Drug use is common across most universities, including McGill. However, the dialogue about safe drug use and harm reduction in the McGill community is sparse. The administration provides few resources to inform students about the possible effects of using certain substances, and no material resources, such as drug testing kits.[Read More…]
Commentary
McGill should have a sexual health clinic on campus
I realized how important it was for McGill to have a sexual health clinic after hearing about how difficult it is for some students to get intrauterine devices (IUDs)—a small, T-shaped birth control device that is inserted into the uterus and only has to be replaced every three to 12[Read More…]
Erased by the administration: James McGill was a slave owner
Although McGill takes superficial strides toward inclusivity such as participating in a Black History Month and Indigenous Awareness Weeks, the university still refuses to address its colonial history and practices. The history of this university is intertwined with racism and the enslavement of Black and Indigenous individuals—a fact that must[Read More…]
Profanity is powerful, not unprofessional
The Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Accountability Committee recently presented a report to the Board of Directors (BoD) recommending that Vice-President (V University Affairs (UA) Madeline Wilson be suspended for five days without pay. The recommendation came in response to a complaint against Wilson for her use of profanity[Read More…]
White activists—stop hijacking social movements
The future Black, Indigenous, and other people of colour (BIPOC) imagine for themselves is always in relation to their present-day lived experiences. Since June 2019, students have been expressing their discontent with Bill 21—McGill students consistently rally for climate justice, but the campus’s attention is not given to all causes.[Read More…]
Coronavirus: A case of viral xenophobia
Any sentence that begins with ‘I don’t want to sound racist but,’ will, in fact, be racist. I have heard this, and many other racist and xenophobic things, daily since the news of the coronavirus began spreading on campus. Not many students can claim that they have not come across[Read More…]
Recycling centre closures are symptomatic of a larger crisis
The pile up of recycling in Montreal has reached a crisis which will likely continue to grow, as one of Quebec’s primary recycling operators plans to close two sorting centres in Montreal as early as Feb. 3. Unfortunately, China’s 2018 ban on several types of recyclables has caused a shift[Read More…]
McGill’s medical note policy makes students sacrifice health for grades
After sitting in the Montreal General Hospital for the sixth hour in a row, tired, and with a sprained foot, I asked the receptionist how long it would take for the doctor to see me. She replied that there was only one doctor working that weekend, and that I would[Read More…]
Make mentorship at McGill more accessible
On Jan. 3, a McGill graduate student posted on Reddit to bemoan the lack of opportunities to connect with and mentor undergraduate students. Some commented that more casual connections would be better than none, and others pointed out that while social distance is natural between graduate and undergraduate students, there[Read More…]
Anonymous grading: Reducing bias in educational institutions
Despite professors’ efforts to be objective, grading students can involve personal bias. Recently, certain McGill departments have adopted anonymous grading, that is grading papers and midterms without knowing the identity of the student, as a way of combating this bias. Anonymous grading is an educational policy that all McGill faculties[Read More…]
