In his article in the Oct. 30 edition of the Ottawa Citizen entitled, “Racism, sexism and classism, oh my,” Bruce Bawer attempts to seriously indict the humanities, citing a widespread presence of ideologically-driven pedagogy. The piece points to Guillermo Martínez de Velasco’s recent piece in the McGill Daily, “You are[Read More…]
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
On Tar Sands exceptionalism and ‘commodity fetishism’
Now that the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) has taken on a mandate to lobby the McGill Administration to divest from Tar Sands, many of us seem to agree—at least, on the topic of ‘goopy bitumen’ from Alberta. Ultimately, I still have a few questions about our priorities. When[Read More…]
Allocation of international fees must be considered in context
On Oct. 19, McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum spoke at an event hosted by the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, and called for Quebec to increase international student enrollment. In her speech, which also highlighted the advantages international students bring to Quebec, Munroe-Blum brought attention to the the way[Read More…]
Who is responsible for making the GA more relevant to students?
On Oct. 23, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) released the results of the online ratification for its fall General Assembly (GA). The online vote ratified two motions—one to rename SSMU’s Breakout Room, the other to build a rock climbing wall in the SSMU building. Compared to the disappointing[Read More…]
The faults—and merits—of anonymity in ‘hacktivism’
A hacking group calling itself Team Ghostshell recently unveiled “ProjectWestWind,” a leak of 120,000 files taken from the servers of post-secondary schools globally. The list of 100 institutions whose servers were compromised included the University of British Columbia and McMaster University. The group posted the leaked files alongside a statement[Read More…]
Democracy’s weakest link: uninformed voters
As the presidential election campaign in the United States reaches the home stretch, one thing has become abundantly clear—barring any truly egregious mistakes by either campaign, this election is going to be particularly close. Thanks to the quirks of the Electoral College, the results in what are popularly known as[Read More…]
A viewpoint on language politics in Quebec
Two weeks ago, the Canadian Press reported on the Parti Québécois’ controversial educational reforms. These have centered on plans to extend the provisions of Bill 101, Quebec’s legislative piece regarding its language policy. The PQ’s Education Minister, Marie Malavoy, wants to hold off on the Liberal plan to implement intensive[Read More…]
Students’ reach shouldn’t exceed their grasp
Many may be familiar with the story of Icarus. His father, Daedalus, built him wings to soar through the sky, leaving just one word of warning: go too high, too close to the sun, and the wax affixing the wings to your body will melt. We know how the story[Read More…]
An opportunity to reflect on female political representation
On Oct. 18, 1939, five women challenged the Canadian Supreme Court for the right of women to sit in the Senate—and won. The day is now celebrated nationwide as Persons Day, after the clause in the British North America Act which stipulated that any person may sit in Senate. Before[Read More…]
De-growth and the need for community participation
Last Monday, activist David Suzuki and economist Jeff Rubin shared the stage at McGill for The End of Growth Tour. The two explored the future of environmental sustainability and existing development trends. Suzuki focused primarily on the societal influence of development on the environment, while Rubin analyzed macro growth trends[Read More…]
