Senate meets for first time in 2010

The McGill University Senate convened for the first time in 2010 last week to discuss pertinent issues affecting the university. Principal Heather Munroe-Blum, the senate’s chair, offered her remarks prior to the questions and motions period. Munroe-Blum first discussed McGill’s participation in an upcoming research relationship between Quebec and India.

FRESH HELL: I still hate the situation

I love Jersey Shore as much as the next well-educated Midwesterner – and with as much guilt. I also get a thrill seeing people get thinner on The Biggest Loser, and cackle with delight at every shot of Mary Murphy’s super-Botoxed facehole on So You Think You Can Dance.

Redmen pick up win at tourney

In the world of sports – where every team seems to think they have a chance at the playoffs and every player parrots the same lines about winning on “Any given Sunday” – the honest and realistic goals of the McGill Redmen volleyball team are refreshing. The players and coaches talk about single games, not tournaments; about learning from mistakes, not about knocking off powerhouse teams like the Dalhousie Tigers; and about competing, not necessarily about winning.

LABprojects collaborate on the science of musical fusion

Great things tend to happen when established musicians play with other established musicians. Take Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and Cream, considered some of the earliest examples of the “supergroup,” or more recent bands like Broken Social Scene and The New Pornographers, whose members almost all had notable solo careers before breaking big together.

Culinary alchemy for incompetents

After a gruelling day on campus, coming home to a kitchen filled with random food items that don’t seem to relate to one another can be incredibly infuriating. In this situation, many revert to take-out or perhaps to pasta for the fifth night in a row. But even the barest of fridges or pantries can contain the basics for just about any meal.

More students take LSATs, GRE

Reluctant to head straight into the current lacklustre job market, an increasing number of American students are taking the tests required to pursue post graduate degrees. According to the Educational Testing Service, 19 per cent more Americans took the Graduate Record Examination in 2009 than in 2008.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Not AMUSEd

In last week’s editorial, you stated that AMUSE – The Association of McGill University Support Employees – left some students “in the dark” by failing to adequately contact all potential voters. Out of respect for the newly accredited members of the bargaining unit and the supporters who spent countless hours contacting the eligible voters, I feel it is necessary to correct some blatantly incorrect facts you stated about the voting procedure.

BLACK & WHITE: This mortal coil

Existential crises are as awkward to talk about as bowel movements. In a milieu that celebrates irony more than sincerity, any attempt to be philosophical is either going to make me resemble an overeager, emo teenager, or an indecipherable, pompous intellectual, and I’m not sure which I’ll end up sounding like in this column.

AMUSE vote leaves some students in the dark

The Association of McGill University Support Employees is now the official union of McGill’s non-academic casual workers, receiving accreditation from the Quebec Labour Board last month. An October mail-in vote of eligible employees resulted in an overwhelming 85 per cent of casual workers voting in favour of the union.

Read the latest issue

Read the latest issue