Add/drop distress marks the beginning of every semester. This past fall, students endured 18 dreadful days of waitlist purgatory, and endured 13 days until this semester’s Jan. 17 add/drop deadline. Apps such as //Get A Seat//, which give email notifications when a spot has opened up, only alleviate stress to[Read More…]
Commentary
Canada’s 150th: Reflecting on the past while celebrating the present
As Canadians take 2017 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation, the year ahead should be a time for celebration. However, party preparations have recently been hindered by disagreement over the meaning of the anniversary. The Parti Québecois (PQ) recently announced that they have planned “L’autre 150ième,” a Quebec-focused celebration[Read More…]
Jordan Peterson’s real thesis lost in U of T pronoun debate
University of Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson has made headlines recently for refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns in the classroom. Students at U of T have been protesting Peterson’s stance ever since late September, when he released several videos on the subjects of political correctness, the Ontario Human Rights Code (OHRC)[Read More…]
Ban on pedestrian cellphone use obscures real danger
A 2016 poll conducted by Insights West revealed that 66 per cent of Canadians support legislation that would crack down on distracted walking by banning pedestrian use of cellphones along sidewalks. The results of this poll demonstrate how out of tune Canadians are with the reality of accidents. Distracted walking[Read More…]
Bridging the gap between the downtown and Mac campuses
Although they are two halves of a single university, for downtown students, it may seem that the main things that the Macdonald and main campus share are the McGill name and a shuttle bus. The two campuses have separate student unions; therefore, students from one campus do not often engage[Read More…]
Partisan boundaries stifle discourse on Facebook
In theory, social media platforms should be a boundless, intellectual, free market for sharing ideas. It’s a platform for individuals to effortlessly and instantly share their views. In turn, all users would be subjected to a wide range of views from all sides of the ideological spectrum. This, however, has[Read More…]
No party is the ‘science party:’ The problem with politicizing science
The concept of the “anti-science” right isn’t new to political discussion; conservatives are consistently seen as the major perpetrators of anti-science rhetoric. A 2009 Pew Research poll described a mere six per cent of scientists in the U.S. as identifying with Republican views. According to the two-party political system, this[Read More…]
Instagram on the right track with new self-harm prevention feature
The combination of academics, finances, and relationships can strain students’ mental health. A 2013 survey of over 30,000 post-secondary students conducted by the Canadian Organization of University and College Health revealed that 63 per cent of students reported feeling lonely, and 50 per cent of students reported feeling hopeless. Significantly,[Read More…]
The future of birth control must include all genders
The results of a trial for male birth control, published in the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, have sparked outrage and frustration. After 20 of 320 men dropped out of the study due to adverse side effects, the trials were discontinued. Altogether, the men participating in the trial reported 1,491[Read More…]
The social hangover of McGill’s drinking culture
I was at a café the other week, trying to decide between one croissant or two croissants, when I found myself confronted with an all-too-frequent crisis—I was faced with a familiar face, but no name to put to it. Luckily, she seemed to be in the same dilemma. We locked[Read More…]
