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Joke

Varsity LARP team wins regional championship

by Jack Mackland on

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Spirits were high this past weekend at Parc Mont-Royal, where the McGill Redmasters claimed victory at the Provincial Varsity Live Action Roleplay Championship (the PLARP). In a riveting final battle against reigning LARP champions the Concordia Orcs, Redmaster co-captain Dave Stipinski and his high elven broadsword, Deathslayer, dealt the winning blow to the last of the Orc forces.

“We’re really just thrilled to be here,” said an exhilarated Stipinski at the trophy ceremony, which was unfortunately cut short by scheduled park maintenance.  “It’s an honour to compete against the Orcs, and league heavyweights like Frollo Boulderspine and Khan the Nightbringer.”

It’s been a long journey for Stipinsk—or the “Roddick Assassin,” as he is known around the league—and his teammates. Although familiar to many students as an endearing if odd staple of Tam Tams, competitive LARPing has received far less public attention. The Redmasters were only given varsity status this Fall, after co-captain Erica Cowell placed a curse of eternal damnation upon McGill Athletics and Recreation. 

“Throw demonic runes into the mix, and suddenly the admin’s not so keen to play hardball,” Cowell, level 12 druid and potions major, joked.

Per the stipulations of the curse, funds were reallocated from the McGill Quidditch team, and the Redmasters made their debut into the varsity community. 

The team faced an uphill road to the championship, however. Scheduling field time at Molson Stadium between Redmen and Martlets practices proved difficult – training sessions are held primarily in Stipinski’s basement. The team also struggled to gain adequate storage space for its equipment in the McGill Sports Complex. 

“Standard issue lockers just aren’t built for full-body 12th century armor and chainmail,” Cowell explained. “And a decent longsword? Forget it.”

 Logistical difficulties were only the beginning. Disaster struck halfway through the regular season, when star player Harry Presley was suspended after pummeling a 10-year-old recreational LARPer with his fire mace. The victim, now recovered, reportedly “thought they were just playing a game” when he unknowingly wandered into a cutthroat team practice at Parc Mont-Royal. Presley allegedly mistook the minor for a particularly well-costumed dwarf, but was nonetheless suspended from the league for unsportsmanlike conduct. 

The players have also struggled with marginalization in the McGill sports community. 

“It’s not always obvious, you know, but it’s the little things,” Stipinski said somberly while sharpening his broadsword. “We didn’t get a table at the Varsity Gala, our gameshave pretty low turnout, professors still won’t accept battles as reason for assignment extensions. People don’t take us seriously as athletes. But I think our win today is really going to change the conversation.”

When reached for comment, McGill varsity football quarterback Charlie Laval wasn’t familiar with LARP as a sport, but did know Stipinski personally as “that dude that was always playing Settlers of Catan in residence”. Laval didn’t address Stipinski’s recommendation of traditional goblin battle strategy to improve the Redmen Football team’s performance. 

Up next, the underdog team hopes to continue their winning streak at the National LARP Championships in Kingston, Ontario this May. With increased funding, they’re also looking to get matching letterman chainmail.  

*This article is a work of satire and a part of our joke issue*

McGill Gym
Hockey, Martlets, Men's Varsity, Podcasts, Sports, The Sport Authority

The Sport Authority EP. 5: Life as a club athlete at McGill

by Mayaz Alam and Nicole Spadotto on

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[audiotrack title=”The Sport Authority Ep. 5: Life as a club athlete at McGill” songwriter=”Mayaz Alam and Nicole Spadotto” date=”March 26, 2016″ width=”700″ height=”200″ src=”https://24f2041bb5b609d25f1a97039f71682cc9154421.googledrive.com/host/0B9rQxTeDv2duM0FmSjBSYkZFS1k/mcgill%20athletics.mp3″ autoplay=”on”]

There are many athletes at McGill. Some are varsity athletes that represent the university, others are recreational athletes who play a sport to stay in shape or to keep their mind off of school In the middle are club athletes who play on teams such as Ultimate Frisbee, Equestrian, and Women's Lacrosse. In the fifth epidsode of the Sport Authority, Editor-in-Chief Mayaz Alam talks to staff writer Nicole Spadotto about her experiences as a varsity athlete with the Martlet hockey team and as a club athlete with the Women's Lacrosse team.

McGill, News

McGill Senate reacts to BoG decision to not divest

by Calvin Trottier-Chi on

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Following the McGill University Board of Governors’ (BoG) vote against adopting Divest McGill’s proposed actions, the Mar. 23 Senate meeting had members discussing transparency in McGill’s finances and actions. Maintaining ethical research behaviour was another topic of deliberation, as well as ensuring that no student final evaluations weighted higher than 75 per cent.

Fossil fuel divestment

The BoG announced on Wednesday that McGill will not divest from its holdings in fossil fuel industries.

Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Medicine Representative David Benrimoh raised concerns over the secrecy surrounding the BoG vote, blaming both the abrupt scheduling of the meeting and the increased security presence.

“[Divest McGill] is such a huge issue on this campus, it has raised so many concerns, that to think it was an oversight that led to such an important decision being made public immediately before the [the Senate meeting], where most likely students will come to voice their dissent is very concerning,” Benrimoh said. “I must say that the appearance of this is unfortunately in line with past appearances that led students to criticize with respect to openness and transparency.”

Provincial budget

Following the tabling of provincial budget on Mar. 17, Principal Suzanne Fortier emphasized the increased stability of McGill’s previously uncertain finances.

“This is the first time in quite a number of years that the university sector will not be asked to absorb a cut to reach a balanced budget,” Fortier said. “We are now moving to a different place and a different regime where we will see investments.”

Financial prospects were  increased investments into the university sector. The federal government allocated $2 billion to infrastructure and $95 million to the Granting Council, a government council that assigns grants to university research projects.

“As you can imagine, with the no cuts coupled with investment, it means we’re in a much better situation than we’ve been in previous years,” Fortier said. “It’s now our time and our turn to show that we’re going to be there as a strong research and academic community to be important key players in making good of these great investments.”

Revision to examination policies

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens spoke of his ongoing intention to revise the student assessment policy, introducing a motion to prohibit  professors from giving final exams weighing over 75 per cent of the grade without providing alternatives.

“This is the first step in a series of revisions we’re going to bring to the student assessment policy,” Dyens said. “The current student assessment policy does not allow for more than seventy-five percent for final exams but there were too many loopholes in that policy and we wanted to close these loopholes.”

The Faculty of Law is exempt from this policy. Dyens’ future revisions are expected to be complete by December 2017.

Ethical research

Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) Michael Di Grappa reaffirmed Senate’s stance against unethical suppliers of research materials. In particular, the focus was on responsible animal use in health and biomedical research, with Santa Cruz Biotechnology being a recent offender.

“We wrote to [Santa Cruz Biotechnology] some time ago after this issue was brought to our attention in terms of practices with respect to animal welfare,” Di Grappa said. “We are working on a supplier code of conduct that we will include in every contract going further.”

Senate also passed a motion to establish a statement on academic freedom.

“The scholarly members of the university have the freedom to pursue research and artistic creation and to disseminate their results, without being constrained by political or disciplinary orthodoxies, monetary incentives, or punitive measures as a result of their academic pursuits,” the statement reads.

Faculty of Arts Senator John Galaty clarified the reasons for creating this statement.

“Of course [there] is no intention to diminish the importance of accuracy and referral to findings in the field that we would expect any teacher or instructor to follow,” Galaty said. “[But] does this belong as part of an assertion or a statement of academic freedom? I think not.”

Creating a healthy community

The meeting closed with Benrimoh’s presentation on the Quebec Health Professional Students’ Roundtable—a newly formed group that it intends to hold an open public summit discussing Quebec health policies.

“We’re looking to hold the first true consultation on the future of Quebec health policy that this province has seen, to our knowledge,” Benrimoh said. “So if you care about health care, if you’ve ever been a patient yourself, or have families that have, or if it’s something you are peripherally interested in, please come, we’d love to see you there.”

Football, Sports

A Super Bowl cover-up: How Baylor hid its sexual assault scandal

by Joe Khammar on

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It’s official: Baylor University is the master of subterfuge. At a time when sports media is ever more scrutinous of allegations of sexual assault and misconduct by high-profile players, Baylor managed to keep its case of sexual assault away from the headlines. One of the best college football programs in the United States, Baylor managed to bury not only the sexual assault, but also hid the subsequent cover up, despite media inquiries. In October of 2013, a Baylor Bears football player—Sam Ukwuachu—allegedly raped an unnamed female student.

Despite the substantial amount of evidence against him, Ukwuachu was found innocent by the university. The school, according to the New York Times, never asked for the rape kit, which showed evidence of bleeding, redness, and violent friction. Unfortunately for the survivor, the school did not give her any recourse measures or justice. Publicly, Baylor said nothing about the incident. In June 2015, the Baylor defensive coordinator simply said that Ukwuachu had some “issues” but would play the season. It wasn’t until a week before the trial that anyone outside of the affected parties and the University even knew about the sexual assault case. Ukwuachu ultimately lost the case and was sentenced to jail for sexual assault.

Baylor only issued a response to the sentencing in the form of a letter released Feb. 7, 2016, the day of Super Bowl 50. The letter, written by Baylor President Ken Starr, states: “Last fall, Baylor University’s Board of Regents initiated a comprehensive external review of the University’s response to previous reports of sexual violence. Pepper Hamilton, one of the nation’s most experienced law firms with expertise in the institutional response to all aspects of sexual misconduct, is conducting this review.”  Starr, at least on the surface, wanted to show that he rectified the issue by improving the process by which the school handles reports of sexual assault. The problem with the letter was that Starr released it on a day when any news not concerning the Super Bowl fell into a vacuum. Starr almost certainly knew this, given his previous experience with sexual assault cases and the media coverage they receive as an investigator for the Monica Lewinsky case against former US president Bill Clinton. It is entirely plausible that he wanted to keep any acknowledgment of wrongdoing under wraps. Ultimately, it was not the university’s failure to protect its students that Starr attempted to cover up, but his own ineptitude in handling a sexual assault by one of Baylor’s athletes.  

Unfortunately, this problem does not solely exist at Baylor. In April 2012, three McGill athletes—Ian Sheriff, Brenden Carriere, and Guillaume Tremblay—were accused of sexually assaulting a Concordia University student. It is unclear to what extent McGill looked into the case, if at all. It then allowed the students to continue playing in the 2012 and 2013 seasons. The university claimed that it did not find out about the allegations until May 2013, and did not take action against the players because the case was under the jurisdiction of the Montreal police as the incident in question occurred off campus.

Once Baylor learned of the allegations against Ukwuachu, it prevented him from playing. The fact that the charges were ultimately dropped against the McGill athletes does not change the fact that the school did not conduct an investigation, or involve itself in disciplinary actions from the period of April 2012 to November 2013. Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens only began his term two months prior and was not even on the staff when the school found out about the charges, yet he was the only member of the administration to offer comment to the Tribune when the details of the case first broke. Like Baylor, McGill also showed irresponsibility and ineptitude when faced with questions surrounding its athletes.  Hopefully, in the future, issues such as these will be resolved with a greater sense of respect for the survivor and less blatant favouritism for the perpetrator.

Movies filmed at McGill
Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Spotted: McGill in the movies

by Anna St. Clair on

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When you’re trying to make it to your 8:30 a.m. lectures on a freezing cold February morning, it’s hard to imagine that McGill resembles the bowels of the Pentagon or a military base during the zombie apocalypse. Yet in the past, Hollywood has managed to transform locations around campus into exotic locations. Here are a few Hollywood films where you can spot McGill in the background. 

Brooklyn (2015) 

Brooklyn was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay at this year’s Academy Awards. While its plot and action revolve around the New York City borough of its title, the movie was actually filmed in Montreal. Producers chose Montreal because it resembles 1950s Brooklyn more than present-day Brooklyn. The film follows Eilis (Saoirse Ronan), an Irish immigrant, to New York in the 1950s. While working as a cashier, Eilis takes night classes at Brooklyn College, whose classrooms and hallways look suspiciously similar to McGill’s—becuase they are. The scenes at Brooklyn College were actually filmed in the McConnell Engineering Building. When Eilis first arrives in New York she stays at a boarding house for young women run by the cranky Mrs. Keogh (Julie Walters). Keogh enforces a conservative lifestyle on the girls, especially when it comes to bringing boys over. The interior of the boarding house was actually filmed at Alpha Delta Phi fraternity on rue Stanley. 

X Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

The seventh movie in the X-men franchise transformed the Arts Building into the 1970s Pentagon. Professor X (James McAvoy), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) take a tour of the Pentagon while hatching their plan to break Magneto out from the maximum security prison cell below. 

While Magneto’s actual prison cell is a sci-fi construction of white hallways and glass, the main floors of the Pentagon are recognizable as the Arts Building’s main and basement hallway. A department of defense seal can be seen on the floor, right outside the main entrance and Moyse Hall theatre.  On his way to steal back his helmet, Magneto marches through the Arts Building’s basement hallway, where the row of seats and outlets will be recognizable, yet seems eerie when devoid of students studying and munching on Subway. 

Warm Bodies (2013)

Warm Bodies is a new take on Romeo and Juliet for the zombie-obsessed cultural era. Nicholas Hoult plays R, a zombie who yearns for emotional connection. He finds it in Julie (Teresa Palmer), a human, and daughter of the military commander leading the fight against the zombies. Military vehicles and personnel roam the Y-intersection and the façade and interior of the Redpath Museum have been transformed into a military base and human safe-zone. The scenes take place at night, and the interior of the building has been altered—digitally and physically—so it’s a little difficult to recognize McGill. Warm Bodies does provide us with one piece of useful information: In the event of zombie apocalypse, the Redpath Museum makes for an ideal shelter. 

Get Smart (2008)

Steve Carell plays Max Smart, also known as Agent 86, the bumbling spy of secret agency CONTROL in this 2008 comedy. After being accused of being a double agent for terrorist organization KAOS, Agent 86 is put in a prison cell located in the basement of the Arts Building. The location choices of X-Men and Get Smart raise an important question: Why do movie producers see McGill and immediately think “this would be great as a prison?” After breaking out of his cell, Agent 86 drives a car through the main entrance of CONTROL headquarters, played by the Arts Building’s main entrance. Perhaps this explains the recent construction? He drives them past the Three Bares fountain before his car stalls and he hails a cab at the Y-intersection. As the CONTROL headquarters is supposed to be set in a fictionalized Washington D.C., an American flag flies on the flagpole, and a US mailbox can be spotted on the corner of the Y-intersection. 

Opinion

Zooming out on Quebec’s immigration issue

by Albert Park on

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A survey conducted in 2013 revealed that only 40 per cent of McGill undergraduates remained in Quebec after graduation. These results reflect a worrying trend in regards to the province’s ability to retain newcomers, a problem which is partly responsible for its steady decline in population growth rate. In an effort to alleviate this issue, Quebec Immigration Minister Kathleen Weil recently outlined a new policy aimed at streamlining the immigration process and improving the retention of foreign talent in the province. Parallel to Weil’s plans, proposals around immigration policies have been stirring up on the federal stage as well: Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship John McCallum has stated that the Liberal government will bring in up to 305,000 permanent residents by the end of 2016, with an increased focus on family reunification and refugee settlement.

The federal government’s decision to shift their priority from economic immigrants to families and refugees has attracted criticism. Since the main reason for economic migrants to come to Canada is in search of job opportunities, they are portrayed as benefitting the nation’s economy, which in turn will bring in more immigrants. But in the case of Quebec, the issue is not so simple due to strict language requirements. But as section 95 of the Canadian Constitution states, immigration policies are a shared responsibility between the federal and provincial governments. As such, it is possible that the federal government’s immigration policy will complement Quebec’s policy objectives­—especially given the factors that cause new Canadians to leave Quebec.

 

 

The provincial government must look to introduce other influences to make foreigners feel like they can make a permanent home in Quebec, despite initial challenges in the work field.

In discussing the topic of immigration in Quebec, the elephant in the room must be addressed: The strict language requirements. Regardless of where one stands on the province’s voracious language debates, there is no denying that a primary cause behind the drain of new immigrants in the province are the poor career prospects offered to non-French speakers, which in turn contributes to declining economic growth. Quebec has one of the highest rates of unemployment amongst immigrants at 11.5 per cent. Bearing this in mind, it is unlikely that bringing in more economic migrants, who are by definition mainly looking for improved livelihood, will boost the province’s growth rate.

Instead, in order to reconcile the steep language requirements with the need to retain more foreigners, the provincial government must look to introduce other influences to make foreigners feel like they can make a permanent home in Quebec, despite initial challenges in the work field. Foreigners will only learn French and plan to integrate into the working world once they feel ready to fully settle down in the province. Family reunification is one effective way to facilitate this.

A good example of this can be seen through international students in Quebec. International students often come to the country without their parents or partners, and some of them eventually become permanent residents of Canada as well. These students may come to Quebec for schooling; however, without a solid foundation of family members in the province, it is difficult to view it as a home, and so they see it as a stepping stone towards graduation after which they leave to another province with better economic opportunities. If these students enjoy their lives in Quebec and could sponsor their families to live in the province as well, it would provide more incentive for them to stay and build a career, boosting the retention of foreign talent. In conjunction with Weil’s plans to smooth out the integration of immigrants into the province by providing more access to French education, increased settlements of families in Quebec can be a boon for the provincial growth rate.

The federal government’s plans to bring in more refugees can also work symbiotically with the provinces’ goal to retain more immigrants. Quebecers are already doing their part to welcome new Syrian refugees in the province and to make them feel at home. Community support and engagement with newcomers is an effective way to plant a long-term desire to become a part of the province.

 

 

 

 

 

Albert Park is a U2 student in Microbiology and Immunology. He is passionate about world issues and has been a volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross for 5 years.

 

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 
Archie's pal Jughead
Art, Arts & Entertainment, Books

Pop Rhetoric: Jughead’s coming out marks the new era of Archie 2.0

by Selin Altuntur on

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After 75 years, the Archie universe is undergoing a much-needed update. In July of last year, for the first time in the comic’s history, Archie, along with its multiple spin-off series centered around specific characters, was relaunched with an aesthetic that reflected a modernized Riverdale universe with ‘edgier’ characters and storylines. Archie and his friends now look almost unrecognizable after their creators abandoned the classic drawing style that had remained largely unchanged since the comic’s debut in the 1940s. Archie’s art is sleeker and more attractive, rendering it more appealing to audiences that may not be particularly familiar with the comics and their cast of characters.

(popcultureaddictlifeguide.blogspot.ca) (popcultureaddictlifeguide.blogspot.ca)

But this overhaul doesn’t simply stop at the surface. The comic is trying its hand at tackling relevant social issues that have been thrust to the forefront of public discourse as of late.  In a recent issue of Jughead, it is revealed that the titular character identifies as asexual. Jughead’s lack of interest in dating has been central to his character since the beginning, and regularly played out in his vocal disgust of women and preference of eating to dating. However, the character was still assumed to be straight until the recent reveal, a move that was met with lots of praise on the Internet, particularly considering the pervasive invisibility of asexuality in the media. 

This isn’t the first time an Archie character has made headlines for coming out. In 2010, Kevin Keller was introduced in an issue of Veronica and came out to Jughead as gay soon after his introduction. This was pretty big for the comic at the time, as they had never included a character who had identified as anything other than straight. Keller became so popular that the creators began an entire series centered around him. however, the move was controversial, and after Keller was introduced as an adult in a Life with Archie storyline where his marriage to another man was shown, some groups called for the removal of the comic from stands at Toys ‘R’ Us. In response, a story was written in Kevin Keller about Keller facing adversity and homophobia at school.  

(tor.com) (tor.com)

It’s great to see a well-known comic adapting to the current social climate and addressing issues in a positive and thoughtful way;  however, the best thing about the inclusivity of Archie comics is that its characters are not treated as novelties—every new thing you learn about them feels natural and has a place within the story.  Although Archie comics are obviously making an effort to be contemporary, they are not doing it in a way that objectifies their characters for token diversity. Jughead’s asexuality, although a recent revelation, is not all that hard to believe. As a character, he has only ever had one relationship with another character, Ethel, and he has generally only agreed to dates in order to get a free meal. His distaste for dating and displays of sexuality have been central to his image, and his asexuality naturally fits in to the identity fans have come to love about him.   

In fact, other than an artistic overhaul and a greater emphasis on social commentary, Archie comics have not changed all that much. The characters themselves are still familiar, as is the dynamic between them. Reading a new edition of Archie or Jughead won’t be a jarring trip into a new world, it will still feel familiar to longtime fans of the comics. Perhaps this is the most admirable aspect of the comic’s rebranding: While it has developed its characters and adapted to a society in which individual sexual identity can be accepted and celebrated, it still remains close to its relatively unassuming, happy-go-lucky roots.

a, Features

Realizing the full potential of a generation

by Joy Aguilar on

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During the recent United Nations (UN) conference on climate change (COP21) last December, youth activists successfully negotiated with member states to acknowledge the importance of intergenerational equity when taking action to address climate change in the Paris Agreement.

“This is a testament to an entirely youth-driven, multi-year lobbying effort to situate the well-being of future generations as a core principle of climate policy,” Adam Hasz, member of the SustainUS youth delegation to COP21, said.

The inclusion of intergenerational participants in the Paris Agreement is one example of effective youth engagement in a UN conference. More specifically, intergenerational equity contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 13 on taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

According to the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth, Ahmad Alhendawi,the role of youth as partners will help determine the success of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“We need to engage youth as partners in development […] not to support young people as if they were a charitable thing, but we need to invest in young people because it’s a smart investment,” Alhendawi said.  “We can’t achieve the SDGs if youth are considered as beneficiaries […] there are too many to cater for. They are half of the world’s population, and in some regions like in Africa, the number of young people will continue to grow over the next 40 years.”

As part of his 2015 electoral platform, prime minister Justin Trudeau included 217 promises—one of which is to create a national youth advisory council, “consisting of young Canadians aged 16 to 24 to provide non-partisan advice to the Prime Minister on issues the country is facing.”

The implementation of a national youth advisory council is one way that young people may be involved in decision-making processes on a domestic level; however, this doesn’t account for youth involvement on an international level.

In order to shift the perception of youth as beneficiaries to partners in the international sphere, young people need to play an active role in decision-making processes that affect them, alongside governments and other stakeholders. Youth can participate in decision-making processes on an international level through the United Nations Youth Delegate Programme.

The program allows young people to represent youth perspectives from their country at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and functional commissions of the UN Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC) as part of their country’s official delegation.

Opinion

Reevaluating the pitfalls of voluntourism

by Augustin de Trogoff on

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With the first whiffs of spring weather signalling the end of the internship hunting season, many students are still searching for something to do with their summers. Many will be planning to volunteer abroad: Observers estimate the number of people that volunteered abroad in 2015 to be as high as 10 million in what is now a billion dollar industry. Many voices have lambasted so-called “voluntourism,” questioning the ethical implications behind it and the effect on the communities it purports to help. While such concerns are real, research by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) points out that volunteers are essential actors in developing countries, providing logistic support and extending the reach of otherwise strained government services. Such findings indicate that the solution to the problems surrounding voluntourism is not to dismiss it altogether. Rather, the industry needs to be rebranded—or rather de-branded—so that resources are used intelligently and effectively while prioritizing the interests of local communities. In so doing, travellers must take responsibility for where they choose to go, and with whom.

Profiting on someone’s desire to help others has undeniable ethical consequences. The requirements of marketing strategies means that idealized visions of service to poorer communities, peddled by agencies offering all-inclusive deals, are often far from the realities of what needs to be accomplished. Building schools is all well and good, but volunteers—especially students—rarely possess the appropriate skills and experience. In her viral article “The Problem With Little White Girls (And Boys),” blogger Pippa Biddle recounts a trip to Tanzania she went on with her high school class. They were tasked with building a library, but their masonry was so shoddy that each night local workers would undo the day’s work and rebuild the structure.

Thought and care on the part of volunteers and organizers would have done much to avoid this harm. Simple measures such as mandatory training and sensitizing programs for volunteers would do much to curtail exploitation. Students should be encouraged to volunteer responsibly, to do their research, and to avoid the trappings of mass-market voluntourism. Their search for a volunteering opportunity should be based both on the nature and quality of the contribution they could make, and on the experiences they could gain.

 

 

The war against voluntourism that has raged in blog posts and opinion columns has resulted in a black-and-white depiction of the issue, discouraging those who listen from getting involved at all.

There are echoes of the ‘journey to the colonies’ trope in voluntourist activities. As Rafia Zakaria explains in her piece “The white tourist’s burden,” voluntourism feeds a saviour-beggar relationship, perpetuated by the misconceived notion that other people’s problems are simpler to solve than our own. Why, ask the critics, do we not help in our own communities? It seems that the focus of volunteer trips often appears to be on one’s own experience of service rather than on the contribution made. Consider the stereotypical volunteer at an orphanage, bonding with a child only to disappear after a few days. The volunteer might leave with a more open mind and a more compassionate heart, but the child is left wondering why their new friend left. The answer to these criticisms is frustratingly straightforward: Students must realize that volunteering is not inherently good.

The war against voluntourism that has raged in blog posts and opinion columns has resulted in a black-and-white depiction of the issue, discouraging those who listen from getting involved at all. But there is value in engaging in ethical travel pursuits. Research has shown that volunteers provide some things that few other aid workers can. For example, in the IDS study, the volunteer’s status as both insider and outsider in a community is highlighted as an essential link between locals and NGOs. Volunteers can help locals fill out forms to apply for funding to build, for example, a clinic. They can also help locals understand how to effectively communicate with and get aid from their government. As clichéd as it sounds, volunteering fosters cross-cultural relationships. For students, volunteering can be an opportunity to gain valuable experience in the context of their field of study. Moreover, volunteering is often how aid workers begin their careers. Some have raised the question of whether this creates aid professionals who assume that they, by virtue of their work, can do no harm. This problem is nothing except a product of an industry that sells travel packages by playing to feelings of altruism. Eliminating such harmful side-effects has to involve efforts on the part of prospective volunteers to be conscious of their actions, and to demand that the voluntourism industry take responsibility for itself.

 

 

 
Off the Board, Opinion

Beyond the red cup: On McGill’s drinking culture

by April Barrett on

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In a weird, grown-up way, getting drunk can make us feel like little kids again, with not a care in the world and a lower capacity of physical functioning. The term ‘binge drinking culture’ is thrown around a lot at in a university setting. The definition of binge drinking is the heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time with the primary intention of becoming intoxicated. For men, this means consuming five or more drinks, for women it’s consuming four or more drinks within two hours. This definition might provoke any non-sober McGill student to feel a weird mix of recognition, embarrassment, and, finally, reclamation. Drinking to be drunk is what adolescence is all about! If not now, then when? At the same time, the semi-shame still lingers; something that can be considered pathological is an ingrained part of our lives.

Much of McGill’s social culture revolves around heavy drinking. Events like Frosh, power hours, Science Games, Faculty Olympics, Carnival, and E-week all celebrate the combination of a roomful of young, stressed-out people trying to let loose and a flowing supply of booze. In a highly demanding academic setting, excessive drinking can feel like the only leisure activity by which to utterly unwind; however, decentralizing drinking from campus life is not only achievable, it can be really fun.

 

 

Escaping ‘binge drinking culture’ can simply mean engaging in leisure activities that don’t consistently put drinking front and centre.

A good start is acknowledging that none of us have a very solid defence for binge drinking, other than a classic, ‘We’re all going to die eventually anyway!’ Everyone understands its negative consequences. Much of the motivation for binge drinking is that it breaks down inhibition. Stress alleviation is only the beginning; other side effects include confidence, social ease, increased chances of romance and a few warm, pleasant hours of forgetting your middle name. In addition to this, many first-years who come to McGill embrace the low drinking age and lack of parental supervision. What’s more, peer pressure doesn’t exist like it does in after-school specials: Binge drinking culture isn’t forced on us, it’s implicitly learned. When you see people you like having fun while drinking, you want to emulate it. Still, there remains something sad about your most treasured memories coming from moments that are really hard to remember.

The solution doesn’t have to be cutting these events, or drinking in general, out of a student’s life entirely. Escaping ‘binge drinking culture’ can simply mean engaging in leisure activities that don’t consistently put drinking front and centre. A university setting has a lot to offer other than stress and liquor—there are so many workshops, non-academic conferences, and activity-based clubs that all come with peers who have the ideas and energy to make things happen. Decentralizing drinking from student life can also happen on a more personal level. It’s surprisingly refreshing to make a little movie with your friends or form a cover band, play cards, walk up the mountain, or cook together. It’s easy for the big events to become the only time spent socializing. When these events are almost always located in a bar, club, and/or frat house, one can believe that heavy drinking and ‘important occasion’ go hand in hand.

Breaking down binge drinking culture becomes possible when you realize that a disconcertingly high blood alcohol content isn’t what makes you interesting. If you really want to­ feel like a kid again—even just for a little while—remember the activities you used to engage in, before drinking was ever a part of your life. Try emulating the imagination of an eight year old with free time, friends, and limited expertise, and, chances are, that’s when things will get really interesting.

 

 

 

April Barrett is in her second year studying Anthropology and Film. She is a Taurus.

 

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

 

 

 

 
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