A new presentation on social equity and safe spaces in the Faculty of Engineering piloted last week with guest lectures in a mandatory first-year course on Feb. 6 and 7.

The guest lecture is a result of an idea brought up last November at an open EUS discussion regarding sexism, racism, and other issues within the faculty. FACC 100 was chosen to host the presentation because it is a mandatory first-year course frequented by guest lectures.

“[In this class] there have been guest lectures from all departments of the Faculty to introduce students to all the different disciplines in Engineering,” said Christopher Tegho, the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) Equity Commissioner. “After the EUS Safer Space [meeting], Josh Redel, Carlos (the EUS President), and I met with Professor Jim Nicell, Dean of Engineering, and discussed options to raise awareness about Safer Space, including the idea of giving a presentation in an engineering classroom. Nicell supported all our initiatives.”

The presentations were given by Tegho; Fiona Ross, a recent McGill Arts graduate; and Nampande Lande, a current Concordia student. Ross and Lande both have previous experience giving presentations on social topics.

“We have experience facilitating sexual health workshops; that’s why [Tegho] wanted someone who had experience,” Ross said. “We sat down with him, went through the workshop material, and talked about what was most important to get across and how we should get across it.”

“[This presentation] was made specifically for engineering students,” Lande added.

Approximately 150 people attended the presentations each day. The presentation stressed the importance of having a safe space within the Faculty, and reviewed identity discrimination based on class, sexual orientation, and race. In addition, the presentation also evaluated how to address scenarios of microaggression and discrimination.

Professor Joseph Matt Kinsella, who is teaching FACC 100 this year, expressed support for the in-class presentation. He said the social aspect of being a professional engineer is equally important as the academic aspect.

“The concept behind the course is to teach students how to behave professionally as they move out of school,” Kinsella said. “We’re introducing them to how they need to behave as engineering students and as they go out into a career as an engineer.”

Mathilde Marcoux, a U1 Engineering student who attended the class, said that although presentation was entertaining, it could have been more informative.

“The information presented is interesting, but I don’t feel like it’s anything that I wasn’t aware of before,” she said. “It treats very serious subjects, but the presenters aren’t very serious in their comments and manner of presenting. I don’t really see why this workshop is relevant and why it is part of my curriculum as a mechanical engineering student.”

Marcoux also expressed indifference towards the portion of the presentation addressing microaggressions and sexism in the faculty.

“I don’t feel like [being female] affects me in any way; most of the time I actually feel like it’s an advantage,” Marcoux said. “I receive a lot of encouragement from my peers and professors. When I’m experiencing difficulties in a class […] my classmates are happy to help me. They don’t make fun of me or discriminate because I’m a girl.”

For the future, Kinsella mentioned the possibility of expanding guest lectures to FACC 400, the upper-year professional practice course.

“It’s always good to hear things twice [….] Whereas this presentation was catered towards being a student, [one for] the workplace, I think, would be possibly helpful,” Kinsella said.

Next year, organizing these presentations will be the responsibility of the Equity Comissioner.

While Tegho was satisfied with how the presentation went, he said there is still room for improvement in the future.

“I would like to have more examples relevant to the experiences engineering students would live,” Tegho said. “This would require to have a committee work on the workshop. This time, due to time limitations, I could not reach to other people in the EUS or in Engineering to help me with the project. After the presentations, multiple people expressed their interest to join the committee.”

Justin Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, answered McGill students’ questions about Canadian politics, his leadership style, and issues facing the next generation of voters on Feb. 6.

Hosted by Liberal McGill, the event was part of Trudeau’s 2014 Campus Tour, which has brought Trudeau to universities across the country to speak with students. He spoke at Concordia University and Université de Montréal on the same day. Approximately 250 people at McGill turned out to hear Trudeau speak.

“Getting young people […] interested and involved in the political process isn’t just about getting a few more people to come out and vote against the current prime minister,” he said. “We need to start thinking about getting young people to speak up, to be involved, to make your voices heard, [and] to become powerful agents of change.”

Trudeau criticized the nature of present-day Canadian politics, arguing that parties have been less open to compromise and more interested in playing off of differences in opinion. He stressed the importance of finding answers that work for everyone and listening to all points of view.

“Politics has become about division; it’s become about obtaining power, about finding the right wedge issues, about contrasting yourself with your opponents,” he said. “It’s supposed to be about a group of us […] coming together in Ottawa to try and figure out the best way forward.”

One attendee, who could not be identified, inquired about the state of Indigenous affairs in Canada.

“If I’m looking at the Canadian system, one of the groups that is throughout the system not represented fairly is Aboriginal Canadians, and I know a lot of this is because of systemic oppression,” the student said. “When you are prime minister, how will you address this issue?”

Trudeau stressed the importance of education in improving conditions for the country’s Indigenous peoples, citing the sharp decline in suicide rates in communities where education systems have been improved.

“The fact that the dollar spent per student in First Nations communities is far below the dollar spent per student in all other areas of education in other provinces and places across the country just makes no sense when you look at the challenges these communities are going through,” he said.

Trudeau also expressed opposition to tax increases.

“I am certainly in agreement with simplifying the tax code significantly,” Trudeau said. “The tax code [is] much more complex and inefficient than it needs to be [….] But I do not believe that we need to increase taxes anyway, anywhere. The government takes in plenty of money from Canadians; we just need to be a lot smarter about how we spend it.”

According to Nadia Kadri, president of Liberal McGill, Trudeau’s prior experience in connecting with students has been beneficial for this event.

“We know that from his tours across Canada, he has collected a lot of information from students,” Kadri said. “He’s really been able to tailor a message that captures and engages the student body.”

Iain Childerhose, U2 Arts, praised Trudeau’s sincerity in responding to questions.

“Obviously his strength is his charismatic speaking ability, and that showed today; I really enjoyed what he said,” Childerhouse said. “He definitely tried to come from a non-partisan standpoint and encourage political engagement in youth, which is something I think is extremely important.”

Starting in Fall 2014, students in the Faculty of Management will be able to major in Strategic Management. Comprised of two concentrations—Global Strategy and Social Business and Enterprise—the major has been developed as a collaborative project between students, staff, and faculty since January 2013.

“Social Business is a type of company that runs just as a normal business—selling a product, earning revenue—but whose ultimate goal is to solve a social problem­ as opposed to maximizing profit, like many companies aim to do,” explained Joanna Klimczak, U3 Management, one of the two students who started the project. “The company must still earn an attractive profit to sustain itself, though profit is not the reason why the company exists […] creating social value is why it exists.”

Professor Robert David, coordinator for the strategy and organization area of the faculty, explained that the two concentrations would provide an option for students to pursue such a line of studies.

“Our two concentrations are excellent complements to other areas of study, precisely because they provide a big picture perspective to more specialized subjects,” he said “Our new major allows students to go more in depth and encourages them to combine foundational topics in strategy with important social challenges.”

Additionally, the new major will allow students to take courses outside of the faculty to complement specific interests, such as agriculture, anthropology, economics, and international development studies.

The idea initially started as two separate projects. Two students, Klimczak and former McGill students Mariana Botero had begun to develop a Social Business Minor in response to a lack of courses on social business at McGill

“I did a lot of not-for-profit abroad and volunteer trips [that] gave me much more of a global mind-set and I noticed how much power businesses had in the world,” Klimczak said. “I noticed McGill wasn’t really teaching social business [….  However], there was a demand from students and a general interest.”

Meanwhile, the strategy and organization area of the faculty—equivalent to a department within other faculties—had been discussing revisions to their concentrations and considered developing a completely new major.

David said the decision to combine the two developments into a single new major was made when he learned of the students’ initiative.

David said that further development of the major involved more consultation with professors and students through

“[The subcommittee] developed proposals for a new Major in Strategic Management and changes [to] the two concentrations,” David said. “I believe that this was a model of student-faculty cooperation, and that program development should always have strong student involvement.”

The developed proposals required approval from the Undergraduate Program Committee, Academic Council, Faculty Council, Academic Policy Committee’s Subcommittee on Courses and Teaching Programs, and finally, the Senate, which gave their approval on October 31, 2013.

“Putting new programs on the books takes at least 18 months, and must go through many committees,” David said. “Because our programs include courses from other [faculties], these other faculties had to give their approval. We also had to demonstrate to the university that these programs would be of value to students [….] There were a lot of factors that had to be considered and a lot of questions that had to be answered.”

Enrolment for the program is available for Fall 2014 to students in all years. Reception towards the major has been positive so far, according to David.

“I have had many inquiries from students about these programs,” he said. “I think there is a lot of demand and excitement about these programs, as they respond to the needs of students and changes in society.”

Chelsea Zelko, U1 Management, said she would consider enrolling in the new major.

“I think this new major is a good idea,” she said. “It offers students the opportunity to specialize in something out of the box but still pertaining to management. More importantly […] being familiarized about the connection between all aspects that are management—social, global, ethics, professionalism, etc.—gives McGill students an advantage against others who will be applying to the same job as them outside of university.”

Botero said she hopes students of the program in its first year will spark interest for future students.

“This program combines the best of business and the social sector,” Botero said. “Hopefully those driven, adventurous, first movers into the program will have such a great experience that by the following semester we’ll have a spike in student interest. This would be great, as so many jobs are being created in this area, and they can move right into them.”