The Tribune

As most McGill students went to bed on a rainy Sunday night last week, Jennifer Sault, Andreas Mertens, and a handful of other students huddled in sleeping bags under an overhang outside the Bronfman Building. The students had committed to spending the next five nights sleeping outdoors on campus as part of the Five Days for the Homeless, an annual campaign to raise money and awareness for the homeless.

Christian Lander delivered the keynote address yesterday at the second annual BASiC Ampersand Conference. Lander, who graduated from McGill in 2001, is the founder of the popular blog Stuff White People Like, which netted him a publishing deal two years ago.

In response to declining advertising revenue and rising production costs, today marks the first day of campaigning for a referendum question initiated by the independent Daily Publications Society. The society, which publishes the McGill Daily and Le Délit, has put forward a referendum question aiming to increase its current, non-opt-outable fee by $1 per semester.

Shirin Ebadi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts to promote human rights in Iran, spoke about the Iranian women’s movement at Concordia last Wednesday as part of International Women’s Week. The Concordia Student Union and the Concordia Women’s Caucus organized the event, which was part of the CSU’s Speaker Series.

After 29 years under the Students’ Society, the McGill Tribune will become an independent newspaper next year. A referendum question that asked students if they would support a $3 non-opt-outable fee for an independent Tribune passed with 49.9 per cent voting yes, 29.

After several months of discussion between the Students’ Society, faculty associations, and members of the administration, major changes may be in store for Frosh this coming year. “The university is looking for basic, systematic changes, but those changes are very big ideologically,” Students’ Society Vice-President Internal Alex Brown said.