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Album Review: We Got It From Here…Thank You 4 Your Service – A Tribe Called Quest

by Dylan Adamson on

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A Tribe Called Quest (ATCQ) mean a lot of things to a lot of people. The group was formed in 1985 with original members Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Their status as a uniquely positive, innovative force in the “Golden Age” of rap is beyond reproach, which is why the death of Phife Dawg this year shocked many hip hop enthusiasts profoundly. On March 22, at only 45 years old, Malik Izaak Taylor was pronounced dead due to complications caused by diabetes, seemingly closing the door on an already unlikely reunion. It seemed improbable that an ATCQ reunion would survive the loss of one of the most influential MCs of  the era, but the verses he recorded for the project before his passing show that, lyrically, Phife never lost his touch. Announced only a week before its Nov. 11 release, We Got It From Here . . . Thank You 4 Your Service arrived as a total surprise, and shows that ATCQ still has much to offer.

In large part tribute to the recently deceased Five Foot Assassin (aka Phife Diggy, the Di-Dawg, Donald Juice, The Five Footer, etc.), this long awaited reunion LP is capable of reducing listeners to tears and stirring  rebellion. In a divisive time in American history, the Tribe’s voice of unity, peace, and love for one another carries as much weight as ever with some more explicitly political bars than in their early work. 

In the dumpster fire of a year that has been 2016, We Got It From Here . . . emerges as both a comforting hand on the shoulder, and a voice urging protest. The interplay between bittersweet nostalgia and political outrage is readily evident in album opener, “The Space Program.” The song describes white people escaping an ecologically destroyed Earth for Mars and leaving PoC communities behind. As the cautious jazz rap keys kick in underneath Phife and Q-Tip’s acappella introduction, it’s tough not to feel emotional; however, the pair’s sure-handed and complementary flows quickly steer the song in a consciously political direction. Jarobi White, an intermittent contributor to ATCQ, outlines: “They planning for our future / none of our people involved.” 

The Tribe’s innovative use of sampling is featured prominently on the album. “We The People . . .”, an instant banger, utilizes a Metallica drum sample in its righteous fury against the rise of white supremacy in America. “Solid Wall of Sound,” featuring Busta Rhymes, expertly appropriates a classic rock staple in vintage Tribe fashion, looping Elton John’s vocals and the song’s signature swaggering drums. Despite its success in recapturing the jubilant crate-digging mentality of the early 90s, to call the group’s final statement “nostalgic” would be reductive. ATCQ’s style and contributions to the rap industry are timeless. 

The introduction of Jarobi White—credited as Jarobi—to the microphone is one of many new pieces in play on the Tribe’s swan song. Jarobi’s verses serve as a breath of air from Tip’s sometimes smothering singular vision. Alongside a plethora of contributors, he ensures the album’s essential collective spirit. Of course, there aren’t many artists who would decline an opportunity to collaborate on a final ATCQ album, but We Got It From Here…’s credits—including Jack White, Kanye West, Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar, and more—instantly inspire excitement. 

Looking beyond the star-studded cast, the album never loses sight of its purpose as the final Tribe record. The ghost of Phife Dawg looms large over the album’s sprawling sixteen tracks. One can appreciate the cautious hand of Q-Tip in preserving the spirit of Phife’s rhymes throughout the lengthy mixing process preceding its release eight months after his death. The differences that once drove the pair apart are brushed aside. When Phife’s idiosyncratic Patois/Queens accent interplays with Tip’s perpetually cool, nasally delivery, it feels like 1991 again. 

With so much expectation heaped on this unlikely comeback, there was ample opportunity for the album to disappoint. However, Phife, Tip, Jarobi, Shaheed, and the album’s myriad contributors ensure that it stands up with the rest of the Tribe’s seminal catalogue. Jubilant, tear-jerking, and inspiring, We Got It From Here . . . Thank You 4 Your Service is an expansive and complete experience. Though Phife gestures towards passing the torch to the next generation of rappers on standout “Dis Generation,” this is not an album people will be forgetting any time soon.

Science & Technology

The science of hangovers

by Kate Lord on

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With 77 per cent of drinkers reporting that they suffer from hangovers, wasting a weekend morning that was meant to be spent studying because of a splitting headache and nausea is no uncommon occurrence. While there is still no magical cure, scientists are coming closer to understanding the science behind the phenomenon that afflicts many of the McGill population.

“What happens when you drink alcohol is that it gets metabolized by the liver and converted to acetaldehyde,” Dr. Ariel Fenster, professor in McGill’s Department of Chemistry, explained.

Acetaldehyde is a carcinogenic compound that is toxic to the body. While acetaldehyde can be broken down into acetic acid during excessive drinking—which is then further broken down into carbon dioxide and water—the enzyme that converts acetaldehyde to acetic acid is in short supply.

“If the concentration of this enzyme […] is not very high, then there will be a [buildup] of acetaldehyde in the body, which [can be] really nasty,” Fenster said.

Acetaldehyde toxicity is the primary cause of headaches and nausea the morning after heavy drinking.

In the bloodstream, alcohol is also a diuretic which inhibits the pituitary gland from producing vasopressin. Without this hormone, the kidneys send water directly to the bladder rather than reabsorbing it into the body. The result is the frequent urination that many experience when they drink a lot, as well as the subsequent dehydration.

The dry, leathery tongue many people wake up with after excessive drinking is the body’s way of indicating that it’s extremely dehydrated. The diuretic effect of alcohol is also responsible for the expulsion of ionic salts, which, in combination with alcohol’s ability to break down and remove important energy stores in the liver, manifests itself in weakness, fatigue, and a general lack of coordination during a hangover.

“But it’s not just the alcohol [that causes hangovers],” Fenster said. “One of the major causes of hangovers is a class of chemicals known as congeners. Congeners are a chemical generated at the same time as [ethanol] in the fermentation process [.…] The higher the concentration of congeners, the worse a hangover you will have. The greater the age and the darker the colour [of the alcohol], the higher the concentration of congeners, and therefore, the worse the hangover.”

Drinking cognac or a dark rum, for example, would likely produce a worse hangover than drinking the same amount of white wine or vodka.

To avoid the productivity-killing effects of a hangover, there are numerous drinking guidelines that tend to be drilled into first-years as they enter McGill and university life. Eating a heavy meal before going out, drinking plenty of water throughout the night, and not drinking anything at least 90 minutes before going to bed are all key. Additionally, as Fenster explained, there is some validity to the old saying, ‘beer before liquor never been sicker.’ The carbon dioxide in beer or other carbonated beverages causes alcohol to be more readily absorbed.

“If the beverage you drink is carbonated, it is more quickly absorbed,” Fenster said. “You’re going to get sick faster with champagne than with the same intake of white wine, for instance.”

The best way to avoid a hangover, though, is the most obvious one.

“The key is really to drink in moderation, to space your drinking,” Fenster said. “General common sense is the best way to express it.”

Science & Technology

How polling works and why it went wrong in 2016

by Miguel Principe on

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Many avid media observers were shocked by Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 United States presidential election. For weeks, media outlets had reported on polls predicting a swift Trump defeat. On election day, FiveThirtyEight, a data journalism website, conservatively projected that there was 71 per cent chance of Hillary Clinton winning. Even more confidently, Reuters, an international news agency, predicted a whopping 90 per cent chance of a Clinton victory.

Despite their convictions, the predictions were wrong. To understand how the polls could be so inaccurate, it’s important to understand how polls are conducted.

“[Polling is] probability sampling, that means that the polling company […] will choose a random sample that is supposed to be statistically representative of the population as a whole,” McGill Assistant Professor of Sociology, who specializes in political processes, Barry Eidlin explained. “[The sample size] can be as small as 1,000 [people], but they’re usually around the 3,000 range. Then, with that randomly generated sample, [… the polling company] will ask a series of standardized questions on a survey. Then, they use those to make estimations about the opinions of the populations as a whole.”

While many media sites like Reuters conducted their own polls, FiveThirtyEight aggregated results from multiple state and national polls from across the United States. FiveThirtyEight’s polling analysis was then put through its election simulator to test for a variety of outcomes.

Polling companies have different methodologies to generate randomized samples. The Pew Research Center conducts their poll by selecting a randomized group of landline and cellphone numbers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. On the other hand, a NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll relies on a sample of the 3 million people who use the SurveyMonkey online polling system. These two methods of polling have different challenges and can yield different results.

“These days, the problem is [that …] lots of people don’t have landlines anymore,” Eidlin said. “There’s a bit of crisis in polling strictly at a logistical level in that response rates have collapsed so much, right at the moment when we have a lot of very sophisticated statistical techniques to make sure that our samples are good and the estimations [the polling companies] are using are good.”

While logistical and technological difficulties could have been sources of error, another possibility for why the polls incorrectly predicted the election was what is known as the “Shy Trumper” hypothesis.

“There’s nothing conclusive, but clearly all the polls severely underestimated the level of Trump support,” Eidlin said. “One of the ways in which that could’ve happened is by a lot of people who actually voted for Trump saying they were undecided [….] There’s always a problem in any kind of survey you are doing with what is called ‘appropriateness bias,’ […] in that if you hold opinions that you know are not socially acceptable, you’re not that likely to tell a stranger on the phone your unpopular opinions.”

The final hypothesis as to why the polls got it so wrong was simply that there were many last minute swing voters that the pollsters never recorded. Whichever hypothesis is correct, one fact remains: The pollsters and their aggregates’ predictions were wrong across the board.

“Pollsters are well aware that the profession faces serious challenges that this election has only served to highlight,” Pew Research Center wrote in a post-election article. “At its best, polling provides an equal voice to everyone and helps to give expression to the public’s needs and wants in ways that elections may be too blunt to do. That is why restoring polling’s credibility is so important, and why we are committed to helping in the effort to do so.”

Behind the Bench, Combat Sports, Sports

The cautionary tale of UFC’s Jon Jones

by Gibran Haque on

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UFC fighter Jon Jones is one of the greatest examples of wasted potential in all of modern sports. His various infractions outside of the Octagon—such as a hit-and-run charge, a DUI, and a doping ban—have curtailed one of the most dominant MMA careers. Sadly, Jones' career did not have to end up this way.

In March 2011, at the age of 23, Jon Jones became the youngest champion in UFC history, defeating veteran fighter Mauricio Rua to take home the Light Heavyweight Championship. On paper, the 22-1 record fighter has been the most dominant athlete the sport has seen since Georges St-Pierre’s reign in welterweight and Anderson Silva’s dominance in middleweight. Since then, Jones has won almost every accolade worth winning in the UFC’s light heavyweight division—he holds the record for most successful title defenses—and is as close to unbeatable as any MMA fighter in history.

Yet, Jones also holds some shameful titles. He is the only fighter to be stripped of the UFC title twice. Fast forward to 2016, the now 29-year old faces yet another year on the sidelines after failing a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug test. The one-time number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world may never headline another UFC pay-per-view fight again.

Jones’ highly publicized downfall has been just as rapid as his hard-fought rise. He isn't exactly a poster boy as far as sports idols go. Jones’ weaknesses don't lie in the technical areas of the sport itself, but rather his recklessness and lack of discipline. To see an athlete so technically gifted hindered by poor choices is truly disheartening for all fans of the sport. Jones has had numerous chances to redeem himself, but has failed to do so on all occasions. It could be argued that given his various incidents–including a hit and run in 2015–Jones shouldn't even be allowed in the octagon.

The UFC might not even need to take a chance on Jones, considering their newfound Irish poster boy Conor McGregor is raking in more PPVs then Jones ever did. The rise of McGregor and Ronda Rousey have helped the UFC to sweep the Jones situation under the rug. UFC commissioner Dana White was probably right to say that the fighter can't be trusted to headline another UFC pay-per-view, even though Jones is still talented enough to be on the card of a main event.

Barring setbacks, by the time Jones’ suspension is over he’ll be 30-years-old and entering into a light heavyweight division with improved fighters in Cormier and Anthony Johnson. He likely won't get a title fight immediately on his return, and White would be wise to ease him back into the division and have him prove he can stay out of trouble.

Regardless of what happens, Jones can either change his ways or keep on making childish decision and go down in the history books as one of the biggest wastes of talent. Jones’ meteoric fall proves that talent and hard work without discipline can only lead to a career of unfulfilled expectations. Jones will have no one but himself to blame for his failure to become the greatest MMA fighter of all time.

McGill, News

McGill Innovation Week highlights the necessity of collaboration for innovation in all fields

by Chelsea Chen on

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From Nov. 13 to 20, McGill Innovation Week (MIW) hosted 27 free events on campus and in the Montreal community to celebrate innovation and entrepreneurship and to connect local actors with the McGill community. The McGill Office of Innovation and Partnership joined with groups such as the Quartier de l'Innovation de Montréal and Centre d'Entreprises et d'Innovation de Montréal to showcase current innovations in various fields, including music, visual arts, urban planning, education, agriculture, and health.

Tony Mistak, U2 Arts and a student intern organizer for MIW, hoped to reach a large audience and share the relevance of innovation to McGill students.

“The whole point of [MIW] and practicing innovation is to create the next—or the next generation—of forward thinkers,” Mistak said. “That’s why I like [MIW] so much, because there’s so much happening with so many different topics, and innovation needs to happen in all these different disciplines [….] I think it’s becoming important for us to provide the kind of expertise that would be suitable for what McGill represents because we’re all about excellence.” 

The McGill Office of Innovation and Partnership provided a valuable opportunity for innovators from several fields to plan separate events under the MIW framework. 

“[We] reach out to people who want to create events and have expertise in certain topics, and we add them to our programming,” Mistak said. “Our partners are creating these events, and we are connecting them all together.”

The week opened with a panel discussion that included five female entrepreneurs who ventured into new fields to start their businesses. Panelists included Dr. Margaret Magdesian, a former McGill biopharmaceutical researcher-turned-entrepreneur. Magdesian spoke about her experience stepping out of academia in order to bring the research she did at McGill on micro and nanodevices to the market. 

“I developed hundreds of [micro and nanodevices] and they were all in my drawer, waiting for my next paper to be published […],” Magdesian said. “[Then] a company asked me for 10,000 [of the devices I developed…] and then I thought, ‘Oh wow, […] either I become an entrepreneur now and make a difference in everyone’s lives by providing them with tools, or I keep on trying to publish one paper at a time.’” 

Similarly, Dr. Eric Lewis, McGill professor of philosophy and director of the Institute for the Public Life of Arts and Ideas, commented on the link between collaboration and innovation at a panel discussion titled Art and Our Infinite Appetite for Innovation on Nov. 15.

“Innovation is in the nature of collaboration,” Lewis said. “Innovation is the process as well as the product.” 

Mistak was glad to see students from faculties other than management attending the events. He explained that innovation is not restricted to any one particular domain. 

“Innovation is something new and improved for a [particular] subset of people,” Mistak said. “Although the idea does not seem new to you, it does not mean that it is not new to the subset of people that you’re [addressing].” 

The McGill Innovation Week Presents: ENERj event was held on Nov. 16 and highlighted a technology startup company founded by two McGill alumnae. ENERj seeks to address climate change from the bottom—up through fun and interactive household electricity monitoring. Marc Jarvis, U3 Science, attended the event and said that ENERj is an innovative way to engage and mobilize people to address the issue of climate change.

“[The] innovation is either restructuring the problem so that it isn’t a problem anymore, or it’s finding a novel solution,” Jarvis said. “Or maybe there is a solution to something, but the innovation is engaging more people or engaging the issue in a different way.”

Student Life

The Tribune Tries: Therapeutic adult colouring

by Paige Mysliviec on

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In the Brown Student Services Building, there sits a small table with stacks of crisp colouring pages and endless tubs of coloured pencils. This table is a resource for stressed students who might be searching for a therapeutic activity. Art has always been a way for some people to express themselves, but has now been shown to be a good way to cope and heal.

The American Art Therapy Association describes art therapy as “the therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship by people who experience illness, trauma, or challenges in living and by people who seek personal development.”

Art therapy can also be used to “explore feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behaviour and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem.”

Marygrace Berberian, a certified art therapist and the clinical assistant professor and program coordinator for the graduate art therapy program at NYU, however, warns that colouring alone misses out on the relationship between the client and the therapist, and as such, cannot be called art therapy.  

Because I did not have access to an art therapist, I relied on colouring books, as they have nonetheless been shown to help reduce anxiety and improve focus, especially when designs challenge users to remain within lines.

With exams and a final slough of assignments, tests, and projects to get through before the end of the semester, I tried out therapeutic colouring for a week to see if it really helped with stress and anxiety.

Getting the materials was simple enough; I printed free colouring sheets from the internet and bought an inexpensive packet of coloured pencils. I sat down at my desk after a long, busy day, and began colouring. I found it calming to focus on a fun activity which allowed my stressed mind to relax. Colouring required no extra attention or thought-processing; I was looking at soothing colours while letting my brain run free. If someone had asked me to talk about my feelings in that moment, I would have been open to temporarily lowering my emotional guard.

About halfway through my drawing, I accidentally went outside the lines. The first thought I had was, “Well, I’m done. It’s ruined.” I stopped myself and wondered why it had to be perfect if no one was going to see it, and I reminded myself that mistakes are okay. So, I kept colouring. When I finished, I was secretly very pleased with how it turned out—it looked like a pattern of a psychedelic T-shirt from the 70s.

Every time I coloured, it felt nice to focus on performing a single task—especially one that did not require a lot of work. However, I found it  was easy to become distracted or bored. I did not notice a change in my stress or anxiety, but at least now I have a collection of colourful pictures.

Despite my mundane experience, I do not discredit art therapy. I believe that if I had been working with an art therapist, I would have seen more direct results from professional guidance, interaction, and reflection. Colouring by myself was merely a fun activity—not a cure to my stress or anxiety.

Men's Varsity, Sports

In conversation with McGill bodybuilder Josh Diamond

by Selwynne Hawkins on

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Josh Diamond doesn’t hesitate when asked who his favourite athlete is—Tom Brady.

“He was picked in the sixth round, almost the last pick in the draft,” Diamond explained. “He wasn’t gifted, he’s not fast, he’s not strong, not big, but he was determined and he had heart.”

Diamond certainly emulates his sports hero in terms of discipline and work ethic. While studying pharmacology full-time at McGill, he also recently trained for, and won his first-ever bodybuilding competition–an International Drug-Free Athletics (IDFA) competition on Oct. 1–in the men’s physique category.

Between school work and bodybuilding, Diamond is always busy.

“My gym bag is pretty much a second home,” Diamond said. “I have three meals, workout clothing, supplements, and then all my books and laptop.”

When he’s not in class or at the library, Diamond is at the McGill gym. He works out for two hours every day, taking only one rest day a week if he thinks his body needs it.

Maintaining his diet has been the most difficult part of his training.

“For the first couple months, [you eat] really clean,” Diamond said. “Closer to the competition […] you start eating things like tilapia and asparagus, like really not many calories.”

For Diamond, the preparations immediately before the competition were gruelling. He chose to go on a low-carb, “keto diet,” and ate almost no carbohydrates for two weeks leading up to competition day. To ensure he’d be in peak condition for judging, he also cut water 24 hours before stepping on stage. Once the competition rolled around, though, Diamond treated himself to a day of relaxation.

“If you get stressed out, there are hormones in your body that can start to put on fat,” Diamond said. “And, actually, the day of the competition, you eat more carbs than you usually do. Kind of gets your blood glucose levels higher, puts more blood in the muscles. Makes you look better on stage.”

Competitors also use other last-minute techniques to showcase their bodies, including, of course, the notorious spray tan. Spray tanning is important to keep the stage lights from washing out competitors’ muscle definition.

“Because I’m very pale, I had two sessions of spray tan,” Diamond said. “One the night before, and one right before I went on stage.”

To the average student, bodybuilding may sound like a substantial time commitment—and it is. Diamond was clear that it’s only worthwhile because he truly loves the process. In fact, he thinks that the biggest misconception about bodybuilding surrounds the motivation behind doing it.

“I think at my level, [there is a misconception] that we [bodybuild] to make other people think we look good,” Diamond said. “I do it because I enjoy doing it. I enjoy waking up and going to the gym at seven in the morning. I enjoy preparing meals, and all that kind of stuff [….] I don’t do it for other people. And I think when a lot of people see a bodybuilder, they think, ‘Oh, it’s an egomaniac, maybe a bit narcissistic.’”

Through all of his dedication and hard work, Diamond has certainly come a long way. Once a thin high school kid with ‘skinny kid abs,’ he never expected to get involved with bodybuilding, but his friend Behruze Perey convinced him to start working out.

“At first it was torture, and I didn’t ever want to go [to the gym],” Diamond recalled. “But he made me go every once in a while and then I got addicted to it.”

Now that he has a competition win under his belt, Diamond’s next step is a bigger competition in May, this time in his home province of British Columbia. Until then, he’ll continue to split his time between the McGill Fitness Centre and McLennan Library.

 

What’s your favourite muscle on yourself?

Abs. That’s an easy question.

Do you have a favourite cheat day food?

I don’t know if you’d call it a cheat day food, but I love any kind of like Basha, Boustan. That’s not a good answer, it’s kind of healthy.

What’s a really bad cheat food?

It would have to be like burgers and fries […] A&W is my go-to. When I’m really hungry, I’ll just order like three teen burgers. The cashier is always like, “three?”

McGill, News

Anatomy and Cell Biology launches Mental Health Support Program

by Holly Cabrera on

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On Nov. 18, the McGill Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology launched the Mental Health Support Program. The department-based project offers students a chance to meet with individuals who were selected to be supporters. These volunteers include graduate and undergraduate students, administrative personnel, and professors trained by McGill Counselling and Mental Health Services (MCMHS).

Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology Student Affairs Officer Vittoria Catania voiced her support for the mental health initiative, as students often struggle with the adjustment to more difficult classes at university.

“This program, I think, needs it,” Catania said. “It’s a very competitive program. If you get a B, it’s the end of the world sometimes [….] From within the class population, a lot of [students] really freak out when they don’t do [as] perfectly as they did in freshman year or in CEGEP. It’s a big change.”

In an email to The McGill Tribune, McGill Anatomy and Cell Biology Students’ Society (MACSS) President Jill Laurin said that most respondents to the “Needs Assessment” Survey— which was created in collaboration with MCMHS—felt that the addition of a department-specific mental health program would be helpful.

“Speaking strictly about the survey administered to undergraduate students […] 78 per cent of students who completed the survey felt their mental health had been negatively impacted during their studies at McGill […] and over 70 per cent of respondents said they would engage with such a program, either to receive and/or provide support,” Laurin said.

The Schulich School of Music runs a similar Buddy Program for first-year undergraduate students. Last year, the faculty established a Well-Being Fund to offer free massage therapy as well as Alexander Technique classes, a posture technique that helps to  minimize tension. Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs Jacqueline Leclair said the Alexander Technique lessons teach students how to avoid straining their muscles unnecessarily.

“As a Music Performance major, you can’t overstate the impact [an injury] has on your anxiety levels, your personal life, […] and this is a 100 per cent preventable,” Leclair said. “Traditionally, it’s considered a kind of taboo for [musicians] to admit that they’re in pain […] it’s like a sign of weakness. Truly, as expert musicians, our bodies are our instruments [….] We need to know how to help each other prevent injury and if you do get injured, how to recover.”

MCMHS is also increasingly tailoring well-being programs to different faculties. In an email to /The McGill Tribune/, Mental Health Education Coordinator Chloe Rourke explained that faculty-based mental health projects assist students in overcoming challenges particular to their field.

“Establishing faculty-based mental health programming builds upon and strengthens the communities within a student's own discipline,” Rourke wrote. “We know that one key element to recovering from mental illness and maintaining mental health is the size of your support network. Informal community-based supports are essential complements to professional support and greatly increase the efficacy of treatment.”

In Fall 2016, the Engineering Undergraduate Society of McGill (EUS) created the EUS Mental Health Committee to support engineering students while promoting resources offered by MCMHS.

EUS Health Commissioner Jiayi Wang, U3 Mechanical Engineering, noted that the committee also distributed a wellness survey.

“Before this year, there were barely any mental health initiatives in Engineering,” Wang said. “This year, we created this new EUS Mental Health Committee and the [mental health] survey is just one of the things we decided to do this year [….] You hear these things like, ‘Oh, engineering is very hard and it’s really stressful,’ but we want to get a sense of what’s it really like.”

McGill, News

New policy against discrimination implemented in Mercury Course Evaluations

by Julie Guichard on

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On Nov. 2, McGill Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) announced the introduction of a formal protocol which enabled professors and teaching assistants (TAs) to report hateful or discriminatory comments left on Mercury Course Evaluations.

According to TLS Director Laura Winer, comments that are deemed inappropriate will result in the removal of the entire evaluation response from the Mercury system. 

“TLS have developed a protocol for addressing comments in Mercury end-of-year evaluations that are determined to be hateful or discriminatory on the basis of attributes such as […] sexual or gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, or disability,” Winer said.  

The new policy also allows students to request deletion of the forms they have sent in by filling out a webform.

“Course evaluation data can also be deleted when a student makes a mistake, such as answering ‘strongly disagree’ instead of ‘strongly agree,’” Winer said.

Angela Campbell, associate provost (Policies, Procedures, and Equity) will receive the requests for removal and consult with the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Equity Commissioner to determine whether a comment should be removed.

“[The Equity Commissioner] will not be able to see the identity of the instructor or [the TA, and] if deletion is appropriate the student’s response in its entirety will be deleted from the evaluation for the course in question,” Campbell said.

The new sets of guidelines, however, raises questions regarding the importance of student feedback and whether other review websites that do not have such policies, such as RateMyProfessors.com, will become even more popular.

“This protocol is not intended to silence students or minimize the value of student feedback, which is crucial to curricular and pedagogical development at [McGill],” Campbell said. “[It] is more proactive rather than reactive to any specific incident.”

The aim of the policy is to make feedback more constructive and give professors and TAs responses that point to aspects of a cours that can be improved on. The policy does not intend to punish students whose evaluation responses are deleted.

“The protocol’s objective is educational rather than punitive in nature,” Campbell said. “Since course evaluations are anonymous, sanctioning discriminatory statements is not possible.”

Professor Mark Brawley of the Department of Political Science receives an abundance of Mercury evaluations and finds that while many are useful, many are not productive.

“Evaluations often contain few specifics.” Brawley wrote in an email to The Tribune. “Positive evaluations may simply say, ‘The prof rocks’ rather than elaborating why the student found the class useful, [and,] since the evaluations are anonymous, the students can vent their anger, disappointment or frustrations, and it isn’t always pretty.”

However, the program may not be helpful in improving course feedback. According to Professor Philip Oxhorn, founding director of the Institute for the Study of International Development, there are concerns it will erase student voices.

“The best way to stop [negative comments] from being expressed isn’t to erase them as if they never existed, but leave them as they are in order to remind people that we should not be complacent,” Oxhorn said.

According to Oxhorn, isolated and insensitive comments do not carry much weight and students understand that these comments do not reflect the instructor’s teaching abilities. Therefore, there can be danger when entire evaluations are deleted.

“Once it is agreed that comments deemed ‘inappropriate’ can be eliminated, we will find ourselves on a slippery slope as people push to expand the definition of ‘unacceptable,’” Oxhorn said. “If student feel their comments may be erased, then they [may] stop participating in evaluations.”

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that a pilot program for the removal of course evaluations deemed hateful or discriminatory was launched last year when in fact the protocol that was recently implemented for Fall 2016 course evaluations is the pilot program. In addition, a previous version of this article stated that the SSMU Equity Commissioner will decide whether or not an evaluation should be removed. In fact, Angela Campbell, associate provost (Policies, Procedures, and Equity), will receive the requests for removal and will consult with the SSMU Equity Commissioner on whether or not a comment merits deletion. The Tribune regrets these errors.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Netflix announces new production of “A Series of Unfortunate Events”

by Emily Szpiro on

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Netflix recently released a preview for a new upcoming series: A Series of Unfortunate Events. Now that it’s confirmed as part of the Netflix family, the  surprisingy mature children’s series seems to be coming back into the public eye.

The original book series, written by Daniel Handler under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket and illustrated by Brett Helquist, centres on the orphaned Baudelaire siblings (Violet, Klaus, and Sunny) as they seek safety after the tragic deaths of their parents. However, Count Olaf–a villain who stalks the children to steal their fortune–constantly thwarts their attempts and the children pass through the hands of several horrible guardians, who each meet grim ends at the hands of the Count. 

The series is witty, dark, charismatic, and filled with a litany of historical and literary references. The prose of the series is neatly polished and Handler masterfully alludes to mature themes with surreal elements that echo Edward Gorey or Tim Burton’s gothic and whimsical fantasies. 

In the first few books, the adult characters in the series are almost entirely corrupt. In response, the Baudelaires idealize their deceased parents and transform them into allegorical figures of home and safety. As the series progresses, the children realize that their parents were not entirely guiltless or greedless. In fact, they may have  initiated the series of unfortunate events when they organized the murder of Count Olaf’s parents. 

Count Olaf, in the later novels, becomes an increasingly tragic figure caught in a cycle of revenge. As the children mature, their experiences complicate their understanding of the world as a binary of good and evil. They realize that no one, not even themselves, is completely morally sound. Only once they make this realization do the children become self-subsisting and independent.

Netflix isn’t the first to adapt the stories to the screen. The 2004 film, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, heightened the comedic elements of the series, most notably by casting Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. The dark tale plays out well on the screen; Thomas Newman’s haunting score and the cast, which included Emily Browning, Meryl Streep, and Billy Connolly add gravitas to an otherwise light-hearted film. However, the movie only adapts the first three novels and as a result fails to touch on the fact that the crux of the siblings’ maturity comes not when they leave their guardians, but when they realize that their parents were not without flaws.

The books hinge upon the question of what it means to be a child transitioning to adulthood, especially without parents. The Baudelaires never stop loving their parents; they do, though, stop relying on their memory as a guidepost and learn to make their way through life without them. The series represents the children coming to terms with the death of their parental figures and moral guides, and the path toward independence. Hopefully the Netflix production, with its increased screen time, will flesh out these themes where the film did not.

It is too early to discern whether or not the Netflix series will attempt to follow in the 2004 film’s footsteps or whether it will attempt to grapple with the darker topics that the books confront. The series will star Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf. Harris is known for his comedic chops from his work in How I Met Your Mother and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Undoubtedly, the series requires comedic and absurd tones in order to be successful—however, the extent to which  Netflix will address the more sobering themes that the novels contain remains to be seen.

 

A Series of Unfortunate Events will premiere on Netflix on Jan. 13 2017. 

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