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Science & Technology

Distinguishing science from sci-fi in the search for extraterrestrials

by April Barrett on

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Astrobiology, the scientific study of life beyond Earth, was born in 1959 and pioneered by NASA’s Ames Research Center. Along with scientific research, public imagination of extraterrestrial life was broadening. In 1969, when Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins successfully landed on the moon, it reached new heights.

Since 1947, when in Roswell, New Mexico, witnesses reported sighting a UFO, the world was captivated by the possibility of aliens landing on Earth. During the 1950s, the science fiction genre exploded in comics, television series, and films. Given the tense political climate of the Cold War-era, it is no wonder that the alien was a poignant monster; it represented foreignness, hostility, and the threat of technological superiority as the crux of its horror.

On Oct. 19 2017, for the first time ever, astronomers identified a rock from another solar system flying past Earth. It seems today, humans are more excited about an unknown visitor than fearful.

At McGill, Lyle Whyte, a professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences and a member of the McGill Space Institute, is at the forefront of the search for extraterrestrial life. However, the potential extraterrestrials Whyte researches are a little humbler than those of retro sci-fi.

“What we do is research into microbial ecosystems that live on the coldest places on this planet [and] try to understand how they survive in these extreme environments,” Whyte explained. “[We] try to develop […] methods [that] could potentially be used [to detect signs of life] on future robotic expeditions to Mars, Europa, and Enceladus [moons of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively].”  

Whyte has participated in several astrobiological projects. Most recently, he has been involved with the ExoMars 2020 mission, a robotic exploration mission led by the European Space Agency.

“The one thing that is very special about ExoMars is [that we] can drill a metre or two […] into the subsurface [of Mars],” Whyte explained. “[The robot can] take a sample from the depth and pull it out and look for biosignatures of ancient or extant life. I’m on a group called the Landing Site Selection Working Group, which has about 15 scientists that basically are saying ‘We should land here.’”

Whyte supervised a recent study spearheaded by PhD candidate Jacqueline Goordial, which suggested the temperature limits of bugs that live in permafrost at the poles of the Earth. Although Whyte is personally doubtful about the viability of life on Mars, based on this research, he is still excited to look. He is also especially curious about Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn.

“Cassini [Spacecraft] went to Saturn [from 1997-2017] and discovered these geysers [from Enceladus] shooting out into space,” Whyte said. “The spacecraft […] was able to collect some of the molecules in that water, and what we know in 2017 is that that water is salty, it contains organic carbon, it contains nitrogen and methane. If I had some of that water put in a flask in my lab and I took some soil from the Arctic, I could get things to grow in it.”

Whyte values sci-fi depictions of aliens, mainly as thought exercises for a future where human-alien contact is possible. Whyte believes that a good story inspires the imagination.

“I find sci-fi films like [The Martian and Arrival] to be very creative and inspiring,” Whyte said. “Imagination has to play a big role. The bottom line is we’re looking at these things for the first time, mostly the first time ever, and you have to keep your mind very open to what you’re actually seeing.”

When asked what advice he would give to those who are deeply curious about extraterrestrial life, Whyte emphasized the importance of expressing interest through the appropriate channels.

“Go with your passion,” Whyte said. “If you’re really interested in planetary exploration or exoplanets, you’re going to have to become an engineer or a scientist. [… I’m] good at studying polar microbiology, and that becomes useful to understand life on Mars.”

The current scientific stance toward extraterrestrial life is limited, but discoveries of extraterrestrial objects like the rock found earlier this year allow us to stretch the bounds of what we even thought to be possible. While we may not find little green martians, on the hunt for life beyond our planet, or even beyond our solar system, all we can do is flex our imagination and keep an open mind.

Commentary, Opinion

A year after Hillary Clinton’s defeat: Becoming ‘that’ woman

by Allegra Mendelson on

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The result of the 2016 American presidential election was, and still is, personal. Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump shook me to my core. Even now, over a year later, time has failed to heal the wound. Americans were given the chance to prove that sexism warranted no place in the political sphere. Yet they elected a man who has actively championed the degradation of women, showing the world that sexism remains rampant in the United States, even in the highest office.

When initial analyses of the election began trickling in, many were quick to argue that voters did not reject Clinton because she was a woman, but because she was that woman. What many people failed, and still fail, to understand is how a lifetime of battling systemic sexism has turned her into that woman. Even more concerning for young women is the realization that we are all vulnerable to circumstances in which we, too, could become that woman. Our generation needs to change the ways in which women are viewed and treated, so that sexism no longer sways future elections like it did in 2016.

Throughout Clinton’s career, superficialities—like her outfit and the tone of her voice—have consistently made headlines, ultimately overshadowing the rest of her platform. During the 2016 election, Trump did not shy away from abusing the sexist representations of his opponent, and used these gendered accusations to shape the election’s overall narrative. This was an easy task: Studies conducted by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University indicate that Trump received, on average, 15 per cent more media coverage than Clinton.

Women working in the public sphere are stuck in a “double bind:” They are forced to adapt to a “man’s world,” but, in doing so, defy their pre-ascribed gender roles, thereby making them unappealing to many voters. Women are labelled as being unapologetically ambitious, a word that is—when used to describe women—laced with an accusatory undertone. In contrast, male presence and ambition in the political sphere are accepted as norms. Over time, these sexist labels build up social capital, leaving voters questioning the credibility and competence of women like Clinton who dare to fight against the status quo.

Many were quick to argue that voters did not reject Clinton because she was a woman, but because she was that woman. What many people failed […] to understand is how a lifetime of battling systemic sexism has turned her into that woman.

If a woman as accomplished and as capable as Clinton could lose an election simply because she lives and works within a system predisposed to rejecting women, I can’t help but question if my own hard work—and every other woman’s hard work—might be just as futile as hers. For young women and students who are preparing to enter the workforce, the sexism shown during the election is, at best, emblematic of the barriers that they will have to face in gaining respect and authority, and at worst, extremely discouraging.

While I am still struggling to come to terms with the results of the election, I have learned that, even in the face of defeat, there are millions of strong women, and men, around the world, who continue to believe in a future where a woman like Clinton could become president. In the last year, the country has already seen many promising examples of change, from the awareness raised by the Women’s Marches on Inauguration Day to the unprecedented number of women who have since stepped forward to run for office in the United States. But, there is still progress to be made. As Hillary Clinton herself has said, “the only way to get sexism out of politics is to get more women into politics.”

 

Allegra Mendelson is a U1 student at McGill pursuing a double majoring in Economics and Religious Studies. She loves bagels and is passionately averse to anything orange.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 

Arts & Entertainment, Music

McGill graduate Polina Grace releases first EP

by Ryan Canon on

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McGill students are no strangers to talented individuals emerging from their ranks. Recently, another hidden gem revealed herself in the form of Polina Grace, a 2016 graduate. Boasting a beautiful voice and a commanding stage presence, she has proven herself to be one of the more impressive up-and-coming artists in Montreal.

Raised in Vancouver, Grace shifted her focus to a full-time music career after finishing her studies at McGill. With breathy vocals and a dark-pop sound, Grace is an independent artist who has self-financed her dreams. Now, she has set her sights on making a name for herself in Montreal’s music scene.

Bringing her closer to her lifelong dream of being a recognized artist, Grace officially released her first five-piece EP Down alongside a music video for the titular single, “Down” on Nov. 1.

“I truly started falling in love with singing and performing when I was in kindergarten,” Grace said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.  “I was always the most enthusiastic in choir, and always eager to take on a solo. My first real performance which I can recall was when I was six years old at my kindergarten graduation.”

From that point on, Grace knew that she wanted to be a singer.

“I sang every chance I could as a kid, on and off the stage,” Grace said. “I always recorded little demos and imitated the biggest, most iconic singers in the privacy of my room in my spare time, which is how I taught myself to sing in the first place. Singing along to Whitney Houston tracks at the age of six may not have sounded very pleasing to others’ ears, but little did everyone know I was on the path to developing a bigger, better voice with each rehearsal. Throughout the years, I remained enchanted by big, soulful voices and it was always my aspiration to become as great as my icons, including Whitney, ABBA, MJ, and Steven Tyler.”

“Down” is the culmination of two years of hard work and dedication. Navigating the modern music industry is no simple task, and just like any up-and-coming artist, Grace has faced her fair share of obstacles.

“You would be surprised how many people approach you with false promises,” Grace told the Tribune. “Young artists need to be careful [of] who they get involved with.”

Despite these struggles, Grace never gave up hope, and now her path seems more clear than ever. Having recently signed a distribution deal with Sony and a number of music videos, new content, and live performances planned for the near future, the stage has been set for Grace to make herself known.

“Honestly, my journey so far has already been incredibly exciting and fruitful. Working with great musicians and producers has been part of the dream come true,” Grace said. “Yet there is still so much I want to do. I want to leave my mark on the music world.”

Polina Grace’s EP Down is available on Spotify, and her music videos, “Down” and “Giving Up,” are on YouTube.

Editorial, Opinion

McGill’s sexual violence policy lacking on professor-student relationships

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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Quebec’s proposed Bill 151 requires all postsecondary schools to have a campus sexual violence policy by September 2019. Among other things, the bill stipulates that an acceptable policy must provide a clear code of conduct on relationships between faculty members and students.

In Fall 2016, McGill introduced a Policy against Sexual Violence (SVP), which applies to all members of the university community. It also has a blanket Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment, or Discrimination Prohibited by Law. When it comes to professor-student relationships specifically, however, both policies offer little on recourse and disciplinary measures. This is chiefly because both the SVP and the sexual harassment policy process complaints against professors differently than those against students, redirecting them to opaque, internal disciplinary procedures. Meanwhile, allegations of sexual harassment or undesired advances from professors often surface on campus—with no apparent recourse.

Quebec’s Bill 151 is a much-needed wake-up call: If it is truly committed to student safety and well-being, the McGill administration must update the SVP and related policies to explicitly restrict any faculty member from pursuing an intimate relationship with a student whom they are evaluating, with clear repercussions otherwise. Further, the SVP must include specific, transparent, and accessible means of disclosure and recourse for students affected by these relationships and power abuses.

Whatever the situation, an intimate relationship between a professor and a student they are evaluating is a conflict of interest. Of more dire ethical concern is the question of consent in these relationships. The power differential between students and professors is enormous—whether acting as an intro-course lecturer or a master’s research supervisor, a professor has substantial control over their students’ success at McGill, and, by extension, their career prospects upon graduation. Given this compromised capacity to object to unwanted sexual advances, it is unethical for a professor to initiate any relationship with a student directly beneath them.

The McGill SVP barely addresses these relationships, and fails to lay out concrete guidelines for students who find themselves involved in them. The SVP includes exactly one line about professor-student relationships specifically. In its definition of consent, it identifies intimate relationships that coincide with “an abuse of a relationship of trust, power or authority, such as the relationship between a professor and their student,” as non-consensual. McGill’s sexual harassment policy reiterates that a professor exploiting sexual activity as a condition of a student’s educational outcomes constitutes sexual harassment. Crucially, the definition fails to specify that every direct relationship between a professor and their student unacceptably compromises consent.

The power differential between students and professors is enormous […] a professor has substantial control over their students’ success at McGill, and, by extension, their career prospects upon graduation. Given this compromised capacity to object to unwanted sexual advances, it is unethical for a professor to initiate any relationship with a student directly beneath them.

At the same time, professors who have allegedly pursued such relationships continue to work at McGill with apparent impunity. Clearly, something is not working. To address these relationships and the unique harm they cause students, McGill must first recognize the gaps in its existing policy framework. Yet, some members of the administration seem chronically reluctant to do so.

In a statement to the National Post published on Nov. 15, Associate Provost (Policies, Procedures, and Equity) Angela Campbell implied that McGill’s SVP and additional policies already cover professor-student relationships. What Campbell failed to mention is an absence of accessible direction and support for students wishing to pursue recourse against an abusive professor. Students can report professors for sexual harassment, coercion, or violence, but what happens next is unclear. While complaints against students are processed under McGill’s Student Code of Conduct, complaints against professors are processed under the Regulations Relating to Employment of Tenure Track and Tenured Academic Staff. The regulations’ disciplinary procedures are confidential, due to Quebec labour laws. With no transparency in the handling of allegations against professors, nor information on the disciplinary outcomes of filing a complaint, it is misleading to say that McGill’s sexual harassment and violence policy framework adequately applies to professor-student situations.

Moreover, nothing in the regulations explicitly restricts professors from pursuing relationships with students. Perhaps this is assumed to be common knowledge. However, when allegations against professors continue to crop up on campus, and avenues for recourse are so unclear that students have mobilized a grassroots campaign against one professor accused of sexual misconduct, stricter guidelines are clearly needed. These should include provisions on acceptable conduct and disclosure of other hierarchical relationships, such as between students and teaching assistants.

Quebec’s Bill 151 provides concrete recommendations on developing more comprehensive and accessible policy. These include consolidating all sexual assault policies and procedures into a common and accessible document, and duly educating all students on them from their first year at McGill.

Per the SVP, the McGill administration recognizes the unique problem of consent within student-professor relationships. That means little if the University doesn’t also have the policy mechanisms to prevent such relationships, to take evident transparent disciplinary action against those professors who pursue them, and to provide clear steps for disclosure and support for affected students.

 

The McGill Tribune is gathering student input to inform an investigation into the topic of professor abuses at McGill. If you’d like to participate in our survey or provide a tip or testimonial on the topic, please click here.

 

 

 

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Martlets, Men's Varsity, Sports

Evolving the game: Analytics and video analysis on McGill sports teams

by Jordan Foy on

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If you’re a sports fan, you may have have heard the terms “analytics” or “video” thrown around. “Analytics” is usually accompanied by some numbers and acronyms that you might not understand, while “video” sounds like a simple highlight reel. But what exactly are analytics and video analysis?

In a 2015 article on NHL.com, Arik Parnass provided a succinct definition.

“Anything can be a statistic,” Parnass wrote. “Analytics are distinct, the study of statistics to find meaning. Analysts look for reproducible patterns in large samples which illuminate important lessons about the game.”

Video analysis has been used for training and coaching in sports for a long time. In analytics, video recordings of games are often used to help accurately and precisely collect data. Sports analytics combines mathematics and sport, bridging the gap between two seemingly-unrelated fields. In the professional sports world, the collection and analysis of data is extremely beneficial—many professional athletes are faster, stronger, and more skilled today than they have ever been, forcing teams to use creative tactics to gain an edge. Analytics and video are two instruments that management and coaching staffs use to tweak small details and detect underlying trends.

At McGill, many varsity teams also use video and analytics as tools to improve their game. The Martlet hockey team films and analyzes every game, noting certain stats that U Sports does not track, including shot differential, a metric used to better understand puck possession.

Thomas Côté-Miller manages video and analytics for the team, and explained the process to The McGill Tribune.   

“We usually have someone that films the game and we connect it to our computer and I code during the game using some [custom] software,” Côté-Miller said.

This data is stored so that the coaching staff can access it after the games, and use it to analyze the play of the team. The data contributes to coaching decisions in a variety of ways—for example, it can be used to assess different player combinations.

“[Say we] feel like these two defencemen are playing well together,” Côté-Miller explained. “[We can then] see what their stats are when they’re on the ice together […] and we can piece together things [….] We can go behind and go to the roots and see what’s happening.”

This analysis of the team helps reinforce coaching choices. Côté-Miller acknowledged, however, that it is by no means the sole basis for those choices in every situation.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the prime [way] to optimize lines or make lineup decisions,” Côté-Miller said. “But it’s definitely something that we look at with the coaching staff.”

For the Martlet volleyball team, detailed accounts of all possible statistics are kept. During games, several substitutes will keep track of a wide variety of stats for both their teammates and opponents.

“[We count] every touch […] the blocking, the hitting, the setting,” Martlet volleyball Head Coach Rachele Beliveau explained. “And then we have the serve receive. Every touch of every player is recorded somewhere. There’s a lot of things [to keep track of] in volleyball. It’s a very tactical game.”

Similar to many other teams, Martlet volleyball players and coaches use the data they collect to not only examine their own play, but to also understand the tendencies of their opponents. In volleyball, this requires understanding where opposing players are most likely to play the ball. For instance, is a hitter more likely to hit crosscourt, or down the line?

Analytics and video analysis have been used in volleyball for a long time, but Beliveau explained that methods and technologies have changed in recent years.

“The breakdown is better,” Beliveau said. “Before, we used to watch a video and we had to watch a whole game, rallies after rallies. Now, we can take only [one player’s play and analyze it independently]. This has been the evolution of what we’re doing. It’s not the video. It’s how we can analyze it, and how fast we can analyze it.”

Redmen basketball Head Coach David DeAveiro agrees that analytics in basketball have resulted in an evolution of the sport.

“[The introduction of] analytics has changed the game completely,” DeAveiro said. “Some coaches, old-school guys who never used to do it, are getting fired because they’re not taking [the new approach to analytics], especially in the NBA.”

DeAveiro uses film and analytics as valuable tools for coaching, but most of all, he employs them to evaluate other teams and prepare prior to matches. Rebound percentage, plus/minus, and turnover-to-assist ratio are just some of the numbers he and the team analyze. Offensive efficiency is something the team pays extra attention to—particularly for their opponents.

“[We look at what] the other team’s efficiency in certain offensive situations [is], who’s involved in those situations, and [we try to] figure out how we’re going to defend that,” DeAveiro elaborated. “[We want to] know, ‘what are teams’ offensive tendencies based on analytics?’ You know, ‘are they a three-point shooting team?’ [It’s] things like that.”

DeAveiro stressed that although analytics are a useful tool, tracking digits can sometimes be a fruitless endeavour. Numbers are essential, but so is standard video analysis.

“Your eyes don’t lie to you,”  DeAveiro explained. “Sometimes numbers can be manipulated, and not be really important facts, [but] sometimes they’re very important facts. So for us, we use video [as well.…] We say in our profession the tape doesn’t lie, it exposes people.”

The rapid advancement of technology has played a huge role in the growth of  analytics.

“We’re getting ready to start a new system where we’re able to have one of our coaches in the crowd tagging live […] events [and] situations from the game, and sending [them] to us on our bench via tablet,” DeAveiro said. “We can show guys during the heat of the game what’s going on [… by showing guys on the bench] clips during the game of themselves [….] There’s only a couple [of] teams in the country that are doing that now.”

Of course, coaches and staff are not the only ones who make use of video analysis and analytics. From a player perspective, both assist in development and improvement. For fourth-year Myriam Robitaille, Martlet volleyball team captain, the stats collected are an important general indicator for quality of play, but don’t tell the whole story.

“[For defence], we just have a number, and sometimes, even if you got a zero on defence, maybe it was an excellent hit, the other team just won the point,” Robitaille said. “It doesn’t mean everything, but [the stats] give a good overview.”

However, video is something that has been much more beneficial for Robitaille as an athlete.

“Individually, [there are] few things you may like to watch [out for] better,” Robitaille said. “For me, it’s seeing the setter cause I need to make good decisions for the block [because] I’m the middle. It helps me a lot, but after that, once you have the information, you just play […] the game.”

The use of analytics in sport is a relatively recent phenomenon, but Côté-Miller believes that its contribution will only continue to increase. With the current speed of technological improvements, it will be fascinating to see how analytics and video further transform the sports we love.

“It’s just going to grow with time,” Côté-Miller said. “People are going to start using it more and more. [Right now,] a lot of the media […] doesn’t necessarily acknowledge its usefulness. People call it analytics, [but] it’s really not rocket science. It’s basic math that most people with an elementary school education can do.”

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Urban art in Montreal: Somewhere between starving and sellout

by Sophie Brzozowski on

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”Integrity” is a word that I have always had trouble defining. It seems to imply something more virtuous than plain old honesty, but equally as earnest. When coupled with the word ”artistic,” it becomes even more ambiguous.

It was an awfully ambitious endeavor, then, to try and define integrity within the contentious and nebulous world of urban art—but it seemed a worthy one nonetheless. As urban artists have begun to transition from the streets to galleries, their work has started to take on a new meaning. Some see this change as a chance to finally legitimize street art and give artists the respect and recognition that they deserve. Others, however, see the popularization of the medium as something akin to betrayal.

Street artist Raymond Pilon, for example, otherwise known under his alias “Zilon,” is what you’d call a purist. In the age of information, self-promotion, and relentless branding, he’s achieved the kind of fame that is becoming increasingly unusual—the underground kind. Although he’s best known for the colorful depanneur he so artfully defaced at the corner of Marie-Anne and St. Dominique in 2015 for the MURAL festival, he’s been around far longer than that.

“People tend to think that life started in the ‘90s,” Pilon said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “I started to do my stuff on the street in ‘75 but people forget […] today, everything is a market, I never worked that way.”

Pilon believes that had he been in New York during that “Keith Haring, Basquiat moment” as he calls it, he’d be world famous. Instead, he was in Laval, running around at night, stealing cans of spray paint from his local hardware store. Still, Pilon hasn’t done badly for himself. In many circles, he’s lauded as an urban legend. The grandfather of street art, Pilon blazed the trail that so many younger, more internet-savvy artists are travelling now.

“All I know is that, urban legend or not, I still have to pay my rent,” Pilon said. “I do murals, exhibitions here and there, little contracts [… ] I’m surviving, that’s about it.”

It’s not that Pilon is a poor businessman, and it’s certainly not for lack of talent that he remains underground. The problem, he says, lies within art galleries.

“Finding a good gallery is like [finding] a relationship—you have to go through a bunch of perfect assholes to find someone you can have a conversation with,” Pilon said. “They treat you like a machine in these galleries […] [your art] is a commodity, it’s an object. You’re like bubblegum that they chew on and then spit out and then they take on a younger, more naïve artist and they sign him!”

At 63, Pilon has been around longer than most artists on the scene, and he has witnessed street art morph into something almost entirely unrecognizable—something his 17-year-old, spray paint-stealing self would not approve of. As a self-made man, he’s frustrated about what it’s become. He described being on welfare in the ‘70s, growing up with parents who didn’t approve of or believe in what he was doing, but forging ahead anyway, only to find his craft co-opted and warped by people who weren’t there in the beginning.

Amanda Brownridge, on the other hand, is a curator and art historian who works for one of the galleries that Pilon so disapproves of. Located on Saint-Laurent, Station 16 brands itself as an urban art gallery, featuring works from a large roster of artists working on and off the street. Brownridge says that urban art is changing; that people from within the community are working to remake it into something more modern, but still accessible.

“I don’t think that bringing street art into the gallery takes away from the integrity of the work, I think it enhances it and is really exciting!” Brownridge wrote in an email to the Tribune. “It gives the artists another venue to promote their artistic careers and often helps to finance some of their more clandestine adventures!”

Galleries play a major role in the distribution of art today: Establishments like Station 16 have enabled street artists to legitimize their work in the safety of a legal venue. Street artists used to work under aliases in order to protect themselves because their work was illegal. Although many modern artists still do (Stikki Peaches, Miss Me, and Whatisadam to name a few), they now have business cards and representation. They’re supporting themselves; they don’t have to steal their spray paint.

But commercialization comes at a cost. My dad tells a story about being in a nightclub in the ‘80s and seeing that someone had written “FREE NELSON MANDELA” on the inside of a bathroom stall. Beneath it, someone else had Sharpie’d “With every six pack of Coors Light!” Although it hardly qualified as art, in many ways this is the illicit quality that street art loses when it is bought by a gallery. It’s no longer ephemeral, interactive, or taboo.

Nicholas Riggle, a street art enthusiast who holds a PhD in philosophy, thinks that the cool thing about street art is that it defies formalist critique. In a 2010 article entitled “Street Art: The Transfiguration of the Commonplaces” in The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, he wrote that, “strictly formalist art criticism cannot handle street art, in spite of its often dazzling aesthetic qualities.” Traditionally, art criticism requires that the critic focus exclusively on the aesthetic elements of the piece. But there’s so much more to consider with street art—the context in which it appears is so integral to the medium that it’s easy to see why the transition into galleries is so difficult for some people.

“When you [draw] on a toilet cubicle in a nightclub, it’s like a ready-made installation!” Pilon said. “You cannot reproduce that in a gallery or whatever. A gallery is a shop. I mean, you take something I do, you put it over your sofa and it’s gonna be a conversation piece for your visitors. It’s not decoration I’m doing […] It says something.”

MU Montreal is a publicly funded organization that seems to have done the impossible and created a compromise. The project aims to turn the city of Montreal into an “open air art museum” by working with building owners and artists, commissioning those murals you see everywhere. Each mural is project-based—meaning that artists are hired mural by mural.

“The process is as important as the result,” MU’s artistic director, Elizabeth-Ann Doyle, said.

Most are site-specific, meaning that they revolve around the theme of the neighbourhood. Artists and building owners have complete creative control.

Like it or not, art is evolving and Montreal has embraced it. The art world used to be an exclusive and elitist place, only accessible to a select few, but all this is changing along with the meaning of the word “integrity.”

Despite all the caveats, Pilon still very much believes in art, just as he did in the ‘70s.

“Art is living,” Pilon said. “You can have someone doing pastry and it’s art. You can go to a restaurant and it’s so damn good that it’s art! You see a lady dressed in something from a thrift shop or Winners or whatever, and she looks great! That’s art.”

Commentary, Opinion

Internet killed the local Torstar

by Keating Reid on

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Historians sometimes speak of a “usable past,” a common narrative about the events that brought us here and why we’re a “we” at all. This commonality is seen as essential to creating a sense of community or nationhood. Frankly, Canadians should be more concerned about maintaining a usable present. With the ongoing decline of local newspapers, we are also seeing a decline in common sets of facts.

On Nov. 28, Canadian media corporations Postmedia and Torstar announced plans to swap ownership of 37 community newspapers in a game of financial hot potato. Of these, 32 are known to be closing, and the remaining five are hardly home free.

Some have blamed the massacre on Postmedia’s bottom line–focused management style. While it may have been a factor, Canadians cannot ignore the digital elephant in the room. The internet has led to an explosive growth of media outlets, to the point of creating a news glut. The ensuing tight competition among news organizations means that casual readers can get their news fix for free online. This might please consumers in the short term, but there’s truth to the cliché, ‘you get what you pay for.’ The glut that’s shuttering local papers hasn’t yet offered a substitute for one of a newspaper’s key functions—creating a sense of community through common, accurate understanding of events.

The internet’s democratization of media is a double-edged sword: It has created platforms for unjustly marginalized voices by lowering the barriers to entry and access to mass communication, but that same factor has also allowed internet-only, agenda-driven outlets, like far-right The Rebel Media, to exist—never mind the phenomenon of state-sponsored “fake news.”

While an individual local paper is hardly the glue that holds a nation together, the sense of commonality essential to a shared set of facts starts with one’s neighbours.

While ‘old media’ have their biases as well, these are kept in check by the limitations of their format. Unlike strictly internet media—whose consumer base can be defined by political persuasion—markets for print and television are divided geographically. This finite reach means local papers can’t afford to alienate segments of their consumer base with one-sided reporting. Their editorials can and do take political stances, and reporting can even show bias, but they can’t get away with distorting facts. As a gentler version of media theorist Marshall McLuhan might have said, the medium moderates the message.

Online news has no such limitations. Anyone, anywhere with electricity and access to Wi-Fi is a potential consumer. Not only can websites afford to cater to particular audiences, they profit from it: The Rebel’s YouTube channel has over 861,000 subscribers, even after its controversial coverage of the Charlottesville white nationalist rally in August.

That this level of attention paid to tabloidesque, partisan drivel persists in a generally moderate country points to a worrying silo effect: There is a growing group of people who distrust mainstream media, instead consuming all their news from a single chosen source, whether or not it is tied to their locality. This is the beginning of a harmful social gap.

Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams has an apt metaphor to describe what happens to a society that has lost its ability to find common ground: He describes it as “two movies [playing] on one screen,” with half the audience seeing one and the other half another, both thoroughly convinced theirs is the only one playing. While an individual local paper is hardly the glue that holds a nation together, the sense of commonality essential to a shared set of facts starts with one’s neighbours.

Stories, big or small, have power. Communities are held together by their shared experiences. In small communities, local papers have long provided the platform for this sharing to happen. While some have proposed federal funding for print media, trying to turn back the media clock would be like protecting scribes from the printing press. Sites like MTLBlog and Narcity offer local coverage, but without newspapers’ journalistic rigour. The solution, as usual, may be bottom-up. If consumers don’t demand rigour from their news sources, they won’t get it.

 

Keating is a U0 in the Faculty of Arts planning to study political science. He’s often found reading the news and grumbling in his bathrobe.

 

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 

 

 
Editorial, Opinion

SSMU executive mid-term reviews

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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President Muna Tojiboeva

Prior to her election as this year’s SSMU President, Muna Tojiboeva campaigned on a platform of increased transparency, accountability, and concrete action on behalf of student interests; however, she has failed to uphold these standards. Instead, her first semester as President has been defined by her inability to maintain a functioning executive team.

At SSMU Council on Oct. 19, five SSMU executives presented a motion of no confidence in the President. Over the course of the semester, Tojiboeva has failed to resolve these conflicts internally, allowing them to impede the productivity of other SSMU projects. Tensions within the executive have made it difficult for the Tojiboeva's collaboration on issues beyond her portfolio, such as mental health As President, the primary responsibility for resolving conflicts in her team falls on Tojiboeva. 

To increase transparency, Tojiboeva released missing 2015, 2016, and 2017 SSMU Board of Directors (BoD) minutes; however, minutes from this year’s meetings are often late or missing. Tojiboeva also neglected to announce the SSMU General Assembly (GA) until the deadline to submit motions had already passed, thereby impeding student involvement and voting power.

Tojiboeva has expanded the number of committees that the President sits on, and created a stand-alone Francophone Affairs Committee, separating it from Community Engagement. However, most of her successes as President have involved building on existing projects, rather than launching her own initiatives.

In order to make the most of the remaining semester, it is essential that Tojiboeva takes the initiative on both reconciliation within the executive and regaining the trust of students. Tojiboeva is judged by whether she can lead a productive and cohesive executive team that is able to work together to improve student life. Until this is achieved, all executives’ progress in their respective portfolios will continue to suffer the consequences.

 

 

VP Student Life Jemark Earle

The Vice-President Student Life portfolio entails mental health programming, effectively communicating with SSMU clubs and services, and supporting and promoting students’ well-being. Earle has demonstrated enthusiasm and his ongoing efforts in first semester in the position are commendable, especially given his lack of relevant experience for the position prior to starting the role.

In light of the recent announcement to close the SSMU building for renovations starting in the Winter 2018 term, it is Earle’s duty to ensure a smooth transition for essential clubs, services, and independent student groups. Although out of Earle’s control, the building closure has gotten in the way of many of his previous plans. Communication is at the centre of this, and as such, Earle must continue to build on his internal communication with the dozens of groups that currently use the SSMU building.

At the start of Fall 2017, Earle organized a successful Activities Night with a record number of attendees, despite being short on volunteer staff. In Winter 2018, Earle will plan another Activities Night, as well as Mental Health Awareness Week.

After stepping up to become a member of SSMU’s BoD, he is currently working on an open forum to clear the air on tensions within the executive team and its relationship to the membership, as well as address what he describes as systemic deficiencies of the SSMU institution.

Ultimately, Earle has brought enthusiasm to the position, but going forward, the pressure will be high for him to continue to fulfill the responsibilities that fall under his role by communicating effectively with clubs and services, and organizing health-oriented activities to better support McGill students.

 

VP External Connor Spencer

 

The publishing of SSMU’s Our Turn Action Plan was one of VP External Connor Spencer’s greatest successes this semester. The plan compares different Canadian universities’ sexual violence policies, and provides a list of recommendations for what constitutes an effective sexual violence policy. Spencer also worked to publish a survey on the Unité de Travail pour l'Implantation de Logement Étudiant (UTILE), which seeks to provide financially accessible housing for students. In addition, Spencer organized and demonstrated with the McGill contingent at the Nov. 12 Large Demonstration Against Hate and Racism.

Although she failed to implement four student-led questions in the Fall Referendum due to procedural difficulties, she is currently working on addressing the issue of constitutional reform for Winter 2018. Additionally, she had planned for the Indigenous affairs aspect of her portfolio to be more visible on campus this semester, but in the meantime has laid groundwork to improve on this front in the Winter semester.

Spencer has experienced the most tangible successes in her portfolio of any member of the SSMU executive. To keep up the momentum next semester, she should emphasize the need for provincial representation for SSMU, with AVEQ or otherwise. Regardless, students’ concerns must be at the forefront of any affiliation campaign. In  the winter, Spencer plans on bringing SSMU’s Gendered and Sexual Violence policy to fruition, with the support of a full-time position and a task force dedicated to combating rape culture at the faculty level.

 

VP Internal Maya Koparkar

 

VP Internal Maya Koparkar has led several new Students’ Society Programming Network (SSPN) initiatives, including the training of SSPN members in consent, active bystander, conflict resolution, and accessible and inclusive events training. Instead of 4Floors, the previous annual Halloween event under the VP Internal portfolio, Koparker organized a joint Halloween event with the Macdonald Campus Students’ Society (MCSS), hosted at Mac Campus. This event was extremely successful: Tickets sold out, and transportation to and from Mac Campus was efficient and well-organized. Furthermore, feedback from students who attended the event was positive, particularly in terms of students feeling safe.

This is the second year that First Year Council (FYC) has fallen under the VP Internal portfolio, meaning that there is a lack of institutional memory on this front. As VP Internal, Koparkar added sustainability, athletics, and off-campus representatives to the Council, positively increasing its  representation. This fall, FYC elections were delayed until late in the semester, leaving only the Winter semester for members to have an impact. Koparkar is working to establish FYC election timelines, but, especially in light of its recent fee renewal, it is essential that she provides the necessary support for the FYC to take full advantage of its remaining semester, and establish concrete suggestions and institutional memory for following years’ VP Internals.

In terms of communications, the SSMU website redesign was finally launched; however, listserv readership has declined since last year. Finally, Koparkar has gone beyond her own portfolio this year to work with the VP External on projects such as the Our Turn strategy. These extra efforts are positive, as long as they do not distract her from fulfilling the responsibilities specific to the VP Internal portfolio.

 

VP University Affairs Isabelle Oke

 

VP University Affairs Isabelle Oke ran on a platform of campus outreach, student rights, and accessible services. The unavailability of other staff over the summer set her goals back, and she resolved to improve SSMU’s accountability and finish the tasks of her predecessor. Since then, she has gone about achieving both these goals effectively and efficiently. Her biggest accomplishments this year are the successful 2017 Know Your Rights campaign—which did not present more originality than previous campaigns—and her work with former VP finance Arisha Khan to assist foster care students. She intends to submit a plan making campus a more inclusive space for such students to the Sustainability Projects Fund early next semester.

Oke’s primary strategy in tackling her portfolio is to collaborate with others. Next semester, she aims to continue addressing two pressing concerns on campus, sexual violence and a Fall Reading Week, by holding consultations with students. She is also currently working with the VP External to survey students about potential reforms to SSMU. Additionally, she is continuing old projects, such as increasing the number of free course materials available for students, rather than abandoning them. At Senate, she uses her position to advance the projects of other student senators, such as plans to provide first-generation student care and implement the OneCard policy.

While it is difficult to measure Oke’s progress, given the lack of personal projects and slow timelines inherent to liaising with the university, her supportive, conciliatory role in student politics is important for SSMU’s functioning. With her mandate to represent student voices at the McGill Senate, one of Oke’s primary tasks is to encourage student voices to be heard, and she does so admirably.

Illustrations by Winnie Lin.

This article has been updated to better reflect Tojiboeva's relationship to the Student Life portfolio. 

Instagram, Student Life

Monthly Dignity provides hygiene products for women in need

by Emma Carr on

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When Chloé Pronovost-Morgan, and Julia Coste, both U2 Arts, began planning the launch of Monthly Dignity, they didn’t foresee the initiative’s rapid success. Just two weeks after its launch on Nov. 16, the students had raised over $1,500 in donations for the program, which distributes menstrual hygiene products to homeless women in Montreal.

Coste came up with the idea for the initiative while traveling with her family this past year, when she unexpectedly got her period. Though she was in discomfort, she recognized that she had many resources at her disposal to cope with her menstruation symptoms, such as cramps and nausea—a privilege she feels that most women take for granted. This experience led her to reflect upon the challenges of menstruating while homeless, and thus, the idea for Monthly Dignity was born.

Upon returning to McGill, she told fellow student and friend, Pronovost-Morgan, about her idea for a non-profit. Soon after, the two began meeting twice a week to outline the project’s logistics. While in the development stage of the initiative, the two founders secured a distribution-delivery relationship with the Salvation Army’s Montreal women’s shelter, which provides services to over 550 homeless women in the city.

Around the world, menstrual hygiene products are still unaffordable for homeless and disadvantaged women. In Canada, it is estimated that the average menstruating person between ages 12 and 49 will spend $65.82 per year on basic menstrual hygiene products before tax. Though tampons and other menstrual products are still subject to luxury tax in many countries, the two founders viewed these products as a basic right and essential to promoting overall well-being.

“In a nutshell, it really is just a question of physical health and mental health,”  Pronovost-Morgan said. “Women are actually more vulnerable to infections when they are on their period, and so if they are forced to use alternatives that they come up with themselves, and they are already living in insalubrious conditions, that just makes the risk exponential.”

For Pronovost-Morgan and Coste, their mission has a broader purpose: To challenge the stigma surrounding menstruation, and what people who menstruate experience.

“I think that it is uniting two things that are already taboo in society: Homelessness and menstruation,” Pronovost-Morgan said. “The combination of the two leads to this huge avoidance we have just been propagating for forever.”

Coste explained that this stigma stems from how difficult many people find it to think about the realities of public menstruation, especially those who have never experienced a period.

“It is assumed that women are going to deal with [their monthly periods] because it is a woman’s problem, and so it shouldn’t be something that everyone pays for through taxes,” Coste said. “I think that through sensitization and raising awareness, and just talking about what getting your period entails, maybe people’s visions can be changed [….] That’s where the name of [Monthly Dignity] comes from. It really is a question of dignity and how you perceive yourself.”

In the coming months, Coste and Pronovost-Morgan plan to expand Monthly Dignity’s reach. Among their long-term priorities, the founders want to reach out to transmen and non-cis people who are not using women’s shelters. Ultimately, the pair view comfortable, safe menstruation as a right, not a privilege.

“[Menstruation] shouldn’t be something you feel ashamed about ever, it shouldn’t be something makes you feel uncomfortable in your body,” Pronovost-Morgan said. “By providing menstrual hygiene products, we hope to alleviate that burden.”

Off the Board, Opinion

Evaluating gendered bias in course evaluations

by Emma Avery on

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‘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 reserved for professors. In Fall 2016, McGill implemented a policy for professors and teaching assistants to report hateful and discriminatory comments in course evaluations. This is a positive step, but the University has yet to sufficiently explore whether bias against minority and female faculty members in course evaluations goes beyond just hateful speech.

Course evaluations are extremely important avenues for feedback, particularly for professors to improve their teaching; however, universities also commonly use course evaluations to award tenure, raises, and other awards. If female and minority professors are paid less in part because they receive fewer glowing reviews from students—and as a result, less recognition from a university—administrators must address this.

Recent Statistics Canada data show that in the 2016-2017 academic year, women comprised about 40 per cent of full-time academic teaching staff at Canadian universities—a little over a three per cent increase from 2010-2011. However, after breaking down the category of “full-time academic teaching staff,” another picture emerges: Women represent 48.5 and 43 per cent of assistant and associate professors respectively, but only 27.7 per cent of full professors. At McGill, the salary gap between each of these titles for tenure-track professors is over $10,000 per year.

One positive is that in all professor ranks, the number of women has been increasing since 1970, when only 12.8 per cent of full-time teaching staff were female. Although at McGill women account for just one third of tenure-track faculty, the national trend would suggest that this number will continue to increase. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time.

Yet, other evidence suggests there is more to the story. Search the word “smart” on a database of reviews from ratemyprofessors.com, compiled in 2015 by Northeastern University Professor Benjamin Schmidt, and you’ll find that it is used about 50 to 100 times more per million words of text in reviews of male professors than of female ones. In some departments, “funny” is used over 500 times more to describe men than women. But try “rude,” and, in all departments except engineering, “rude” is more frequently used to describe female professors.

In my three and a half years at McGill, I’ve been taught by 26 different professors. Of those, only six were female, none of whom were visible minorities.

Schmidt’s analysis may not represent a full picture of discrimination against female professors, yet, alarmingly, even seemingly neutral evaluation category responses—comparable to McGill’s scale of “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” in its course evaluation system—are skewed, too. In a 2014 North Carolina State University study, students enrolled in online courses gave lower scores to professors who were presented online to them as female. Even categories like “promptness” drew lower scores if the professor was perceived to be female, despite the fact that the male and female professors being evaluated responded to students at exactly the same speed. In contrast, when all professors were presented to students as male, all of their satisfaction scores increased, regardless of the actual gender of the instructor.

What’s more, a recent study in the Journal of the European Economic Association of student reviews at the School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University found that while male and female students were both harsher in evaluating women, male students were much more so.

One possible solution to this apparent trend of discrimination, taken by McMaster University in July 2015, is to recognize that a discrepancy exists, and then compensate for it accordingly. After finding that its female professors earned on average $3,515 less than their male counterparts, even when controlling for seniority, tenure, faculty, and age, the university raised each female professor’s salary by the same amount. Albeit a band-aid solution to ingrained tendencies to view female professors as less competent, it at least ensures that in the meantime, women don’t suffer the financial consequences of sexism.

Furthermore, if such an entrenched bias exists against women, it’s not unlikely that visible minority professors face similarly—or even more—biased evaluations. An investigation into any university’s course evaluation results should therefore also look at the effects of race.

In my three and a half years at McGill, I’ve been taught by 26 different professors. Of those, only six were female, none of whom were visible minorities. Regardless of whether my experience is an anomaly, as part of its efforts to address systemic discrimination, the University must investigate whether course evaluations are putting its female and minority professors at a disadvantage long after they are hired full-time. Until then, without being aware of it, students may be perpetuating the gender gap among the highest-paid ranks of professors through their course evaluations.

 

Emma Avery is a Managing Editor at The McGill Tribune and a fourth-year Anthropology and Urban Systems student. She is passionate about Liverpool FC, dogs, and St-Viateur bagels.

 

@emmaavery27 | [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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