Last week, McGill students were faced with a sense of déjà-vu when they were greeted by a congregation of Divest McGill speakers camped outside of the James Administration Building. In response to the McGill Board of Governor’s (BoG) decision to reject fossil fuel divestment, Divest McGill organized a sit-in, which[Read More…]
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
Information overload is an overblown fear
For the past few years, the term ‘information overload’ has saturated numerous media outlets, from reputable scholarly journals to more mainstream magazines offering solutions to an apparent epidemic sweeping the modern world. The argument contends that the accessibility of information online, from go-to search sites such as Google and Wikipedia,[Read More…]
Editorial: Advancement of McGill’s mission statement in conflict with corporatization of the university
It is difficult for students to comment on the McGill’s behemoth bureaucratic nature. Various administrative levels seem oceans apart from the day-to-day educational pursuits of the student body. As a line gets drawn between administrators on one side, and academics and students on the other, all members of the McGill[Read More…]
Off the board: Still trapped in the ‘comfort women’ issue
Last November, I wrote a feature about the “Comfort Women”—the euphemistic term for women captured during the Second World War by the Japanese Imperial Army as sex slaves. A month later, Japan and South Korea reached a settlement to their longstanding dispute over the comfort women. The settlement includes an[Read More…]
Enhancing Steering Committee not the answer to SSMU GAs, but question still remains
With a voter turnout rate of 17.5 per cent, the lowest since 2005, McGill students voted on a myriad of issues in the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Winter 2016 Referendum. Among them were the hotly debated amendments 13.2 and 13.3, which would have created a General Assembly (GA)[Read More…]
Greek life at McGill: More than just a toga
Popular perceptions of Greek life will forever be caught under the shadow of the 1978 comedy Animal House, in which a youthful John Belushi and his gang of misfit fraternity brothers engage in debauchery and hilarity as they struggle to keep their organization legitimate at the fictional Faber College. These[Read More…]
2016 Ancillary Fee Endorsements
Ancillary fees are non-opt-outable fees that are imposed by McGill university in addition to tuition costs. Motion regarding the increase to the WUSC Student Refugee Program Fee: “Yes” The World University Services Canada (WUSC) is a non-profit group that operates on various campuses across the country. WUSC leads the Student[Read More…]
On why the cult of productivity is not productive
As a child, being productive simply meant you were hard-working and diligent. Today, however, productivity seems to signify a golden standard of existence everyone should aim for: It is a concept which is heralded by society. There is an endless source of self-help books and blog posts dedicated to teaching[Read More…]
Editorial: McGill’s sincere concern called into question by reaction to student pressure
Most of the time, McGill Principal Suzanne Fortier is absent from the day-to-day activities of students. A year ago, students would have been surprised to receive direct emails from her with anything other than updates on the most recent Board of Governors (BoG) meetings. Yet in the span of a[Read More…]
Zooming out on Quebec’s immigration issue
A survey conducted in 2013 revealed that only 40 per cent of McGill undergraduates remained in Quebec after graduation. These results reflect a worrying trend in regards to the province’s ability to retain newcomers, a problem which is partly responsible for its steady decline in population growth rate. In an[Read More…]