Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
Piecing together my McGill puzzle
Growing up, university was the light at the end of my tunnel. My family, friends, and teachers always pushed the idea that at university, I would find a place for myself where I would fit in perfectly—that I was a unique jigsaw piece yet to find the rest of its[Read More…]
Campus Conversation: First year residence—a house or a home?
Editor’s note: For many McGill students, the first campus community that they encounter is in residence. The McGill Tribune Opinion section asked contributors to draw on their personal experiences living in residence (or not), to answer the question, “Do McGill residences facilitate community-building, and if so, how?” Bryan Buraga | Lucas Bird | Kyle[Read More…]
Lonely campus
I’m a first-year McGill student, and I’m lonely. I did all the right things. I lived in residence. I participated in Arts Frosh. I joined a few clubs. But nothing seemed to work. None of my relationships could bridge the canyon-sized gap between acquaintance and friend. Everyone else, it appeared,[Read More…]
“So what are you going to do with that degree? Any plans?”
Six years ago, I sat in a computer lab at my rural high school in southwestern Ontario for a mandatory course that the majority of my grade considered mind-numbingly dull: Civics and Careers. This one-credit program instructed 10th graders on ethics, resume-writing, and surviving the post-2008 labour market. Our assignment[Read More…]
Open secrets and closed doors: McGill must do better in handling abusive professors
“After Concordia, McGill faces its own #metoo moment,” an April 4 CBC headline reads. McGill is failing in its response to allegations of sexual abuse. The Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) April 4 open letter on sexual violence and harassment allegations against McGill faculty names five specific Arts departments in[Read More…]
Am I (too) #EmotionallyUnavailable?
Living in the small Middle Eastern country of Kuwait for my entire life, teenagers often romanticized the easy-going university hook-up culture that we watched in Western movies and Netflix rom-coms. Much like many other first-year students, when I came to university I was thrilled to be away from a place[Read More…]
Beyond arts versus STEM: Why the interdisciplinary approach could revolutionize higher education
The idea that arts degrees are useless has become a cultural joke. Every holiday, my friends and I repeat the same conversation, poking fun at the fact that our relatives are definitely going to ask us about our studies, followed by the inevitable question: “What happens after graduation?” Yet, this[Read More…]
Why it’s not easy to #DeleteFacebook
After the recent controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica’s massive data collection from Facebook users, the public has spoken out against the social network and called for a boycott. A popular Twitter campaign demanded Facebook users #DeleteFacebook. Following the campaign, a series of prominent companies and personalities deleted their Facebook pages, most[Read More…]
McGill’s grades-only admissions process needs a holistic revamp
Applying to most undergraduate faculties at McGill is a fairly easy process: Fill out some logistical information, submit a high school transcript, and plug in your grades. It’s as impersonal as an application can get. Students are immediately seen as a letter grade or number, stripped of the personalities and[Read More…]