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a, Student Life

Campus Life for Post-Grads

by Audrey Carleton on

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For many students, entering graduate school presents a world of new adjustments. Some grapple with conducting research on their own for the first time, while others struggle with the lack of unity they once felt in their undergraduate program. Some even do this all while raising a family. McGill Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) serves to ease the hardships that McGill graduate students face in the day-to-day triumphs and trials on the road to completing their degrees. 

“We really want to make sure that students feel well-represented and a part of the community,” said Sahil Kumar, PGSS internal affairs coordinator and MSc candidate, said. “[We] connect graduate students to each other, and connect them to opportunities and funding, and provide a really welcoming and pleasant atmosphere.”

The role of PGSS in the lives of McGill graduate students is similar that of a student society at the undergraduate level. 

“I think the needs of students are generally the same,” said Devin Mills, PGSS academic affairs coordinator and doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology. "[We] want quality educational experiences; [we] want hands on experience. We want affordable education. We want opportunities to socialize and get involved [….] These aren’t dissimilar from undergraduates.”

However, the inherent differences in the structure of graduate school make PGSS’ duties unique. Unlike undergraduate programs, where most students spend a majority of their time on one of McGill’s campuses, graduate students are separated based on where their research is located. Here, campus is no longer the hub of student life. 

“Students are […] spread out a lot more,” Kumar explained. “There are students at The Douglas [Mental Health University Institute], there are students at the [Lady Davis Institute research arm of the] Jewish General [Hospital], there are students at the Montreal General [Hospital], there are students everywhere doing graduate studies, and so no one is really on campus all the time.” 

Kumar notes the struggle that this can impose on students who spend most of their time away from McGill’s campus.

“For me, it’s very difficult because now I’m not on campus anymore, and now I kind of see the struggle that Mac campus always had as an undergrad,” Kumar said. “Being like, ‘We’re so far away, we don’t have access to the same events to the same events or services,’ or whatever is going on on campus.”

Unlike most of McGill’s undergraduate student societies, PGSS can’t base all of their events on the downtown campus if they want to make them accessible to their entire student body. 

“A lot of our scheduled events need to be over longer periods of time or need to be evening, or need to be when they’re accessible, so that kind of limits the amount of stuff we can do,” Kumar said.

Another unique element of graduate student life that the PGSS has to account for is the relationship each student holds with their advising professor. While course-based graduate programs are available, the majority of students earn their degrees solely by conducting research under a McGill professor, which can be a point of anxiety.

Through its programming, PGSS aims to address the need students have for guidance in developing a positive relationship with their research advisor. 

“The division between student and professor—that relationship really changes,” said Katherine Hales, a second year MA student who sits on the PGSS internal affairs committee. “There’s a whole bunch of initiatives that are being taken […] called Grad Connect Cafe [that] happen once a month. [Students] talk about things, so students get to hear answers from other students, and then everyone gets to talk about these things like ‘How do you talk to your supervisor?’”

After getting over any these initial anxieties, however, a lot of students find comfort in the close relationship they establish with a professor. 

“[My supervisor] really took the time to listen to my concerns and support me,” Lerona Lewis, PhD Candidate in Educational Studies, said. “I think as a student if your supervisor shows concern for other areas of your life, even if there are minor setbacks, you know that this person really cares about your overall  success as a student [….] I would say that this sense of caring is a key component of a good student- advisor relationship.”

A key difference between graduate and undergraduate programs at McGill is the composition of the student body. While most undergraduate students are within several years of age of one another, the age range of graduate students is much wider, and includes some students who are also parents. 

“Being a parent and also a student can be challenging for many reasons,” Laura Risk, doctoral candidate in Musicology, wrote in an email to the Tribune. “There is also a lot of stress around time management. It’s hard to find the time to do everything, especially when your kids are not yet in daycare or school.” 

PGSS tailors a lot of its programming to meet the needs of students who have to balance their research with raising a child.

“Student parents are a big part of the graduate postdoctoral community,” Kumar said. “[PGSS]  hosts a lot of family-friendly events, because a lot of our students and our membership are a lot older, and maybe have kids who are dependent; so we try to cater to a family-friendly atmosphere when we do these excursions.”

Additionally, PGSS offers a service to student parents called “Study Sundays.” Once a month, on a Sunday, student parents are invited to drop their children off at Thomson House for an afternoon of free babysitting, giving them space to study and research on campus while their children are being cared for.  PGSS events and services catered toward student parents also allow them to network with other parents who understand the challenges of balancing graduate school with having a family. 

“When my kids were very young, I went to Study Saturday [as they were previously called] almost every month,” Risk wrote.  “It was wonderful—my kids usually loved the activities and I had 3 solid hours of study time.”

The physical separation and the vast diversity of student lifestyles at the graduate level can make developing relationships with other students a challenge. This year, PGSS began doing more to address this lack of cohesiveness in the student body. 

“You can meet people in your department, but it’s not like in undergrad where everyone’s around the same age and everyone’s like, ‘This is brand new to everybody,’” Hales said. “In grad school, if you want to find those opportunities, you have to seek them out a little bit more [….] It’s kind of more like “Here are these things, and you’re all adults,  and you can figure it out.’”

Mills also noted how this lack of unity results in a disconnect between students and the school community. 

“There’s not necessarily the sense of belonging towards McGill that would require them to only socialize at McGill,” Mills said. “Graduate students are more associated with their program […] their socialization does tend to be within their program.”

To garner new students’ sense of camaraderie and affinity for the university, PGSS planned its first ever two-week graduate orientation this year. Noticing the previously poorlstructure of graduate orientation, Kumar intended to change this upon arriving in office. 

“The platform I ran on for this position was that I wanted to make an orientation week for students, [to offer] social interaction [and] networking opportunities,” Kumar said. “We basically created these two weeks of orientation that never really existed before. We offered social events and we offered chances for students to interact and that was a big thing.” 

Despite all of these efforts, many graduate students still struggle with getting involved, because they find it difficult to take a break from their research.  

“I think a lot of times people in grad school feel like they can’t do things outside of school,” Hales said. “They feel like they should be researching, or they should be reading—and everyone kind of falls in the cycle of ‘I don’t have any time.’”

With its accessible events, PGSS hopes to give students services that will facilitate their research, rather than distract from it. Other programming gives students a venue through which they can momentarily take breaks from their work, knowing that occasionally, stopping to relax boosts productivity and is essential to overall success.

“Grad school does become more of  a full-time job requirement, so you don’t have as much flexibility,” Mills said. “I would stress that there’s an important balance between work and play [….] Just like you need to have it in undergrad, you need to have it in grad school.”

a, Men's Varsity, Sports

Lacrosse: Redmen capture second CUFLA Baggataway cup in four years

by Elie Waitzer on

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McGill Redmen
15

Western Mustangs
11

It took them three tries, but the Redmen (15-0) lacrosse team finally made it back to the promised land with a 15-11 win over the Western Mustangs (12-2) in the CUFLA Baggataway Cup on Sunday. McGill last won the title in 2012, when many of the veterans on this year’s squad were unseasoned rookies, but fell to Guelph in the Finals in consecutive seasons.

After going a perfect 15-0 in the regular season, the Redmen’s complete domination in the playoffs felt almost inevitable. While McGill’s 38-game regular season winning streak is also a testament to the 2013 and 2014 teams, this year’s group set themselves apart with a sense of destiny and braggodocio that will be remembered for a long time. Over the regular season, they outscored their opponents 157-66, never allowing more than 10 points in a single game.

The Redmen never wavered in Sunday’s win, leading the Mustangs from wire to wire. Senior midfielder Anders Bjella led the team with seven goals, and junior attackman Spencer Bromley added four goals and an assist to raise his playoff point total to 11.

“[Bjella] was extremely driven the entire season to win the Championship,” Head Coach Tim Murdoch said. “He was just on fire, really. He was explosive, unstoppable, whatever words you want to use. [Seven goals] is a lot of goals not just in a lacrosse game, and to do that in a Championship [game] is impressive.”

For Murdoch, the win was more cathartic than exciting, especially with his son, freshman attackman Maxime, on the team for his first season.

“I could describe it […] as a book with four chapters,” Murdoch said. “Chapter one was the 2012 victory where the majority of the seniors on this team today were freshmen. Then we had a couple of losses in the middle, so this final chapter is kind of a storybook ending [….] You go undefeated and you put the game out of reach in halftime [….] I’ve coached 220 lacrosse games and […] that first half is the best lacrosse McGill has ever played.”

Despite the apparent ease with which McGill cruised through the playoffs, winning a CUFLA Championship on the heels of an undefeated season is exceedingly rare. Beyond talent and experience, it’s a feat that requires dozens of unheralded but crucial personnel working in concert behind the scenes. In addition to giving credit to the three volunteer assistant coaches (Simon Hudson, Nick Soubry, Scott Bailey), Murdoch made sure to highlight the work of the team’s scouting director, Sean Steinwald.

“He’s a former All-American player […] and the scouting reports that he put together for us—the only word I can think of is brilliant,” Murdoch said. “He sacrificed hours to put together [information] that was essential to the team’s success.”

While the win cemented McGill’s status as one of the nation’s premier lacrosse programs, the outlook for next season is not all rosy for the Redmen. Twelve seniors are expected to be lost to graduation, including all four co-captains—Bjella, Connor Goodwin, Paul Rakoczy, and Rufus Frost. Players like Bromley, All-CUFLA goaltender William Waesche, and junior midfielder Emile Sassone-Lawless will be expected to step into a veteran’s role to mentor the younger players.

According to Murdoch, many of this year’s rookies have already demonstrated a level of experience beyond their years, and will derive a well-earned sense of confidence going into next season as defending champions. He pointed to freshman midfielder Alex Beckes, who played in Sunday’s game with a broken finger and still managed to win 70 per cent of his faceoffs.

“Rather than rebuilding we’re reloading,” Murdoch said. “We’ve got some strong young players that we’ll retain. We’re recruiting strong students primarily, and secondarily strong lacrosse players [….] We’re confident we’ll have a very talented but much younger team.”

Daniel Craig
a, Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Film Review: Spectre

by Declan Embury on

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When Skyfall came out in 2012, it gave the James Bond franchise a 21st century upgrade, focusing on modern issues and distancing itself  from the goofiness that defined the brand in the more recent films. Under the direction of Sam Mendes, Spectre, the 24th addition to the collection, attempted to bring back some of that goofiness while still maintaining serious undertones. Unfortunately, the result is more of a disjointed combination that quickly jumps from serious drama to Bond being locked in a Austin Powers-esque torture contraption. The weak script makes the 148-minute running time feel endless, and is ultimately a disappointing farewell for what is rumoured to be Craig and Mendes’ final Bond film.

Spectre’s strongest scene is its opening. Set in Mexico City during a Dia de los Muertos festival, the film opens with a masked Bond stalking and taking out a target, while simultaneously destroying half a block of buildings all in one brilliant continuous film shot. These actions result in Bond being suspended and having to work—with the help of Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), Q (Ben Whishaw), and Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux)—behind MI6’s back in order to discover more about the shadowy “Spectre” organization. Eventually he must stop their evil plans, which involve the current hot topic of mass surveillance. Meanwhile, back in London, the film follows C (Andrew Scott), who is in the late stages of constructing a giant surveillance centre in London that he believes will make the ‘Double-O’ program obsolete. Meanwhile,  MI6 command, M (Ralph Fiennes) tries his best to stop Spectre and keep the program alive.

The head of Spectre, Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), serves as the main antagonist in the film. Waltz tends to play very similar characters in every movie he’s in, but without the strong writing that came with his most notable roles such as Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, Waltz performance feels unexceptional. As for the rest of the acting, the performances, while not poor, are far from show-stopping. Craig returns as the slightly more emotional mass murderer that has defined his character in the past; Seydoux plays the typical Bond girl, who falls for the helpless love interest role before the end of the film. The one standout is Jesper Christensen, who returns to his role of Mr. White from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, and makes the most dramatic scene in the film.

It’s also hard to ignore the blatant misogyny that’s become commonplace in Bond films. In early stages of the film, it seems that they might have finally cast a love interest for Bond that’s more age appropriate, unfortunately, Lucia (Monica Bellucci) who’s actually four years older than Craig, only makes one real appearance in the film to serve as a sex object for Bond. Quickly, Bond is back to the standard woman who is 20 years his junior. This is a shame as it could have been a great way to update a franchise and bring it further into the 21st century.

This isn’t to say that Spectre is all bad: The action sequences are undeniably epic, while the cinematography and soundtrack are both well done; The range of global settings from Morocco, to Rome, and back to London all serve as good backdrops to the action.

Spectre attempts to tie together all the storylines from previous Daniel Craig Bond films, while also harking back to the older, more goofy films—ultimately, it does neither of these particularly well. More conviction within the acting, a stronger script, and an overarching better storyline would have been necessary to raise the film even remotely close to the standard or captivation level of previous Craig Bond films. Ultimately, Spectre is a signal that it’s time to move onto a new Bond, and take the series in a new direction.

Hourani
a, Art, Arts & Entertainment

Neutralité utilizes primary colours

by Alex Bankier on

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Rad Hourani has no need to be humble. The 33-year-old fashion designer is an accomplished photographer, filmmaker, and is perhaps most notorious for his ‘invited member’ status within the world’s premier high fashion group, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Hourani’s style attempts to transcend the constructs used by humanity to categorize and order the world.  Hence, ‘neutrality’: It’s an aesthetic Hourani claims had its genesis in his own lack of formal artistic instruction or, in his words, a “no-background background.”

Located in the interior of a repurposed warehouse, Neutralité is Hourani’s second and latest attempt at a multidisciplinary art exhibition. No variations in lighting are afforded within the space; illumination is equal throughout the exhibit, and coupled with the floor plan’s relative openness reflects the accessibility of Hourani’s artistic vision to all viewers. The rectangular trusses on the high ceiling recalls a wholesale retailer, with the many patrons adding to the cacophony of voices that dominate Neutralité’s soundscape. On any other night, however, the sheer vastness of the venue might be enough to intimidate patrons into silence.

First of the five segments comprising Neutralité is the Child’s Room. Setting the stage for following sections with works such as “Ageless”—a series of eight solidly-coloured pastel tableaus symbolizing the pure energy of life without social pressures—Hourani reveals a calculated minimalism as central to his neutral aesthetic. Such minimalism is, in fact, complemented quite well by the hollowed out industrial space and white palettes upon which many of the artist’s works are mounted.    

As viewers move through the exhibit’s three middle sections, a multitude of pieces ranging from humanoid, rubber sculptures to brightly coloured, polygonal wood panels, and even a pile of sex toys are presented for the viewer. In displaying some 21 works of art, Hourani seems to actively take inventory of the many dogmas and precepts driving human socialization.  Among these works are multi-tiered, aluminum daisies that display the inherently unbalanced interaction between socio-economic classes, and whose skeletal frames appear hollow, as if to indicate that the ideology of socio-economic stratification lacks substance.

Alongside each piece was an accompanying white placard printed with Hourani’s responses to his own work. Among these explanatory placards, there never seemed to be any suggestion for how exactly the artist would see his vision implemented—though perhaps this is left to the audience’s own imagination, or perhaps unimportant to Hourani’s work altogether.

Marking the final phase of the exhibit was The Adult’s Room. Here, the artist’s “Nationless” is practically a companion piece to his “Ageless”—both are sets of eight painted tableaus albeit with respectively darker and lighter shades. In addition to implying the transformation of child to adult, the two pieces help contextualize the collective entirety of Hourani’s works as being greater than the sum of its parts.  Each piece is in itself lacking context when removed from Neutralité, just as Neutralité lacks clarity when judged without all of its constituent works.

Overall, the eclectic nature of the media and objects present in Neutralité—scattered within their vaguely partitioned sections—suggests that audience members are, in fact, walking through a manifestation of the artist’s own psyche. As the abstractions of the human mind often elude understanding, the definitive placards provide a guided tour through the artist’s reasoning and thoughts in a style akin to a written manifesto. Despite leaving little to the imagination, Hourani nonetheless offers the audience an intriguing view of his own blueprint for transcendental utopia.    

Neutralité is located at Arsenal (2020 Rue William) and is running from Nov. 4 to Jan. 17. Admission is $10.

Hamilton the musical
a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

First Listen: Hamilton The Musical

by Eric Noble-Marks on

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Full disclosure: I’ve never understood the appeal of modern musicals. Generally I find them trite, overdramatic, and contrived. My musical theatre friends have constantly to broaden my horizons, begging me to listen to Next to Normal or Rent. “This one’s different,” they say to no avail. It’s especially hard for me to appreciate musical soundtracks without actually seeing the staging of the play. It’s one thing to write songs that serve particular narrative functions, but quite another for them to stand on their own.

So, as someone who doesn’t really understand musicals in general, you can imagine my skepticism when I heard about Hamilton, a rap musical that uses a multiracial cast to tell the story of the American founding father, Alexander Hamilton. Nevertheless, I wanted to give it a shot. This one might actually be different.

In working with one of the tightest pit bands on Broadway (to my ears anyway), creator Lin-Manuel Miranda has written some definitively great songs that even musical curmudgeons like me can enjoy. After all, any project that boasts the Roots’ Questlove and Black Thought as collaborators can’t be all bad. Rest assured, the rap sections of the soundtrack not only work, they shine above the singing. This is not cringe worthy, family friendly rap. Miranda and company have a definitive grasp of cadence and flow, and tracks like “My Shot” and “Right Hand Man” have ‘bars,’ if I’m allowed to use that term. 

That being said, the music gets stale when Miranda takes a turn towards the conventional. If you changed a few of the lyrics to songs like that of album opener, “That Would Be Enough,” they could come from any generic musical. Let’s just say, it’s no coincidence that they leave much of the singing to the snide, stuffy British characters. Perhaps I might be able to appreciate these songs more if I was able to see them actually performed on stage in the context of the story. Nevertheless, as individual songs they fall flat.

All in all, I was presently surprised by Hamilton. Though it wasn’t the home run I hoped for, its concept generally works—especially if taken as a biting satire of the theatre industry’s ubiquitous whitewashing as others have suggested. Musically, it features a number of standout tracks and a couple duds. Hamilton is certainly the most unique musical soundtrack I have ever heard. Who knows, maybe I’ll even check it out next time I’m in New York.

Butcher
a, Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Play Review: Butcher question ideas of justice, revenge, and love

by Anna St. Clair on

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Playwright Nicolas Billon premiered Butcher last year in Calgary, having previously won the 2013 Governor-General’s Award for Fault Lines, a work of three plays including Greenland, Iceland, and Faroe Islands.  While Billon’s previous plays have had darker themes, they look like comedy sketches in comparison to his latest work. Butcher forces the audience to examine what would happen when victims and perpetrators of ethnic violence meet almost 20 years later and an ocean away from their first encounter in a concentration camp. At last, the victim is more powerful than the perpetrator, but whether victims can find peace without vengeance is left to be discovered.

The play is reminiscent of the trials of former Auschwitz officers. On trial are nonagenarians who one might pass on the street and think “What a cute old man.” When war criminals become so far removed from the time and setting of their transgressions, it’s strange to think that millions have been murdered at their hands.

Butcher opens on a rainy Christmas Eve in a Toronto police station where Inspector Lamb, (Alain Goulem) an average, no-nonsense police officer. He likes hockey, loves his family, and just wants to be home with his wife and daughters by Christmas morning. Dumped at the police station is a man (Chip Chuipa) wearing a Santa hat and an old general’s uniform. He speaks only a (made-up) Eastern European language called Lavinian. The only things found on his person are a business card for a lawyer named Hamilton Barnes with the words “arrest me” written on it, as well as a butcher’s hook. 

Hamilton Barnes (James Loye), the eloquent English lawyer is the foil to the humdrum Inspector Lamb. Barnes holds a firm belief in the power of law and order, and has an extensive knowledge of Latin and Greek. Enter Elena (Julie Tamiko Manning), the Lavinian translator and nurse.  The drama quickly turns from comedic clash of characters to a serious look at ethnic conflict in a lonely police station at 3 a.m.

In a play that addresses the horrors of genocide, it would be too sickening to describe or depict crimes against humanity in gory detail. Billon wanted characters to speak in a Slavic language, but it was essential that no one in the audience could understand every line of dialogue. He worked with University of Toronto linguist Christina Kramer to create Lavinian, challenging the audience to confront how and why they communicate with one another.

In keeping with Billion’s decision to have violence described in a language nobody can understand, director Roy Surrette ensured that some of the most violent scenes were staged in darkness, obscuring the audience from what’s really going on. That’s not to say that the play was G-rated, as the climax of the play features a drawn-out murder that is only partially hidden from view.

A stellar cast that supports Billon’s complex script fully; Alain Goulem’s portrayal of Lamb initially comes off as cartoonish, yet by the end of the roller coaster ride of plot twists, his expert portrayal of a cop hiding a dark secret is transfixing. In a remarkable feat, Chuipa delivers each of his lines with powerful emotion, be they anger, confusion, or pain—and all of them in a language invented solely for this production. The audience is left in the dark as to what exactly he’s saying, but despite the language barrier, emotional power and emotional truth come to the forefront in the most pivotal scenes. We are never given the details of the man’s confession, but through a passionate emotional language we are able to piece together the truth.

The action takes place on a minimal, yet realistic set. Grey and beige desks and file cabinets set the scene in an average police station office. The indifference of the set stands in contrast to pain and passionate revenge experienced by the characters. Real rain falls from the ceiling before the play begins, and continues in a window during the action. This is no cheerful Christmas play, and there are no plush blankets of snow decorating the window. Instead, the audience gets a dreary and unforgiving urban rainstorm. By being set on Christmas Eve, there is a certain urgency to the action. The bonds and love of family become more pronounced during the holidays, and the thought of losing loved ones becomes that much more heartbreaking.

Adamant theatregoers and those who haven’t yet been introduced to drama can all enjoy Butcher. Every one of the play’s 90 minutes was loaded with gripping suspense, philosophic themes, and emotional charge.

Butcher runs from Nov. 3 to Nov. 29 at the Centaur Theatre (453 Rue St. François-Xavier). Admission for students is $28.

a, Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Fall 2015 referendum endorsements

by McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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CKUT Fee increase: Yes

CKUT provides invaluable services to students, as well as to the wider Montreal community. As the only radio show on campus, it is an invaluable space for training in all aspects of radio production, such as mixing and radio software, and is a source of quality journalism. The budget demonstrates that an increase in the fee will offset much of the deficit facing CKUT, but leaves the reason for this method to the imagination. It is apparent when looking at the budget that an increase in the fee will ameliorate CKUT’s financial position, but does not show whether alternative sources of revenue or cost-cutting measures have been explored. While students must do what they can to assist CKUT in reducing their budget—especially as it has been several years since a fee increase—CKUT itself must work to ensure that it considers ways to restructure to entrench its long-term viability as a news agency.

Safety Network Fee: Yes

The “Safety Network” is comprised of McGill Student Emergency Response Team (M-SERT), DriveSafe, Walksafe, and the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS). By creating a single non-opt-outable fee that includes a set amount for each group, all students will support the provision of these essential services. Regardless of whether a student uses the services, they will support their functioning for the entire McGill community. The new fee will also reduce the administrative strain on the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) by removing separate fees from the SSMU base fee.

Plebiscite- Yearbook Fee: Yes to both questions

There has been very limited interest in the Old McGill yearbook in recent years, perhaps owing to its high cost. Even with subsidies from SSMU, yearbooks cost $60.00 last year. The first plebiscite question asks students to consider whether the funding structure ought to be changed; if students vote “Yes,” the new funding structure will have to be approved in another referendum question in the future. Adjusting the funding structure will make the yearbook more accessible to those who want one while reducing the deficit incurred by SSMU each year, which last year was nearly $20,000. It is a physical archive for the university, as well as a memento for graduating students. A “Yes” vote for the second question, which would favour an opt-outable fee that will charge students $3.00 per semester, would lower the cost of the yearbook for all students who are interested in receiving one. This would ensure a sustainable fund to spend on the yearbook each year. The plebiscite will provide an indication of how many students are interested in the yearbook itself, and will be able to determine whether or not a new funding structure and introduction of an opt-outable Yearbook Fee would be worthwhile.

Plebiscite- SSMU support for student-run cooperative enterprises: Yes

While an effort by SSMU to develop projects to increase the financial accessibility of commodities for students is a commendable goal, the ambiguous wording of the plebiscite itself leaves many questions unanswered. In order to properly consult students, the details and plans of action for such projects must be delineated more clearly.SSMU should be able to discuss the issue and determine if such projects would be something that would fall within their capabilities. Student-run cooperative enterprises would fall within the mandate of supporting students facing financial difficulty. The implementation of such projects may needlessly add to the responsibilities of SSMU executives, who already face various challenges owing to a lack of staff; while the conversation should be opened, the McGill community must not be deluded in thinking that this will lead to any significant changes within the 2015-2016 year. Instead, it can be seen as an opportunity to begin a discussion that can crystallize in several years. The vague presentation of the issue, particularly how it is related to mobilization against austerity, must be corrected in the future in order to inspire greater confidence in SSMU’s ability to go beyond this very preliminary conception of the issue itself.

a, Science & Technology

Going back to the elements

by Andy Wang on

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On Nov. 4, as part of Redpath Museum’s Mini-Science series, McGill Assistant Professor Audrey Moores from the Department of Chemistry discussed her research on nanoparticles in the context of green chemistry. 

Moores began by posing a fundamental question to the audience: “What is sustainability?”

From a pure materials  science perspective, it is ending the overuse and overconsumption of elements. But social and economic impacts of supply and demand are factors that must be taken into consideration when creating a sustainable future. For example, old and broken electronics are shipped from developed countries to parts of Africa to be recycled. This process is not only environmentally harmful, but creates dangerous working conditions for those involved.

“[Recycling electronics] involves melting [special] metals, which inevitable creates toxic fumes,” Moores said. “And of course, the workers are not properly [equipped with safety gear].”

Creating a sustainable future not only requires new recycling methods, but also new products that might be easier to recycle. 

Today, heavy metals play a huge role in industries, from electronics to pharmaceuticals, as they are used as catalysts—substances used to increase the speed of a reaction—in a variety of chemical transformations. A special example is the metal indium, which is found in all touchscreen devices. When mixed with titanium dioxide, it is used as a transparent and conductive coating. Currently, there is no alternative to indium’s unique properties. If no other options are found, this could pose serious problems to these industries.

“At the current rate of consumption, the supply of these critical elements—[such as silver, gold, indium, and palladium] is likely to run out in the next five to 50 years,” stated Moores. 

Moores’ lab creates and examines alternatives to heavy metal catalysts. One candidate is iron nanoparticles. Though the catalytic properties of iron have been used for centuries, creating iron nanoparticles require very harsh conditions, such as extremely high temperatures, pressure, and pH level. In 2009, however, researchers in the Netherlands were able to conduct hydrogenation reactions catalysed by iron nanoparticles at room temperature. Hydrogenation involves the transfer of a hydrogen to another molecule, thereby increasing or decreasing its molecular complexity, and is used in a number of industries.

“Hydrogenation is an ubiquitous process because of its usage in the production of margarine to the synthesis of ibuprofen,” explained Moores.

The process proposed by the Dutch scientists required that no oxygen or water be present, however, making it extremely difficult to use on an industrial scale. 

“We have figured out methods to create an oxygen-free environment in factories, but not water,” explained Moores. “New factories being built in the South of China or India have up to 80 to 90 per cent humidity throughout the year. If you tell them ‘no water,’ they are going to laugh at you.” 

To address this issue, Moores’ lab added block copolymers to the reaction mix, making the iron nanoparticles water-resistant, with yields of up to 95 per cent. 

The next step in Moores’ research is to take her findings to the industrial level for mass production. The ferromagnetic properties of iron nanoparticles allow them to be easily separated in industrial processes—a huge advantage compared to the heavy metal catalysts they are trying to replace. 

a, Opinion

Criticizing white feminism for the sake of progress

by Diana Little on

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Since the emergence of third-wave feminism in the ’90’s, feminist theory has become increasingly diversified into new categories, such as black feminism, liberal feminism, and radical feminism. But as different varieties of feminism emerge and intersect with other social issues such as race, sexuality, and class, the blanket term “feminism” has become increasingly obsolete. This is largely due to the fact that, from its inception, feminism has mainly addressed gender inequality as it pertains to white, cisgendered females. Now frequently distinguished as “white feminism,” this older, more homogenized version of feminism faces increased scrutiny. Criticism of the movement, however, is necessary to increase its strength. While it may appear to divide or detract from the overall movement, criticism spawns diversification, which makes feminism accessible to a larger audience.

As a white, cisgendered female, it is difficult to avoid falling into the white feminist trap; simply put, my experience as a woman cannot be equated to the experience of a person of colour or a member of the LGBT community. Just as any male can’t pretend that one dollar of his income is equal to my 77 cents, I can’t pretend that my 77 cents is the same as a black woman’s 64 cents, or a Hispanic woman’s 56 cents. Trying to fit every woman’s experience into one coherent idea of feminism is as illogical and incomplete as allowing one stereotype to represent an entire racial minority.

 

 

White feminism needs to acknowledge the ways in which it excludes many of the women it is supposed to support.

This type of generalization is exactly what white feminism is criticized for, and rightly so—a movement simply cannot enact change if the individuals it’s supposed to be uplifting feel alienated and excluded from it. With that said, this feeling of alienation white feminism produces doesn’t just apply to non-white women, but to all members of society. With each wave of feminism, there has been a pushback by both men and women who actively identify themselves as non-feminists—the most popular and recent being the “Women Against Feminism” collective. Feminists will often attribute this opposition to a misunderstanding of feminism’s fundamental purpose, or a belief that feminism advocates for something other than political, social, and economic equality of the sexes. Feminists distance themselves from these associations because they feel that such beliefs do not accurately, or even remotely, reflect their motivations.

Another frequent criticism of feminism is that it excludes members of the LGBT community from the conversation. Feminism must address this concern and emphasize inclusivity by increasing focus on the intersectionality. The way in which feminism intersects with issues of race, sexuality, and class ultimately demonstrates that feminism isn’t just a women’s issue, but a human rights issue. While feminism at its core is, and should be, a movement to promote gender equality, conceptualizing feminism as it pertains to other social issues makes it more accessible.

White feminism needs to acknowledge the ways in which it excludes many of the women it is supposed to support. Feminism should embrace its diversity, as its growing ability to reach and influence more people will make it stronger. For this diversity to flourish properly, however, feminism needs to be able to reflect upon itself as a social movement, and be critical of certain brands that invalidate others and counteract progress. Gender equality will be very difficult to achieve if feminism continues to work against, rather than with, itself.

Diana Little is a U1 English literature major, minoring in history.

@McGillTribOp | [email protected]

a, Science & Technology

McGill Space Institute takes off with a ‘big bang’

by Clare Lyle on

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McGill is home to many renowned astrophysicists, cosmologists, and planetary scientists. Until recently, however, space researchers at McGill lacked a place to share their work. Scientists were scattered between different departments, with offices ranging from Rutherford Physics Building to Burnside Hall. But all of this is changing with the creation of the McGill Space Institute. 

“Looking around [the] campus at McGill, there’s a lot of expertise in space-related research,” said Professor Andrew Cumming, a physicist affiliated with the Institute. “We decided to create the Institute to bring together these different researchers and foster collaborations across disciplines.”

A $1 million donation from the Trottier Family Foundation not only created fellowships for students affiliated with the Institute but helped in the creation of a space for researchers at McGill to gather. The official home of the McGill Space Institute will be thirty-five fifty (3550) Robert-Bourassa Boulevard, formerly part of the Montreal Neurological Institute.

“I think [having a dedicated building] is key to the success of the institute,” said Cumming. “Particularly for interdisciplinary studies, it takes time to learn the particular language and jargon of the other discipline, and so having a physical location where researchers can talk and discuss ideas is crucial [….] Explaining your research to someone in another field is when the most interesting new ideas emerge.”

The Institute brings researchers together with a mixture of formal and informal events, such as seminar series and a daily ‘coffee time’ that is attended by researchers from across the Institute. 

“Every day, tea time is [from] 3 to 3:30 or 4, and you just hang out and talk and some really interesting topics come up—I’ve learned a lot,” explained Miles Cranmer, a U1 math and physics student affiliated with the Institute. “[For example,] there’s a neutron [star] discussion group where you read a paper on neutron stars and you present the most interesting parts of it to the group, and then you discuss it.”

This type of environment creates a think tank that enables a variety of topics, from supernovas to the creation of new matter, to be shared amongst researchers. 

“Whenever you go in, there are people talking about something really interesting.” Cranmer said. “You can bring up some topic you’ve read about and have a long discussion about it with someone, like nuclear pasta—[an exotic state of matter observed in neutron stars].” 

Research areas include exoplanets, cosmology, the evolution of the universe, and high energy astrophysics. Although most of the research occurring at the institute is primarily theoretical, supporters of the Institute are quick to point out that scientific inquiry has a history of having unintended practical applications.

“Quite often, the new instruments that are being built to do some of these observations are pushing the limits of technology,” said Lorne Trottier, a McGill alumnus and benefactor of the Institute. “From some of that work, people develop skills that are very useful in other fields—and some of the techniques and hardware and algorithms that they develop may find some commercial application as well.”

Ultimately, much of the motivation behind the research that goes on at the Institute stems simply from human curiosity.

“The kinds of questions that they’re looking for answers for are very fundamental, and something that I think most people have some sort of deep interest in,” explained Trottier. “Where do we come from? How did our universe come into being? How have we evolved over time? Is there life in the universe? Are we alone?” 

Until these questions are answered, scientists like those at the Institute will undoubtedly continue to search the stars. 

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