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a, McGill, News

i-Week celebrates campus cultural diversity

by Emily Huang on

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From Feb. 3 to 7, McGill’s International Student Leadership Program’s (ISLP) annual i-Week celebrated cultural diversity and pluralism.  According to the International Student Development and Communication Manager of the International Student Society (ISS) and ISLP Coordinator, Caroline Guay, the design of the project was designed to provide an opportunity for students to explore diverse forms of cultural expression on campus and to broaden their intercultural awareness and understanding.  

“The ‘i’ [in i-Week] is for intercultural, international, identity, initiative,” Guay said. “It is a chance for all the groups to express their cultural identity, […] and [it] highlights the contributions of the intercultural [population on campus].”

The events took place in the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Building last Wednesday, Feb. 3. On the second floor of the SSMU Building, Muslim Students’ Association presented “The World of Islam.” This featured a corner for prayer, a table for Henna tattoos and calligraphy, a majlis, or place of sitting, for people to relax and enjoy traditional tea and refreshments. The student association also showcased Islamic art, literature, tradition, and history. 

One door down, the McGill Brazilian Students’ Association was preparing for its own “Brazilian Atelier,” featuring dance tutorials, live performances, and a feast of cakes and chocolates. Representatives from the General Consulate of Brazil to Montreal were present. 

“There are lots of misconceptions about Brazil,” said Guilherme Franzmann, a PhD student and founding member of the Brazilian Students’ Association. “This way, you […] highlight cultural features of Brazil, and people will be more knowledgeable about Brazilian culture, music, food, and dance.” 

As well as being a celebration of cultural representation on campus, i-Week served a broader educational purpose. 

“There are still stereotypes and misperceptions that exist,” Guay said. “McGill is known as an academically rigorous university.  We have the highest percentage of international students of any of the large research-intensive universities in Canada [….] The reason why we thought this [event] was important was so students [have a] chance to step outside of the academic realm and invite people into their more personal, socio-cultural realm.”

Stefan Kammerlander, a member of ISLP and a coordinator for i-Week, explained that the aim of the event series was to provide a platform for students to share their cultural backgrounds with the entire university.

“There are 18 [International Student Leaders (ISLs)] who were divided into different committees to help clubs with the process of organizing the event,” Kammerlander said. “They show what they want to show.”

With 30 clubs and associations represented, i-Week showcased the diversity of McGill’s student population. According to Guay, the series underscored how students with international backgrounds have shaped the community.

“There is a larger sense of understanding someone’s context more,” Guay said. “It breeds more interest, willingness to engage and appreciate when you understand where your classmates are coming from, what motivates them, [and] how the way they are is informed by their cultural background.”

a, Opinion

Lighting up the path to a smoke-free campus

by Albert Park on

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Between the congregation of smokers found in front of Leacock and the countless cigarette butts littered near Roddick Gates, it is not difficult to spot nicotine use at McGill. In a way, smoking is accepted as a regular part of campus life.

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), however, recently released a motion concerning the pursuit of a smoke-free campus at McGill, with a question set to be posed in the March referendum period regarding the student body’s support for the idea. Currently, the proposal includes providing cessation resources, developing outdoor smoking shelters, and other changes to achieve the ultimate goal of transitioning the university into a smoke-free campus in the next three to five years. There are 12 other smoke-free institutions in Canada.

Stepping out of McLennan for my hourly cigarette break, I mulled over SSMU’s proposal. It’s my personal choice to be a smoker, and despite the constant bombardment of health warnings and cessation ads, I am more or less ok with my habit. Yet, reading over the preliminary survey results, I realized that in the context of smoking on campus, my choice is not entirely personal; it has an impact on the entire McGill community—the majority of which are non-smokers. Despite my own addiction, I believe SSMU must do all it can to ensure that a smoke-free campus becomes a reality in a way that benefits smokers and nonsmokers alike.

Despite the results of a preliminary survey, which showed that many students favour a smoke-free campus and felt that secondhand smoke was a problem on campus, the motion was not met with a favourable response from everyone, with some students pointing out the unfeasible and unfair nature of the suggestions.

 

 

The university has a responsibility to protect their students from the harmful health effects of smoking.

The university has a responsibility to protect their students from the harmful health effects of smoking. Just because smokers willingly choose to subject themselves to harm, it should not stop non-smokers, particularly those with health concerns such as asthma, from being protected from secondhand smoke on campus.

Furthermore, the influence of smoking goes beyond the physical effect of secondhand smoke. High rates of nicotine use on campus facilitate a culture in which smoking is deemed acceptable, which can ultimately lead non-smokers to pick up the habit as well. This issue is underlined by the concept of ‘social smoking,’ which for many is the stepping stone to becoming a full-time smoker. Obviously, the social effects of cigarette use depend on the individual; however, the school should curb its presence on campus for those that may be influenced by it. In fact, Canada as a whole has made great strides in the 2000s by limiting the rate of nicotine users in the country by introducing various bans on smoking in public areas, such as in restaurants and bars.

Through Rez Project, server training, Mental Health Awareness week, and various other programs, McGill has given me many opportunities to evaluate my own life choices regarding my well-being and to think critically about how it affects the people around me. If the university, with the student body’s support, wishes to extend that influence to make an impact on my smoking habits while also making the campus experience better for everyone, I welcome the changes.

With SSMU’s current proposal, no one would be forced to quit—these programs would simply exist to aid those who are looking to do so. This is fair, as the vast majority of smokers are attempting to quit, which is no easy task. With new resources, as well as the change in the culture on campus, many smokers wishing to quit will have the means and the community support necessary to pursue the goal more effectively. On top of making the campus smoke-free, individual smokers would have the opportunity to make a change in their own lives as well.

The purpose of a post-secondary education is to provide a productive, safe environment for students to apply their knowledge in bettering their lives. Nicotine addiction is a complex issue with various implications on one’s stress and mental health in general. While smoking is already prohibited in most areas on campus, if the university wishes to enforce these rules more uniformly, they will need the student body’s input to avoid any policies that are too oppressive for smokers. To this end, SSMU, in tandem with the student body, should pursue a smoke-free campus.

 

 

 

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]

 

 

 

 
a, McGill, News

Race education workshop added to Rez Project

by Sara Cullen on

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In January 2016, a new workshop for students in McGill Residences was held for the first time, titled Rez Project: Race and Colonialism. Referred to as Race Project, the workshop was the second part of the Rez Project series,  including a segment on gender, sexuality, and consent.

Interim Resident Life Coordinator Emily Yee Clare was instrumental in the creation of the new race-based component to Rez Project.

“Although, [Rez Project] has evolved significantly since its creation 10 years ago, it was limited in scope,” Clare said. “Thus, I approached Ria Rombough in 2013 with the general idea of increasing anti-oppression programming in the Residences. After multiple conversations, the position was created through community needs assessment, proposal drafting, and by securing over $90,000 in funding from various grant sources, most notably the McGill Office of Sustainability and the Sustainability Projects Fund.”

Rez Project Coordinator Kelly Schieder, stated that the motivation behind Race Project was to start a conversation about issues surrounding race and to provide students with a vocabulary to continue this conversation.

“I think that the ultimate goals of Race Project are primarily to set a norm for open conversations around race and colonialism in [residences] at McGill, and in people’s daily lives,” Schieder said. “[Also] to provide some basic vocabulary and groundwork for taking an anti-racist approach to these issues […] to validate what indigenous students and students of colour may have experienced since arriving at McGill, and to offer some vocabulary with which to talk about their experiences; as well as to promote changes in attitudes and/or behaviour—both on an individual level, and more generally within the culture of McGill residences.”

Race Project was developed following popular demand by students and was tested in selected residences last year before being introduced to all residences in Winter 2016.  According to Schieder, it expands upon some of the lessons from the initial Rez Project. 

“We continue to expand the discussion of what the One Rule of Respect entails, and how to provide residents with the tools to foster a respectful living environment for each other,” Schieder said. “We hope that these conversations will continue beyond the workshop space.”

According to Bradley Miller, U3 Cognitive Science student and a floor fellow, Race Project provided an important opportunity for first year students to adjust to a city that may be more diverse than their previous home.

“Coming out of high schools with relatively homogeneous populations into an international urban centre like Montreal, it is crucial that first years take some time to reflect on the implicit assumptions made by their communities at home,” Miller said. “This is a momentous opportunity for students to form honest opinions and think critically about issues that their parents might not mention at the dinner table.”

Miller expressed that although the curriculum of Race Project is useful for first-year students, it is harder to set definite boundaries when talking about race and colonialism, making the execution of the workshop somewhat difficult.

“For Race and Colonialism, there are fewer instances of definite rule breaking that are addressed by the workshop,” Miller said. “Culturally appropriative costumes come to mind as a phenomenon we try to avoid in Rez, but there is a spectrum of offensiveness [….] This subtlety may have gotten a bit lost in the workshop when complex issues were boiled down to ‘racist’ or ‘not racist’ verdicts in the interest of time. I think my students may have been a bit put off by this.”

Despite this, Miller stated that the workshop was received well by the students on his floor.

“Students who identify as people of colour had a definite sparkle in their eye as they were able to speak honestly about their experience navigating public space,” Miller said. “White-identifying students who were listening were able to open their eyes a bit, if they didn’t shy away from the discomfort of talking about it.”

For Schieder, Race Project was seen as a success and that the workshop will continue to be implemented in residences in the coming years.

“As is the case with Rez Project: Gender, Sexuality & Consent, these workshops were received in varying ways, often related to students’ personal relationships to the topics,” she said. “Overall, we were delighted with how well the workshops were received, with many students expressing gratitude that these under-discussed but highly relevant issues were being prioritized in residences [….] We have high hopes for how this workshop will continue to evolve in years to come.”

Clare echoed Schieder’s sentiments.

“Race Project is really an evolving workshop that should and will be adapted from year to year in response to community needs,” Clare said, “Ultimately, we wanted to create a space for students to develop a common language on how to navigate complicated conversations relating to race and colonialism.

a, McGill, News, SSMU

A new direction for daycare at SSMU

by Zoé Rochat on

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Following several months of searching, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) has hired a new Daycare director. Zineb Mouhtam has been selected to fill the position, which has been vacant since May 2015, following the resignation of the previous director, Aline Karagioules.

The responsibilities of Daycare director have been allocated to SSMU executives, namely to President Kareem Ibrahim, posing certain difficulties. 

 “It’s not easy, there has been a lot of stuff that has built up, we’ve been getting penalties for various regulations that we haven’t been adhering to because no one is in the role to fulfill those responsibilities,” Ibrahim said. “But we are confident that we are in a better place than we have been.” 

According to Ibrahim, finding the right candidate to take over the role of director was a  challenging process.

“We spent all summer interviewing quite urgently because without [a] person in the role [of director], it was pretty bad news for the Daycare,” Ibrahim said. “We were pretty unsuccessful for a while because the position profile had changed. Previously all of the accounting for the Daycare was done by the SSMU, so our controller did it and the previous Daycare Director Aline, who was in the role for about a year, thought that it would be better to absorb those responsibilities and do it herself. Those responsibilities were never transferred back to SSMU so the role became much more difficult to attract candidates for.”

Despite these additions to the director’s profile, Mouhtam expressed her enthusiasm for taking over the role. 

“The nature of my job is diverse, [including] overall coordination and administration of the two child care licenses, management of financial and material resources: budget planning, financial statement analysis with the auditor, [and] human resources management,” Mouhtam wrote in an email to the Tribune. “With a certificate in Management of Care, and experience of over 18 years, I can tell you that early childhood represents for me a true vocation.” 

Mouhtam outlined her plans for the future of the Daycare in the coming months.

“My plans [are to] establish a quality educational program in a friendly and stimulating environment that enables children to acquire skills that will position them for success in school, working with my team to ensure quality of services for children at all levels, [and to] involve parents in the nursery,” she wrote.

Alexina Hicks, a student-parent and user of the SSMU Daycare service, commended the steps that Mouhtam has already taken to give greater recognition to the needs of the Parent Committee.

“She has made the effort to personally meet the Parent Committee and she has voiced her concern regarding the lack of parent meetings in the past due to no direction,” Hicks wrote in an email to the Tribune. “She’s open to integrating a cloth diaper service to the nursery and respects the educators’ various approaches. Ideally, when things settle down she aims to have a weekly newsletter emailed to all, to keep us in touch with happenings.” 

Vice-President (VP) of the Parent Committee Manuel Balàn explained that this academic year in particular has posed more problems for the Daycare than is typical.  

“The Daycare has a structure like no other daycare I have seen, in the sense that it is run by the SSMU, which changes president every year,” Balàn wrote in an email to the Tribune. “In normal times—when there is a person in SSMU in charge of the daycare and, most importantly, when there is a Daycare director in place—this doesn’t affect the normal running of the Daycare. Unfortunately this has not been the case the last year. 

The SSMU Daycare has seen high turnover in the position of director over the past year.  Karagioules left in May, 2015, with an interim director filling the role since then, until Ibrahim’s recent takeover of the director’s responsibilities.  Balàn noted that this has caused concern for some parents. 

“In the unstable context of the last year […] many parents have taken their kids out of the Daycare or are seriously considering doing so.”

According to Hicks, the future of the Daycare is likely to change as a result of Mouhram’s organized and progressive methodology. 

 “She does not seem to have a conservative approach to the way things can be run in the Daycare, but is also focused on the priorities established by the government—security, up-to-date paperwork,” Hicks wrote.

a, Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Pop Rhetoric: Respectability politics in “Fresh Off the Boat”

by Weiyu Dang on

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A year in, Fresh Off the Boat (FOTB) is still much of the same: An occasionally poignant portrayal of the immigrant experience tempered by whitewashed sinophilia. Take last week’s episode for example. Right before Chinese New Year, FOTB aired the first depiction of Mandarin Chinese New Year on American primetime TV. For mainland Mandarin viewers, hearing xin nian kuai le instead of Cantonese (and slightly colonial) gung hey fat choy strikes indelibly sensitive notes—a reminder that Mandarin speakers do exist in the media. Yet for all the sentiment a phrase like this stirs, matriarch Jessica Huang’s (Constance Wu) instructive explanations of Chinese New Year makes it anticlimactic. She says that the Chinese abstain from post-New Year haircuts for fear of “getting rid of any good luck [they] just received.” The translation of traditional Chinese practices into a feigned Taiwanese accent comes off as parodic and cheap fortune cookie advice. Yet, problems like these contribute to the show’s ultimate importance in the discourse on race: The question of respectability.

There is nothing exceptional about the content of FOTB for a Chinese American. The show instead thrives on factual portrayals of Chinese life. But, factual isn’t necessarily sincere, or earnest. In this distinction, FOTB elicits a contrast between an acknowledged Chinese-ness and unmitigated Chinese-ness. In the first season’s finale, Eddie (Hudson Yang), the main character, showed a moment of Chinese patriotism when another student mocked China. Yet, Eddie never appears on screen trying to better acquaint himself with what it means to be Chinese. Instead, he actively runs away from it, worshipping Shaq or lusting over his neighbour’s mother. And while it’s unfair to expect an eleven-year old to pore over Zhu Xi or Lu Xun, it is reasonable to ask viewers what Chinese-ness really is. 

The show does, however, boast an extensive list of accurate Chinese portrayals to the point where Vulture’s recaps have an “Authenticity Index.” Several watershed instances stick out: Grandma Huang (Lucille Soong) is the only exclusively-mandarin speaker on American television; Jessica tells a Jin dynasty ghost story; the Huang family eats zongzi (Chinese tamales). Though FOTB explicitly shows that Chinese Americans have a culture distinct from America, it simply lists these disconnected images. These scenes and allusions are itemized. They’re glimpses of Chinese culture, but so drowned out by school dances or Christmas that they feel as if the show has them to remind people that the Huangs are, in fact, Chinese.

Here, FOTB’s shortcomings challenge viewers to reconsider their own creation of identity. Is it okay to expect someone different to be the same? How can “same” and “different” be reconciled? With trope characterization, FOTB ultimately fails to answer these questions. Eddie is a young Chinese-American who objectifies a white girl and listens to gangster rap. His brown-nosing brothers kiss up to teachers and parents. His mother is a first generation immigrant who has the bite of a Chinese matriarch, but lacks insight on the actual issue of culture, resorting to the cryptic “Because I said so” to scare her boys. His father Louis (Randall Park) strives to become a fun-loving American steakhouse owner. They do look different and sound different, but they’re the same archetypes seen on all sitcoms. 

No one expects FOTB to provide critical revelations on race and identity. But hopefully, the show is the first step towards new media representations of East Asians on television. As a family-friendly show aimed at middle America, FOTB does raise questions, intentional or not, regarding the identity and respectability of Asian-American identity crafting. The lack of foundation in Chinese culture, the white Chinese-ness of the characters, the willful and giddy assimilation, mix and ask the viewer where exactly non-white characters and people fit. 

Were FOTB a more complex and well-written show that critically examined and deconstructed the concept of otherness, it would be hollow—it wouldn’t as much start a debate as read like a textbook. As it stands, FOTB’s faults lead to a reappraisal of the culture it intends to portray. And when viewers question its representation of culture, the show achieves its purpose.

a, McGill, News

Discussing the effects of child marriage

by William Pang on

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On Feb. 4, the Comparative Healthcare Systems Program (CHSP) invited Alissa Koski, a Doctoral Fellow at the Institute for Health and Social Policy and a PhD Candidate in the Department of Epidemiology at McGill, to present an hour-long talk on the issue of child marriage worldwide. An estimated one in three girls are married before eighteen in the developing world, with 39,000 child marriages happening every day.

 

Root causes 

 

In her speech, Koski highlighted the commonality of the practice. Despite it being classified according to several international agreements as a violation of human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, child marriages are common in developing countries around the world.  

“The highest rates come from Niger and Mali,” Korski said.  “In Sub-Saharan Africa, [child marriage] rates go up to eighty-percent of girls.”

She added that child marriage does not only take place in developing countries; children can be married under eighteen with parental consent in Canada and the United States. Reasons why this practice occurs lie both in economics—countries with the highest rates of child marriage are often among the poorest—and collective social values. 

“The reasons for marrying girls off are quite diverse,” Korski said.  “The one theme that ties them altogether is gender inequality.”

Bride price, a practice where the groom’s family transfer material possessions, usually in the form of money or livestock to the bride’s family, is a commonly used tactic to trap girls into marriage by taking advantage of their family’s economic condition.

“Frequently, when marriages fail, grooms can demand a return of the bride price in a lot of Sub-Sharan Africa,” Korski explained.  “Many girls feel trapped, and they know that their family won’t be able to return items or cash that was given at the time of marriage.”

 

Effects

 

Studies point out that child marriage leads to high lifetime fertility, multiple unwanted pregnancies and sexual violence—girls married as children often perceive their first sexual contact as unwanted. Children of early marriages are also likely to suffer from low birth weight and cervical cancer, most likely from contracting the HPV virus. 

Nevertheless, Korski cautioned that we should not immediately draw conclusions between child marriage and the problems associated with it. 

“It is unclear whether these risks are higher because the girls got married under the age of 18, or because they are poor,” she said. “Is it child marriage that causes these poor outcomes or is it a fact that all those girls who get married as children are from poor households?” 

Solving the problem 

Efforts have been made to curb the practice of child marriage.  Korski cited a program known as “Apni Beti Apna Dahn,” an effort led by the government of Haryana in India to improve women’s status and delay child marriage. When a girl is born, the family is given 500 rupees, or approximately $10 CAD. If the girl is eighteen and unmarried, an additional 25,000 rupees, approximately $500 CAD, will be given to the family. The payout increases if educational attainment goals were met. 

A study conducted by the International Center for Research on Women found that this program had no effect on the probability of girls getting married before eighteen, but resulted in a significant increase in the number of girls married at exactly the age of eighteen. Although girls were 12 per cent more likely to complete eighth-grade, they were no more likely to complete twelfth-grade. 

“This is why it’s very important to evaluate these programs,” Korski warned. “Things that we think intuitively should work very well can in fact have unintended consequences [….] Improving educational and economic opportunities for girls are likely to be more effective at reducing child marriage than existing laws.”

a, Student Life

Love Songs Crossword

by Christopher Lutes on

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Across:

1. Less serious than an exam

5. What gymnasts balance on

9. Covered with

14. High-minded notion 

19. Bismarck’s first name

20. Rooney and Kate

21. Modern message

22. Musk’s company

23. Black Eyed Peas (2003) 

26. Mexican staple

27. Standards

28. Ex-Russian leadership title

29. Disgusting

32. It borders Thailand

33. Nintendo bestseller

34. Justin Bieber (2015) 

38. Mammoth trade deal of the     90’s

42. Grass and soil

43. Baseballer Yogi _____

44. One who dresses frumpily

48. Every roof has one

51. Half a score

54. French director of Playtime

55. The Beatles (1967)

59. Baseballer Sabathia 

60. American warzone, slangily

62. Dutch cheese

63. High-fidelity frequency band

64. Fortune-telling cards 

65. OOO 

67. Tractor giant John _____

68. Bad omen 

70. Light switch direction

71. 25 Down’s instrument

72. Aim For

Down:

1. It’s bigger than a village

2. Credo

3. Strict

4. The act of aggravating

5. Way to measure health

6. Ex-Communist half of Berlin

7. Popular bachelor’s degree

8. Taj _____

9. Fresh Prince’s Kingdom, ___ Air

10. Expressive punk rock offshoot

11. Suave 

12. Nursery rhyme refrain

13. Twilight co-star’s initials  

14. Internet forum abbreviation 

16. Mechanical staircase

17. Cold and distant 

18. Scottish girl

24. Common Arts assignment

25. Greek Cupid

30. Applied oil to 

31. Before, in verse 

35. Editions

36. Paradise

37. Jr’s father

39. Flim ___ artists 

40. Up to, slangly 

41. Unconscious

44. World digital time 

45. Corn chip

46. They cross rds.

47. Jekyll and _____

49. Take an exam later

50. Ruby; garnet; emerald

52. Expensive rez alternative

53. Fish-catcher

56. It paddles a boat

57. Transportation abbreviation

58. Opposite of strict

61. Evidence of a fire

66. World Organization 

67. One with an MD

68. Level below CIS

69. For example

a, Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: When austerity strikes, McGill turns to crowdfunding

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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The renovation of the Moyse Hall stage is the most recent in a series of initiatives to crowdfund for university spaces and services. Last year, the Arts Internship Office (AIO) was also crowdfunded following provincial budget cuts. Although many of these campaigns involve reaching out to alumni and philanthropists, in many of these cases students and faculty members spearheaded the fundraising efforts. McGill is doing what it can within a context of provincial austerity measures; there is, unfortunately, not a bottomless pot of funds. Crowdfunding is therefore a necessary innovation. But in considering the merits of crowdfunding, one must recall that McGill passing the buck to students and alumni is an unsustainable necessity borne of provincial economic conditions.

The university does extensive amounts of fundraising through the Alumni Online Community (AOC) and Development and Alumni Relations (DAR); however, these funds go into the university’s operating budget, a relatively opaque process, so some donors do not necessarily see where their money has gone. By contrast, 100 per cent of the funds raised on Seeds of Change go directly to the cause at hand. Ambassadors of a crowdfunding campaign represent themselves rather than the overall McGill image, donors know what their money is paying for, and the overall process is expedited by avoiding the bureaucratic loopholes that exist at McGill. The results have been clear so far: The Moyse Hall Theatre Project has already met half its goal within a week. Crowdfunding has the potential to be a more transparent and direct source of financial assistance. By providing organizational and technical support, Seeds of Change enables student ambassadors and faculty members to reach their goals. Within the context of continued economic hardship, the popularity and success of crowdfunding is a welcome relief from continuing rounds of budget cuts.

Through crowdfunding, students to receive services that would otherwise not be provided by the administration. Frequently, there are issues of which the university is not made aware, but often the issue lies not in McGill’s unwillingness but its inability to provide funding. Moyse Hall has been helped in the past by the Arts Improvement Fund, but in this case the crowdfunding campaign was dependent on the interests of donor. For instance, the smart water bottle fountains dotted around campus were crowdfunded, and there is a recent project to crowdfund for a plesiosaur fossil cast for Redpath Museum. Varsity and club teams, such as figure skating, Martlet’s soccer and hockey, and sailing, have also crowdfunded for their equipment and to help pay for competitions.

 

 

 

While this may seem like empowerment, the Quebec government must know that by cutting funds to universities and specific programs, such as the AIO, it is forcing students into an untenable situation.

While this may seem like empowerment, the Quebec government must know that by cutting funds to universities and specific programs, such as the AIO, it is forcing students into an untenable situation. Despite these merits, students should not be the ones scrambling for the funds to provide for themselves.

Given the economic climate in Quebec, crowdfunding is unfortunately a necessary alternative resource for addressing specific needs. In its most recent budget, McGill took on millions of dollars in debt in order to complete necessary deferred maintenance projects; it simply does not have the funds for niche projects. McGill’s restricted budget is a product of a provincial policy by the Quebec Liberals that has steadily slashed spending on education. Certainly part of the issue is that McGill must maintain its reputation—it cannot come out and say how dire its budget situation is. The problem that arises here, however, is that it is hard as members of the greater McGill community to know what the university can and cannot account for within the greater context of Quebec austerity.

Donors to crowdfunding campaigns are usually alumni and students who hold a personal stake in the project; it is therefore also a useful indication of how much members of a community value a service or a space. In the future, the administration may be able to gauge how to allocate funds to services in the long-term based on how well a crowdfunding initiative performs. Perhaps then the black box of McGill’s budget will become more transparent.

As long as students are unwilling to pay more for their education, crowdfunding will remain a reality. In light of the recent failure of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) base fee increase referendum, this sentiment feels pertinent—students are averse to paying more for institutions with which they are disenchanted. Students already invest in their university through their tuition fee; asking students to pay again for specific projects seems like a double-payment. Dependency on crowdfunding would therefore be a dangerous habit to fall into. For dinosaurs and water fountains, crowdfunding is commendable; for long-term issues, different versions of funding are necessary. Quebec must realize that education in the province has sustained enough blows in recent years and needs relief because the ones bearing the ultimate costs are the students, not the university as an entity. The university will continue to look at big picture issues in its strategies to mitigate short-term budget constraints. Until either students or the provincial government blinks, the community of students , staff, and faculty will continue to suffer. In the meantime, students just have to provide for themselves.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that McGill’s fundraising is a relatively opaque process. In fact, most donations support programs specified by the donor. The Tribune regrets this error.

a, McGill, News

Shedding light on Africa in the 22nd century

by James Ward on

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On Feb. 6, Cornell University novelist, poet and English Professor Mukoma Wa Ngugi delivered the keynote address as part of a three-day African Development Convention hosted by the McGill African Students Society (MASS). In his hour-long address, Ngugi touched on a range of topics including economic inequality, terrorism, and the importance of African languages. MASS Vice-President (VP) Education, Marilyn Verghis, gave the opening remarks for the event.

“In choosing our theme, Africa Interrupted: Switching the Channels of Development Discourse, we are challenging [development discourse] to assert that Africa is not, in fact, underdeveloped,” Verghis said. “We are decentring the dominant economic and political lenses through which development is […] understood, in favour of a people centred development.” 

Ngugi opened his address discussing by giving his interpretation of interruption in the context of African development. Ngugi argued for a productive understanding of interruption, which acknowledges historical reality while looking towards the future.

“We can see [interruption] through a […] historical perspective, where African nations with their own sets of contradictions were interrupted by slavery, colonialism, neocolonialism, and now, unequal globalization,” Ngugi said. “But we can also take interruption as a space to rethink what we want from the world, what we demand, what to struggle for.”

Ngugi spent most of his address discussing the issues facing what he called a people-powered, democratic Africa. He argued that the economic inequality resulting from colonialism remains a problem for development. 

 “Colonialism really hasn’t gone anywhere,” Ngugi said. “The Kenyatta family—which two of Kenya’s four presidents have belonged to—owns […] 500,000 acres of land in a country where land is an issue. [If] the president of your country and his family owns half a million acres of land, then what kind of democracy can you build on that? What country can we build on that vast historical inequality?” 

Discussing terrorism in Africa, Ngugi emphasized the historical context. He used the Somali-based terrorist organization Al-Shabaab, most known for its 2013 attack on a Nairobi mall, as an example, arguing that the organization’s rise was a result of an US-backed Ethiopian intervention in 2006.

“After years of violent anarchy in Somalia, finally there was this loose coalition called the Islamic Courts Union, that […] managed to restore civil order […] and had support from a Somali majority,” Ngugi said. “The US didn’t like that, and neither did Ethiopia. And so, with the blessing of the US, Ethiopia invaded Somalia and got rid of the Islamic Courts Union [.…] The direct intervention of Ethiopia and the US led to the creation of Al-Shabaab.”

Ngugi also spoke about the importance of African languages to identity. He explained that in countries like Kenya, which boasts more than 40 languages, the privileged status of European languages marginalizes African culture and harms those who do not speak the dominant language.

“We can think of language as […] a carrier of culture, language as carrying history,” Ngugi said. “Then there are also the more life-and-death questions of language. If you’re locked out of your political system, your judicial system, your economic system because of language, then you cannot progress in that society.” 

Ngugi closed his address with a call for attendees to imagine the world they would like to see, even if it seems far-fetched.

“The enemy of people-centred politics is the idea that we must be pragmatic,” Ngugi said. “Pragmatism kills dreams. We have to dare to invent the future. We have to dare to dream.”

a, Opinion

SNAX Wars Episode VI: Return of the Sandwich

by Emma Avery on

More in a:

There are a lot of ongoing complaints at McGill: Construction, winter, nights at McLennan, and the SNAX sandwich saga. McGill students might remember November 2014, when the administration prohibited SNAX from selling sandwiches because the service was not technically included in the Memorandum of Agreement SNAX was operating under. At last, the great battle of our times is over. As of Jan. 27, a temporary agreement was reached between McGill and the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) for the return of the sandwiches until December 2016, at which point the situation will be re-evaluated.

In March 2015, continued delays to the return of the sandwiches prompted a sit-in from aggrieved McGill students. Tens of students protested the administration’s tyranny against SNAX. Sit-ins and protests—though usually associated with activist groups on campus, such as Divest or Demilitarize McGill—were here used to great effect. The loss of a few sandwiches shouldn’t normally elicit such a strong reaction, but in the face of previous disappointment, it brings hungry students one straw closer to the breaking point. It took approximately one year for order to be restored. The sandwiches will soon return.

The prolonged situation undoubtedly seems ridiculous to an outsider. Said outsider would, however, overlook two fundamental aspects of the McGill experience: Shared resentment towards the price of food on campus, and consequent passion for our beloved, if idiosyncratic, eating habits. The struggle for sandwiches has been one part in a larger war against McGill’s failure to ensure the availability of affordable, sustainable food operations on campus. That negotiations have taken so long and remain only tentatively resolved demonstrates the difficulties student-run operations face. While the Great Battle of SNAX has been won (at least for now), students must continue their struggle to provide their own affordable food on campus.

 

While the Great Battle of SNAX has been won (at least for now), students must continue their struggle to provide their own affordable food on campus.

Resentment first sparked following the replacement of the Tim Hortons in the McLennan-Redpath basement with Première Moisson. Student-run food stands—which represent the many fronts of this war—have since become fundamental to the daily routines of McGill students. The samosa culture has exploded such that we now have not one, but two Facebook pages, created solely to help one another locate the nearest samosa sale. Midnight Kitchen, a free vegan lunch operation in the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Building was founded as a reaction against the corporatization and prices of McGill’s on-campus food services. The popularity of Midnight Kitchen, SNAX, and samosa sales demonstrate students’ commitment to providing that which McGill Food & Dining Services will not.

Prohibiting SNAX from selling sandwiches had wider implications than McGill might have initially realized—interference led to absolute outrage. While SSMU has explored ways to make its building a hub for diet-sensitive, student-run initiatives, starting with Organic Campus and the Student-Run Café, the administration has failed to match such initiatives.

Over a year later, the sandwich situation remains subject to speculation. Indeed, the struggle has not simply been to restore sandwiches to their rightful place. It has been against the drawn-out, convoluted, bureaucratic decision-making processes inherent to dealings with McGill. Often, the administration’s rationale is utterly opaque: The latest agreement includes the additional requirement that SNAX is under no circumstances allowed to display a banner—no doubt the sight of such an atrocity would be displeasing to sandwich-deprived, stressed out McGill students navigating their way through Leacock rush hour. But given the seemingly endless negotiations between McGill and the AUS, the plethora of articles from campus newspapers, and even a segment on CBC about the sit-in last March, there is more at stake than just the fate of a few sandwiches. The war is for the return of food and dining services to the students.

Student representation in administrative decisions is the root of this frustration. The culmination of the removal of SNAX’s sandwiches in a sit-in demonstrates the common bond among McGill students over food: We appreciate the smaller things in life. We will trek to McIntyre Medical in the dead of winter for our samosas; we will endure small talk at SNAX for a one-dollar coffee; and we once upon a time waited in a 15-minute line at Tim Hortons for a double-double and cream cheese bagel. These bare necessities are no less important today. The fight for cost-effective, sustainable, diet-sensitive food options on campus continues.

 

 

Emma Avery is a second year anthropology and urban systems student at McGill. Her favourite television show is (still) The Office. She is passionate about soccer, dogs, and St-Viateur bagels.

 

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

 

 

 
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