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a, Student Life

Variety is the spice of lunch

by Alycia Noë on

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While it can be much easier to cave into the enticing smells of food from convenient cafeterias and restaurants, eating out daily isn’t always the smartest choice—both for your wallet and for your waistline. You might ask, “But how can I possibly have the time to make healthy, affordable, and most importantly, quick meals that I can bring to school?” It’s doable; it only takes a little planning and foresight to become the envy of all your friends with your delicious homemade meals.

First and foremost, you need to love your leftovers. Leftovers get a bad rep because students struggle to see their full potential. Recreate your leftovers! If you have leftover vegetables, make a frittata with eggs in the morning. If you have extra meat, make a sandwich or soup. Don’t limit yourself to using your leftovers in their original presentation. Being creative eliminates the feeling of boredom. Simply changing spices with the same ingredients can satisfy a variety of different cravings; seasoning chicken with paprika one day and oregano and garlic the next yields two distinct meals. The combinations and quantities of spices are up to your courageous, risk-taking palate. This approach also works well with canned tuna and chopped eggs—see below for some ideas!

If you want to kick up the flavour further, you can spice up your mayonnaise with Sriracha hot sauce to make your own spicy mayonnaise. Condiments are another easy way to change the flavour profile of a meal and make leftovers exciting.

Mixing up what you eat is crucial to resisting french fries and ice cream. Switching the starch is one way to create variety. Think of different breads to make a sandwich with: whole wheat, rye, focaccia, bagel, tortilla wrap, or pitas. You don’t always need bread either; brown rice, quinoa, and lentils are additional starches that enhance your meals. Remember that the vegetables you pair with your protein can also change the meal. If you’re cooking steak, for example, eat it with mashed potatoes for one meal, and grilled zucchini and carrots the next. The first meal feels more like comfort food, while the latter feels much lighter. The key is to buy seasonally, which can be done by either going to local farmers’ markets or looking online for a seasonal vegetable chart.

One practical tip that seems simple, but is often overlooked: use your freezer! The freezer is vital for stocking up on sale items and for freezing excess food. Leftovers can be frozen in Tupperware in single-serve portions and saved for a rainy day. You should note that there are microwaves in most major dining areas on campus, so if you make pasta, you could make double. Next time you feel like some, instead of boiling water and cooking it, which could take up to half an hour, you can pop your Tupperware into the microwave for a quick and painless meal.

Planning is essential for saving money and maintaining a well-balanced diet. If you have a list when you go grocery shopping, you will buy exactly what you need instead of a box of Pop-Tarts and Kraft Dinner. Also, plan your meals around sales. For example, if steak is on sale, plan on having a steak for dinner, and then reuse the leftovers in sandwiches and salads with different toppings throughout the week.

Another fundamental shopping tip: never shop hungry. It’ll save you money by reducing impulse purchases.

Lastly, cooking is not necessary for every meal. This is especially true for breakfast; cereal, granola bars, yogurt, and fruit are perfect when rushed in the morning. These also work well for snacks, which are a must-have to keep you satisfied throughout the long days.

Hopefully, from these tips you will learn to enjoy cooking for yourself. You can even involve friends and share meals. Although the task of preparing your own food may seem daunting at first, it doesn’t have to be; cooking can be easy, fun, and quick!

 

a, News

‘How’s My Froshing’ rings in McGill’s Orientation Week

by Cem Ertekin on

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Last week, McGill University’s annual Orientation Week included a new addition to the traditional festivities—a phone hotline initiative called ‘How’s My Froshing.’

‘How’s My Froshing’ is an automated phone and text service that allowed participants, leaders, staff, and coordinators of frosh to communicate in an efficient manner. The service immediately connectd callers to services such as Nightline, WalkSafe, DriveSafe, and the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMMS).

Phone numbers of every frosh participant, coordinator, and orientation leader were registered to the system before Orientation Week. The system automatically gave relevant information to callers, such as the events that were currently taking place on their calendars.

“The goal is to centralize our communication,” Brian Farnan, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP Internal, said. “Any frosh leader, operation staff, coordinator, or executive member of respective faculties [is able] to text or call any frosh participant at any given time.”

“After having worked closely with frosh for many years, I saw that communication was crucial and could use a bit of extra support,” said Josh Redel, former-SSMU president and the programmer behind the hotline system.

Campus Life and Engagement’s Student Life Coordinator Mitchell Miller called the program a “customer service for frosh” and said the hotline served as a way to improve the inclusivity of Orientation Week.

“We’re trying to change the culture and come up with new initiatives,” Miller said. “We have a new project of inclusivity, sustainability, and community building.  So there is a cultural change in that froshes are more focused on how can every student—whatever they like to do for fun—find something welcoming and exciting about frosh and Orientation Week as a whole.”

According to Redel, the service is also a response to feedback that has been gathered from previous Orientation Weeks, and also provided instant feedback from participants in this year’s events.

“I think something like this empowers the community to be part of improving frosh,” Redel said. “The problem we have always faced in the past is the time between the actual event taking place and feedback being received [….] Our desire with this system is to be able to get feedback on-the-fly so as to more quickly incorporate changes as needed, and to be able to better assess comments in the moment as opposed to weeks or even months later.”

By the end of Orientation Week, a total of 5,365 calls to the How’s My Froshing hotline had been completed, for a total of 6,260 minutes of service. Of all calls, 1,048 were inbound calls; 4,942 were mass voice messages sent to leaders, operation staff, or participants; and 84 were connection calls, in which the hotline transferred to services such as McGill Security Services, DriveSafe, and WalkSafe.

In addition, 8419 SMS messages were sent or received. The majority of those were mass texts sent to leaders, operation staff, or participants.

Farnan expressed hope that the success of the program during its introduction this year demonstrates its potential for the future.

“We have both real time and long-term capabilities,” Farnan said. “We can respond to situations. If someone leaves a message, we can immediately act on it.  Also, we take the long-term into account, just adding another layer of surveying.”

Despite the numbers, however, not all students considered the service to be particularly useful during their frosh experience.

“I am not sure how many people would actually [use the] option,”  a first-year A=rts student who could not be identified said. “They told us about the number, but I haven’t even thought about it since to be honest.”

Miller, however, said he was optimistic for the future of the service.

“We had never done something like this before for Orientation Week, and there’s little precedence of anything like this at other campuses,” Miller said. “Looking at the data, I can only be excited by the numbers we got and more excited by how the system’s use can only expand and increase.”

a, Behind the Bench, Sports

Third man in: Reality checks in sport journalism

by Remi Lu on

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Thursday, April 25, 2013; the moment remains clear in my mind. The Los Angeles Clippers, led by my hero, Chris Paul, squared off against the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 3 of the first round of the NBA playoffs.

I had a vested interest in the Clippers taking it all the way, and the result seemed inevitable as Los Angeles held a two-game lead over their conference rivals. This was a big game, as 3-0 series advantages have an unsurprising historical precedent of yielding to the leader.

It didn’t hit me until midway through the fourth quarter that I was not actually watching the game. Rather than yelling at my team for falling into a nine-point hole, I stared blankly at the TV while pondering the implications of some sports article I had just read. The sacrilege of my actions didn’t hit me until later that evening as a grim-faced Paul addressed the media about the loss.

Click; scroll; scan.

Click; scroll; scan.

This is the daily rhythm of the sports journalist. The constant pursuit of knowledge through story lines is necessary for success in today’s 24/7, information-obsessed society. There is not a moment that goes by without Adrian Wojnarowski breaking news about the latest J.R. Smith mishap, or James Walker tweeting pointless Miami Dolphins quotes. We have turned the trivial into gold as we dig ourselves deeper into a stimulation-driven prison.

Analyzing sports has changed me. I can’t watch an NHL game without picking apart San Jose’s offensive spacing. Andrew Luck’s inability to step into the pocket no longer escapes my notice. I subconsciously analyze Chicago’s pick-and-roll defence every time they step on the floor.

I can’t see the game for the game plan, if you will. Diving deep into the world of analytical athletics has broken down the beauty of the game into binary X’s and O’s. The loss of the wonder and unadulterated joy that I used to feel while watching sports is a painful reminder of the hidden cost of sports journalism.

And yet, there are still those rare, transcendent games that you catch on TV which erase any mutinous thoughts. The Leafs and Bruins in Game 7. Novak Djokovic, one-seed, pushed to his limits by ninth-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka. The Miami Heat battling the San Antonio Spurs in one of the greatest finals in NBA history. These are the sporting events that break the shackles of media scrutiny. They remind you that sports will never be truly overshadowed by the media; sports transcend a 140 character limit or an expert’s analysis.

As with anything else in life, I think that reality checks are necessary when writing about sports. It is easy to get caught up in the analysis of professional athletes and forget about the love that drew us to sport in the first place. There is a fine balance between analyst and fan, and sports journalists must find it to maintain perspective.

That spring night when the Clippers fell to the Grizzlies was a crucial turning point for me. Los Angeles went on to lose the series eight days later, yielding to a dominant four-game run by Memphis. Perhaps it was because Zach Randolph found his rhythm. Perhaps Memphis realized that the Clippers were offensively inept beyond Paul. Perhaps I should have let my budding identity as a sports analyst continue to impartially analyze story lines for the collapse.

Or perhaps, I should just sit back and enjoy the game.

a, News

Quartier de l’Innovation projects aim to engage students

by Jessica Fu on

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Plans for the Quartier de l’Innovation (QI) continue to progress since its official launch last May. A collaborative initiative of the Griffintown neighborhood, the project is designed to involve McGill and École de technologie supérieure (ETS), NGOs, and corporations, in a centre that drives research and innovation.

One development this summer was the creation of the QI Student Working Group (SWG) action plan, which will be presented at the end of September.

“At McGill, students are considered to be an integral part of the QI initiative and developing this district as a ‘playground’ where students can learn, experiment, research, work, and play is of utmost importance,” QI Project Director Isabelle Péan said. “That is why it was considered essential to develop a strategic communication-marketing action plan specifically targeted at increasing student involvement at McGill University within the QI and its vast variety of offered projects.”

Further opportunities for student interaction with development of the QI will arise throughout the year, according to Péan.

One such opportunity will be on Oct. 4, when McGill’s Social Equity and Diversity Education Office (SEDE) will host its annual Community Engagement Day—an event where students have the opportunity to volunteer in the Montreal community. This year, students will have the opportunity to work within the QI district.

“Specific activities will be organized in the QI district with the Horse Palace, Bâtiment 7, the Darling Foundery, and many others NGOs,” Péan said. “In addition, a walking tour concentrating on arts and history, as well as an open discussion on the main social issues in the district will be available for students to participate in.”

The QI consists of four pillars—categories under which various projects fall—of innovation: industrial, social and cultural, urban, and education and research. According to the QI Project Booklet, investments of around six billion dollars over the course of the decade combined with projects led by professors from both schools aim to develop the area into a modern district of learning and technology. Some planned events include CLUMEQ, “a research consortium for high-performance computing,” and C2-MTL, “an annual global conference exploring commerce and creativity.”

On the QI’s website, connections are drawn between the project and similar initiatives in other cities, such as 22@Barcelona and the Innovation District in Boston. Despite the similarities, Péan said there are fundamental differences that separate the QI from its international counterparts.

“Boston is a little bit younger [than Barcelona] and, for instance, their main focus is the industrial pillar,” Péan said. “QI is really a unique model. That’s also why we have so many challenges in bringing different projects related to our four pillars.”

Will Straw, a professor in the Department of Art History and Communications Studies at McGill, is leading the development of the Laboratory of Urban Culture. The project aims to set up space for collaborative research and art within the community. Straw said the project still faces a number of financial challenges.

“It would be great if funds could be found to rent or buy a cultural space [for the laboratory] for McGill in the Quartier d’Innovation, and we are exploring various alternatives, but we all know about the fiscal constraints facing McGill,” Straw said. “If we found and financed a space, McGill people would come, and that cultural activity could balance whatever high-tech and entrepreneurial activities might be part of the QI.”

Some members of the development team cite a lack of student support for their projects as another obstacle. Anita Nowak, a professor in the Faculty of Management, is leading the Social Economy Initiative, which “builds social entrepreneurship and social innovation into teaching, research and community activities.”

“I presented at a meeting last year to all the student union groups,” Nowak said. “I was surprised by the suspicion that the community of students had towards the QI project. It was considered quite top-down. That was just my reading of it.”

Nowak says students may be reassured to know that the QI is developing in a socially responsible manner.

“I know the players who’ve been involved and I know the intent is coming from a really sensitive place to honour the Quartier itself as it goes through a process of gentrification, to honour the history, to honour the community, [and] to be responsive to the community,” Nowak said. “Montreal is an absolutely amazing ecosystem to see this fluorish. I would invite students to look at the QI as an opportunity.”

a, Arts & Entertainment

6Party documentary examines the morning after

by Max Berger on

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Shutting down university parties is something that police officers are well accustomed to, but the 6Party occupation brought them face-to-face with an unorthodox gathering that only some could describe as festive. In 6Party and The After Party, an hour-long radio documentary written, produced, and co-narrated by fourth-year arts student Davide Mastracci, that exact group takes the spotlight in this revisiting of the event.

‘6Party’ refers to the six-day occupation of the James Administration Building that occurred in February 2012. It was a political event that directly involved a small group of occupiers and administrators, but had a polarizing effect on McGill’s entire campus as many students found themselves either sympathizing with the occupiers, or condemning their tactics.

The documentary retells the story of the 6Party occupation, with commentary and reflections in hindsight of the event from administrator Doug Sweet, McGill’s director of media relations; Louise Burns, a representative from campus radio station CKUT; and a slew of current and former students that participated in the occupation.

Absent from the program are students who did not support the occupation when it occurred. In a written statement about the documentary, Mastracci explains that the piece “focuses on the story of the party from the angle of the party guests themselves.” Although the documentary’s ambition is no secret, it is disappointing to hear zero commentary from a student with a stake on the other side of the fence regarding such a sensitive issue in McGill’s recent history.

This is not to imply that the opposing viewpoint is ignored entirely—perspectives of students who did not support 6Party, such as those who joined the Facebook event “The James Sixth Floor Occupiers Do Not Represent Me,” are briefly discussed, and Mastracci reads a letter from one of the organizers of an anti-6Party event that outlines their views. Co-narrator and arts student Hannah Besseau laments that no leaders of ModPAC, a political campus group that formed to promote a more moderate discourse between students and faculty, agreed to be interviewed for the documentary. Still, even the voice of an average opinionated student would have been a welcome addition to a slate of student interviewees that is oversaturated by occupiers.

The documentary succeeds in accomplishing its main objectives: giving the listener a thorough explanation for why 6Party occurred, discussing how it was organized and executed, and giving the occupiers a chance to reflect on the experience. Mastracci transports listeners back to 2007, where changes to the opt-out system regarding student fees for student-sponsored organizations CKUT and the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) laid the groundwork for the issues that would characterize 6Party. Later, the occupiers discuss the entire process of the occupation and share anecdotes such as planning it in Gerts using code words, and delivering food to the occupants on the 6th floor of the James Building using a pulley system.

Some may be surprised to hear the variance in opinion that is offered about the impact of 6Party, both in how it was able to assist CKUT and QPIRG, and its more general consequences. “I think the occupation probably had a negative effect on the [winter CKUT] referendum,” reflects one occupier in the documentary. He continues to add that “a large group of students who wouldn’t normally be particularly political were politicized in a reactionary way.” In contrast, another occupier felt that “at least it shook up the McGill status quo enough that the people who embodied that status quo wanted to take action. If only because of that, it was worthwhile.”

A promising aspect of the documentary that goes unfulfilled is its integration of non-vocal audio, which is greatly underutilized throughout. Initially, Mastracci draws the listener in with a pulsing background noise that creates an unsettling ambiance as he revisits the Quebec student protest movement during the tumultuous 2011-2012 academic year. After the introduction, however, that auditory element disappears until the conclusion, save for the repetitive five-second sound clip that separates the various sections of the documentary, and a short audio clip that records the initial moments of the occupation. Such little variance from the regular speaking that comprises the bulk of the program often comes across as monotonous.

Both literally and figuratively, 6Party and The After Party aims to empower the student voice at McGill; it unravels the threads of a long standing point of contention, provides a forum for the occupiers to express their thoughts on what they did, and also allows them to connect with a new wave of students who didn’t witness the occupation or its immediate effects firsthand. However, its preoccupation with the occupiers’ perspective leaves a vacant space at this after party for the missing, perhaps more moderate student voice that 6Party helped to awaken.

6Party and The After Party will be aired Sept. 13 at 5pm on CKUT (90.3 FM).

Hear the documentary: https://soundcloud.com/davide-mastracci/6party-and-the-after-party-documentary  

(Sam Reynolds / McGill Tribune)
a, News

McGill rules in student’s favour in harassment case

by Emma Windfeld on

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McGill University’s Committee on Student Grievances (CSG) recently ruled in favour of former McGill graduate student Amr El-Orabi, who returned to his native Egypt last November after alleged harassment from his supervising professor, Gary Dunphy.

According to El-Orabi, the harassment included a death threat and comments on his religion, some of which El-Orabi recorded. He said the incidents began in May of 2012, and culminated in his decision to leave McGill on Nov. 29. On Feb. 14, under the advice of McGill’s Ombudsperson for Students Spencer Boudreau, El-Orabi filed a grievance with McGill’s CSG the grounds of a death threat, intrusion of his privacy, and offences on his cultural and religious preferences.

El-Orabi told Global News Montreal that while he was pleased with McGill’s ruling, he had hoped for financial compensation for the $10,000 in travel and study expenses he incurred during his time at McGill.

“I did move on with my life, but I still have the feeling that this person ruined what I was looking for,” El-Orabi said, adding that he is now pursuing his Flight Inspector licence after recently graduating from the Egyptian Aviation Academy.

According to Global News Montreal, El-Orabi is considering a civil lawsuit to recoup his losses, and has been offered legal advice from the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

Professor Ken Ragan, chair of the CSG, explained in an email that El-Orabi did not follow the usual steps required to receive compensation.

“Redress is usually sought through established review or appeal procedures prior to launching a student grievance,” Ragan said.

As a member of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), the university’s teaching assistants’ union, El-Orabi had the option of filing his grievance either through AGSEM or through the university.

“Had AGSEM been able to file a grievance on Mr. El-Orabi’s behalf, with his permission, we certainly would have sought monetary compensation for the wages that he lost due to having to discontinue his teaching assistantship,” AGSEM Vice-President Suncica Avlijas said.

Avlijas explained that grievances filed through AGSEM proceed through a legal process under the jurisdiction of Labour Law, while those filed through McGill—as El-Orabi’s was­—follow an internal process and are decided by the Provost.

Harassment and discrimination grievances must be submitted to AGSEM within 90 days of their occurrence, so El-Orabi no longer has the option of pursuing this route.

“We are […] surprised to hear reports in the news that Mr. El-Orabi did not receive any compensation for lost wages despite a decision in his favour,” Avlijas said.

According to Avlijas, AGSEM has been working to make members feel more comfortable filing grievances, such as informing TAs of their rights at orientation.

“We have taken steps to increase our accessibility to members, including adding union representatives at Mac Campus, speaking to new Teaching Assistants at orientations and welcome events, and making sure our delegates who are the union representatives within departments are aware of the issues and know how to deal with them,” Avlijas said.

a, Arts & Entertainment

An eclectic phaeleh

by Jack Tokarz on

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Under the stage name Phaeleh, Bristol-native Matt Preston creates and performs electronic music of an indeterminate genre. Also indeterminate, for some, is the pronunciation of his stage name. Matt corrected my initial pronunciation of Phaeleh to “fella,” although he added, “I did not have a certain pronunciation in mind when I created the name, I just liked the shape of the letters. The visual balance and the combination of letters and ideas spoke to me.”

Though Tides, Phaeleh’s most recent album, was released to mostly positive reviews, Preston downplayed the importance of critical acclaim.

“I’m glad my fan-base likes the album because that’s who I make the music for. If some critics don’t give it a good review that’s fine; they probably would never like my style of music [anyway].”

Preston’s music does challenge definitions of several genres within the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) umbrella. It could technically be labelled ambient dubstep, but with the direction dubstep has taken in the past several years, that classification may give the wrong impression. “I struggle as much as journalists do to describe it,” admits Preston. “Chilled electronic music with quite a bit of emotion is the closest I can come [to a precise definition].”

Each track on Tides varies in construction; some use dub-inspired beats while others seem more akin to trance. Additionally, a few tracks prominently feature vocals from frequent collaborator Soundmouse and other vocalists. The combination works, providing an album that keeps the surprises coming until the last song.

Perhaps Phaeleh’s music is so unique because he does not have a concrete mindset while creating each track. When he sits down to work, he lets his present mood dictate the song he works on; whether his day has been full of joy or pain, he makes sure to imbue each song with its own moody edge. This provides the emotional connection fans feel to his music, eliciting atypically powerful responses at shows. Due to the variety in sound, Phaeleh’s music draws out different audiences at each show. He enjoys seeing how new cities respond to his music and catering his set to the crowds’ mood of the night. Some crowds simply want to dance and yell and jump around whereas others find his music therapeutic and find essential meaning in the sound. He finds improvisation to be critical when performing: “I don’t want to play songs no one will like.”

When asked about the recent drug-related tragedy at Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in New York, Preston says that he feels great sympathy towards all affected, but does not agree that EDM as a genre should be punished for the mistakes of a few. The opinion many people are forming of EDM fans is unjust, according to Preston.

“Some may enjoy drug use but many more find meaning in the music sober. Nobody should need drugs to enjoy this music.”

Though Phaeleh’s music is all over the place in the subgenres of electronica, his heart certainly seems to be in the right place. He may be on the way to bigger things,  but we shouldn’t worry about him forgetting those who helped him get there: his fans.

Phaeleh will perform at Le Belmont (4483 St. Laurent) with opening act Shigeto and Beacon on Sept. 14 at 10 p.m. Admission is $12.

a, News

Hearings continue on McGill’s ability to deny ATI requests

by Emma Windfeld on

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Last Thursday, the first hearings took place regarding a motion in which McGill requests the ability to deny past and future Access to Information (ATI) requests. Filed last December, the motion seeks to deny ATI requests submitted by a total of 14 present and former McGill students, as well as the power to deny all future ATI requests that are similar in nature to those of the respondents.

The hearing was a preliminary meeting in which the respondents motioned to strike a clause that allows McGill to set out criteria that they would use to deem future ATI requests void. This clause requests a change from the procedure that typically applies to public bodies, which must submit a request to the Commission d’accés á l’information if they wish to deny any ATI.

McGill’s original motion requested the ability to deny ATI requests due to the “serious impediments to [McGill’s] activities” posed by the volume of ATIs that students were submitting. The university received 170 ATI requests last year—133 more than the year before.

Thursday’s hearing was scheduled to extend over a two-day period, but lasted only three and a half hours. Only four of the 14 respondents were present. The Commission will not reach a verdict for several weeks.

Kevin Paul, a McGill law student named as a respondent in the case, said he left the hearing feeling confident.

“There are no instances in the past where the Commission has delegated to a public body its power to determine what an acceptable request is,” Paul said. “The Commission’s power is limited to ruling on existing requests […. McGill] seeks unprecedented powers to judge ATI requests in place of the Commission and relies on fabricating a retaliatory conspiracy on the part of students against the university.”

However, McGill Secretary-General Stephen Strople said that there are more factors at play in the case than students’ ATI request rights.

“The law does not only give rights to those asking for documents; it also gives rights to those from whom the documents are requested,” Strople said. “At the hearing, we amended our application to provide for an alternative. If the Commission does not want to grant us permission to ignore future requests of the type we describe, then it could require that such requests for access first be submitted to the Commission for review before the university has to deal with them.”

Richard Kurland is a Vancouver-based lawyer who is not involved in the proceedings but has experience in ATI cases. He said that the phrasing of the students’ initial ATI requests should have been more specific in order to provide McGill with questions of an answerable scope, and that McGill should be granted the power to deny similar ATI requests.

“It’s a desirable result given the ineptitude that was manifested here by whoever drew up these questions,” Kurland said. “They ought to have consulted a professional.”

Cadence O’Neal, U1 arts and a respondent in the case, said she feels it is important for students to retain the right to request information from McGill on any topic, regardless of the wording of the questions.

“Necessitating that curious students ask legal professionals prior to sending in ATI Requests seems like it would deter a lot of folks from asking anything at all,” O’Neal said.

Robin Reid-Fraser, U4 environment and another respondent, expressed a similar sentiment, arguing that McGill’s request is unreasonable.

“From the information our lawyer presented, what McGill is asking the Commission to do goes well above and beyond its mandate as set out by the law,” Reid-Fraser said.

According to Kurland, while students have the right to request information, they should refine their requests to ask for more specific records that would be manageable for the university to procure.

“If students are worried about a policy at McGill, democracy means people have the right to know and McGill has the obligation to disclose,” he said. “But there’s a need for their requests to be crystal clear, manageable, and deliverable. The easiest thing to do is start fresh and get it right.”

A verdict is expected to be reached within several weeks. Trial dates are set for October and December to determine whether or not the ATI requests of the 14 respondents will be denied.

(via /www.calebwojcik.com)
a, Science & Technology

Ask Scitech: You snooze you lose; why you should avoid the snooze button

by Caity Hui on

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You spend one third of your life sleeping, according to a recent study conducted by Statistics Canada. Based on an average life span of approximately 90 years, 30 of those are commited to sleep.

Despite this commitment, a huge percentage of the population seems to be waking up too early—and on the wrong side of the bed— thanks to an unusual culprit. Add on to the list of caffeine, all-nighters, drinking, and anxiety; the revered snooze button.

According to The Chronicle, a publication at Durham College, 90 per cent of college students are sleep deprived. In addition, 3.3 million Canadians over the age of 15 (about one in seven) report difficulty both falling and staying asleep.

However, while the snooze button is a tempting option, snagging a few extra minutes of sleep doesn’t help you to wake up. Instead, smacking the snooze button and drifting off resets your sleep cycle all over again. The next time the alarm sounds, you are disturbed in a deeper and earlier part of your sleep cycle, which translates to a grumpier and less-rested you.

In addition, artificial wake-up cues disturb the natural processes your body undergoes to help you wake up. These include chemical changes, namely the release of dopamine and cortisol (‘wake-up’ hormones), an increased body temperature, and a lighter sleep. According to Assistant Director of Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine at Maimonides Medical Center Yizhak Kupfner, using an alarm clock often interrupts your sleep cycle and cuts these processes short. As a result, you are bound to feel more tired depending on what stage you were in before the alarm went off.

Mayo Clinic sleep specialist Timothy Morgenthaler recommends seven to eight hours of sleep per night for adults, and up to 11 hours of sleep for school-age children. It may seem like a lot, but this number shouldn’t be taken lightly. Sleep is an incredibly important human necessity. As a result, interruptions to your body’s natural wake-up cues can have negative effects on performance throughout the day.

When we sleep, we are allowing our bodies to execute a variety of tasks to assist us in the coming day. These include physical processes, such as the manufacture and release of hormones, tissue growth and repair, and the replenishment of energy to the brain and body. Sleep also extends to help us perform better in our studies.

In fact, sleep has been proven to aid declarative memory, which is the retention of facts and knowledge. It plays a particularly important role in allowing individuals to retain facts when challenged with subsequent, competing information.

A study conducted by Jeffrey Ellenbogen of Harvard Medical School in 2007 showed that participants who received a good night’s sleep prior to testing performed better than those who did not. He compared subjects who began learning at 9 a.m. and returned for testing at 9 p.m without sleeping (the ‘sleepless’ subjects) with those who began learning at 9 p.m. and returned for testing at 9 a.m. after a night’s sleep (the ‘sleepers’).

The sleepers barely outperformed their sleepless peers when the groups were asked to memorize 20 pairs of random words, such as blanket and village. However, when given a twist—the subjects were forced to learn a new set of word pairs 12 minutes prior to testing—the well-rested participants recalled 76 per cent of the initial pairs, compared to a mere 32 per cent by their peers. The researchers concluded that “memories after sleep are resilient to disruption,” which goes to show that resting before an exam could improve your ability to retain the information, despite nerves and other distractions.

Furthermore, a poor quality and quantity of sleep has been shown to affect students’ performance at school. Sleep is a basic human necessity. So when you go without it, you experience symptoms that make it difficult for your brain to perform well, like low concentration. It’s the same as if you were to study while starving; it’s nearly impossible to focus on the task at hand because your body is craving another basic necessity.

While hitting the snooze button might be tempting, experts recommend adopting a more regular sleep schedule rather than ‘snoozing’ for hours to achieve a higher quality of sleep. Your body loves predictability, and the more consistently you fall asleep and rise in the morning, the better it will adapt to your routine and naturally wake itself up.

a, Sports

Redmen prevail over Concordia for first time in 11 years

by Aaron Rose on

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Senior quarterback Jonathan Collin knelt down in front of 2,845 rambunctious fans to seal McGill’s first victory over Concordia in 11 years.

It was McGill Football’s home opener, as the team took to the field against the Stingers on Friday night for the 45th annual Shaughnessy Cup game.

The match started slowly, with mental mistakes and costly penalties from both teams. McGill opened the scoring with a 29-yard field goal by capitalizing on a Concordia fumble.

In the final minute of the second quarter, the McGill offence strung together a series of six completions, working their way 55 yards down the field. With the ball at Concordia’s 32-yard line and less than 10 seconds remaining in the half, Collin threw a deep ball that was intercepted in the end zone.

The first half ended with Concordia on top 7-5 despite strong play from the Redmen defence. With the exception of a few mistakes, McGill  forced a fumble recovery, two sacks, and two tackles for losses.

As the temperature in the stadium dropped at halftime, the offence was getting ready to heat up. McGill quickly siezed momentum coming out of halftime with a 46-yard drive that culminated in a 32-yard field goal by senior kicker Samy Rassy.

After a quick stop by the defence and a subpar 16-yard punt by the Stingers, McGill regained possession of the ball. Collin proceeded to air it deep to sophomore wide receiver, Jean-Philippe Paquette, for a 31-yard gain. Immediately following the big play, running back Luis Guimont-Mota kicked it into high gear, breaking numerous tackles en route to a 21-yard rushing touchdown. (Luke Orlando / McGill Tribune)

After another defensive stop for the Redmen, sophomore receiver Joel Brtka hauled in one of his 11 receptions for a 15-yard touchdown.

The Stingers tried to turn the tide in the final quarter, clawing away at a 15-point deficit. After a McGill punt, Concordia marched 97-yards down the field for a touchdown. Down by nine, the visitors attempted to fool the Redmen special teams unit by attempting a fake extra-point conversion. However, McGill was prepared and smothered wide receiver Shayne Stinson’s rush attempt.

Concordia’s momentum was  short-lived as freshman running back Pelle Jorgen electrified the crowd with a 70-yard kick return. Rassy connected on a field goal once more before Guimont-Mota put the nail in the coffin with his second rushing touchdown of the night.Concordia scored a late touchdown, but by then the game was already out of reach.

It was a big win for a team that has shown consistent improvement since Head Coach Clint Uttley took over three years ago. Despite the success, Uttley did not allow the team to get complacent. “We’ve still got to get [the running game] going,” Uttley remarkedIf Guimont-Mota can continue his rise as a key cog in the offence, the veteran line should clear enough open holes for him to plow through. This will present yet another viable option for the offence as the team looks to broaden its attack possibilities.

For Defensive Coordinator Mickey Donovan, the game represented a victory over his alma mater. Donovan noted that beating Concordia feels, “great, because last year we lost a heartbreaker to them, and that should have been our game then. So for us to bounce back this way and finish with a ‘W’ for these guys and get the Cup, that’s what it’s about.”

The game tied the two schools’ all-time Shaughnessy Cup series at 36-36.

The Redmen now hold a 1-1 record. Next week, the team is set to travel out to Sackville, New Brunswick to take on the 0-1 Mount Allison Mounties in the latter’s home opener. Look for another victory on the road before McGill returns to Molson Stadium to play the Sherbrooke Vert et Or on Sept. 20.

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