The McGill administration has come under scrutiny following its announcement on Feb. 20 that McGill is now a member of the edX consortium—a not-for-profit enterprise specializing in online interactive learning. Several members of the McGill Senate have criticized the senior administration for failing to communicate with Senate about the initiative.
McGill will use edX to design, develop, and offer “Massive Online Open Courses” (MOOCs), which will be ready in 2014. Provost Anthony Masi said that that the opportunity for McGill to partner with edX will benefit the university in several ways.
“Membership in edX will position McGill at the forefront of what many are calling a ‘revolution’ in teaching and learning,” he told the Tribune. “Further, edX provides us with the opportunity for improving blended, and other technology-assisted courses offered on our campuses.”
The idea of offering MOOCs was brought forward in a discussion facilitated in part by Masi at the Senate meeting on Jan. 23. MOOCs were not discussed at the following Senate meeting on Feb. 19. According to Masi, the executive committee of the Board of Governors (BoG) approved the partnership between McGill and edX on Feb. 15.
During an interview with the Tribune, Senator Catherine Lu—who is also an associate professor of political science—suggested that the decision to incorporate MOOCS into McGill’s academic mission should have been brought to a vote at Senate.
“By having this open discussion [at the Jan. 23 Senate meeting] … the Provost created the expectation that recommendations from the working groups regarding MOOCs —including joining a consortium— would be brought to Senate for approval,” she said. “This is why I and many other Senators were surprised to receive the Provost’s email announcement that McGill had joined the edX consortium.”
Masi said that Senators gave their approval for MOOCs by endorsing the Achieving Strategic Academic Priorities (ASAP 2012), an academic policy paper detailing a five-year plan for McGill.
“McGill’s interest in harnessing technology to transform teaching and learning is outlined in [ASAP 2012],” he said.
Lu said that Masi’s explanation has prompted her to further question the process through which McGill joined edX.
“If the senior administration wants to argue, that by endorsing ASAP 2012, Senate actually did endorse MOOCs … then I don’t see the point of having a Senate at all,” she said. “By endorsing ASAP, Senate would have forfeited all of its decision-making authority with respect to all academic activities of the university.”
“In my view, this cannot be the correct interpretation of Senate’s endorsement of ASAP,” Lu continued. “Senate may have to reconsider what this endorsement really means.”
Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) President Josh Redel and SSMU Vice-President University Affairs Haley Dinel, both of whom are student senators, said they do not believe that the decision to join edX necessarily required Senate approval.
“edX is a platform, and things like that don’t need to go through Senate, because they are not inherently academic—though the content of them is, which should, and will go through Senate,” Redel said. “For example, we did not approve myCourses2 … nor Minerva … at Senate, because they are only platforms for academic programs.”
At the same time, both Redel and Dinel share Lu’s concern about the lack of communication in the decision-making process to join the MOOC consortium.
“I think our discussion at Senate [on Jan. 23] could have been more transparent,” Dinel said. “It should have been made much clearer … that a lot of work had already gone into looking at these options. There … should have been more public discourse as to which consortium to pick.”
According to Masi, McGill’s MOOCs will be designed and developed by McGill faculty members. Masi confirmed that Senate will be involved in important decisions related to content and design as the project advances.
Masi also emphasized that no funds from the university’s operating budget will be used towards the initiative, and that McGill’s MOOCs will be funded purely through philanthropic support.
Despite the concerns they voiced about transparency, there is general agreement among Redel, Dinel, and Lu that McGill’s plan to offer MOOCs is an innovative and beneficial initiative.
“My complaint here is not that the BoG and senior administration approved joining the edX consortium per se,” Lu explained. “The basic problem here is a massive disconnect in the university’s governance process of approving this important development for McGill’s academic mission.”
33 years after their last appearance at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national championship tournament, the McGill Redmen were less concerned with bringing home the school’s first McGee Trophy, than with proving that they deserved a spot at the table. Of course, every team enters the tournament with sights set on the big prize, but it’s not always so simple. A look at the McGill bench in the waning seconds of their consolation final victory over the Victoria Vikes to secure fifth place told the story: this program is on the rise and has earned the respect of a nation.
“If you come here and go 0-2 it’s going to be the same old story, same old song. ‘Quebec isn’t good enough’ if we don’t win,” Redmen Head Coach Dave DeAveiro said. “It would be easy to play these [consolation] games and have them mean nothing to us. But they’re not. This is a measure of respect.”
(Simon Poitrimolt / McGill Tribune)
McGill qualified for the CIS Final 8 in thrilling fashion, dispatching the Bishop’s Gaiters 77-74 in front of a packed crowd at Love Competition Hall. The conference title was McGill’s first since 1986. With the RSEQ banner in hand, the Redmen were granted Quebec’s only slot in the national tournament and were placed into the number six seed out of eight teams.
Friday’s quarterfinal may have featured the richest of storylines of the entire tournament. Upstart McGill travelled to the nation’s capital to face the No.3 ranked University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. But this was more than a David vs. Goliath battle; in this case, ‘David’ was literally McGill Head Coach Dave DeAveiro, who left his position as head coach of the Gee-Gees to lead the near-dormant Redmen program. The opponent: his former assistant James Derouin, and a team with designs on wresting the big trophy from their cross-town rivals and eight-time champion Carleton Ravens.
Although it took a few minutes to adjust to playing under the Scotiabank Place lights, McGill settled into a groove in the first half and trailed by just one point at the break. In the second half, however, the older and more experienced Gee-Gees began to take over. A three-pointer late in the game by Ottawa’s Warren Ward was the dagger to the Redmen’s faint title hopes and sent them into the consolation bracket.
“We’ve been resilient the whole year; I’m extremely proud of our kids. We played a very good team today,” DeAveiro said after the game. “They’re one of the best teams in the nation. … The way they’re playing right now they’re a pretty focused bunch. You don’t want to play that team right now; they have a great chance of winning the whole thing.”
One of the many promising signs for McGill in the first game, however, was the play of second-year point guard Vincent Dufort. He was named “Player of the Game” in front of a large cheering section of friends and family from nearby Smiths Falls, Ontario.
(Simon Poitrimolt / McGill Tribune)
“I actually find it very helpful to have all that support,” Dufort said. “There’s a lot of people who made the trip up, friends and family. Just to know they’re there makes me feel kind of at home.”
On Saturday, the Redmen tipped off against the No. 2 Cape Breton Capers in “the game no one wants to play in”—the consolation semifinal. No one told the McGill players that, as they were determined to win a game at the national tournament. While they played a deep Ottawa team in the quarters, all they had to do against the Capers was focus on one player: All-Canadian James Dorsey, who posted a dominant 39 points. McGill’s more balanced attack found a way to answer him as the teams fought a back-and-forth battle all the way to the end of the fourth quarter. In front of the orange army Cape Breton supporters section and trailing by two points—the school of just 2,800 students bused over 100 students 25 hours from Sydney to Ottawa to support the Capers—Dorsey was fouled with 0.2 seconds left on the clock and made both free throws to send the game to overtime. After Cape Breton jumped out to a six point lead, Dufort and fourth-year point guard Adrian Hynes-Guery caught fire, combining for eight points and putting McGill up two once again in the final seconds. Fittingly, Dorsey took the last shot, but this time he missed, giving McGill its first win at nationals since 1977.
Redmen captain Winn Clark—who graduates this coming spring—was named “Player of the Game.” He said the victory was one of the biggest of his career.
“That [win] definitely ranks up there. The win against Bishop’s to come here was a pretty big one as well,” Clark said. “The program over the last four years has grown. We’ve been improving every year and it’s kind of a statement win that we’re here at nationals and we can compete. They’ll hopefully be back in the years to follow.”
(Simon Poitrimolt / McGill Tribune)
On Sunday morning, the Redmen took on the Victoria Vikes, one team looking to build on its consolation success, and the other with one foot on the plane back to B.C. McGill hit a season-high 12 three-pointers to take down the Vikes 80-68 and secure a fifth-place finish.
The end of the season marks the end of the university careers of two Redmen players: Clark and Aleksandar Mitrovic. While they will be missed, Coach DeAveiro has a team that has gained experience in the spotlight and looks ready to return to Ottawa next March—not just to fight for respect, but to also challenge the nation’s best.
“If you look at the first time Carleton went to the nationals, they won the consolation games. This will hopefully be a stepping stone, a building block to where you want to be,” he said. “We’re laying the foundation and trying to get to the promised land and the championship game.”
The Carleton Ravens defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves on Sunday to claim their ninth national title in 11 years. The Martlets take the court in the women’s Final 8 this weekend in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Two weekends ago, both my roommate and I lost our phones within the same span of 24 hours—hers an iPhone, mine a Blackberry. I found her bedridden the next day, practically in withdrawal. I, on the other hand, felt strangely contented. There was something very liberating about the 10 days of phonelessness that followed. I didn’t lose any friends, I didn’t get terribly lost anywhere, and although some were perplexed by my virtual disappearance, they figured it out. For 10 days, I was subject to nobody’s pleas, calls, or check-ins—it was beautiful.
Although my experiment was involuntary, a brave few of our generation are making conscious decisions to uproot from the technological sphere of communication which appears to sustain daily life. While giving up one’s cell phone is particularly radical, there also is the occasional youth who decides to depart from Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or other social media platforms. Whether these ‘technological ex-pats’ seek privacy, relief from borderline addiction, or just a step back into reality, it is worth wondering if they are truly doing themselves a favour. While cutting yourself off might be an alternative way to focus on schoolwork or gain some peace of mind, could this technological abandonment inhibit one from progressing with the rest of society? Disconnecting could, theoretically, set you off-pace with personal as well as public news, and limit communication with friends and family. But perhaps one alternative outweighs the other.
[pullquote]While cutting yourself off might be an alternative way to focus on schoolwork or gain some peace of mind, could this technological abandonment inhibit one from progressing with the rest of society?[/pullquote]
U0 Arts student Michael Law was given a choice in his grade 12 English class: write a book report or suspend his Facebook for a month and keep a journal instead. This English assignment-turned-social-experiment gave him the opportunity to experience life in a vastly different way. Claiming that at first, he felt “isolated and bored,” Law’s initial reaction gave way to a new sense of freedom.
“I learned to appreciate face-to-face interactions, and started to enjoy real solitude when I’m alone—no longer having to constantly talk to people,” he says.
Disconnection may thus be beneficial in that it could improve, and increase your appreciation for ‘real world’ social interactions. But as new forms of social media catch on like wildfire, how can we even be sure of the divide between the ‘real world’ and the unprecedented expansion of the internet world? With phenomena like cyberbullying, dating and matchmaking websites, and live stream news updates, activities and occurrences in one world easily cross over into the other. The line separating the realms is rapidly disintegrating.
In this way, deleting a Facebook account or giving up your smartphone could suggest self-exclusion from a modern world that you, in order to stay up to date, should actively participate in.
But this is all speculation.
I think we can all agree that bullying or judging others online is not something we should seek to incorporate into the modern world. Although I am, thankfully, not at such a point of ill-confidence or desperation, I don’t believe eHarmony, Christian Mingle, etc., are terribly effective media for finding “the one”—tampered photos and false personality profiles undeniably make up significant portions of these websites. Much of the “news” disseminated on the internet can be loaded with unverified information, which is only perpetuated by social media, and would never have made it to syndicated television broadcast or newsprint in the first place—Kony 2013, anyone?
If the line between the ‘real world’ and the internet has blurred to a point of non-recognition, it should be re-established. If disconnecting means losing a lot of friends or becoming out of touch with news events, maybe the friends one has and the information one hears should be re-evaluated. In my case, as I suspect it would be for most, this was not a problem.
Ideally, complete connectedness, especially that of social media, is not necessary. In a casually defeated manner, Law explained he relapsed back to Facebook after his one month stint—“It was just too addictive.” He emphasizes that the world isn’t as small as it used to be.
“Facebook has become the reality of communication.”
But is it a necessary reality? Try disconnecting, and find out for yourself.
Last week, the Board of Governors’ (BoG) announcement that Dr. Suzanne Fortier has been selected as the next Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill was accompanied by a flurry of press releases, interviews, and profiles introducing her to the McGill community. There were a few points about her that stood out in particular, but aside from these details, we know very little about our new principal-designate. Nonetheless, what we do know about her—and what the university has chosen to emphasize—highlights what this selection says about McGill’s priorities as an institution, and the direction in which it seeks to go in the next five years under Fortier’s guidance.
An analysist of recent press coverage of Fortier shows the same information coming up again and again. She is a Quebec native, hailing from St-Timothée—a mere 45-minute drive from Montreal; Fortier is McGill’s first francophone Principal (although she is perfectly bilingual), and is the second woman to hold the position. She completed her undergraduate studies at McGill, and also obtained a PhD in crystallography here. Professionally, she served two terms as a senior administrator at Queen’s University, and is currently president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). She is also well connected, as she sits on the boards of numerous institutes and organizations. By all accounts, Fortier is extremely qualified for the job.
[pullquote]It is clear that the Board of Governors has chosen a principal according to the values which it feels will propel this school moving forward.[/pullquote]
Possibly the most heralded item on this list is Fortier’s status as a French-speaking Quebecer, a stark contrast with outgoing Principal Heather Munroe-Blum, whose French was passable at best. The university’s emphasis on this point makes perfect sense in the context of McGill’s recent strained relations with the Parti Québécois (PQ), as well as its lacklustre public relations with the francophone community as a whole. While a francophone principal could undoubtedly benefit the university, there is no guarantee that she will relate any better to the government or to the public based solely on her linguistic aptitudes. Ultimately, this is an opportunity to improve McGill’s image—but it is by no means a certainty.
Fortier’s background in the natural sciences, and the visible emphasis on research throughout her career are surely no mere happenstance. This is part of the university’s continued and concerted efforts to establish itself as a premier research institution, building upon its already strong reputation in the sciences. This, unto itself, should not come as a surprise. Hopefully an emphasis on research in the scientific fields will result in the kind of success that could also translate to ongoing academic excellence in other areas of study.
Among the greatest assets that Fortier brings with her to the job is her impressive scope of affiliations and connections outside of the university. A good portion of the principal’s job is to represent the university’s interests to the government and to potential investors. Given McGill’s current financial situation, we feel that the school hopes to have found a leader who can find new ways to bring in revenue.
One point notably absent from the university’s press release is Fortier’s previous relationship with students. Both by reputation and her own account, she was well-liked among Queen’s students, however, a search into her time at Queen’s as vice-principal (research, then academic) brings to light only an investigation into systemic racism at the school that she commissioned in 2001—with no insight as to her openness and accessibility to students or to the media. While there is an argument to be made that the principal’s job concerns higher-level matters than student interaction, we feel that an increasing source of tension in the past ten years has been the divide between students and the administration, with much of it falling on the principal, and the example that she sets for other administrators.
It is clear that the BoG has chosen a principal according to the values which it feels will propel this school moving forward—and we don’t necessarily disagree with these values. Rather, we hope that Fortier will not confine herself to the parameters of these institutional priorities, but will approach her job with a broad view of what’s important, and a willingness to reach out and communicate openly and honestly with the McGill community.
There is no doubt that Justin Trudeau is a leader. His charisma, his popularity, and his passion are hallmark characteristics of his speeches and image, and these traits have contributed to his success. In a recent National Post article by Mike de Souza, Trudeau is praised for his decisive lead and strong base of supporters in the Liberal Party leadership election. However, there is ongoing speculation as to how successfully these attributes will play out in the multi-party arena.
During his visit to McGill in February, Trudeau discussed some of his political strategy and ideology. Notably, he condemned the policies of the past decade for unequally representing Canadians, placing most of the blame on politicians for focusing their efforts on certain groups of people in order to maximize individual popularity. He specifically singled out Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and his political attachments to the West and big corporations as the main culprit. His solution was to implement new policies that would help all Canadians, rather than target specific, non-partisan groups.
Trudeau may be too quick to criticize. Politicians have successfully learned the ways in which people vote—not necessarily favouring what is best for the country, but for themselves—in order to maximize popularity. Whether that is ethically right or wrong is another issue; but should he choose to pursue his ideals when forming election strategy, Trudeau will lose many votes if his opponents opt to target specific voters and ‘play the political game’ as it is understood today.
The situation can be seen in terms of game theory: if Trudeau chooses a plan that is moderately agreeable across the spectrum and his opponents create policies that will maximize benefits for swing voters, Trudeau will certainly lose. Politicians aren’t really to blame, as they are reacting to the voters in order to do what they need to—win. Even if all of Trudeau’s competitors were to accept his ideals and engage in a new kind of electoral campaign, it would only take one defector, undercutting the others, to bring the whole thing down. This stand-off boils down to what is known as a prisoner’s dilemma.
If Trudeau hopes to realize his vision, it will not be an easy path. If he wants to win with a policy that will benefit all of Canada, he needs to first achieve a consensus amongst his political opponents to abandon their political games, and let ideas shine through. Theoretically, this can be implemented in part by monitoring and regulating advertisement investment in certain provinces. Secondly, Trudeau must convince voters to support what’s best for Canada, regardless of their political stance. To do this, he needs to initiate a movement encouraging voters to be vigilant and informed about issues across Canada, and the ethical implications of voting.
At the end of the day, change is very hard to come by, especially on this scale. Both voters and politicians are far more likely to pursue what they are familiar and comfortable with, and Trudeau will be forced to follow suit or risk being left behind. But however unlikely such systemic reform is in the near future, we know at least one politician hopes for more. If he were to overcome the obstacles, Trudeau’s vision could be not only successful, but could drastically change the nature of campaigns, and voters’ approach to Canadian elections.
December’s announcement of the drastic budget cuts facing McGill shocked the administration and the entire student body. While the cuts affect all of Quebec, there has been an emerging opinion among some Quebecers that McGill and other English-speaking universities should bear the brunt of these cuts. The argument is that McGill is not culturally part of the Quebec tradition, and is—as students often call it—a ‘bubble,’ set apart from the rest of the city and province. Nearly half of McGill’s student body is made up of out-of-province or international students, leading to a sense of dilution of the city’s French heritage, and consequently, lack of prioritization for provincial funding.
In addition to the recent budget cuts, there have been proposals from the Parti Québécois (PQ) which would specifically target McGill, such as a plan to provide increased funding to universities that attract more first-generation post-secondary students. As Lisa-Marie Gervais points out in an article in Le Devoir entitled “Sommet sur l’enseignement supérieur – Pour une gouvernance «efficace»,” McGill is typically attended by students from more educated families. Such targeting, however indirect, reflects the belief that francophone universities deserve more funding.
What these policies will do is put at risk the great benefits McGill offers to Montreal and Quebec as a whole. Far from being a threat to the culture of Montreal, McGill is one of the city’s biggest assets. The institution’s name recognition alone is something to nurture and take pride in; despite its recent fall in one ranking, McGill is a world-renowned university—placing 18th in 2012 according to the QS annual global rankings—which attracts a lot of positive attention. As a result, brilliant young minds move here, ready both to partake in the province’s tradition of knowledge and academia. Students explore the Montreal area and gain an understanding of Quebec’s deep culture, and indeed, its language. Another factor is the general tourist industry McGill generates. As a renowned university full of history on its own, the campus is an essential Montreal attraction.
Even more important are the established innovators McGill attracts. Among the most historically notable was Wilder Penfield, who founded the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (MNI), which continues to be a valuable resource to the city as a whole. In the future, there is no telling who will come to Montreal attracted by the prospect of McGill, and further contribute to the city’s amazing history of creation and culture. Despite its financial troubles, McGill has continued to commit to innovation with programs such as the recently announced collaborative aerospace projects with the francophone L’école de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), and the planned Quartier de l’innovation, which hopes to revitalize an old industrial section of downtown Montreal by providing space for joint endeavours between McGill, ÉTS, and private-sector companies.
McGill has a great deal to offer to Montreal, and has already done so much. Like any other asset, it must be nurtured and valued in order to thrive and provide maximum returns. Rather than being written off as a poor investment, McGill should be understood in terms of its potential benefits. While it may not contribute to the francophone legacy that the government is bound to protect, its benefits shine through in other areas. Given the opportunity and support, they will continue to do so for years to come.
McGill’s student population is an amalgam of culture and diversity, a mix of ethnic backgrounds making their way across campus every day.
Libraries and lecture halls buzz with snippets of conversation in an eclectic mélange of dialects. With over 20 per cent of the student population holding foreign passports, the university is truly international. Its students hail from regions as distant as Africa and the Asian Pacific, and as close as just south of the border.
As students, we herald this international status and feel proud about how “diverse” and “multicultural” our university is. But can one define what it is really like to be an international student at McGill?
Eline Koopmans, Netherlands (Alexandra Allaire / McGill Tribune)
DEFINING THE “INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE”
The truth is that the “international experience” at this university is as diverse as its student body. For reasons that range from country of origin and educational background to previous experience living abroad, international students from across the globe see their student lives through dramatically different lenses.
Director of the International Student Services (ISS) office at McGill, Pauline L’Écuyer said that international student life “is very personal, and depends also on the student’s ability to deal with inter-cultural behaviours. There are students who come from very far abroad, but because their families have travelled around so much, they adapt better and more quickly to a new environment than someone who may be just a five hour drive from here who has never been exposed to so much multiculturalism.”
Ching-Lang Lin, who also goes by Pierre, his French name, is a Taiwanese exchange student from the prestgious Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris. He decided to come to McGill to improve his knowledge of English and French, which could help him become a judge in Taiwan. Though he faces a challenging language barrier, he appreciates Montreal and values its bilingualism.
To Ching-Lang, Montreal is “a city characteristic of its French and British roots,” similar to the mix of Japanese and Chinese cultures which characterizes his home country. He considers himself extremely lucky to be living and studying in a city like Montreal, which offers many the opportunity to explore different cultural sites outside McGill’s campus, but plans to return to Taiwan upon completion of his degree.
Eline Koopmans, a law student from the Netherlands, has also come to McGill from Europe on exchange. It was both Montreal’s location and McGill’s status in Canada that held special appeal for Koopmans, allowing her to travel and explore other areas of North America during her stay. When asked about her experience as an international student, she said it was the small local cultural nuances that made a big difference, such as the process of getting a phone plan, or the food and eating habits.
Unlike Pierre, who has found his experience most enriched by his ventures off campus, Eline found her niche by engaging in campus activities, like zumba classes at the McGill gym, a SSMU baking mini-course, and the SSMU Ski and Snowboard Club. She said she found it easiest to maintain social networks with students within her faculty. Though she harbours thoughts about staying in Canada for a couple of years after she finishes her program, she misses what she left behind.
“I feel the Netherlands is really my home. The small things and family, that is very important for me. I think I will always go back home in the end,” she said.
Mostafa I. Youssef, Egypt (Simon Poitrimolt / McGill Tribune)
Mostafa I. Youssef, a second-year student in civil engineering, comes from Cairo, Egypt. As a graduate of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, the academic experience at McGill posed no major difficulties. However, the initial decision to leave his home country, family, and friends was the hardest decision he ever made.
Mostafa finds it difficult to feel truly at ease when stepping outside the “McGill bubble,” and is unsure of whether he has been exposed to “real” Canadian culture. Still, he has adapted well to campus life.
“The fact that the community here is not dictated by a single culture gave me a unique exposure, as well as an opportunity to observe, discover, and learn,” he said. “It took me some time to adapt to the atmosphere in general, but I personally think that people are very similar everywhere around the world, especially people our age.”
Coming from the Middle East, he did notice the distinct college culture present at McGill, one of drinking, partying, drug use, and more liberal sexual tendencies. While religion is not the sole factor in defining the Egyptian identity, Mostafa notes that it is very embedded in the culture, leading to a close, and often inseparable connection between social and religious habits.
“[In Egypt,] you can’t simply pop a can of beer in the middle of the street, or walk around drunk. It’s not something that is culturally acceptable,” he said.
In contrast, the adaptation process described from an American perspective presents a radically different face of the international experience from that described by Mostafa. Owen Nelson from Minneapolis, Minnesota came to McGill because he wanted to be “at least a thousand miles [away] from home.” His initial reaction to Montreal was eye-opening.
“My mind was blown. I got tingles all over my body. I knew it was perfect. It was a great city, the culture was so diverse, and had a ton of great energy,” He admitted.
Nelson’s work in the music industry has enriched his experience at McGill. Having had the chance to branch out to perform at various venues around Montreal, he learned first-hand about Canadian culture outside of the McGill bubble. Yet, when asked about the main cultural differences between Americans and Canadians, he couldn’t help but find similarities instead.
“I feel like we’re pretty similar…. I didn’t really feel like I was an international student per se, because I was on the same continent, and I spoke English.”
Yet, while universities in the U.S. also boast a high number of international students, Nelson finds McGill “a lot more culturally diverse and open,” touching on the contrasting cultures of accommodation and assimilation that prevail in the two countries.
“Right now, I’m building a network that I might be able to use [for] the rest of my life,” Nelson said. “Once I start my career, I can do business, or communicate with people from all over the world, and that’s what I feel is a really great aspect at McGill, that sense of networking on a global scale.”
Ching-Lang (Pierre) Lin
WHO IS HERE TO HELP?
As Canada’s identity is based in multiculturalism, it is simultaneously accommodating—allowing students a degree of comfort and belonging—and exciting for those experiencing it for the first time.
However, regardless of where they come from, or why they came, international students at McGill have one common resource open to them: the ISS office hosts a variety of services, including orientation activities, a social and support network, health insurance guidance, workshops, and international student advising.
Whereas various educational systems worldwide prepare international students for adaptation to McGill’s academic environment, circumstances outside of the classroom can often present some of the toughest obstacles to their time at the university.
“Obviously, they were admitted to the university because we thought they could perform,” L’Écuyer explained. “Very often, academic difficulty is related to homesickness, or problems back home. One parent may be sick, there may be an accident, and the student may not be able to concentrate.”
This challenge is compounded by language barriers. While, according to L’Écuyer, the inability to speak French does not often deter students from wanting to come to McGill, the challenge of finding jobs without an intermediate level of French quickly dawns on them. This problem is shared by many of their Canadian colleagues, but for students from abroad, it can be especially grim.
“Very often, students come with enough funding for their first couple of years and they hope that through part-time work or scholarships, they will be able to stay,” said L’Écuyer. However, if funding runs out, international students are sometimes unable to pay the steep international tuition fees and complete their degrees, especially given the difficulty of finding jobs off campus without good knowledge of French.
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Aware of the adversity that international students can face due to their temporary status, the ISS offers programs that aim to help students develop social connections and support networks to overcome these challenges. Popular among them is the “Buddy Program,” which matches international students with a “buddy” from McGill, according to faculty, country of interest, and gender. To Max Thoman, a second-year political science student who volunteered as a buddy, “it’s really about being able to show them the ins-and-outs of McGill in particular, and the things that set it apart from other universities.”
Other student support groups, such as the International Student Network and the many culturally-based student clubs on campus, welcome international students with open arms, catering to specific cultural groups to help students find a niche in the McGill community through events, gatherings, and student activities.
The international status of well over 8,000 students at McGill carries with it the excitement of constant discovery, the joy of that comes along with adaptation, and the nostalgia of leaving behind what is known and dear. In the end, it is only through mutual support that the shared experiences of these students can lead to their eventual success.
Mechanical engineering is one of the oldest engineering disciplines, burdened with long-standing traditions. However, many students are deterred by the field’s abstractness. The discipline is also characterized by a significant imbalance in the ratio of males to females involved.
“Focusing on the application, rather than theory, could be a means to draw women into engineering,” proposed Dr. Fiona Zhao, assistant professor in mechanical engineering at McGill University.
For Zhao, the dearth of females in engineering was plainly evident throughout her education and career. At the start of her graduate studies at the University of Auckland, she was the only female among the faculty members and students in her program. As Zhao’s career progressed into industry and academia worldwide, the trend failed to change. She was often the only female, and the youngest member on research teams. Inarguably, navigating through this “all-boys club” was intimidating at first, but it also motivated her to strive for more and hold her ground.
“The best part about research is that you’re judged on your work,” explained Zhao.
Zhao’s own journey into mechanical engineering was due in part to rebellion and the other part, to coincidence. Both parents, working as professors in the biological sciences, encouraged her to follow in their footsteps; but Zhao opposed them. Instead, she chose to study electromechanical engineering at the prestigious Beijing Institute of Technology. Fascinated by the field’s rapid pace, she continued to pursue her PhD at the University of Auckland.
Her current research follows three themes: manufacturing informatics, sustainable manufacturing, and additive manufacturing technology. The recent media spotlight on additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has led to increased demand. Through optimization and simulation of manufacturing technologies, Zhao’s research aims to design innovative model development methods in both medical and aerospace sectors of the field.
In particular, Zhao is interested in integrating classical computer-aid design (use of computer programs to create 2 or 3D graphical representations of physical objects) with internet-based manufacturing (e-manufacturing). Through developing these novel methods in manufacturing informatics, she aims to make manufacturing more efficient and sustainable. As manufacturing processes of goods are often subdivided and sent offshore to remote locations—such as parts of a plane that are produced in different parts of the world and assembled at a central location—the ability to efficiently coordinate each step is crucial to product development success.
“The production of the Boeing Dreamliner has been delayed multiple times due to inability to streamline manufacturing information,” added Zhao.
With the vehement push from both government and the public for greener and more sustainable production, companies are putting a more conscious effort into refining their manufacturing process. On this front, Zhao focuses on developing new metrics and databases, for evaluation and design theories related to products’ sustainability
By emphasizing the utility of engineering, Zhao hopes to inspire the next generation of females to venture into this exciting field, and provide more perspectives in mechanical engineering. As a start to solving this problem, Zhao proposed that a mentorship program in which high school and undergraduate students meet monthly—an ideal outreach method.
The need to address such gender imbalance in engineering is felt not only felt by faculty members, but students as well. Initiatives such as POWE (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering) have attempted to raise awareness of the issue and encourage high school students to explore prospects in engineering. Despite such efforts, the proportion of female undergraduates enrolled in Engineering at McGill University has remained practically unchanged for the past 10 years: it was 27.2 per cent in 2002 and 24.5 per cent in 2012. With more initiatives such as the mentorship program Zhao proposed, we will hopefully see a rise in this number.
The question of whether eggs are a healthy protein source or a deadly cholesterol bomb is among the most disputed topics in dietary sciences. An online query into the subject proves more confusing than helpful—many studies give contradicting results. Some say that eating eggs is worse than smoking, while others maintain the meal is an athlete’s best friend. However, by sorting through professional opinions, the truth about what’s inside the little white shells becomes evident.
The first step I took towards solving the dietary conundrum of eggs was speaking with Dr. Karine Auclair, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at McGill University.
“A lot of times, the media blows these things out of proportion, kind of starting a fear campaign,” said Auclair in response to a set of articles on a study that suggested egg consumption was nearly as harmful smoking. She suggests consulting only well-trusted sources, such as Health Canada, for these issues.
Looking into Health Canada’s pages—although no articles explicitly discuss eggs—many papers, such as “Foods with less sodium” and “Cooking and meal planning tips” directly recommend including eggs in one’s diet.
Further, the Mayo Clinic’s information on “High Cholesterol: Risk Factors and Causes” do not include eggs on the list of cholesterol risks, which include red meat, smoking, and saturated/trans fats. It seems that eggs may not be as high-cholesterol as they are made out to be.
However, some research suggests otherwise. Dr. John David Spence, professor of neurology and clinical pharmacology at the University of Western Ontario, published a study that The Vancouver Sun covered in an article entitled, “Egg Yolks Almost as Bad as Smoking, Researcher Says.” In the study, patients at vascular prevention clinics at Western University hospital filled out a questionnaire about their diet and smoking habits. Each questionnaire was then compared to the corresponding patients’ cardiovascular health portfolio. Surprisingly, results suggested that heavy egg eaters and smokers had almost equal exponential growth of carotid plaque area (the part of the arteries that are clogged).
Further supporting Spence’s study, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, among many other organizations, recommends those with high cholesterol levels to “limit [their consumption of] whole eggs to no more than two per week.”
There seems to be steadfast evidence on both sides of the spectrum: the most trusted sources have called eggs beneficial, deadly, and harmless for one’s health. However, subtle observations show that all of these studies taken together are actually aligned with the same point of view.
Although the effects of eggs and smoking on carotid health have a very strong correlation (p <0.0001), no experiment has been published on the relationship between diet and carotid plaque area, the topic of Spence’s study. So while the study shows a relationship between egg consumption and plaque, any factor related to cholesterol increases could have confounded his result.
For example, what if the subjects’ three strips of bacon they always ate with their three eggs was not accounted for in this study? It is therefore reasonable to take Spence’s study as a suggestion that a relationship exists, but likely at a lesser extent than suggested in his findings.
The idea that both the anti- and pro-egg organizations and researchers share is the key phrase, “unhealthy if you already have high cholesterol levels.”
The Info-Santé phone line, 8-1-1, answered my egg question by directing me to the University of Montreal’s website extenso.org. Here, too, the phrase, “if you already have high cholesterol levels” came up.
Research shows that although eggs are high in dietary cholesterol, most of it will not be absorbed by the bloodstream. The 8-1-1 line even went so far to say that a five-egg-per-day diet is unlikely to cause any issues, unless you already have hypercholesterolemia, or high cholesterol levels.
The bulk of trusted sources seems to agree that eggs in moderation are a perfectly healthy breakfast, unless you have high cholesterol. Even those with genetic hypercholesterolemia disease are not restricted to avoid eggs altogether. Alhough there are always some limits and restrictions, eggs are a long way from being as detrimental as cigarettes or high levels of saturated and trans fats.
Coffee is often a welcomed friend during the semester. According to folklore, the bean’s energizing properties were first discovered by an Ethiopian goat herdsman, who found his flock frolicking after eating coffee berries from nearby bushes. It’s not just goats that enjoy the effects of caffeine, however. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), at least 80 per cent of adults in the U.S. consume various forms of the stimulant every day. But the caffeine addiction does not stop there—some proclaim their love of the chemical by displaying its structure on T-shirts, mugs, and laptop cases.
However, the five deaths linked to Monster Energy drinks and 13 linked to 5-Hour Energy shots in the U.S. last year, according to FDA records and an interview with an agency official, suggest caffeine might not be such a nice friend. Bertil B. Fredholm, emeritus professor of pharmacology at the Karolinksa Institute in Sweden told Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) that caffeine is a popular stimulant that triggers alertness in the body at low doses. Once absorbed by the bloodstream, the compound is metabolized in the liver, where it is transformed into three different primary metabolites (molecules produced during metabolism): paraxanthine, theophylline, and theobromine. Subsequently, these metabolites bind to two adenosine receptors, A1 and A2a, which are located throughout the body. These are proteins that regulate different physiological functions when activated by the neurochemical adenosine.
In normal circumstances, adenosine is produced by neurons—brain cells—throughout the day. The adenosine receptors are responsible for regulating nerve cell activity, and the release of neurotransmitters—brain chemicals that communicate information between the brain and body—such as dopamine. The interaction of the adenosine molecule with its receptors also promotes drowsiness. As adenosine binds to its receptors to activate them, it slows down nerve cell activity, causing sleep.
However, when caffeine enters the bloodstream, the interaction of adenosine with its corresponding receptors is interrupted. Caffeine and its metabolites look like adenosine to nerve cells, but do not cause resulting response in receptors. Therefore, these metabolites bind instead to the adenosine receptors and prevent adenosine from doing its job. Consequently, dopamine and other neurotransmitter levels increase, resulting in a surge of nerve activity in the brain and on the heart. Furthermore, although caffeine looks like adenosine, it is not a neurochemical. Therefore, instead of slowing down the nerve cell’s activity, it speeds it up, causing you to feel more awake.
These effects might all seem harmless, but when taken in excessive quantities, caffeine can cause anxiety, irritation, and general mental discomfort. Importantly, caffeine can also have many negative physiological effects on the body, including increased blood pressure, rapid heart rate—and in extreme cases, death.
Chances are, one cup of coffee is not going to kill you. The toxic level of caffeine in humans, about 10 g, is roughly equivalent to guzzling 75 cups of brewed coffee (in eight ounce mugs), or 120 cans of Red Bull over a few hours. However, this lethal limit is hardly a guideline. The tolerable amount of caffeine varies widely from person to person. Factors such as genetics, smoking, and age, all have an influence, although scientists are still unsure what exactly causes death by caffeine before the lethal limit.
Due to the variability in caffeine sensitivity among people, the FDA does not recommend a consumption limit for the entire population. However, the agency states on its website that 600 mg (four to seven cups of coffee) of caffeine is too much. While it is difficult to regulate the caffeine content of food and drink—since beverage manufacturers claim the compound is a necessary flavour enhancer for their products—the FDA puts a limit of 0.02 per cent (6 mg per oz) on the amount of the chemical allowed in cola-type beverages.
Unfortunately, beverage limitations do not apply to energy drinks, which are sold as dietary supplements. Drinks like 5-Hour Energy Shots may contain caffeine levels that exceed 6 mg per oz. Furthermore, beverage manufacturers often include caffeine as part of the “energy blend,” on the label. These contain multiple ingredients, none of which are broken down individually by milligrams. As a result, it is unclear how much of a contribution to the “energy blend” is made by energy-boosting compounds.
Despite the dangers of a caffeine overdose, it seems a caffeine craze has caught on in the marketing industry. Cracker Jack has switched out its caramel corn for Cracker Jack’d—two ounce packages of “power bites” jammed with 70mg of caffeine. It will join a market of many other caffeine-infused products, such as Water Joe—a bottle of water with the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee—caffeinated pancakes, and marshmallows.
While the marketing industry makes it easy to get caught up in the hype surrounding caffeinated food and beverages, everyone’s body metabolizes this chemical differently. While it is unlikely that a morning cup of coffee will do you any harm, it serves as an important reminder that there is no fixed threshold for the amount of caffeine your body can tolerate. With finals looming in the future, it might make more sense to swap out that 5-Hour Energy Shot for some sleep.
