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Editorial, Opinion

Winter 2017 SSMU Referendum Endorsements

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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Motion Regarding Referendum Question on Constitutional Amendments: Vote “No”

The sole question of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) referendum consists of a series of proposed changes to the SSMU Constitution, as suggested by the Ad-Hoc Democratic Governance Review Committee. The new constitution would contain changes to dozens of current clauses: Notably, it would change the titles and functions of some executive positions, modify the procedures surrounding General Assemblies (GAs), and update the Land Acknowledgement. While some of the proposed changes would provide meaningful improvements to certain areas of the constitution, they are outweighed by a series of changes that would make some SSMU procedures less transparent, and less democratic.

The proposed changes include several improvements, such as the rebranding of the VP Operations as Vice-President (VP) Sustainability & Operations, and shifts the management of human resources from the VP Finance to the President’s portfolio, where it was prior to the 2016-2017 academic year. However, these understandable administrative tweaks are overshadowed by a series of detrimental changes which will make SSMU’s functioning less representative and democratic.

This motion lowers the standards of representation for the bi-annual GAs hosted by SSMU. In a major change, this motion would remove the current requirements surrounding quorum for the GA that help ensure a broad range of McGill students are represented at the session. Currently, quorum for a GA is 100 members, who must be from four different faculties or schools, and with no single faculty accounting for more than 50 of those members. This guarantees that the students present at the GA are roughly representative of the diverse faculties at McGill. The current proposal would remove this protection, instead setting quorum at 100 members, with no consideration for their faculty of origin. For Special GAs, quorum is further loosened from 100 members down to 50, and provisions about the faculty of members are again waived when it comes to submitting agenda items at GAs.

In recent years, the SSMU has often struggled to achieve quorum—but loosening the protections that ensure broad representation is an undemocratic way of addressing this issue. The SSMU can and should explore other options to increase participation at the GA, like pushing for cancelled classes on the day of the GA, or even hosting a GA only once per academic year. But amending the constitution in order to move the goalposts—as this motion would—is not the appropriate solution.

Furthermore, one of the proposed changes would no longer require the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD) to inform the student body when it holds a confidential session. The BoD already exhibits a lack of transparency, as minutes of their meetings are difficult to obtain online. Especially given recent scandals involving SSMU, the society should be striving to be more transparent and accountable, not less.
Not all of the proposed changes in this motion are negative, and yet they are all included in one question, which only give students the option to approve or reject them all at once. And given the harmful effect some of these changes will have on representation and transparency in SSMU, the Tribune endorses a “No” vote on this motion. Those changes that are beneficial will hopefully be proposed in a future referendum, without being attached to detrimental ones. In the meantime, this motion simply isn’t worth the potential risks.

Arts & Entertainment

The limitless gallery: A discussion on virtual art in the Internet age

by Morgan Davis on

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Art is becoming increasingly digitized. As university students, we are at the threshold of an entirely new era of art, one without the bounds of physical space or financial limitations. As the Internet has expanded and social media platforms matured, social networking’s impact has become global. To advance into a digital art community, the current and future generation of artists must embrace this new environment.  

For millennials, social media is challenging to avoid, as the bestselling author of Socialnomics, Erik Qualman, explained in 2010. 

“We don’t have a choice whether we do social media,” Qualman said. “The question is how well we do it.” 

The Pew Research Center posits that over 90 per cent of young people aged 18-29 have accounts on at least one form of social media. With such a large demographic of users, it’s understandable that social media has evolved past sharing photos or chatting with friends. Rather than simply being a new form of communication, social media is becoming a vital part of successful branding,  helping expose artists and their work to the world. 

“There’s an ethos of young artists that accept this,” Dr. Christopher Gutierrez, a professor in the McGill Department of Art History and Communications, explained.  “[. . . . ] We are at a point where these people have been able to make names for themselves through online presentation.”

When addressing the various forms of social accounts used for art sharing, Gutierrez argues that Tumblr is the website platform on which users are most likely to borrow from others. This is done through reblogging, rather than creating original content. Importantly, social media platforms do not claim ownership of the content published through their website. Both Instagram and Tumblr state in their terms and conditions that users retain the right and ownership to their intellectual property. Still, users who replicate their own work and repost others, immortalizing it on the Internet, can lead to plagiarism disputes. 

“It isn’t just that you’re giving away your own work, it’s that you’re creating content for Tumblr,” Gutierrez added. “And you’re actually making art for corporations.” 

This mass online presentation, however, can have deteriorating effects on the art. Gutierrez explained that on the Internet, you have to save and download a photo in order to keep it—and the image degrades slightly from its original state. 

“[Through replication] you lose a little part of the original piece,” Gutierrez said.

(creators-images.vice.com)
(creators-images.vice.com)

 

Pete Ashton is an artist who repeatedly re-uploads images to his Instagram account until they degrade into almost nothing. He cycles through these images as they become discoloured and fuzzy. 

“Tiny details show its age, it’s become dated in some way,” Gutierrez explained, in reference to Ashton’s art. He argues that we tend to think of digital files as immaterial, but they degrade through circulation. Reproduction affects the quality of the image, even online. 

Despite the degradation of physical quality when art is posted online, the Internet presents a major advantage for distributing one’s art. Artists create websites to post their portfolios and use Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, or individual blogs to  gain publicity. Additionally, art through the medium of social media lowers the entry barrier one might otherwise face in the global art community. Artists no longer have to rent out a gallery or be selected to have their work publicized in a show. The competition for physical space is transforming into competition for viewers’ attention.—the Internet is a limitless gallery. Nevertheless, this increased visibility does not ensure exposure. A proliferation of visual art online requires artists to instantaneously grab viewership. 

“There’s the paradox there—t­­he right to free speech isn’t the right to be heard,” said Gutierrez.  “So how images circulate and the barrier to entry is definitely lower. People have better access and ability to create things, but what gets seen and how and why?” 

Gutierrez expanded on how modern mediums of visual art struggle to conform to traditional viewing.

“Institutions and galleries are still struggling with art that they still can’t recognize,” Gutierrez said. “It is hard to deal with because a GIF is something that is largely consumed on a screen, and it moves and it’s mobile, so by putting it up on a wall seems counter-intuitive—so how do you present art in that sense? At an institutional level, it proposes this question of, ‘So how do we present this art?’ But as a viewer it presents an interesting opportunity of seeing and gathering art.” 

This is where the actions of university students come into play. We, as both viewers and artists, use social media to our artistic advantage. University students, particularly in North America, have likely used social media technology since adolescence. The potential of social media to increase the accessibility of art is an opportunity we must take advantage of.  

The loss of the physical quality of an image through its propagation online could be considered a necessary sacrifice in the evolution of virtual art. Yet, through an additional collective effort, the proper citation for digital art can be produced. The initial purpose of social media may not have been to distribute art, let alone become a platform for creating it, but this isn’t the first time that the potential of cyberspace has surprised us. The future generation of prominent artists will consist of those who best adapt themselves to this changing technology. 

Science & Technology

Gravitational waves and the exploration of the universe

by Angelina Giordano on

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On the evening of March 9, Leacock 132 was filled with anticipation and intellectual curiosity as the crowd took their seats to hear Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Rainer Weiss give the Anna I. McPherson Public Lecture, sponsored by the McGill Department of Physics. Weiss’ presentation was titled “Exploring the Universe with Gravitational Waves” and described how gravitational waves were discovered. Weiss spoke on behalf of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration.

Founded in 1997, the LIGO Scientific Collaboration consists of approximately 100 institutions and over 1,000 researchers. In 2016, the collaboration observed the existence of gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of space and time—for the first time ever.

Weiss conveyed the significance of LIGO’s discovery by speaking to the history and development of physics. He began his story with the father of physics, Sir Isaac Newton.

“What was wrong with Newton that we needed another theory?” Weiss asked.

Newton’s theory didn’t account for the “speed limit” that Einstein’s studies predicted. According to Einstein, there must be a definitive speed of light.

When Einstein began his research in Berlin, his colleagues encouraged him to study quantum theory. Despite their insistence, Einstein chose to study gravity, eventually discovering his theory of special relativity.

“That equation says that the geometry of space and time is determined by the distribution of matter and energy,” Weiss explained in his talk.

Gravitational waves don’t make any noise. They exist in a field of constant strain, stretching space in one direction and compressing space in the other.

To create a measurement device that is able to detect gravitational waves, size matters.

“You want to build something pretty big,” Weiss emphasized.

LIGO finally succeeded in detecting gravitational waves after constructing a mammoth laser detector, consisting of two arms spanning more than a kilometre orthogonal—at right angles—to each other. On each end, there was a mirror that reflected laser beams back and forth along the length of the arms. When a gravitational wave passes through, it alters the space-time in the area changing the phase of the light beams and producing a signal.

The gravitational waves were detected by LIGO after two black holes converged. When the two black holes combined, the event released a ripple in space-time.This collision caused some of the mass of the black holes to be transformed into energy, which was then released as gravitational waves.

“It lost a phenomenal amount of energy,” Weiss explained. “It lost three solar masses into gravitational waves. That was the […] very brightest thing in the universe for a moment. By a factor of 50, the brightest thing.”

This event was recorded by LIGO detectors in Hanford, Washington and Livingston, Louisiana. Due to the successful LIGO measurement of gravitational waves, there are plans for more detectors to be built around the world.

Over 60 years after Einstein’s death, scientists are still confirming and exploring his theories. The measurement and verification of gravitational waves means that LIGO can now fulfill its mission as an observatory, rather than only an experiment. Moreover, with renewed trust in physical paradigms, this is the time to find the answers to the universe.

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Bring Your Own Juice: ‘McGill’s best and only sketch comedy troupe’

by Ariella Garmaise on

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Entrenched in scandal and slander, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) building has been devoid of laughter for the past two weeks. Amid this chaos and disarray is McGill’s only sketch comedy troupe, Bring Your Own Juice, performing at SSMU’s Players’ Theatre. Their live show brings some much-needed comic relief to our campus, satirizing everything from college culture to classic literature. This year’s Bring Your Own Juice performance was thrown together by only 10 members over the course of a month. It is refreshing to watch a team that can thrive under pressure, and moreover, that genuinely seems to love and support one another.

Despite the 30-day turnover, Bring Your Own Juice is a deliberate and carefully crafted production. Director Harry Turner explains that the writing process is extensive, following pitch meetings to multiple drafts, all over the course of two weeks. 

“In the final draft section we all vote in terms of our number one [sketches], and then the coordinators—me, the director, the producer and the head writer—all come together and based on that we pick the show and the show order,” Turner explained.  

This democratic process is reflected throughout the show. Turner, Producer Tatyana Olal, and Head Writer Lillian King all take the stage and are equally dispersed throughout the sketches. All 10 performers occupy a dual role as writer. The myriad of voices makes for an entertaining and zany production. 

The sketches are outrageous: In one scene, Nancy Ferranti gives a standout performance as a bro-ish phantom. Ferranti captures “The Ghost of Chad” in both her swagger and Californian drawl. 

Yet, Bring Your Own Juice succeeds not only because of talented performances, but also because of a sharply written script. In one sketch about a hypochondriac visiting her doctor, Abbey Hipkin lists her pop-culture inspired diseases, including “Reverse Benjamin Button Syndrome” (Reverse Ben B), “Chronological Memento,” and “Pacifist American Psycho.” In a bizarre, modern-day take on Oedipus Rex, Cole Otto plays Eddie—a teenager ready to fight his dad to take his mom to the school dance. Bring Your Own Juice is unafraid to push boundaries: Eddie Rex admires his mother’s “voluptuous 5-foot-8 body.” 

“[Our influences are] anything, literally anything,” Turner elaborated. “It’s dumb tweets, or a sitcom, or even Saturday Night Live.” 

Shifting scenes from a Chili’s restaurant to a fashion talk show, Bring Your Own Juice finds humour in practically everything. 

Bring Your Own Juice has a minimalist production value. Their only set pieces are a table and some chairs. Refraining from ostentatious costumes, the Ghosts’ wardrobes are just white garbage bags with holes for a head. Instead of an elaborate set, the cast relies on its talent. In a quick transition from doctor to disgruntled teen, Cole Otto’s main shift in costume is a strategic re-parting of his hair. The comedians also depend heavily on one another: Otto and Liam Carmichael have an especially good rapport in a sketch in which they must play nerdy and cool brothers, respectively. The performers work well together not only on stage, but also between scenes. Approximately every five minutes, the actors must replace sets and props to make way for the new scene. They do so in record time, each aware of their own jobs as well as the teammates around them. 

Bring Your Own Juice is a comic feat that delivers on the “humour and charm” it advertises. A pleasant escape from midterms, and even from McGill’s darker news cycle, Bring Your Own Juice is the perfect remedy for winter blues. 

Bring Your Own Juice is playing from Mar. 16-17 at 8 pm and Mar. 18 at 7 pm in Players’ Theatre on the third floor of SSMU, 3480 McTavish. Admission is $6 for students and $10 for general admission. 

McGill, News

Time capsule discovered during renovations of Roddick Gates

by Avleen Mokha on

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The Roddick Gates are currently under construction for maintenance and for a more welcoming design. On March 1, construction workers discovered a time capsule while lifting stones from the arches of the North-East side of the entrance. The finding was brought to McGill Archivist Lori Podolsky, who organized the reveal of the capsule on March 9.  

Conservator Chantal Emond was tasked with opening the parcel. Emond has previously worked with McGill’s Archives as well as with the Osler Medical Library.

“It’s exciting to be at the centre of it all, but as a conservator […] I try to stay neutral to do the work,” Emond said.

Most of the contents were too damaged to identify, but Emond was able to uncover newspaper clippings of a French advertisement. The papers, over 90 years old, were clumped together because of mold formations. When assembled, the clippings appeared to be an apartment listing.

“The capsule is dated at the latest to 1925, the year of the Roddick Gates’ commemoration,” Podolsky said.

The capsule itself, composed of lead, measured exactly seven inches by five inches and is three-quarters of an inch deep. It was found beneath one of the stones being moved during the renovations.

“[The capsule] was damaged prior to when it was found,” Podolsky said. “The damage is old, so perhaps someone had gone back to the Eastern Roddick gate and caused it. However, there is no indication that those pieces were ever removed, so we suspect that the capsule was placed there already damaged.”

Although it is unlikely that the identity of the individual who placed the time capsule will be determined from its contents, the fact that the stone in which it was placed was chiseled and scored is significant. Podolsky estimates that the capsule was very likely laid during the original construction.

“There had to have been foresight when they laid the time capsule because it filled the stone perfectly,” she said.

The Roddick Gates were commissioned by Lady Amy Redpath Roddick in 1924 for $50,000. Lady Roddick was heavily involved in selecting the architect, Grattan D. Thompson, and finalizing design plans. Her correspondences with Thompson and others involved are preserved in the McGill University Archives. However, none of these documents make any mention of time capsules.

“Sometimes time capsules are done formally where the owners place it, sometimes they are done informally by the people building it,” said Gwendolyn Owens, director and senior advisor of the Visual Arts Collection at McGill. “Time capsules have happened in many places. Very often, when things were built, […] somewhere in the walls, masons would place in a box what was important to them at that point.”

This artifact is the second time capsule found on campus. The first one was discovered in 2003, as reported by The McGill Reporter.

“We suspect there are tons of capsules around campuses, especially around cornerstones and near monuments,” Podolsky said.

Emond and Podolsky will continue investigating the origins of the capsule. Emond will further examine the capsule in her lab, checking for inscriptions, markings, and any indications of where it came from. She hopes to uncover a clearer time date.

“The newspaper clippings give us some context,” Podolsky noted, “It’s a French [language] newspaper, [the Journal de Montréal], which has importance and significance.”

Podolsky is researching newspaper archives from the time period for any public announcements regarding a time capsule.

“Our plans are to look at the [Montreal] Gazette and the [Montreal] Star to see if anything was recorded there,” Podolsky revealed. “For now, it’s a really neat mystery.”

A condition report will then be created for the time capsule and the piece will be accessioned.

“It will go into our archives as an artifact and will become a record of McGill,” Podolsky said.

McGill, News

McGill students introduce clubs to the Board of Governors

by Cherry Ng on

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On March 8, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) hosted the McGill Student and Board of Governors Open Forum. The event consisted of overviews of the Board of Governors (BoG), the highest governing body at McGill, presented by Board members Kip Cobbett, Sam Minzberg, Cynthia Price, and Ram Panda. Afterward, members from Divest McGill expressed concerns about McGill’s investment in fossil fuels, and the Peer Support Centre discussed the centre’s growth statistics. Nightline and CKUT also introduced ongoing club efforts to launch an online mental health chat function and a podcast on student research, while Brainreach North presented its initiative to create supplementary scientific educational materials for schools in remote and Northern Indigenous communities.

This is the fourth open forum between student groups and the BoG, with the last forum held in 2016. Ger commended these type of meetings for engaging students and creating a better relationship with the BoG.

“Having Board members see exactly how much students contribute to the community, I think, will make […] processes at the Board level more reflective of what’s needed on the ground,” Ger said. “It will make governors more appreciative of the amount of work and money the students put into the administration and the school as a whole, beyond their tuition and taxes.”

Divest McGill

Since 2012, Divest McGill has lobbied the university to divest its endowment from fossil-fuel related companies and to reinvest in more environmentally responsible alternatives. According to BoG Chair Kip Cobbett, McGill plans to address climate change by reducing the school’s carbon footprint.

“We have committed $10 million dollars to climate research,” Cobbett said. “[….] Our view is that McGill can address climate change much better by doing things to reduce its own emissions and to conduct research on how to move away from fossil fuels to more sustainable fuels.”

According to Divest McGill Organizer Julia Bugiel, U3 Arts, McGill is not doing enough, despite Cobbett’s statements.

“On the one hand, McGill parades itself as a sustainability leader,” Bugiel said. “On the other hand, McGill’s [choice to fund] the opposition is betting against people who are part of that fight. Is McGill going to be a sustainability leader or a climate profiteer? We cannot be both.”

Although Cobbett presented alternative sustainability methods alternative from divestment, Ger expressed his support for Divest McGill.

“I am grateful for the amount of energy that Divest continues to put into their advocacy work to push the university in the right direction,” Ger said. “I am still hopeful that the university will move towards a divestment strategy in the near future.”

Peer Support Centre

In Fall 2016, the Peer Support Centre (PSC) opened a permanent space in the SSMU building and extended its drop-in hours starting Winter 2017. Since its launch in Winter 2014, the PSC has provided free one-on-one and confidential peer support and resource referral to all McGill students.  

According to David Benrimoh, PSC program evaluation coordinator, the PSC has expanded considerably by partnering with SSMU.

“[The PSC has] come quite a way,” Benrimoh said. “In 2014-2015, we had 25 visits total over the whole year. Then, 30 visits the next year. This year, we’ve jumped 500 per cent to 270 visits over the year, and we’re really on track to seeing over 300 students this year.”

Billy Liu, PSC finance coordinator, explained that the increase in student visits is due to a combination of the recent changes to the structure of mental health support at the McGill Counselling and Mental Health Services (MCMHS), as well as the PSC’s operation.

“[At MCMHS, students] could end up waiting months, or even a semester, before they even see that initial psychotherapist,” Liu said.  “[….] What we already know is that there is this heavy burden on [MCMHS], but I think what we can owe to the growth and transition of our service over the past year is that we now we have a permanent accessible space and have consistent hours.”

 

 

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Board of Governors (BoG) member Sam Minzberg’s last name was Minsberg. Additionally, the article incorrectly stated that BoG members are part of the McGill administration. Finally, the article incorrectly stated that a forum between the BoG and students had not been held in the last three years. In fact, this event was the fourth such meeting and the last one occurred last year. The McGill Tribune regrets these errors.

Private, Recipes, Student Life

Salad, what are you?

by Miguel Principe on

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Since the dawn of mankind, human beings have questioned the world that surrounds us. Is there intelligent life on other planets? How did this universe begin? Is McTavish stuck in a continuous state of construction? Do we have free will? Yet, one question has never been answered by the great philosophers and scientists, such as Plato and Newton. A question so subtle that even great minds of the likes of Albert Einstein and William Shatner have never bothered to ask: What is a salad?

The McGill Tribune is here to serve as a guide through the world of salads. Though our work is based on thorough research, it is entirely up to the individual to decide how he or she defines a salad. The following three recipes rewrite the definition, if you will, by pushing the boundaries of what we know to be salad.

The Typical Salad: Kale Caesar Salad with Tofu Croutons (4 servings)

(kitchentreaty.com)
(kitchentreaty.com)

 

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the earliest salads were wild greens and herbs seasoned with salt. The salt seasoning is actually where salad gets its name, salad being a derivation of salt, sal, in Latin. These wild greens that were used in antiquity—such as lettuce, spinach, and arugula—are still the main bases we use today. This green vegetable mix is what salad is known for, the boring healthy food as told by the common idiom, “Alcohol: Because no great story ever started with a salad.” Nonetheless, while many claim this meal to be healthy and boring, it is undeniably a beloved dish. 

You will need:

For the salad:

  • 350 g of ½ inch extra-firm tofu, pressed
  • 1 tbsp of olive
  • ⅛ tsp of salt
  • ½ cup of panko bread crumbs
  • 1 large bunch of kale (destemmed)

For the dressing:

  • ½  silken tofu
  • ⅓ cup and 2 tbsp of grated parmesan
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 4 anchovy fillets
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 tsp of Dijon mustard
  • ½ tsp of Worcestershire sauce
  • ⅛ tsp of salt
  • ½ cup of dried cherries

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. While it’s heating up, line a large baking sheet with foil.
  2. Toss cubes of extra-firm tofu with oil and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Then, season the tofu with fresh pepper. 
  3. Pour panko into another medium-sized bowl. Toss the extra-firm tofu in the panko until it is completely coated. 
  4. Arrange the extra-firm tofu in a single layer across the baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes.
  5. Wash the kale and remove its stalks. Slice the leaves into bite-sized pieces, then put them in a large bowl. Use your hands to crunch the leaves until the kale is tender. Drain any water that is left off the kale.
  6. Drain the water off of the silken tofu. Slice the garlic cloves and anchovy fillets. Add the silken tofu, parmesan, garlic, anchovies, lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, and salt into a food processor. Blend the mixture until it’s fully combined in liquid form. Season to taste with fresh pepper. 
  7. Drizzle the dressing over the kale and mix the salad. Sprinkle the dried cherries, parmesan, and baked tofu “croutons.” You’ve got a classic salad! 

 (Recipe adapted from chatelaine.com) 

 

Is This Also Called A Salad? American Macaroni Salad (6 servings)

(cookingmamas.com)
(cookingmamas.com)

 

A respite from the non-filling joke of a meal that is the traditional salad, another type of salad is called the “bound salad.” Bound salads are made of hearty ingredients, such as chicken and potatoes, and are held together by a thick, dressing-like mayonnaise. This is where we start to question the boundaries of salad—how is this unusual combination of ingredients placed in the same category as the mighty caesar or the classic mediterranean? The only similarity is that they both contain salad dressing. This is like calling chicken noodle soup a type of pasta dish, because they both contain spaghetti. But it is up to you, dear reader, to decide if you would classify this as a salad. 

You will need:

For the salad:

  • 2 cups of elbow macaroni
  • ⅓ cup diced celery
  • ¼ cup minced red onion
  • 1 tbsp. Minced flat-leaf parsley
  • ½ cup vine-ripened tomato

For the dressing:

  • ½ cup mayo
  • ¾ dry mustard
  • 1 ½ tsp of sugar
  • 1 ½ tbsp of apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tbsp sour cream
  • ½ tsp kosher salt 

For seasoning:

  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper

Instructions:

  1. Cook the elbow macaroni in boiling water. Once cooked, rinse the pasta and then drain the water off in a colander. 
  2. Mince the red onion, then soak in cold water for five minutes. Drain the water.
  3. Dice ⅓ cup of celery and a vine-ripened tomato and mince a tablespoon of flat-leaf parsley.
  4. Combine the macaroni, onion, celery, parsley, and tomato in your salad bowl.
  5. In another bowl, whisk together the mayo, mustard, sugar, vinegar, sour cream, and salt. 
  6. Pour this dressing into your salad bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
  7. And now, you’ve got a salad! This can be kept in the fridge and eaten for up to three days after its preparation date.

(Adapted from foodnetwork.ca)

 

The Abomination Known as Dessert Salad: Oreo Salad (6 servings)

(julieseatsandtreats.com)
(julieseatsandtreats.com)

 

In the fringes of the definition of salad comes what might be where both mankind and salad have gone too far. The dessert salad completely destroys the two possible definitions of salad seen so far, because it is neither a healthy meal, like a green salad, nor an all-American Thanksgiving dish, like the bound salad. Many will decide that this is not a salad—this cannot be a salad. But to say that this is not a salad is to question the status of all salads, even the caesar and the macaroni. This does have a base—even if that base is a cream filled cookie sandwich—and a dressing, so why can it not be a salad?

You will need:

For the salad:

  • 15 Oreos

For the “dressing”:

  • 1 container of whipped cream (8 oz)
  • 2 cups of milk
  • 1 package of instant vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz)

Ingredients:

  1. Stir the milk and vanilla pudding together until the two are well mixed.
  2. Add whipped topping and then cookies into the mix and stir.
  3. Cover and refrigerate until thickened and chilled (around an hour or two).
  4. You’ve got a salad?

(Adapted from allrecipes.com)

Legal Information Column, Private, Student Life

University vs. Freedom of Speech: The case of Pridgen v University of Calgary

by Legal Information Clinic at McGill on

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With more than 40,000 students at McGill University, controversial statements can pop up at any moment and cause university administrators to feel the need to perform damage control. Social media exacerbates the problem by amplifying the reach of controversial remarks. However, can a university silence a student or compel an apology? In other words, do universities have an obligation to respect the free speech rights of students?

The 2012 case Pridgen vs. University of Calgary reveals two potential avenues of protection for students’ right to freedom of expression. First, universities are treated like ‘governments’ for the purposes of actions, such as student discipline, and so are directly subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This can mean that they are obliged to respect Charter rights, such as students’ freedom of expression. Second, universities are in general subject to what is called ‘judicial review’ on a standard of reasonableness. This means that judges can intervene and change the decision made by a university if they decide that it is unreasonable, such as if a university censors a student without compelling grounds to do so. Further, these avenues of protection apply across Canada, including in Quebec, as ‘persuasive authority.’ While Quebec judges are not required to follow it, they usually will unless they have a very strong reason to do otherwise. In other words, a strong case can be made that universities in Quebec are bound, at least in some situations, to respect freedom of expression.

Consider the case of Pridgen vs. University of Calgary. In 2007, University of Calgary (U of C) students and brothers Steven and Keith Pridgen created a Facebook group titled, "I no longer fear hell, I took a course with Aruna Mitra," in an act of rebellion against a professor they disliked. In this group, the Pridgen brothers and other group members posted comments criticizing the professor while coordinating a mass appeal of their grades to the university. The professor later learned about this Facebook group, and the students were disciplined by the U of C. 
In response, the students sued the university. The case wound up at the Alberta Court of Appeal, who decided in favour of the Pridgens for two reasons. First, one of the three judges held that the university had made a decision that was similar enough to a government decision to be subject to the Charter. That judge held that university disciplinary measures are a form of statutory compulsion in which an entity, such as a university, is empowered to apply sanctions against a person or group of people. 

Thus, while universities are not generally subject to the Charter—something that other cases have been quite clear about—there are still limits on certain decisions that they make. This point about universities being subject to the Charter is still hotly contested in the legal world, but it does give some persuasive authority that Quebec universities are subject to the Charter when exercising certain powers.

Second, the two judges who provided written reasons agreed that universities are enough like a government that their decisions may be reviewed by a court for reasonableness, and that the U of C’s disciplinary decision did not meet this standard. In general, whenever government agencies make decisions of some kind—for example, about whether or not to issue a visa to those wishing to come to Canada—it is possible to ask a court to assess the reasonableness of the decision. In other words, the government agency must render a decision that makes basic rational sense, and therefore cannot act arbitrarily. 

The Court said that the U of C had insufficient evidence upon which to base their decision. The Pridgen brothers were accused of causing ‘injury to a person,’ but the U of C’s disciplinary committee did not possess evidence that the Pridgens had caused this kind of injury. Not only does this point tell us that universities across Canada are subject to a reasonableness review, it tells us that when student speech is at issue, courts are willing to scrutinize a response by a university.

The Pridgen case suggests that courts will hold university decisions to a certain standard—that is, generally speaking, they must be at least ‘reasonable.’ To a lesser extent, Pridgen vs. University of Calgary also shows that certain university decisions are subject to the Charter, especially when they are exercising a power of compulsion against students. In Quebec, then, there is evidence to suggest that universities have some obligation to respect students’ right to freedom of expression, through both the Charter and the requirement of reasonableness in university decision making.

Science & Technology

Explaining reluctance in the face of climate change

by Myriam Driss on

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The Pew Research Center found that, in all 40 nations polled, the majority of respondents believed that climate change is a very serious problem, with the most concern found in African and Asian countries.

“There has been a one and a half degree Celsius rise in temperature linked to an increase in greenhouse gases, however, consequences are slow and the health issues are indirect,” George McCourt, senior faculty lecturer in the McGill School of Environment, said. “[Ultimately,] people don’t believe in climate change because you’re not going to get cancer [right away, since the effects of climate change like] rising sea levels will not have immediate health effects.”

People need to face an immediate threat to prompt them to change, and small increases in temperature are not going to cut it, especially since these increases take a long time to materialize.

“The major problem with climate change is that it is a long-term process with a lot of fluctuations,” McCourt said.

Modern lifestyles and infrastructure are all centred around convenience, leading people to believe they are detached from potential issues of rising temperatures.

“People in the West are comfortably disconnected from the natural world,” McCourt said. “Those who are directly impacted [by climate change] are the indigenous peoples and farmers. In cities, we don’t notice it. So, we don’t feel these things because these changes are occurring over 200 years so, it’s difficult to make [city folk] realize this.”

Strong dependence on fossil fuels makes societal change difficult to achieve.

“Our transport and electric systems are all interconnected with fossil fuels, since our infrastructure is designed to run on [them],” McCourt said.

Transforming energy systems will cause a huge disturbance in the status quo, especially since society’s dependence on fossil fuels extends past industry.

“We are addicted to the fossil fuel economy,” McCourt said. “So making this kind of change is going to be huge.”

Dr. Nicolas Kosoy, associate professor in McGill’s Department of Natural Resource Sciences, pointed out, it is almost impossible to curb all fossil fuel usage—at least right away.

“Fossil fuels are an excellent energy carrier with a large energy density, but this cannot be our only source of energy,” Kosoy explained. “Overall, our energy demand needs to be limited and this limit has to do with our energy supply.”

Therefore, finding alternatives is a complex issue.

“We should rank energy alternatives in terms of their ability to satisfy energy demand, environmental impact, and long term stability of our systems [while] also paying attention to profit,” Kosoy said.

Our lifestyle of convenience coupled with the pessimistic outlook of the environmental movement has harboured a culture of indifference towards climate change.

“The [negativity of the] environmental movement has [created] a fatigue amongst the people,” McCourt explained.

Environmentalism has not always been the flashiest of causes, and many have questioned why they should get involved. However, as sustainability gains traction as a popular trend, a new shift in values is emerging.

“There has been an increase in sustainability [that] has given people more hope,” McCourt said. “A new hope to sustain themselves and the planet.”

Kosoy urges that it is the collective efforts of a community that will foster necessary efforts to counteract climate change.

“[We need to] collectively decide to grow our own food or change land use—these are our actions that are going to change society,” Kosoy said. “Not [just] what is done by one person, but by a society that will change consumption practices.”  

Although climate change is a general and man-made concern, we are slowly making progress in the right direction. There is a new trend of sustainability that will drive many to adopt a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Though progress may be slow, the movement has come a long way.

Private, Student Life

Student of the week: Dexter Storey tells stories with his multimedia work

by Flaminia Cooper on

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Dexter Storey describes himself as a storyteller. The U0 Engineering student and aspiring Architecture major from Victoria, BC, has been telling tales for most of his life, first by acting, then slowly moving into photography, film, and graphic design throughout high school. His most recent interest is fashion design.

At the end of February, Storey applied for the Adobe Creative Residency, an initiative that provides an opportunity for creative individuals to spend a year working on personal projects and sharing their experiences.

“Basically what they do is they pick two people […] to represent Adobe as a bit of a youth ambassador as they fund you with a year’s salary to do creative projects,” Storey said. “They would pay for any sort of project you want to do, any travelling you need to do, any equipment you need, it just kind of makes your creative dreams come true.”

Instead of being inspired by the physical aspects of an object or piece, Storey is more interested in the story behind it, and works on making his tales more personal by integrating his own experiences.

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“I take a lot of inspiration from a lot of other work I see,” Storey said. “It’s cool to be able to look at something and say, ‘[…] What is the story behind [what] they’re telling and how can I interpret that story, change it, and make it my own?’ or, ‘How can I find an idea that I see […] and kind of translate it into my own mind and then add parts of my own stories to it to make it happen?’”

Storey recently finished a 52-week project in which he shared a photo a week over the course of a year. Several of them are self-portraits, which allows him to express his stories more personally.

Storey has accumulated artistic skills over the past few years through self-taught experimentation with photography, videography, and graphic design. Additionally, he acquires knowledge by observing other artists and creatives. Storey will often reach out to peers and artists that inspire him, and ask them to help him improve his understanding of their talents. For instance, Storey found interest in a professional photographer friend he knew in high school, and, after accompanying her on a photoshoot, began actively following his interest in photography.

“I try to find one person who I’m really inspired by and try to get them to mentor me on some specifics on how to do what I’m trying to do,” Storey said. “[….] I think [gaining inspiration is] about finding someone who is really good at what you want to do and just picking their brain about how to make it happen.”

While Storey is used to using multiple mediums, his Adobe residency application video required him to find a way to express everything he wanted to do in one medium. He explained that the form to apply for the Adobe residency had a single ambiguous section in which the applicant could upload their work.

“Adobe basically […] just had one link which [said], ‘Link to supporting visuals,’” Storey said. “If you’re a graphic designer, you’d submit something that’s graphic design, if you’re a photographer you’d submit something thats photography, but what I want to do is not something like video, photography, graphic design—I want to do storytelling, so I wanted to create a project that could show them that I can tell stories in any medium.”

He decided the best way to show his love for storytelling was to tell his own life story, using animation, photography, and graphic design throughout his application video. He attributes much of his success to his family and friends, who strongly support his ambitions.

“I think with the video, I was really lucky to have so many people who shared it and are helping me get to where I want to with these crazy ideas in my head. So I guess a huge thank you to the community who supports me,” Storey said. “I know everyone says this, but it really is true that you can’t do it without them.”

Storey’s passion for storytelling is unfortunately limited by his budget and busy schedule. He often pays for his projects out of his own pocket, and therefore doesn’t always have the money to afford the materials he needs to execute his creative visions. As a full-time student, he also struggles to find the time to work on his art.

“I have all these really cool ideas written down on my phone or in my notebook, and they don’t come to life because I can’t afford to make them happen or I don’t have the time,” Storey said. “There’s just restrictions or roadblocks in the way. So, I’m really excited about the potential [of] the Adobe project because it would remove the barriers and allow me to explore without bounds.”

Storey is supposed to hear back from Adobe in a few weeks, and if he is successful, will take a year off from studying at McGill to complete the Creative Residency.
With such a fitting last name, it only seems natural for Dexter Storey to actively pursue his passion. The Adobe Creative Residency gives him the creative freedom he is looking for, and hopefully, in a year’s time, he will find himself travelling and storytelling for the program without limits.

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