With its pride of place in the heart of downtown Montreal, McGill is often seen as a global university, not solely a Quebec or Montreal institution. However, students from the province of Quebec make up a large portion of the university, comprising over two thirds of Canadian undergraduates and just[Read More…]
Search Results for author "Abraham Moussako"
Pizza Navona
A fair amount of takeout pizza in Montreal—certainly from establishments along St. Laurent—can best be described in degrees of mediocrity. While there is an abundance of respectable, acceptably priced fast food in this city, pizza is a niche in a state of indifference. A market consumed by mediocre, standardized product[Read More…]
On tomatoes
The players are far from unknown. There’s the tomato: a round, plump fruit, often confused for a vegetable (although definitely a vegetable for taxation purposes, according to a 19th century U.S. Supreme Court ruling). Then there’s McGill University: a Canadian research institution with global renown and an annual late-August set of welcome exercises for new students.
Useful at a better speed
Inter-city rail in North America is often far below the standards of other developed nations. In many parts of the continent, notably those outside of the Eastern Seaboard and select other hubs, rail service simply isn’t a competitive alternative to driving or flying. The Montreal-New York corridor, spanning two major[Read More…]
Understanding the role of social media
With the rise of social networking as a viable medium for debate, political messaging has changed the way we view public opinion. Companies, for example, have strategies for increasing “engagement” and “brand awareness” on social networks, and media organizations often troll Facebook and Twitter for everything from sources to story[Read More…]
University Governance: Students and Stakeholders
McGill University, like all universities, has an administrative superstructure and an academic structure overlaid one on the other. As with many universities, this superstructure is generally ignored by much of the student body. The spate of recent controversies over the administration and student input, from the recent course cuts to[Read More…]
Cuts and an inconsequential conversation
At the beginning of last term, I wrote that this year would—hopefully—be free of the sort of acrimonious student politics that characterized 2011-2012 at McGill. Recent events have put the lie to that hope. While much of the attention on campus is currently centred around The Daily’s fee referendum, a[Read More…]
Divest what? The flawed thinking behind university divestment
A large part of the difference in the policy prescriptions that we see from the Left and Right can be attributed to the logic they apply to political and policy problems. In terms of social issues, we see that those on the Right tend to frame problems within an absolutist[Read More…]
When, if ever, can speech be sanctioned?
Is there free speech on our campus? That depends on who’s talking. According to the libertarian Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), when it comes to protecting controversial speech, McGill University—like most Canadian universities—fails miserably. In the wake of these accusations, we must rethink the boundaries we set between offensive[Read More…]
Democracy’s weakest link: uninformed voters
As the presidential election campaign in the United States reaches the home stretch, one thing has become abundantly clear—barring any truly egregious mistakes by either campaign, this election is going to be particularly close. Thanks to the quirks of the Electoral College, the results in what are popularly known as[Read More…]
