Opinion

Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.

Toronto Loudmouth Needs to Walk the Walk

Dion Phaneuf is a loud guy. You can have endless debates about his abilities, about his paycheque, or about his girlfriend (notorious puck bunny Elisha Cuthbert), but there’s no debating his mouth. And while his brashness may have excited the Toronto Maple Leafs enough for them to name him captain, it has also gotten him into a lot of trouble. I am almost certain that a statement he made last week in particular will come back to haunt him: “It’s definitely a playoff team. Our goal going into the start of this year is to make the playoffs,” he said. “Anything short of that is unacceptable.”

Inaction We Cannot Afford

In 2004, Guardian columnist George Monbiot wrote, “The only higher purpose we could possibly possess is to seek to relieve suffering: our own and that of other people and other animals.” The last six years have not diminished the truth of his statement. If anything, our hurtling towards mass extinction[Read More…]

The Vehicle of Free Speech

In 1987, a photograph by Andres Serrano earned $15,000 and the prestigious Award in Visual Arts from the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Arts. This photo also happened to set in motion a cascade of outcries, because it depicted Jesus Christ on a crucifix, submerged in a glass of the artist’s[Read More…]

Equity and Social Justice on Campus

Emily Clare Lynsey Grosfield As the Students’ Society of McGill University’s Equity Commissioner, I will undertake multiple roles this year in order to fulfill my mandate as a resource person for students on their rights and responsibilities under SSMU’s equity policy. This document aims to “create a safe, discrimination-free environment.”[Read More…]

Raising Quebec tuition: the least bad option

Last week, McGill Principal Heather Munroe-Blum travelled to Quebec City to report to the provincial government on the ups and downs the university has faced in the past three years. In her speech, Munroe-Blum repeated many of the standard talking points: she touted the university’s research, emphasized McGill’s international stature,[Read More…]

Province should explore other possibilities first

As an Ontario student, I have no special love for the preferential rates Quebec gives its students. But if Quebec gives its students a bargain, my resentment is as much towards Ontario for not doing the same for me. In that light, I cannot support a tuition hike. Raising Quebec rates—even to parity with the rest of the country—is a big move, and one that seems far too easy of a solution for a problem tied to issues far beyond university education.

Precious, Text-Free Moments

“Hey whats up”

I read those three simple words beaming at me from the screen of my LG Rumour. Punctuation-free, of course, these are some of the most used words in the texting world. Simple, friendly, and in dire need of a response.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The Tone of the Trib Editorial

If the Tribune’s editors had a point in last week’s editorial, entitled “Tribal Frosh and the tone of campus debate”, it was certainly lost on me-and surely most other smart McGillians-when it plunged into an utterly juvenile lambasting of the, so -called, “anti-MUS campaign” (sic).

EDITORIAL: Raising Quebec tuition – the least bad option

Last week, McGill Principal Heather Munroe-Blum travelled to Quebec City to report to the provincial government on the ups and downs the university has faced in the past three years. In her speech, Munroe-Blum repeated many of the standard talking points: she touted the university’s research, emphasized McGill’s international stature, and cheered the university’s intellectual contributions to Quebec.

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