‘Tis the season—for course evaluations. At McGill, the online form asks students to effectively grade their professors, by identifying the degree to which they agree with statements such as, “Overall, this instructor is an excellent teacher.” These data are then made available to all McGill students, but open-ended feedback is[Read More…]
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
PGSS executive midterm reviews
Financial Affairs Officer: Matthew Satterthwaite Following the resignation of former secretary-general Jacob Lavigne in September, Satterthwaite took on a number of responsibilities outside of the portfolio of Financial Affairs Officer (FAO) during the Fall 2017 semester, including chairing both the PGSS Board of Directors (BoD) and the Executive Committee. Despite[Read More…]
Letter to the Editor: Clarifying McGill’s student-athlete recruitment processes
In his Nov. 28 article in The McGill Tribune, “Selective success: A McGill recruiting story,” Patrick Beacham touched on several important issues relevant to recruiting; however there were several inaccuracies in his article that need correcting. Recruiting talented student-athletes is a complex process, much of which is governed by university[Read More…]
Letter to the Editor: The role of the Dean of Students
A student writes: “My sister is in the hospital—I’m going to miss a week of class, I have assignments due and I’m really struggling with my own mental health because of this. A friend told me that the Dean of Students can help—is this true?” While a core mandate of[Read More…]
The lesson of Lindsay Shepherd
In a Sept. 26 McGill Tribune article, I worried that Professor Andrew Potter’s hushed “resignation” last year as director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada set an ominous precedent for students’ rights of free expression. Two months later, Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU) has made national press for attempting[Read More…]
Quebec’s new weed laws are prudently vigilant
Quebec’s proposed legislation regarding the regulation of marijuana—set to be legalized federally on July 1, 2018—will likely be the harshest in the country, amassing much criticism since it was tabled on Nov. 16. On one side, the Quebec Liberal Party has come under attack from news sites, such as Vice, and[Read More…]
The decline of local news is a problem for everyone
On Nov. 2, DNAInfo, Gothamist, and four sister news websites in other American cities were shut down. Prior, these sites provided hyperlocal news coverage of their respective cities, including New York and Chicago. Their websites now display an ominous message by owner Joe Ricketts, citing profitability as the cause of[Read More…]
McGill Quebec Studies: Maintaining an international university’s local roots
The existence of McGill’s Quebec Studies Program is currently up for debate, due to its low registration rates. It may seem logical to cut a niche program that does not attract many students. Quebec Studies is particularly specialized—it is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on a specific locality, and because[Read More…]
Student mental health needs admin support, not “hygiene de vie”
In an Nov. 21 interview with the McGill Reporter, Ollivier Dyens, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), shut down the possibility of a Fall reading week in the foreseeable future, despite 71.5 per cent of students declaring support for the break in an April 2015 Enrolment Services survey. In the[Read More…]
What the great coffee debate boils down to: Instant is best
With coffee shops lining every street corner in Montreal, residents are bound to become regulars at a spot of choice. They find a cafe to lose themselves in an essay on a Sunday afternoon and acquire a signature drink. However, the greatest coffee experience of all is a simple cup[Read More…]
