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a, News

McGill rents Varcity515 floors to house first years

by Samiha Sharif on

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This year, 85 students and two floor fellows will call a building named Varcity515 home following McGill’s decision to rent two floors of this furnished student-housing complex to accommodate an excess number of students requiring places in residence.

According to Interim Director of Residences and Student Housing, Janice Johnson, it is difficult to predict exactly how many students are going to require accommodations at McGill each year. One per cent more or fewer students than anticipated could cause a difference of 50 to 60 students.

Due to the last-minute nature of its opening, Varcity515 was not on the housing survey completed by all first years who apply for residence in the spring. When this year’s residence lottery was completed last June, the number of incoming students requiring accommodations exceeded the number that McGill’s residences could hold. This excess was partially due to Douglas Hall being closed for renovations this year, as the residence usually accommodates 179 students.

“It’s a bit of a gamble every year to make sure that we stay full,” Johnson said. “We have a responsibility to stay full because if we don’t raise our revenues to cover the expenses each year then we have to raise the prices for our students next year.”

Normally, all students who do not immediately receive a residence placement are assigned a temporary room—often in living rooms at Solin Hall or in Royal Victoria College. This year, students placed on the top of the temporary residence list were assigned to Varcity515.

Located at 515 Saint-Catherine Street, Varcity515 is within easy walking distance of campus. As Johnson pointed out, this is not the first time that the building has been used as a McGill residence.

“Five years ago, when Varcity515 first opened, McGill was in a similar situation and therefore initiated an arrangement with them,” Johnson said. “Since McGill’s relationship in the past with Varcity515 had been a positive experience, this year when McGill needed more beds, Varcity515 was readily contacted.”

Only 60 to 70 extra beds were needed to house this year’s students, but two whole floors of the building have been rented. Although this means a few empty spaces, Johnson says it was done to ensure a solid residence community experience. Each apartment has three to five bedrooms, one of which is a room that has no outward-facing windows, only a window facing the interior of the apartment. The rent is $1,250 per month for regular rooms—approximately the same amount that students pay to live in McGill’s hotel-style residences like New Residence Hall. Rooms that lack an exterior window in Varcity515 cost $950-$1,000. Students pay their rent in a nine-month lease.

All Varcity515 students have a mandatory commuter meal plan, which is a $300 plan designed for students, professors, and staff members who occasionally purchase food on campus. Each four- or five-bedroom apartment comes with a fully equipped kitchen, complete with a dishwasher as well as utensils such as pots, pans, and cutlery. The cafeterias at Carrefour Sherbrooke and Royal Victoria College are just two blocks away from the building.

According to Johnson, McGill does not currently have any plans to occupy Varcity515 in future years.

She added that its residents want to have their own residence council instead of being aligned with Carrefour Sherbrooke’s council as originally planned.

“Feedback from these councils is important for us to better the experience,” Senior Director of Student Housing and Hospitality Services, Mathieu Laperle, said.

Although most students at Varcity515 only arrived in their residence two weeks ago, some, like Kirsten Neprily, U0 Arts, say the building already feels like home.

“Everyone is so happy to be here,” Neprily said. “We cook together, shop together, party together. I honestly don’t wish that anything was different.”

a, Arts & Entertainment

Our Nixon can’t deliver the reel goods

by Ira Halperm on

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It turns out that if Richard Nixon’s key aides were a few decades younger, they probably would have been really into Instagram. Penny Lane’s new documentary Our Nixon, released Aug. 30, uses mostly amateur Super-8 camera footage, shot by the former U.S. president’s White House chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman; John Ehrlichman, his domestic affairs assistant; and Dwight Chapin, his deputy assistant, who all ultimately ended up serving jail time for their involvement in the 1970s Watergate scandal. Henry Kissinger appears in the film fairly often too, though he was apparently too busy addressing international relations and his relationships with women to fool around with a camera.

Without any voice-over narration, the film takes a genuine stab at working in the style of cinéma vérité— candid scenes unguided by a director. However, the shaky footage shot by Nixon’s aides reveals nothing particularly shocking. It mostly presents a warm-and-fuzzy, sometimes goofy picture of the mundane, as home videos often do best. We see Nixon at his desk and on vacation, White House dinner parties and entertainment, and a lot of the White House gardens — too often, unfortunately, to hold our interest. We also see Nixon’s advisors filming each other, and the sheer volume of such footage that Lane incorporates into her documentary seems to imply a criticism of an indulgently inward-looking old-boys-club not fully in touch with reality.

Lane’s arrangement of clips reveals a particular interest in the awkward theatrics of Nixon’s life. One of the film’s most perfectly cringe-worthy moments occurs when Nixon introduces The Ray Conniff Singers, who are playing at the White House, with “If the music’s square, it’s because I like it square.” Soon afterwards, however, one singer uses the microphone to harshly criticize Nixon for the war in Vietnam. In China, Nixon and his aides attend a play with Communist propaganda. According to Haldeman, though the play “would have been horrifying at home […] it all seemed to fit together here.” With these scenes, personal drama overshadows actual politics in the film, and the result­— despite echoing Nixon’s nebulous legacy—  is a film that leaves us with more questions than answers.

Pairing this home-video footage with other archival footage occasionally results in clever, ironic juxtaposition. This includes Nixon’s television addresses as well as interviews with his aides. It also features some deliciously horrifying clips from the White House tapes, which is where the shock value of the Nixon story continues to lie. Behind Nixon’s on-screen façade of confidence is a man who is paranoid, insecure and out-of-touch with reality. For instance, while viewing the perfectly manicured White House gardens, we hear Nixon rant: “You know what happened to the Greeks? Homosexuality destroyed them […]you see, homosexuality, immorality in general, these are the enemies of strong societies. That’s why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing it; they’re trying to destroy us!” But the film is neither didactic nor strictly one-sided. In fact, it does present glimpses of Nixon’s charming side, such as showcasing his deep loyalty to his criminal colleagues.

Overall, however, the film suffers from a lack of thematic unity and structure. It is not always clear why a particular piece of footage has been included— why, for instance, are we looking at a prolonged shot of a squirrel in the White House gardens? The drifting, rambling quality of the film makes you feel as though you are traveling back in time in a dream state. When you wake up, a general confusion tempts one to consult a real biopic for clarification.

Our Nixon begins screening at Cinema du Parc (3575. av. du Parc)on Sept. 6. 

a, Arts & Entertainment

The fine art of getting inked

by Mira Sharma on

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With the increasing popularity of tattoos, they have gained recognition as one of today’s more overt expressions of personality. Tattoos are no longer largely perceived as symbols of dissent and delinquency; a contemporary view of them now leans closer towards a holistic understanding of these designs as visual art.

Breaking away from stereotypes of skulls and barbed wire, more varied tattoos have skyrocketed in popularity. The human skin is now ‘the new flesh’ for tattoo artists such as Sandi Calistro, a Denver-based artist participating in Montreal’s annual Art Tattoo Show. In Calistro’s opinion, there may be a number of explanations for the rise in popularity of tattoos.

“Maybe when it initially started, it was more sailors tattooing,” Calisto says. “When I was getting into it, the tattooists I knew were art students; the new generation that started tattooing brought a different style to the table […] but I think it really exploded when they started the reality TV shows [like L.A. Ink and Tattoo Rescue]. Because then people saw that tattoo shops weren’t scary to go into […] They [were] creating crazy art pieces; [people] didn’t know tattoos could look like that.”

Unlike attending a gallery showing, getting tattooed is not a passive visual experience; it is a shared encounter between two people. Calistro explains:

“It is a really intimate experience. The person is putting a lot of trust in you and they are kind of in a vulnerable situation because you’re inflicting pain […] they open up to you quite a bit. For some people it is therapeutic. There’s something about it that’s a release.”

In return, an artist will imprint a little bit of themselves in their work; during the short time the service is being rendered, it is a truly symbiotic relationship.

Where some find a sense of therapy in receiving a tattoo, others definitely feel the pain that comes with getting a valued piece of work. “For me, it’s quite painful,” Calistro describes. “Tattoos hurt for sure, but it’s kind of like a rite of passage that way. You go through the pain of the tattoo and you kind of feel like

you’ve conquered something by doing it.”

In recent years, tattoos have grown in popularity with women. Once deemed more appropriate for a masculine crowd, body art has been readily welcomed by a female clientele. With an increasing demand for more feminine elements, a new generation of female artists has emerged. Calistro’s work has dutifully catered to the growing call for feminine art. Her work surpasses the simple objectification of the female, drawing inspiration from contemporary artists like Frida Kahlo.

Calistro is a familiar face at the Montreal Art Tattoo Show.

“A friend that did the convention and invited me to come – that’s how I got involved in it. Montreal is my favourite because first of all, you get to experience the city as well as the convention. The convention is put together perfectly— the artists are all really good and everyone that runs the convention is super friendly and makes you feel super at home like family. It’s my favourite.”

Calistro describes the experience of getting a tattoo at a convention versus a studio: “The atmosphere is extremely different; for the client it might be better because they have all of these distractions— basically, [for the] people watching— it’s like this over-stimulation that can help with the pain.”

Whether you are looking to get your first ‘tat’ or add to your collection, the convention will feature over 100 artists from around the world and right here in Quebec. As a veteran of the convention, Calistro reassures that, “if you are looking to get a tattoo, you will find every style you can imagine. If you were ever contemplating a tattoo, you would find what you were looking for there. There’s going to be a lot of artwork to look at.”

The convention runs from Friday, Sept. 6 to Sunday, Sept. 8. Tickets are available for purchase at the door at Windsor Station.

Find more information at http://www.arttattoomontreal.com.

a, Science & Technology

Physics paradox proposes universal Inception

by Kieran Steer on

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What are the chances that our existence—or lack thereof—could be a mere projection from someone or something’s mind, just like the premise of The Matrix or Inception? Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906), the same German physicist who derived the blackbody radiation laws, proposed this reasoning during the 1800s and it is still discussed today as one of the most interesting and disturbing ideas of science.

Boltzmann posed the idea, that just as humans with self-aware, conscious minds inhabit the Earth, there may be other self-aware minds—dubbed Boltzmann Brains—blipping in and out of existence throughout the universe.

The theory is based on the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy— disorder, or the measure of the number of states in which a particular system can be arranged— of the universe is perpetually increasing. This law requires our universe to spontaneously approach a thermodynamic equilibrium of high entropy and disorder. Low entropy, or order, is unlikely to occur in a universe such as ours.

However, in the midst of this theoretically chaotic universe exists Earth: a perfectly life-supporting world inhabited by humans— intelligent and self-aware creatures. Based on the law that entropy is continually increasing in a highly disordered equilibrium, it seems unlikely that such a highly ordered planet with such highly-ordered minds as ours, could happen. In fact, it should be astronomically rare that we exist. Fortunately, the infinite size of the universe allows events of low probability to occur, meaning it is incredibly unlikely, albeit statistically possible for a fluctuation in the entropic equilibrium to lead to life like ours.

Boltzmann Brains come in when considering the following: If a self-aware mind as a product of a random, low entropy pocket in the universe is unlikely to happen, then a self-aware mind on a habitable planet among millions of other self-aware creatures would involve a substantially lower state of entropy, and is therefore significantly less likely to happen—the probability is nearly impossible.

The Boltzmann Brain theory argues that based on probability, it is far more likely that lone conscious minds exist than aggregates of organized and self-aware civilizations, like ours do. Boltzmann postulates these brains would flip in and out of existence in random spots of the universe.

However, imagining these so-called ‘intelligences’ is quite challenging. Cosmologist Sean Carroll in his novel From Eternity to Here described the minds as, “Lonely, disembodied brains, who fluctuate gradually out of the surrounding chaos and then gradually dissolve back into it.” As the idea is highly theoretical, the shape or form of these brains can only be postulated.

A more extreme theory arising from this concept suggests that our entire life, history, and existence is a projection of a single Boltzmann Brain in the universe, much like the idea behind Inception, where a single mind creates a dream world for a society to reside in.

However, we don’t need to demote ourselves to the existence of a SIM computer character just yet. Prominent physicists such as Richard Feynman have found ways to contest Boltzmann’s extraordinary theory. Feynman postulates that since any random location on Earth is expected to exist in a highly ordered state, like everything around it, it is unlikely that the entire universe as we see it is merely a fluctuation in entropy: there must be factors other than entropy that ensure our existence.

“If our order were due to a fluctuation, we would not expect order anywhere [except] where we have just noticed it,” says Feynman in a 2011 TED talk. He goes further to deduce that the observed order could be remains from a highly-ordered (low-entropy) past from the universe’s onset, which have persisted over millions of years.

In an entirely different response to the Boltzmann Brain theory, Lawrence Krauss’ article “String Theory’s Latest Folly” from New Scientist compares the Boltzmann Brain contemplation to Thomas Aquinas’s medieval debate about “How many angels could dance on the head of a pin?” Krauss points out that though Boltzmann provides an interesting debate, there is no real way to solve or learn from such an abstract theory, so we might as well be arguing over the number of angels that could dance on a pinhead.

The idea is intriguing, but for now, the Boltzmann Brain theory will remain both an incredibly interesting and somewhat frightening notion until science evolves the means to further investigate the fluctuations of entropy in space.

a, Science & Technology, Student Research

Interview with Blair Jia

by Caity Hui on

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Getting published as an undergraduate student is a honourable achievement—one of which U3 quantitative biology student Blair Jia received this August. This summer Jia designed a fabrication protocol to improve the imaging chamber used in Convex LensInduced Confinement (CLIC) microscopy under the supervision of Assistant Professor Sabrina Leslie from the Department of Physics.

Jia focused his efforts for about seven months on designing an alternative fabric to replace the ‘tape’ used by the lab in their CLIC microscopy. The device relies on a simple principle where the sample of fluid containing molecules under observation is compressed into a well-defined nanoscale gap using a plano-convex lens. Chambers made of glass coverslips sandwich a piece of tape which has a shape cut out of it to form the chamber.

The lens deforms the chamber as it is brought down over it, creating a unique and diverse height profile for the confined molecules. Currently, the lab uses this technique to study how transcription factors—molecules that control gene expression—search and read the genome.

While the tape allowed the molecules to be viewed clearly, it was stored on wax paper backings, which introduced a lot of bumps in the chamber. These caused variations in height within the chamber which were problematic for the laboratory’s research.

“Because my lab is mostly biophysicists they weren’t very experienced at fabrication [the process of designing and constructing devices],” recalls Jia. “So when I initially approached this problem, I consulted a bioengineering professor, David Juncker […] He does is that he works with a material known as Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). With this material he makes lots of microfluidic devices, and he fabricates them on a micro and a nano scale.”

Using PDMS, Jia was able to design a protocol to produce a film that was only a few microns thick. He spin-casted thin PDMS membranes and treated their surface before bonding the membrane to a glass coverslip to form the improved chambers.

Although Jia did not enter the lab with the intention of getting published, it was a rewarding outcome after seven months of hard work.

“I definitely tasted the bitterness of scientific research. I can’t say I was a victim, but I definitely tasted it,” said Jia, “When I was going over my concept and my protocol, on paper it was super simple […] but in between the steps, there are these subtle difficulties that took a long time to overcome. An example would be when I was trying to lift a film off a wafer. The film was like 30 microns, and if I just tried to peel it off with tweezers, it ripped.”

While Jia initially came to McGill under the impression that he wanted to go to medical school, his experience in research has inspired him to consider graduate school in biomedical engineering.

“Every day I walk into the lab, and I feel humbled and wow-ed by the many amazing people that I work with […] the people at my lab are phenomenal, and I have really enjoyed my experience here thus far.”

 

Favourite lab task:

“Microscopy—that’s been really cool. I also thought the microfabrication techniques were really cool. I actually got to work a little bit in the McGill nanofabrication lab!”

Least favourite task:

“Something I really hate is drilling coverslips, but I’m the only one who can do it well, so that job is always delegated to me. What this means is that when we load the cells, the top coverslip has to have holes. To do that, we use a dental tool and we spray sand through a nozzle, which gently etches away holes in the coverslip. This actually takes quite a bit of time and it’s not very hard. We crack these [coverslips] all the time though, so I have to make like fifty of them each time, and that’s not something I’m very fond of.”

Advice for students applying to a lab:

“I think it’s good to enter research if you’re set to learn something new. At McGill there are all these world leading researchers, who are top notch in their fields, and I think the right mindset is to go into the lab and say, “Wow, I’m going to be working with Canada’s premier oncologist, I’m probably going to learn some really frontier science.”

I think a lot of students especially in life sciences are motivated to go into research because a lot of people tell them to, for reasons like ‘it’s great for med school applications, or it looks good on your resume.’ I would say go into research if you are looking to learn something first-hand with an expert in the field. I think it really helps. There is nowhere else you can go where people are so open to accepting students than professors.”

If you could be a mad scientist, what would you do in your lab?

“People take different molds and they cultivate different strains and mutate them to see which ones produce a specific antibiotic to ward off bacteria. I was wondering if you could cultivate cancer cells, because they mutate the fastest, to see what kind of cells actually survive an infection the best. ”

Favourite ice cream flavour:

“What’s my favourite ice cream flavour? I actually don’t eat much ice cream. On a dairy related note, I really like cheese. I can tell you what my favourite cheese is: I like Oka cheese.”

a, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Earl Sweatshirt: Doris

by Will Burgess on

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The last time Earl Sweatshirt was in the spotlight—for his much-hyped mixtape Earl—he dropped everything and disappeared to Samoa. Soon, rumours, mainly fueled by colleague and collaborator Tyler the Creator’s more-than-half-serious “Free Earl” campaign, circulated that he was forced into a boarding school by his mother. Now he is again a product and a victim of hype; on his latest album, Doris, he airs his grievances and talent in equal measure.

Earl Sweatshirt: Doris
Earl Sweatshirt: Doris

When Earl (née Thebe Neruda Kgositsile) returned to America, he cleared the air: no, he wasn’t forced to go to Samoa; rather, he went to finish high school and deal with his drug addictions and general delinquency. Although the album is named after his late grandmother, Earl focuses much more on his own life than Doris’ death, besides a quick lament in track two, ‘Burgundy.’ Anxieties and anecdotes spill into monotone bars, which are rapped over simple bass melodies mostly produced by Earl himself.

Earl’s deadpan works as a nice contrast to his serious topics and complex wordplay. His blasé delivery forces the listener to pay close attention to off-hand puns and clever metaphors, which take a second to register, especially without any pronounced intonation. Doris produces line after line of feelings that follow close behind one another in one long string, as the tracks rarely pause for a hook. Still, with the excellent beats by hip-hop producers RZA and Samiyam, Earl’s minimalist production is sonically dull. Right now, Earl stands as an MC with potential, but when you’re widely regarded as the best rapper in your group, maybe it’s time to break off and branch out.

a, Editorial, Opinion

To improve campus climate, dialogue and transparency key for Fortier

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This month marks the beginning of a new era at McGill. After a 10-year term under Heather Munroe-Blum—punctuated at times by conflict with portions of the university community—Suzanne Fortier, most recently of the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), will take over as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the university.

Principal Fortier faces major challenges in her first year on the job. Chief among these is the continued budgetary uncertainty facing McGill and all universities in the province. Last December, the provincial government ordered universities to make a collective $124 million budget cut by this past April, a cut that took $19.1 million out of McGill’s operating budget for that year. Several months later, the provincial government imposed another set of cuts totaling $19 million over this coming year.

In the final months of last year, we began to see the tangible effects of these cuts across our campus like a row of toppling dominoes. The administration asked a number of campus unions to accept a wage freeze, began a voluntary retirement program, and instituted a hiring freeze. The bookstore reduced hours, and in perhaps the highest-profile academic realignment to happen in the wake of the provincial cuts, the Faculty of Arts announced that 100 courses would be eliminated from the program. While the administration claimed at the time, with some credibility, that these cuts were under consideration since September of last year—before the provincial cuts came to light—it is hard to believe that such a severe budgetary shock did not impact the university’s decision-making. To compound the situation, relocations of several libraries were announced at the end of the past year.

This drumbeat of cutbacks and retrenchment has severely impacted student morale. Students return to campus this year with uncertainty as to whether classes they require for their programs will even be taught, or if academic resources they rely on will be there for them. Considering McGill’s drop from 25th to 31st place in the Times Higher Education rankings earlier this year, Fortier will be entering a climate in which McGill’s reputation as Canada’s leading university—let alone a world-class institution—is at stake.

From what is known about our university’s budgetary situation, there is little impact Fortier can have to actually reduce or reverse the budget cuts, aside from the bully pulpit in government negotiations that comes with leading the province’s largest English language university. The real question is not rolling back the cuts, but in delivering them in the least painful way. Chief to achieving those aims are continued communication, engagement, and transparency with students.

While there are certainly many things to be said about the student-administration conflicts over the past few years, it is undeniable that there was a substantial lack of dialogue with students on key issues. The example most emblematic of this was the Memorandum of Agreement the university signed with the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) in 2011, the much-criticized document that forced numerous student clubs and services at the university to adjust their names in order to refer less directly to the university’s name.  For example, “TV McGill” was changed to “Student Television at McGill University.” Strong-arming SSMU into making this agreement, despite vigorous criticisms from key stakeholders—the students—was just one example of the previous administration’s lack of regard for student input in key decisions.

A more recent case of this lack of consultation with students was the Protocol Regarding Demonstrations, Protests, and Occupations, proposed as a response to the occupation of the James Administration Building in February 2012, a document this newspaper has repeatedly editorialized against as limiting free expression on campus. In a drawn-out process that only concluded earlier this year, the administration held a series of “Open Forums” with students; these were marked by low attendance resulting from minimal public notice, as well as uncertainty as to how this feedback would even be reflected by the administration.

There are numerous other examples we could outline here, but the takeaway is clear. For Fortier to mend fences with the student community, improved communication and engagement is paramount. Considering Fortier’s term has yet to begin, it is too early to pass any real judgement. However, if we are to infer from her visit to the Open Air Pub (OAP) last week, a gesture far more indicative of an interest in student interaction than Munroe-Blum’s barbecue of last September, there might be positive movement in student-admin relations. The editorial board is hopeful that such outreach efforts will continue throughout Fotier’s tenure.

The future at McGill is, at best, highly uncertain. What is clear is that to lead the university through the challenges ahead, Fortier will need to display as much tact as decisiveness, and a willingness to meaningfully engage with students, something that was at times lacking from her predecessor. Going forward, Fortier would do well to remember that students don’t just want to be ‘consulted,’ the administration’s phrase of late. They want to be taken seriously as the key stakeholders in the university that they are.

 

(Ruidi Zhu / The McGill Tribune)
a, Opinion

Frugal fashion: the rise of the proud thrift shopper

by Julie Vanderperre on

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Young people, especially university students, have long been known to live on tight budgets.  Among young adults today, however, frugality has evolved from a simple act of necessity into a growing way of life.

Today some have embraced a lifestyle of saving money by buying used items. Here at McGill, students have begun several campaigns which promote buying and selling items secondhand. Campus Swaps, for example, is a student-run sustainability initiative which collects goods from graduating students and sells them back to new students, creating a cycle of ownership on the McGill campus. There are also several student-created Facebook groups for McGill students to buy and sell used items.  Posts on these groups are frequent, ranging from used clothes to toaster ovens and furniture. Not only do these campaigns provide affordable used goods for students, but they also cut down on waste by giving new purpose to old clothes and product that would have otherwise been discarded.

Being thrifty, however, has become more than a responsible habit for many.  Last year, Inter-Residence Council (IRC) hosted a “Thrift Shop” party for McGill students living in residence, a theme inspired by Macklemore’s hit song of the same name.  Students eagerly donned second-hand clothing, and danced to Macklemore’s lyrics. The song’s praise of thrift shopping isn’t simply about saving money.  Macklemore describes a lifestyle choice, pointing out that buying unique clothes at a thrift shop is, in his eyes, a more authentic form of self-expression than wearing the same designer shirt as thousands of other people.

“Few generations have practiced financial moderation and self-restraint as enthusiastically as young people today.”

The proliferation of buying secondhand has several causes. In an economy still reeling from the global recession, and university students facing unprecedented levels of student debt upon graduation, it makes sense that spending habits are becoming more austere.  Additionally, there has been a significant cultural change from the extravagance of the 90s and early 2000s; spending seems to have gone out of style. While there continues to be some demand for high end goods, the stigma associated with  buying used clothing has dissolved; for some, wearing vintage clothing has become desirable. There also is an ecological component;  buying used items benefits the environment by reducing the quantity of new goods that need to be produced and cutting down on waste.

Millennials are not the first generation that have had to cope with an unstable economy; the recent “Great Recession”  has been freqently compared to the Great Depression, while the oil crisis in the 70s led to a similar forced frugality. However, it seems few generations have practiced financial moderation and self-restraint as enthusiastically as young people today. What remains uncertain is whether buying secondhand is a fad or an actual transformation in the way young adults view the acquisition of goods.

This is a formative period in the lives of students, and it is entirely possible that habits adopted now will remain into adulthood.  Furthermore, studies have shown that students who graduate university during a recession often have depressed wages during their working years—another reason why young adults may remain frugal later in life.  Regardless of the future of secondhand shopping, lifestyle choices today will certainly reap both financial and environmental benefits.

a, Student Life

Plagiarism: If you didn’t write it, cite it

by Kiran Ross on

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On Sept. 1, revisions to the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures, which were approved last April, came into effect. The result is a more organized Code with clearer established procedures for hearings and disciplinary interviews.

A major change in terms of academic offences is the removal of the “intent to deceive” defence for plagiarism. Under the previous Code, it was possible to make certain arguments related to intent, which sometimes resulted in exonerations and the dismissal of the claims. Now, students who plagiarize will be found guilty of an offence under the Code, regardless of whether or not the plagiarism was intentional. Put simply, “I didn’t mean to” or, “It was an oversight” just won’t cut it.

Plagiarism is defined in the new Code as representing another person’s work as one’s own. Students should be aware that sharing their work with the knowledge that another student might use it also constitutes plagiarism. Furthermore, fabricating sources or reusing parts of a paper you submitted in another course constitutes cheating under the Code and both carry the same penalties as plagiarism and are taken just as seriously. Additionally, plagiarizing, or cheating on an assignment that is worth only five per cent of your mark carries the same consequences as plagiarizing or cheating on an honours thesis. The same goes for plagiarizing a portion or the entirety of the paper.

When a professor suspects that a paper or assignment has been plagiarized, or that there has been cheating, they are required to report it to the disciplinary officer in the faculty, who institutes disciplinary proceedings against the student. The student can be accompanied by an advisor (which Student Advocacy can provide) to these proceedings.

At the end of the process, the student is either exonerated, admonished or reprimanded. A reprimand results in a permanent record, which can affect a student’s eligibility for graduate school and professionnal programs. An admonishment is less serious and remains confidential, but there will be an indication that there has been a violation of the code. Generally, for a first offence, an admonishment is the most likely outcome unless it is a very egregious case of plagiarism or cheating.

If admonished or reprimanded, the student is usually placed on conduct probation and receives a failing grade for the assignment or paper. A student who has been placed on conduct probation and who is accused of a second offence will have their case immediately referred to the Committee on Student Discipline, a body with wider powers than disciplinary officers, including the power to expel students.

The removal of “intent to deceive” is in line with the importance the university places on academic integrity, and with the definition of plagiarism in the Regulations Concerning the Investigation of Research Misconduct. Upon arriving at McGill, it is incumbent upon students to inform themselves about the high standards to which they are held, and about how to properly cite to avoid an allegation of plagiarism.

There is an incredible number of resources available to McGill students to help them protect their academic integrity. Students should take the initiative and make use of them. A great strategy is to spend some time on the McGill Student Rights and Responsibilities website, http://www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest, before writing your first paper or assignment.

Basically, if you didn’t write it or think it, cite it. When it comes to plagiarism and cheating, being pre-emptive is the best strategy for keeping your slate clean.

Kiran Ross is the director of Advocacy and University Affairs of the Legal Information Clinic at McGill and can be reached at [email protected]

www.facebook.com/advocacy.licm

a, News

University continues to grapple with budget cuts

by Erica Friesen and Jessica Fu on

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As the Fall semester starts up, McGill students return to a campus that has been altered by the university’s continuing attempts to address  $38.3 million in budget cuts this year.

The provincial government announced the cuts to McGill’s operating grant last December. Throughout the summer, the administration released several emails detailing their strategies to meet the $43.5 million expense-reduction target by the end of next April. This included a Voluntary Retirement Program, which 250 employees opted for according to an email from the Media Relations Office (MRO) in July.

Other cost-reduction measures included three per cent salary reductions for members of the senior administration, a hiring freeze on vacant administrative and support positions, and cuts to the operating budgets of faculties and administrative units.

“We are working hard to ensure the availability of the most important services right from the beginning of the fall semester, our busiest time,” former deputy provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson wrote in an email dated Jul. 16. “We will regularly apprise you of the progress of our reorganization plans and of changes you can expect when the Fall semester resumes.”

 

The McGill community reacts

Some members of the McGill community have expressed their frustration with the way McGill has handled the budget cuts. David Kalant, vice president finance for the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA), said McGill should not have attempted to implement the cuts in one year, when the provincial government had provided another option.

“Every other university in Quebec accepted the government’s proposal to defer the pay cuts over a period of years and not have to lose personnel,” he said. “It’s true that [McGill] may profit a little bit more in the long run, but now McGill [is] losing experienced people, and may not be having enough people to perform all the work that needs to be done.”

The administration decided against taking this course of action in the spring.

“Doing so would double our accumulated deficit in less than five years, which we will in any case have to repay sooner rather than later,” reads an MRO dated Apr. 4. “Spreading the pain will make it twice as painful in the long run.”

Kalant also criticized the way the Voluntary Retirement Program was introduced to eligible employees.

“A few of our members felt there was some pressure on them to retire,” he said. “Their supervisors kept asking ‘What are you going to do?’ well before the deadline when they had to make a decision.”

Raad Jassim is the chair of the course lecturers and instructors unit of AGSEM, a union that represents teaching assistants, invigilators, and course lecturers and instructors. Jassim criticized the lack of consultation between the administration and the university unions.

“There is no input from us whatsoever; even when we ask questions they are not welcome,” he said. “These are not consultations, but are rather informational sessions.”

Jassim said it is impossible to know exactly how many lecturer positions have been eliminated due to the budget cuts, and that there is always more than a month-long delay before the university relays information about course lecturer positions to the union.

“Of course, the administration is saying that [the reduced positions] are because they have to fulfil the demands of the students, but it seems that this is being overdone,” he said. “It’s being systemically done by unit directors who are manipulating the situation to hurt us.”

Katie Larson, president of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), encouraged the administration to focus on communication as the year progresses.

“What I hope to see this fall is a commitment to continuing to explain what has been affected, and to listen to student concerns,” Larson said. “In the hardest hit places, Libraries and IT, we need to hear from students [about] what is and isn’t working so that SSMU can effectively communicate these to the people at McGill who can solve the issues.”

 

End to the the Laptop Lending Program

Services offered by the McGill Library have already undergone several changes as a result of the budget cuts. One change is the replacement of the Laptop Lending Program (LLP) with a Laptop Bursary Fund to support students who may not have the financial resources to buy their own personal computer.

According to Merika Ramundo, communications officer representing senior members of the library staff, the lending program was taken into consideration because of its cost­—over $200,000 per year.

“With the reduction of staff in both the library and the technical support teams, increased parts and laptop replacement costs, and a reduced budget, it is not possible to continue the service,” Ramundo said.

She said both SSMU and the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) have been consulted about issues with the Laptop Lending Program over the past year.

However, SSMU Vice-President University Affairs Joey Shea, said SSMU was “simply informed” that the program was ending.

“SSMU had no prior knowledge about the termination of the program before it was mentioned in this meeting,” Shea said. “We feel there should have been more in depth consultation with students before this decision was made.”

According to Erica Anderson, U3 Engineering, the end of the program could have serious implications for students at McGill.

“I used the [LLP] for two to three weeks because my laptop got stolen in my second year,” Anderson said. “If [that] ever happened again to me or to any other student, I think it would be really detrimental just because computers are such a necessary part of education now.”

Anderson said that if her laptop were stolen again, her only choice would be to stay on campus, which brought up other concerns such as the slow speed of library computers.

In lieu of the cancelled program, the Library launched a Laptop Bursary Fund on Aug. 1. Accessible through Minerva, the fund will provide scholarships to students for whom acquiring a laptop would otherwise be a financial strain.

“The new bursary program will run over the course of the next two years,” Ramundo said. “The costs associated with implementing the bursary are significantly less [than the LLP], but we believe this targeted money will meet the needs of the students who are truly in need of this service.”

Shea, however, thinks the bursary program might not be as effective as the Laptop Lending Program.

“SSMU is dubious as to whether such a fund will be able to adequately replace the Laptop Lending Program,” she said. “The LLP served a very different function than that of this bursary program; it was incredibly convenient to be able to check

out a laptop on a moment’s notice if yours had been stolen, or crashed unexpectedly days before the due date of a major assignment.”

Ramundo said that, despite the budget cuts, the library continues to attempt to maximize the services and resources they provided to students.

“Our energies are focused on supporting and serving the teaching, research and learning needs of the McGill community in ways like collection development, providing access to more e-resources 24/7 and embedding librarians to assist students, faculty, and staff in all facets of teaching and learning here at McGill,” she said.

Shea linked the end of the program to wider issues at McGill, as the university attempts to balance its budget in the wake of cuts.

“The suggestion that the remainder of the Library Improvement Fund cover the expenses of the LLP speaks to wider trends—the financial burden of essential services continues to shift more heavily to the shoulders of undergraduate students.”

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