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Floor fellows file grievance against McGill over poor working conditions

by Eliza Lee on

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The union representing floor fellows at McGill, the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE), has filed a grievance against the university over changes to floor fellows’ accommodations. Floor fellows are upper-year students hired to live in residences and support the primarily first-year students living there, who are often new to living on their own. A grievance is a formal complaint made on behalf of the employees about a violation of their rights in the workplace. It can mean a violation of the law or the collective agreement.

Beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year, McGill’s Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS) converted larger rooms formerly designated for floor fellows into rooms for students, with floor fellows now occupying smaller rooms. According to AMUSE Vice President (VP) Floor Fellows Graeme Scott, this change in accommodations increases the number of spaces where floor fellows will be forced to interact with students throughout their daily routine, making it more challenging for floor fellows to take a break. AMUSE claims that the policy violates the 36-hour rest period guaranteed in their collective agreement with McGill.

“Imagine if you work at a more conventional office where you go home at five o’clock. Imagine if you’re at home on a Sunday morning and your co-workers from the office can just wander into your kitchen and start talking to you,” Scott said in an interview with The Tribune. “By removing floor fellows’ ability to have these private spaces where we can step away from our residents, it makes it impossible for us to ever take a break from working.”

In a written statement to The Tribune, McGill Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle reported that these changes, specifically the renovation of some floor fellow rooms to accommodate additional students, were made in response to a growing demand for student housing—but do not breach McGill’s legal agreement with floor fellows.

“The renovations were not a factor in the negotiations with [AMUSE] and are a separate project that does not affect the terms of the contract,” Mazerolle wrote. “Our priority is to provide an equitable living experience for all residence students.”

AMUSE has also accused the university of bargaining in bad faith. Documents Scott shared with The Tribune reveal that the policy of smaller rooms for floor fellows has been under development for the past five years. However, the policy was first introduced to floor fellows by the SHHS on March 17 of this year, after strikes demanding higher pay in Spring 2022 paved the way to finalize their collective agreement with McGill. 

Scott believes the timing of the policy’s implementation was strategic. Currently, floor fellows can no longer strike or perform work stoppages or slow-downs because they are bound to Article 28 of their collective agreement.

“Trying to separate this policy from the contract is, I think, a false and an absolutely disingenuous framing of the issue,” Scott said. “If we had known about this [policy] during the bargaining period, this would have been a massive priority. Now that we’re locked into this collective agreement, [McGill] chose to strike at a time when we have very little recourse through collective action.”

Scott also alleged that SHHS made it clear to floor fellows—both in communications with them regarding union relations and as employees—that the policy was primarily designed to generate additional revenue. 

“It has also been made clear that this policy is an attempt to generate extra revenue, in order to help SHHS clear its debts, which we have been told are in the area of multiple [tens] of millions of dollars,” Scott wrote. “If the primary motivation were to accommodate more students, McGill would not be renting out the larger Floor Fellow rooms to first years.”

Joey* is among the many floor fellows who claim the policy has had significant negative impacts on their quality of life in the residences. One of Joey’s major concerns with the policy is that it forces them to share a bathroom with first-year students. In their residence, the hooks to hang up towels are across from the shower stalls, creating the potential for students and floor fellows to walk in on one another while they are undressed. 

In July 2023, floor fellows requested that SHHS designate certain bathrooms specifically for floor fellows. In an email chain obtained by The Tribune, SHHS responded by telling them it would not be logistically feasible to do so because it would limit the number of bathrooms for students. As a compromise, the SHHS offered to install hooks in the showers to allow for more privacy for floor fellows and students. As of Sept. 11, however, hooks beside the showers have not been installed in Joey’s residence bathroom.

“This unresolved issue has placed me in a vulnerable situation [of] being assaulted or harassed. I do not feel safe when I go to shower every night,” Joey wrote to The Tribune. “I feel disappointed that no action is being done to fix this easily solvable issue.”

Joey also shared that the changes make it more difficult for them to spend time with their friends. Their smaller room size means there is less space to accommodate guests, and their floor fellow duties make it difficult to find time to visit their friends’ homes. They explained that the policy has consequently interfered with their social life and has negatively affected their mental health. 

“My social well-being has been impacted negatively as I no longer have the luxury of hosting many guests in my room,” Joey wrote. “The room changes have definitely decreased my social interactions with friends and exacerbated feelings of loneliness.”

For Joey, the impacts of this policy have extended to the attitude they bring to their work as a floor fellow. Previously, they had spent time outside of their work hours planning bonding activities such as dinners and game nights for their floor, but they do not intend to do so this year.

“The morale is low within the floor fellow community,” Joey wrote. “I am no longer motivated to go above and beyond my job requirements.”

The Tribune interviewed several first-year students, none of whom reported any major disruptions to floor fellow support so far. According to Charlotte Dominy, U0 Arts, her floor fellow ran several activities during the first week and created a floor-wide group chat that helped students bond.

“The welcome week, I think it went by smoother because we had the opportunities to connect on socials because of the floor fellow,” Dominy said. 

While floor fellows have reportedly assisted in a smooth transition into residence life for many first years, Scott believes that the worsened working conditions of floor fellows will ultimately lead to “a massive reduction in the quality of care” for first-year students. He stressed that without a culture of respect between floor fellows, AMUSE, and SHHS, floor fellows will lose motivation to go beyond for students in residence.

“When floor fellows are deprioritized by student housing, then the natural long-term result is that floor fellows begin to deprioritize their jobs in return, because why should we give extra when we’re not being treated fairly,” Scott said.

AMUSE has referred the grievance to the legal team of their parent organization, the Public ServiceAlliance of Canada (PSAC). AMUSE hopes to reverse the policy and receive monetary compensation for the university’s allegedly bad-faith bargaining through arbitration or court hearings. 

*Joey’s name has been changed to preserve their confidentiality.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

FEMINAE NOX: Empowering Black, Indigenous, and people of colour working in music

by Sophie Naasz on

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Walking into Francesco’s Discoteca, I was met with hazy red lights that lit up the long room with a seductive glow. Large mirrors scattered the sparkle of at least 30 disco balls around the room, dipping guests in a starry glow. Francesco’s was vibrant, from the postmodern art warming the walls to the towers of shining glasses ready to be filled. But if the venue was a living, breathing entity, then its beating heart was the music. FEMINAE NOX brought the place to life. 

Founded by three incredibly talented McGill alumni—Mira Silvers (BA ‘11), Gloria-Sherryl François (BA ‘21), and Seny Kassaye (BA ‘20)—FEMINAE NOX is an equity-driven platform striving to prioritize Black, Brown, and other racialized women on stage and behind the scenes. This Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, marked the launch of the platform’s residency at Fransesco’s Discoteca, ushering in a new era of soon-to-be regularly scheduled shows. 

A city with an unquenchable thirst for nightlife, Montreal boasts many clubs that entice people out for a night of dancing. However, under the glamour of these establishments lies a static and restricted field. The agents, DJs, and staff in the music scene are predominantly white men, with little signs of a changing atmosphere. Unlike other professions that have strict qualifications, the music industry lacks strict criteria for choosing a job candidate. The beauty of this informality is a seemingly accessible and mixed industry, but in reality, it creates an environment based on connections where friends hire friends—a barrier that often restricts access for Black people, Indigenous peoples, and people of colour.

I interviewed co-founder Mira Silvers, who connected me with the two other co-founders. She also came up with the platform’s intriguing name—using both Latin and a reference to the Greek Goddess Nyx to mean “Goddess of the Night.” She has worked internationally in music in marketing and now is a live agent for musicians, artists, and DJs, as well as an artist manager. 

Silvers acknowledged the industry’s unwillingness to allow entry to racial minorities. “There’s a fear that sharing info will detract from your own pocket,” she said in an interview with The Tribune. “I’m anti-gatekeeping, the more we can share, the better the industry can get. We can create a platform built by us for the people being left on the fringes. We can create the industry we want.”

Silvers remembers the challenges she faced breaking into the industry, especially in Montreal, where she noticed a lack of support and guidance. Likewise, co-founder Gloria-Sherryl Francois (also known as the incredible G L O W Z I) and co-founder Seny Kassaye (a live agent and marketing executive who has worked on digital marketing compaigns for artists like Cardi B, Central Cee, Megan Thee Stallion, and the Barbie Soundtrack) both faced many challenges themselves. It is these plights and difficult experiences that brought the three leaders together, determined to reshape the industry’s future. 

With FORT Agency—of which Seny and Mira are live agents and G L O W Z I is a client—offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Montreal, these women are ushering in a wave of change internationally. 

Kassaye’s nomination for the Young Executive Award at the 2023 International Live Music Conference’s Arthur Awards highlights her groundbreaking role as one of the only Black booking agents in Canada. While this is a trailblazing moment to be proud of, the reality of her being one of a few Black booking agents is a harrowing reflection of the stagnant state of diversity in the industry. 

“People tell us we’re making history, but this history should have been made way in advance,” Silvers stated. 

FEMINAE NOX will continue to disrupt the nightlife scene one event at a time, spotlighting racialized people & nonbinary people sharing their fiery love for music. 

FEMINAE NOX’s next live show will be during POP Montreal on Sep 29th featuring Annahstasia + Eritrean-Canadian M.I.Blue.

For more information concerning the underrepresentation of Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour Live Music workers in Canada, consider reading https://www.canadianlivemusic.ca/closing-the-gap

Science & Technology

Global collaboration is key to avoiding extinction

by Rebecca Winkelaar on

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As the world is adapting to global-scale environmental crises, the scientific community must collaborate like never before. Current, unparalleled rates of biological diversity loss demand prompt implementation of science-informed policy. 

In response, scientists belonging to the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), co-chaired by Andrew Gonzalez, professor and Liber Ero Chair in Conservation Biology at McGill University, have developed a proposal for the Global Biodiversity Operating System (GBiOS). 

GBiOS would primarily exist to support each nation’s goals of preserving biodiversity by pooling together global data, knowledge, and technology. By connecting countries’ individual efforts, this system would also encourage collaboration and inform international policy-making.

Existing data repositories, like the Green Climate Fund (GCF), while valuable, lack a systematic approach. This hinders their international analysis and comparison, essential for guiding the strategic introduction of conservation measures and determining priority areas for conservation efforts.

“We can’t just keep going with a patchwork, opportunistic approach,” Gonzalez said in an interview with The Tribune. 

GBiOS would take advantage of pioneering technology, including a constellation of satellites, and the use of drones, environmental DNA, and camera traps, to bring the global science community together in monitoring and sharing critical data related to biodiversity. 

The system would not only inform biodiversity-related policy-making, but become an imperative tool for the corporate sector due to an upcoming international framework that will soon require companies to report their environmental impact.

“In order for companies to [disclose their impact], they’re going to have to have data,” Gonzalez explained. “And they don’t see something organized coming together that applies the proper scientific standards.” 

While a system like GBiOS is clearly critical for scientists, policy-makers, and business executives, it is currently nothing more than a proposal, requiring government funding and public support to become a reality. 

Gonzalez analogized GBiOS’ proposed infrastructure to a bucket that has been created by various global entities. A consistent, reliable flow of investment then needs to fill up this bucket. While certainly more complicated in reality, Gonzalez emphasized its feasibility. 

“We have a governance model, and a funding mechanism, and I know it sounds crazy, but it’s really not difficult,” Gonzalez said. “We have the organization in place, and there’s plenty of money in the system. It’s just not being invested at this point.”

While every nation might not necessarily be in agreement with GBiOS, Gonzalez recently returned from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) 10 Plenary with a clear takeaway: “Many countries, both developed and developing, need the support [that GBiOS can offer].”

Though necessary when tackling global issues like climate change and biodiversity, achieving international cooperation is always tricky to navigate. If any global framework, such as GBiOS, is going to have a fighting chance, it needs to be designed with international support from the ground up. After all, climate change and biodiversity know no borders.

“It’s a very 20th-century solution for a few wealthy Northern Hemisphere countries to come together, decide what to do, build a big system, and then have everybody jump on if they want to […] the world has changed since then,” Gonzalez said. 

GEO BON, the organization behind GBiOS, addresses this issue by calling for a global approach, with an international team of scientists drafting the proposal. The system would concede to a slower, cooperative process, ensuring the equitable distribution of infrastructure across the world, so that relevant data is acquired fairly, efficiently, and reliably. 

The loss of biodiversity has a universal impact. Everyone, including the McGill community, must continue to think of themselves as a contributor to a larger global network. Working internationally promises a much greater pay-off in the end, a truth that Gonzalez concluded with the old proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Hockey, Martlets, Sports

Bishop’s Gaiters trounce Martlets in a 7-0 sweep

by Sumire Kierkosz-Ueno on

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Following a disappointing 2022-23 season ending with a 2–32 record overall, the McGill Martlets hoped to start off on a better foot facing off against the Bishop’s Gaiters in a preseason match-up on Sept. 8. However, just 56 seconds into the first period, Bishops’ defenseman slid the puck past Martlets goalkeeper Sarah Carmichael, kicking off an early lead that McGill would not be able to counter for the remainder of the game.

Playing with a fresh roster composed of eight new players coming into the first game of the preseason, it was apparent that the Martlets struggled to gain their foothold. Despite attempts to generate offensive momentum, including first-year India Benoit’s rush into the offensive zone, the first period consisted mostly of sloppy passes, mishandled pucks, and sporadic possession. In the final minute of the period, Carmichael took a glancing blow off the helmet, saving a hard shot on a Bishop’s two-on-one. This led to the Gaiters keeping their lead at 3-0 lead heading into intermission.

Still, all three of Bishops’ first-period goals were scored in the first half of the period, and although McGill allowed two goals apiece in the following two periods, the pace of the game would improve steadily as the Martlets slowly found their footing. 

Undeterred by the rough start to the game, Martlets’ forward Sarah-Maude Lavoie, whose standout performance kept the game competitive, believed the game was a stepping stone for the team. 

“The first period was hard because it was the first time playing together but it got better,” Lavoie said. “We know now [what we need to work on], so I think we’re going to go in the right direction.” 

The second period started with another early goal from Bishop’s but by the close of the period, the Martlets were able to better hold off their opponents’ offensive rushes, ending the period with a misleading 5-0 score.

The game ended in a 7-0 defeat for the Martlets, but despite the blowout score, head coach Alyssa Cecere remained optimistic about the coming season.

“Having a stronger start would be something the girls would want to focus on [and] us as a staff would want to focus on,” Cecere said. “We know we’re not going to necessarily get it all done in the first game, the second game, and we’re building up to the season.” 

First year forward Taylor Garcia mentioned the challenging transition from youth hockey to the varsity level. 

“It’s definitely [that] the game just moves a lot faster, you have to make decisions much quicker because everyone is just older and at the next level,” Garcia told The Tribune. 

Although the Martlets home opener ended with a disappointing loss, the season will progress and the game shouldn’t be taken as a harbinger. How the young team will respond to the challenges of the coming season remains to be seen, but with the confidence of the coach behind their backs, this will test their capacity for growth. 

//The Martlets will play their next preseason game against St. Thomas University at McConnell Arena on Sept. 23.//

Moment of the Game: The Martlets put forth a valiant effort during a penalty-kill halfway through the second period, including an impressive forecheck ending in a shot by forward Sarah-Maude Lavoie. 

Quotable:

“New batch, new blood, fresh legs, that I would say is the notable thing, […] They’re eager to learn, they’re going to push the others as well. You saw it today, they work hard, they’ve got some good hockey sense, some good skills, we’re excited about that.”

 –Head coach Alyssa Cecere on the team’s potential 

Stat Corner: Despite allowing 14 shots on goal in the first period, the Martlets were able to cut Bishop’s momentum in half by the end of the game allowing only seven shots on goal in the third period. 

Hockey, Sports

Out with the old, in with the new: PWHL creates new horizon for women’s hockey

by Julie Ferreyra on

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As the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF)’s season came to a close with the Toronto Six’s Isobel Cup victory, fans and players were excited to prepare for the upcoming season. This anticipation, however, quickly turned into confusion as the news broke on Jun. 30 that North American professional women’s hockey was preparing for a major change. Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) investors, Billie Jean King Enterprises and the Mark Walter Group, purchased the rival PHF, ceasing all league activity in service of the creation of a unified women’s professional hockey league––the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). 

In contrast to men’s professional hockey which has been dominated by the National Hockey League (NHL) since the collapse of the World Hockey Association in 1979, the world of professional women’s hockey has been more unsteady. In 2007, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) was founded and by 2017, the league expanded to have five teams across North America, as well as one in China. However, the league collapsed in 2019 due to an “economically unstable” business model. 

Despite the existence of the CWHL, the National Women’s Hockey League was established in 2015, transforming into the PHF in 2021 to include seven teams across North America. While the PHF was largely regarded as having the most sustainable league infrastructure, the PWHPA was founded in 2019 in response to concerns regarding player protections and rights such as guaranteed contracts and maternity leave within the PHF. Upon the PWHPA’s founding, many top players such as Marie-Philip Poulin and Sarah Nurse elected to not play in the PHF, believing the league to have “lesser” talent.

Although many hoped that the two leagues would eventually merge, the complete dissolution of the PHF came as a surprise to many players. 

“We didn’t really know what’s gonna happen, it kind of came out of nowhere,” former Montréal Force player Samantha Isbell told The Tribune. “It was definitely a bit shocking for everyone, especially because we lost […] stability and certainty.” 

With news of the absorption, the PHF player’s contracts were voided with little compensation, leaving many players uncertain of their futures with no guarantee of contracts in the PWHL.  

“I had a lot of good friends that ma[de] big purchases and things like that,”  Isbell said. “It kind of put everybody in a tight spot who had already signed for the following year. […] We’re not sure where we’re going to be next year or or if we’re even going to be playing hockey.”

On Aug. 29, the PWHL announced the six cities that will host teams––Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, New York City, Boston, and St. Paul, Minnesota––designating them as the “Original Six.” On Sept. 1, a 10-day signing window opened that allowed each team to sign up to three players ahead of the PWHL draft on Sept. 18. With only 138 total available roster spots divided amongst the six teams and many top players already signed, the competition for a spot on a PWHL team is high and many former PHF players will not make the cut. 

Despite the disappointment at the dissolution of the PHF and concerns about their futures, Isbell explained that most former PHF players believe the PWHL is a step in the right direction. 

“I think that was the goal for the PWHL is to put the best product on the ice,” Isbell explained. “It’s bittersweet […] a lot of players are losing their job[s], a lot of players are maybe getting forced into retirement just because there’s not enough room. […] It’s kind of sacrifice one for the other. ”

While the NHL maintained they would neither provide financial support to the PHF nor the PWHPA while there were two competing leagues, the league announced massive support for the PWHL. Many PWHL games will be played outside of their host cities in NHL arenas around North America and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has been working closely with PWHPA chairperson Jayna Hefford by brainstorming and providing advice to the PWHL. 

It is difficult to wait until the inaugural season of the PWHL beginning in Jan. 2024 and running until April 2024 as this new league centralizes the talent. 

Art, Arts & Entertainment

“Mother, Memory, and Cellophane:” A queer performance of a haunted past

by Genevieve Downing on

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Stepping into Séamus Gallagher’s “Mother, Memory, and Cellophane” at the McCord Stewart Museum transports the viewer to a haunting world of artificiality and feminine identity, with a future in ruins. The exhibit melds femininity with the synthetic through drag performance, embodying imagined ideas of progress and their striking relevance in today’s world. 

The exhibit takes its cues from the 1939 New York World’s Fair, whose theme was “The World of Tomorrow.” The fair featured the figure “Miss Chemistry,” the DuPont company’s living advertisement for the world premiere of nylon stockings. The next year, a newspaper survey found that mother, memory, and cellophane were the most beautiful words in the English language, thus inspiring the name of Gallagher’s exhibition.

Consisting of five prints, each made up of two images that change based on the viewer’s perspective, the exhibit creates a dazzling choreography for visitors. These images present a tension between visibility and invisibility, and much like the second skin of nylon stockings, prove to be elusive. 

In video form, Gallagher plays the drag representation of Miss Chemistry’s ghost, circulating through the past, present, and future, posing a promise of innovation gone awry. What is most enticing about Miss Chemistry is her eerie face: Shadow and light dance across her mask, veiling her full portrait. She is unreachable by the audience, much like how the shiny material of a nylon stocking conceals the leg that wears it. 

At the time of the New York World’s Fair, the nylon stocking was viewed as the pinnacle of chemistry and innovation—it harnessed coal, air, and water into a new, consumable form. 

“Oil transmuted to stockings to rope. This material, less of an object, more of a movement,” Miss Chemistry’s ghost says. “Like those old nets and ropes, I’m unable to return to where I was before.” 

These products, once hailed as symbols of progress, are now viewed in a new light. This material cannot be recycled—DuPont was responsible for the excessive pollution of rivers and soils within the United States. The boundless optimism of 1939 has since evolved into a sombre understanding, as the repercussions of industry, notably climate change and pollution, unfold before us in real-time. This exhibit perfectly captures the haunting of a past in which anything seemed possible. 

This exhibit falls under the larger umbrella of the 18th MOMENTA Biennale de l’image. The event takes place across sixteen venues, with twenty-three artists presenting solo projects that all explore the theme of “Masquerades: Drawn to Metamorphosis.” 

Curator Ji-Yoon Han told me that this project aids in reinventing notions of identity, opening it to new meanings. According to Han, identity is becoming, rather than being. Identity exists within a liminal space, between self and other; it remains unfixed. 

“The title of the exhibition was the three words that appealed in 1940, and I think it’s perfect,” Han said in an interview with The Tribune. “You have all the plastic and the cellophane that has been so instrumental in the modern world, but there is also memory, which has to do with the past, and mother, this kind of impossible nostalgia of going back to a lost future.” 

One of the main facets of the Biennale’s masquerade is mimicry. Gallagher’s portrayal of the original Miss Chemistry provides a glimpse into how various figures and ideas have changed over time. 

“Drag culture plays a lot with the stereotypes of femininity and pushes them to an extreme. I’m really interested in that excessive part; that also goes with the slippery part that Séamus is creating with their work,” Han explained. 

“You can see the defaults, it’s not quite there. And drag culture is also about that; you would never be completely fooled, it’s not like a perfect mimicry, on the contrary, it’s an imperfect mimicry.”

“Mother, Memory, and Cellophane” runs from Sept. 8, 2023, to Feb. 4, 2024. Student tickets are $15 and are available on the McCord Stewart website or at the ticket counter.

McGill, News

QPIRG-McGill launches free textbook loan program

by Shani Laskin on

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The Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG-McGill) opened registration for its newly-launched Free Textbook Loan Program on Sept. 11. The program, largely funded by the Arts Undergraduate Society’s (AUS) Arts Undergraduate Improvement Fund (AUIF), allows students to borrow textbooks donated by other students for free.

QPIRG-McGill is a student-run initiative working toward social and environmental justice through advocacy, research, and education. The program, based in the Arts Lounge, works by having students who wish to donate fill out a Google Form with information about the books they are donating. QPIRG-McGill ensures that the textbooks students donate are required readings for McGill classes by cross-referencing with course syllabi and then offers five dollars in cash per title. Students may donate physically on-site, but can only receive compensation by using the Google Form.

Borrowing is on a first-come-first-served basis with priority given to students in the Faculty of Arts. Prospective borrowers fill out a separate Google Form which is reviewed chronologically by QPIRG-McGill. Once a student is approved to borrow a textbook, they are allowed to keep it until the end of exam season, after which it must be returned to the program.

Nhuan Dong, QPIRG-McGill’s Resource Centre Coordinator and lead on the free textbook project, told The Tribune that he hopes to broaden the program in coming semesters to make this service accessible to all students. 

“My larger objective is to make this a universal project at McGill,” Dong said. “And hopefully, after this semester, we will have some data to prove that this is effective, and this is helping students. Then we can collaborate with other faculties, other student unions and other faculties.”

QPIRG-McGill conceived the program as a way to help ease the burden of education costs for students. Chloe Sproule, U2 Arts, donated to the program and wrote to The Tribune about why she thinks that this is an important initiative. 

“It’s a common refrain to wail about the price of course books, and yet I’m continually surprised by the amount of people who just accept the financial blow,” Sproule wrote. “Simply, I think it is ridiculous that our tuition fees do not extend to even electronic copies of essential course materials. To [shell] out hundreds of dollars for a book without which you cannot pass a class is something that has stopped many people I know from enrolling in a given course.”

The AUIF is one of multiple financial aid opportunities offered by the AUS for Arts students and student associations. In an interview with The Tribune, Julia Widing*, AUS’s VP Finance, expressed that while she was glad that the AUS could shoulder much of the program’s cost, the demand for this service speaks to a lack of support from McGill.

“It’s a bit of a double-edged sword because I can see how it can be flipped, where it’s great [that] we represent ourselves, and we’re giving back to our student community,” Widing said. “But at the same time, why do we have to help ourselves and fund ourselves when the institution is right there?” 

Sproule also spoke to the concern about the financial burden that students face when having to buy textbooks in addition to tuition fees and costs of living.

“I could whine about the original promise of the University as a democratic institution, a fountain of knowledge and (often) refuge from poverty and persecution, but what’s reassuring is that students are finding their way around it,” Sproule wrote. 

“The QPIRG Loan program is a fantastic idea—to house those books that are in high demand in introductory classes, read once (or not at all), and left to collect dust on a shelf. It’s reassuring that student organizations are taking initiatives to, officially or not, help students cope with some of the more egregious demands our University makes of us.”

*Widing’s opinions do not necessarily reflect that of AUS

Science & Technology, Student Research

Ad Astra: McGill Rocket Team’s successful launch

by Eliza Wang on

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On Aug. 29, 2023, the McGill Rocket Team, having driven the ten hours from Montreal to Timmins, Ontario, successfully launched their lovingly-engineered rocket Porthos. The vehicle flew to a height of 10,000 feet, and most impressively, the flight used a fully student-researched and developed hybrid engine.

Project Porthos earned them second place in the Advanced Category in the Launch Canada 2023 Challenge, not only showcasing the team’s exceptional expertise in rocketry but also confirming their reputation as a formidable force in innovative aerospace endeavours. 

In an interview with The Tribune, Kay Romann, U2 Mechanical Engineering and Technical Director of the team, discussed the extensive commitment the team has put into Project Porthos over the years. 

“There’s been years of development and […] testing. It takes a lot of time to validate an engine; you have to do it multiple times to identify issues and solve these problems,” Romann explained. “There’s the whole mathematics and physics of writing models to predict the performance of your engine [….] And so all of these aspects have been worked on by multiple generations of students that have now gone on to do research [and] commissioned research.”

Indeed, designing a hybrid motor—one that contains both solid fuel and liquid oxidizer—is no small feat. 

“Engines that we’ve flown in the past, that most people buy, are solid motors, so both the oxidizer and the fuel are solid,” Amanda Kronish, U4 Mechanical Engineering and Co-Captain of the McGill Rocket Team, explained to The Tribune. “Hybrid engines are a lot more complex because you need to have plumbing to fill your rocket with that liquid oxidizer and transfer the liquid oxidizer to the combustion chamber. And that’s why […] it is so much more complex and it takes so much more work.”

This level of complexity does not come without its own set of substantial challenges.

“Our first hybrid rocket Athos […], actually never got to fly. That was the first rocket we built after the pandemic,” Alexandre Fahmy, U4 Mechanical Engineering and Co-captain of the team, said. “A lot of our members graduated, so we lost a lot of experience and knowledge. It was a huge challenge to build that rocket Athos; every little thing was difficult. […] But all of that experience allowed us to do much, much better this year.” 

As they looked ahead to the new academic year, the McGill Rocket Team shared their two major objectives with The Tribune. One of the team’s goals is to significantly step up the power of their rockets. 

“For this coming design cycle, we’re designing a rocket that goes to 60,000 feet, which is the maximum height that a rocket can fly at the competition that we attend,” Kronish said. “We want to push our engineering skills to their limits.”

The rockets that the team usually launches fly to 10,000 feet, which is a difficult task in itself, but achievable with a subsonic flight—one where the rocket never moves faster than the speed of sound. In order to achieve 60,000 feet, the rocket would have to go supersonic. 

“It presents a whole new host of engineering challenges like making an airframe that survives that kind of speed, electronics, recovery, all kinds of things,” Kronish said.

The team’s other aim involves the work of the Payload subteam. 

“We also are trying to start an orbital CubeSat program,” Kronish said. “In our rocket, we always have a payload, which is a scientific experiment, because we always want our rockets to have some kind of purpose, and an orbital CubeSat would basically be an extension of that program. So we want to send scientific experiments to space.” 

Commentary, Opinion

Does A.I. development need more doomerism?

by Tillie Burlock on

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In the blink of an eye, artificial intelligence (A.I.) has been incorporated into nearly every aspect of our lives. From education to grocery shopping to music––there is no escaping it. Following the roll out of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the quantity of publicly available A.I. technologies exploded, leaving a chasm of unregulated opportunity for the continued development of artificial intelligence. However, with a compilation of the terrifying uses of existing A.I. already able to fill a library, the question must be asked: Does A.I development need more doomerism? 

A.I. phone scams are just one of the consequences of the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. With many people having recordings of their voice on the internet, whether that be on social media or in a video presentation posted online for school, publicly available A.I. voice cloning technologies can use machine learning to simulate any person’s voice. This disturbing practice has resulted in cases of scammers cloning the voices of children, then calling the children’s parents demanding a ransom for their “kidnapped” child. 

Non-consensual deepfake porn is another exploitative dimension of our new reality. Not only is this content readily accessible through Google, the practice is so successful that popular deepfake creators are advertising paid positions to help create content.  

If this is not convincing enough, the increasing role of A.I. in the military should send you into a spiral, contemplating how long the world is going to last. The use of A.I. in geopolitical conflict goes beyond the incorporation of A.I. into weaponry and decision-making. Misinformation campaigns pose a dystopian reality in which A.I. generated audio, video, and text can be manipulated to replicate political officials and military leaders to falsify orders within military rankings or create panic amongst civilians. Not only are militaries already looking to use deepfakes in special operations, the continued development of and investment in such technologies poses the threat of an Oppenheimer-like catastrophe. 

To draw brief attention to the benefits of this rapid A.I. development, the use of A.I. in the healthcare field to aid in cancer imaging, or even detection, reminds us that our future with artificial intelligence does not need to resemble a dystopian horror movie. But any application of A.I. to the healthcare system must be careful, under the increased potential of data breaches and the likelihood of underlying bias––a known issue for many machine learning systems. 

We can no longer depend on government regulation to reign in Big Tech. Addressing direct threats such as election interference and disinformation campaigns that directly affect democracy has already proven too tall a task for government regulation. Guided by Cold War-era fears, the A.I. arms race makes it near impossible for government regulators to put barriers in front of A.I. development. 

If governments are unwilling to provide adequate guardrails around artificial intelligence, who will? Anthropic––a safety-focused A.I. start-up established by a group of employees who left OpenAI out of concern that the company had gotten too commercial––employs the doomers of A.I. development. Despite developing an A.I. chatbot months before ChatGPT was released, Claude––a Constitutional A.I. model––was never released publicly out of fear of how it may be misused. Anthropic claims to have created an “A.I. safety lab” where their anxiety of the potential catastrophe their creation may inflict on the world influences every decision they make. 

The world of A.I. is scary and will likely only get scarier. A.I. tools are already in the hands of bad actors, and the consequences are cataclysmic. Despite concerns of whether or not Anthropic is just a capitalistic ploy attempting to appear responsible in a generally irresponsible field, it presents a case for how to promote critical A.I. development. Considering the impossibility of pressing pause on the development of machine learning, the only possible answer to ethically continue down this path is anxiety-informed A.I. development.

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Discovery of new mechanisms elucidates breast cancer metastasis

by Athina Sitou on

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Finding more effective drugs that target certain aggressive forms of breast cancer first requires a deeper understanding of the disease’s progression mechanisms. The need for increased insight into the mitigation of breast cancer growth fueled a seven-year-long study at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC).

Nathalie Lamarche-Vane, a professor in McGill’s Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, and her team investigated the molecular and cellular processes underpinning the metastasis of breast cancer. 

“This study goes deeply into the mechanism of metastasis to show the role of this molecule [CdGAP] as an important driver of metastasis,” Lamarche-Vane said in an interview with The Tribune. 

Metastasis is a key step in the growth of a cancer, during which cancer cells detach from the primary tumour and migrate to take over distant organs. Understanding the mechanisms driving this phenomenon is crucial because it constitutes the primary cause of mortality among breast cancer patients.

Since the subtype of breast cancer known as HER2+ amounts to nearly one-third of breast cancer cases with early-stage metastasis, the study focused on this specific type. While previous research has linked high expression of CdGAP with poor survival rates in HER2+ cancer, Lamarche-Vane’s research sheds light on the role of CdGAP in the tumorigenesis and metastasis caused by HER2+.

“This protein, [CdGAP], was discovered 20 years ago, [and] it’s really step by step that we came to the idea that it may have some role in cell migration and cell proliferation,” Lamarche-Vane said. “To our surprise, [the mouse breast cancer cell lines used as a research model] were having a high level of expression of CdGAP and that is what caught our attention, because normally, this protein, because of its known roles as a regulator of small GTPase enzymes, it should have been [suppressing rates of tumour growth rather than increasing them].”

The researchers established that CdGAP promotes HER2+ breast cancer growth and is instrumental in its metastatic evolution. CdGAP interacts with the adaptor protein talin to act as a transcriptional target for the TGF-β signaling, a crucial factor in cancer development. More specifically, CdGAP modulates an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which enables tumour dissociation by functioning as a molecular target of the TGF-β pathway. 

They also identified talin as a protein interacting with CdGAP to regulate focal adhesions, mechanical structures allowing cell movement, and integrin activation, which signals to the cell that it is time to get ready to move. These molecular processes collectively contribute to the enhanced migration, invasion, and adhesion of cancer cells, ultimately fueling the aggressive metastatic progression of HER2+ breast cancer.

Lamarche-Vane and her team’s dedication to investigating CdGAP and unraveling the foundational science described above has paved the way for the eventual breakthrough of a new therapy against HER2+ breast cancer. 

“The difficulty [in devising a drug against CdGAP] is that this is not like a receptor,” Lamarche-Vane said. “So when you have a receptor at the surface, […] you can design the molecules to block the binding to the ligands or antibodies. The CdGAP is [instead] a molecule that is inside the cell, in the cytoplasm. So to derive drugs becomes a bit more difficult, but it is feasible. There is some indication that that could be the future.”

Although Lamarche-Vane acknowledged that this paper has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), she emphasized the bleak reality that fundamental research like this, which aims to establish a foundation on which future life-saving discoveries can be built, is widely under-funded. 

“This is [fundamental] science, but then it’s the future, it takes time, it takes years, but this is what will lead, eventually, to [more practical discoveries such as] therapeutics,” Lamarche-Vane said.

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