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Baseball, Men's Varsity, Sports

Redmen baseball take both games of doubleheader against rival Ravens

by Alden Tabac on

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On a hot and humid day at Gary Carter Field in Côte St. Luc, the McGill Redmen (7-3) were victorious in both games of their double-header against the visiting Carleton Ravens (5-3), by scores of 11-4 and 4-1.

The team had a great day at the plate, scoring 15 runs over the two games while allowing just five. However, the double-header did not begin on a good note for the Redmen and Head Coach Casey Auerbach. A controversial call at home plate that ended the first inning ignited the McGill bench, and, after a brief, heated exchange with the plate umpire, Auerbach was ejected.    

The Redmen did not let the early ejection affect their spirits—the bench yelled encouragement to their teammates throughout the day—and went on to score 11 runs in the first game alone.

Second-year relief pitcher Zach Salsburg played a key role in the 11-4 game one victory: The lefty held Carleton hitless in his 2.2 innings of work and struck out two batters. First-year outfielder Chester Dixon was also a major contributor, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

“[Hitting] Coach Kendel [McKenna] has been talking to me a lot,” Dixon said. “He just told me to sit back, be patient, and wait for my pitch. It definitely worked out today.”

After securing a victory in the first game, the team exhibited an aura of confidence heading into game two.

“We feel like we’re better than [Carleton],” McKenna said between games. “If we put out our best, we should win.”

Coach McKenna was proven right; the Redmen went on to win their second game of the day 4-1. Similarly to the previous game, the second began controversially. After the first inning, Carleton put the game under protest, claiming that McGill was not playing with enough Canadians in the lineup.

Nonetheless, third-year McGill starter Sam Greene pitched a complete game, allowing just four hits and striking out 11 Ravens through his seven innings of work. Greene made good use of his hard fastball and caught several batters looking with a well-located curveball.

After locking down their pair of victories, the Redmen baseball team travelled to Vermont on Sept. 16, winning both games of an exhibition double-header against the College of St. Joseph. Their next conference affair is against the Université de Montréal Carabins (4-6) on Sept. 18 at Parc Ahuntsic.

 

Moment of the Game

In the third inning of game one, Chester Dixon stole second base and ultimately scored thanks to an errant throw by the Carleton catcher trying to throw him out at second.

Quotable

“The team has been in a bit of a slump. We weren’t playing the brand of McGill baseball that we’re used to playing. Carleton is close to the top of the conference, too, so we wanted to come out today, play some good baseball, and come out with two big wins.” – Game two starting pitcher Sam Greene

Stat Corner

First-year third baseman Michael O’Toole starred in both games, going 4-for-5 altogether with a double, two runs batted in, and two walks.

 

Commentary, Opinion

Quebec’s quest for monolingual domination makes healthcare less accessible

by Lucas Bird on

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This past summer, I decided to stay in Montreal instead of returning home to the States. In June, I walked around the McGill Ghetto and the Plateau, delivering my CV and asking for interviews. Working in the service industry means that you work with people, so, without fail, each time I handed over my meagre resume, the person behind the counter asked whether I spoke French. I replied with a scripted “un petit peu,”  meaning “a little bit.” At McGill, it can be easy to shield oneself from the island’s Francophone roots. While this posed a minor inconvenience to my quest for summer beer money, for many, like the elder patrons of St. Mary’s Hospital, the French linguistic domination of Quebec can pose more serious problems.

In 2015, the Quebec government passed Bill 10: An act to modify the organization and governance of the health and social services network, in particular by abolishing the regional agencies. Along with a laundry list of other changes, the bill brought St. Mary’s Hospital in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood under the administration of a new umbrella organization: The Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre (CIUSSS).

Shortly after the passage of the bill, the CIUSSS began replacing many of the informational and directional signs in and around St. Mary’s Hospital. While the signs formerly displayed text in both English and French in equal size and hue, the new signs display English text in a significantly smaller and lighter font than the French. The Users’ Committee, a St. Mary’s patients-rights group, immediately noticed the change.

The group expressed concerns about the practicality of the signs, specifically elderly patients’ ability to read the small text. Additionally, the Anglophone community in Côte-des-Neiges, which is larger than in many other areas of Montreal, has expressed broader concerns about a pattern of language legislation that is detrimental to English speakers. Although the provincial government has since tabled several amendments to Bill 10 in response to the public backlash, communal worries about what will happen to other Côte-des-Neiges hospitals once they are amalgamated under the CIUSSS umbrella remain.

Linguistically, the McGill student body shares similarities with the community of Côte-des-Neiges, and should therefore share its concerns. As a McGill student, the city is our campus. Montreal is a truly cosmopolitan environment, unlike any other. One of the things that makes this so is the combination of European and North American cultures and languages. It’s important, not only to the inhabitants of the city, but to me as a student, that the Quebec government strive to preserve French culture and traditions, linguistic and otherwise. That being said, the changes being made at St. Mary’s should not strike even the most traditionalist Quebecer as an effective strategy. The price we pay to preserve the French linguistic tradition should not be the Anglophone community’s ability to access healthcare services. This past year, McGill saw over 2,000 international students enroll from the United States. It’s important that these students feel secure in their ability to access health and social services if need be. Legislation like Bill 10 is not only detrimental to that security, but is attempting to address an imagined decline in the French linguistic tradition.

As provincial politicians and the media fuel the fire that drives these legislative changes, it’s clear that, while there are indeed fewer mother-tongue French speakers in Montreal than there were 10 years ago, French itself is actually on the rise. A study by Université de Montréal economics Professor François Vaillancourt found that French employers still significantly outnumber English ones in Quebec. The study also found that the percentage of French speakers in Montreal has actually increased, from 88.1 per cent in 1971 to 94.5 per cent in 2016.

While hysteria about the decline of French remains in provincial politics and the media, the language crisis is farcical. French is linguistically alive and well in Montreal. Changes like the ones resulting from Bill 10 at St. Mary’s hospital are not only impractical and unfortunate—they are combating an illusory problem. Access to healthcare is an issue that the provincial government professes to care about, but the debacle in Côte-des-Neiges proves the contrary. In Quebec’s misguided effort to preserve a linguistic tradition, they have made healthcare less accessible.

Science & Technology

Policy and research struggle to keep up with opioid epidemic

by Calvin Trottier-Chi on

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Although once upheld as an exemplary source of pain relief, opioid painkillers have quickly come to cause a deadly health emergency across North America. While in 2016 there were 2,458 reported opioid-related deaths in Canada, 2017 saw a considerable increase to 3,987 deaths. In light of this growing crisis, the Montreal non-profit Science & Policy Exchange, an organization dedicated to applying research to government policies, held a seminar on Aug. 29 with four experts sharing their perspective on the opioid epidemic.

“Canada […] has one of the highest rates of opioid-related death in the world,” Rebecca Jesseman, director and senior policy advisor at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, said. “The rate of deaths due to opioids is highest in British Columbia at 29 per 100,000 and in Alberta at close to 17 per 100,000. The majority of those deaths are unintentional and involve fentanyl.”

Fentanyl is one of the most frequently prescribed opioids in Canada. It is particularly infamous because of how cheap it is to illegally produce and transport. Its potency also makes even a quarter of a milligram of the drug fatal.

“Today, the illicit drug supply is becoming increasingly toxic, with fentanyl present in close to 70 per cent of opioid-related deaths reported by coroners in 2017,” Jesseman said.

Canada and the United States have some of the highest rates of painkiller prescription. Historically, they have been recommended for those temporarily suffering from severe pain, due to trauma or surgery, but there was a substantial rise in long term opioid usage after they started being prescribed to patients suffering from chronic pain. Unfortunately, research did not consider the effects of using opioids for extended periods.

“[In 2006 and 2015], authors reviewed roughly 40 randomized trials and they found that opioids are superior to placebos for pain relief […], but the problem with these randomized controlled trials is that the average duration of those trials so far has been [just] five weeks,” Marc Martel, the research director at the Alan Edwards Pain Management Unit, said. “What we’ve [now] learned is that the opioid addiction-rate in patients with chronic pain is around 10 per cent.”

Today, there is more consideration for the likelihood that an individual might become addicted to opioids, with young males and those with substance use or psychological problems being the most susceptible to drug abuse. A major factor in addiction is how the patient is weaned off of prescribed opioids.

“The abrupt discontinuation of opioid therapies can be really problematic, [and] may lead to reduced access to pain care, under-treatment of pain, and, most importantly, may lead to risky opioid-seeking behaviour,” Martel said. “Roughly 11 per cent of patients with pain who have been discontinued from opioids turn to illicit sources in order to get opioid pain relief.”

Government policy has recently acknowledged the futility of trying to prohibit addicts from further usage. In an effort to rectify the oversight, harm-reduction has become one of the four pillars of Canada’s federal drug strategy in 2016, alongside prevention, treatment, and reduction.

“The harm-reduction approach aims to assist people who use legal and illegal psychoactive drugs to live safer and healthier lives,” Sandhia Vadlamudy, executive director of Cactus Montreal, said. “In Canada, harm reduction policies include increased access to Naloxone [a drug used to treat an opioid overdose] and support for supervised injection sites.”

Safe-injection sites offer open spaces where those suffering from opioid addictions can safely use the drug without legal repercussions and with the support of medical equipment and services. Although they are not the only solution, they are one of many helpful tools to reduce the growing number of opioid fatalities as research-backed policy moves to counter this health crisis.

Commentary, Opinion

Free higher education is not a “misguided notion,” but offers a ray of hope to future students

by Sydney King on

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As of May 2018, Canadian students collectively owe $28 billion in student loan debt. Quebec’s protest culture has helped keep tuition rates low in the province—some of the lowest in Canada, second only to Newfoundland and Labrador. Still, many Quebec students face thousands of dollars of debt upon graduation. In an op-ed featured in the Montreal Gazette, Alexandre Moreau and Miguel Ouellette of the Montreal Economic Institute explained that making higher education tuition-free would cost the province $1.1 billion to implement for Quebec students, and $1.3 billion if it were extended to include all Canadian and international students. Despite the hefty price tag, making college and university tuition-free offers numerous benefits to students and society as a whole.

Loans are a common way for students to cover the costs of university, but they often  leave graduates shackled to making repayments for years or even decades. As of 2017, students who took out loans to finance their education graduated with an average of $22,084 in debt. Due to the relatively low tuition rates in Quebec, the provincial average is likely lower, but any amount of debt may take years to repay: The average length of time to repay student debt is 10 years.

Debt forces graduates to forgo traditional rites of passage like buying a home or a car, or even getting married and starting a family. Student debt negatively affects credit scores and prevents graduates from opening savings accounts, investing for retirement, and fulfilling other long-term financial goals. The need to make loan payments while working an entry-level job—or even an unpaid internship—puts graduates in a precarious financial situation.

Even if loans were a stable solution, lower–middle-class students who just barely miss qualifications for need-based financial assistance are often overlooked in conversations about free tuition. Students whose educations are financed by the government may find that their aid does not cover books, computers, off-campus housing, groceries, or other cost-of-living expenses. Tuition is only one of many expenses postsecondary students incur. For students who can only work part-time during the school year, their income may be sufficient to cover living expenses, but perhaps not tuition.

Moreau and Ouellette believe that forcing average Quebecers to pay for students’ tuition is unfair because those students eventually out-earn their benefactors. According to their research, 71 per cent of Quebecers do not have a university diploma. This group has a median annual income of $42-56,000, depending on whether they completed CEGEP, while the median university graduate makes $79,000 per year. However, this means that graduates pay more than twice as much combined income tax as non-graduates, as they reach a higher tax bracket. Therefore, an initial investment in higher education is actually fed back into provincial coffers.

Alleviating the burden of tuition for students studying in Quebec will not reduce the value of a degree, and the alternative to free higher education is not necessarily more money in the pockets of average Quebecers. Opponents of free tuition treat post-secondary students like entitled children who demand that the government subsidize their futures. In reality, many students live with the constant stress of paying for their education, which is exacerbated when they graduate with thousands of dollars of debt.  Students might appreciate their degrees more if they had fewer strings attached. Although the initial cost is high, Quebec may find that the return is worth the investment.

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Birds Crossing Borders bridges the gap between Syrian and Canadian communities

by Nicholas Raffoul on

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Since 2017, over 6,100 Syrian refugees have arrived in Montreal. With her multimedia exhibition, Khadjia Baker puts a name, face, and voice to six of these individuals. Her captivating and powerful audio-visual installation, Birds Crossing Borders, premiered on Sept. 13 at the theatre and gallery, Montreal Arts Interculturels. A Kurdish-Syrian who witnessed the Syrian civil war firsthand, Baker presents a collection of stories from Syrian refugees living in Montreal to chip away at the myth of refugees as radical extremists.

In Birds Crossing Borders, Baker displays the anecdotes and narratives of Syrian men and women new to Canada on three televisions and two projectors of different sizes in a dim gallery. Two of the films, “Powerful women looking for freedom” and “Family of recently arrived refugees,” offered audiences insight into the humanity and wounds of Syrian refugees through first-person storytelling. The short films last anywhere from approximately 13 minutes to an entire hour. Baker creates a moving multi-sensory experience that transports viewers into the lives of each storyteller.

The screens of the installation stand in each corner of the room, alongside plexiglass boxes filled with clear water and tubes that connect each box in the centre.

“The movement of the water through these vessels is a conceptual reflection on displacement and the dynamics of belonging in one’s home,” revealed Baker’s exhibition introduction.

The first box fills up with a red liquid, which slowly passes through each plexiglass box. Using simple objects found in a chemistry lab, Baker comments on the connectedness of human movement and the relationship to new land and new people.

Zain Merhaba, a 27 year-old Master’s student from Aleppo studying childhood education, had one of the most gripping narratives on offer. While other storytellers spoke French or English, Zain told her stories in a Syrian dialect that reminded me of my own Lebanese family, and made her seem familiar. Zain shared her experiences as a school teacher and hospital volunteer during the war, how she looked to children for hope, and the difficulty of having to learn a new language.

As someone who has experienced the effects of displacement—my siblings having been forced to flee Lebanon in 2006 due to military conflict—Zain’s experiences resonated with me. The sense of solidarity I felt was a feeling Baker had set out to evoke.

“[The exhibition] aims to develop healthier relations with displaced people from the Middle East as a way of avoiding social separation and conflict,” Baker’s introduction stated.

The exhibition’s interview storytelling technique offers a unique perspective into the lives of Syrian refugees at a time when their perspectives are often forgotten.

“One-sided images from Western news media intensifies the paranoia around ‘alien newcomers,’” the introduction read.

Baker’s small yet forceful exhibition dismantles barriers created by popular news sources, giving full attention to the Syrian refugees themselves, rather than political sensationalism. Her collection of films showcases a raw and unscripted perspective of these six men and women. The installation takes away viewers’ ability to respond, and instead, it requires that they listen.

Although I experienced Khadija Baker’s Birds Crossing Borders with no other patron in the gallery, it did not feel like I was alone. As a person of Lebanese descent who appreciates the effect that displacement can have on a family, I left the exhibition having been transported somewhere familiar.

 

Birds Without Borders runs from Sept. 13 to Oct. 13. at MAI. Tickets are free. For more information, go to http://www.m-a-i.qc.ca/event/birds-crossing-borders.

Student Life, The Viewpoint

Viewpoint: Add-drop is over, now what?

by Hannah Downard on

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With the end of Open Air Pub comes a bitter awakening: The end of add-drop. Goodbye to missing class because it’s syllabus week; so long to lounging on Lower Field; and adios to putting off that textbook purchase until you figure out if the class is for you. With the end of the add-drop period comes the fresh reality of readings starting to pile on, assignment notifications popping up, and the symphonic hum of clacking keyboards throughout campus.

The start of classes invites a common mantra among students: “This is the year where I try to stay on top of everything.” That ‘everything’ can be a long list: Don’t miss class; do work out, complete readings on time, be prepared for conferences, and make something healthy for dinner.

As someone who has difficulty adhering to these ‘September standards,’ I constantly find myself paying the price in October. Missed readings abound, my lecture notes aren’t up to par, and my fridge is empty. Getting organized with a few simple routines can make a world of difference when it comes to your own health, hectic periods of the school year, or even your day-to-day understanding of your courses.

More than supporting academic success, keeping organized during the semester can be a form of self-care. A bit of planning at the start of the semester can minimize frantic McLennan all-nighters.

The following is a list of my most useful organizational tricks that I hope to adhere to, to make this semester, the semester that I finally stay on top of my studies.  

1. Plan out important dates

Upon receiving your course syllabus, mark all the significant due dates on your calendar: Midterms, papers, presentations, and anything else with a due date—write it down! By recording these dates, you’ll have peace of mind knowing exactly how your assignments interfere with one another and how much time you have between deadlines to shoulder the workload. It also ensures that you don’t get caught off-guard by a surprise deadline.  

2. Part 1: Attend class. Part 2: Attend class, on time.

This sounds simple, but go to class. Don’t hit snooze on your alarm. Sometimes lecture recordings fail to upload or the audio malfunctions. To truly get the most out of a course, the best strategy is to actually attend it. That way, you will understand the material better, and you won’t need to worry about scrambling for notes or explanations of concepts once midterms roll around.

3. Don’t be afraid to handwrite notes

Sometimes jotting it down old-school is the best way to help your brain soak up course material. Even if it means rewriting typed notes onto paper later on, the process of writing out concepts can be therapeutic, but also forces you to think through the material on a deeper level, more so than a mad-dash typing spree usually allows.

4. Make a realistic study plan

A mile-long to-do list can be overwhelming. Break down the work, day-by-day, into more manageable pieces. Make an approachable to-do list of the subjects you are going to tackle, or the specific chapters you are going to cover. An achievable plan also helps you to monitor your progress, ensure you’re staying on track of your goals, and feel triumphant in finishing your entire workload.

5. Helpful resources to support your focus if you need it

If your own pure motivation isn’t enough against the lure of social media, websites like KeepMeOut and Chrome extensions like Self Control filter out the distractions for you. Sometimes, digital horse-blinders can be the best way to make sure you stay on track.

Keeping these helpful tips in mind, I hope that this newfound sense of organization will help me keep both my assignments and my stress-level under control. Careful planning, while ridding myself of the Fieldhouse-sized pile of last-minute assignments on my desk, is invaluable. So long, add-drop; here’s to this semester, the semester.

Football, Point-Counterpoint, Sports

Point-counterpoint: The case for Le’Veon Bell

by Gabe Nisker and Sam Wendel on

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Running back Le’Veon Bell, in search of a $17 million contract, and the Pittsburgh Steelers have reached an impasse in contract negotiations. Should Pittsburgh acquiesce to the back’s demands?

 

Pay the man

Gabe Nisker

When Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley signed a four-year, $60 million contract this past July, the NFL world turned on its head. He’s good, and now he’ll be getting paid accordingly. So, why can’t Le’Veon Bell get the same respect?

Typically, running backs don’t earn this kind of money, since their careers tend to be shorter. Furthermore, they have always taken the back seat compared to more prestigious positions, particularly quarterbacks. But, in the age of concussion protocols and rising safety concerns, football is changing. With new rules to protect offensive players and few running backs of Bell’s calibre, there is no better time than now to invest in Bell.

The business side of professional football has always seen the ball carrier as an expendable asset—if one gets hurt or performs poorly, the team can cut its losses and move on to the next one. But there’s a strong case for paying for a great one, since the running back can be the x-factor position for any team.

“Pass-throwers are still the key in a passing league, but runners like Gurley, on teams that don’t have Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Russell Wilson, are the players who actually win games,” Mike Freeman wrote for Bleacher Report in response to the Gurley deal.

Le’Veon Bell is a winning player, and his impressive statistics rightfully rank him in the top tier of the league’s running backs. Fans and teams wait forever for the chance to have players of his calibre; the Steelers would be wise to lock Bell into a long-term contract and give him the money he deserves.

 


An Overrated Athlete

Sam Wendel

Le’Veon Bell is, undoubtedly, one of the top running backs in the NFL right now. Last season, he was third in rushing yards and scored the fifth most touchdowns among running backs. But, he does not deserve the jaw-dropping $17 million that he is asking for.

Bell’s argument is that, as a lead running back and a number two receiver, he deserves guaranteed pay on par with his Steelers teammate, wide receiver Antonio Brown. However, his 7.7 yards per catch in 2017 show that he is not particularly efficient in the receiving game, while just two receiving touchdowns suggest he couldn’t finish the job through the air either. His statistics simply don’t support his claim of being a number two receiver.

Bell’s rushing numbers do not support an unprecedented contract, either. He ranked  third in yards per game and his 4.0 yards per attempt last season were merely average. It’s hard to argue that Bell is the best at his position. Consequently, he does not deserve to be paid as such.  

Lastly, Le’Veon Bell’s injury-prone history and off-field issues suggest the Steelers should not guarantee him such a contract—he is not on the field enough to warrant it. In almost every season since his debut, Bell has dealt with serious injuries, including knee and groin problems. Additionally, in the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Bell was suspended due to substance abuse issues. Given his history of missing playing time, this is not the running back to invest in.

Ultimately, Bell is not a generational running back, he is no great receiver, and he is prone to missing games due to both injury and suspension. Currently, Bell is paid $14.5 million. He should take that paycheque and walk away happy, because he might not even be worth that much.

 

Editor’s choice:

He’s not worth it. Bell has been good, but he’s not enough of a difference-maker to deserve the extraordinary contract he’s asking for.

 

Editorial, Opinion

Senate should not have to overstep to amplify student voices

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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On Sept. 12, McGill’s Senate passed a motion endorsing McGill’s divestment from corporations involved in the production, transportation, or sale of fossil fuels. The Senate’s decision puts pressure on the Board of Governors (BoG), which ultimately has the power to divest, but has already refused to do so twice before. The Senate, a governing body primarily concerned with academic affairs, exceeded its jurisdiction to stand in solidarity with students. The breach speaks volumes: Governing organizations should not have to overstep their mandates for student voices to be heard.

This development is the result of years of grassroots activism on campus, and the Senate is the latest and most powerful in a series of campus bodies to support divestment, including the McGill Association of University Teachers’ (MAUT), the Faculty of Arts, and the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU). Fossil fuel reserves must be managed more conservatively to prevent further irreversible climate change, as the exploitation of fossil fuels has serious implications for widespread environmental pollution, ecosystem degradation, water contamination, and greenhouse gas emissions. Given the plethora of well-documented environmental benefits and growing campus-wide support, The McGill Tribune’s own endorsement is overdue. That Senate, McGill’s second-highest governing body, has chosen to reach beyond its mandate in support of divestment, is even further proof of a growing campus consensus, one which the BoG willfully continues to ignore.

Whereas the Senate is only mandated to govern academic policies such as curricula development, the BoG—McGill’s highest governing body—manages the University’s corporate interests and affairs. The BoG, however, has little student representation: Only two of its 25 voting members are student representatives. The Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) advises the Board on socially responsible investing, and has recommended that McGill not divest twice before. CAMSR’s terms of reference currently do not prevent them from endorsing investments based on political affiliations. Nine of CAMSR’s 10 members sit on the BoG, and there is only one student representative. This represents a conflict of interest, as both CAMSR’s composition and the manner in which its members are selected mean that the committee is inevitably affiliated with BoG politics.

Even CAMSR’s terms of reference themselves are open to sporadic change at the whims of the BoG. In March 2018, the Board attempted to cripple CAMSR’s ability to advise on socially responsible spending by proposing that it be prohibited from endorsing investments based on social causes.

Additionally, CAMSR only holds closed meetings. With a lack of student representation on the committee itself, and no easy way for students to voice their concerns and opinions about the Committee’s suggestions, CAMSR cannot take into account the desires of the entire McGill community. Strict limitations on press access to its sessions limits measures for holding the committee accountable. 

The Senate is supposed to be apolitical, but so is CAMSR. Faculty endorsements have been insufficient in convincing the BoG that divestment is in the university’s interest. The BoG’s rejections of divestment prove that it does not represent community demands. The BoG solely represents McGill’s corporate demands, not the demands of the community—that needs to change.

McGill has expressed its commitment to achieving carbon-neutrality by 2040. If the university truly wants to reach this goal, then divestment is a crucial step. The move to divest is not merely an environmental issue, but a proof of institutional transparency. CAMSR needs to open its doors, and if the Committee is to act as the BoG’s social conscience, it also needs to act in accordance with student and scientific consensus.

In the meantime, the Senate’s decision should be celebrated as the result of the hard work of student-led activism. Students are largely responsible for the success of the divestment movement on campus, and it is imperative that they continue mobilizing to hold their institutions responsible.

Divest McGill Illustration
McGill, News

McGill Senate votes to support divestment from fossil fuels

by Marie Labrosse on

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The McGill University Senate—the governing body responsible for academic policy on campus—approved a motion endorsing divestment from fossil fuels on Sept. 12. Senators also delivered four annual progress reports relevant to academic matters, including an update on the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law.

Determination of the Senate’s authority in an endorsement of divestment

Divestment refers to abstaining from investing in companies that profit from fossil fuels through extraction, distribution, and sale. Before voting on the motion, Principal Suzanne Fortier questioned whether it fell within the Senate’s sphere of influence. As the highest governing academic body, the Senate’s mandate lies in determining academic policy such as curricula development and the administration of student services like mental health. McGill Statute 6.3.8 does, however, allows the Senate to exceptionally step outside of its mandate.

“[The Senate can make] representations, through the Principal, to the Board of Governors as may from time to time become necessary or desirable, touching any claims and needs of the University or any part thereof,” Statute 6.3.8 reads.

Christopher Manfredi, provost and vice-principal (Academic), expressed reticence for the Board to pronounce themselves on divestment, perceiving it as a dangerous overreach on their part.

“I would submit that the purpose of Section 6.3.8 of the Statutes […] should be understood as filling gaps in the procedures, not as a means of circumventing [them],” Manfredi said. “Members of the community may be dissatisfied with the Board’s response to their representation, but this is not sufficient reason to deploy Section 6.3.8 [….] It would violate a fundamental aspect of the division of authority on which the bicameral nature of the university’s governance structure depends.”

Show of support for McGill’s divestment from fossil fuels

After lengthy debate, a large majority of senators voted to discuss the matter of divestment. Gregory Mikkelson, associate professor in the School of Environment, presented the motion and cited the University of Edinburgh and the Universities of California network as examples of academic institutions that have successfully divested. He also noted that many McGill networks had already expressed support for divestment, namely the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS), and the McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT), as well as the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Law, and the School of Environment.

Yves Beauchamp, vice-principal (Administration and Finance), clarified the university’s investment strategy and warned that it might take some time for the impact of divestment to be visible.

“We have 45 managers at McGill to [whom] we are providing part of that 1.6 billion dollars [the size of McGill’s endowment as of Apr. 2017] and those managers are investing in different indexes,” Beauchamp said. “We don’t control the companies in which we invest and some of the investments we have to lock for five or 10 years. Even [if] we decide to divest tomorrow, we won’t see the impact [for a while].”

The motion carried, requiring that Fortier represent the Senate’s decision at the Board of Governors in the future.

Report on the harassment and discrimination

Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) Angela Campbell presented the annual report on harassment and discrimination, which collects figures on complaints brought to the Senior Equity & Inclusion Advisor and their outcomes. The report notes a significant increase in the number of cases arising under the Policy during the 2017-18 academic year, 78 against an average of 33 per year over the course of the past five years.

“That’s a very large number,” Campbell said. “So, the question is of course why [….] My strong sense is that it is because of the enhanced awareness about these issues and greater propensity on the part of the individual to raise it to people in authority.”

The next Senate meeting will take place Oct. 24.

A previous version of this article stated that the vote to endorse divestment took place on Sept. 13. In fact, it took place on Sept. 12. The Tribune regrets this error.

Sports

Redmen lacrosse seize narrow win in home opener

by Patrick Beacham on

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On Sept. 8, lacrosse fans packed Molson Stadium to watch the McGill Redmen (1-0) face off against the Nipissing Lakers (0-1). Ultimately, McGill came out on top in double overtime, 13-12.

“The [result of the] game was unexpected,” second-year transfer midfielder Cougar Kirby remarked. “Nipissing was never really good in the past, and we just underestimated them, but we came back and fought hard, and we won the game.”

The Redmen spent the first quarter tweaking untested lineups and strategies drafted during the preseason. Despite the constant changes, McGill still managed to lead 3-2 at the end of the quarter.

“The guys are pretty good at adjusting on the spot,” Assistant Coach Nick Soubry said. “If things aren’t going right, we’ve got to fix [them]. We’ve just got to be a bit better mentally, think about what we’re doing, and how we can be a bit more sharp and connect all those passes.”

After working out the kinks in the first quarter, McGill recovered in the second, scoring six more goals before halftime and taking a 9-4 lead into the break.

However, the Redmen’s play became careless in the second half, and the lead quickly slipped away. To further contribute to the Lakers’ comeback attempts, McGill served seven of their ten total penalties in the second half, leaving them a man down often. It took two overtime periods for the Redmen to draw out the one-goal lead they needed to win that day.

“We started to maybe take a few more shots than we should have, and it caused the ball to come to the defensive end,” fourth-year defenceman Paul Rougeau said. “We weren’t playing disciplined enough, and we ended up being [a] man-down most of the game [….] When you’re playing a man down, and there’s an extra guy on the field, it makes it easy for a couple goals to sneak in.”

McGill won its subsequent game against the Queen’s University Gaels with a final score of 10-9 on the following day. The Redmen will next visit the nation’s capital to face the Ottawa Gee-Gees (1-0) and the Carleton Ravens (0-1) on Sept. 15 and 16 respectively.

“We’re now 2-0 but we have a lot of work to do,” Head Coach Tim Murdoch said. “There aren’t very many teams in this league that you can expect to beat these days. You need to come with your ‘A’ game all the time.”

Stat Corner: Seth Obadia, a third-year transfer from NCAA D1 school Lafayette College, wowed the crowd with six points—five goals and an assist—for his McGill debut.   

Moment of the Game: Halfway through the fourth quarter, midfielder Cougar Kirby broke down the right side then cut inside to set up a cannon shot into the back of the net.

Quotable: “[Lacrosse] is the fastest game on two feet. Footwork is the core of it all, it’s the number one thing you have to have to play lacrosse.” – Kirby on outmaneuvering the Lakers.

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