Last Thursday, McGill University finally gave the response our community needed to hear on sexual assault. The message, a Media Relations Office email sent on behalf of Ollivier Dyens, deputy provost (Student Life and Learning), represented a first step towards the administration heeding the calls for change that have been[Read More…]
Editorial
Harassment of students not an answer to student harassment
Last Wednesday, about a dozen protesters interrupted the class of professor Gary Dunphy, a professor in the Faculty of Environmental Sciences. The protest was in response to allegations that surfaced in early April that Dunphy had repeatedly harassed, and made a death threat against Amr El-Orabi, a student he was[Read More…]
Why this SSMU GA matters, and why you should be there
This Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) is holding a special General Assembly (GA)—its second one in less than two months. Much has been made in the past about the accessibility and relevance of GAs, as the events themselves consistently suffer from poor attendence. While[Read More…]
Incomplete athletics policies leave room for inaction
Last Friday, the Montreal Gazette reported on a 2011 incident in which three McGill students were accused of an alleged sexual assault on a former Concordia student. The three men—who were arrested in April 2012—are McGill Redmen football players and have continued to play for the squad in the two[Read More…]
TaCEQ a waste of SSMU funds
One of the lesser-known expenses of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) is the portion our association devotes to membership in the Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TaCEQ). Established in 2009, TaCEQ is a federation of student associations that seeks to advocate for broader student interests at the[Read More…]
Dentistry student fee unfairly stiffs future students
Last week it was announced that in order to help fund the Faculty of Dentistry’s $18 million move into new facilities on the corner of McGill College Avenue and Sherbrooke, the Dental Students’ Society (DSS) has voted to impose a $2,500-per-semester annual fee on all future members. Although well-intentioned, this fee[Read More…]
ATI process critical to accountability at McGill and nationwide
On Oct. 7, the province’s Commission d’accès à l’information handed down its ruling in McGill’s case against a group of 14 students who had made multiple Access to Information (ATI) requests to the university. The ruling rejected McGill’s petition for the discretionary power to deny ATI requests the school judged[Read More…]
SSMU conduct on General Assembly an abdication of duty
Last Wednesday’s Fall General Assembly (GA) of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) was once again marred by staggeringly low attendance. At its peak, the assembly only managed about 50 attendees attendees—far from its 100-member quorum. The apparent absence of an engagement campaign leading up to the event was[Read More…]
Asbestos conference not a solution to corporate-funded research
Last Tuesday, McGill hosted the “Asbestos: Dialogue for the Future” conference, a full-day symposium on McGill’s role in asbestos research, asbestos as a substance, and the broader role of corporate funding in the university environment. The conference was the result of one of the recommendations made in a 2012 internal[Read More…]
Mental health programs demand further action, awareness
On Thursday, Sept. 19, McGill rescinded the one-time $20 fee to access its Mental Health Services (MHS), a decision that came in the wake of negative feedback about the added financial burden to users of those services. We applaud the responsiveness this decision demonstrates on the part of the university.[Read More…]
