If you are among the many that are disappointed with the latest Red Hot Chili Peppers album, 2011’s I’m With You, here’s the possible explanation, and a potential cure.
Since strongest creative force in the band, guitarist John Frusciante, departed the group, he has been pouring his talents into solo material. This individual work has finally been released, in the form of an EP titled Letur-Lefr, and a longer work, PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone. The album comes with a warning; Frusciante is an imaginative musician who has been looking to give a truly free reign to his talent for some time, so don’t listen to this expecting Blood Sugar Sex Magic 2.
The 11th studio album from Frusciante is a complete departure. He claims the genre as progressive synth-pop. The initially striking thing about the record is the cover art; it looks like it might have been drawn by a four year old—or by Frusciante during the heroin years.
PBX is not as instantly likeable as Letur-Lefr, and the main criticism of the record is in its confusing production. At times it jars, and sounds as though drum and bass beats could have been added to the disturbing vocals from songs off his first two solo albums. It is difficult to get settled as the beats tend not to sit still, but change in a way that can feel discordant.
This being said, there are stellar tracks. The best are ‘Ratiug,’ in which Wu-Tang auxiliary Kinetic 9 makes a brief but smooth appearance; “Mistakes,” with its sweeping keyboard runs; and “Uprane,” which best showcases the span of Frusciante’s voice from delicate to soul crushingly raw.
I walked through the doors of the Montreal, arts interculturels (MAI) last Friday to find the exhibit space deserted. “Excellent,” I thought to myself, as I passed the archway to the main hall—the stormy afternoon seemed an opportune time, and the ideal backdrop, to see the MAI’s latest offering, Blown Up: Gaming and War.
The exhibit’s arrangement exudes an ominous atmosphere, like some ephemeral worry one can’t quite remember. It is difficult not to appreciate the effects of this backdrop: viewers’ footsteps echo when striking the wooden floors, and the dim light pushes one’s gaze to the three pieces.
The first sight to greet visitors entering the sparsely arranged space is a lone, illuminated podium, atop which rest a keyboard, headphones, and mouse. On the opposing wall, a projector displays the title screen of the game, Wafaa Bilal’s The Night of Bush Capturing: A Virtual Jihadi (NBC:VJ). The idea alone is intriguing: Bilal inserted a graphical representation of himself, virtually recruited to assassinate George Bush Jr., into a two-bit piece of al-Qaeda propaganda entitled The Night of Bush Capturing (2006). The game consisted of the player passing six levels to eventually assassinate the former president. This, in turn, was a crudely orchestrated instance of cosmetic surgery on another game, an equally obscene piece of programming by the title of Quest for Saddam (2003), wherein players mow down Saddam-lookalikes until—surprise—they kill the final Saddam (in a humorous twist, the al-Qaeda version attempted to remove anything remotely American from the game, such as the Red Cross packs players can use to boost health; nevertheless, al-Qaeda’s programmers seemed to have forgotten an open book on the first level, which displays a picture of a camel).
I spent the better part of an hour on Bilal’s provocative piece (when the exhibit initially opened in the U.S., it was boycotted and shut down by locals who, never having had a chance to play the game, were uncertain as to why exactly it was that they opposed it), failing to see how it differed from the al-Qaeda iteration. Terrible gameplay, painful graphics, and offended gaming sensibilities aside, NBC:VJ provided disappointingly little by way of political statement: the credits still listed the “Global Islamic Media Front” (GIMF—a suitably inane acronym) as responsible, and Bilal’s avatar was nowhere to be seen.
Only having come home, and scouring the web for details on the game, did I discover the hitch: Bilal chose to make minimal adjustments to the game. In fact, when demonstrating NBC:VJ at a Rensselaer Institute lecture, Bilal noted “Just don’t blink because you’re going to see me in the game, and if you blink you’re going to miss it.” Rather than communicating the pervading sense of danger and alarm gripping Iraqi citizens, as was his aim, Bilal essentially shanghais the player into participating in a piece of al-Qaeda propaganda.
Due to space constraints, I can say little about the remaining pieces. Harun Farocki’s Watson is Down, one quarter of his Serious Games I-IV video installation, repeatedly plays on another wall; it’s akin to listening to a quarter of a song, and the lack of context that the three remaining pieces would have provided is strident.
The final piece, Mohammed Mohsen’s Weak, was, perhaps, the most interesting. Housed in a sleek black arcade-game exterior, Mohsen’s work rests between those of Farocki and Bilal, its default Windows 98 flying-star screensaver and foreboding joystick inviting players to try their luck. When I gripped the joystick, the screen filled with half-formed, pixelated shapes. Gunfire and sounds of military communications emerge, failure messages appear, but there is neither a goal, nor any sense of control. A blooming buzzing confusion ensues, coupled with a prevailing sense of discomfort. Such sentiments are well within the scope of the work: Mohsen attempts to portray tragedy, reconstructed from half-formed memories. Still, the same results may be derived from the press release, which states that “absurdity acquires meaning in the intimacy of nostalgia, amidst violence and tragedy.”
In spite of the atmospheric setting and flashes of emotion, Blown Up remains a regretful testament to the difficulties of communicating through novel media rather than a poignant portrayal of conflict. In the meantime, to those wishing to experience gaming and war, I recommend reading Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est and picking up a copy of Call of Duty.
Blown Up: Gaming and War runs until Dec. 15 at the MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance, bureau 103), Free admission.
The conception, production, and release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is truly a whirlwind story in its own right. With an exceptional cast consisting of Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, and Jessica Biel, Hitchcock is the definition of Oscar bait. Director Sacha Gervasi’s innovative telling of Alfred Hitchcock’s story sets this film apart from the current selection of Hollywood franchises in theatres this month. The film is fairly fast-paced, spanning from the release of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest to the staggered release of Pyscho in the summer of 1960, with Hopkins and Mirren bringing the tumultuous relationship between Hitchcock and his wife Alma to life.
The film begins and ends with Alfred Hitchcock speaking to the audience, explaining how his vision for Pyscho came to be. This introduction is quite a powerful tactic, making the viewer feel a connection to Hitchcock and his story before the film even begins. The film’s second scene is a view into the life of Edward Gain, the murderer and body snatcher that Pyscho’s lead character, Norman Bates, is based on.
Following this scene, Gervasi brings the audience straight into the glitz and glam of 1960s-era Hollywood: the Paramount lot, limousine drivers, chandelier-filled restaurants, and of course, Hitchcock’s home. This is where “Hitch’s”—as he is known among colleagues, friends, and family—idea for Psycho hatches, following a reporter’s comment about the famed director’s age. The scene showcases Hitchcock’s desperate spirit; all he wanted was to make a film that was out of the ordinary, which would shock audiences instead of giving them the normal action and suspense he was known for at the time.
Pyscho was the answer. In the meantime, a friend named Witt (Danny Huston) approaches Hitch’s wife Alma to help him rework a script. Tiring of Hitchcock’s obsession with Psycho, not to mention his difficult attitude, Alma decides to take on the project, creating a rift in her relationship with Hitch.
The love story between Hitchcock’s lead characters is the driving force behind the movie. While the production of Psycho goes on at Paramount with Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel playing actors under Hitchock’s direction, the real question is whether Hitch or Alma will be the first to apologize and bring up the issues they are facing in their relationship.
Hitchcock is certainly worth the trip to the movie theatre this holiday season, and offers a glimpse into the famed Hollywood director’s life. As he tells Johansson’s character before filming the famous shower scene in Psycho, “my camera tells the absolute truth,” which must mean that Marion Crane was pretty scared of that bloody knife.
Fear of the feminine captured by an entirely female cast, McGill English department’s production of The Revenger’s Tragedy by Thomas Middleton adds a layer of gendered irony to the Jacobean-era tragedy. This directorial choice by Patrick Neilson illuminates the period’s anxiety regarding women’s sexuality, bringing together a variety of lively and talented young women to convey the parody of the early 17th century revenge tragedies.
The play focuses on Vindice’s vengeful scheme against the corrupt duke for the murder of his beloved Gloriana. The revenger disguises himself as the low-life, Piato, with the help of his brother Hippolito, to infiltrate the corrupt Italian court. In a ploy typical of revenge plays, the brothers’ plan faces several obstacles—the first being Piato’s hire by the duke’s son, Lussurio, to seduce his chaste sister Castiza.
The subplot examines the duke’s less-than-noble family, which unravels more than the duchess’ corset during a sex scene, adding further conspiracies to the complex tale. Meanwhile, Vindice and Hippolito pursue the duke’s grizzly downfall. With the foreboding thunderclaps, a dubstep masquerade, and recurring references to Hamlet, it is unsurprising that the brothers’ increasingly intricate plan turns comically bloody. Pay attention to this black comedy: one wandering thought and you’ll miss who ‘accidentally’ killed whom.
Simon Poitrimolt / The McGill Tribune
A striking tableau, one of many to come, opens the play to introduce the larger than life characters, clothed exquisitely by Catherine Bradley’s costuming class. Like the production, the costumes are reminiscent of the period, with a modern edge; a theme also congruent with Carling Tedesco’s innovative sound design. In contrast to the traditional Baroque music that frames the earlier scenes, Tedesco’s choice of heavy beats during the masquerade are a shocking delight. This edge adds to the tension of the climactic blood bath spiralling out of control.
The cast’s stylized character choices provide comic relief while sustaining the energy of the play—a difficult task considering the twisted plot. Adriane Epprecht’s portrayal of the immoral duke drives the first act until she is pinned to the floor by her tongue. Her bold, physical choices are effective, and made for the most of the memorable scenes in the play. Along with Rebecca Babcock (Hippolito) and Cece Grey (Vindice), Epprecht commits to Sam Cooper’s (Lussurio) convincing fight choreography. Although the murderous spectacles gain momentum in the second act, Epprecht’s vivacity is missed.
The relentless Vindice, and his alter ego Piato, maximize stage time, and as a result, Grey is rarely offstage. The play depends on her character’s vendetta, and therefore her energy. Grey does not disappoint. Her scenes with Sam Cooper (Lussurio) are particularly hilarious because of her rapid venomous asides before her pledges to serve Lussurio. However, Grey is, at times, lost under Piato’s large moustache, and unfortunately missed an opportunity to differentiate between her character’s two faces. Cooper’s Lussurio was excellent. Her chemistry with Grey made their scenes of lengthy dialogue dynamic, and her physicality and vocal presence commanded the stage—like the heir to a dukedom should.
The women give an impressive performance. Their dedication to their eccentric characters heightens the impact of the play’s dark humour. This polished performance is the product of a strong ensemble crew and cast, who will have you marveling at the constant dynamic turn of events.
The Revenger’s Tragedy runs from Nov. 29 until Dec. 1 at Moyse Hall, Arts Building. Student tickets $5.
Classified document reveals Harper’s new foreign policy
Last Tuesday, the CBC announced it had obtained a confidential document prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, urging the federal government to focus on economic, rather than diplomatic and humanitarian concerns when dealing with emerging markets such as China.
According to the CBC, the document is a “draft of a highly classified new ‘Canadian foreign policy plan,’ ” which encourages Canada to “pursue political relationships in tandem with economic interests, even where political interests or values may not align.”
Absent from the document is the idea of using trade deals to pressure countries on human rights and other humanitarian concerns. Peacekeeping, foreign aid, and diplomacy receive “scant mention,” according to CBC.
The classified document drew criticism from New Democratic P arty Leader Tom Mulcair, who said that the government is abandoning Canada’s traditional advocacy for democracy, human rights, and international aid.
Harper denied that the document represents government policy.
New Quebec budget affirms repeal of tuition increase
Last Tuesday, the Parti Québécois (PQ) tabled a budget containing both spending cuts and tax increases. The budget commits to repealing the former Liberal government’s tuition fee increases, which led to province-wide student protests earlier this year.
Similarly, the PQ will repeal increases to financial aid and bursaries that were also promised by the previous Liberal government. Decisions regarding additional investment to universities will be made following the education summit in February 2013.
Both the Parti Liberal du Québec and the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) promised to vote against the budget. However, interim Liberal leader Jean-Marc Fournier has indicated that his party does not intend to force another election by defeating the budget. The vote is expected to take place by the end of the month.
Another measure includes tax increases on those who make over $100,000 per year. Infrastructure spending will be cut by $1.5 billion annually, while the additional $5 billion in infrastructure spending Liberals promised during their provincial election campaign will be delayed.
The budget plans for a spending increase of 1.8 per cent, the lowest increase in Quebec in 14 years.
Canada attempts to raise quota on Bluefin tuna
Last Monday, Canada failed to convince the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) to allow an increase in the amount of bluefin tuna that can be fished out of the Atlantic Ocean. The ICCAT is responsible for the protection of tuna, as well as other tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean.
Presently, the Canadian government is considering labelling the bluefin tuna as an endangered species, as over-fishing has drastically reduced bluefin populations on the East Coast. Nevertheless, Canada proposed an increase in the bluefin quota from 1,750 to 2,000 tonnes to the ICCAT.
The proposal did not pass, and has led some environmentalists to criticize Canada’s position on bluefin tuna fishing as out of line with that of the international community.
During the same conference, Canada defeated the European Union’s attempt to mandate the release of porbeagles (a type of mackerel shark) caught in ICCAT fisheries worldwide. The porbeagle is an endangered shark that can be found off the coast of Newfoundland. According to the CBC, the porbeagle’s population has been reduced by almost 90 per cent since the 1960s due to over-fishing.
Quarry project defeated by small Ontario town
Residents of the Melancthon township in southern Ontario have successfully defeated an American company’s attempt to open the largest quarry in Canada. The Highland Companies officially withdrew their application to open the quarry last Wednesday, after two years of conflict with the town’s citizens over the issue.
According to The Globe and Mail, the company originally started buying land six years ago, under the proposal that it would start a potato farm, but locals began to express alarm when it made an application to build a limestone quarry on 2,300 hectares of land.
Criticisms of the project included the quarry’s potential impact on groundwater and soil in the region. For example, the quarry would have been below the level of ground saturated with water, requiring the company to pump water to the surface to keep the work area dry.
A spokesperson for the Highland Companies said it withdrew support because of a lack of support from both the community, and the Ontario government. The latter had ordered an environmental assessment of the quarry last September, even though such assessments are not mandatory for the development of quarries.
Minister criticizes RCMP gender imbalances
In a letter dated last Thursday, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews criticized the behaviour of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Bob Paulson for his treatment of gender issues in Canada’s national police force.
Specifically, Toews criticized Paulson’s choice to speak with media about an internal report investigating issues such as gender imbalances and sexual harassment in the RCMP. Paulson discussed the report on Thursday, before it was officially released to the public on Friday.
According to the internal report, women are less likely to be promoted within the RCMP, largely due to a “selection bias” against women. Currently, only 20 per cent of the police force consists of women, despite the RCMP’s stated goal of 35 per cent representation.
Toews’ letter also found fault with the RCMP’s lack of clarity in their plans to deal with these issues. Toews has given the RCMP until Dec. 11 to present him with a report, outlining a concrete plan for addressing the issues detailed in the report.
Lucas* weighs over 350 lbs. He has a shaved head and a large frame densely covered with a menacing coat of tattoos. He’s also the strongest human being I’ve ever met. While waiting at the dingy 24-hour coffee shop where we had arranged to meet, I bumped into two friends and we spoke to pass the time. When Lucas arrived, and I excused myself from the conversation, one of them whispered, wide-eyed, “Did that guy just eat someone?”
Lucas, whom I’d met several years ago at my gym, had mentioned numerous times that he supplies steroids to those who seek them, but that he would tell people how to use them in moderation rather than watch them damage their health and throw money down the anabolic drain.
I was curious to speak to Lucas because of a recent academic paper written by Steven Hyman, the former director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. In recent years, the medical community has been in the throes of a vigorous debate regarding the use of neurocognitive enhancing drugs—such as Provigil and Adderall—in the healthy population. While voicing a cautiously optimistic view of neuroenhancers, Hyman pointed out how similar these substances were to performance enhancing drugs in sports.
“A player who did not want to take anabolic steroids or growth hormone when nearly everyone else, including his own teammates, was taking such drugs, would be at a significant disadvantage ‘playing naked,’ as it has been said. If an athletic scholarship or a high salary were at stake, it might be very difficult to resist the unfortunate community norm. This scenario can be extended to performance with psychotropic drugs,” wrote Hyman in Neuron, in 2011. The comparison between taking the occasional dose of Ritalin to study and using steroids for sports seems excessive, but its potential merits are troubling enough to investigate.
***
Adderall is a brand name psychostimulant drug. Adderall directly affects the neural pathway associated with reward, leading to risks of addiction.
Lance Armstrong’s public lynching following the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s October 2012 report came with brutal swiftness. The damning evidence comprised of over 200 pages of testimony by those, including many teammates, who witnessed his personal blood-doping habits and his coercive intimidation of those who failed to fall in line.
Immediately, two camps emerged: those who wished the seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer-survivor well, and those who felt betrayed by his mendacious denials of doping; the former, it seems, comprised a controversial minority.
Ironically, the history of the Tour—a grueling road race spanning some 3,500 km and lasting the better part of a month—is replete with drug use. Since its inception, competitors took strychnine to tighten weakened muscles, sniffed ether to dull the pain in their legs, and regularly consumed amphetamines. Fausto Coppi, a two-time winner, once declared that “those who claim [that cyclists do not take amphetamine], it’s not worth talking to them about cycling.”
When I asked Lucas about other sports, he categorically denied that such prevalent use is unique to cycling. “They all do juice, [Armstrong] just got caught. Carl Lewis even said years later that he was on juice when he was competing against Ben Johnson [in the 1984 Olympics], now he’s laughing, ‘I was on juice too!’” Lucas echoed Lewis’ laugh. “Every baseball player over 30, guaranteed, takes steroids. There’s no way a grown man can run every day, play a game every day.
His joints, forget about it. Society wants to be naïve and think nobody’s on juice, it’s stupid. Give the same amount of juice to another player, and they won’t be able to perform that way. What makes a guy in the top five and in the top 25? It’s genetics. If you’re going into any field where you’re a professional athlete, you’ve got to realize that you’ll need to take steroids. It’s impossible to recuperate from your workouts without taking that supplement to rebuild your muscle.”
Paradoxically, we tend to enjoy displays of preternatural athleticism as long as we remain unaware of their connection to banned substances. When we learn of steroid use, criticisms generally include the health risks which accompany this substance’s abuse, the unfair “loading of the dice” in one athlete’s favour, and the poor example that athletes who use such substances set for the public.
Kyle,* a former captain of a McGill varsity squad who competed at a national level, admits that this is a strange juxtaposition.
“I watch the NFL. It’s like going to the zoo and watching animals play. I watch the NBA, it’s like seeing a spectacle. There’s nothing I can do that even remotely resembles anything they can. Steroids are pretty prevalent in the NFL—if you don’t know that, you should. Get over it, cause it’s the way it is. Those guys aren’t natural. They get paid to be unnatural!” he exclaims. If anything, he notes, it would be dangerous not to use them. Yet, he remains uncertain.
“Is it wrong? I’d like to think so. I’d like to think that there’s some sort of honour in sport that people should try for, that’s what I’ve seen in my day. But, Lance got his title stripped. The guy before him got his title stripped, and how many of the [winners] were celebrated? I feel bad for Lance, he lost a lot. They’ve had a target on his back for a long time. He was just lucky to get away with it, but so did everyone else. If you want to have a level playing field, make it clean for everyone. If you want to have a clean, natural sport, have a clean natural sport.”
***
Also known as Modafinil, Provigil is a treatment of narcolepsy, shift work sleep disorder, and sleep apnea. Studies of healthy individuals have noted its short-term increases of attention in the well-rested; and maintainance of wakefulness, memory, and executive function in the sleep deprived
Interestingly, our attempts at enhancing mental powers are no more recent than our attempts to improve our physical condition. Many romantic poets used opium while writing. Coleridge produced his famed Kubla Khan under its haze. Writers, such as Hemingway and Faulkner, imbibed near superhuman amounts of alcohol. And the Beatles, as Chuck Klosterman notes in a 2007 essay, “started taking serious drugs, and those drugs altered their musical performance. Though it may not have been their overt intent, the Beatles took performance-enhancing drugs. And this is germane to sports for one reason: Absolutely no one holds it against them. No one views Rubber Soul and Revolver as “less authentic” albums, despite the fact that they would not (and probably could not) have been made by people who weren’t on drugs. Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road on a Benzedrine binge, yet nobody thinks this makes his novel less significant.”
We pardon this mix of creativity and substance use, in part, because it leads to such subjectively varied results. Who’s to say that A Farewell to Arms was a better novel than Absalom, Absalom? Whereas marathon times can be measured precisely, we have yet to convince ourselves that drugs such as Adderall or Provigil have equally concrete effects. No surprise, considering that the short-term cognitive benefits of such drugs in healthy people are a recent finding.
The academic setting, in particular that of an elite university, is a fertile climate for exploring such ideas. Kyle, an excellent student himself, believes that McGill’s high-achieving students are more likely to use study drugs, than its varsity players are to use banned substances.
“They call it the ‘Brawn Drain’—it takes our top quality athletes and brings them [to the big colleges]. They get better deals down there. Even if it’s a fringe sport—they give you a full ride, why would you turn it down, to be in a [Big 10 school] environment? They have more flexibility to let kids in, whereas McGill’s a highly academic school. A lot of the time, you can’t get the best athletes through the door. McGill athletics has really been [trying to] make it a welcoming place, just to have people come and play. Lots of great programs—but it’s far behind other schools.”
While the focus on McGill’s varsity sports is a fraction of that found in many U.S. schools, Kyle notes McGill students can be incredibly competitive when it comes to grades. This is their professional domain, whether they’re vying for places in grad school, or lucrative job offers. In fact, a paper in Addiction showed study drug use to be more prevalent at competitive schools.
Jonathan, a first-year in one of McGill’s most competitive programs, states that, while a stigma surrounds neurocognitive enhancing drugs, he doesn’t take it too seriously.
“It doesn’t mean that you can’t have a non productive day—it’s just a bit of a facilitator. The only reason you feel a little bit guilty is because there’s a bit of a stigma, but when my friends asked me if I did, I said yes straight up. After taking it, I don’t feel like it gave me an IQ boost. It’s still working with what you have.”
***
Methylphenidate (MPH; MPD), better known as Ritalin, is a psychostimulant drug approved for treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and narcolepsy. In healthy individuals, MPH has a positive effect on memory.
For those who don’t engage in steroid use to improve sports performance, the goal is aesthetic. Kyle notes a marked difference between the McGill’s varsity gym and its main gym in this regard.
“[At] the main gym—I’ve seen a lot more, and talked a lot more about banned substances. In the varsity gym, I haven’t seen anything that’s been below board. It’s a huge attitude shift between the two. People who train in the varsity gym aren’t there to look good. It’s very functional, very much sports specific, and oriented towards being an athlete. By the time you hit our age, and you’re doing a sport, you know that you’re either going to be able to do it after university or you’re not. In 99 per cent of people’s situations, this ends after university. You lose the drive, you lose your team, because you’re done. You lose structure. That’s when you start to embrace training for other things. The use of banned substances is more associated with commonplace training than the McGill varsity community.”
Lucas agrees.
“People that are doing stuff like steroids, it’s because they’ve been brought up on the Internet,” he states emphatically. “The most popular thing on the internet is the porn star world, and the new culture is a Jersey Shore culture: everyone wants a six pack, everyone wants to have muscles, because they associate muscles with getting pussy. It’s all vanity.”
Even in academic circles, placing such importance on cognitive function is rare. If the ability to remember a nine-digit string of random numbers led people to be more attractive, our society would be a vastly different place, and the debate on study drugs would be much more one-sided.
Of course, while numerous studies have confirmed the harms of steroid abuse, use of neurocognitive enhancing drugs in healthy individuals is relatively recent, and long-term study data is scarce. And, although substances such as Addrall and Ritalin affect the dopamine pathways, leading to potentially addictive properties, others, like Provigil, are less understood. Jennifer Fishman, Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Ethics Unit at McGill University, expresses concerns regarding long term use.
“Even if there are no short-term side effects, [study drugs impact our] brain chemistry, and we don’t know the long-term effects.”
Hyman’s comparison of steroid use to neurocognitive enhancing drugs is, in part, correct. To a significant degree, a historical distinction is responsible for our differing attitudes towards the two: while we’ve possessed methods of increasing strength and muscle mass for decades, our discovery of reliable mechanisms for improving mental attributes is a recent development. In light of such novelty, and its corollary lack of data on the detrimental effects of neurocognitive enhancers, its seems that many ethicists are wise to reign in our enthusiasm regarding such drugs.
Fishman believes that, pressures aside, the decision to enhance performance ultimately comes down to a personal choice.
“I think many would say that it’s naïve to think of any of these as a free choice—to take these drugs, or not. But on the other hand, we are all subjecting ourselves to this kind of society which makes us want to keep up. We do it to ourselves, right? Nobody makes us to it. When we talk about the pressures, they’re amorphous. Unless you’re an extremely high-level athlete, there’s no coach,” she said. “I think the hardest part is that we each choose how we’re going to participate. And, while it’s not a free choice in any way, it’s not a conspiracy. It’s not big brother surveillance society. It’s much more of the self-surveillance that we all do.”
In the last two weeks, McGill has started a new communications service called “what’snewstudents@mcgill.” This new initiative consists of a series of weekly emails that the administration uses to provide students with information about various events and services on campus.
Director of Internal Communications Doug Sweet said the new campaign was designed to improve the rapport between the administration and the student body at McGill. The idea is based off of “what’snew@mcgill,” the faculty and staff email service run by the Internal Communications staff that goes out twice a week.
“[The service] provides ‘news you can use’ in one weekly email delivered on a day free of classes, when people actually might have time to read it,” Sweet said.
According to Sweet, “what’snewstudents” aims to channel all the information the administration needs to convey to students into one message, including health services, library information, student services, and more. The goal is to make students feel more connected, and to facilitate communication between the administration and the students.
Although McGill has only sent out two “what’snewstudents@mcgill” emails so far, Sweet expressed cautious optimism about student reception of the service.
“It’s early yet, but the reaction to this seems to be very positive and the number of opt-outs is so far remarkably small,” he said.
The first email—sent to students on Nov. 18—contained a link to a story run by the McGill Reporter, the McGill administration’s publication, on the announcement of the appointment of Andre Costopoulos as Dean of Students. The second email, which came out last Sunday, included information about International Student Services.
Emily Dehority, U0 science, said she approves of the new service, but that the administration needs to take a step further.
“I think that the emails are a good start, assuming they live up to their potential as vessels of information, but I would love to see way better communication with new and future students, through information packets in the mail, more extensive websites, and logistics instead of lip service at Discover McGill,” she said.
Postgraduate Students’ Society of McGill University (PGSS) President Jonathan Mooney has endorsed the new effort as a way to increase the accessibility of both the administration, and as an effective way for the administration to communicate information to students.
Mooney said that the PGSS has encouraged McGill’s Office of Communication and External Relations to move away from the MRO communication system of last year.
“Over the course of several meetings and phone conversations, we strongly expressed the view that the MRO communication system from the previous year was not well-received by students and stated that we support efforts to move toward less frequent, more targeted communication with students,” he said.
He also said that the Office of Communications and External Relations has done more this year to receive input from the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and PGSS regarding communication strategies.
“I hope [this] will in the long term make communication more effective in a way that is noticeable by students,” he said.
SSMU President Josh Redel has also endorsed the administration’s efforts.
“Myself and many other students talked about the need for more constant communication over the course of last year,” Redel said. “I think that this new email format will provide for just that. I think that the need for drastically revamped internal communications was something that the university really picked up on after last year.”
On Nov. 23, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum accepted all three recommendations to revise the Code of Student Conduct and security on campus from Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi’s Report of the Open Forum on Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Assembly. In an email to the McGill community, Munroe-Blum detailed the steps that the administration has already taken—and will continue to take—to implement these recommendations.
Munroe-Blum mandated Manfredi’s report following Dean of Law Daniel Jutras’ report on the events of Nov. 10, 2011, when an occupation of the James Administration Building ended with riot police dispersing and pepper-spraying students on campus. The Principal asked Manfredi to chair a series of open-forum sessions where students, faculty, non-academic staff, and senior administration could discuss campus issues, including the right to peaceful assembly on campus.
Published on Oct. 8, Manfredi’s report describes the key discussions and concerns conveyed at the four open-forum sessions, which took place between March 1 and May 2, and provides three recommendations based on that dialogue. These recommendations include the clarification of several clauses in the Code of Student Conduct, the revision of the Provisional Protocol, and a review of McGill Security Services’ training program.
In response to Manfredi’s first recommendation regarding the Code of Student Conduct, Munroe-Blum said she has created a working group specifically mandated to deal with this issue. She has asked professor Lydia White, associate provost (policies, procedures and equity), to chair the group.
Munroe-Blum has mandated that the working group consider Section 6.3.1 of Manfredi’s report, which discusses the use of masks and other forms of concealed identity within the context of a protest. The Principal asked that the group bring recommended amendments of the Code to the McGill Senate in February or March 2013. Senate will formally consider recommended amendments in March or April 2013.
In an email to the Tribune, White commented on the challenge of making changes to the Code.
“Terminology can sometimes be open to multiple interpretations,” White wrote. “This is one of the issues that we will have to consider.”
According to White, three student senators will sit on the work group—one undergraduate, one graduate, and one Continuing Studies—whose names will be proposed by the Senate Nominating Committee. She said the group’s first meeting will probably occur in mid-December or early January.
Munroe-Blum also addressed Manfredi’s recommendation that “the ‘James Protocol’ should be revised or reconsidered with a view towards adopting a less restrictive approach to access and security.”
“Changes have already been implemented, and further work is currently under way on making physical changes to the first floor of the James Administration Building, so that visitors to the building are admitted quickly and efficiently while maintaining the safety and security of the approximately 300 people who work in the building,” Munroe-Blum wrote.
Munroe-Blum confirmed that she has accepted Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) Michael Di Grappa’s proposal to revise the James Protocol, which includes rules and procedures for scheduled and unscheduled visitors to the James Building, as well as further suggestions to facilitate access for frequent visitors.
According to Di Grappa’s proposal, the James Protocol is open to revision.
“The Protocol will be reviewed once we have a chance to evaluate effectiveness of the changes being made to the entrance,” Di Grappa wrote. “[It] will also be reviewed periodically to ensure it meets the needs of [both] our community [and the James Building] personnel.”
Regarding Manfredi’s recommendation that Security Services review their training program, Munroe-Blum said she has accepted Di Grappa’s suggested two initiatives. These include a training program “to ensure that Security Services personnel … have a full understanding of the Code of Student Conduct,” and regular meetings between the Dean of Students and Security personnel starting in December. The purpose of these meetings is to ensure a common understanding of Security Services’ roles and procedures, to improve the nature and accuracy of incident reports, and to maintain open communication on matters related to the disciplinary process.
Munroe-Blum also provided an update on the Provisional Protocol regarding demonstrations, protests, and occupations on McGill’s campuses.
“Work is under way on adapting the Provisional Protocol into a permanent protocol, and a first draft will be sent on Nov. 30 … to the McGill community for comments and suggestions,” she wrote.
Munroe-Blum said suggestions will be integrated into a document, that will be presented to Senate on Jan. 23, 2013, and to the Board of Governors on Jan 29, 2013.
Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President Haley Dinel’s was pleased to hear that Munroe-Blum had embraced Manfredi’s recommendations. However, she believes that much work remains. Dinel also expressed several concerns with regard to White’s work group and the James Protocol.
“The [work group] is smaller than I imagined … I would [have] liked to have seen more students [in the group] because it is an issue that is absolutely critical for us at this juncture with the university,” Dinel said. “My concern with the [revised] James Protocol is that is does not address the [issue] that the building is closed off … there is still perceived, and often real, separation between the James Building and the rest of campus.”
Last week, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) held a series of consultation sessions to prepare for the Parti Québécois’s (PQ) summit on higher education planned for February 2013. Led by SSMU Vice-President External Robin Reid-Fraser, the three sessions covered many topics, including student representation at McGill, and out-of-province and international students’ concerns about their place in the student movement.
SSMU will be represented at the provincial summit through the Quebec Student Roundtable (Table de concertation étudiante du Québec, or TaCEQ).
According to Reid-Fraser, these consultations are to air students’ concerns, which SSMU will bring to TaCEQ, who will subsequently take these concerns to the summit.
Although much publicity around the summit centres on the topic of tuition, Reid-Fraser said SSMU’s events also aimed to engage students in other topics.
“With the student strike and everything that was happening last year … there is a lot of focus on the issue of tuition,” Reid-Fraser said. “There are so many other things about universities. There are students who weren’t super engaged with the issue of tuition, but might have other concerns.”
Michael Paolucci / McGill Tribune
Students brought up the topic of student representation, and voiced frustrations with the current format of student representation in McGill’s administration and governance structures.
“[McGill] is supposed to be a public institution,” said Lily Hoffman, U3 arts, as a response to Reid-Fraser’s discussion of students sitting on committees to appoint new provosts and principals. “We’re all supposed to have access in attending, but that equals access to affecting how it’s run.”
Other students expressed frustration over what they saw as student apathy at McGill.
“In my experience at McGill, we appear to have a small portion of students invested in governance and politics—those [who] are serving as elected officials [and] officers of faculty associations and SSMU, and those who continuously show up and speak their minds at General Assemblies,” said SSMU Speaker Nida Nizam. “Other than that, it seems to be difficult to get the larger student body engaged in the process.”
Devin Dziadyk, science representative to SSMU Council, said he thinks student apathy at McGill come from students putting course grades first.
“There is such a priority on academics above all else,” he said. “[There is] a perception that … the only [thing] that’s going to mean anything in the future is what your marks are,” he said.
A number of students also expressed concern over the status of out-of-province and international students within Quebec.
“When [tuition increases] impact non-Quebec students, do we get that kind of solidarity from the Quebec associations that wanted it from us during the strike?” Reid-Fraser asked.
She also said that she perceives ambivalence towards international and out-of-province students within TaCEQ, noting the weak response she receives from the organization when she suggests that they adopt an official position to reject an out-of-province tuition increase.
Although the PQ repealed last year’s tuition increases for Quebec students, they have not yet announced a decision regarding out-of-province and international students. Some students voiced fears that the recent repeal of the tuition hike, which was proposed by the former Liberal government, may be offset by an increase in out-of-province and international fees. This was the outcome following a previous student movement in 1996 during the PQ government of Lucien Bouchard.
SSMU’s series of consultation sessions, the first of their kind at McGill, ended last Friday. The Post-Graduate Students’ Society will hold a separate series of discussions on education in early December.
Two weeks ago, Quebec Minister of Higher Education Pierre Duchesne proposed that the government grant student associations the legal right to strike.
Last spring, many student associations across Quebec voted to go on strike to oppose the former Liberal government’s proposed tuition increases. The Liberal government did not recognize these strikes as legal. Instead, it called the actions “boycotts,” which prompted the Quebec Superior Court to interpret student strikes as such.
The courts implemented over 20 injunctions against students who formed picket lines, as well as schools that cancelled classes. These injunctions mandated students to return to class, even if they were members of an association that had voted to go on strike. Not all of the court’s orders were respected, however. For instance, Cégep de L’Outaouais cancelled its classes in May despite court orders.
Duchesne has stated that the government’s insistence on referring to the events of last spring as “boycotts” only aggravated the situation, and disparaged some of the actions of the Charest government.
“The consequence was an important social crisis with long-lasting instability,” Duchesne told La Presse in French.
Duchesne has said that giving student associations the legal right to strike will create more stability in the province in the event of student protests against government actions such as tuition hikes. According to La Presse, Duchesne’s proposal will be discussed at the upcoming Quebec summit on higher education, which is scheduled to take place in February 2013.
Jérémie Bédard-Wien, spokesperson for L’Association pour une solidarité syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ), said the association is concerned about the consequences of the government legislating student strikes in the same way as labour union strikes.
According to Bédard-Wien, labour unions only have the right to strike when it is time to negotiate a collective agreement. They cannot legally strike for political reasons.
“If the legislation [that Duchesne is proposing] is similar to the legislation of the right to strike for workers, then we would most presumably lose the right to strike in certain situations—for instance, political reasons,” he said. “This would really limit our reach.”
Bédard-Wien said that students would continue to strike for political reasons, regardless of any future laws that could legally limit this ability.
“Student strikes are legal right now,” he said. “They are legal because nothing makes them illegal …. Students enforce strikes because they believe in the power of collective decision-making and general assemblies. They don’t enforce strikes because it is legal or illegal.”
He also expressed concern about the law’s effect on the autonomy of student associations. The proposed law would require a student strike vote to be like that of a labour union, meaning it would have to occur by secret ballot and would need to pass by a majority vote.
“What’s important to notice is that such legislation would really infringe on the ability for student associations to govern themselves,” he said. “Students have the right … to choose what methods of voting they want to use.”
If student strikes were to be recognized under the law, students would also be legally permitted to prevent other students from entering classrooms. Furthermore, it would become more difficult for Quebec courts to provide individual students with injunctions allowing them to cross picket lines.
However, Bédard-Wien expressed disbelief that legalizing student strikes would stop the courts from handing out injunctions entirely. He referred, once again, to labour unions.
“Using the example of workers rights, many legal strikes [are] repressed eventually by injunctions,” he said. “Legislating the right to strike does not necessarily mean that you can no longer use injunctions …. The history of Quebec has many cases of this.”
According to La Presse, Liberal education critic Gerry Sklavounos has also criticized Duchesne’s proposal because Quebec taxpayers would continue to pay for services that no one would benefit from during a potential strike, such as heating, electricity, and professors’ salaries.
Students’ Society of McGill University Vice-President External Robin Reid-Fraser said that the Quebec Student Roundtable (Table de concertation étudiante du Québec, or TaCEQ), of which SSMU is a member association, has yet to take a position on Duchesne’s proposal.
“We … didn’t take a formal position on it because everyone felt like there needed to be more discussionamong our membership,” she said.
She noted that there could be positives to legislating student strikes.
“On the one hand the idea of creating some kind of formal legislation around it is interesting, particularly since this past strike saw, by far, the heaviest legal intervention of any in Quebec history,” she said. “If there is now a lot of precedent for restricting strike activities, then it may be worthwhile to put in place a framework of what is allowed, or at least some procedural aspects to make things clearer.”
She also said that she has a lot of questions that would need to be addressed before she could fully support Duchesne’s proposal.
Her many questions include what a legal framework would look like exactly and if students would be involved in helping to create the specifics of the law.
