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Watched, but not protected

by Mairin Burke on

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In January 2020, McGill student Elizabeth* settled into Redpath Library’s Cyberthèque around 6 p.m., across from an unfamiliar man. Around 10:30 p.m., he began looking at her repeatedly, bumping his foot against hers. She moved her chair away to avoid the contact.

As closing time was announced over the loudspeakers, the man began mumbling at Elizabeth with a distressed, urgent expression. She asked him what was wrong, but he continued to mutter, so she moved closer to hear him. He was attempting to make small talk. 

Elizabeth didn’t want to chat, but also didn’t want to be rude. So, when he began to ask Elizabeth about her program and what she had been working on, she answered. When she asked reciprocal questions, he said he was a “graduate,” but deflected her other inquiries, including what his name was. This set off Elizabeth’s alarm bells, and she backed away.

Immediately, the man began asking questions about where Elizabeth lived, who she lived with, and how she would get home. He called her “very pretty.” Elizabeth felt that the man had purposefully waited for the library to start closing before making an advance. She told him she was in a relationship, worried he might “become irate or violent” if she rejected him. The man didn’t care, stating that he wanted to become close to Elizabeth because he didn’t have a woman in his life. He told Elizabeth he’d been watching her all night, and that he had stayed behind at the library to talk to her.

Elizabeth’s phone had died, and now the man was watching her computer. She continued loudly telling him to stop in hopes that other students would step in.

Finally, help appeared to arrive: A McGill security guard on his rounds began checking people’s student IDs. The man became nervous, saying he didn’t have his. 

When the guard approached their table, Elizabeth mouthed “help”, and tried to show fear with her body language as he scanned her ID. Yet, when the man told the guard he didn’t have his student card, the guard walked away without escorting the man out, simply saying he should leave. Elizabeth’s hope was gone.

Elizabeth’s harasser began saying he wanted to take her home, describing what he would do to her. He asked her to “make out” despite her now-constant “no’s”. He told her he would follow her home, then stood “looming over” her. She told him she was going to call security because he was scaring her, which finally persuaded him to leave. 

Elizabeth quickly used Facebook on her computer to ask her boyfriend to pick her up. As she made her way to meet him outside, she encountered another security guard at the exit. As Elizabeth told the guard about her situation, he repeatedly said she should have called security, and should have been less friendly with her harasser. When Elizabeth explained her dead phone, her fear of provoking the man, and another guard’s failure to help her, the guard began to make excuses. Elizabeth asked him to make security aware of the situation, then left. As she and her boyfriend drove away from campus, they saw her harasser lingering near the library complex.

Elizabeth submitted a nine-page document of explanation to McGill Security, asking them to review camera footage to identify the man. She described him as dark-haired, around 5 feet 10 inches. She also noted his dark-coloured backpack. 

Elizabeth never encountered the man again—in person. But this past month, she saw a poster that had been plastered around Milton-Parc: “CALL 911 IF YOU SEE THIS MAN, 5’10-5’11, MCGILL GHETTO STALKER: TRIED TO BREAK IN AND HAS BEEN LOOKING INTO GIRLS WINDOWS”. The man? Elizabeth’s harasser and his backpack, five years later.

—-

Elizabeth’s story is an example of Campus Public Safety’s frequent apathy towards sexual harassment in the McLennan-Redpath complex. More broadly, Campus Public Safety’s selective security approach—failing to protect women students, despite visibly employing many guards around campus—directly undermines the university’s core values of freedom and inclusion. 

Why do students feel there is such a large security presence at McGill, yet still not feel safe in the biggest library on campus? Campus Public Safety must start taking those who report harassment in these core McGill spaces seriously.

Elizabeth’s story is not an anomaly. In October 2023, second-year Jessica* was studying on the second floor of McLennan. It was relatively empty, but a man sat across from her, adjusting his body to match her every move for over an hour. Eventually, he appeared to start filming her chest. 

After around 10 minutes, Jessica found a security guard, telling him she suspected she was being filmed. The guard told her to call McGill’s security office “to take care of it.” 

The man who appeared to have filmed Jessica suddenly exited the library past her and the guard. Jessica urgently told the guard that the man was right there, but the guard did not act.

“I’m paying this university so much money, I would expect them to invest in security that wants to do their job and would actually be able to keep me safe,” Jessica said in an interview with //The Tribune//.

As Jessica left McLennan, she passed her harasser. When she turned around a few moments later, he was walking behind her. Jessica re-entered the library complex through Redpath, then re-exited through the McLennan doors. The man was still behind her. She booked it to the metro station, managing to lose him on the way. 

In the coming days, the man frequently began leaving McLennan at the same time as Jessica. She continued making loops around the library complex on her way out, and he continued to tail her. After a few weeks, he stopped. She has not seen him since.

Jessica told //The Tribune// that, considering how apathetic a McGill security guard had been when she had reported her situation, she “wouldn’t ever go to [security] ever again” for help.

“Had the guy maybe stopped him that first time and just been like, ‘You’re not allowed in this building,’ at least, I might have felt safer,” she said. “But obviously, they didn’t do anything.”

___

In a written statement to //The Tribune//, the McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) confirmed that details about how Campus Public Safety operates are not public.

“In terms of complaints about how we dispatch resources, we do our best to serve our campus communities and their various needs,” the MRO wrote. “When we receive complaints, we take them seriously and seek to address the issues of concern.”

Yet, Elizabeth reports that she didn’t receive a supportive follow-up from McGill after submitting her complaint, beyond an email exchange saying her situation was being investigated. The emailers referred Elizabeth to the Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education, which had a waitlist at the time.

The MRO stated they were unable to speak about situations like Elizabeth’s and Jessica’s.

“We do not comment on them, notably out of respect for [their] privacy,” the MRO wrote.

If Elizabeth’s perpetrator is the same 39-year-old man believed to be the “McGill Ghetto Stalker” charged this month with voyeurism, then he has a documented history of sexual crimes, including against individuals under the age of 18. His multijurisdictional charges date back to at least 2010. 

“They have cameras they could use to identify this man,” Elizabeth told //The Tribune//. “Do they really think my situation is the first time he’s come here?”

Jessica echoed Elizabeth’s frustrations.

“You have all this proof in front of you that there’s at least one guy who’s doing this, and it’s just like, you have a description, you’ve seen him,” Jessica said. “If [they] were to check the cameras, they would see it all happening [….] It would be so easy for them to just do their job.” 

“Something is directly wrong with where [McGill’s] money goes,” Elizabeth said. “They make too many millions to keep letting these guys slide.”

The MRO said they were aware that a man was arrested in Milton-Parc, and that he had possibly harassed McGill students.

“Our understanding is that it may be the same person who appears to have targeted some of our students, living off campus, in a privately administered housing earlier this year,” the MRO wrote.

—

The Students’ Society of McGill University’s Vice-President University Affairs Abe Berglas described claims they’ve heard in an interview with //The Tribune// that campus security is both unequipped for and unfocused on serving students. 

“There’s a lot of justified concern about […] importing security guards who traditionally have been security for concerts or malls, and bringing them to a university environment,” Berglas said. “They’re stationed to buildings, and not people. So you’ll have them outside windows that were previously broken or outside the James Administration Building.” 

Berglas addressed how people in favour of campus security often explain to them that the presence of guards makes them feel there are “‘reliable witnesses’” on campus. 

“When things like discrimination or sexual and gendered violence happen to students, it makes me empathize with the desire for […] security that would step in,” Berglas said. “I also think that does not need to be a security agent.”

Security’s failure to maintain libraries as open, accessible spaces for all is affirmed by the myriad of McGill Reddit threads describing the sexually inappropriate behaviour that students have experienced there. Meanwhile, reports of private security forces contracted by Campus Public Safety detaining actual McGill attendees or McGill calling on the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal to use force against student protestors raise major concerns among certain contingents of the student population about the aggressive tactics deployed by security who do take action. While students were required to present their IDs to access campus around Oct. 7, 2024, a man with a history of sexual crimes posing a threat to students in the library was allowed to stay there without any student card. Campus Public Safety’s priorities are out of line.

Berglas explained that a campus safety model they would like to see would be an “active bystander culture.”

“I think we should just responsibilize every McGill member, and that way, we will be safer,” Berglas told //The Tribune//.

Active bystanders indeed successfully helped protect an Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill member in December 2024 //from// security guards who had physically detained her. Onlookers who recorded this incident helped hold the guard accountable and prevented escalation—Campus Public Safety’s supposed job. Holding security accountable can only be achieved by this kind of collective action.

—

McGill keeping its libraries open to all is essential. It is a civic duty for such a major institution to foster accessible spaces that give back to the community. But free access to university libraries does not mean they should be “free-for-alls.” In the written statement Elizabeth submitted to security, she expressed how guards’ inaction emboldened her harasser’s behaviour, rather than resolving it. Her experiences have coloured her sense of safety on campus ever since.

“Since the incident, I am hesitant to carry on coming here at all hours by myself, and feel that I am not as safe on campus as I had assumed,” Elizabeth said. “At the end of the day, security guards are the centre of public safety on school grounds, and need to be more observant and compassionate instead of assuming things are alright or getting defensive.”

Instead of focusing on building new student spaces, McGill needs to focus on improving its security in existing ones before threats to call Campus Public Safety like Elizabeth’s fail to deter perpetrators. As we move into exam season and spend more late nights in campus libraries, effective and compassionate security intervention must be McGill’s priority. In the meantime, we as a student community must act on our peers’ pleas for help, and call out insufficient or harmful reactions from security guards when we see them. 

//*Elizabeth and Jessica’s names have been changed to preserve their anonymity.//

//If you have experienced sexual violence, you can seek support through the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society, or the Centre pour les victimes d’agression sexuelle de Montreal// 

Editorial, Opinion

McGill, it shouldn’t take bodies to believe Indigenous voices

by The Tribune Editorial Board on

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During the 2023 provincial election, Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative (PC) government refused to support a search of the Prairie Green landfill, which local police suspected contained the remains of several missing Indigenous women. This week, investigators found remains of Marcedes Myran on the site, proving that the calls for an investigation from Indigenous activists and families of victims were not only justified, but that government inaction actively obstructed justice.

The PC’s opposition to conducting the search was not a logistical decision as much as it was a demonstration of whose lives the PC government deems worthy of recovery, and of whose suffering the state is willing to dismiss. The PC government’s justification—that “for health and safety reasons, the answer on the landfill dig has to be no”—makes their priorities clear. The well-being of the families forced to grieve without closure was not a factor in their chosen course of action, nor was the mental health toll of forcing Indigenous communities to fight for the dignity of their lost loved ones. If health and safety were a genuine priority of the PC government, as they have claimed, not only would the appropriate levels of support and involvement be granted to Myran’s case, but action would be taken toward protecting Indigenous women while they are still alive.

This case is not an isolated failure. It reflects a deeper pattern within Canada’s justice system; one in which Indigenous people’s knowledge and experiences are routinely dismissed.

The underreporting—and often misreporting—of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirited people (MMIWG2S+) cases creates a paradox of hypervisibility and invisibility. Indigenous women are hyper-visible in the sense that they are often stereotyped in media and law enforcement narratives as sex workers or deceptive figures, reinforcing racist and harmful perceptions. These stereotypes are also often turned on them as a reason for their disappearances or murders. Yet, when they go missing or are murdered, they become invisible, receiving little media attention compared to white women in similar situations. This discrepancy reveals a thinly veiled racism, where public empathy and urgency are reserved for certain victims while Indigenous women are objectified and denied the same humanity as white women.

Myran’s murderer’s documented history of white supremacist and misogynistic views points to the role of extremism in gendered violence against Indigenous women. His case is not just one of individual pathology, but is indicative of a broader climate in which Indigenous women are uniquely vulnerable—both to violence itself and to the state’s failure to provide protection or condemn its perpetrators. The ability to kill Indigenous women and evade consequences is not incidental; it is the result of a system that has long devalued their lives. Online hate—unchecked and ignored for years—serves as a breeding ground for this violence, yet law enforcement rarely intervenes until it is too late. Recognizing these murders as hate crimes is essential, not just for legal accountability but to acknowledge the ideology that fuels them. 

Systemic reforms must address how the government classifies, investigates, and reports on MMIWG2S+ cases. The National Inquiry into MMIWG calls for alternatives to Canada’s current neocolonial justice systems and greater police accountability, but the police continue to rely on restrictive legal definitions that obscure the crisis. Data collection must be in line with the lived realities of those affected, not bureaucratic categories, and Indigenous leadership in policymaking is essential. Without it, decisions remain in the hands of individuals who are unaffected by the violence and are therefore able to dismiss its prevalence and severity.

The same systems that allow people to murder Indigenous women with impunity enable McGill to ignore the ongoing demands of the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers), who are seeking a comprehensive investigation into the site of McGill’s New Vic Project, where the Mothers believe there may be unmarked Indigenous graves. By refusing to properly investigate the New Vic site in accordance with the Mohawk Mothers’ wishes, the McGill administration has not only been complicit in colonial violence but has actively obstructed justice, prioritizing financial and reputational interests over truth and healing. The Mothers have spent decades fighting for the dignity of their kin, yet McGill continues to dismiss their demands, refusing to acknowledge that the land on which the construction is taking place may hold the remains of missing children. 

McGill students must critically reflect on their own lack of awareness about violence against Indigenous communities. The university itself, with all its power and resources, has—and continues to—suppress Indigenous claims rather than confront its colonial legacy. If McGill or the PC government truly care about reconciliation, they must not only listen to Indigenous voices but also reckon with the violent history they enable and seek to bury.

Commentary, Opinion

Why the death of a broken USAID is an opportunity for a new world aid system

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent order to defund the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will undoubtedly have negative global reverberations. One hundred seventy-seven countries currently receive crucial foreign aid from the U.S., of which roughly three-fifths is distributed by USAID. This aid has been a lifeline for impoverished and war-torn regions since the agency’s founding almost 64 years ago. Haiti, for example, benefited from aid delivered in the wake of catastrophic earthquakes in 2010. But this aid was delivered through a highly flawed agency in need of dire reform. In light of this, European countries have an opportunity both to expand their aid networks to make up for lost U.S. funding and learn from USAID’s flaws. By reckoning with a new reality in which the global community can work constructively and collaboratively to undo injustice, the loss of U.S. funding can be turned into a force for good. 

USAID was an important symbol within the global capitalist system, demonstrating that the U.S. could turn its highly privileged financial position into a meaningful force for good not only for Americans but for the broader human race. The program showed that affluent countries have a duty to fight against injustices globally, be they environmental or man-made. Indeed, countries like the U.S. and Canada which have benefited hugely from oppressive, violent, and generationally damaging practices such as enslavement and the genocidal killings of and ongoing policies against Indigenous peoples, have a particular duty to do so. 

It is within such a history of oppression, especially by western countries, that global aid programs should be understood. They have the power to re-distribute wealth and prosperity to those who have been robbed of it, and this is why the global community must react with decisiveness to make up for the loss in U.S. funding and extend programs where possible. Considering their history of benefiting economically due to the oppression of other nations, developed nations have a particular obligation and capacity to bring about meaningful change, especially in the sphere of climate adaptation which has been largely ignored by USAID. 

Importantly, and most unfairly, the countries most affected by climate change are those who have historically contributed the fewest emissions. Europe has contributed 22 per cent of global cumulative emissions, giving it a strong imperative to help smaller, less developed countries adapt to and thrive in a changing earth system. Additionally, eco-racism has soared in recent decades with developed countries bringing about widespread ecological damage in the developing world. Ghana, for example, has become the dumping ground for the fast fashion industry, causing massive water pollution. 

To address these issues, European nations can learn from the slew of serious issues with USAID that actually damaged long-term prospects for recipient countries. For one, despite a range of critically important investments, aid is often delivered with only short-term immediate economic growth in mind. Some of the U.S. government’s aid to Haiti, for example, supported low-wage garment factories instead of the kinds of sustainable agriculture that would help make the country self-sufficient and less reliant on food imports. 

Perhaps more importantly, the question of who receives aid is a highly contentious one. Billions of dollars of USAID funding have been funnelled towards countries with pro-U.S. authoritarian governments. This is not to say that people should be punished for the actions of their unelected governments, but understanding why and how aid is distributed to some regions more than others is crucial to understanding how aid agencies can work more equitably in the future. Trump’s recent push to sign a $500 billion USD ($721 billion CAD) minerals deal with Ukraine in return for a peace deal is a dangerous message that U.S. support always comes at a price. Modern aid agencies must use these failures as a blueprint for what not to do.

This is not to say that USAID should not exist. It should, and the decision to remove it will ruin the lives of many. To counter its loss, the rest of the world, and Europe in particular, must act boldly by restructuring and increasing funding for aid agencies to ensure that historic ills delivered on developing countries do not go unaddressed. Their impacts are being felt to this day and will continue to do so unless dramatic changes are made.

Commentary, Opinion

Point Counterpoint: A debate on pro-Palestine protest tactics 

by Daniel Miksha, Yusur Al-Sharqi on

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Aggressive protest methods may alienate moderates, and make for less effective movements

Daniel Miksha

Over the past year, persistent protests played out on McGill campus in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Though smashed windows, encampments, and sod-pulling make headlines, some of these protest tactics alienate more politically moderate members of the McGill community, resulting in a weaker activist movement overall. 

I suspect a large block of the student body is passive with regards to pro-Palestinian groups on campus not due to a lack of sympathy for the suffering of Palestinians, but because they’re uncomfortable with the way protests in solidarity with Palestine are conducted.

To earn the support of moderates and form a more impactful political force, activists need to explicitly centre the humanitarian destruction wreaked by Israel’s campaign in Gaza, and be wary of using actions and language that can be misinterpreted or make people defensive.

Slogans like ‘Globalize the Intifada’ and ‘All the Zionists are Terrorists’ do not communicate the fact that the IDF killed at least 13,000 Gazan children since Oct. 7 of last year, nor the fact that Gaza has the highest rate of infant malnutrition globally. For many, the messaging associated with campus protests can either be impenetrable or easy to misconstrue. By contrast, messaging that highlights the gravity of the human suffering unfolding in Palestine appeals directly to the conscience.

Furthermore, being a McGill student is a significant part of a diverse set of students’ identities, and activists should capitalize on the fact that our identity as McGillians unites us. Instead of chalking slogans like ‘McKKKill’ on the Roddick Gates, bringing some students’ identities as McGillians inadvertently under threat, activists should use slogans like ‘McGillians united for Palestine’.

If activists want to build the popular support needed to produce tangible change, they need to meet students where they’re at. Potentially divisive slogans need to be swapped for precise messaging, and opaque ideological language needs to give way to simple appeals to humanity. When so many lives are at stake, it’s irresponsible to risk alienating people sympathetic to the cause

Disruption is the essence of effective protest

Yusur Al-Sharqi

The argument that confrontational protest tactics alienate moderates assumes that the approval of the politically passive should dictate activism. But how many of these so-called moderates were engaging with the cause before disruptive protests took centre stage?

Pro-Palestinian activists at McGill and broader Montreal have engaged in peaceful resistance for years, holding demonstrations, raising funds, and organizing educational events. The encampment is a prime example. If peaceful and palatable messaging were enough, the killing of over 30,000 Palestinians—including more than 13,000 children—would have already moved institutions and “moderates” to action. Instead, universities like McGill remain complicit, continuing partnerships with weapons manufacturers and refusing to disclose investments, while “moderate” students continue to disengage.  It seems to me that the discomfort that “moderates”  feel is not a discomfort with protest tactics but an apathy to the human suffering that is taking place—otherwise, they would be at the peaceful fundraisers, marches, and book talks.

The debate over protest tactics for Palestine is not new, especially within the Arab community. Many Palestinians themselves reject aggressive demonstrations, often out of fear of reinforcing stereotypes or alienating potential allies. However, experts argue that, once initial outrage fades, aggressive protest tactics end up receiving the most attention, and subsequently result in long-term action. History—and the present—shows that moderation has rarely been enough to achieve justice. Anti-apartheid activists were criticized for being dangerous. Suffragettes were labelled extremists. Yet in every case, history vindicated those who refused to cater to the sensitivities of the “neutral.”

Realistically, the protestors’ goal is to catch the attention of McGill’s Board of Governors and emphasize the urgency of the issue—not necessarily to persuade the majority of students to support their cause. In fact, numbers don’t seem to be a problem at all: The SSMU Policy Against Genocide secured the support of 71 per cent of student voters and saw the highest voter turnout of any SSMU election in recent history.

To be clear, I am not condoning violence nor destruction—but I do think that it’s cowardly to be more outraged by the vandalism of buildings than by the murder of thousands of innocent people. As The Tribune has written before, “Student protest is meant to disrupt the status quo,” and at some point, demanding attention through disruption is necessary.

McGill’s administration will not change when students politely ask (news flash: they’ve tried that). It will change when its normal functioning is made impossible—or, at the very least, more difficult. Activists do not need to “meet students where they’re at” when where they are at is a place of inaction. 

Off the Board, Opinion

 Solo side quests are self-care

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In my first year of university, I saw crowds of first-years playing games, eating snacks, and sporting matching Frosh t-shirts, aware that I didn’t have one. Over dinner, a friend said, “I’m worried you’ll be lonely this weekend.” 

“No,” I responded with a smile. While I appreciated the care and concern, I planned to use the time to explore the city. I’d already filled my schedule with solo trips to Verdun Beach and the Biodome.

While my choice to abstain from Frosh partly revolved around the event’s hefty price tag, it really centred on my obsession with solo trips. I love spending my afternoons meandering Old Port and adding new shops to my list. Wandering around the base of Mont Royal in autumn. Beyond a nice break from school and work, my random “side quests” give me a sense of self-fulfilment. Walking towards a destination I’ve chosen or completing a “challenge” that I’ve set for myself allows me to accomplish personal ambitions, even if they are small. My solo trips drive me to engage with the world around me, instead of being in a bubble at home or school. Ultimately, the objective of a good side quest is to feel a sense of peace. To step out of my hectic busy life and spend some me-time.

The internet, it seems, has recently fallen in love with the concept of the side quest. The term comes from video gaming, where a player is allowed diversions irrespective of the game’s main objective. From that original definition, the term has since grown to mean any fun, purposeful activity that doesn’t align with our work or school lives.  Side quests can be in the form of projects like learning a new language or crocheting a hat, but they don’t necessarily have to be productive. Aimlessly strolling through your local library—no goal in mind—works too. 

On social media, many creators will vlog their trips to the park, painting, arcade, beach, and more. Usually, those side quests will be completed with friends. Mini-adventures with friends connect us in ways that simply can’t be done online or in a professional setting. Yet as side quests bond us to our friends, solo side quests bond us to ourselves. One doesn’t need a group of friends to play in the snow, look through shops, or go out to the movies. Doing common, social adventures in solitude is freeing—the only person I need to experience fun and relaxation is myself.  Additionally, side quests often incorporate valuable self-care practices like exercise, fresh air, and time away from screens.

This isn’t to say that doing side quests on one’s lonesome can’t be lonely. On my fifth self-picnic in the span of one summer month, I started to go a bit nuts. It felt like the perfectly shady spot I’d found and the baked cookies I made were going to waste if I was the only one enjoying them. Not to mention how distressful it can be to stew in your thoughts for a day. Yet feeling comfortable in solitude is a side quest in itself, and a rewarding one. Through side quests, I get to direct my own adventures and explore places I might never have gone if I were with a group. It made me realize that treating myself to a nice experience is just as important as sharing it with friends. In fact, it has made me appreciate moments spent with others even more because the memories that would typically be mine alone are now shared amongst my friends.

As a student, I’m forced to spend a lot of time by myself—for homework, studying, and daily commutes—but through solo side quests, I’ve been able to embrace the solitude. Being alone isn’t “sad” but a necessary part of our lives, and I might as well have fun doing it. So, if you want to take that trip, go to that restaurant, see that movie, or embark on your first spring picnic, don’t be afraid to do it by yourself.

Letters to the Editor, Opinion

Letter to the Editor: The mission of McGill Security Services 

by Abe Berglas on

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Last week, The Tribune reported on the detention of a University Affairs (UA) staff member. In the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM)’s report of events, they wrote that an armed guard “attempted to question her and said that he would break her camera while refusing to identify himself or tell her what she was accused of.” 

The mission statement of Campus Public Safety is to “make McGill a place that is safe, and to provide an open environment that fosters learning and education.” It is a commendable mission. In light of this mission statement, students should be able to go about lawful activities without being threatened with a gun. The Dec. 11 detention of a UA staff member threatened the safety of a McGill community member and those nearby. It is the responsibility of Campus Public Safety to protect the McGill community from external, aggressive armed parties like these.  

My staff member reported that she was not allowed to leave the McConnell Engineering Building because she refused to show her McGill ID. After requesting to see any documents that mandate the presentation of student ID in this scenario, the Campus Public Safety Operations Manager said no security services documents can be shared. 

I submitted an access to information (ATI) request about the Security Services’ Standards, Policy & Procedures Manual, including a document that had already been released to SSMU in 2017 in a previous ATI request. McGill withheld the entire manual, even the section that had been previously disclosed.  

The Campus Public Safety site has changed since March 2024. All staff names have been wiped, making the ‘Senior Director’s message (previously signed by Pierre Barbarie) especially meaningless. Since February 2024, names have been removed from the description of ‘Our team’ in the ‘Contact Us’ section. The positions of Administrative Coordinator (Security Services), Operations Manager (Security Services, Downtown Campus), Supervisor (Investigations and Community Relations), Manager (Physical Security Systems), and Associate Director (Environmental Health and Safety) have been removed entirely, making them uncontactable, presuming they still exist.

Finally, a new section has been added to the site: ‘Agent Engagement.’ It says, “Note that agents will produce identification upon request unless there is an estimated risk to their safety. If you have a concern or wish to file a complaint about our services, please complete the online Complaint form or email [email protected].”

Upon request by a SSMU employee, the Bureau de Sécurité Privée (BSP), the regulatory body that governs private security in Quebec, confirmed that when McGill guards refuse to show a license upon request, they are breaking the BSP regulations and should be reported. 

While a complaint form has been in place for years, its existence is not well known. Finding the form is no easy task—on the Campus Public Safety website, one must click on ‘Report an Incident’ for the ‘File a complaint’ menu to appear. When my staff member filed a complaint about her detention, she received a message stating that she would “receive a reply from the Associate Director/or designate by email confirming that a review of [her] complaint [was] underway in a period of no less than 48 business hours,” but she never heard back.

In 2022, the blurb about Security Services read, “[t]he Security Services Team strives to create and maintain a safe campus experience for students, staff, faculty and visitors. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us. We are here to serve the McGill community.” The 2024 version read: “We offer our services on a 24-hour basis to all members of the McGill community. Our agents patrol the campus, manage access, transport students and staff with disabilities as well as respond to incidents and emergencies.” The difference in the self-description of security services from 2022 to 2024 encapsulates a change in mission from community care to one that positions itself against students, treating them as potential criminals rather than essential stakeholders.

According to Provost Christopher Manfredi and Vice-President (Administration and Finance) Fabrice Labeau, McGill does not train its private security contractors on university policies such as the Charter of Students’ Rights, drawing rightful concern from students. But the first McGill security agent to arrive on the scene also reprimanded my staff member for refusing to leave, even while she was being detained and pinned to the wall. Security services are protecting abusive agents—including agents belonging to outside parties—at the cost of student safety.

When students complain about a heightened security presence, they are worried about their physical safety. While other universities’ security departments provide a range of services, including first aid, travel accompaniment, and site security assessment—resources that foster links between the community and security—McGill shirks these resources onto student groups. Those not covered by SSMU don’t exist at all. An outsider assaulting a SSMU staff member, and the subsequent involvement of McGill agents, is an opportunity to address students’ mistrust of security services. It is an opportunity to commit to a fresh approach to campus safety. But instead, our questions and concerns go unanswered.

Abe Berglas is the Vice President University Affairs of SSMU

News, SSMU

Students vote to make VP Finance a hired position, cut VP Sustainability and Operations role

by Eliza Lee, Olivia Ardito on

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After extending the voting period for two weeks, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) closed polls for the 2025 Winter Referendum and Executive Election on the evening of March 21 with a voter turnout of 15.7 per cent. Polls were originally slated to close on March 7, but SSMU extended them for an additional week on March 7 and again on March 14 because the vote had failed to meet the required quorum of 15 per cent. 

All nine of the referendum questions passed, including three changes to the SSMU Constitution.

Among these was an amendment that stands to make the Vice-President (VP) Finance hired by the SSMU Board of Directors, rather than elected by students. The Board would use a referendum vote to decide whether or not to ratify an appointed candidate. SSMU put forth the motion in hopes of ensuring that experienced and qualified candidates take on the VP Finance role. The question passed, with 87.7 per cent of voters casting a “Yes” vote.

SSMU President Dymetri Taylor explained in a written statement to The Tribune that as there is not enough time to hold a referendum to ratify the hiring of the VP Finance this year, ratification will likely be done through the SSMU Legislative Council. When asked about how SSMU will ensure that ratification by referendum vote runs smoothly in the future, Taylor reported that they will seek to combat low voter turnout by introducing incentives for students to vote. Taylor found that this strategy proved effective towards the end of the Winter referendum and election voting period. In SSMU email blasts reminding students to vote, there was a line explaining that if students voted, they would recieve access to Grammarly, Udemy, Antidote, and Headspace. He stated this incentive brought in 200 voters.

The second constitutional amendment sought to eliminate the position of VP Sustainability and Operations, and to merge the responsibilities of this role with other executives. Citing the role’s overlap with other executive positions, SSMU believes this measure will save $42,000 CAD and increase the responsibilities of the VP Internal to align with the workload of other executives. The question passed with an 83.6 per cent “Yes” vote. 

Taylor noted that although the majority of SSMU executives are overworked, this issue stems from the bureaucratic, complex, and time-consuming nature of operations at the student union, rather than the number of duties officers are assigned. 

“The issue is not the responsibilities, but how the SSMU is organized as a not-for-profit corporation,” Taylor wrote. “Thus, the summer will be a period in which we’ll be focused immensely on reorganizing how the SSMU is structured, involving Legislative Councillors more in all matters of the society, and updating the archaic functions that the SSMU still possesses.”

Hugo-Victor Solomon, VP External of SSMU, acknowledged the validity of concerns that the amendments to the executive team could be anti-democratic, but emphasized the role students can play in creating change at the student union by getting involved.

“To these critics, I say: join a SSMU committee. Run to be a legislative [councillor]. Attend general assemblies—make your voice heard,” Solomon wrote. “What really brings change […], isn’t the number of executive positions, it’s who is in those positions, who is supporting them as their part-time staff, whether they meet their mandates or not. An edit to a piece of paper or a PDF is a good place to start, sure, but it’s not the driving factor—we are.”

Finally, 81.1 per cent of voters cast a “Yes” ballot to remove Section 1.3 from the Constitution, which reads, “The preamble shall form an integral part of the Constitution.” SSMU claims that this sentence makes it vulnerable to litigation, as it enables parties to claim SSMU is in violation of its Constitution if the student union infringes upon any values listed in the preamble. 

For Solomon, the removal of this clause was “long overdue.” 

“[T]his was a moment where we realized for ourselves that this was an issue with clear legal and practical parameters that could be corrected with a number of words—barely a sentence—which had the potential of saving the society money on vexatious litigation, and putting power back in the hands of students,” Solomon wrote. 

Students also voted in the incoming SSMU executive team for the 2025-2026 academic year. Despite recently facing calls for impeachment, President Taylor ran unopposed for re-election and won, receiving 74.6 per cent of votes.

Dylan Seiler and John Vogel were competing for the role of VP Finance. Seiler won with 54.6 per cent of the vote, 21.6 per cent more than Vogel. Seiler ran on a platform to improve financial accessibility, transparency, and efficiency within SSMU, specifically by addressing the understaffing of various committees under the VP Finance portfolio, such as the Funding Committee.

Seiler wrote that it was a privilege to be elected as VP Finance. 

“I look forward to carrying out the promises that I laid out in my campaign platform, over the next 12 months,” Seiler wrote. “I will mandate fiscal responsibility within the SSMU, reduce wasted student dollars, and create more transparency to show exactly where your tuition money is going.”

Kareem El Hosini ran unopposed to fill the vacant VP Sustainability and Operations seat and won with 82.4 per cent of votes. However, as the amendment to the Constitution passed, this position will be removed and El Hosini will not take office. El Hosini explained to The Tribune that the lack of voter engagement is SSMU’s responsibility to address, and is something that he hoped to tackle in the role. 

“People don’t care enough to vote as a direct result of how the SSMU has been operating. Things should definitely change within the SSMU,” El Hosini wrote. 

Hamza Abu-Alkhair and Raihaana Adira competed for the vacant VP Student Life seat. Abu-Alkhair is currently the SSMU Director of Clubs and Services and is undertaking the responsibilities of the position. Abu-Alkhair won with 52.0 per cent of votes, 10.3 per cent more than Adira.

Abu-Alkhair plans on spending the summer working out built-up back-end issues to prepare for the coming school year. 

“Some aspects of my platform are going to heavily depend on the summer, and if I plan accordingly I’ll be able to continue the work on the guidebook that will house most of my ideas to serve as a reference for the clubs and services,” Abu-Alkhair wrote.

Seraphina Crema Black and Jaanashee Punjabi ran for VP External. Crema Black won with 51.4 per cent of votes, 10.4 per cent more than Punjabi received. 

Punjabi expressed the importance of the new executive team supporting all students by reflecting their interests in the upcoming year. “I’m obviously a bit disappointed about not winning but I look forward to seeing all the work the upcoming executive council will carry out and I wish them an amazing year ahead,” Punjabi wrote.  

Crema Black declined The Tribune’s request for comment.

Incumbent Zeena Zahida was re-elected as VP Internal, receiving 88.5 per cent of votes. Susan Aloudat, who ran unopposed, was elected as VP University Affairs with 86.3 per cent of votes.

Aloudat expressed relief over the election meeting quorum as the new team can get to work for the student body. 

“I’m very satisfied with the results. The team seems great. I’m excited to do some great work with them next year,” Aloudat wrote. 

Alongside the constitutional amendments, the renewal of the $1.50 CAD semesterly Indigenous Equity Fee passed with a 74.3 per cent “Yes” vote. This fee funds the salary of the Indigenous Affairs Commissioner, the work of the Indigenous Affairs Committee, and supports projects by and for Indigenous student groups. 

The question concerning the creation of a Francophone affairs fee passed with a 55.9 per cent “Yes” vote, which will fund francophone initiatives and opportunities for students to learn French through the Francophone Affairs Committee. This comes after voters rejected a question on the Creation of a Contribution to Support Francophone Affairs in the Fall 2024 referendum. 

Students also voted to renew the SSMU Menstrual Health Project Fee, a $2.40 CAD per semester fee. The project distributes free menstrual projects in campus washrooms and residences through a monthly pick-up service. VP University Affairs Abe Berglas expressed that they were “unsurprised” with the fee’s renewal, noting that it will enable the project’s team “to keep working and slowly expanding their reach.”

Other questions that passed included the renewal of TVM’s fee, an increase to SSMU’s Safety Services Fee going towards DriveSafe, and the creation of a fee for Élèves des Champs.

Basketball, Sports

Let the Madness begin: 2025 NCAA Basketball Tournament predictions

by Ethan Kahn on

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March Madness is the premier college sporting event of the year. Sixty-eight squads in both the men’s and women’s tournaments will be looking to etch their names in college basketball lore. With unpredictable upsets and exciting endings sure to come, The Tribune outlines its picks for the winning team, player of the tournament, and Cinderella story for the men’s and women’s brackets days before the tournaments’ start. 

Men’s Player of the Tournament: Cooper Flagg (Forward, Duke)

Is this a boring pick? Yes. Is it the right one? Also yes. Nobody in college basketball has been in the same stratosphere as Duke’s freshman phenom Cooper Flagg. The 6’9” forward has been nothing but stellar for the number one-ranked Blue Devils. This season, Flagg averaged 18.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists on 48.8/36.8/83.0 per cent shooting splits. Before he goes number one overall in the summer’s NBA Draft, the Duke faithfuls will be counting on Flagg to lead their squad to their first national title since 2015.

Cinderella: Colorado State (25-9, #12 seed)

If you are not an avid college basketball fan, you have probably not heard of Nique Clifford. Now is the time to get familiar. Clifford is leading the Rams in points, assists, rebounds, and steals and bringing them to a Mountain West Conference championship. Colorado State is ranked higher than their opponent Memphis in statistical wizard Ken Pomeroy’s rankings, and Memphis will likely be without guard Tyrese Hunter. If Hunter does not play, this one could get ugly quickly.

Men’s Champions: Duke (31-3, #1 seed)

It is hard to find a safer bet to progress to at least the Elite 8 in this year’s tournament than Duke, the ACC’s regular season and conference tournament champions. Cooper Flagg will (deservedly) get most of the attention, but point guard Kon Knueppel and big man Khaman Maluach will be crucial to the Blue Devils’ championship hopes. The one question mark is Flagg’s health—he went down with an ankle injury in an ACC tournament game and did not return for the rest of the tournament as a precaution. If Flagg is not at his best, guard Tyrese Proctor will have to carry some of the scoring load with his high energy and three-point shooting.

Women’s Player of the Tournament: Hannah Hidalgo (Guard, Notre Dame)

Notre Dame sputtered across the line to end their regular season campaign, losing three out of their last five games. If they are to get back to their mid-season form that saw them beat title contenders UConn, Texas, and USC, Hidalgo will be the key. The 5’6” New Jersey native was fourth in the country in scoring and anchors one of the best backcourts in the tournament alongside Olivia Miles and Sonia Citron. The Fighting Irish’s hunt to be the fourth #3 seed to win the NCAA championship rests on their All-American guard’s shoulders.

Cinderella: Vanderbilt (22-10, #7 seed)

Admittedly, upsets are much more infrequent in the women’s tournament. The first round is often a less chaotic affair. Seeds 7 through 16 have only won 31 per cent of their matchups. One team to watch out for is the #7 seed Vanderbilt Commodores, led by stellar freshman Mikayla Blakes. If they are victorious in their opener against #10 seed Oregon, they will likely have an intriguing showdown with Duke for a chance to advance to their first Sweet Sixteen in over a decade. If Blakes can overcome the Blue Devils’ staunch defense, Vanderbilt will play spoiler.

Women’s Champion: Southern California (30-2, #1 seed)

The Trojans come into the NCAA Tournament as the team to beat. Led by sophomore All-American JuJu Watkins and prospective first-round pick Kiki Iriafen, USC fans will be hoping to avenge their Big Ten tournament Championship loss to in-state rival UCLA. Southern California’s path to the Final Four is not easy, with potential showdowns with Southeastern Conference superpower LSU or scrappy underdogs NC State in the Elite Eight. Any of the one seeds have a great chance at claiming the title, but none of them have a duo as talented as Watkins and Iriafen. That is why the feeling in Los Angeles is championship or bust.

Art, Arts & Entertainment, Fashion

Romancing Medievalism in the modern world

by Annabella Lawlor on

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Candlelight contours and illuminates the deep reds of opalescent stained glass, the candle’s bearer traversing the vacuous shadows of the castle’s towering walls. Its gothic portals and stone arcades stand overgrown in twirling vinery and moss. Inside hangs a pastoral tapestry of enchanting animals: Unicorns, leopards, and quails. Dress fabric so sumptuous that one could get lost in its drapery as if traversing a tall meadow. The jewel-toned brocade, acanthus, floral, and vegetal pattern, accentuates its meticulous ornament with gilded needlework. An extension of the feminine face, the hennin, covers the hair, elongating the smooth forehead to new heights in its pointed, upward length. Metal clanging of chainmail helms, jewellery, and armour. Templar knights, serene maidens, glistening swords, flower crowns, a lute. The romance of the Middle Ages has been reborn once again, with the visual lexicon of Medievalism continuing to project its idyllic vision into the contemporary world.

In the past several months, Medieval Aestheticism has found its way into popular culture. Chappell Roan, the acclaimed singer and “Midwest Princess,” walked the VMAs red carpet in a loose-fitting, gauzy dress, faded green velvet robe with embroidered borders, and armoured leg plates. Carrying a sword and later donning full armour for her performance, she embodied the role of a medieval warrior. Earlier this year, she even wore a hennin—typical of the medieval feminine elite—to accept her award at the Grammys. Though not entirely Chappell’s doing, her historically situated fashion sense likely influenced Pinterest’s 2025 “Castlecore” trend forecast. 

However, fashion aesthetics have not been the only modern utilization of the Medieval; there is clearly a widening interest in the overarching themes of this early past. In January, director Baz Luhrmann opened Monsieur, a medieval-themed bar in New York’s East Village, to great acclaim. This is a clear departure from more playfully adapted historical venues such as taverns with barrelled beer taps and suburban castle-restaurants for combinatory joust-eating. Instead, Luhrmann adapts a more sombre style—dramatic candlelight, ornamental tilework, and vaguely religious imagery.

In a whole new realm, the Swedish electronics company teenage engineering released the EP-1320 medieval, a sampler loaded with, according to the website, “magical melodies, sultry songs and bubonic beats.” With gothic script and a beige frame, as if a parchment transmitting melodies to its beholder, the EP-1320’s release indicates a monumentally diverse appropriation of the Middle Ages—one that fuses technological modernism with the sobriety of an illuminated manuscript. 

In the essay collection, Whose Middle Ages?, academic medievalist David Perry writes, “We allow periods to take shape in our cultural imagination when they serve a purpose when we use them to define a present against its various pasts, whether through assertions of affinity or otherness.” The choice to embrace certain aspects of the Medieval past is indicative of the current state of the world, for society adopts—and thus adapts—the past as a way of imbuing cultural agency into its history. The notion of a revival can never reenact the full truth, for culture selects certain historical elements which aid it in understanding itself in its contemporary present. This can result in a serious abridging of the past, upholding its lexicon of historical inaccuracy resulting from romanticization, eclecticism, and systemic erasure. With limited documentation of the Middle Ages, the projections of its world as one of fantastical, pastoral, and even biblical proportions have altered its modern perceptions. The past as a venue for contemporary interpretation, though implemented on certain levels as a false construction of Europe’s “whiteness” and a self-aggrandizing myth of origin, is allowing the Middle Ages to be reclaimed as landscapes for feminine agency.

There has been a greater emphasis on the gloomy, more gothic aspects within the Popular Medieval. Dior exhibited their 2025 Cruise Collection in the garden of a Scottish medieval castle. With dark tartans and armoured bustiers, the collection retreats into the ruinous shadows of looming stonework, the muddy soles of handmade leather shoes, of a maiden, eternally condemned to a cloistered life in a tower. These garments are indicative of a growing resurgence of the aesthetics of warfare and the craft of chainmail. In putting feminine figures into structured garments, reminiscent of a soldier’s impenetrable armour, they rewrite the medieval history of masculine fortitude into a narrative of feminine authority. 

Chainmail has entered popular culture as a status symbol of power, dominance, and resolve. The practice of its creation has even resumed, growing alongside the rising popularity of Joan of Arc’s status as a divine source of feminine agency. For multidisciplinary artist Amy Lang, her exploration of the chainmail medium has allowed a greater reflection on the history of the craft itself. 

“It was about trying to figure out if the process of doing or making art can help us understand a little bit more about the art itself,” Lang stated in an interview with The Tribune. 

Lang has searched the past, adopting this early blacksmith technique into modern styles, such as chokers, jewellery, and skirts. The craft acts both as a study and escape, as Lang weaves new meaning into its wire, centuries after its use in the Middle Ages. Her metalworks are astounding examples of this cyclical reconception of the Medieval, through reinterpretation, cultural reassertion, and a new imbuement of meaning.

“I think there is generally a turn towards escapism in whatever small ways you can get,” Lang said. “I tend to find there’s this Neo-Luddite return to simple crafts […] for the purpose of making ornament that makes you feel like you’re part of a slower time.”

In exploring these traditional crafts and adopting the aesthetics of the past, society seeks a desire to feel connected to one’s belongings, now considerably reproduced in our post-industrialist world. The Victorian revival of Medievalism came at a time directly following the Industrial Revolution. A sense of disenchantment with mass production and placelessness among the steel frames of the new world led artists to retreat into the past to placate these plain landscapes of modernism. Pre-Raphaelite artists explored through history painting the notion of the pastoral medieval identity—one at peace with the natural landscape, living amongst the opulent flora, engaging in chivalric love affairs. They interpreted medieval tales and conventions, like The Lady of Shalott—adapted from a Tennyson poem of the Arthurian story—and La belle dame sans merci, drawing from the eponymous Keats work. These pieces, almost otherworldly in their natural beauty, were perhaps a physical projection of the self into luscious nature, as the public longed for an escape from enforced modern identity.

Michael Van Dussen, professor in McGill’s English department, and a medieval scholar and specialist in manuscript studies, spoke with The Tribune about the production of medieval manuscript culture.

“There’s this connection with the people who produced it. You have no idea who they are, or necessarily were, but you know that a human being delicately did [this],” Van Dussen noted, describing a laid-out 15th-century Book of Hours. 

Adorned with heaps of page-caressing marginalia, the vegetal motifs illuminate its gold leaf adornments, shifting with every stroke of light. It’s wonderfully powerful to witness up close, with its hundreds of pages hand-drawn by a workshop of artisans.

“When it’s all bespoke, like this—you could have 500 copies of the same text—every single one would be different. It would be utterly and numerically unique,” Van Dussen said. “That’s because every element is produced by hand. People make mistakes or they make different choices. They’re all going to be unique.”

The contemporary retreat into medievalism, I propose, is again, a direct product of the modern disenchantment with industrial practices that have rendered artisans powerless in the state of machine-reproduction. With the emergence of machine-based practices, such as AI art and fast fashion, our world feels an inexplicably lost chasm of the self, as we’ve drifted even further from pastoral connection since the Industrial Revolution. Perhaps these aesthetic adoptions are symptomatic of the temporal resemblance to a post-plague reimagining of newness and hope; or perhaps it’s the way modern people oppressed by billionaires in the American political system mirror peasants’ suppression by feudal landowners with absolute control. This retreat into the medieval, while simultaneously an insertion of feminine and queer narratives into the past, is a cry for help. 

To feel disillusioned with the world is to feel disillusioned with the self. This romanticization of underconsumption—a cyclical resurgence—is hypocritical in its capitalization on pre-industrial aesthetics. We wander imaginative open fields in loose-fitting costumes, with chivalric loves, because modern society’s shortcomings have made this a fantastical impossibility.

Sports

McGill hosts 2025 Jesters Canadian University and College Squash Championships

by Zain Ahmed on

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McGill University Squash made history on March 14-16 by hosting the Jesters Canadian University and College Squash Championships, an event that shattered previous participation records and showcased the university’s growing influence in collegiate squash. 

The three-day tournament, organized by McGill Men’s Captain Mo Kamal in partnership with Squash Quebec, drew 77 participants from across Canada, nearly tripling last year’s attendance of 25 players. This turnout blew the 2023 tournament—which got cancelled due to lack of interest—out of the water. Most impressively, this year’s event featured both men’s and women’s draws at the Open, A, and B levels. This is a significant improvement from last year when no women’s category was offered.

“We had players from [Prince Edward Island], Manitoba, [University of British Columbia], everywhere,” Kamal said in an interview with The Tribune. “Some schools sent their coaches too, and there were people watching—it was truly a spectacular event.”

The tournament proved triumphant for McGill, with three students claiming national championships in their respective divisions. Kamal captured the men’s open title, Sarah Aki won the women’s open category, and Aly Gaber secured the men’s B division championship. This marked the first time in tournament history that players from the same school won both the men’s and women’s open divisions. 

For Kamal, who recently began competing on the professional circuit and is currently ranked 495th in the world, the victory was particularly meaningful. 

“It’s my first national title since I was 12, so it also meant more because I was able to win it at home,” Kamal said.

Women’s Captain Chloe Stoneburgh emphasized the importance of the tournament’s inclusive structure, particularly its offering of categories beyond just the elite circuit competition. Making it open to all levels drew more participants, more matches, and more even contests. 

“It was rare to have that many people to play against who are your level,” she told The Tribune. “I’ve never had so many evenly-matched matches in a weekend. It was such an amazing experience.”

Stoneburgh noted that the unprecedented women’s participation was especially impressive. 

“There were so many women playing, which is rare not only for university squash but for any level of squash,” she said. 

Beyond competition, the event strengthened relationships between Canadian university squash programs. Representatives from other schools expressed support for McGill’s ongoing efforts to join the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference, where many Canadian university squash teams compete. This past season, McGill Squash has been fighting for recognition by McGill Athletics to qualify for the OUA. With all of their successes in both the league and the weekend’s event, they are heading into next season with significant momentum. 

“Having coaches and alumni from other universities coming to us and asking how they can help us get into the OUA was really great networking,” Stoneburgh explained. “People were saying, ‘We will vouch for you,’ and honestly, that means the most to us.”

The tournament featured multiple social components, including a banquet that fostered connections between competitors. 

“Everyone was thrilled. There was such positive energy,” Kamal reflected, describing the atmosphere throughout the weekend. “The vibes were really high on and off the court.” 

Even beginners found success at the event; Kamal highlighted how one participant who had only started playing after a McGill introductory workshop this January finished third in her division.

With its record-breaking attendance, unprecedented participation from women athletes, and strong McGill performance, the tournament’s success offers promising momentum for the university’s squash program. 

The presence of coaches and supporters from established OUA programs at the event created valuable advocacy channels. These connections could provide McGill with formal endorsements when petitioning university administration and athletic governing bodies for recognition.

Kamal shed light on the emotions of the tournament’s conclusion.

“It was phenomenal, you know, the buildup of emotions plus the team cheering me on—it was special,” he said. “It just shows how far we have come and what we can continue to do.”

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