Month: March 2018
Voter Turnout
The McPlague
SSMU Council accepts recommendations from committee on anti-Semitism
At its March 15 meeting, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council passed the Motion Regarding the Policy for the Implementation of a Fall Reading Break, renewing SSMU’s mandate to lobby for the institution of a Fall break at McGill. Council also passed the Motion Regarding the Joint[Read More…]
McGill professors debate the effectiveness of fossil fuel divestment
“The research shows that [divestment] does make a difference,” Mikkelson said. “The most comprehensive study [of divestment movements] was done at Oxford, and they looked at other divestment campaigns that didn’t necessarily cripple the industries they were targeting, but what they did do is make a big public impact, and that spurred governments to take action [….] Divestment creates impact by raising awareness, stigmatizing target companies, and influencing legislation.”
Etzion further emphasized the status of divestment as a social rather than economic movement.
“I don’t really perceive [fossil fuel divestment] as a financial tactic,” Etzion said. “It’s about something much bigger than what you invest in, it’s actually a social movement. And the objective of this tactic is to de-legitimize an entire industry. [Universities] are very influential in how the world perceives issues, and [divestment] empowers people to envision a world that is not running on a path to destruction.”
ISA walk out brings movement for Indigenous justice to McGill
Protesters honoured the deaths of Tina Fontaine, Colten Boushie, and Brady Francis—three Indigenous youths who were murdered without any suspects being held criminally responsible—at a walkout on campus on March 14, National School Walkout Day. Over 3,100 walkouts took place at schools across North America that day, mostly over gun[Read More…]
A Wrinkle In Time is a fresh faced children’s movie
Recent dialogue surrounding the new film adaptation of Madeleine’s L’Engle’s classic book, A Wrinkle in Time, pits the film’s quality against its desire to be an inclusive big budget production. Is it good merely because of this prerogative? Is that proper criticism? It’s a fair question. Critics are hailing the[Read More…]
How many people is too many people?
There are currently 7.6 billion people on Earth. The United Nations (UN) projects that the planet’s population will increase by one billion within the next 15 years. By 2100, over 11 billion people could be inhabiting the planet. The concept of overpopulation is not new. Thomas Malthus, an 18th century[Read More…]
Sports success coming in waves for Seattle
At the beginning of the 2017-18 season, the Vegas Golden Knights were generating plenty of chatter about their sparkling inaugural campaign. Initially, Vegas’ success opened the door for other expansion franchises: The possibility of additional NHL franchises in Quebec City, Seattle, and Houston piqued fans’ interest more than ever. Fast[Read More…]
Sidewalk etiquette: Talking the talk about walking the walk
Montreal is a wonderful city for walking—not only because of its pedestrian streets, quirky architecture, and beautiful street art—but because of the eclectic array of pedestrians strolling down the streets. There are arm-swingers, head-bobbers, aggressive J-walkers, and many others. Some types of walkers are unsettling, however, particularly during the slush-filled[Read More…]
