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Editorial, Opinion

McGill must prioritize learning outside of the classroom

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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University students often struggle to find stable employment in their field of study post-graduation, but incorporating experiential learning into post-secondary education can give students the marketable skills and valuable experience they need to succeed.

In its essence, experiential learning means learning-by-doing, rather than acquiring knowledge through lecture and reading-based instruction. Experiential learning allows students to acquire the practical skills and résumé-boosting training they need to flourish in their future careers. It also gives individuals the opportunity to experiment and discover which jobs are most suited to them. Learning-by-doing is a proven way for students to apply the important theoretical knowledge they’ve learned in the classroom to real-life scenarios.

Whether experiential learning takes the form of an internship or work experience, a field study, research, or anything that allows students to develop practical skills, universities—including ours—are starting to see its value.

But, opportunities for experiential learning at McGill are few and far between. Recently, McGill has advertised extra-curricular initiatives such as Building 21, a vaguely-described open-lab where students can experiment with ideas, and Skills 21, a series of workshops aimed at supporting “students in the development of 21st century skills, values, and attitudes.” These efforts seem more cosmetic than pragmatic, and touch relatively few within McGill’s large student body. To make the benefits of experiential learning available for all ambitious students, McGill must incorporate this form of education directly into its academic curricula. Not only will it better prepare students for employment, but it will enhance the quality of a McGill education.

McGill’s experiential learning website lists field studies and study abroad opportunities as valuable ways for students to apply theoretical knowledge while still gaining course credits. Programs such as the Desautels Faculty of Management’s Hot Cities of the World Tour or McGill’s Barbados Field Study Semester offer enriching experiences that able students should undoubtedly take advantage of. However, these opportunities present significant financial barriers, have enrollment caps, and are often tied to a particular department or faculty. As a result, they only benefit the privileged few who are eligible and able to afford them.

Incorporating experiential learning as an integral part of academic programs will not only boost students’ future career potential, it will enrich the value of a McGill degree.

Some majors, such as Urban Studies, require a field studies course in Montreal. These courses extend the benefits of experiential learning to a broader network of students. All departments should make an effort to develop these types of courses because they diversify students’ learning experience and offer the chance for them to put their theoretical skills to the test.

Granted, the university community offers a plethora of clubs and extracurricular activities that give students a chance to develop expertise relevant to future careers; however, these initiatives are largely student-driven, and often privilege-based, as they are unpaid and pose an extra time requirement that is unfeasible for students working part-time jobs.

To ensure that all students have the opportunity to acquire meaningful work experience, many Canadian universities, such as Concordia, Dalhousie, and Waterloo, have incorporated co-operative (co-op) education into their academic programs. Concordia’s co-op program “bridges university life and the working world,” and boasts the opportunity for students to “test drive their careers.” While McGill’s Internship Offices Network is a valuable tool for connecting students with employers, it only offers a handful of internship opportunities for students each year, many of which are unpaid. Integrating work experience into degree programs ensures that more students can reap the benefits of practical experience.

The options are virtually limitless: From research opportunities, to work placements at local companies, to offering classes that teach practical work-based skills, McGill has many opportunities to engage in experiential learning. The key is making sure these opportunities are diverse, widespread, accessible, and clearly communicated to students. Incorporating experiential learning as an integral part of academic programs will not only boost students’ future career potential, it will enrich the value of a McGill degree. If McGill doesn’t adapt to the changing academic landscape, future students may look elsewhere for a more hands-on education.

Participating in an extracurricular such as moot court or a student publication, studying abroad, or doing research for a professor are just a few ways students can increase their employability in a dynamic workforce, and explore potential career interests. However, in order for all students to benefit from experiential learning, McGill must develop a more comprehensive and consistent framework that integrates it into class curricula. Stepping outside of the familiar lecture hall education environment might be scary, but—as is becoming increasingly evident by rising youth unemployment—so is the real world. Experiential learning will give students the skills they need while at McGill to ensure post-grad life doesn’t look so bleak.

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]
McGill, News

McGill to begin implementing campus smoking ban in May

by Teagan Chapman & Mairead Shaw on

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McGill’s new smoking policy, set to come into effect on May 1, prohibits smoking on both the Downtown and Macdonald campuses outside of newly designated smoking areas. These areas will be gradually phased out over the next five years and, with the exception of permanent smoking areas near the upper residences and Solin Hall, the Downtown campus will become entirely smoke-free in 2023.

On the Downtown campus, six smoking areas will be designated behind the James Administration building, east of Morrice Hall, near Burnside Hall, near the McIntyre Medical building, near the upper residences, and outside of Solin Hall. At the Macdonald Campus and the Gault Reserve, smoking areas have not yet been designated.

The McGill Medical Students’ Society began exploring the idea of McGill’s Downtown campus becoming entirely smoke-free in 2015. In 2016, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and the Post-Graduate Students’ Society of McGill University (PGSS) held separate online referenda regarding the idea, garnering support from 73 and 77 per cent of their student bodies, respectively. SSMU then drafted a smoke-free policy and submitted it to the University for consideration.

The University Health and Safety Committee endorsed plans for a smoke-free campus in January 2017, and McGill’s Board of Governors subsequently adopted the new Policy Concerning Smoking at McGill University on Dec. 12, 2017. In an email circulated to the entire student body on Jan. 29, the McGill administration described its plans for enforcing the new smoking spaces.

“These areas will be identified by signage, and people smoking elsewhere on campus other than in these areas will be respectfully asked to smoke either in one of the designated areas or on a public street,” the Media Relations Office wrote in the email.

The Quebec Ministry of Health and Human Services is supportive of the transition. In an email to the The McGill Tribune, Marie-Claude Lacasse, a public relations representative for the ministry, explained the benefits of a gradual transition to a smoke-free campus.

“In regards to the step-by-step approach, public health is in favor of this approach, since it allows the support of students, teachers, and all staff,” Lacasse said. “[However] institutional policy should ideally be more comprehensive than just a ban on smoking, including the promotion of smoking cessation and non-smoking promotion services.”

The smoking ban will not be enforced along McTavish street as it is under the jurisdiction of Montreal’s municipal government. In an interview with the Tribune, Associate Vice-Principal Facilities Management and Ancillary Services Robert Couvrette, who has led much of the negotiations over the smoking policy, acknowledged the importance of the policy despite the difficulties it may pose.

“No-smoking rules are unfortunately difficult to enforce,” Couvrette said. “We must rely on the thoughtfulness, consideration, and cooperation of individuals.”

In addition, some students have raised concerns over how the new policy will affect those who smoke as a coping mechanism for stress and anxiety. SSMU Mental Health Commissioner Ebby Crowe explained that there can be a correlation between the two in an interview with the Tribune.

“If you’re pulling an all-nighter in the library, you’re already dealing with feelings of isolation, your stress is high because you’re in the middle of studying for exams, [and so] taking a smoke break […] offers you the opportunity to go outside, get away, [and get] the opportunity to interact with your peers,” Crowe said. “We may see an increase in students going to seek out counselling or psychiatric services [after the ban].”

However, Crowe maintained that, in the long-run, a gradually-implemented policy will be beneficial to students’ physical health and will soften the transition to a smoke-free campus.

“It’s going to frustrate a lot of students but long-term, the mental health and physical health benefits, I think, definitely outweigh the inconvenience,” Crowe said. “If we are promoting smoke free environments, eventually it is going to make it easier for students to quit.”

Off the Board, Opinion

Quebec safe injection sites need to catch up to fentanyl crisis

by Marie Labrosse on

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Since 2015, the fentanyl crisis has taken Canada by storm: The Public Health Agency of Canada estimated that over 4,000 Canadians lost their lives to opioid-related overdose in 2017. On Jan. 12, Dr. Carole Morissette, Montreal Public Health medical chief, delivered a public health warning to recreational drug users, signalling that the crisis had reached Quebec.

In the face of this newly-arrived public health emergency, Quebec needs to take action now to prevent the situation from taking the same nightmarish toll as in Western Canada. Currently, safe injection sites are not stocked with naloxone, the antidote to counter a fentanyl overdose. Naloxone can temporarily reverse a fentanyl overdose by slowing down the user’s absorption of the opioid by 30 to 60 minutes, allowing time for emergency medical help to arrive. It is the only treatment for an opioid overdose. Support staff at safe injection sites must rely on emergency response teams to provide such medication.

If harm reduction is truly a priority in the Canadian government’s strategy against drug and substance abuse, oversights at the provincial level such as this one are unacceptable. Provincial policy makers must correct any holes in the system that put drug users at risk.

Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times more powerful than other opioids, such as morphine. This places its users at a high risk of an overdose; a dose the size of a grain of sand can be lethal. The lethal opioid is often found laced into other drugs, including counterfeit oxycodone pills and an increasing number of recreational drugs like cocaine, MDMA, and heroin. Consumers of street drugs, whether they are habitual or first-time users, have virtually no way of knowing that fentanyl’s been added: You can’t see it, smell it, or taste it. As the range of drugs that fentanyl contaminates increases, so does the scope of the population at risk of an overdose.

As of November 2017, naloxone is available at 1,900 pharmacies across Quebec to anyone over the age of 14—even without a prescription. As a part of Health Minister Gaétan Barrette and Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois’s attempts to protect the province against the fentanyl crisis, police, firefighters, and ambulance crew are expected to carry naloxone kits on them at all times. Notably, the general public’s access to naloxone is only a very recent development in the response to the spread of the opioid crisis in Quebec.

Yet, these measures do little to protect those who are most at risk of a fentanyl overdose. More than 75 per cent of Montreal’s drug users regularly frequent community organization-run safe injection sites and needle exchanges to obtain their paraphernalia.

The system is failing these users by cowering behind the pretense that naloxone is widely available to anyone who needs it.

Shockingly, these institutions haven’t benefited from the wide distribution of naloxone kits like Quebec’s pharmacies have, despite Montreal Public Health’s expressed desire to equip any place where drug use might occur. Safe injection sites in British Columbia already benefit from their province’s wider distribution plan; Quebec should follow suit.

By rolling out naloxone in pharmacies and providing emergency response teams with the antidote, the Quebec public health system has merely done the bare minimum in combatting the fentanyl crisis. If drug users are at the same risk of a fatal fentanyl overdose when taking intravenous drugs at a safe injection site as anywhere else, they have less incentive to continue to use those spaces. Safe injection sites betray their primary purpose if they cannot guarantee drug users with protection against the ravages of the opioid crisis. The system is failing these users by cowering behind the pretense that naloxone is widely available to anyone who needs it.

Safe injection sites should be exactly what their name purports—safe. Public health services cannot wait for another onslaught of fatal drug overdoses caused by fentanyl to expand naloxone’s availability to those sites and finally make them safe again.

Marie is a U4 English student at McGill and Features Editor at the Tribune. Her spirit animal is a penguin.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]
McGill, News

Le James Bookstore to relocate to 680 Sherbrooke

by Delphine Polidori on

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McGill’s Le James Bookstore on avenue du Parc is scheduled to move its operations to its other location on Sherbrooke Street during the summer of 2018. Currently, the store on avenue du Parc sells textbooks and course materials while the one at 680 Sherbrooke sells more general merchandise such as apparel and accessories. But after buying the entirety of the office space at 680 Sherbrooke this past summer, McGill intends to renovate the Sherbrooke location and sell books there as well.

This is the second time the bookstore has changed its location in the past two years. In 2016, the store moved to its current location as a result of the university’s decision to use its former space at 3420 McTavish for the Desautels Faculty of Management Master of Business Administration Program, now called the Armstrong Building. Students’ opinions about this 2016 relocation have been mixed, according to Ashley Prodisteanu, U2 Education student and sales associate at the store on avenue du Parc for two years.

“We’ve gotten a lot of complaints about [the avenue du Parc store], saying that it’s too far,” Prodisteanu said. “I think that it’s a great idea that we’re moving since it will be more practical, especially being in the same location with the clothing store.”

The size constraints on avenue du Parc have caused excessive queuing during the textbook rushes at the start of every semester. According to Phillipe Saad, U2 Arts student, this has made the purchase of course materials a negative experience.

“It takes a while to get my books and I’ve always tried to avoid getting them the first week because it takes like an hour,” Saad said.

Now, as part of the upcoming relocation of the avenue du Parc bookstore, McGill will expand the 680 Sherbrooke location by connecting the bookstore to the floor below. The university hired a retail consulting firm to redesign the new space and plans to better accommodate the peak season by doubling the number of cash registers and creating more space to line up. The additional space will also be used to display more textbooks. Further, the bookstore plans to adapt to demand fluctuations over the course of the semester by providing more merchandise as students stop buying physical textbooks.

“What we want to make the new bookstore is a place where students actually want to go and where it feels like it’s part of the McGill community,” General Merchandise Manager Caroline Desroches said.

Desroches is optimistic about combining the stores in one central location.

“[The move] will also be good for the employees because they are going to form a team again,” Desroches said. “We’re going to have to evaluate [whether we need to employ more students] when we are there. Obviously, at rush and peak time, we need additional bodies.”

McGill aims to minimize disruption from the bookstore renovation on campus. Construction began on Feb. 12, with the 680 Sherbrooke bookstore closing for the next 19 weeks. In the meantime, it will be replaced by the smaller McGill Boutique, located on the same floor as the bookstore at 680 Sherbrooke. The boutique will make up for its small capacity by selling merchandise online as well as in store.

Meanwhile, the new bookstore will not affect any academic activities in 680 Sherbrooke, including the Ingram School of Nursing. The seasonal Le James Bookstore trailer will continue operating and will be marketed toward customers attending particular events on campus, such as graduation.

Aside from the new physical space of the store, Desroches explained that new products will be on display for the next school year. She recommended that students check Le James Bookstore’s social media for updates.

“We’re going to try some new brands that we haven’t tried before so I think everybody should keep a look out for that,” Desroches said. “We really have more flexibility with what we do now.”

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Cinema Politica shines light on the margins

by Andrea Kilajian, Sophie Brzozowski on

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Cinema Politica is a nonprofit network that collects and screens independent documentary films. Its weekly screenings embody the network’s slogan, “screening truth to power,” with films that show solidarity with oppressed voices who often go unheard in mainstream media. The McGill Tribune looks at two of their most recent films, examining stories not often told.

Memories of a Penitent Heart is a heart-wrenching portrait of intergenerational trauma

Sophie Brzozowski

Filmmaker and scholar Cecilia Aldarondo didn’t intend to unearth several decades worth of family conflict when, in 2012, she decided to investigate the life of her estranged uncle. Neither did she anticipate making a documentary that would one day qualify her as an activist. Cinema Politica screened Aldarondo’s 2016 debut film Memories of a Penitent Heart on Feb. 15 at the Maxwell Cummings Auditorium as a part of Concordia University’s annual lecture series on HIV/AIDS. The film follows Aldarondo as she uncovers the life of Miguel Dieppa, an uncle she never knew, who died of AIDS in 1987.

Part tragic love story, part redemptive quest for justice, Aldarondo’s film catalogues the two distinct yet equally-significant lives that Dieppa led. In one, he was a successful Broadway actor, a staple of the New York theater community, and a loving partner to monk-turned-bartender Robert Aquin. In the other, he was the devoted son of a pious Catholic family in Puerto Rico. Neither his partner nor his illness were mentioned in Dieppa’s obituary—even in death, his family refused to accept his sexuality.

“There was a narrative in my family around [Dieppa’s] death, particularly around the fact that he’d died on Easter Sunday,” Aldarondo said during a Q&A that followed the screening. “My grandmother would talk about how miraculous this was. She thought it was a sign, a really big sign.”

In many ways, the crux of Dieppa’s story occurs in the weeks leading up to his death when, at his mother’s request, he saw a priest and confessed to sins of homosexuality. Through a combination of interviews and archival footage, the film captures the torment Dieppa experienced in life: Being torn between two separate worlds and two separate value systems that seemed impossible to reconcile. The question of whether Dieppa’s confession was for himself or for his mother’s sake remains unanswered.

“The film doesn’t resolve this question. I don’t know whether he repented or not,” Aldarondo said. “We can all speculate, everyone around Miguel was speculating on his behalf, but ultimately, to me the bigger question is what did he need? [.…] He did what he needed to do to die in peace.”

Memories of a Penitent Heart is a film that examines the injustice and shame surrounding the AIDS crisis, told through the story of one family. It is a complex and personal documentary that examines the intersection of family, religion, and politics.

Although she considers herself “a recovering Catholic,” Aldarondo confessed that the process of making the film forced her to reconsider her own ideas about religion. Some of the documentary’s most moving scenes were centered on her encounters with Dieppa’s former partner, Robert Aquin, who returned to Catholicism after Dieppa’s death.  

“Some of my favourite [art inspired by the AIDS crisis] is some of the most blasphemous and angry at the Church,” Aldarondo said. “But I think we have this secularization around the narrative of AIDS, and the way in which we talk about this notion that religion was only ever bad for queer people […] the process [of making the film] forced me to see things in a more nuanced way, and if that makes me a little softer and weaker, then I’m ok with that.”

Though Aldarondo was careful never to excuse her family’s intolerance, she made sure to depict it in all its complexity, acknowledging that it was the product of a generational divide and uncompromising faith.

While only 72 minutes in length, Aldarondo’s documentary manages to capture multiple generations worth of pain and grief. Memories of a Penitent Heart is a film about the importance of forgiving without forgetting. It’s also about the eternally-grey area that is the intersection of sexuality and religion, and how it is in many ways futile to fully reconcile the two, but decidedly more important to try.

Complicit investigates the human cost of modern technology

Andrea Kilajian

Complicit, directed by Lynn Zhang and Heather White, had its Montreal premiere with Cinema Politica on Feb. 5.  The documentary focuses on the dangerous conditions factory workers face in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China, featuring footage shot over the last three years.  

Working in extremely arduous conditions, the electronics factory workers repeat the same task thousands of times a day. During their 13-hour shifts, workers are exposed to benzene—a chemical waste product with cancerous effects. Because of this exposure, many of the workers develop leukemia, with this health crisis only growing.

Complicit follows the story of many migrant workers of different ages who are victims of benzene exposure. Many of the victims are under the age of 30, and live in fear and anxiety.

Shang Jiouajioua is one of the 12 million Chinese teenagers who have left home to find work. Finding solace with other youth fighting the same cancer, Jiouajioua and her friends are afraid of burdening their families with their conditions, and come together to fight against the global electronics industry.

“When I wasn’t sleeping or eating, I would be wiping something,” Shang Jiouajioua said in one interview with the filmmakers. “It was the only thing I did. There was no ventilation or windows.”

To assemble products like the iPhone, Apple deals with Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer. Despite employing 1.3 million workers in 2015, Foxconn factories exhibit an extreme lack of safety measures and horrible working conditions.

“It’s because of Apple that I am dying,” Ming Kunpeng, a 26-year-old leukemia patient and former factory worker, said.

Yi Yeting is a victim of this poisoning himself and has dedicated much of his life to a movement against harmful working conditions. Although he was barred from leaving China because of this “controversial” plea for basic human rights, he was able to raise  awareness of the dangers of benzene exposure from his hospital bed by speaking at a human rights conference in the United States via Skype.

“I don’t want my children to be sick because of working conditions I had,” Yi Yeting said.

His main objective is to establish stricter constraints in Foxconn’s contracts with its clients, emphasizing the necessity of bans on benzene and n-hexane, another dangerous chemical prevalent in factories.

According to Chinese government officials, one person is poisoned by toxic chemicals, notably benzene, every five hours; however, experts say that the frequency is higher. In 2010, there were 14 reported suicides in the electronics manufacturing industry, revealing Foxconn’s overbearing psychological and physical impacts on its workers.

Complicit sheds light on the dangerous world Chinese factory workers step into every day. It provides an insider look on how to fight against the use of benzene.

Private, Science & Technology

The quickest way to someone’s heart is through your wallet

by Grace Hu on

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As society progresses, our definitions of love have broadened and blurred into a kaleidoscope of facts and figures. Nowadays, a human can love a human, an animal can love an animal, a human can love an animal, an animal can love a 2-D character—the list goes on and on. Obviously, there is also a growing variety of ways to express love. But what do these acts of love mean, and why do we do them?

Valentine’s Day—the very embodiment of commercialized romance—has companies leaping at the chance to encourage consumers to purchase gifts for their loved ones. Gifting, however, has a biological significance. While some consider these celebrations a superficial insult, rites of gift giving and receiving may in fact have an evolutionary lineage. Professor Gad Saad, research chair in Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences at Concordia University, explained that gift giving is ingrained in our biological blueprint.

“When you have sexually reproducing species, each sex looks for certain attributes in the opposite sex for specific evolutionary reasons,” Saad said. “The male typically will engage in what’s called nuptial gift giving. The idea in the human context is to demonstrate cues of generosity, of investment, of concern, […] cues that are attractive to the opposite sex.”

Nuptial gift giving, which in the animal kingdom refers to the act of males giving tokens or food items to females as part of their courtship ritual, is most prevalent among insects and birds. Its role in the evolution of courtship rituals is a hot research topic for many biologists.

However, some researchers believe that the gifts given on Valentine’s Day are a separate idea from giving nuptial gifts. According to Simon Reader, an associate professor in McGill’s Department of Biology, genetic evolution has very little to say about the origins of Valentine’s Day rituals, which are almost entirely the result of cultural evolution.

“There are examples [that] look like gift giving in non-human animals, including many insects,” Reader wrote to The McGill Tribune in an email. “In these species, individuals that provide gifts tend to be more likely to mate successfully. However, I am doubtful whether these behaviours in animals say anything useful for understanding human gift giving or Valentine’s Day.”

Nowadays, ‘advertisements’ and ‘consumerism’ are words that are almost synonymous with Western culture, especially when these ads relate to romance. De Beers Jewellers notably capitalized on the power of advertising in the 1930s, when their ad campaign invented the tradition of diamond wedding rings and gave the gem new cultural significance.

Yet despite how capitalism has played its hand in the game of artificial love, Saad explained that the very act of giving gifts remains a primal instinct cultivated by sexual selection. Although the gifts themselves may change, the desires that motivate this ritual of courtship remain true to nature. According to the National Retail Federation, in the U.S., people spend upwards of $19.6 billion on Valentine’s Day alone.

“It’s not the specific chocolate or flowers or diamond rings that’s evolutionary,” Saad noted. “That’s modern culture. And that’s what Valentine’s Day is—it’s an opportunity to reaffirm the fact that ‘I am attentive enough to go out, spend my time, spend my money, demonstrating to you that I care about you and want to invest in you.’ And that’s something that’s really desirable in terms of human courtship.”

McGill, News, SSMU

Report on anti-Semitism discussed at Board of Governors meeting

by Andras Nemeth on

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The McGill Board of Governors (BoG) convened on Feb. 15 to discuss the University’s report on allegations of anti-Semitism, the new Vision 2020 Climate and Sustainability Action Plan, the new Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) terms of reference, and budget affairs. Two hours of the BoG’s three-hour meeting were made open to the McGill community and press. Other topics discussed during the open community session included the national and international rankings of McGill’s schools and faculties and concerns regarding McGill’s rate of tenure and tenure-track hiring.

 

BoG affirms stance on report on anti-Semitism

Most of the BoG’s conversation regarding former ombudsperson Spencer Boudreau’s report on allegations of anti-Semitism at the Student Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Fall General Assembly occured during the board’s private session. However, during the community session, members of the BoG, including Principal Suzanne Fortier, reaffirmed their support for Boudreau’s conclusion that allegations of anti-Semitism were unfounded but understandable given the divisiveness of campus discourse on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Derek Nystrom, associate professor of Cultural Studies and BoG member, said the events which preceded the investigation contributed to broader concerns about political discourse on campus.

“It is important to treat these allegations [of anti-Semitism] seriously,” Nystrom said. “I also believe that genuine political differences should be vented as freely as possible.”

 

Presentation on Vision 2020

François Miller, manager of the McGill Office of Sustainability, delivered a report on the Vision 2020 Climate and Sustainability Action Plan announced on Nov. 28, 2017. Under Vision 2020, McGill plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 and earn a Platinum Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System Rating by 2030.

In his presentation, Miller outlined concrete steps McGill intends to take to reduce its carbon footprint in the coming decades. Among the most important of these is improving sustainability-related Key Performance Indicator (KPI) metrics and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

“In order to have increased accountability and transparency, we will report to the Board of Governors our sustainability ratings every three to four years,” Miller said. “Our greenhouse gas emissions will be provided on an annual basis to the board, and one of the KPIs is the level of implementation of the actions embedded in this action plan.”

 

CAMSR changes postponed

Representatives from Divest McGill, a student organization that advocates against McGill’s investment in fossil fuel companies, were present at the BoG meeting in anticipation of continued discussion on proposed changes to the CAMSR Terms of Reference that began in December 2017.

Divest McGill submitted two questions to be answered at the community session. The first concerned the definition of ‘social and political causes’ in which the proposed CAMSR terms of reference would prohibit university investment. The second concerned the extension of the period for reviewing the terms of reference from three to five years. According to Annabelle Couture-Guillet, U2 Environment student and member of Divest McGill, the extension of the review period threatens on-campus activism.

“The review of the terms of reference can affect processes that regulate not only divestment issues but anything related to social responsibility at McGill,” Couture-Guillet said. “The fact that we typically do our degrees in three to four years is a constraint. Reviewing the terms every five years would mean not [every student] is getting the chance to engage with the process.”

However, the BoG refused to answer any questions related to the CAMSR Terms of Reference, deferring them to the CAMSR meeting on Feb. 20. A Dec. 12 meeting of the BoG was adjourned early following protest by Divest McGill.

A vote on the proposed changes, initially scheduled for the Feb. 15 meeting, was postponed to the Board’s next meeting on April 26.

Commentary, Opinion

Collaborative work develops valuable skills

by Johanna Cline on

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For most students, working solo from the comfort of their bed is infinitely more appealing than trudging to a Cybertech pod on Sunday morning to meet their peers for a group project. However, despite the added challenges, collaborative projects can be some of the most rewarding assignments both in terms of academics and life skills.

On Feb. 12, Times Higher Education released an article covering a 2017 study by Bart Rienties, professor of learning analytics at The Open University, that found student satisfaction was unrelated to academic success. Specifically, the study noted that students were more likely to succeed academically when working in groups, yet enjoyed collaborative learning less. The 111, 256 study participants overwhelmingly preferred working alone; however, as Rienties points out, working with others is an invaluable part of education.

When incorporated thoughtfully, group work enhances university curricula. Although student qualms deserve to be heard, frustration—due to logistics or collaborative clashes—is simply part of the group work package. Thoughtfully-planned assignments and fair, reflective grades ensure that group work contributes positively to student learning.

Group projects develop skills that students can gain from individual work that will benefit them at McGill and after graduation. Coordinating time schedules and assigning tasks among group members may be hectic, but the organizational skills that group projects require hold value at jobs across the board. Being able to effectively manage the added variables that come from working with others is a crucial skill for many careers.

In most jobs, group work isn’t just common, it’s inevitable. Careers in business immediately come to mind: In the era of communicative technologies, cross-company collaboration is the new norm. Many studies find that  employee collaboration sparks creativity, and pooling knowledge and skill sets leads to a better product than individual work. Other fields, like medicine and law, also heavily rely on teamwork. Professionals on surgical teams and legal teams require the capacity to work effectively with others on an assignment in order to get their job done.

When effectively managed, collaborative work adds a beneficial dynamic to learning environments.

Moreover, working with others pushes students to think flexibly and teaches crucial problem-solving skills. Exposure to different personalities can also boost creativity and empathy, and generally help to practice keeping an open mind. Unlike individualistic work, when students work together they seek outcomes that benefit not only themselves, but other group members. This change in motivation promotes empathy. Further, gaining exposure to classmates’ different modes of thought helps students see beyond their own point of view. For example, when trying to select the most important aspects of a topic to share in a presentation, students’ differing views may boost new perspectives in fellow group members. Additionally, contrasting mindsets have the added benefit of fostering creative friction within a group, meaning opposing ideas can pull out unique new interpretations.

While juggling numerous schedules, booking rooms in the library, and compromising on great ideas can be frustrating, these annoyances are simply part of the challenge of developing collaborative abilities. No new skill comes effortlessly, and working effectively with others is no exception.

Dissatisfaction from logistical challenges is one thing, but another source of common student discontent with collaborative work—the possibility of unfair grading—presents a genuine reason to reconsider evaluation methods. Group projects aim at bringing different minds together to create a collective product. However, a single product should not be conflated with a reason to assign a single grade, as is often the approach in faculties like Arts where group work is the exception, not the norm. Although being rewarded or punished as a group is part of collaborative work in life, students’ marks often play a large role in determining their futures. Marks should reflect student contributions, and professors are responsible for ensuring that individuals are recognized accordingly. Effective grading systems requires team feedback sheets—indicating who did what—or anonymous responses from group members to help gauge what mark each student merits. Collaborative assignments should be a chance for students to learn from each other, not an opportunity for professors to homogenize individual student capacities and contributions.

Student frustration with group projects is part of learning to work effectively with others—an invaluable skill for life beyond university. When effectively managed, collaborative work adds a beneficial dynamic to learning environments.

Johanna is a U1 student majoring in Philosophy with a double minor in Political Science and Gender Studies.

 

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Hockey, Martlets, Sports

McGill Martlet hockey victorious in season finale

by Jordan Foy on

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In their last game of the regular season, the McGill Martlets (9-9-1), defeated the Carleton Ravens (3-15-2). In the fast-paced affair, the Martlets comfortably outperformed their opponents, winning 3-2.

In the first stanza, the ice seemed tilted toward Carleton’s end. McGill dominated the game, trapping Carleton in their own zone for long stretches at a time, employing their speed to win races and battles for the puck. McGill drew first blood when first-year forward Christiana Colizza redirected a point shot fired by third-year rearguard Zoe Todd past the Carleton netminder.

The Ravens responded only a few moments later, when a forward managed to fire a shot past second-year McGill goalie Tricia Deguire. Later in the frame, McGill was issued the only penalty of the period, but the Martlet penalty kill unit was exceptional, extinguishing the Raven’s efforts.

After a goal from first-year forward Marika Labreque moments into the second stretch, it appeared that McGill was about to run away with the game, as they continued their solid play from the first period. However, their speed faded, and Carleton managed to hang on and stay in the game. The Ravens evened the score midway through the period at 2-2 after a Carleton attacker jammed in a loose puck during a pile-up around the net. At the second intermission, the team focused on returning to their first-period form.

“We wanted to stick to the game plan,” Head Coach Peter Smith said. “We didn’t make a lot of tactical changes, but the girls needed a reminder at the end of the second period that they needed to start playing fast the way that we normally do. And they did.”

In the final period, Smith’s motivational impact was evident: McGill regained their speed from the first and put together many excellent scoring opportunities. The Martlets look the lead with the go-ahead goal on the powerplay when Labreque batted in a loose puck for her second goal of the night. For the remainder of the period, the team was unable to extend their lead, but ultimately outlasted their adversaries, hanging on to defeat the Ravens 3-2.

With the regular season behind them, the Martlets have turned their attention towards the RSEQ playoff, where they will face off against the Université de Montréal (UdeM) Carabins (14-2-4) in the first round.

“Our last few games haven’t been as meaningful as they could [have been],” Smith said. “I think our group is really looking forward to starting the playoffs and getting going and playing against a solid team, and we’ll be set to go.”

Despite losing to the Carabins 10-0 in their last meeting on Feb. 11, the Martlets believe that they are ready to take on the division-leading Montreal squad.

“After our loss last time against Montreal, we had our things we wanted to focus on to improve going into playoffs and I think we […] worked on those and got them done,” alternate captain and third-year forward Olivia Atkinson said.

The Martlets will play UdeM on Feb. 22 at Arena CEPSUM, before returning to McConnell Arena on Feb. 24. If necessary, the series will conclude at the Arena CEPSUM for the final game of the series on Feb. 25.

 

Moment of the Game

During a Martlet power play in the third period, second-year forward Jade Downie-Landry launched a shot toward the net. Through a logjam of bodies, it found its way to first-year forward Marika Labreque’s stick, and she potted the game-winning goal and her second of the night.

Quotable

“We know what we have to do. We’re playing Montreal obviously, and it wasn’t a good game last time, but we know where we […] broke down against them last time and I think we know where we need to focus on to come out on top.” – Alternate captain and forward Olivia Atkinson on the Martlets playoff matchup against the Carabins.

Stat Corner

With a 41-18 margin, the Martlets more than doubled the Ravens shooting output.

Martlets, Men's Varsity, Sports

Banner year for McGill swimmers at RSEQ Championship

by Miya Keilin on

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From Feb. 2 to 4, the McGill swimming team competed at the RSEQ Championships in Sherbrooke. Thanks to their prior results at this season’s four RSEQ Cups, the Redmen sat in first place in the conference with a slim two-point lead over the Université de Montréal (UdeM) Carabins. The Martlets also faced strong competition: The Carabins had won seven of the last eight women’s Provincial Championship titles—and the Université Laval Rouge et Or women were vying for another second-place finish after narrowly beating out the Martlets at last year’s championship.

Similar to last season, the UdeM women’s side were crowned provincial champions. This year, however, the Martlets secured second place over the Rouge et Or. Meanwhile, the Redmen held steady and took home the first-place banner.

McGill also celebrated a number of individual honours. First-year David Brenken was awarded Rookie of the Year at the Championship Cup and McGill Head Coach Peter Carpenter—who coaches both the Redmen and Martlets—won Coach of the Year. Ten McGill swimmers were named first-team all stars and 11 made the list for second-team.

“It was very, very gratifying to perform as well as we did at provincials,” Carpenter said.

UdeM has an incredibly dominant women’s team, powered by both Olympians and a deep roster that put them out of McGill’s reach. Therefore, instead of aiming to topple the Carabins at the beginning of the 2017-18 season, the Martlets instead put their minds to avenging their 2017 third-place finish behind Laval. They proved successful in achieving this goal, defeating Laval at every cup and completing their sweep in this competition.

The Redmen’s season goal from the start, meanwhile, was taking home the first-place banner. McGill has fielded strong teams in the past, but with the combination of determined veterans and strong rookies, this squad knew that the provincial title was within reach.

Carpenter attributed the team’s success to its collective work ethic and team dynamic.

“University swimming is the greatest example of turning an individual sport into a team sport,” Carpenter said, explaining the impact that teammates can have on each other throughout a grueling season.

Carpenter pointed back to a speech about dedication that Bradley Crocker, now in his fifth year of university swimming, made at a retreat in September. The talk was a clear example of the impact that teammates can have on each other.

“[Crocker told the team that], for each person, when they’re making a decision that’s going to impact their swimming, [to] ask themselves if it’s something that will benefit the team in the long run,” Carpenter said.

Five months later, it’s easy to see the effect that Crocker’s words have had. Carpenter is proud of his athletes’ efforts—both as individuals and as a team—and the incredible chemistry they have put together.

“[They’re] such a good group of people who genuinely care for each other and I think that’s the biggest thing,” Carpenter said. “The chemistry that they’ve developed is the best I’ve ever had.”

Twenty-eight McGill swimmers qualified for the U-Sports National Championships, which will take place in Toronto this year, starting on Feb. 22. Until then, the athletes will use their time in the pool to fine-tune their strokes as they look to put the finishing touches on a strong season.

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