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THE FINAL ISSUE
CURIOSITY DELIVERS
Editor-in-ChiefJenny Shen
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Photo EditorsJack Neal and L-A [email protected]
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PublisherChad Ronalds
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THE Mcgill
SPECIAL SUMMER CONTENT
NEWS / Simakov j-boardS electionS SSmu p. 4VP External by-election results P. 5Austerity protest P. 4This year in review P. 6-7SSMU report cards P. 8-9
OPINION / editorial: provincial FederationS p. 10Alternative resources insufficient academic advising options P. 10Free speech and safe spaces P. 11Canadian responsibility towards refugees P. 11PGSS Endorsements P. 12-13
STUDENT LIVING / career planning p. 18The viewpoint P. 15Summer fashion P. 19Summer terasses P. 19
FEATURES / campuS StorieS, reviSiSted p. 16-17
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT / Summer Film preview p. 22Music and the brain P. 20Osheaga preview P. 21Peer review: Busty and the Bass P. 23Play review: The Blue Planet P. 23Deep cuts: Under the sun P. 24Pop rhetoric: The element of surprise P. 24Album review: Clay & Alex P. 24
SCITECH / Sun and Science p. 26Green chemistry P. 25Fact or fiction P. 25Summer mobile apps P. 26Montreal Brain Bee P. 27Touching Brains P. 27
SPORTS / Summer SportS in canada p. 30The Martlet hockey dynasty P. 28Pan Am Games P. 29Behind the bench P. 29Blue Jays exhibition game P. 30Tribune 2015 Sports Awards P. 31
TAbLE Of CONTENTS
2 Thursday, April 9, 2015
tHank You to all our 2014-2015 StaFF writerS, pHotograpHerS, & illuStratorSChristine Chang, Cordelia Cho, Meghan Collie, Philippe Dumais, Laura Hanrahan, Keah Hansen, Nick Jasinski, Evelyn Kaczmarek, Lydia Kaprelian, Aislinn Kalob, Ashley Kong, Tiffany Le, Arden Li, Chris Lutes, Clare Lyle, Hailey Mackinnon, Eleanor Milman, Alycia Noë, Albert Park, Laura Plamondon, Aaron Rose, Elli Slavitch, Zikomo Smith, Jenna Stanwood, Noath Sutton, Lauren Wildgoose
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR 2014-2015 CONTRIBUTORSMonica Allaby, Devon Allary, Tara Andrew, Raphael Uribe Arango, Abdulaziz Atta, Babur Ayanlar, Lauren Benson-Armer, Priyank Bijani, Uliana Bilash, Josie Bird, Matt Bobkin, Clark Bray, Alex Bullis, Alexander Bullis, Charlotte Cailliarc, Audrey Carleton, Melanie Chan, Christine Chun Chang, Yahong Chi, Maud Ciche, Luka Ciklovan, Anna St. Clair, Natalie Coffen, Meghan Collie, Sara Cullen, Rahul Datta, Catherine Mounier Desrochers, Julia Dick, Alizeh Bijlani, Dina El-Baradie, Django Ellenhorn, Daniel Fishbayn, Genevieve Fried, Vincent-Pierre Fullerton, Liam Galligan, D.J. Gilbert, Dan Gilbert, Harrison Glotman, Cory Goldstein, Brooke Goossen, Jacob Greenspon, Isaiah Grossman, Lindsey Hagmen, Emma Hameau, Justin Hatherly, Eric Hendry, Jonathan Herlin, Jonathan Hou, Kareem Ibrahim, Sarah Ibrahim, Natalie Jennings, Sophie Jewett, Max Joseph, Catherine-Laure Juste, Michael Kalman, Kathleen Rose Kennedy, Ryan Kipp, Adrian Knowler, Alexandra Konkina, Nick Lapage, Frances Lash, Chloe Lau, Rebecca Laverly, Devona Lean, Oren Lefkowitz, Christopher LeMay, Aviva Leshaw, Dana Levin, Sijia Li, May Lim, Jane Livshin, Johnny Maker, Nicholas Makwasek, Johnny Mater, Christopher Le May, Deboleena Mazumbar, Harry McAlevey, Campbell McClintock, Elizabeth McLellan, Stephanie Mclellan-Lamache, Dan Moczula, Joe Modzelewski, Martin Molpeceres, Nina Morena, Hayley Mortin, Catherine Mounier-Desrochers, Abdul Muiz, Clare Murphy, Sam Nazer, Maggie Nenniger, Stephanie Ngo, Tiffany Okotako, Luke Orlando, Jessie Ouy-ang, Sunmin Park, Fergus Place, Jer Lin Poh, Celine Poisson, Kia Pouliot, Burgess Powell, Alex Pozdnyakov, Janine Rafai, Sofia Rautionmaa, Cécile Richetta, Dan Rozenblum, Daan Rozenbroek, Alex Ryder-Bunting, Luka Ryder-Bunting, Miina Sasaki, Samantha Schmidt, Joshua Shapiro, Carolina Shenoda, Mira Silver, Alexi Simakov, Jordan Sinder, Saloni Singh, Alex Sirois, Cynthia Smell, Kira Smith, Anthony Snell, Nicole Spadotto, Hilary Storm, Clemence Tam, Victor Tang, Maryse Thomas, Jack Tokarz, Raphael Uribe Urango, Corrina Vali, Wilder Walker-Stewart, Bridget Walsh, Andy Wang, Susanne Wang, Yufei Wang, Roscoe Wasserberg, Jonathan Whelan, Lauren Wray, Sharon Xie,Victoria Xie, Lesly Yao, Marta Yesgat, Leyang Yu
3Thursday, April 9, 2015
Keep an eye out for our online content all summer. If you’re in Montreal and interested in writing this summer, email [email protected].
the tribune will return to stands in
September 2015!
Tens of thousands of partici-pants marched in a protest against provincial austerity
measures on April 2. The protest was organized by student federa-tion Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ). Ac-cording to the organizers, around 75,000 people participated in the march, which convened at Square Victoria at 1 p.m. and continued for more than two hours through the streets, ending at Place Émile-Gamelin. The march was deemed illegal from its onset by the police because organizers failed to provide an itinerary of the route beforehand, but it nontheless remained peaceful.
McGill students and union members were present at the march, including members of the Associa-tion of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) and the McGill Law Students’ Society (MLSS). The MLSS had voted on April 1 to hold a one day strike on April 2— the vote passed by 61 per cent. Jacob Schweda, a Law student, explained that students in his faculty were concerned about the impact of
austerity on the public sector. “I think people are particularly
concerned about the effect austerity cuts will have on groups that we will serve in the future as lawyers. For example, freezes to legal aid abil-ity, cuts to social assistance, [and] cuts to women’s groups, which re-ally undermines equality,” Schweda said. “So there’s a danger of creat-ing different classes of people and excluding people from society—and as future lawyers, we have an obligation to speak out against that.”
Andrea Palmer, a student in the McGill School of Social Work, said that although the social work stu-dent association had not officially gone on strike, students within the school were aware of and affected by the austerity movement.
“As social work students, I think [...] we are more aware than most people because we are directly affected working in the social, com-munity, [and] health sectors,” she said. “For example, a lot of us work with marginalized groups and com-munities and we know that women and those who are more vulnerable in our society, like the lower socia-leconomic status, are disproportion-ately affected by these cuts. We’re
working every day and seeing these cuts affect the individuals we’re working with.”
In addition to the large student presence, many families and social groups attended the march. Post-secondary students from CÉGEPs, such as Vanier College, and uni-versity institutions also decided to strike on April 2.
President of the Confédération des Associations D’étudiants et Étu-diantes de L’université Laval (CA-DEUL) Thierry Bouchard-Vincent
explained that around 20,000 stu-dents from Université Laval were on strike for April 2.
“Most of our associations have a position on the [cuts to public services], but of course, what we [have] seen [for] months [are] the cuts in universities,” Bouchard-Vincent said. “Many have heard negotiations of how these cuts will affect the teachings and the number of classes and the offering of differ-ent courses.”
He also stated that the society’s
member associations had voted to take a unified stance.
“All our associations took a position on a qualified majority on a caucus against the cuts in the public systems,” Bouchard-Vincent said. “We stay informed on the other activities of the other associations; we try to inform [students] of the ef-fects of the cuts, especially on other universities, and inform and help other associations who want to take further actions.”
4 Thursday, April 9, 2014
Alexei Simakov files J-Board petition against Elections SSMU
Alexei Simakov, for-mer Students’ Soci-ety of McGill University
(SSMU) presidential candidate, filed a petition on Thursday to the Judicial Board (J-Board), SSMU’s judicial branch. The petition calls for the J-Board to file sanctions against Kareem Ibrahim, incoming SSMU President.
“Alexei Simakov over the course of the campaign was li-beled repeatedly both by members of candidate Ibrahim’s campaign team and by Ibrahim himself,” the petition reads. “We therefore re-quest that sanctions and/or demerit points, with associated deductions towards candidate Ibrahim’s cam-paign budget cap, are issued with respect to the precedents set by [Chief Elections Officer (CEO)] during the election.”
J-Board Chief Justice Muna Tojiboeva confirmed that the case has been accepted.
“Alexei Simakov’s petition is within our jurisdiction so we have accepted the petition—we will be having a hearing,” she said. “We are following the standard J-Board internal rules of procedure with how we are processing the peti-tion.”
According to Simakov, Elec-tions SSMU’s CEO Rachelle Bastarache did not adequately ad-dress a slanderous post on the Fa-cebook event page for Ibrahim’s campaign.
“[Ibrahim] responded by posting on his event page, ac-cusing me of orchestrating the leaks—he accused me of violat-ing his privacy and hacking his Facebook,” Simakov claimed, re-ferring to screenshots of a private Facebook conversation discussing Tariq Khan’s candidacy for SSMU
President in the 2014 SSMU elec-tions.
Simakov added that Basta-rache did ask Ibrahim to take the message down.
“[Ibrahim] complied with this request [... but] he issued no apol-ogy, no recantation of the state-ments,” Simakov explained. “The CEO took no disciplinary actions whatsoever, despite the fact that this is a clearly false accusation [.... Bastarache’s] defence is that [Ibra-him] was in an exasperated state of mind after this leaked.”
Ibrahim stated that he had been sanctioned by Elections SSMU and highlighted the differ-ences between his response to the leaked Facebook messages and an earlier incident during which Simakov was sanctioned after a member of his campaign team posted defamatory pictures on Ibrahim’s Facebook event page.
“I was sanctioned [...but] I
was not given any financial [penal-ties],” Ibrahim explained. “While [Simakov’s] campaign manager posted two inappropriate memes on my Facebook event [...] I sim-ply liked a post on my own event which read ‘Voting for you be-cause the other guy is a stain. Keep on keeping on,’ which I saw as a message of support which I sought to validate. The magnitude of these infractions are evidently different, which is why [...] I simply re-ceived demerit points.”
Bastarache stated that Elec-tions SSMU had received and reviewed a petition for an in-validation of Ibrahim’s win from Simakov regarding this issue.
“After an informal consulta-tion with [the Electoral Review Committee] members, we deemed that the action by [Ibrahim] did not warrant the consideration of in-validation of an election,” she said. “We felt that our prior actions in
those cases were appropriate.” Bastarache explained why the
sanctions against candidates are not made publicly available.
“It should be known that the sanctionable actions and sanctions received do not become public knowledge until 12 demerit points are received,” she said. “No can-didate other than Lola Baraldi has had their sanctions revealed to the public.”
Simakov added that he hopes this issue will be quickly resolved.
“We’re seeking that the J-Board [...] responds to validate our reasonably clear concerns with a well-established basis [...] and [rectifies] the situation,” he said. “This will give the student body faith that the elections office isn’t completely dysfunctional [....] Hopefully, they’ll respond posi-tively, constructively, and we can have a very short J-Board [case].”
News EditorShrinkhAlA dAwAdi
Former presidential candidate alleges bylaw infractions by Kareem Ibrahim not adequately addressed
Anti-austerity march draws
News EditorCECE ZhAng
Students and union workers form majority of participants
Protesters swelled through the streets of Downtown Montreal. (Emma Hameau / McGill Tribune)
5Thursday, April 9, 2014
Emily Boytinck elected SSMU VP External by 13 per cent margin
Emily Boytinck, U3 Science, was elected the Vice-President (VP) External of the Student’s
Society of McGill University (SSMU) last Friday with 56.3 per cent of the vote. The opposing candidate, Joanna Schacter, U3 Arts, earned 43.7 per cent of the vote. 2185 students in total voted in the election, with 369 abstentions.
Following the announcement of the results, Boytinck expressed her ex-citement and gratitude.
“I just feel very relieved, and hap-py for all the support that I received during the campaign,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to connecting with the Montreal community more and really getting involved and connecting with other student associations across Montreal and in Quebec. I think that’ll be a really exciting part of the portfolio this [upcoming] year.”
The by-election for SSMU’s VP External position was held because no candidates were nominated during the initial SSMU elections campaign pe-riod. A nomination period for the by-election followed, and ended on March 20, with Boytinck and Schacter being announced as the two candidates.
2185 students voted in the VP-External by-election compared to the 5465 students who voted in the SSMU elections. Boytinck underscored the issues of student engagement in elec-tions at McGill.
“It’s a little disappointing that the turnout was lower for [the by-elec-
tion],” she said. “I think that has not only to do with the fact that there is a lot of misinformation about what the VP External actually does, but also just apathy about politics in Quebec.”
Schacter expressed gratitude to-wards the students who had voted in the by-election.
“I’m grateful to each and every voter, not just to those who voted in my favour, but to everyone who did vote, even the abstentions,” she said. “I wish [Boytinck] the best of luck.”
Schacter also echoed Boytinck’s concerns of student engagement with SSMU elections.
“We are a university filled with opinionated people,” she said. “There is no way that students have nothing to say, or that any existing apathy is in-nate. If participation is low numbers-wise, which it is, that is a symptom of a larger problem—one in which I be-lieve that SSMU has a hand [in]. What SSMU does is by no means easy, but there needs to be a greater effort at out-reach and accessible information, and, in particular, at representing a greater variety of students more equitably.”
Going forward, Schacter hopes that all issues and suggestions brought forward by both candidates during the campaign process will taken under consideration for the coming year.
“We both brought a lot of great ideas to the table, and I hope that this election has [allowed Boytinck] to look at multiple perspectives and student is-sues that she will take into considera-tion going forward,” Schacter said.
Staff WriterlAUrA hAnrAhAn
By-election sees turnout of 2,185 votes
In Montreal this summer?
Write for the Tribune!
email [email protected]
News6 Thursday, April 9, 2014
REVIEW
SSMU Building Fee
Redmen Player charges
McGill Book-store to Re-house Faculty of Management
Luis-Andres Guimont-Mota, a running back for the McGill Redmen football team, was arrested
in September on charges of assault and armed rob-bery. Guimont-Mota was initially suspended from the
team after media reported that he assaulted his then-wife. Guimont-Mota had also been previously convicted of assault in
2010 but was allowed to serve his sentence intermittently in order to accommodate his football schedule. Following the September charges, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens sent an email to the student body apologizing for the decision to allow someone with a previous assault charge to participate in varsity sports and announcing Guimont-Mota’s suspension from the team.
Shortly after this, then head football coach Clint Uttley resigned from his posi-tion, stating that Dyens’ sentiment, “does not represent my personal morals or values with regards to sport, recruiting, and life in general.” Guimont-Mota was acquitted of the crime in February, after his then-wife did not appear in court to testify against him. His suspension was rescinded following this decision.
The Guimont-Mota arrest and subsequent reinstatement to the football team spurred a review of the rules and regulations surrounding student participation in varsity athletics. In combination with the 2011 sexual assault case involving three McGill football players, Guimont-Mota’s case led to calls for McGill to take a more proactive role in the prevention of and response to assault.
Last semester, McGill announced that the building currently occupied by the McGill Bookstore will serve as an exten-sion of the Desautels Faculty of Management by Winter 2016. According to administration, the Management Building currently houses 2,500 students, which is 1,000 students over its capacity.
Presently, the future location of the bookstore is undeter-mined. Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) Michael Di Grappa explained that McGill is looking to diversify how it of-fers merchandise, namely by looking at creating an online pres-ence to address textbook delivery services.
SSMU General Assemblies (GA) saw unprec-edented attendance rates this year, with a controversial motion presented at each semester’s session. Over 700 stu-dents attended the Fall GA, with many expressing that they attended in order to vote on the controversial motion, “Calling on SSMU to Stand in Solidarity with the People of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” The motion also called for SSMU executives to “endorse and sponsor events and efforts conducted by student groups working to combat oppression and misrepresentation of marginalized groups in-cluding but not limited to Palestinians, and to provide a safe platform for students to voice their views and experiences accessibly.”
The motion sparked debate regarding SSMU’s role in taking stances on ex-ternal politics in representation of the student body. The original motion was ulti-mately indefinitely postponed by a vote of 402 for and 337 against.
The Winter GA drew around 550 students, as a motion regarding divestment from companies profiting from the illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories was debated. The motion called upon SSMU to lobby McGill to divest from the companies, and ultimately failed with 273 against, 212 for.
Students voted in favour of the Students Soci-ety of McGill University (SSMU) building fee dur-ing the Fall 2014 Referendum period that was held in October. The approved $5.78 fee was designated to finance the renewed University Centre lease, which currently houses the SSMU.
The fee, which students cannot opt-out from, went into effect almost imme-diately after the voting period. The fee will end in 2021, at the same time that the recently negotiated lease for the SSMU Building will expire.
Initially presented during the Winter 2014 Referendum period, the building fee originally failed with 53.6 per cent of voters opposing the levy. The decision to propose the fee a second time garnered controversy from the student body. Some questioned the SSMU’s democratic right to run the levy for a second time while others took issue with the fact that the student body was being called upon to pay for SSMU’s lease. In the second round of voting, the fee passed with 69 per cent approval and 21.8 per cent voter turnout.
General AssembliesFall and Winter
This year in
7Thursday, April 9, 2014
Former Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) secretary-general Juan Camilo Pinto re-signed his post in January, citing personal and time commitment issues. Prior to his resignation, the PGSS Board of Directors (BoD) had placed a motion of censure on Pinto in November, stripping him of his human resources responsibilities. The mo-tion was placed in response to complaints about Pinto’s behaviour towards PGSS staff members.
In December 2014, the PGSS Executive voted “No” in a vote of confidence regarding Pinto’s capabilities as the Secretary-General following his censure.
Pinto stated that his resignation was neither influenced by the censure or the vote of no confidence.
“When the censure passed, I accepted my responsibility [for] the things that I was responsible for [and] I [continued] my work,” he said at the time. “The reality is that my research as a whole was suffering [….] It’s in rare cases that you have someone managing a research team plus being the president of an association, plus doing a PhD, plus doing sports. It’s a big combination that I had, so I had to pick something [to drop] and sadly, it was PGSS.”
The interim Secretary-General, Yony Bresler, was elected in February.
Austerity measures resulting from efforts by the Quebec government to eliminate its $2.35-bil-lion deficit include nearly $700 million in public service job cuts and approximately $172 million to university funding. The McGill administration announced budget cuts after they received slashes in funding of around $40 million from the provincial government throughout the year. Student responses to auster-ity have been largely negative. SSMU and PGSS held a joint-Council austerity meeting, where both Councils decided to pass a joint statement against austerity. A motion mandating SSMU to publicly denounce provincial government auster-ity measures and inform and mobilize its members in regards to these measures was passed in the Fall General Assembly (GA). The PGSS General Meeting also passed a motion opposing austerity.
Multiple protests organized by organizations and unions, as well as by student federations such as the Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étu-diante (ASSÉ) and (Fédération Etudiante Universitaire du Québec) FEUQ, also occurred throughout the year. As of April, a movement called Printemps 2015 implored all members of society to participate in a series of protests against aus-terity measures.
J-Board Case Against SSMU
In October 2014, two McGill students Nadir Khan and Zain Ali Syed filed a case with the Judicial Board (J-Board), the judicial branch of the Students’ Society of McGill Universi- t y (SSMU). The complainants argued that the Speaker of SSMU Council, who led the Fall 2014 General Assembly (GA), suppressed discussion on the motion “Calling on SSMU to Stand in Solidarity with the People of the Occupied Palestinian Ter-ritories.” The case was brought to a mediation, which stipulated that the J-Board investigate the meaning of Article 5.2 in Bylaw Book I-5 of the SSMU bylaws .
“Standing rules for the General Assembly which make Roberts’ Rules easier for students to understand procedure must be adopted by Council at least one week in advance of the General Assembly,” the article reads.
In March, the J-Board found that the bylaw obligated SSMU Council to adopt standing rules for the GA.
The J-Board was also mandated to investigate if a special rule of procedure could be implemented during the GA to require that a motion to postpone indefinitely be passed by a two-thirds majority as opposed to a simple majority. In its recommen-dation, the J-Board stated that SSMU did not have the jurisdiction to change the rule for a motion to be postponed indefinitely.
PGSS Secretary-General Resigns
Austerity Effects
Earlier this semester, McGill Law stu-dents Soumia Allalou and Raymond Graft created a proposal for the implementation of women-only hours at the McGill Fitness Cen-tre. Allalou explained that currently, many women feel uncomfortable using the gym—especially the weights sec-tion—due to being watched or harassed by men. She also stated that many other Canadian universities, such as the University of Toronto, currently offer women-only gym hours at their fitness facilities.
The proposal generated controversy on campus, with some students arguing that it would be a form of segregation and restrict men’s ability to use the Fitness Centre. The proposal was supported by other students, as well as the SSMU exec-utive. Allalou and the SSMU executive were reportedly in negotiations with the McGill Athletics staff to create a compromise proposal, which would involve sec-tioning off a room within the McGill Athletics complex for women-only hours.
In March, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens announced that the McGill administration would not be moving forward with discussing the proposal, citing principles of equality and non-secularism. This response drew criticism from some students and SSMU executives, who were upset that McGill had unilaterally ended negotiations for a compromise proposal. A motion was passed at the March 26 SSMU Council aiming to reopen negotia-tions.
Women-only Gym Hours
News8 Thursday, April 9, 2014
SSMU EXECUTIVE
Ayukawa has faced significant chal-lenges this year, and overall, she has han-dled them efficiently. Earlier this year, long-time SSMU General Manager Pauline Gervais resigned, taking with her 10 years of experience and knowledge. Ayukawa was also the respondent in two Judicial Board (J-Board) cases this year. Although the cases were resolved under mediation, they placed significant strain on the presidential port-folio, particularly because they demanded Ayukawa’s attention for significant portions of the year, detracting from her primary responsibilities. For example, the J-Board case on the hiring of the Elections SSMU Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and Deputy Electoral Officer (DEO) interrupted elec-tions proceedings mid-year.
Nevertheless, Ayukawa has overseen significant accomplishments this year, in-cluding the increased outreach for SSMU hiring and a variety of sustainability ini-tiatives, such as Zero Waste Week and the composting program. Ayukawa has also re-mained communicative and transparent with campus media. Furthermore, she planned two General Assemblies (GAs) with suc-cess, and although the first was met with criticism for exceeding capacity, this year’s GAs saw unprecedented attendance, and Ayukawa managed to coordinate the logis-tics for both. However, initiatives to in-crease student engagement with the GAs such as the motion writing workshop were not well-attended, and considerations must continue to be made on how to best engage and inform students on GA proceedings.
Chaim has made many notable strides for the VP Internal position this year, in-cluding his recent work with Red & White Week, which has seen an increased amount of outreach and visibility compared to pre-vious years. Chaim has also succeeded in both event and financial management for this year’s frosh, which in past years has seen deficits of over $20,000 and negative publicity in the community at large. This year’s frosh received improved publicity and tallied $3,600 in deficit—a noticeable improvement—and is reflective of a more effectively-planned event.
Chaim also leads the Students’ Society Programming Network (SSPN) committee, which has been able to host a variety of events, such as the January incoming stu-dents orientation and the arcade night, that have also seen success, and the diversifica-tion of the portfolio is promising and should continue to expand.
With Chaim’s introduction of the inter-nal coordinator position, the SSPN portfo-lio should continue to expand and hopefully succeed. However, there have been irregu-larities in Chaim’s communication, namely the listservs, which have at times been ne-glected during certain weeks. Chaim has also discussed the possibility of a publica-tions fee to help fund Old McGill, the year-book, which has been a source of deficit for many years. However, potential funding options have not yet been solidified, and if sales continue to remain low, the yearbook will likely run a deficit again this year.
Stewart-Kanigan has been a strong and effective student leader during her tenure as VP University Affairs, as evidenced by her adamant advocacy on Senate and her work with the administration. This persistence is essential for SSMU executives, who often run into administrative and bureaucratic bar-riers at multiple levels. Stewart-Kanigan has successfully prioritized student needs at Sen-ate all year, and consistently challenged and questioned the administration on its actions.
She has been proactive in her efforts with the Sexual Assault Policy Working Group, and the progress that has been made in de-manding action from McGill to implement a rights-based framework has been significant. She also worked on mental health initiatives such as the Mental Health Awareness Week, and has overseen significant growth for the portfolio, particularly with the Mental Health Five-Year Plan. Stewart-Kanigan has also worked closely with the equity committee all year in reviewing and updating the eq-uity policy, as well as creating a variety of resources and reports for SSMU.
Stewart-Kanigan frequently reached out to campus media and SSMU constituents on-line and through forums. This has been cru-cial in communicating her progress in her position throughout the year, and is the type of effective representation that students need from their executives. Stewart-Kanigan was able to successfully juggle a wide variety of important projects this year, and has overseen significant progress for all of them.
REPORT CARDS
President COURTnEy AyUkAwA
VP Internal J. DAnIEl ChAIM
VP University Affairs ClAIRE STEwART-kAnIgAn
9Thursday, April 9, 2014
(Illustration by Susanne Wang / McGill Tribune)
This year, Bradley has effectively man-aged the SSMU budget, her primary responsi-bility. She oversaw the passing of the SSMU Building Fee, and continued the improvement of sales both at Gerts and The Nest.
Gerts had lost revenue earlier in the year when groups did not pay following their book-ings—Bradley has since addressed this with SSMU’s accounts receivable department. Minicourses have also seen a decline in par-ticipation and therefore in revenue this past semester, which may be something that next year’s VP Finance will need to address.
Bradley was also proactive in her commu-nication of the budget outside Council—meet-ing with individual campus publications, she was able to explain and clarify aspects of the budget to make it more accessible than it has been in previous years. Further efforts will need to be made in future years to continue informing students on where their fees are go-ing, and how that money is being spent.
Bradley also went beyond the VP Fi-nance’s typical responsibilities by overseeing the McGill Food Coalition Charter, which was formed in December 2014 to garner support for student-run food services on campus.
Ultimately, the VP Finance’s main re-sponsibilities are to oversee and manage the budget so that it breaks even, which was chal-lenging this year due to The Nest’s extensive startup costs and the uncertainty at the begin-ning of the year regarding the building fee.
In ensuring that the budget will be set to break even, Bradley has been successful in her position this year.
Moustaqim-Barrette has worked on a vari-ety of projects within the VP External portfolio this year, including climate justice initiatives through Etudiants Contre les Oleoducs (ECO), a coalition that rallies against the proposed pipeline projects in Quebec, and anti-austerity events, such as the anti-austerity activity night that was hosted earlier this semester. She also increased the visibility of the portfolio online, which has recently received more attention but has not yet been able to effectively reach the majority of the student body, as it is still rela-tively new.
Since SSMU’s disaffiliation with Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TaCEQ) last year, Moustaqim-Barrette has been attend-ing congresses with the Fédération Etudiante Universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), a Quebec student federation, and meeting with other stu-dent unions at roundtables to discuss the fu-ture of SSMU’s representation at the provincial level. Although Moustaqim-Barrette has cited the importance of student consultation on what types of issues should be addressed and wheth-er joining a federation should be a priority for SSMU, there is still uncertainty surrounding these matters, and SSMU remains unaffiliated with other student unions in Quebec.
Although Moustaqim-Barrette recently conducted an External Affairs Survey that sought to collect student opinions on the port-folio, this could have been well-suited much earlier in her term in order to best repre-sent them in her capacity as the VP External throughout the year while consistently commu-nicating these efforts back to the student body.
As a second-year executive, Fong has had the ad-vantage of being able to plan and oversee more long-term projects that have been key in achieving more structure and efficiency for the SSMU clubs. He and the Interest Group Coordinator (IGC) Kimber Bialik worked diligently to up-date all club constitutions, ensure that all clubs attend an orientation workshop on administration and finances, and carry out two successful Activity Nights. Fong also works directly with club bylaw revisions, which is another back-end project that benefitted from his knowledge of the port-folio as a whole.
The mandatory club workshops helped facilitate communication in order to inform club executives on club funding and audits. The change in club funding structure, which now provides clubs with an initial 40 per cent of its funding and the remaining 60 per cent only after it has turned in its receipts, was a direct way to demand more ac-countability from clubs. However, there was still a signifi-cant amount of confusion amongst many clubs regarding the changes that had been made to the funding schedule and allotment process. Fong has coordinated audit work-shops for clubs, which has been helpful, but the communi-cation aspect of the portfolio needs to continue to expand.
Fong has also shown a great deal of initiative not only through the clubs survey, but also the student experience survey, which he has been managing during this semes-ter. The survey was well-publicized and is extensive in its questions, and could serve as a valuable resource for future executive teams if they use it as a metric for how to best represent and serve the student body.
Fong’s work with the ClubHub project has grown slowly over the past two years, and although he has man-aged both the research and consultation aspects of the pro-ject, it has yet to move on to the development or imple-mentation phase. Next year’s VP Clubs and Services will have to address this project and how it would compare to myInvolvement, which McGill has purchased for use.
REPORT CARDS
VP Finance & Operations kAThlEEn BRADlEy
VP External AMInA MOUSTAqIM - BARRETTE
VP Clubs & Services STEfAn fOng
Opinion Thursday, April 9, 201510
SSMU membership within federation necessary to advance students’ interestsThe Students’ Society of
McGill University (SSMU) is cur-rently taking part in discussions to create a new student federation fol-lowing turmoil within the largest provincial student federation, the Fédération Etudiante Universitaire du Québec (FEUQ). SSMU is cur-rently not a member of FEUQ, but the recent disaffiliation from the federation by one of the most pow-erful member organizations, the Fédération des Associations Etudi-antes du campus de l’Université de Montréal (FAÉCUM), has prompt-ed SSMU—as well as 15 other stu-dents’ societies—to consider mem-bership within a new federation. During this period of deliberation, SSMU should seek to join a federa-tion that will be able to best advance undergraduates’ interests and use its bargaining power to successfully lobby the government to enact poli-cies that better represent students’ needs.
A large student federation has the capability to advocate for
student rights at a provincial level. While it has lost momentum recent-ly with allegations of corruption and backdoor politics culminating in the disaffiliation of FAÉCUM, FEUQ and its recent issues have put a spot-light on SSMU’s need to belong to a federation. The increased attention towards the benefits of belonging to a federation—as well as the poten-tial governance issues that can arise within such organizations—has brought up the question of what stu-dent associations should seek from a federation.
The interests of McGill stu-dents do differ from those of oth-er student associations within a federation . As an Anglophone insti-tution with a large proportion of in-ternational students, McGill’s needs are unique within the province. For example, health insurance for in-ternational students, and upholding McGill’s interests as an English uni-versity, should be taken into account when guiding SSMU’s decision to join a federation. SSMU should
thus seek out other student asso-ciations with structural similarities in order to best advance its inter-ests—for instance, the undergradu-ate unions at Bishop’s University and Concordia University. Moreo-ver, SSMU and the Post-Graduate Students’ Society of McGill Uni-versity (PGSS), which is currently a member of FEUQ, could bolster each others’ strength and bargain-ing power by joining the same federation by virtue of their shared similarities from being at the same university. SSMU and PGSS rarely join forces to tackle issues that they both face—the first ever joint sum-mit between the university’s two student associations was held this year was their first ever. Increased collaboration is necessary moving forward and the incoming execu-tives for both should continue to en-gage in discussions.
SSMU Vice-President Ex-ternal Amina Moustaqim-Barrette stated her intentions to consult stu-dents about joining a student fed-
eration at the beginning of her term. SSMU has since implemented the student experience survey, which consulted students on the issue, but there has been little else in terms of engagement or communication with students about joining a feder-ation. Moreover, the survey should have been carried out earlier during the year so that SSMU would have the results now as they’re attempt-ing to decide on a student federa-tion. While Moustaqim-Barrette has attended several FEUQ congresses, the information regarding student federations has not been effectively communicated to students, some-thing that the incoming VP External Emily Boytinck must rectify. Boyt-nick, should use the results of the consultation efforts to inform her actions next year and achieve mem-bership within a student federation.
While consultation is neces-sary to determine student attitudes towards contentious issues handled by federations—such as opposing austerity—other less controver-
sial matters that federations tackle have been ignored due to SSMU’s absence within a federation. Is-sues such as the need for bursary programs, health insurance, unpaid internships, and funding for the Of-fice for Students with Disabilities (OSD), all of which the majority of student support, and which don’t require drawn-out consultation pro-cesses or negotiations, have fallen by the wayside. Therefore, SSMU executives should seek to join a stable and powerful student federa-tion that will represent its interests at the provincial level as soon as possible. Where SSMU alone may lack the clout to advance the inter-ests of its constituents, federations have the resources and the leverage to represent students and pressure the government to enact change on their behalf, which is why expedited consultation and more productive discussions should be prioritized in the coming year.
Alternative resources do not fill gaps in faculty advising
At the March 18 Senate meeting, Arts Senator Jacob Greenspon raised a question concerning the ratios of faculty advisors to students across fac-ulties. Statistics exposed dis-parities between faculties—the greatest difference being the Faculty of Arts, with 843 stu-dents per advisor, and the Fac-ulty of Law, with 88 students per advisor. In their response to Greenspon’s question, Provost Anthony C. Masi and Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens only briefly acknowledged the disparity, instead focusing
on other resources available which help to ensure that “all students have equal access to the same quality of advising.”
However, there are two issues at hand. First, it should be unnecessary to even con-sider alternative resources in the discussion. The disparities show that all students do not have equal access to faculty advising, and thus, are not be-ing provided with equal op-portunities for success. Moreo-ver, the listed initiatives are an inadequate substitute when compared with faculty advis-ing. In the end, providing these alternative resources for all students does not solve the dis-parities between faculties.
A discussion of the merits of alternative resources may show that despite having their own value, alternatives are not adequate substitutes. Masi and Dyens listed the Ask an Advi-sor program and the McGill 101 initiative, which include
videos explaining different types of advising, as resources to better triage student needs and improve the efficiency of the system. While the two are helpful services, many stu-dents will ultimately be re-ferred to faculty advisors—and here, the issue of the lack of access to advisors reemerges.
The advising checklist, AskMcGill database, and McGill app are other resources cited by Dyens and Masi, but these too cannot compare to the services offered by fac-ulty advisors. The Staff-Stu-dent Mentoring Program most closely matches the individual and personalized nature of fac-ulty advising, but is instead geared towards sharing knowl-edge and exchanging insight, rather than degree-related information. The initiatives listed may reduce the number of students who require fac-ulty advisors, but this fact is irrelevant when considering
equal opportunities across the faculties. Faculty advisors can provide information and offer guidance to students, while also giving assistance with managing students’ academic situations during difficult pe-riods. Altogether, these re-sources cannot match faculty advisors, who have a wealth of knowledge and unique abilities to provide human, personal-ized service to students.
Greenspon noted recogni-tion of this issue at the Senate meeting. Referencing stu-dent satisfaction and the is-sue of faculty advising, Dyens stated, “It is on our radar […] and we’ll keep progressing on this topic.” Unsatisfied with this response, Faculty of Law Senator, Dan Snyder, posed a question to the Senate, asking how the other initiatives could bring the ratios to equilibrium. After discussing the impor-tance of academic advising to student experience, Dyens re-
sponded, “Our focus is to try to get a few more advisors spe-cifically for Arts to narrow that problematic ratio.” In addition, Dean of Arts Christopher Man-fredi also added that the fac-ulty has secured a recent phil-anthropic gift that will support the hiring of at least one addi-tional faculty advisor.
Senate’s discussion gives hope to students in faculties that fall on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of the ratios of advisors to students. While other initiatives are undeniably valuable, they cannot compare to the one-on-one benefits of faculty advising. McGill should increase the number of faculty advisors available in coming years. Given that advising services are essential for students’ academic success, it is only right that these ef-forts be made to eliminate dis-parities between faculties and promote interpersonal faculty advising.
Commentary
ContributorkirA smiTh
editorial
ColumnistALBErT PArk
The term “safe space,” which originated from various social movements in the ‘60s and ‘70s, has since attracted the attention of educational institutions and stu-dents who are seeking to balance the need for inclusive and inoffen-sive communities with their duty to promote academic freedom and freedom of speech. Preoccupied with the idea of providing these spaces—figurative or physical—universities such as McGill too often ignore or overlook the pos-sibility of potentially stifling the school’s academic freedom in the process.
Universities are, first and foremost, designed to encourage the open exchange of knowledge. However, students have strug-gled to find the perfect balance
between maintaining an equitable learning experience and protect-ing students’ fundamental right to freedom of speech. For example, last year, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Coun-cil engaged in a heated debate over where to draw this fine line when a motion to ban the song “Blurred Lines” from the SSMU Building raised concerns about censorship, and ultimately failed to pass. This decision set a precedent against banning artistic content in a student building. It also sent a wider mes-sage about respecting the standards of free speech on campus.
Still, many groups continue to prioritize the safety of discussions above freedom of speech, render-ing an already hypersensitive com-munity even more so. But what will happen when students step off campus and into the real world, confronted by the very issues they were conditioned to shrink from? Infantilizing students in this mind-set leaves them unprepared to tack-le those controversial, yet essential, conversations later on. When faced with a societal dilemma, students may struggle to develop an in-formed opinion, let alone convince others of their own viewpoints.
What’s more, groups can eas-ily abuse the notion of safe space, using it as a tool to manipulate school administration to shut down debates, or as an excuse to evade topics that threaten their own in-terests. Last November, at Oxford University’s Christ Church col-lege, a feminist group on campus threatened to disrupt a debate on abortion due to the fact that both debaters would have been men. As a result, the college administration cancelled the debate. It’s worri-some that by advocating for a safe space, one group has the power to deny other students the opportunity to learn about significant issues and to eliminate a platform for individ-uals to voice their ideas.
Of course, for some students who call for a safer space, the pre-tense they use is, in fact, not a pre-tense at all but a real plea to spare those who have suffered trauma or abuse from having to relive that anguish again. However, some of the measures that McGill has tak-en to create the most non-hostile space possible have proven to be ineffective. Specifically at McGill, the implementation of Rez Project in all first-year residences, which aimed to improve students’ aware-
ness of gender issues and consent, is consistently mocked once stu-
dents leave residence life—hardly the intended outcome. This is not
because students don’t care about social concerns, but because the casual, yet forced manner in which they raised extremely personal questions left students feeling more uncomfortable than enlight-ened.
Given the inherent restric-tions of a safe space, it is impos-sible for an environment to simul-taneously be completely ‘safe,’ meaning free of harassment, while remaining intellectually unrestrict-ed. Although the principles of tol-erance and respect that safe spaces aim to enforce are indisputably noble, in trying to suppress every uneasy subject, institutions are censoring and even unwittingly silencing the voices of those who are brave enough to take a stand on important issues.
Thus, instead of imposing the same definition of safe space on such a diverse student body, McGill should simply give stu-dents the resources to educate and decide for themselves what the concept means to them personally. After all, safe space is ultimately a mindset, one that learning institu-tions have a duty to foster, but not at the expense of academic free-dom.
ContributorArDEN Li
Free speech and the hypersensitivity of safe spaces on campus
Opinion 11
Commentary
Canada needs to renew responsibility towards refugees
Just last month, the Canadian government fulfilled its commit-ment that it made in 2013 to bring 1,300 Syrian refugees into the coun-try by the end of 2014. The govern-ment has announced a decision to receive 10,000 additional refugees in the next three years. However, as the civil war in Syria intensi-fies—with Syrians making up over one-fifth of the 866,000 new asylum claims logged last year—a discus-sion has arisen regarding whether Canada is doing enough to aid the displaced victims. Looking into Canada’s current level of commit-
ment relative to its historical and present-day duties within the global context, it seems evident that the Canadian government is shirking its responsibilities to protect refugees.
In dissecting the country’s inadequate response to the refu-gee crisis, many Canadians have questioned the reason behind the significant lag in meeting this com-mitment. Although there are other reasons, such as unresolved ineffi-ciencies in the refugee system, the main problem stems from the gov-ernment’s lack of financial support.
According to CTV News, 60 per cent of the refugees are to be sponsored privately by humanitar-ian groups, with the government responsible for the remaining 40 per cent. Many organizations, such as Amnesty International Canada ,have pointed out the enormous dif-ficulty in accommodating this ra-tio; each refugee sponsorship costs $12,000 on top of expenses such as housing and health care. To make matters worse, prior to making its
commitment in 2013, the govern-ment failed to consult these organi-zations, which were then forced to bear the bulk of the financial burden. Therefore, there were no structured plans or fundraisers set in place by the private groups to help achieve the goal.
Many argue that Canada has no moral responsibility to take in more refugees. However, ethical reasoning aside, it is abundantly clear that Canada is not fulfilling its role in a global sense. The majority of the displaced Syrians have been taken by their neighbouring coun-tries such as Turkey and Lebanon. However, many Western countries have done their part to help—es-pecially Germany and Sweden—with Canada’s contribution almost negligible in comparison. Sweden has taken in at least 40,000 Syr-ian refugees, despite having about a quarter of Canada’s population. Ultimately, by refusing to make a bigger contribution, Canada is indi-rectly harming those countries that
made commitments to take in refu-gees, since they are left to shoulder the financial burden that comes with granting asylum. On top of harm-ing Canada’s global image, this also runs the risk of damaging the country’s relationships with its dip-lomatic partners.
When accused of not doing enough, the Conservative Govern-ment brings up the fact that Canada has already pledged $50 million towards improving the situation in Syria. However, the truth of the matter is that this contribution does not even meet the United Nations’ proposed quota of $180 million. Canada will need to contribute sig-nificantly more before its monetary aid starts to make up for its poor ac-ceptance of refugees.
Finally, the claim that Canada has a responsibility during these times of crisis truly finds meaning-ful substance in the nation’s history. Many Canadians recall their coun-try’s refusal to help the refugees aboard MS St. Louis during the Sec-
ond World War with great shame and regret. Since then Canada has carried the torch when it comes to aiding displaced people, especially in response to the Vietnamese boat people incident in 1978-1981, when the country welcomed so many refugees that they accounted for 25 per cent of Canada’s immigrants. For this kind of leadership and display of efficient humanitarian-ism, Canada is the only country to have been awarded the Nansen Refugee Award, granted by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). Not only have these events earned Canada its reputation as an influential country instilled with deep moral values, but the countless number of refu-gees who have made Canada their home has blessed the nation with its unique population and culture. In order for Canada to maintain its historical identity and fulfil its duties as a nation, the government must in-crease its commitment and provide more financial support for refugees.
Given the
inherent
restrictions of a
safe space, it is
impossible for an
environment to
simultaneously be
completely ‘safe,’
meaning free of
harassment, while
remaining
intellectually
unrestricted.
“
“
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Opinion Thursday, April 9, 201512
Danielle Toccalino
Danielle Toccalino holds four years of experience in McGill student politics, three of which she spent as a part of the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS). She also served as a PGSS councillor and member of the SUS Constitutional Affairs Committee this past year.
Toccalino’s platform is centred around generating solu-tions to problems concerning the PGSS body and improv-ing the process by which McGill administration responds to these issues. According to her, there needs to be a shift in the mechanisms by which PGSS addresses its concerns with administration.
“Instead of going to McGill with problems […] it is more useful to go to McGill [with possible solutions],” she explained. “It is a lot easier for administration to accept pro-posals than being presented with a problem.”
Toccalino has also emphasized expanding initiatives relating to equity, first aid, and mental health workshops. She proposed that all executives attend mandatory equity training and bystander program, Sexual Assault Policy and active listening workshops. Toccalino also said she would work with representatives from student associations across Quebec to look at forming a new student federation.
Beyond addressing issues concerning the PGSS mem-bership at large, Toccalino also plans to look inwards on the internal workings of the society. According to Toccalino, one of the main challenges faced by the current executive team is working cohesively. She believes that by reinforcing col-laboration, such as ensuring that information is distributed equally to everyone, this problem can be addressed in next year’s executive.
“[The] current exec has not presented itself as a co-hesive network, causing tension to overflow into Council,” Toccalino said. “[I want] to create a team environment where [those events] wouldn’t happen.”
Saturnin Ndandala
Saturnin Ndandala is a member of PGSS’ Pol-icy and Structural Advisory Committee. His plat-form is centered around freezing the increase of student fees, promoting campus diversity, fight-ing against sexual harassment, and enhancing ac-countability and transparency in PGSS’ commu-nication.
A unique aspect of Ndandala’s platform seeks to decrease the fees paid by graduate students to PGSS by eliminating the salaries that PGSS ex-ecutives are paid.
“A Secretary General is paid $15,000 per year,” he said. “If I am elected, I will not take that money, and I will propose that all people who are elected to the Council of PGSS do the same thing.”
Ndandala also stated that he would seek to promote inclusivity by creating a pairing program to foster links between international and Canadian students. In order to increase awareness of sexual harassment, he also proposes the adoption of a mandatory online course for all incoming gradu-ate and post-graduate students that would cover topics of gender equality, sexual assault, and sex-ual harassment.
Ndandala also emphasized that, if elected, he would seek to improve communication and stu-dent engagement by focusing on maintaining a direct line of communication with all associations of all departments. In addition, he would focus on face-to-face interactions and easily accessible email communication that reflects the interests of students.
After a tumultuous year for the Secretary-General posi-tion and tensions within the PGSS executive, it is clear that the PGSS is in dire need of a leader with ample experience and concrete goals. Toccalino has had an extensive career in McGill student politics, having worked with the Science Un-dergraduate Society (SUS) for three years, and as president in her last. Currently, she is a PGSS councillor and chief return-ing officer for the SUS. With this institutional knowledge, it is clear that Toccalino has a strong understanding of McGill student leadership roles.
Toccalino’s platform appears to be far more realistic and feasible than that of her opponent, Saturnin Ndandala. Her ide-as for establishing workshops related to sexual assault, equity, and leadership for PGSS executives and councillors, advocat-ing for graduate students’ rights to the McGill administration, and negotiating the formation of a new student federation are well within the portfolio of the Secretary-General. In contrast, Ndandala’s goal of freezing tuition increases of graduate stu-dents, for example, is likely impossible in the wake of drastic budget cuts being made by both McGill and the provincial government. In addition, Ndandala’s vision of cutting execu-tive salaries may also not be feasible because the PGSS execu-tives are essentially working full-time jobs. While Ndandala is currently sitting on the PGSS Policy and Structural Advisory Committee, he has less experience on PGSS Council, which draws concerns regarding his knowledge of how the system functions and how he would lead the rest of the executives at Council.
In order for the Secretary-General to be successful next year, it is clear that whoever is elected must primarily work to facilitate compatible working relationships with both the ex-ecutive and the PGSS Council. Toccalino has the experience, knowledge, and plan to do just that, and will hopefully be able to dismantle the gridlock that has existed over the course of this year.
Our endorsement: Danielle Toccalino
PGSS ENDORSEMENTSSEcRETaRy-
GENERal
Opinion 13
The Tribune endorses neither candidate for the Member Services Officer position. Although Lungu is running for re-election, her ability to fulfil her mandate so far this year has been sub-par. The transition process was lengthy, given the immense learning curve, and is still in pro-gress. Additionally, Lungu had multiple mis-haps this year including financial discrepancies due to poor communication with the Financial Affairs Officer, and a mental health initiative video that was started in December but has yet to be completed. While she did have some suc-cess working with McGill’s Harm Reduction Officer to increase awareness and training on sexual assault within the PGSS community, Lungu’s term has been otherwise lacking.
Purna seeks to address similar issues, namely mental and sexual health, and sustain-ability. However, her ideas to enact change in these areas are either incomplete or a con-tinuation of the status quo. While Purna does bring previous experience as a peer helper and a mentor both at the University of Victoria and at McGill, her experience engaging with the administration and making policy decisions as part of PGSS are limited.
The future of the MSO position is in flux and it is clear that the position needs to be over-hauled in some manner to better serve post-graduate students’ needs.
Brighita LunguBrighita Lungu, who is currently serving as Members Ser-
vices Officer (MSO), explained that she spent the last year trying to increase communication between graduate students who are also parents and McGill.
“It’s very hard to reach out to [graduate students with chil-dren],” explained Lungu. “One thing we did this year was to imple-ment [a] family care news-wire where we collected all the resources […] and data specific to parents […] on campus in Montreal and we sent [it out] monthly.”
Lungu is hoping to return again this year as MSO, now mak-ing mental health her priority. She emphasized the importance of making sure that graduate students are aware of the mental health resources available to them, and highlighted her efforts to address the issue this year by working on a project to create a video about mental health. After several delays, the project is set to be released this spring, and if re-elected, Lungu hopes to incorporate the video into a mental health initiative geared specifically towards post-grad-uate students.
Lungu also stated that she hoped to re-define the responsibili-ties of the MSO.
“It’s very important to understand what the role is in any execu-tive position,” stated Lungu. “I think [the] MSO is not a straightfor-ward position. I don’t think it’s a name problem, but a problem of the description.”
She hopes to shift responsibilities, restructure the sustainability portion of the MSO’s portfolio, and push for the creation of a sus-tainability position. This, she hopes, will allow the MSO to spend more time tackling other problems such as developing new sexual assault policies, creating online consent workshops, and improving communication both between executives and PGSS members.
PGSS ENDORSEMENTS
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Jenny Ann PurnaJenny Ann Purna hopes to focus on issues such as
mental and sexual health, and sustainability if elected PGSS Member Services Officer.
Purna served as President of the Experimental Surgery Graduate Student Society (ESGSS) this year and believes this experience has helped her gain a strong understanding of how the PGSS operates. Her platform centres on improv-ing outreach to both current and prospective students, and will include encouraging student participation service pro-visions.
Purna stated that this model was based on her experi-ences working in peer helping at the University of Victoria.
“[I got] involved in peer helping, which I did for a year,” she said. “There were a lot of services, but I realized that during exam times or stressful midterm times, all the counsellors would be overwhelmed with students. So the peer helping program that I was involved with essentially had counsellors training student volunteers to hold their own office hours to kind of screen the process for students before they actually apply to have a counselling appoint-ment.”
Purna also plans to employ a similar strategy for ex-panding the childcare services offered to graduate students, with student volunteers providing some care.
Purna expressed that she will expand upon campaigns to raise awareness on campus about sexual health and safety.
“A campaign [about consent] would be a contin-ued campaign,” she said. “Not just a one-time thing, but throughout the school year, [which] would be really helpful to hit it home with students.”
MEMbER SERvicES OfficER
fiNaNcial affaiRS OfficERBehrang
SharifBehrang Sharif
highlighted his plat-form commitments to
increasing transparency and clarifying the roles of
the various bodies within PGSS, including the PGSS Council, the executives, and the Board of Directors, that are responsible for managing PGSS finances.
“The problem right now is a matter of clarity and the flow of information,” he said. “I’ve seen that [Council doesn’t] understand the points in the finan-cial bookkeeping very well. So I think that doing presentations or organizing things in a simpler way [would help].”
Sharif also spoke to PGSS’s current financial situation, with a deficit of about $300,000 as a result
of litigation costs involved with leaving the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) in January. Currently, a motion brought to Council proposes to increase the PGSS membership fee from $32.11 to $35.43 in or-der to help offset PGSS’s deficit. Sharif underscored his platform point of re-budgeting current PGSS funds to ensure that PGSS has enough money for fu-ture litigation costs.
“The most important thing is to try to allocate different funds in different budget lines in a way [where we’ll be] able to [absorb] that amount of debt [...] for [future] years,” he said. “ I personally hope that [increased fees] would not be the case [....] We don’t want to burden [the future] generation of stu-dents because of the CFS problem.”
Sharif also emphasized reducing the cost of events for PGSS to save more money overall.
“I focused on the cost and not the revenue be-cause we’re not a business in terms of making money, so it’s better to start with decreasing the costs,” he said.
The Tribune endorses Sharif for the position of PGSS Financial Affairs Officer due to his extensive experi-ence working with the PGSS and his concrete ideas for improvement.
Sharif’s platform highlights the need for transparency in the society’s book-keeping, reducing costs, and re-visiting the HR structure of the PGSS. On the topic of transparency, Sharif has demonstrated a clear understand-ing the importance of increasing the readability of bookkeeping docu-ments, an issue that many students find a barrier to accessing them. Fur-thermore, Sharif’s prioritization of maintaining services while finding ways to cut costs, as well as his reluc-tance to increase fees, demonstrates an understanding of student needs within the context of PGSS’s current finan-
cial situation. We would, however, like to see him specify certain areas in which costs can be reduced.
Sharif’s greatest strength is his current position as a member of the PGSS financial affairs committee. His direct experience working with the current Financial Affairs Officer shows that he is already heavily in-volved with the PGSS, and would al-leviate the learning curve when transi-tioning into the position. For example, his knowledge of the nuances of the PGSS’s debts regarding the CFS case will serve him well when developing a payment strategy next year.
The Tribune hopes that Sharif will stick with the ideas he has, al-though we are hesitant about his lack of publicization regarding his plat-form.
Our endorsement: Yes
No endorsement
Opinion Thursday, April 9, 201514
iNTERNal affaiRS OfficER
Sahil Kumar
Sahil Kumar cur-rently sits on the PGSS Internal Affairs and Equity
committees, and also serves as a PGSS councillor. In his platform, Kumar explains that he hopes to ad-
dress the current lack of student engagement and sense of community in the PGSS through a more robust orienta-tion program that would reach out to new students, many of whom are international or have children. Kumar also proposes an activities night where PGSS students can learn how to get involved in committees, SSMU clubs, and PGSAs.
Kumar also proposed to create pre-council meetings to brief councillors in an informal setting, and stressed the importance of these meetings, especially at the Annual
General meetings (AGM). “As a councillor coming into these Council meet-
ings, each officer doesn’t really make a report [...] there wasn’t really a chance to be briefed,” he said. “Doing a pre-council meeting brief with our councillors [...] would help them understand what the motions are, how it af-fects students, how they can ask questions or critique [...] the purpose of the motion. It allows councillors to bring it back to their PGSAs and be better informed about the subject.”
Kumar also lists offering more diverse and family-friendly events, increasing student involvement in com-mittees and AGMs, and working collaboratively to cre-ate mandatory sexual assault and harassment training for students in his platform. To address the diverse member-ship of PGSS, he proposes to diversify communication channels, through office hours in the lobby of Thomson House, email news-wires, and the use of websites, citing the campaigning for the CFS disaffiliation referendum as a successful example.
The Tribune endorses Kumar for the Internal Affairs Officer position. In his one year as a PGSS member, Kumar has been an ac-tive member of both the Internal Affairs Committee and the Equity Committee and has shown the ability to organize events that cater to the wide spectrum of graduate students’ needs.
Kumar’s initiatives to create a more welcoming and engaging community for post-graduate students are highly commendable—PGSS members have historically lacked a cohesive sense of com-munity—but may be difficult to achieve given the decentralized nature of the graduate student community. He also wishes to ad-dress the lack of attendance and engagement by PGSS members with their executive, the success of which is also hampered by the inherent nature of the student society. Despite this, his commitment to increasing the knowledge level and the professionality of PGSS councillors should be effective in fostering a more cohesive and productive Council as well as creating a more transparent PGSS. Kumar also identifies the need to work with the Members Services Officer to be proactively informing students on issues that all post-graduates may face, such as academic integrity and sexual assault and harassment.
Our endorsement: Yes
Devin MillsDevin Mills is
running for the Academ-ic Affairs Officer (AAO)
po- sition with a platform centred on increasing PGSS presence within McGill and empha-sizing strong communication and transparency.
Mills has some experience with McGill student government after serving as this year’s Vice-President of Finance for the Education Graduate Student Society (EGSS).
Mills explained that maximizing graduate represen-tation and building effective streams of communication with students will be one of his top priorities if elected.
“[That involves] getting PGSS members involved as much as possible at the institutional level,” he said. “If I have PGSS members serving on various committees, I
want to try and set up a way in which they just send back a quick little brief about what happened in that meeting so that I can be updated frequently about what’s going on on campus.”
Additionally, he expressed a desire to improve stu-dent advocacy at all the locations and institutions PGSS is affiliated with.
“[I won’t be looking] just at the downtown cam-pus,” Mills explained. “[It’s important to also address] the Macdonald campus, the Glen [Health Centre], the Jew-ish [General Hospital], the Douglas [Institute], [and] the [Montreal] Children’s Hospital.”
In a time where both PGSS and the Students’ Soci-ety of McGill University (SSMU) are fighting provincial austerity measures, Mills expressed interest in working with undergraduates.
“I think that these two student societies have really kind of existed separately,” he said. “Especially when it comes down to these budget cuts, the students need to stand in solidarity [....] They need to show the extent to which the student body is an asset to the university.”
acaDEMic affaiRS OfficERThe Tribune endorses Mills for the position of Academic Af-
fairs Officer. Mills’ experience working with the Education Gradu-ate Student Society (EGSS) is proof of his ability to enact policy changes in a university environment. As VP Finance, Mills used EGSS funds to provide autonomy for students, such as the freedom for students to create specific communities within the department.
It is important that Mills follows through on his plan to in-crease the presence and accessibility of PGSS beyond the down-town campus, and ensures that he listens to the views of students who primarily work on Macdonald campus and at hospitals off campus.
Furthermore, Mills recognizes the importance of improving communication on all fronts. He seeks to reconnect to PGSAs and ensure that the PGSS executives and all PGSAs are not distanced from the student body. Mills cited a desire for more face-to-face meetings and improved social media use, which will improve com-munication and ensure that students are aware of pressing academic issues. He also cited the need for open lines of communication with the McGill administration to ensure that PGSS is not distancing themselves from the university in the face of budget cuts, a neces-sary practice when working with the administration.
Our endorsement: Yes
ExTERNal affaiRS OfficERBradley
PorBradley Por is
currently serving as academic affairs officer
for the Graduate Law Stu-dents’ Association in the
past year and has held a seat on Council as a representa-tive. His platform focuses on improving accessibility and communication with graduate students.
In order to do so, he said he hopes to hold office hours in a variety of locations, including PGSS’ Thom-son House and Macdonald campus, in order to facilitate
face-to-face discussion and debate. He also plans to create online communities in order to gather feedback about is-sues relevant to his position.
“The external position is really about representation, so I can’t really do anything except go to meetings and represent the will of McGill students,” Por explained. “So the first thing I want to do is just try to get a sense from the student body of what they want.”
The other main aspect of Por’s platform is regarding cooperation with other student groups. He wishes to es-tablish a coalition with other student associations in order to combat austerity and advocate for accessible education.
Por expressed interest in establishing PGSS as a “key voice” and an “active member” in the ongoing talks of organizing a new provincial Quebec student federa-tion.
The Tribune endorses a “No” vote for Por in the position of External Affairs Officer. Although Por has some experience as a student representa-tive, he demonstrated limited knowledge of the External Affairs portfolio.
Por stated that he decided to run for the position last minute, and al-though he stressed his ability to learn on the ground, the learning curve for executives is steep and such promises should be undertaken with prepara-tions. PGSS’ role in national and provincial student federations during the upcoming academic year will be important in light of the provincial aus-terity cuts and the growing anti-austerity movement. Students will need to look towards an External Affairs Officer who is sufficiently informed about the nuanced circumstances happening within the federations, as well as able to bring new ideas to the table.
Por stressed the importance of consultation with students before engaging in action. However, office hours have proven to be difficult in being effective in the past, especially with regards to PGSS’s diverse and fragmented student body.
Our endorsement: No
(Photos courtesy of Danielle Toccalino, Saturnin Ndandala, Brighita Lungu, Jenny Ann Purna, Behrang Sharif, Sahil Kumar, Devin Mills, Bradley Por)
Thursday, April 9, 2015 Student Living 15
Fried Fish: 1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp black pepper1 tsp paprika1 cup beer
1 kg white fish of your choice (ex. cod, tilapia, had-dock, etc.), cut into 1-inch
wide strips Oil for frying
1) Mix the flour, black pepper, and paprika to-gether.2) Gradually add in beer while mixing.3) Whisk batter together until smooth.4) In a pot, heat the oil (1/2 inch depth) to 350°F so that the tip of a wooden spoon makes a sizzling noise when placed in the oil.5) Dip the fish strips into the beer batter, coating both sides. Allow the excess batter to drip off and fry the fish in the oil until golden brown (approximately two minutes per side). Cook fish in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan.
6) Place cooked fish on a plate lined with paper tow-els to drain.
Guacamole: 2 ripe avocados
1 shallot or 1 small onion, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped (optional)
½ Jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
1 lime, juiced
1) Chop the shallot, cilan-tro, and jalapeño pepper.2) Place chopped ingredi-ents in bowl.3) Add avocados into bowl and mash ingredients together. 4) Add the lime juice in at the end. This will prevent the guacamole from brown-ing.Slaw:· 5 cups shredded red cabbage· 3 tbsp cider vinegar· 1 tsp vegetable oil
STePS 1) Toss cabbage in vinegar
and oil.
corn and TomaTo salsa:
· ½ red onion, finely chopped· 1 large tomato (in-clude seeds and juice), diced· ½ cup corn· ½ lime, juiced1) Chop all ingredients and then combine in a bowl. Add the lime juice.2) Allow ingredients to sit together for at least 10 minutes in the refrigerator before serving. This allows flavours to blend together.
cream:1 teaspoon olive oil
2 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
½ cup Mexican crema or sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise5 chillies in adobo sauceWater (as needed to thin
out sauce)
1) Heat oil in a small fry-
ing pan.2) When oil is warm, add garlic to cook for two minutes until aromatic and golden in colour.3) Place garlic in a food processor and add all re-maining ingredients except water.4) Pulse ingredients together and add water to thin out. The consistency of the sauce should be creamy and thick enough to drizzle, with little to no bumps remaining.Assembly and Serving:· 12 Six-inch diameter soft flour or corn tortillas· Lime wedges· Salt
STePS1) Warm tortillas in the oven.2) Place on table alongside fish and other toppings.3) Allow guests to make their own tacos with toppings to their liking.
AUGUST BACKPACKING BASEBALL BATHING BEACH BERRIES BIKINI BOATING CAMPING CANOEING CREAM DIVING EASE FAN FLOWERS FRISBEE FRUIT GARDENING GRASS HEAT HOLIDAY
HOT HUMIDITY ICE JOURNEY JULY JUNE LIGHTNING OCEAN OUTDOORS OUTINGS PARK POPSICLE RECREATION RELAX REST ROADTRIP ROSE SAILING SANDALS SANDCASTLE SEARING
SEASHORE SEASON SHORTS SHOWERS SIGHTSEEING STIFLING SUNDRESS SUNFLO WER SUNSCREEN SWELTERING SWIMMING SWIMSUIT TAN THUNDERSTORM TRIP VACATION VISIT WATERMELON WATERPARK WATERSKI
Priyanka Bijlani is a U3 stu-dent majoring in International De-velopment. She will be pursuing a Master’s degree at the London School of Economics in the Fall.
It was just three years ago that the McGill Tribune asked me to reflect on my experience of enter-ing McGill at the age of 16. Retro-spectively, it’s hard to believe how quickly my undergraduate life has evolved—I will soon walk across a dais to receive my bachelor’s de-gree at the age of 19. From my first article written by my freshman self to this article, it is amazing to run through the trajectory of how my experiences at McGill on- and off-campus have paved the road for my future academic and career pursuits.
Many changes have taken place during my time at McGill—the opening of Premiere Moisson,
the closure of Sinfully Asian, and most recently, Rue Université be-ing renamed Rue Robert Bourassa. On a more personal juncture, like most students, I have changed my major, minors, and career choices; however, my mindset on age re-mains unchanged. Age is just a number—the experiences are what take precedence in an individual’s development.
Although I was initially irreso-lute if McGill was the right choice for me, I can now wholeheartedly affirm that it has changed me for the better and moulded me into the graduate I longed to be. While I have managed to retain some knowledge that I once absorbed during my lectures in the massive Leacock 132 room, what has left an imprint on me as an undergraduate and as an individual were the exten-sive networks, opportunities I was exposed to, and the way of life in Montreal.
Throughout my time at McGill, I have noticed that a promi-nent topic of discourse amongst students is the limited resources making it difficult for focused guid-ance in career placements. How-ever, I would disagree. While job hunting can be a competitive and cumbersome process, the trait on the trajectory to attaining anything is persistence and perseverance, and that is the prime element that has kept me positively driven. McGill’s educational environment is condu-cive to one’s success in that it offers students a magnitude of choices and options. Using these resources, it is up to students to go the extra mile to seek the opportunities, be it for our personal growth or career develop-ment.
During my second year for instance, I was particularly inter-ested in technology start-ups. In the process of trying to launch my own start-up—which didn’t take off—I
ended up connecting with a McGill alumnus via LinkedIn and in turn joined his venture capital firm, The Founder Project. Here, I gained valuable insights by integrating my-self into the professional and cultur-al spheres of life in Montreal. Such experiences enabled me to build a league of my own through the com-mon connections and liaisons I had established over time.
Amongst the numerous ways to get involved on campus, McGill offers programs that are unparal-leled to other institutions. One in particular that contributed to my personal growth and career choice was the McGill Not-for-Profit Con-sulting (MNFPC) program. The MNFPC program allows students to gain consulting experience in the not-for-profit sector, which encap-sulates my interests. This program not only facilitated the increase of my knowledge in this field, but also showed me how to apply myself
professionally while also giving back to the community of Montreal that has given me so much.
Looking back at what I en-countered—the apprehensions of being a 16-year-old froshie, being 13-hour flight away from home, and building a life in a new environ-ment—I can now say without res-ervation that it was all worth it. The decisions that I have made along the way—both good and bad—have helped to mould me into a more independent individual as I step out into the world as a graduate, albeit still a teenager. With persistence, drive, and an open mind, you can make your experience here whatev-er you wish for it to be. From your peers to your professors and global network of alumni, McGill pro-vides you with a solid foundation. Your success is contingent on how you choose to build from it.
Student Living EditorNATALie WoNg
Back to the future:
cory’s cornerBy Cory Goldstein
Taco recipe By: Alycia Noë
In August, The Tribune met with nine different students, who would then go through a year’s worth of experi-ences in Montreal. Each was asked to describe something important to him or her. Eight months later, we revisited their stories.
Campus Stories
Caity Hui
Tracking a year's worth of experiences
MT: Last time we met, we talked about the importance of comedy in your life. How has comedy influenced your year?DJM: In a lot of [my] comedy roles [this year], I was filling a facilitating role [….] Being head of the Comedy Depart-ment [at TVM] meant I was flexing that muscle a lot. I remember I said that I wanted to diversify the way I commu-nicate, and I think that is something that inadvertently happened this year [….] I got to apply my sense of leadership, [and] through this [experience], comedy has really allowed me to diversify my leadership style, and allowed me to un-derstand and adapt my style, as well as to appreciate others.
MT: Are you still planning on pursuing a degree in Education?DJM: I am actually in the process of switching to the Faculty of Arts [to study] film and television in Cultural Studies. The part that I liked most about the Faculty of Education is the field-work, which was actually getting to work with kids, but […] a lot of the true teaching I have done is through doing the comedy workshops or the equity workshops [I run].
MT: Do you feel you have evolved this year?DJM: [This year], I was interested to see
what my learning curve might be [….] In first year, you are learning new things every day, like where to get a sandwich and what building your classes are in. Second year is a more tough growth, where you are learning about living on your own and figuring out more things about yourself. [In] third year, I felt I was learning more about others, which has been really great [….] I have learned about how different people can be in wonderful ways.
MT: What are you looking forward to next year?DJM: Being wrong. It’s way easier said than done, but that was something that
has always been very scary and hard for me. I think that going into third year, I thought it would be much easier this time around […] but the more that I was wrong this year, the more I learned about myself and others.
MT: Favourite restaurant on campus? Previously in September: “SNAX. SNAX in Leacock because I know someone who works there named Evan and [SNAX] is fantastic and also very fairly priced.” April: “Probably [Engineering] caf. It has pretty decent quality stuff. I am from a family of restaurateurs, so it’s not easy to impress me. Snax is also great.”
MT: Last time we talked about music being important to you. What role has it played since we spoke?
“I think that it’s played pretty much the same role in the past couple years and this past year. I haven’t done much more with it, [although] I have actually been able to practice a couple times outside of volun-teering at the hospital [….] I haven’t gone through many changes here at McGill, and my extent of playing violin hasn’t changed
much either.”MT: You mentioned you were looking for-ward to your involvement on Rotoract and the neuroscience undergraduate society. Were you able to accomplish your goals?
“[I had hoped to recruit more members to Rotoract, but] I didn’t have as much of a large role in that as I thought I would this past year. I am going to be the president next year for the club, so that’s one of my main goals I am going to focus on next
year. I am looking forward to seeing what I can add to the club, and in general I want to make [my last year] count.”
MT: How do you feel you have evolved this year? “I think I am pretty much the same person as I was in second year. First year was dif-ferent, but in second and third year it has been [consistent]. Coming right into uni-versity, it is totally different, [but] I have found my niche [….] I think I have learned
this past year that I can do more with what I have and understand what I have.”
MT: What is your favourite breakfast food?Previously in September: “I might have to go with French toast. Doused in maple syrup.”April: “[Last time] I probably said French toast. There’s nothing much better than French toast [….] Bacon and French toast is a nice combo.”
Check out the McGill Tribune’s website for the rest of the follow-up interviews with the other students, as well as the initial story in September.
In memory of Roma Nadeem, whose story was initially run in September, her loved ones shared a quote:“A mere few sentences, let alone any string of words, cannot do justice to Roma Nadeem, to the beautiful person she was and to the immeasur-able impact she had on all those that she met. Her involvements were passionate, she made everyone feel loved, and on top of it all, she was a
hilarious troll. Thank you, Roma, for the abundance of love, laughter and wisdom you gave us; you will not be forgotten.”
MT: Last time, you mentioned your Blackberry was important to you. Is it still an important aspect of your life?KI: It’s definitely important to me to have a device that can help me document my life and help me look back on it through photos, through sound, through writing. My Blackberry could do that; I actually have an iPhone now, and my iPhone can do that [too]. I think that’s symbolic of how it’s not the phone, but something that can help me retain memories and [record]
a constant monologue of my life.
MT: Tell me about your experience being a floor fellow this year. KI: It was super incredible and everything I wanted it to be [….] I can’t do it next year because I’ll be working full-time [at] SSMU, but regardless of that fact, I am still super happy with how this year went. It involved a lot of learning, time spent get-ting to know people and what works with them, and I tried to make it as horizontal as
possible. I am not about a hierarchy where I am just a floor fellow and they are just [students]. That’s not how a friendship is started. I think that worked out pretty well, and I love all [my students].
MT: How do you feel you have evolved this year?KI: Interestingly enough, I think the way that I have evolved has little to do with my campus [evolution], perhaps, but more with respect to my response to others [….]
I think I crafted myself around a positive sense of identity, [and] I have learned to be more honest about my state of being, and being able to recognize stress, sadness, and frustrations more accurately when de-scribing myself to others.
MT: What is your favourite breakfast food?Previously in September: “Fruit salad. I love the fruit salad.”April: “Waffles and fruit.”
Eric Mitchell, U2Faculty of Science, neuroscience
D.J. Mausner, U2Faculty of Education, primary elementary
Kareem Ibrahim, U2Faculty of Arts, international development
Photos courtesy of McGillography
Planning for the future is a daunting task for all students, filled with uncertainties and
confusion. Summer is the season to look back on what the previous academic year has offered and what challenges have been faced. It is also the season to look forward to future goals and take steps to achieve de-sired goals.
Open year-round, the McGill Career Planning Services (CaPS) provides numerous resources to help students prepare early on for long-term future career goals. Equipped with review services, a mentor pro-gram, a comprehensive website, and a resource centre, CaPS is a free, informative, and helpful service for students that want to start planning for steps to take in the coming aca-demic year.
Successful job searching and career planning require students to be informed on how to present them-selves to potential employers and how to constantly look for potential opportunities. CaPS offers various services to students, including CV and cover letter reviews, mock inter-views, and LinkedIn review services.
According to Omer Juma, U3 Arts and Mentor Program Coordina-tor at CaPS, it is important for stu-dents to learn how to present them-selves accordingly for future job prospects, especially because McGill students are desirable candidates for many jobs.
“Employers approach us [to post jobs to hire] students tailored to a specific field,” Juma said. “[Com-panies] always want students from McGill.”
According to Mie Beers, U1 Science, CaPS’ review services helped her improve on her profes-sional presentation to employers.
“I found [CaPS to be] very helpful,” Beers said. “The advice they offered really helped me focus in on the most important aspects of my CV and gave me a better idea of how to present my experience in a more professional manner.”
Joy Aguilar, U3 Arts, echoed a similar sentiment.
“The review services have helped me frame my profile in a way that is most presentable to a prospective recruiter,” Aguilar said.
“[Examples include] knowing the standards and proper formatting of a resume, the do’s and the don’ts. It’s important that they offer that service because students need to know how to be able to sell themselves before they graduate and apply for jobs [or] grad school.”
CaPS also collaborates with the McGill Alumni Association (MAA) to run the McGill Mentor Program, which provides students the opportu-nity to connect with McGill alumni. According to Juma, the mentor pro-gram is a valuable way to learn from a relatable individual who is success-fully working in a field of interest and get advice on career develop-ment.
“CaPS Mentor Program helps [many things such as] finding jobs, deciding on a major or a minor, and [developing] interpersonal skills,” Juma said. “[There are] over 800 mentors in various fields.”
Aguilar stated that the mentor program provided her with guidance on prospective career paths.
“I’m interested in a career in international relations—my men-tor works in that field and gives me helpful advice,” she said.
According to Juma, the mentor network provides training for a glob-al network of McGill alumni and mentees in McGill before entering into a mentor-mentee partnership.
“With mentors [and mentees], we discuss effective communica-tion,” Juma said. “Mentors usually don’t have problems [with commu-nication], but students are usually the ones who are unsure or shy. We teach them how to break the ice, [or if the mentor offers students advice], what students should do to research and follow up.”
CaPS also has a comprehen-sive website for students to explore and thoroughly research opportuni-ties in the summer. Highlights of the website include an Explore Careers section, which teaches students to properly assess their interests, stud-ies, industries, and job market trends. It also includes information on where and how to look for job, vol-unteer, or internship opportunities. Juma said that while CaPS cannot directly offer jobs or internships for students, it provides a comprehen-sive network for students to explore many opportunities available and to acquire the tools necessary to apply for positions.
There is also a specific section on the CaPS website dedicated to graduate school inquiries and prepa-ration, which is useful for students who wish to use the four months of summer to research the steps required to prepare for graduate school applications. It provides in-formation on how to find programs, where to acquire books regarding personal statements and grad school interviews, and a compiled list of handouts and resources for medical school applications.
According to Elise Jackson, U3 Science, CaPS helped prepare her for applications for medical school as well as scholarships.
“I used CaPS for one-on-one appointments for interview prepa-ration—medical school interview and [the] Rhodes Scholarship in-terview—as well as attending one of their [...] multiple mini interview practice sessions,” Jackson said. “I’ve found it helpful to get individu-alized, personal feedback; there’s a lot of information available on how to prepare for things like medical school interviews, but it was really useful to be able to get feedback on my answers and my performance specifically.”
Jackson also said that CaPS was accommodating in accepting students for appointments on short notices.
“Both times I made appoint-ments, they were able to squeeze me in quickly on pretty short no-tice,” she said.
CaPS also provides a Career Resource Centre that provides col-lections of career-related books, DVDs, websites, periodicals, da-tabases, and magazines. According to Juma, when students embark on career-related planning, it is es-sential that they know what to re-search and the resources available for them.
“Students need to do some research on their own, and the re-source centre is an excellent place to start your research,” Juma said. “[After the appointment], the advi-sors [...] usually refer students to the [CaPS] librarian or the specific sections [in the resource centre] to guide the student in this process.”
Jackson echoed a similar sen-timent.
“I think that having both an extensive library of print resourc-es, as well as having such help-
ful counsellors is really amazing and allows [CaPS] to offer a wide variety of services to students,” Jackson said. “[This] depends on whether students are looking for information on specific careers or want a face-to-face appointment to discuss career paths or practice for interviews. The counsellors are also extremely knowledgeable, which is great.”
While CaPS provides many resources to prepare students for graduate school or job applica-tions, it also provides a web chan-nel that allows students to directly
search for full-time, part-time, or summer jobs, internships within specific programs at McGill, as well as post-graduate internships. According to Juma, many employ-ers from respective fields come to McGill to search for potential employees during the On-Campus Recruitment (OCR) season in Sep-tember, which is highly useful for students to learn about in the sum-mer months leading to the season.
“myFuture […] is where you learn about different employers that come to McGill to recruit,” Juma said. “myFuture has campus [and] off-campus jobs, internships, and volunteer [opportunities that are global] posted on it. Students can explore what employers are looking for at [candidates] from McGill [and] what jobs are avail-able.”
For students who are in need of financial aid, McGill also pro-vides an exclusive Work Study Program that provides students with various job opportunities on-
campus or in a McGill-affiliated organization and/or hospital. Ac-cording to Juma, if students are in-terested in looking for on-campus jobs, the Work Study Program is the ideal place to start their search.
“[If students are interested in] summer jobs, look at the Work Study criteria on scholarships and the financial aid department,” Juma said. “Seventy per cent to 80 per cent of on-campus jobs are [found] through Work Study. [They] are not posted on myFuture.”
A common student concern while searching for employment in Montreal bilingualism require-ments. According to Juma, know-ing French and English is an asset to job or internship applications in Montreal, but it is not essential.
“[CaPS] tells students [that] if they really want to stay in Montre-al, [they should] get language skills and polish their French,” he said. “[There are] different resources to [fine-tune your language skills], like the YMCA [or even] SSMU mini courses. In case a student does not have time to learn a lan-guage, [CaPS] helps [the student tailor their] profiles to showcase all their skills in a way that employers are still inclined to choose them.”
With the last month of fi-nals approaching, students can freely explore all that is offered at McGill, especially with the re-sources at CaPS, the financial aid services, and the Work Study pro-gram. With these resources open in the summer, students can use these four months to browse their options, research the fields they may want to enter, and use CaPS services to look at job or volunteer databases, mentors, and opportuni-ties on-campus. For students who are in need of financial aid, com-bining their research using CaPS resources and the Work Study Program is a helpful addition. Ac-cording to Tessa Battistin, U2 Arts, summer is the perfect time to plan out the steps she will take in the coming academic year.
“I look forward to the sum-mer because it gives me an oppor-tunity to explore a new career path through an internship, or spend time travelling—both of which give me a [chance] to expand my horizons past my studies,” Battistin said. “CaPS is the ideal place to explore these opportunities.”
Student Living EditorNatalie WoNg
thursday, april 9, 201518 Student living
CaPS provides tools for students to plan for next steps
Summer and beyond—making uSe of campuS reSourceS
“Open year-round,
the McGill Career
Planning Services
(CaPS) provides
numerous resources
to help students
prepare early on for
long-term future
career goals.”
thursday, april 9, 2015 Student living 19
In a city with long winters and relatively short summers, it’s impor-tant to have summer to-do lists ready to go. This year, some of Montreal’s best restaurants will open up its pa-tios and bring out the garden chairs, providing the opportunity to soak up the sun on beautiful summer ter-rasses.
Jardin NelsonJardin Nelson, one of the most
beautiful restaurants in Montreal, is an ideal place to visit in the summer. This spectacular restaurant owned by Robert Ruel is located in Old Mon-treal at the historic Maison Cartier, which dates back to 1812. During the summer months, Jardin Nelson’s beautiful courtyard is adorned with plants, bright flowers, and giant para-sols. From noon until evening, Jardin Nelson also offers live music played by pop and jazz musicians. The menu also boasts an impressive list of refreshing cocktails and sangrias that enhances the summertime vibe. Although Jardin Nelson is renowned for its crepes, it also offers a variety
of pizzas, sandwiches, and a twist on Quebec’s very own duck patê Chinois. Even though it’s usually swarming with tourists, this restored historic building is a must visit, espe-cially for those who desire to bask in Old Port’s charm.
Brasserie T!Brasserie T! was opened in
2010 in the heart of the Quartier de Spectacles by one of Montreal’s best fine-dining owners, Norman Laprise. What looks like an odd rectangular glass structure to any passer-by at the Place des Arts is actually a clas-sic bistro with an ultramodern décor and fine French food. As the festival season rolls into Montreal, custom-ers will have a front row seat to the International Jazz Festival, Just for Laughs festival, Nuits d’Afrique, or at the very least, the fountain lights show. The main attraction of this simple yet delectable menu of Bras-serie T! is meat—specifically the famous tartare, called the Saucisse de Montreal. Among the limited dessert options, the light and heavenly Paris Brêst is a definite winner. Those on a student budget should appreciate
the restaurant’s reasonable prices—with main courses served under $25, this is a steal for its fine-dining am-biance. Overall, this well-designed, edgy spot is per-fect for dining in the heart of the city over a casual and relaxing meal with friends. However, due to limited seating options, it would be best to plan one’s visit well in advance to beat the crowds rushing to eat at this delightful restaurant.
Boris BistroMontreal’s famous
Boris Bistro is an absolute delight in the summertime. Located in the heart of Old Montreal, the surrounding location captures the beauty of Montreal’s summer. With its outdoor terrace full of wooden ta-bles and white umbrellas, as well as a magnificent setup of trees, flowers, and walkways, Boris Bistro is one of Montreal’s classiest restaurants and is a favourite within the city. Its fancy interior—white walls, modern glass vases filled with plants and flow-
ers, and plants romantically hanging down the windows—also presents Boris Bistro with the aesthetics for the summer.
This high-end restaurant not only succeeds in presenting itself aesthetically, but also does a brilliant job with the food it serves. From its scrumptious appetizers—such as the salmon tartare guédille, to its deli-cious main course meals, including the well-known duck risotto with
oyster mushrooms, sagem, and or-ange cream sauce, Boris Bistro never fails to please its customers. Boris Bistro also has amazing dessert op-tions; the mouth-watering lemon and white chocolate pie is a must-try. Overall, the location, breathtaking setup, and irresistible food of Boris Bistro make it one of the top restau-rants to visit in the summer.
Contributors
SaloNi SiNgh & alizeh ejaz
Summer Fashion Tips for Women
Festival essentialsMusic festival season is just around the
corner. Wide-brimmed hats are an excellent measure to protect against both ultraviolet rays and raindrops, not to mention an added element of style for any outfit. From a sleek black hat with silver concho ornaments, to a more West-ern Suede-style hat that ties under the chin, wide brimmed hats range in a large pool of col-ours and shapes.
Sunglasses are another indispensable ac-cessory, with the eclectic shapes of the 1990s coming back into style. As far as apparel goes, a comfortable shift dress in a funky pattern is easy to pull off and will help keep you cool in a crowded audience. The loose fit will also allow you to comfortably groove out to various bands and musicians—play around with necklines to find what suits you best.
Adding a necklace can also enhance the outfit; however, jewellery should be kept at a minimum so that nothing weighs you down too much. Finally, make sure you arrive at the con-cert with comfortable footwear. With the large landscape and uneven surfaces, it will be a lot easier on the feet.
Swimsuits not for swimming
With the innovative and bold designs of
bikinis available today, swimsuits have become more of a fashion statement than ever before. If the bikini top is in a flashy or bright print, a sheer or fishnet shirt is a subtle way to show it off while covering a bit more skin. If you de-cide to pair the swimsuit with a sporty skirt and clunky platform sandals, you are all set for a relaxing day with friends.
A classic one-piece bathing suit that dips low in the back would also be a versatile addi-tion to your summer closet. Paired with high-waisted jean shorts and a crisp baseball cap, you
can easily embody your favourite John Hughes heroine. In contrast, go for a feminine and pow-erful ensemble by pairing the bathing suit with a long chiffon skirt and vintage cat-eye shades. This swimsuit can easily complement and com-plete a variety of looks. At the end of the day, this will also facilitate any spur-of-the-moment decision to head to the pool or the beach.
Classic jumperThe jumper is one of the best fashion piec-
es that appear during the summer. The British
dub jumpers as “play-suits,” which is quite fitting since it comes from the cute one-piece clothing chil-dren wear when it gets warm outside. Exud-ing a comfortable vibe and usually made of thin material, jumpers can simply be thrown on for a lazy morning to provide an effort-less cool look. With a loose-legged number, tying a thin sweater or flannel around the waist of the jumper can provide it with slightly more structure. In soft neutral tones and paired with delicate
silver jewellery or with a pair of sporty san-dals, the jumper gives a minimalist vibe for the summer. Jumpers also come in ‘trompe-l’oeil’ styles, meaning that although it may look like a skirt at the bottom, it is actually a pair of shorts. Because they give off the impression of wear-ing a dress—especially with the flattering high, square neckline trending with jumpers right now—they can also be worn for more formal occasions. This shape is flattering for collar-bones and shoulders, which is particularly per-fect to highlight a healthy summer tan.
Staff WritertiffaNy le
Embracing the warm weather with hot trends
Three ideal place To enjoy delicious food in The warm weaTher
Boris Bistro has a beautiful dining area to enjoy the warmth of the sun. (callmeafoodlover.com)
(Photos courtesy of jseaofshoes.com, jennin Instagram, jennin Instagram, asherbritton Instagram)
20 Thursday, April 9, 2015Arts & Entertainment
Hans Christian Andersen said, “Where words fail, mu-sic speaks.” In a similar vein, Victor Hugo stated, “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impos-sible to be silent.” It’s no se-cret that music has the power to change us, to uplift in times of joy, and to comfort in times of sorrow. It is at once intel-lectual and deeply emotional. Yet until relatively recently, the origins of music’s spell-binding power have remained shrouded in mystery.
Over the past 20 years, scientists have made astound-ing strides in understanding how the human brain func-tions. Armed with this new information, an increasing number of neuroscientists are beginning to look at music through a different lens, often yielding intriguing results.
A worldwide investiga-tion is underway. A 2010 study by McGill researchers Valorie N. Salimpoor, Mitchel Beno-voy, Kevin Larcher, Alain Dagher, and Robert Zatorre indicated a clear link between listening to music and the re-lease of dopamine—which serves as the primary pleas-ure indicator—into the dor-sal and ventral striata of the brain. Other things that lead to its release include reach-ing an orgasm and snorting cocaine. In the brain—as in other things—sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll are linked.
The same study followed a group of people who claimed to experience “chills” when listening to the climax of a particular song. The research-ers found increased neural ac-tivity in the caudate region of the brain in the moments be-fore the climax. This activity reflects the powerful effect of anticipation on the brain—any casual listener can recognize this in the build-up to their fa-vourite EDM drop.
Research is finding that music can do much more than simply provide pleasure. A 2009 study by researchers at Imperial College London has suggested that listening to pleasurable music can help
people recover from debilitat-ing brain injury. In particular, the study found that the re-lease of dopamine that occurs when we listen to good music can also help damaged parts of the brain function properly.
This is not the only way music can be used for thera-peutic purposes. Research out of Queen’s University has found that patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, who struggle with recall, can often remember music per-fectly. They could even point out wrong notes in some of their favourite songs. The re-searchers are now using this information to better under-stand and combat dementia.
The amount of scientific
study being devoted to the field of musical neurosci-ence is becoming increasingly more popular. In fact, one of the most active communities exists right here in Montreal. Perhaps its most famous fig-ure is Daniel Levitin, McGill professor and author of three bestselling books, includ-ing the seminal This Is Your Brain On Music (2006). The works of Levitin and other McGill neuroscientists such as Zatorre have inspired a new wave of young neuroscience students to challenge the pur-pose and effects of music on the brain.
One of these students is PhD Candidate Falisha Kar-pati. Karpati studies under
Professor Krista Hyde in the McGill Neuroscience depart-ment. She is currently pursu-ing her thesis on the effect of dance training on the brain and hopes to compare the ef-fects of dance therapy to the well-documented effects of music therapy. Though Kar-pati could not divulge the spe-cific findings of her thesis as it is still in progress, she ex-pressed an optimistic view of her findings to date.
“In general, the work shows us that the brain is very plastic,” Karpati said. “We find changes following long and short-term training in the arts, [and] changes in brain structure as well as function.”
However, neuroscientists’
attempts to objectively meas-ure and quantify music’s ef-fects have not been met with complete enthusiasm. After recieving a brain scan from Levitin in 2009, Sting, the lead singer of english rock band The Police, expressed discomfort with the results.
“I’m not even sure ask-ing the question isn’t harmful. It’s kind of scary,” Sting said. “I’m afraid of looking at [my brain scan] too much in case I forget how to [make music].” For some, bringing the long unknown qualities of music to light decreases their wonder and romanticism.
Similarly surprising are the findings from a 2006 study conducted by Emory Uni-versity. Researchers George Berns and Sara Moore played various types of music to sub-jects aged 12 to 18. Through careful observation, the scien-tists began to notice a pattern. The songs that had greater mainstream success elicited a consistent effect in the brain: An increase of neural activity in the nucleus accumbens, a region of the brain that plays a significant role in the pro-cessing of motivation and pleasure. Before being tested, the subjects were surveyed on their musical preferences. Interestingly, a subject’s per-sonal music preferences large-ly failed to predict how their brain would react. This helps explain why Top 40 music is so popular. Even if one claims to love Miles Davis and hate Justin Bieber, their brains just may be telling them the oppo-site.
Though there have been strides in the field of audito-ry neuroscience, there is still much to reveal about the re-lationship between music and the brain. Though studies have indicated positive correlations between music in everything from intelligence to memory, much about the “brain on mu-sic” remains unknown. We stand on the edge of an era of seemingly limitless possibili-ties. As we continue to unlock the secrets of the brain, what is becoming clear is that mu-sic is perhaps even more im-portant than we would have ever considered before.
Staff WriterEric NoblE-MArks
From the beat to the brainHow our understanding of music is changing
Neuroscientists are learning why music makes you lose control. (Eleanor Milman / McGill Tribune)
Arts & Entertainment 21
Half Moon Run
Montreal-based band Half Moon Run has quickly become a fan favourite, having performed at Os-heaga twice in the past three years. They debuted as a low-level act in 2012 shortly after the release of their first album Dark Eyes. They’ve since been dubbed one of the most notable emerging indie bands with atmospherics comparable to those of Radiohead. That explains why they returned as a headlining act in 2014, earning themselves a spot on the poster next to Childish Gambino.
EdwaRd SHaRpE & THE MagnETic ZERoS
The psychedelic folk band with a revolving lineup of 10-12 mem-bers first came to Osheaga in 2010 at the top of the up-and-coming acts, following the success of their 2009 single “Home.” The band has since gone on tour with Mumford and Sons, released two more success-ful albums, and earned themselves the privilege of headlining major festivals. This year, they return to Osheaga for the third time in a well-deserved position of prominence.
THE Black kEyS
The Black Keys are hailed as one of Osheaga’s most consist-ent acts, but they had to climb their way up to the top. They made their first appearance in 2008 following the release of their fifth full-length album, Attack and Release, which received relative critical acclaim. Shortly thereafter, 2010’s Brothers catapulted the rock duo to commer-cial success. This year marks their fourth Osheaga appearance and their second time as a headliner.
gogol BoRdEllo
This eccentric gypsy punk band, known for the song “Start Wearing Purple” and their chaotic stage theatrics, first came to Osheaga in 2008 as a well-respected band with little commercial success. Keen to continue bombarding the English-speaking world with Eastern Euro-pean music, the band has become even more well known on the festi-val circuit in the past few years and returned to Osheaga last year having climbed the billing ranks.
gaRy claRk JR.
Blues legend and Austin, Texas native, Gary Clark Jr. has been on the radar since winning a Grammy in 2013 for Best Traditional R&B Performance and Rolling Stone magazine hailing him as the musi-cian that made Eric Clapton want to play again. Prior to all of this, Clark made his Osheaga debut in 2012 as a lesser-known artist. This year, he re-turns to Osheaga with greater promi-nence and a much larger fan base.
— Rebecca Lavery
Thursday, April 9, 2015
A closer look at the lineup for Osheaga’s milestone year
THE waR on dRugS
This Philadelphia group has achieved a completely unique sound in recent years. Their mu-sic has a distinct, laid-back vibe and is a great soundtrack for driving through a desert highway at sundown. Vocally, frontman Adam Granduciel sounds like a low-key Bob Dylan without the tonal harshness. The War on Drugs’ music sounds like it was made for those magic nights at a summer festival when the rest of the world seems to fade away.
SHakEy gRavES
With the recent switch in style by Mumford and Sons, it could seem like the trend of foot-stomping Americana is go-ing away, but that can’t be said about Shakey Graves. Inspired by vintage folk and country music, there’s no denying this Austin, Texas musician’s talent. Detailed guitar and soulful folk vocals car-ry his music. On his most popular track, “Dearly Departed,” he’s ac-companied by the powerful voice of Esmee Paterson.
MaRina and THE diaMondS
With her passionate pop bal-lads and impressive vocal range, Marina Diamandis is sure to wow at Osheaga. She released her latest album, FROOT, in March through slightly unconventional means, releasing one single a month. She manages to captivate in both soul-ful ballads, and sexy pop jams like “Froot.” Both her voice and her mu-sic are distinct and her lyrics have real depth, probably because she writes all of her own music.
gEoRgE EZRa
George Ezra has blown up recently with his hit “Buda-pest.” His deep bluesy vocals and a range of guitar styles, from country-western to reggae make his music perfect for sum-mer anthems. Not to mention the fact that his feel-good lyrics make Ezra’s music the perfect soundtrack for flower crowned and crop top clad festival goers to drunkenly sing along to.
ST. vincEnT
After winning a grammy for Best Alternative Album and releasing her fourth album, it’s no surprise that electronic alt-rocker St. Vincent will be a cov-eted act this year. St. Vincent excels at provocative lyrics, tal-ented guitar playing, and catchy rhythms. She makes the kind of addicting rock that everyone will want to jam to at a festival.
— Anna St. Clair
With Osheaga firmly entrenched near the top of the list of Montreal’s summer highlights, it’s hard to believe that the festival has only been around for a decade. To commemorate the occasion, the Tribune decided to break down the 2015 lineup and highlight five prominent returning acts that blew up after their first appearance and five acts making
their first stop at Osheaga that look to be headed for a similar trajectory.
Acts to remember
Acts to watch for
10 for 10
This is the tenth anniversary of Osheaga. (L-A Benoit / McGill Tribune).)
Arts & Entertainment22 Thursday, April 9, 2015
Summer in Montreal is the best time to catch up on our cultural quotas for the year: Time stretches out, schoolwork melts away, cash (hopefully) starts flowing in from summer jobs, and there seems to be a music festival for every week-end of July and August. Outdoor concerts and film screen-ings are given but no one wants to be trapped in a museum, so it’s easy to forget about the visual arts scene during the summer. However, Montreal has a plethora of opportunities to enjoy the visual arts while still soaking in as much Vitamin D as possible.
FIMAThe FIMA (Festival International Montreal en Arts) is
an outdoor art festival that shuts down a kilometre of Saint-Catherine Street for five whole days in the beginning of July. Considered the “greatest open-air art gallery in eastern Canada,” the festival features 120 established and emerging artists from various backgrounds. What makes it so unique is that the format allows for the general public to interact with the artists firsthand as they stroll from station to station—a process that is not included in standard gallery format. It also features short-film screenings, craft work demos, live paint-ing, and multimedia performances. The entire exhibit is free
to the public; all it takes is a quick stroll down Rue Saint Catherine.
Musée de LachineOne of Montreal’s most intriguing art destinations is the
Musée de Lachine, featuring its famous Open Air Museum, a contemporary sculpture garden which spreads along the wa-terfront. In an open and natural space, the exhibit is subject to changes in the environment—daylight, weather, and sea-son—allowing the visual experience to change hour-to-hour and day-to-day. The exhibit is bicycle accessible, so cyclists need not dismount!
The swings at Place des ArtsIt would be impossible to talk about outdoor art without
talking about Montreal’s famous swings. Most people have seen them, as part of the Quartier des Spectacles at Place Des Arts, but not everyone knows the story behind them. Created by artists Mouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat in conjunc-tion with design group Daily Tous Les Jours, the swings are meant to create a collaborative music experience. The sounds and lighting adjust to body weight and movement, creating an individualized experience for all participants—but then harmonize with the other swings—to compose one univer-salized sound. The concept of the exhibit is meant to rep-
resent how community can be found even at the core of a fast-paced urban centre. And as you watch Montrealers and tourists of all ages and backgrounds stop to “play” on the swings, it is clear that it is a truly unifying experience.
Botanical GardensAlthough not quite an art museum, the botanical gar-
dens serves as a summertime feast for the eyes. The colourful display of flora, thematic gardens, and exotic greenhouses are interspersed with sculptures and season. There are vir-tual exhibits on topics such as “Open Windows on Japanese Gardens” and “Trees Inside and Out.” The botanical gardens are certainly an oasis of beauty and education within a met-ropolitan setting.
Outdoor art is scattered throughout the city and is cata-loged in Bureau d’Art Public, an organization that manages municipal public art, including upwards of 300 works placed in parks, street corners, squares, and municipal buildings. The website lists the entire collection, complete with pictures and artist bios.
Whether you are in Montreal all summer or just vis-iting for a week during Osheaga, don’t forget about the wonderful things that the visual arts scene has to offer.
Staff WriterEviE kAczMArEk
Summer Film Preview
Tomorrowland (May 22)
Brad Bird of The Iron Giant (1999) and Ratatouille (2007) brings one of the summer’s only blockbuster films that isn’t a se-quel or an adaptation. George Clooney stars as a fading former boy genius who teams up with a troubled, yet brilliant teenage girl to discover the secrets of a world that exists in their shared memo-ries. Bird, who also co-wrote the script, seems to have honed his live-action visual acumen. The trailer revels in his previ-ous tropes—a wide-eyed sense of wonder, a score by the great Michael Giacchino, and a human world full of magical secrets.
Inside Out (June 19)
After the relative creative failures of Pixar sequels Cars 2 (2011) and Monsters University (2013), Inside Out—Pixar’s first non-sequel since 2011’s Brave—is Pixar’s chance to reinvent it-self. Taking place almost entirely within a young girl’s mind, an-thropomorphized emotions like Joy, Fear, and Sadness vie for control after moving to a new town upends her life. The roster of voice actors is drawn from a characteristically strong well of comedic stars and includes Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, and Bill Hader.
Ant-Man (July 17)
Perhaps the most enticing aspect of this new Marvel movie
is that Ant-Man’s superpower is by far the least impressive of any Marvel character who has gotten a movie: He can make himself re-ally small, and that’s basically it. This hopefully means that the su-perpowers will take a backseat to an actual story and dynamic char-acter work rather than following the recent pattern of cramming the third act with as many CGI explosions as possible. Paul Rudd stars as Ant-Man, and his personal brand of charm should inject some life into the increas-ingly flat cinematic universe.
Trainwreck (July 17)
Judd Apatow (Knocked Up (2007), This is 40 (2012)) re-turns to the screen with the story of a boozy career woman who is afraid of commitment, but slowly learns to settle down when she
meets the right guy. If you think that’s the most vapid, clichéd premise in the history of film, you’re certainly not alone. How-ever, festival buzz has been over-whelmingly positive—critics have cited it as a return to form for Apatow—so it may be worth checking out. Amy Schumer stars as the titular Trainwreck, making this the first Apatow film with a female lead.
Ricki and the Flash (August 7)
Starring Meryl Streep as an aging musician who returns to her estranged family after aban-doning them to find fame, this film is all but guaranteed to give Streep her obligatory yearly Os-car nomination. A script from Juno (2007) and Young Adult’s (2011) Diablo Cody means this could also be the sleeper hit of the summer—Cody has a knack
for witty banter and a laser-guid-ed sense of her characters’ often deluded perspectives. The sup-porting cast is also excellent, and includes Streep’s real-life daugh-ter, Mamie Gummer.
Straight Outta Compton (August 14)
The ‘rap biopic’ is a subgen-re that never really took off, de-spite the success of 8 Mile (2002) and Notorious (2009). However, there are plenty of stories to tell about the world of hip hop, and perhaps none is more interesting than NWA—the seminal group largely attributed with giving rap its gangster edge. This film tracks the group through their early days as they face the gangs and street violence of Compton, California, dreaming of one day getting out and making a better life for themselves.
Staff Writerchris luTEs
Wall art and tan lines
Arts & Entertainment 23
kids take control on the Blue planet
Thursday, April 9, 2015
To most graduating students, April represents the final frontier be-tween the familiar bubble of school and the first step into whatever lies beyond. For the eight remaining members of Busty and the Bass at McGill, who will graduate this spring and join vocalist/saxophon-ist Nick Ferrara in the real world, the challenging transition of going from a student band to professional musicians looms on the horizon—but it certainly helps their cause that they’ve spent the last semester with one foot out the door.
“We basically just spent two months touring—I think we’ve had two weekends off,” said trombonist Chris Vincent. “We played with K.C. Roberts [& the Live Revolution] from Toronto and they’re awesome. We did the States as well [over Read-ing Week], then Dalhousie; and then
last week, we did shows in Toronto and Kingston [….] It’s given us a taste of touring before it really starts to happen.”
“Now [that] we’re back for about a month, we sort of have to focus on our Prom show,” added keyboardist Eric Haynes. “But other than that, we just have to worry about graduating.”
That’s just the type of year it’s been for Busty, a stream of effort aimed at growing the band’s audi-ence in preparation for life outside McGill—all while earning the de-grees they came for in the first place. Luckily, they’ve found ways to make it all work.
“I’ve been [a] part-time [stu-dent] for the past year, and some of those classes are music classes, which are sub-able if you coordi-nate with your professors, [….] something we’ve gotten way better about,” explained bassist Milo John-son. “It’s pretty much been full-time
Busty, and I feel like at this point, we’ve sort of figured out the tricks so that McGill doesn’t hate us.”
It’s really the exact opposite. Back in the Fall when the group was entered in TD’s nation-wide Rock Your Campus music competition, the McGill administration hopped on board the Busty bandwagon, helping their cause with tweets and articles of admiration—Principal Suzanne For-tier even made a cameo in the “Tryna Find Myself” music video. Throw in the band’s enormous student follow-ing and it’s clear that there’s been no shortage of Busty support at McGill; but over the past year, they’ve gone a long way towards establishing other large fan bases as well.
“I would say that having on-line content, so that people can show their friends and show people [our music] before a show to get them interested is really important,” be-gan Haynes. “But I think for us, by far still the most successful way of
getting people to come out to our shows and check us out is from rec-ommendation [….] and that’s why I think our Reading Week tour went a bit bet-ter [than last year], because we had some places where we’d played before, so peo-ple who had seen us last time brought out a group.”
The band will have the opportunity to play some big-ger stages and
keep reaching new fans this sum-mer. They’re slated to play during Canadian Music Week in Toronto and at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. By that time, GLAM, the follow-up al-bum to their 2014 EP Bustified, will also be released. If you’re wondering how they arrived at that name, don’t expect a thorough answer any time soon.
“It’s our pet elephant,” said Johnson, unwilling to elaborate. He was, however, more forthcoming about the type of music GLAM will feature.
“The approach that this album seemed to take is that we were just trying to find a space for everyone to input their own musical back-ground,” explained Johnson. “Ele-ments from the hip-hop world, from funk, from pop, electronic.”
Unlike Bustified, which was recorded at multiple studios and ven-ues, their upcoming release will have
the benefit of a more cohesive sound.“[GLAM] was pretty much all
recorded at the same studio, Planet Studios, up on Beaubien and Pap-ineau,” described Vincent. “And we were so lucky to get a guy named Jesse String out from Los Angeles. This guy is a genius and he basi-cally just engineered and recorded our whole album [….] The songs are all different, but they’re all going to have a similar sound [largely because of him].”
For a nine-person band, creat-ing new material can be as difficult as it is rewarding, and it’s been a learn-ing experience for Busty, who work on the various stages of songs both as a whole and in smaller groups.
“There’s lots of different steps in the process of creating a Busty track,” explained Johnson. “It’s like a storyboard, so [it includes] figuring out the arrangement, the lyrics, the sections. And then you get more and more in detail, like the horn arrange-ments, the transitions [….] I would say we’re getting better and better about knowing where we’re at in a track’s development.”
Many of their newest tracks will be on display this week at the aforementioned Prom show, when Busty returns to the Corona theatre for the first time since opening for the Arkells as part of winning Rock Your Campus. This time they’ll be the headliner, and as Haynes articulates, they’re quick to appreciate those who helped them get to that point.
“The McGill community are the people who really started us off and they’ve never stopped being sup-portive, so it’s gonna be really great to play for them one last big show as students.”
Busty and the Bass perform at the Corona Theatre (2490 Notre Dame Ouest) on Friday, April 10 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $16.
It’s common for children’s stories to use fantasy and translate a moral to their young readership. Blue Planet, presented by the McGill Department of English Drama and Theatre, follows this model to a tee. Based on Icelandic author Andri Snær Magnason’s award-winning children’s book, The Story of the Blue Planet (2012), the play brings light to issues of environmental pro-tection and ethics by directing mes-sages toward younger audiences.
The Blue Planet is very similar to planet Earth, the only exception being that it is solely populated by
children and is uninhibited by mod-ern technology. The play begins on an upbeat note, with children play-ing, dancing, and singing about the joys of living on the Blue Planet. The mood goes downhill as the show pro-gresses, when one day, best friends Brimir (Harrison Collett) and Hulda (Cara Krisman), and the rest of the children discover that a spaceship has landed on their planet. With it ar-rives an adult—the first on the plan-et—named Jolly Goodday (Shanti Gonzales, Nathaniel Hanula-James, and Bailey MacKay), who turns the childrens’ lives upside down.
The show takes a fresh look at environmental and ethical issues,
wisely incorporating elements of fantasy to keep the story exciting for younger target audiences. Multiple scenes show the children manipulat-ing their environment for personal gain, either by taking the dust off of butterfly wings for a temporary high, or moving the clouds to one side of the planet, forcing half the popula-tion to live in darkness.
The show also repeatedly plays off of the common childhood fear of the supernatural. During one point of the play, Hulda and Brimir find themselves lost in a forest, scared and alone. The trees in their midst come alive, singing ominously and touching them with their branches.
The spiders, lions, and hyenas in this forest do the same, speaking to the children with vicious demeanour, showing the dramatic shift in the relationship the children hold with nature.
The sound effects of the show further force these themes to hit home. Various ominous scores play throughout dramatic scenes in which the children face danger, with loud drum beats that mimick the sound of a rapidly beating heart. Addition-ally, any time the children make a purchase from Jolly Goodday, sell-ing bits of their youth in exchange for new products that guarantee happiness, a brief cha-ching! plays,
to reinforce criticisms of modern consumerism and its effect on the environment.
With wisely timed musical in-terludes, smart depictions of child-hood visions, and powerful sound effects, Blue Planet depicts modern day issues through the lens of some-one too young to understand them. This perspective provides a fresh take on current issues, offering a vari-ant from overdone lectures heard in the news and mainstream media.
Blue Planet is playing in Moyse Hall Theater April 2, 9, 10, and 11 at 7:30 p.m., and on April 4 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $10.
Arts & Entertainment EditorMAx bErgEr
ContributorAudrEy cArlEToN
Peer ReviewBusty and the Bass
24 Thursday, April 9, 2015Arts & Entertainment
What A BuzzArtist: Olly MursAlbum: Right Place Right TimeReleased: November 26, 2012
All about a nervous first date, “What A Buzz” boasts simple lyrics, an incredibly catchy chorus, and goofy vocals. “Got ketchup on my trousers and my cheeks are going red […] What a beautiful buzz with the girl I might love,” Murs excit-ably confesses; and when paired with a ridiculously catchy whistle, it’s bound to get stuck in your head.
Worship YouArtist: Vampire WeekendAlbum: Modern Vampires Of the CityReleased: May 14, 2013
With its galloping beat and fast-tempo lyrics, “Worship You” progresses from a single guitar riff, before building mo-mentum over time with the inclusion of various instruments, before reaching a stunning climax within the last 40 sec-onds. A fantastic and uplifting blend of smart lyricism, synthesizers, and heavy drums, these last few moments of “Wor-ship You” easily render it one of Vampire Weekend’s most memorable moments.
SexothequeArtist: La RouxAlbum: Trouble In ParadiseReleased: July 18, 2014
Taken from her second studio album, “Sexotheque” features heavy ’80s gui-tar riffs and airy vocals. On a record jam-packed with tropical-sounding songs, this one holds its own in providing one of the catchiest melodies released last year.
Gotta Get AwayArtist: The Black KeysAlbum: Turn BlueReleased: August 19, 2014
One of The Black Keys’ most straightfor-ward, simple, and honest songs, “Gotta Get Away” sees lead singer Dan Auer-bach pack up his belongings and drive cross-country in search of a new start. “I went from San Berdoo to Kalamazoo, just to get away from you,” he confess-es, delivered over a fantastic blend of guitars and drums that literally makes you want to pack up your belongings too and drive off into the desert. If there was ever a song that /sounded/ like summer, this is it.
Photo EditorJAck NEAl
Under the SunALBUM REVIEWS
At Home marks local Montreal duo Clay & Alex’s debut release and, as the title sug-gests, is an eight-song album recorded entirely in their apartment.
The opener, “Hot Shame,” leads the al-bum off on a relatively calm, yet hopeful note, with something that sounds like a mixture of
Bon Iver and Simon and Garfunkel, with a George Harrison-style guitar lead thrown in later on. However, the excitement is diluted by next two songs, “A Million Places” and “Kids,” which drag a bit. The vocal harmonies and dynamics are beautiful, but the slow fin-ger picking and dreary tones make it feel like a sleepy dream, instead of propelling the album forward.
Fourth track “All I Want” picks the album back up and introduces some of the album’s catchiest melodies. The clapping during the verse carries the arrangement and encourages you tap along. Following that there’s “Make it to Summer” and “Mom,” which, for the most part, maintain the characteristic dream like feel from before, but add a handful of new things; the former building on a bouncy waltz beat and the latter, a neat upbeat electric guitar melody.
Album closer “Fight” starts off with an
infectious gospel soul style vocal arrangement that set the stage for a big finale. However, when expected to hit its peak, Clay & Alex slow the song down until it ends abruptly, leav-ing much to be desired.
As a whole, the snappier sections are more enjoyable because they contained more memorable moments while the slower sections seemed to lack punctuation.
The entire album is pleasant to listen to and features some fantastic songwriting. It isn’t the most groundbreaking release, but that’s not what it’s meant to be. At Home could benefit from more variety, but demonstrates solid po-tential for whatever comes next from Clay & Alex.
—- Michael Kalman
clay & alex - At Home independent
In the face of rampant piracy, record la-bels have struggled to convince consumers to spend money on music. More specifically, the album format—once the industry’s largest source of revenue—has become too expensive for the average listener. Consumers’ listening habits are increasingly shifting towards faster, more digestible formats like iTunes’ $0.99 single, which have fragmented the cohesive conceptual nature of albums in favor of a more selective listening experience. It’s in times like this that the music industry could use it’s own caped crusader to revolutionize the way that way that we listen to music.
Cue a multi-platinum, 32-year-old super-star in the prime of her career to drop a brand new album out of the blue. Yes, Beyoncé, a woman whose achievements, talents, and re-nown blew minds everywhere with her sur-prise release of a self-titled album at the end of 2013. In a case study at Harvard Business School, Marketing Professor Anita Elberse noted that by releasing the album without an accompanying marketing campaign, the move risked wasting millions of dollars. In addition to being a bold marketing strategy, the album
could be purchased only as a single package of 14 songs and music videos on iTunes, which encouraged listeners to experience it in its en-tirety. The record was a critical and financial success, selling 430,000 digital copies within the first 24 hours of its release and five million copies worldwide by November 2014. Does Beyoncé demonstrate the capacity for the album format to hold up in the age of digital music distribution, or was the album’s success simply the convenient confluence of her celeb-rity status, the support of major corporations, and the seductive appeal of surprise?
Beyoncé unquestionably paved the way for other musicians to release surprise albums through similarly unconventional marketing strategies. However, these albums rarely at-tained the same level praise and unprecedented financial success. In September of 2014, U2 released its 13th studio album, Songs of In-nocence, by syncing it automatically onto the Apple devices of 33 million iTunes users at no cost. The album was heavily criticized because it was downloaded without the users’ consent, so much so that it received more attention for being an invasive breach of privacy than for the quality of its content.
After a 14 year-hiatus, D’Angelo re-leased Black Messiah in December of 2014. While the album has long been anticipated
by his fans and wasn’t expected to be released until 2015, D’Angelo decided to expedite the release in response to the judicial rulings in the Ferguson and Eric Garner cases in 2014. With the combination of the album’s relevant themes of race, its innovative instrumentation, and listener anticipation that had accumulated over a decade and a half, the album’s surprise release was as warmly received by critics as was Beyoncé. However, most likely because D’Angelo lacks the same celebrity status of Beyoncé, Black Messiah was far less finan-cially successful. It sold only 117,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week of release as opposed to Beyoncé’s 600,000.4
More recently, a number of albums have had botched releases because of record labels’ failure to uphold their artists’ inten-tions. Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly was released a week ahead of its scheduled release date because of an error on the part of Interscope Records. Similarly, Sony Music un-apologetically unveiled the cover art, tracklist, and release date of Earl Sweatshirt’s I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside a week before its release, despite his desires to leave these details unknown. While each of these albums still garnered much critical claim and delighted fans with the element of surprise, they are un-fortunate examples of how easily the bureau-cracy of a major record label can undermine the power of an album release.
For the time being, it seems that Beyoncé is the only surprise album to have achieved critical and financial success without having to sacrifice the cohesion of the album or the artist’s artistic statement—an album, which, while demonstrating the power of alternative marketing and distribution strategies, is more likely an idiosyncratic triumph than a formula for success.
The element of surprise
ContributorcAMpbEll MccliNTock
(Comic strip by Tom Gould / McGill Tribune)
Science & Technology 25
The path to sustainable science achieved another milestone when chemistry professor Chao Jun Li and his team published their find-ings in Science Advances last week. The group have uncovered a way to convert aldehydes into carboxylic acids. However, unlike traditional synthesis methods, which use pro-hibitively expensive quantities of silver or carcinogenic chromium reagents, Li’s group developed a way to perform the reactions using small regenerative quantities of sil-ver catalyst in water.
“We wanted to find a way to prevent the [silver] atoms from ag-gregating,” Li explained. “Then, air or oxygen gas can turn the silver at-oms back into silver ions. Now, you have a very efficient catalytic sys-tem using tiny amounts of silver.”
To carry out this objective, Li and his group treated an ensemble of aldehydes with combinations of silver complexes and other starting material. Reaction parameters were designed to maximize the use of readily available materials by using oxygen from the atmosphere and water as the solvent. Using these conditions, along with mild reac-
tion temperatures, they were able to achieve high yields of the carbox-ylic acid product. These reactions could be performed using milligram quantities of silver catalyst, thus fulfilling the initial hopes for the synthesis.
The work done by Li exempli-fies an emerg-ing approach to chemical research and synthes i s that em-p h a s i z e s the environ-mental im-pact of such processes. Green chem-istry, as the field has become known, strives to use less toxic rea-gents, reduce chemical waste, and increase reac-tion efficiencies as part of several objectives that are designed with environment preservation in mind. Those involved in the field assert that all the tools needed to achieve these objectives are already avail-able.
“Milling and grinding is prob-ably the second oldest trade known to man,” explained McGill chem-
istry professor Tomislav Friscic, describing his research in solvent-free chemical synthesis. “Ancient [civilizations] made fire by rubbing
wood and stone together. We are trying to find a way to combine this milling and grinding process with chemistry.”
Although seemingly straightforward, research-
ers are quick to point out that achieving
the goals of green chemistry is not
something that can be done overnight . Challenges still remain, such as op-t i m i z i n g heavy-scale indust r ia l p r o c e s s e s
like the Haber-Bosch synthe-
sis of ammonia. However, in light
of the recent focus on environmental issues like
climate change and develop-ing renewable resources, the quest
for greener protocols in research has become only more urgent. Even so, for many, the connection between greenness and chemistry, a field that generates five to 100 times more chemical waste than chemical prod-
uct, is not immediately obvious.“How many undergraduates
go to a general chemistry lab and [ask], ‘How much electricity did I consume today running this fume hood?’ or ‘How much water did I use running this overnight reflux?’” Friscic asked.
This lack of awareness is something that those involved in green chemistry intend to counter. For green researchers then, one of the essential steps is the changing of conventional ways of thinking.
“People say that it’s not possi-ble,” said Louis Do, a research as-sistant in Friscic’s lab. “[But] people in green chemistry have proved that anything is possible. It is just a mat-ter of figuring out how.”
It’s this question of ‘how’ that makes findings like those of Li’s re-cent paper important stepping stones towards a more sustainable future in chemistry. The positive impact that such work has had on both science and society has provided encourage-ment for Li in his own endeavours.
“The most exciting thing is […] finding things that people have never seen before, [while] at the same time benefiting society,” ex-plained Li.
(Susanne Wang / McGill Tribune)
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Making cheMistry greener one s i lver at a t iMeContributorHowie wu
Offline access is by far the most important thing to consider when picking apps to be used abroad. Depending on the country, data plans may not be available, and WiFi can be spotty at best. CityMaps2Go offers detailed and comprehensive maps for cities and regions around the world, from downtown Chicago to rural Romania. Download maps before leaving home and access them later. Most smartphones have built-in GPS capabilities that don’t require data. Use the GPS system and the app’s pins to make navigating new cities a breeze.
PackPoint is an app that curates packing lists based on the desti-nation and type of activity. Triposo is a wiki-style app that offers detailed readings on different areas; use Triposo to brush up on the history of a city, a region’s customs, or the different types of food in a country. XE Currency offers conversions between different types of currency, and updates to real-time values whenever WiFi or data is available.
Skype is invaluable in making phone calls whenever WiFi is avail-able. Different residence preferences beget different apps; use Hostel-world to sort local hostels by price and rating, and use AirBnB to find cheap residences for a more local experience.
This summer’s hottest apps It’s important to remember that summer extends beyond the inevitable approach of tank tops, jorts, and Ray-Bans. Here are the Tribune’s picks of apps to augment the summer experience, whether it’s a soul-searching trip to South East Asia, one last road trip with friends after graduation, or the familiar comfort of that hometown sunshine.
Offline access is by far the most important thing to consider when picking apps to be used abroad. De-pending on the country, data plans may not be avail-able, and WiFi can be spotty at best. CityMaps2Go of-fers detailed and comprehensive maps for cities and regions around the world, from downtown Chicago to rural Romania. Download maps before leaving home and access them later. Most smartphones have built-in GPS capabilities that don’t require data. Use the GPS system and the app’s pins to make navigating new cit-ies a breeze.
PackPoint is an app that curates packing lists based on the destination and type of activity. Triposo is a wiki-style app that offers detailed readings on dif-ferent areas; use Triposo to brush up on the history of a city, a region’s customs, or the different types of food in a country. XE Currency offers conversions between different types of currency, and updates to real-time values whenever WiFi or data is available.
BandsInTown Concerts, GrillTime, RunKeeper
Some of the most enjoyable summers are spent at home with a beer in hand and friendly company. Often-times these opportunities lend themselves perfectly to a BBQ and grill session, which is where GrillTime comes in. By selecting the meat, thickness, and preferred level of doneness, this app recommends a grilling time and temperature, with flip reminders to boot.
The app BandsInTown Concerts displays dates for upcoming shows and allows the user to curate the bands displayed based on the music on his/her phone and a set radius. With summer’s propensity for high heat and fewer clothes, it’s important to keep in shape for the exhausting summer festivals and inevitable beach photo.
Use RunKeeper to maximize outdoor cardio ses-sions; the app features a route and distance tracker, pulls music from a specified playlist on the phone, and tracks the user’s progress towards his/her goal.
by Remi Lu - Managing Editor
CityMaps2Go
paCkpoint
skype
Home sweet home: GrilltiMe
Bandsintown ConCerts
runkeeper
CityMaps2Go
paCkpoint
Road trippin: Summer abroad:
Summer is the time to relax, hit the beach, and for some, to get a tan. But swimsuit season brings with it a major public health risk in the form of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Prob-lems that range from wrinkles to skin cancer arise during the summer be-cause this is when UV radiation from the sun is at its most intense.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology Mela-noma, melanoma is the second-most common form of cancer in young adults between the ages of 15 and 29, and for 25 to 29 year olds, it’s the most common type.
“This is not a cancer [for] the elderly,” stated Dr. Ari Demirjian of the Montreal General Hospital. “Melanoma is common [starting] from the age [of] 18 and [is] espe-cially prevalent in young women who use artificial tanning.”
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, approximately 6,500 Canadians are diagnosed with mela-noma each year, of whom 1,050 will die—and it shows no signs of slow-ing. When evaluating the seven most common forms of cancer in the U.S., melanoma is the only one whose rate of incidence is increasing.
“People just don’t think of tan-ning as a health risk,” explained Alex Cloherty, project manager of the Tan-ning is Out Challenge at The Univer-sity of British Columbia Okanagan. “We see that sun-kissed glow as a healthy thing. However, any change
in skin colour means that your skin has been damaged.”
To see why sun exposure is so damaging, it’s important to un-derstand what happens when hu-mans are exposed to UV radiation. UV radiation falls into a part of the electromagnetic spectrum called ion-izing radiation, which means that it can break chemical bonds like those found in DNA, a process known as photoaging.
“Basically, the UV rays dam-age the DNA in the cells of the skin,” explained Demirjian. “[This can cause] photoaging, and depending on what part of the DNA is damaged, can lead to cancer.”
But DNA damage is not unique to skin damage; the World Health Organization lists sun exposure as a major risk factor in cataracts, the world’s leading cause of blindness.
To help prevent these problems, scientists have developed sunscreens that reflect or absorb UV rays and convert their energy into heat, ren-dering them relatively benign. While the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends wearing sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15, higher is not always better.
“Let’s take an SPF [of] 60 [or] 30,” Demirjian said. “There’s only [a] two percent difference in overall protection regarding both of those SPFs, so it’s not really double the protection. The reason we suggest 60 for people with skin cancer […] is because people don’t put enough sunscreen on their skin, so even though they think they’re applying
60, due to lack of quantity and not reapplying, they’re not actually get-ting [the] protection [that] they think [they are].”
And it’s not enough to just ap-ply it once a day.
“Sunscreens have to be reap-plied every two hours,” Demirjian said. “What we recommend is be-tween two to four tablespoons on [the] whole body, depending on the
size of the individual.”Consumers should also ensure
that their sunscreen protects from both UVA and UVB rays, known as broad-spectrum protection. This ac-counts for the two types of UV rays, A and B, which are responsible for sunburns—UVA—and aging and tanning—UVB. Because SPF refers only to a sunscreen’s ability to block UVA rays, even a high SPF might
not fully protect against long-term skin damage.
While this mentality of protect-ing from the sun holds exceptionally true during the summer, it’s impor-tant to realize that the sun is always present.
“We’re not in the sun only when we’re on the beach,” Demirjian said. “Even […] on campus at noon, one still needs to use [sunscreen].”
Science & Technology26 Thursday, April 9, 2015
About Canadian men are expected to develop melanoma during their lifetime and will die from it.
1 in 59
1 in 240
Canadians
will be diagnosed
with melanoma.
Melanoma is most common in ages
Sun Safety Infographic by Cassie Lee
Staff WriterClAre lyle
Silent but deadly
The sun is the hottest between :
10am-4pm
Skin cancer was most common in groups in women who were using
18+
artificial tanning
6,500
Of those Canadians
will die
from the cancer.
1,050About
Canadian women
is expected
to develop
melanoma
during their
lifetime and
will die from it
1 in 73
1 in 395
With whispers of summers reaching into our Vitamin D de-prived souls, many will soon head to the pool to cool off after soaking up the rays. But taking off a wet bathing suit to go to the bathroom is an unde-niable pain. Many swimmers, espe-cially those who spend long hours in the pool, don’t bother getting out for a bathroom break.
“I think there’s just something about getting into chlorine water that you just automatically [urinate],” Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte ad-mitted in a 2012 radio interview.
Lochte’s confession under-standably raised a few eyebrows, but fellow Olympian Michael Phelps
backed him up in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“It’s kind of a normal thing to do for swimmers,” Phelps explained. “When we’re in the water for two hours, we don’t really get out to pee; chlorine kills it so it’s not bad.”
Like Phelps, many rationalize pool urination because they believe that chlorine, a bacterial disinfectant, will neutralize the urine. However, a study published last year out of the American Chemical Society’s En-vironmental Science & Technology Journal stakes out an entirely differ-ent claim.
One of the authors of the study, Purdue University Professor Ernest R. Blatchley III, explained the dan-ger behind public figures making unfounded pool-peeing assumptions.
“[There are] a lot of people in the swimming community who look up to these people and listen to what they have to say,” Blatchley told The Atlantic. “[Phelps and Lochte] are not chemists and should [not] be making statements that are false.”
Instead of chlorine neutralizing urine, the uric acid in urine actually binds with the chlorine creating chlo-rine by-products that carry human health risks. In their research, Blatch-ley and the other authors mixed pure chlorine and uric acid. Within an hour, both trichloramine (NCl3) and cyanogen chloride (CNCl) had formed. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-tion (CDC), cyanogen chloride is a known toxin that can harm the lungs, heart, and central nervous system,
while trichloramine has been linked to adverse affects on the respiratory system, in addition to skin and eye irritation. In extremely high doses, Blatchley notes, cyanogen chloride has been used as a chemical warfare agent.
In a Wall Street Journal poll, 63 per cent of poll participants admitted to peeing in the pool, and by most metrics, that percentage is likely un-derstated. Though not everyone pees in the pool, on average 30 to 80 mL of urine is left in the pool per person, which is equivalent to a small shot glass of pee per person. In the sum-mer, when pools fill up, so does the amount of uric acid.
While it is true that the levels of chlorine by-products often remain relatively low, therefore posing a
low risk especially for those without preexisting respiratory problems, the veritable formation of chlorine by-products is asking for trouble.
In addition to increasing respir-atory risk, chlorine by-products also mean a lowered capacity for chlorine to do its sterilizing job.
“If chlorine is combining chemically with contaminants like urine, then it is not available to de-stroy germs in the pool that can make swimmers sick with diarrhea, swim-mer’s ear, and various skin infec-tions,” Dr. Chris Wiant explained to the Water Quality and Health Coun-cil.
Therefore, not only is this form of athlete-approved public urination foul, it also unnecessarily increases poolside health risks.
Staff WriterlydiA kApreliAn
Is it safe to pee in the pool?Fact or Fiction :
Exploring the sinister side of the sun
On April 2, deep within the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), Villa Maria 10th grader Meli-na Thibault was declared Montreal’s annual Brain Bee champion.
The competition, hosted by Brain Awareness Montreal (BAM), is designed to test high school stu-dents specifically on information about the brain.
The day began with a written portion whereby students were asked to answer neuro-trivia questions. Lat-er in the day, small groups of students were asked to diagnose an unknown mental illness based on a given set of symptoms. Students were also given the opportunity to ask brain experts about their research, and could even touch, hold, and ask questions about a preserved human brain.
After hours of trivia on neural anatomy, brain physiology, and neu-rotransmission, only Thibault and co-finalist 10th grader Tiffany Mach remained.
In order to win, a contestant had to correctly answer three ques-tions before the other contestant. The questions fired at a rapid pace.
“Which of the two glutamate
receptors do we know [the] most about [that] are often thought of as [...],” started Helene Vallieres, co-vice president of BAM’s Brain Bee.
“Memory molecules,” inter-jected Thibault, delivering the right answer. “NMDA and AMPA recep-tors.”
Many of the Brain Bee contest-ants have studied so thoroughly that they are often able to predict the right answer, before the judges have even finished the question.
Third-place winner Villa Maria 10th grader Laura Lentini explained that she came across a question that didn’t make sense to her, or the BAM volunteers who help contestants
study. Instead, Lentini offered up an explanation.
“They were all surprised be-cause they didn’t know [the answer to the question],” said Lentini. “And they thought it was harder than [any] question they had asked before.”
Contestants from schools around Montreal study with the help of BAM volunteers. The neurosci-ence mentors offer study advice and answer the questions of contestants.
“The mentors were really amazing,” Thibault said.
One of six students chosen by a committee of teachers at Villa Maria, Thibault explained that her mentors played a huge role in her success. By
taking detailed notes on a bilingual book BAM provided to participating schools, Thibault studied key con-cepts and bolded words.
“[The book] has facts about the brain,” explained BAM Brain Bee Co-Vice President Stephanie Scala, a McGill neuroscience graduate stu-dent. “It covers neurodegenerative disorders of the mind, to basic things like the anatomy of the neuron.”
With the help of the MNI, Brain Bee was able to secure a room and food for everyone who attended. Though Scala and Vallieres reached out to schools all over the island, only a few schools responded, including the all-girls schools Villa Maria—
where Mach and Lentini also at-tend—and The Study in Westmount.
“We’re open to boys and girls,” said Scala. “But the majority tend to be girls, which is really great because it gets them interested in science.”
The Brain Bee is just one event in an ongoing effort by BAM to raise awareness and interest in neurologi-cal affairs.
“It’s [just] a good way to spark an interest in neuroscience,” Vallieres explained.
Following the Canadian finals at McMaster University on May 31, students will have the chance to compete internationally in Australia this summer.
Staff Writer lydiA kApreliAn
Science & Technology 27
Montreal high school students show their brain power. Left and center: (Photo courtesy of Brain Awareness Montreal) Right: (Lauren Benson-Armer / McGill Tribune)
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Last Wednesday, students made their way down the halls of the Strathcona Anatomy and Dentistry building to attend the Neuroscience Undergraduates of McGill’s (NUM) third annual Touching Brains event. Started two years ago by Maria Zamfir, now a student in McGill’s Integrated Program in Neuroscience (IPN), Touching Brains has become one of the most anticipated NUM events of the year, providing students the opportunity to hold, touch, and feel real brains.
Obtaining brains is no easy feat, and required the collaborative effort of the NUM Council, McGill post-docs, TAs, professors, and under-graduates from other faculties.
“I heard they didn’t have mice brains this year,” explained Christina Chou, U2 biology. “And since mice are used so extensively in neurosci-ence research, I thought it’d be nice for people to be able to see [them] in real life.”
Chou, who was able to provide
mice brains courtesy of her lab, was part of a collective effort that provided—along with hu-man—song-bird, monkey, and mice brains for students to in-teract with.
For students with little expo-sure to the field of neuroscience, the organiz-ers hoped Touch-i n g B r a i n s could break down barri-ers that might d i s c o u r a g e their pursuit of knowledge in the field.
“It […] makes neuroscience more approachable,” stated Taiji Wang, NUM president. “Being able to see and touch a real brain inspires
a passion for this study that theore t i -cal learning
never can.”Associate
neurology pro-fessor David Ragsdale was able to provide a comprehen-
sive exhibition on the human brain, a tool that was incredibly
insightful for those with no prior knowledge on the brain. Even for those implicated deeply in the field, his intricate and encyclopedic-like presentation was sure to teach some-
thing new. But as students are realizing,
learning through these alternate methods can sometimes be the best way to learn.
“We spend so many years learning about the brain and yet we never actually get to see them in real life,” explained Shawn Wen, one of the organ-izers of this year’s NUM event.
Hands-on experiences are an outlet for learning that
NUM is seeking to provide for neuroscience and other students alike.
“This event makes the field of neuroscience more accessible and concrete,” Wang said.
“It’s something that is lacking from our classes,” added Henrie Sun, another organizer.
While some students quietly examined the brains, others tested each other on the cell types and co-lumnar organization present in spe-cific cortical areas. Quiet or not, the passion and excitement for neurosci-ence was tangible.
Additional insight came from being able to compare the different animal brains. From the fingernail-sized mice and songbird brains, to the walnut-sized verbid monkey
brains, to the remarkably massive human brain, having them all in the same room provided a perspective on the evolution of the brain. Moreo-ver, evolutionary changes in struc-ture, texture, and weight were made even more explicit.
“Being able to compare our brain to other animal brains re-ally puts thing into perspective,” explained Wen. “[It’s interesting because], the way that our brain has adapted [...] is not clearly mirrored in the anatomical differences between the different brains.”
When handling the brains, the striking volume of white matter—the tissue connecting between brain areas—was palpable, as well as the petiteness of the internal capsule, a white matter structure. Being able to physically observe these various structures enabled students to form a deeper understanding of their func-tions.
“Touching Brains is the first opportunity we have to see a physi-cal representation of the theory we learned in class,” stated Wang.
Events like Touching Brains provide students with experiences that help enforce lessons taught in the classroom. or even better, an oppor-tunity to learn something new.
ContributorAylA TSe
Brain Awareness Montreal hosts annual Brain Bee Canadians
will be diagnosed
with melanoma.
Melanoma is most common in ages
Of those Canadians
will die
from the cancer.
(Elli Slavitch / McGill Tribune)
Montreal high schoolers test their knowledge on everything neuro
NUM hosts thrid annual Touching Brains eventWhere’s your head at?
The first women’s hockey game at McGill University was played in 1894, back when females possessed an unexpected advantage over their male counterparts: The modest ankle-length skirts that they had to wear. These allowed the ladies to pursue a clever defensive strat-egy. By crouching in front of their goaltender when the opposing team had possession of the puck, their long skirts spread out and foiled any shot attempts on the net. Needless to say, most of these early games were rather low-scoring affairs and atten-dance was low, especially given the fact that the referee was the only man allowed to watch the women play.
Luckily for all McGill hockey fans, the game has progressed dra-matically since those days, and has blossomed over the last decade in particular. The McGill Martlets have been undeniably dominant since the 2006-2007 season, becoming one of the most feared teams in the country. In the last nine seasons, the Martlets have made an astounding seven ap-pearances in the National Champi-onship game, winning four titles. The Martlets have not lost more than four regular season games in any given year in that same period, and enjoyed an 86-game unbeaten streak lasting from December 2007 until March 2010, which ended in a heart-breaking championship game loss to the University of Alberta Pandas at the 2010 CIS Nationals. A win then would have given the Martlets their third consecutive national title.
The team’s recent dominance is not a return to previous heights, or anything McGill is used to at all. The team had always been relatively tal-ented, but it had only one appearance in the National Championship game before 2007. In prior decades, wom-en’s hockey was largely dominated by perennial powerhouses, including the Alberta Pandas and the Universi-ty of Toronto Lady Blues. After win-ning the Quebec University Athletic Association Championship in 1985, McGill managed to qualify for the playoffs only once until 1999, when Peter Smith was appointed head coach. Smith joined McGill Athlet-ics in 1979 after earning his degree in physical education from the univer-sity. After 20 years spent in various roles in the Department of Athletics, Smith took over as part-time coach in addition to his existing duties as facilities manager, and immediately began to improve the team.
In the early 2000s, the Martlets posted multiple seaons that were above average, but far from domi-
nant, still struggling to compete out-side of the RSEQ against stronger teams from western Canadian uni-versities. As the decade progressed, Smith saw a steady increase in the calibre of talent joining the team, culminating in a youthful and star-studded 2007 roster, which included established Canadian Olympic goal-tender Charline Labonté, 2007 Mc-Gill female Athlete-of the-Year, team MVP Vanessa Davidson, and future Olympian Catherine Ward.
“I was looking for a new chal-lenge after the Olympics and [Mc-Gill] was an amazing experience for me,” said Labonté.
The individual achievements were numerous: Labonté posted a spectacular .957 save percentage on the season; Ward, who had been recruited by Harvard, Princeton, and Yale while captain at Dawson College in Montreal before settling on McGill, won CIS Rookie-of-the-Year; and Davidson won the Quebec scoring title while adding several sin-gle-season McGill offensive records to her achievements. Ward attributed her choice of university to the oppor-tunity to be a true student-athlete at McGill.
“It was a great fit for me, be-cause McGill offers me the best of both in terms of hockey and academ-ics,” said Ward, who studied man-agement at McGill.
The Martlets entered the CIS
playoffs as the number one seed in 2007 after losing only one game in regular season play that year. McGill made it all the way to the Cham-pionship game before suffering a harrowing 4-0 loss against the rival University of Alberta Pandas. The team gained valuable playoff expe-rience and the will to come back in the 2007-2008 season and do what no McGill womens’ varsity team in history had ever done before—win a CIS Championship.
The biggest boost to the Martlet hockey program came that March. David and Sheryl Kerr, McGill alumni and former hockey players at McGill, donated $1 million specifi-cally to women’s hockey at McGill. David Kerr (B.Sc. ‘65) skated for the Redmen from 1961 to 1965 and cap-tained the team in his last year at Mc-Gill. While still a player on the men’s squad, Kerr was helping to coach the women’s team in his third and fourth years and met his future wife Sheryl (B.Com.’67) when she tried out for the Martlets in 1963.
Long after graduation in 1986, David joined multinational min-ing and natural resource company Noranda Inc. as vice-president of strategic planning in development, rising to the role of president of the company just a year later. David would eventually serve as Noranda’s chair and CEO before stepping down in 2002.
The Kerrs wanted to give back to the team after all that it had given them during their time at McGill and in the years since.
“Our time at McGill was very special,” Sheryl said. “I was born in Montreal but grew up in Belleville [Ontario] so I didn’t know anybody when I got to McGill. Initially, play-ing hockey for the university was my whole life. The camaraderie in athlet-ics was wonderful for me and that’s where I first met my husband-to-be.”
David also regarded his time as
a Redmen as a formative experience of his college years.
“Hockey was all of the things you hope to enjoy in an intercol-legiate sport—the travel to other universities and the camaraderie on the team […] it was just a fun expe-rience,” David added. “You always need something at university to keep you busy outside of academics. Hockey was good for both of us and we were both reasonably good at it.”
Of McGill’s 49 intercollegiate sports programs at the time of the donation, the only teams with full-time head coaching positions were football, women’s volleyball, swim-ming, men’s and women’s basket-ball, and men’s hockey. The Kerrs’ gift allowed Smith to assume a full-time role as the first “Kerr Women’s Hockey Coach.”
“Once the Kerrs’ gift came along, [it] allowed the department to free me up to exclusively coach hockey and that clearly made a big difference in every aspect of coach-ing, but especially in the recruiting end of things, which is such an im-portant part of the responsibility,” said Smith.
The donation has helped the Martlets to grow into a true power-house in Canadian women’s hockey, posting a 145-9 record in league play under Smith since 2007.
“I think that Smith has done a fantastic job in terms of coaching the girls, recruiting, keeping them focused […] he’s super.” said David, “That’s really what makes the team work I think—that people want to go and play for him.”
Smith attributes the team’s suc-cess to the generosity of its benefac-tors and the calibre of players that the program is able to attract. The Kerrs’ continued gifts to the program have allowed for the hiring of a second full-time Assistant Coach, Alyssa Cecere.
“The Kerrs have been tremen-
dously loyal and tremendously gen-erous to the Martlet hockey program. It’s clearly made a huge difference,” said Smith, “We’re one of the few programs in the CIS that has two full-time coaches on staff for women’s hockey.”
The Martlets continue to forge a legacy of success in the RSEQ and CIS. This season, the defending Na-tional Champions went all the way to the title game again as the No. 1 seed, only to fall to the Western Mustangs in a disappointing end to the season. Over the last decade, Martlet hockey has risen from being just another team at McGill to becoming one of the signature programs at the univer-sity, as CIS basketball is to Carleton or football is to Laval. Under Smith’s strong and committed leadership, there can only be greater things to come from the Martlets. For his part, he attributes the team’s many successes over the last decade to the players who have come to McGill.
“We have had a successful pro-gram and it’s easy to answer why: It’s because of the people involved in the program,” said Smith, “The qual-ity of student-athletes that we get at McGill is just tremendous. I can get a whole team of overachievers and they just want to do so well both in the classroom and on the ice. It’s a joy to coach that kind of dynamic, motivated, energetic group of young women.”
McGill’s appeal to Canada’s top student-athletes, the greater re-sources available to the program, and the coaching prowess that Smith has proven over his career have com-bined over the past decade to grow Martlet hockey from just another team at McGill to one of the coun-try’s marquee athletic programs. The rest of the coaching staff and the team will be busy in the off-season, welcoming a new cast of talented players and regrouping for another deep playoff push in 2016.
Staff WriterNick JasiNski
sports28 Thursday, april 9, 2015
The Martlets celebrate another win. (David Moll / University of Calgary)
The donation has
helped the Martlets
grow into a true
powerhouse in
Canadian women’s
hockey.
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Building a dynasty: The rise of Martlet hockey
sportsThursday, april 9, 2015 29
When Toronto was chosen in 2009 to host the 2015 Pan Ameri-can and Parapan Games, the pro-vincial and municipal governments celebrated the chance to bring a boom of tourism to the shiny capi-talist engine of Canada and revital-ize the city. Toronto would follow up the legendary Vancouver 2010 Olympics with its own summer spectacle, and finally get the atten-tion it rightfully deserved. But if To-ronto had cared to seek advice from Vancouver, Montreal, or really any city with sports hosting experience, it would have wisely withdrawn its hosting bid tout suite.
With the Games just three months away, the similarities be-tween Vancouver and Toronto’s taxpayer-funded budgets are strik-ing. The cost of the 2010 Olym-pics was estimated at $1.68 billion in construction expenses and $580 million in operating expenses. Tax-payers ended up financing the ma-jority of a $6 billion total project budget. In Toronto’s case, the origi-nal total estimate was approximate-ly $1.3 billion, but has since almost
doubled to $2.5 billion, according to the National Post.
The Toronto Sun’s Sue Ann Levy took a deeper look into those numbers, and found that some-thing about large amounts of public money causes executives to spend like children in a candy store. In-cluded in the budget is an estimated $247 million allocated for security and enhanced services from the To-ronto Police, $3.8 million going to-wards illuminating the underside of the Bloor Viaduct with a colourful light display, and $20,000 to give athletes and their families bracelets carved out of maple trees.
A freedom of information re-quest filed by the Sun in 2014 led to the firing of Pan Am CEO Ian Troop after the scandalous details of his lavish expense account were revealed. His severance package amounted to $500,000. The list of public projects that could put these outrageous sums of taxpayer money to better use is too long to go into, but you could get a good pic-ture by reading up on any Toronto politician’s platform.
But it’s sports and fun in the summer, people are excited; there have to be some positives, right?
Politicians have made countless phony arguments in favour of sports hosting. For example, the planning committee claimed the Games would generate close to $2 billion in economic activity and that the construction would generate 17,000 jobs. But if Vancouver couldn’t come close to recouping its budget-ary costs with the Olympics, Toron-to has even less of a chance of being a net positive to taxpayers with the comparatively milquetoast Pan Am Games. Ticket concessions, for ex-ample, are expected to bring in $40 million off of a projected 1.5 mil-lion sales, but only 350,000 have been sold thus far.
A common refrain is that the construction of gleaming new fa-cilities will provide an everlasting ‘legacy’ for the host city, but it’s hard to see Torontonians flocking to use a fancy handball arena for years to come. Look at Montreal’s legacy facilities: The Velodrome built for the 1976 Olympics is now the Bio-dome, and the underused Olympic Stadium is in a state of disrepair.
Finally, there is the alluring promise of the Athlete’s Village. The City of Toronto has committed to keep 10 per cent of the $700 mil-
lion housing project “affordable,” and many are hailing the redevel-opment of the West Don Lands as a long overdue solution to the city’s affordable housing shortage. But below the surface, the Athlete’s Vil-lage represents a boon for develop-ers and a convenient justification for gentrification.
Why does Toronto need the pretense of a sporting spectacle to provide affordable housing for its residents? Sadly, in the answer to that question lies what might be the only truthful argument in favour sports hosting. Large, public events provide immovable deadlines that spur plodding parliamentary gov-ernments into action. The redevel-opment of the West Don Lands has been one of Toronto’s top priorities for years, along with the develop-ment of its waterfront and the ex-pansion of its public transit system. With the Games approaching, the Union Pearson Express train—in the works since 2001—is sud-denly on track to be completed for this summer, and the revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront has been kicked into gear. The 2015 Pan Am Games will rehash a depressing re-ality, but at least it’ll be warm.
Sports EditorEliE WaiTzEr
There is a saying that athletes die twice. Once in retirement and the other time just as we all do. Patrick Willis rejected that idea when he an-nounced his retirement from football at the relatively young age of 30.
“Retired doesn’t mean you’re dying, it means you’re putting some-thing to rest and going on to do other things,” Willis told reporters in his goodbye press conference.
Chris Borland of the San Fran-cisco 49ers and Jason Worilds of the Pittsburgh Steelers recently retired at the ages of 24 and 27, respectively. Borland stopped playing after one season because he felt that his love of football was not worth the risk of potential head injuries. Worilds left because he felt a religious call to do so. Willis felt his injured feet would not allow him to play to the high standard he demanded of himself.
These players have three things in common: They were all lineback-ers, all excelled, and all loved their roles. Borland was outstanding, re-cording 107 tackles in only 14 games
as a rookie, Willis is on his way to the Hall of Fame, and Worilds was sought after by many teams in the off-season, but they all left the game to pursue other inter-ests. The final point is the most telling.
“I knew there would be a day I’d leave, and I always told myself that I wanted it to be on my terms,” Willis announced when he called it quits.
All three players left football with no regrets because they played hard on the field and had interests that could sustain them off the field. They felt they were equipped to deal with the uncertainty of changing their career path at such young ages. There is an echo of this in Derrick Rose’s comments in 2014 that his
playing decisions were predicated on his long-term goals.
“I’m thinking about after I’m done with basketball,” Rose told ESPN. “Having graduations to go to, having meetings to go to, I don’t want to be […] sore just because of something I did in the past. [I’m] just learning and being smart.”
Retirement is a personal choice and, in many circumstances, a gut-wrenching one. It seemed like Mi-chael Jordan and Brett Favre retired
e v e r y o t h e r year, and it’s some-thing all a th le tes must go through. A f t e r Chris Bor-land an-nounced his retire-m e n t , Ravens’ linebacker J o h n Ursche l
wrote in the Players Tribune that while he understood the long-term health risks, not playing football has never been an option for him be-cause he loves it so much. He knows that he will eventually reach an age where he can no longer physically play the sport, and is fortunate to have a passion for mathematics that can occupy him after his NFL career.
Athletes need to be prepared for retirement while studying in college and high school. They need to learn
how to cultivate off-field interests and support networks. Borland was always prepared to transition into a post-NFL career with a history de-gree and a good relationship with supportive parents. He also reached out to ex-NFL player Dave Muggy-sey when he felt concerns about his health. Having that network helped Borland make an informed decision on his career and leave without any misgivings.
The real question is whether the majority of athletes are prepared to handle real life. At the moment, the answer is “no”. 78 per cent of NFL players, and 60 per cent of NBA players go bankrupt within five years of leaving the league. Playing profes-sional sports for a living is one of the best gigs on earth, and the thought process behind accepting the risk associated is understandable. All ath-letes must retire eventually, and plan-ning for life after sports is crucial to their happiness. The fate of the play-ers mentioned here seems clear, as all seem able to deal with the ambiguity of the future gracefully. Hopefully someday, that can be said for the ma-jority of athletes.
Behind the Bench: Hanging ‘em upStaff Writer
zikomo smiTh
Chris Borland has retired from the NFL. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian)
The Pan Am Games are coming to Toronto this summer. (chem.utoronto.ca)
Raining on Toronto’s two billion dollar paradeBuilding a dynasty: The rise of Martlet hockey
sports Thursday, april 9, 201530
By Mayaz Alam
10 THINGS: Pan Am Games – Toronto, Ontario will be the host of the 17th Pan American Games, a multi-sport international event similar to the Olympics. This year, there will be athletes from 41 nations that span North, Central, and South America in what will be the largest sporting event ever held in Canada. The Games will also be carbon neutral and cost an estimated $2.57 billion, the highest total ever for a Pan American Games.
World Cup Soccer – Montreal is one of six Canadian cities playing host to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and will host a semifinal matchup this summer. Team Canada is currently ranked no. 8 in the world and has immense potential as a dark horse contender in the month-long tournament that goes from June 6 to July 7.
Stanley Cup in Canada – Four Canadian NHL teams remain in strong contention to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada after a 22-year hiatus. The Montreal Canadiens, who already clinched a playoff spot, will have to navigate a tricky Eastern Conference but could keep on playing deep into the summer.
Montreal Alouettes – The Habs aren’t the only perennial playoff contender that plays in Montreal. The Alouettes will be seeking a 20th straight trip to the CFL post-season and play their games at McGill’s Percival Molson Stadium. The wide receiver formerly known as Ochocinco and the rest of the Als will be playing in front of a packed house from June 25 onwards.
Rogers Cup – The best tennis players in the world converge to Toronto and Montreal each summer in one of the most coveted non-major tournaments. This year, the men’s tournament will be held at Stade Uniprix, and Canadian Milos Raonic will be vying for his first tournament victory on home turf.
Toronto Blue Jays – The Jays, who just capped off a two-game preseason series against the Cincinnati Reds at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, are the only MLB team currently playing in Canada following the Expos’ departure prior to the 2005 season. Toronto has an excellent chance at making the playoffs for the first time since 1993 in a wide open AL East.
Milton Parc Volleyball – Parc Jeanne Mance is a hotbed for summer activ-ity within the greater McGill community during the summer. Beach volleyball has been the main attraction since 1973 and hosts nearly 1,000 players each week in a recreational setting.
F1 Racing – The Formula One World Racing Championship has made its way to Ile Notre-Dame in the middle of the St. Lawrence River since 1978 and has become one of the most watched sporting events in the world. When the Canadian Grand Prix comes to town in June, many Montreal streets close down for racing-themed summer street festivals.
Montreal Impact – Although the Impact is currently struggling—the team is ninth in the Eastern Conference and 19th in the MLS—it has held the title of the best soccer team in Canada in each of the past two years. With the season barely a month in, look for the Impact to make a run at the top half of the table over the summer.
Slacklining at Tam Tams – Every Sunday of the summer, Mount Royal Park comes alive with drum circles and picnics. For a laidback, but surprisingly challenging activity, try to find your balance on the slackline. It’s a lot like tight rope, but the line is broader and hangs slightly loose between two trees.
CaNada’S Summer SporTS SCeNe
Nobody cares about attendance during Spring Training—or at least, nobody is supposed to. Each year MLB teams take a trip to either Flor-ida or Arizona to prepare for the up-coming season. Pitchers and catchers report to camp around mid-February, with position players joining them a couple weeks later. The pre-season starts up around the beginning of March, and while there are winners and losers, and competitions for ros-ter spots, it all tends to feel as though very little is at stake. Nobody wor-ries about how many people are in the stands for these games—ticket revenue does not make or break a team’s Spring Training. That’s what is so unique about the Toronto Blue Jays’ annual pre-season exhibition series in Montreal: Attendance is cru-cial and it feels as though the season is on the line.
It’s been over 10 years since the Montreal Expos moved to Washing-ton, and until recently, there wasn’t much reason to believe a team would
ever be coming back. The four Blue Jays exhibition games—the two this year and the two last March—how-ever, have given Montrealers a rea-son to believe again. Over 96,000 fans attended the two games against the Cincinnati Reds at Olympic Sta-dium over the weekend, surpassing last year’s tally.
The games themselves were not all that exciting. The Blue Jays and Reds split the series, with the vis-iting Reds winning 2-0 Friday night and the ‘hometown’ Jays topping Cincinnati 9-1 Saturday. What these games represent, however, should excite baseball fans in Montreal. De-spite a decrepit stadium, an extended holiday weekend, and the fact that these games do not truly ‘count,’ fans still showed up in droves, a signal to league officials that Montreal is seri-ous about baseball.
“These are impressive num-bers,” John McHale, senior vice president of MLB, told reporters over the weekend. “We thought that because of the Easter holiday and the novelty perhaps wearing off this year, there might have been fewer people
for this year’s games. We wouldn’t even have thought that was bad.”
The pos-sibility of baseball return-ing to Mon-treal has gained weight over the past few years thanks to the success of these games. Commissioner Rob Manfred recently stated that Montreal passed the first test in this process, but that a clear plan for a new stadium is necessary before a team moves to Montreal.
Though the weekend mostly centred on baseball potentially re-turning to Montreal one day, these games also offered a return of sorts to Montreal native and Blue Jays starting catcher Russell Martin. Mar-tin signed a five-year contract with the Blue Jays as a free agent in the
off-season and will be a key cog in Toronto’s lineup this season. While a trip to Montreal may not have been the main reason for his decision to sign with the Jays, it was certainly a welcome bonus.
Martin went hitless in both games, but still received a standing ovation from the Olympic Stadium crowd each time he walked up to the plate for an at-bat. His father, a saxo-phonist from Montreal, played the national anthem Friday night before
getting to watch his son get the hero’s treatment from the raucous crowd.
With the MLB’s regular sea-son now underway, the results of these two games are no longer of any consequence. Two games aren’t enough to indicate whether a city can support a team, but to make light of this weekend’s success would be a mistake. Spring Training games aren’t meant to have high stakes, but Montreal proved that doesn’t always have to be true.
Sports Editorwyatt fine-gagné
Baseball returns to the ‘Big O’ for annual exhibition seriesNearly 100,000 fans attend the two games over the weekend
The spirit of the Expos is alive and kicking. (Shaun Best / REUTERS)
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Tribune 2015 End of Year Awards
sportsThursday, april 9, 2015 31
Karl Forgues, a 5’9”, 200-pound line-backer from Repentigny, Quebec was named RSEQ defensive Rookie-of-the-Year this past season and was arguably the best player for the Redmen footbal team. Forgues was one of the lone bright spots for the team this sea-son, finishing second in the CIS in tackles and third in sacks. He showed off his athletic ability in October, recording an incredible 47 tackles and five sacks over a four-game stretch against the Laval Rouge et Or, the Bishop’s Gaiters, and the Sherbrooke Vert et Or. As Forgues continues to develop his skills under newly-named Head Coach Ron Hilaire, who served as his defensive coordina-tor at the beginning of this season, he should blossom into one of the best defensive players in the CIS and anchor McGill’s defence for the next three years.
Although she missed part of the season due to injury, Myriam Robitaille still managed to put forth an impressive rookie season for the Martlet volleyball team. The 6’0” middle-blocker was named to both the RSEQ and the CIS All-Rookie teams. Robitaille impressed in the time she did get to spend on the court, rank-ing 10th in the league in points-per-set with 2.78. Her best effort came against the RSEQ-leading Montreal Carabins as she tallied 18 points, including 12 kills and three service aces. Robitaille’s talents were not limited to the offensive side of the ball, as she averaged 0.86 blocks per set, ranking eighth in the league. The Martlets missed the playoffs this season despite finishing with a winning record. Robi-taille’s continued development will be crucial if McGill is to be successful going forward.
The McGill Redmen baseball team was the only Redmen program to win a National Championship this year. The club defeated the Concordia Stingers 6-1 in the CCBA Final, avenging a previous 3-1 defeat during which the Stingers cap-tured the CCBA Northern Division title.
The formidable trio consisting of junior shortstop Tyler Welence, rookie in-fielder Robert Sedin, and rookie starting pitcher Ryan Kramer led the squad to a 21-9 record, and was named to the All-CCBA First Team. Welence and Kramer continued to excel in the CCBA National Championships, where they were award-
ed Tournament MVP and Most Outstanding Pitcher, respectively.
The National Championship was the fourth in team history and the first since 2010. In the years following that championship, the team struggled with consistency and injuries, which ultimate-ly limited its potential. This year, howev-er, the team was able to have an excellent season, buoyed by the efforts of a strong group of freshmen. Though the team will be losing five seniors to graduation, the core of the team remains intact and looks primed for another run at the title.
Despite failing to win a CIS National Championship—
the Martlets fell in the Finals to five-time defending CIS champions, the
Windsor Lancers, 60-47—the Martlet basket-ball team capped off a historic season with a silver medal. Capturing the RSEQ title for the fourth consecutive year, the Martlets finished this season with a 26-5 overall record.
The Martlets’ previous best season was in 1996, when they won the CIS bronze medal. Head Coach Ryan Thorne, who completed his 12th season at the helm of the Martlet basketball team, has been steadily improving the program, with an average .813 winning percentage in the
last five years compared to .315 in his first seven years coaching.
Junior forward Mariam Sylla once again led the team and was named a first-team CIS All-Canadian and RSEQ Player-of-the-Year. Sylla’s prowess was bolstered by the efforts of junior centre Alex Kiss-Rusk and senior point guard Dianna Ros, who put up 7.1 re-bounds and 4.7 assists per game, respectively. While three seniors will not be returning for the next season, the trio will be back to work with Thorne. Considering the immense strides the program has made under Thorne, the team led by Ros should contend for a title once again in 2015-2016 season.
Forward Mariam Sylla has now extended her RSEQ domi-
nance for McGill over three seasons. This year, she was named RSEQ Player-of-the-Year for the second year in a row and led the Martlets to their best ever silver-medal finish at a CIS National Championships. Sylla was a double-double machine over the year, averag-
ing 12.3 points per game and 10.8 rebounds per game in the RSEQ regular season. She contrib-uted to McGill’s front-court dominated offense with the most offensive boards in the league (4.1) whilst shooting efficiently from the field (.430) and from the charity stripe (.768). Sylla ended the entire year with an astonishing 13 double-doubles.
Although her shooting efficiency de-creased somewhat during the playoffs, Sylla maintained her statistical consistency with 9.3 points per game and 10.7 rebounds per game on the national stage. After two excellent wins, McGill fell short of national winners, the Windsor Lancers, largely due to a poor shoot-ing performance. However, McGill’s excellent defence, led by Sylla’s 10 boards, managed to hold the Lancers 20 points under their season average offensive output. Her tough, consistent style of play has now been married with playoff experience. With the way that Sylla has devel-oped thus far, a CIS Player-of-the-Year trophy and a future gold medal are firmly within grasp.
McGill hockey’s rookie defence-man, who transferred this year from the NCAA, had himself a season for the re-cord books. He led all CIS defencemen with 13 goals and broke the McGill re-cord by recording six game-winners this season. Not content with that production on its own, Labrecque also recorded a CIS-leading seven power play goals and also contributed nine assists. He also recorded the first hat trick by a Red-men defenceman since 1996. The OUA coaches recognized his statistical and team achievements, naming him an OUA East All-Star and voting him second in the Defenceman-of-the-Year race.
Labrecque played a huge part in McGill’s 21-5 OUA East regular sea-son record and its overall 28-11 record against CIS opposition. They lost in the OUA bronze-medal game after winning their first two playoff-rounds with four regulars sidelined. Labrecque, along
with goaltender Jacob Ger-vais-Chouinard and centre Cedric McNicoll, all stepped up to help an injury-ravaged McGill through the playoffs. The way Labrecque has meshed so effectively into the McGill’s system has been fun to watch. Hopefully, he can continue this success next year.
Compiled by Morgan Alexander, Elie Waitzer, Wyatt Fine-Gagné, Mayaz Alam and Zikomo Smith
(FLICkR.COM
)
Samuel Labrecque Mariam Sylla
Karl Forgues Myriam Robitaille
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