touch with many of them on Facebook.

They discovered I still exist a few years ago and we reconnected,” he said. “It’s all a very rewarding experience.”

This article is part of a series of profiles on part-time faculty at Concordia. Our goal is to highlight some of the incredible work these professors do, while also shedding light on the difference in treatment between being part-time versus full-time faculty. This series came to life with the help of Laurie Milner, the chair of communications for the Concordia University Part-time Faculty Association (CUPFA), and Lorraine Oades, the vice-president of professional development at CUPFA.

Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

opinions OPINIONS EDITOR /// opinions@theconcordian.com SANIA MALIK

A first step in the march for change Most people are familiar with the phrase: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” On March 24, that change manifested itself in the March For Our Lives in Washington, D.C., and hundreds of other cities across the United States.

Although the march was organized by American students to protest against weak American gun laws following a lengthy streak of shootings in American schools, thousands of Canadians marched in solidarity on Saturday.

The ability of a group of Florida teenagers to spark a transnational demonstration is courageous, inspiring and a major step toward effecting real change.

We live in an age where mass shootings are normalized in the United States—or at least they were until about six weeks ago. So far this year, there has been an average of more than one school shooting every week in the United States, or a total of 17 shootings in 12 weeks, according to CNN. While Canadians should be proud to support our neighbours to the south in their fight to improve gun control, it’s important to remember we are not immune to the problem in our own country.

There were 13 shootings—two of which were fatal—in Ottawa alone in January 2018, reported CBC News. This equals to 40 per cent of the shootings recorded in the city in all of 2013. Of the 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries, Canada has the fourth highest rate of death by firearm, according to The Globe and Mail. The rate in Canada is more

than twice that of Australia and 10 times the rate in Britain.

Effective gun control has been terminated at the federal level, and gun circulation in Canada has amplified.

According to The Globe and Mail, the Harper government overruled the RCMP’s ban on military assault weapons, and eliminated the legal requirement that the sale of shotguns and rifles be tracked. Today, people with gun licenses in Canada can buy an unlimited number of unrestricted guns (i.e. shotguns and rifles, among others), and there is no record kept about any of these purchases. Gun owners in Canada can also avoid background checks because of automatic six-month license extensions that kick in if they fail to renew their license on time. Additionally, from 2012 to 2016, the importation of guns to Canada almost doubled compared to the previous four years—increasing from more than one million to just under two million, according to The Globe and Mail.

So while most of the news media turns its attention to the overwhelming number of massacres in the United States, it is undeniable that gun violence and a lack of gun control are problems in Canada as well.

As Canadians, we should be proud to stand against the people who deem

corporate greed and political gain more valuable than the innocent lives of children.

We should be proud to support anyone who tries to effect positive, peaceful change in a world that seems increasingly polarized and violent. Canadians should take inspiration from the brave voices and powerful words of young Americans, and make sure our own government understands that weak gun control will no longer be tolerated here either. We should all be determined to end gun violence and school shootings.

A school should be a safe space for everyone. It’s where we go to learn, to flourish and to create a future for ourselves.

It is outrageous that shooting drills have become as commonplace in schools as fire drills. Parents should not drop their children off at school fearing they’ll never see them again.

Change comes slowly, but we at The Concordian believe it will come. Children are the future, and Saturday’s march was just a taste of the future these courageous young people will build for themselves. The people in charge can not be relied on to protect that future, nor should it be solely their responsibility.

As the students of Parkland high school continue to show us, we must become the change we wish to see in our world.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

STRESS

Skipping school can be a form of self-care Why having balance and making time for yourself is important during the school semester ESTHER HAGUENAUER STAFF WRITER With the winter semester coming to a close, it seems more and more students are behind on their work. That isn’t to say they aren’t working as hard as they did at the beginning of the term, or even in the fall. As the low temperatures and cloudy skies persist, however, I think it’s easier to get tired.

The mix of rain, snow and wind has been exhausting, along with a constant yo-yoing between above and below zero degrees Celsius. This type of weather increases people’s chances of getting sick, and their ever-growing workload can prevent students from making a quick and full recovery. According to a 2014 study from Harvard Medical School, the cold weather forces people to stay indoors in close quarters, causing colds to spread.

For students who just emerged from midterms and are already staring down the barrel of finals, an impaired immune system and low energy levels are the last thing they need right now.

Additionally, some students experience seasonal affective disorder. According to CBC News, 35 per cent of Canadians get the “winter blues,” while another 10 to 15 per cent are affected by a mild form of seasonal depression. The days are

cold, dark and short, which can have a depressing impact on our lives and our bodies. I know it does for me.

Personally, I feel like my body has been shutting down since January. I almost always finish my school day with a massive headache, and I can’t function again until I lay down and rest. But my program and courses don’t always allow for restful days.

As a journalism student, even on the days when I don’t have class, my projects keep me fairly busy, and I have to run around town to complete them. Even though I rested during reading week, it barely felt like an actual break. I still had many projects to complete and exams to prepare for. I slept in, but it didn’t feel like I was catching up on all the sleep I needed.

During high school, I never skipped classes, though I don’t pass any judgment on those who did and do. This semester, however, reading the PowerPoints my professor sends to the class is enough to understand my elective and still get reasonable grades. That is why I have decided to skip that class every week.

My elective is on Mondays at 8:45 a.m., and since I don’t live close to campus, I would have to wake up very early to get there on time. I would often end up falling asleep in class anyway, which is why I decided it would be better for my mental and physical health to sleep in on

Mondays and get some work done from home instead.

I genuinely don’t believe skipping class is a form of laziness. Though some people skip class to take a break and have fun, most of us need to catch up on sleep and homework. I now take the two hours and 45 minutes I spent in that class getting most of my projects completed—and it’s such a relief! Those extra few hours allow me to rest during the weekend, do more work during the week and still take care of myself. I know some people who even use skipped class time to go to the gym.

Balance is incredibly impor tant—it’s necessary to make time for all forms of self-care, even if that means occasionally not going to class.

I have been less stressed out since I began skipping my elective, and I feel more rested and prepared for the rest of my courses.

Even though finals are quickly creeping up on us, self-care is no joke and shouldn’t be neglected. Regardless of how you cope with cold weather, a heavy workload and seemingly never-ending exams, you need to take care of yourself. So rest-up, relax and focus on the upcoming summer break we all deserve.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

MARCH 27, 2018

theconcordian

19

SOCIAL MEDIA

Banning and suspending users is problematic Twitter is wrongly censoring certain swear words in order to prevent potential abuse KATHERINA BOUCHER CONTRIBUTOR Twitter helps disseminate an idea quickly and provides users with a large audience to convey their messages to, no matter how many followers or important figures follow them. Although this is great when it comes to promoting an event or a social cause close to your heart, it can also have negative outcomes. As we have seen, social media platforms can lead to abuse and the spread of hateful messages.

It might be easier to

share your well-intentioned ideas, but it’s also easier to share ill-intentioned ones.

Twitter has been criticized by the public for inefficiently dealing with “trolls”—people who spread hateful comments to start fights. But lately, Twitter is using a new system. According to the Washington Post, instead of reviewing content that was signalled as abusive, Twitter detects certain keywords that, if used, will cause the platform to mute users for 12 hours.

Muting is not the same as banning. You can still use your account, but if you mention someone who doesn’t follow you, the mentioned account won’t be notified about the tweet. And if someone retweets from the punished account, only those following the punished account will be able to see the retweet.

While this mute feature is not as drastic as a ban, I still find it highly problematic.

What exactly is considered abusive speech? Twitter is a bit vague about this. The message Twitter issues when an account gets muted is: “We’ve temporarily limited some of your account features [...]

We’ve detec-

ted some potentially abusive behaviour from your account, so only your followers can see your activity on Twitter for the amount of time shown below.”

One user, Victoria Fierce, was recently muted for tweeting: “Fuck you, I gotta piss, and you’re putting me—an American—in danger of assault by your white supremacist brothers,’’ to Vice President Mike Pence. Twitter didn’t give a specific explanation for why she was muted—it might have been her use of the F-word or even the phrase “white supremacist.” It’s incredibly ambiguous.

I’m assuming she was muted because of her swearing. While it’s not the most elegant way to speak, swearing has its purpose when trying to show outrage or convey emotion toward a certain topic.

In my opinion, swearing, while being shocking, is a useful tool and should not be censored just to prevent potential harassment.

Using algorithms to punish users, rather than a human who can understand context, is problematic. Everything has context, and words that generally shouldn’t be used might be acceptable depending on the user’s intention. For example, how does a bot designed to oversee abusive tweets detect sarcasm, which is all about context? In its attempt to prevent abuse, Twitter may be silencing people who shouldn’t be silenced. That is terrifying, and we should be careful not to confuse

“preventing hate speech” with “preventing people from using certain keywords.” I also find the 12-hour mute policy problematic.

Since it’s done automatically, your ability to communicate with a larger audience is being restricted without understanding exactly what you did wrong. Twelve hours in today’s intense information-sharing cycle is a long time.

Some Twitter users have also pointed out that it seems the ban is mostly being used against people who tweet at a verified account. If this is actually the case, it causes another problem. Twitter is protecting public figures who can rely on a strong community of followers to help them fight the abuse. Meanwhile, small users with few followers or little influence become victims of abuse and are not prioritized by this new preventative system.

Since Twitter is its own entity, one could argue the platform has the right to put all the restrictions it wants on users. Yet as a major communication tool, I think it’s Twitter’s responsibility to make sure users’ right to free speech is being respected. I don’t wish for anyone to be the target of abuse on social media, but I think preventing innocent people from using certain words can fall into the category of censorship—which is a whole other serious action that cannot be accepted.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

ASTROLOGY

Are horoscopes helpful or hogwash?

Astrology might not be foolproof, but it can help people understand each other’s behaviours YOUMNA EL HALABI CONTRIBUTOR I’m an avid believer in astrology. I am a proud Libra, and I would like to think horoscopes are not as ridiculous as some claim they are. I am not fully versed in the planetary alignment that astrology is based on, but I do believe a person’s star sign can explain their behaviour.

Certain traits can easily be spotted, if you pay close enough attention.

A Libra is a natural born leader, with an affinity for balance and an uncontrollable need to please people. According to Astro, a website that describes astrological signs, an Aries is dramatic, emotional, assertive, impulsive and, most importantly, kind-hearted.

A Virgo is democratic—some might say a control freak, but that is just part of their love for order and organization. Geminis are as secretive as they are blunt. The list goes on.

I can see why some people would consider astrology to be fictitious, as it has no scientific basis nor is there much accuracy when it comes to astrologers’ predictions.

At times, a Capricorn can read something about a Sagittarius and relate to it just the same. Many readings and sign characteristics are inconsistent. Daily horoscopes might speculate about your day, but there is no certainty in what astrologers predict to be “a day full of opportunities” or an “eventful evening.”

If you were to unknowingly read a horoscope that was not yours and apply it to your life, only to discover it was not intended for you, this might reinforce your belief that horoscopes are nonsense. However, in an age when we are taught to tolerate beliefs and religions based on books that may as well be fictional, I don’t understand why astrology is considered hogwash by some people. In some ways, astrology is similar to religion, in the sense that it is not 100 per cent accurate yet millions of people believe in it.

Astrology is a peaceful form of spirituality, exploring human behaviour and psyche.

Some might

even draw parallels to psychology—after all, psychology’s main purpose is to understand the complexity of human beings and the reasons for their actions. Astrology attempts to answer such notions as well.

I understand why this could be deemed pathetic or ridiculous. I can almost hear the skepticism: “How the hell can you understand why I act the way I do because Mercury, ruled by Mars on the left of Jupiter, says so?” I agree that a person’s sign does not always explain their motives or behaviour. Yet, if you’re a believer in astrology like me, general descriptions might make you wary of certain

signs, such as blunt Capricorns or intense Scorpios. I normally don’t like to generalize, but based on subjective experiences with these signs, these two are oftentimes rough around the edges and hard to handle.

Star signs do explain to me why a person might act the way they do, and how one should be aware of certain reactions.

Many types of science are based on facts and observations of the world around us.

But I believe these sciences are also based on interpretations of the world around us.

Whether it’s mathematics, astronomy or physics, I believe such theories would not be born without thorough interpretations of the world and beyond. So why shouldn’t astrological reasoning be taken as seriously as scientific reasoning?

Astrology has been dubbed a “pseudoscience,” according to The New York Times , because it’s not as detailed or factual as other scientific fields. I believe certain things in life cannot be completely explained through science and factual evidence. Some things are beyond the socially constructed definition of reasoning. The belief in astrology, and its depiction of a person’s personality, might seem far-fetched with no theoretical or scientific framework. But the same could be said about most religions.

On the brightside, at least astrology never started wars! Just don’t leave an Aries and a Gemini alone together.

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

20 theconcordian

MARCH 27, 2018 Graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

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