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Editorial, Opinion

PGSS executive midterm reviews

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Secretary General: Kristi Kouchakji (she/her)

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Kristi Kouchakji is currently serving her second term as Secretary General, a position at the helm of PGSS’s operations. She has found this past semester to be uniquely challenging, with learning to navigate newly-hybrid governance meetings and an abundance of responsibilities, including serving on the Advisory Committee for the Selection of a New Principal and Vice-Chancellor. Despite this, Kouchakji has submitted several governance amendments to help build a more sustainable governance infrastructure and stronger institutional memory, aims she was vocal about throughout her campaign. She continues to strive for more equitable working conditions for PGSS employees and graduate students alike, who she aptly describes as “systematically overworked and underpaid.” Although PGSS executives are only compensated for 12 hours of work per week, Kouchakji detailed working over 80 hours between Oct. 12 and Nov. 12 in a November 2022 report. In the new year, the //Tribune//  hopes that she succeeds in  striking a better balance and delegating responsibilities to make the role more manageable.

External Affairs Officer: Onyeka Dike (he/him)

Onyeka Dike (he/him)

As External Affairs Officer, Onyeka Dike is tasked with representing and advancing the collective interests of McGill’s graduate community both provincially and nationally. Dike’s two-fold priority coming into the role was to strengthen existing connections between PGSS and student associations at McGill and beyond while also fostering new relationships. Dike has taken steps to enhance PGSS’s relationship with SSMU and the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), as demonstrated by their Joint Townhall Meeting on Nov. 11. However, it is less clear how Dike has nurtured the creation of new relationships for PGSS. He has met with la Fédération des associations étudiantes du campus de l’Université de Montréal (FAECUM)’s External Affairs Coordinator to discuss possible collaborations, but no partnership has been formally established. Although Dike seems to have succeeded in nurturing existing relationships to advance the interests of McGill’s graduate students, his efforts to create new relationships to the same end may need to be revisited in the coming semester.

Financial Affairs Officer: Faezeh Pazoki (she/her)

Faezeh Pazoki (she/her)

In her first semester as Financial Affairs Officer, Faezeh Pazoki’s main goal was to rechannel the unused PGSS fees from the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic back into the hands of students. After seeing an increase in applications for travel awards and grant programs, Pazoki set out to redirect the funds by bringing a motion to the Council to use the balance paid by students from 2020-22 to increase the 2022-23 grant program budget by $25,000 and subsidize travel awards. Pazoki drafted a comprehensive budget guide for all PGSS members detailing what each fee is used for and who is responsible for each of the budget’s items. Going forward, Pazoki hopes to transfer funds that are not currently in use to the PGSS Needs Based Bursary, and has pushed PGSS to participate in the McGill Crowdfunding platform to further finance the Bursary. As Chair of the Committee of Monetary Affairs, Pazoki is working to recruit more committee members to help manage the workload of in-person events. Pazoki is also collaborating with PGSS’s Environment Commissioner to make free sustainable menstrual products available to PGSS members. Overall, Pazoki has tackled important projects that place students at the fore and increase aid and transparency. 

Internal Affairs Officer: Adel Ahamadihosseini (he/him)

Adel Ahmadihosseini (he/him)

As Internal Affairs Officer, Adel Ahmadihosseini is responsible for organizing events for PGSS members throughout the year, including the fall and winter Graduate Student Orientations. In his second year of serving in this position, he has organized many social and informative events at Thomson House, such as  group hikes and legal protection information sessions. He continues to ease the transition to fully in-person events and promotes accessibility by providing online options whenever possible. Ahmadihosseini could improve in hosting a greater variety of events which address other barriers that graduate students face, such as events to alleviate mental health and stress. Currently, Ahmadihosseini is planning orientation and seasonal bonding events such as ice skating, tubing, and skiing for the coming semester. 

Member Services Officer: Naga Thovinakere (she/her)

Naga Thovinakere (she/her)

As PGSS Member Services Officer, Thovinakere is responsible for the proper implementation of several student services, such as Keep.meSafe, Dialogue, and the Legal Protection Program. Thovinakere ensured that these services were functioning well and solicited the feedback of graduate students using them. Another important aspect of her portfolio involves insurance coverage for graduate students and graduate student groups. Thovinakere advocated for student interests in meetings with the Quebec Student Union (QSU) but says that it is challenging to balance meeting students’ health and dental insurance needs while also staying within budget. Her transparency reflects an encouraging commitment to her constituents. Finally, Thovanikere helped introduce the new Trans Healthcare Fund, designed to cover costs incurred by trans graduate students seeking gender-affirming care. Next semester, she plans to expand what the fund can cover based on student needs. 

University Affairs Officer: Hossein Poorhemati (he/him)

Hossein Poorhemati (he/him)

As the PGSS University Affairs Officer, Hossein Poorhemati has focused his efforts on supporting and improving multiple campus organizations and committees, such as the PGSS Library Improvement Fund (LIF) Committee and the PGSS Funding Working Group (FWG). His work with the LIF centres on setting up platforms for input from students and faculty on how the LIF should be spent as well as working to implement transparency measures about the fund’s usage. His work with FWG focuses on supporting the Working Group and helping to prepare FWG’s survey on graduate students’ financial health for January 2023. In the Winter 2023 semester, Poorhemati plans to continue his work with the Dean of Students to address inequities in graduate student accommodations, advocate for tangible plans for on-campus study space availability, and increase communication with graduate students to provide them with more services. While his support for multiple committees may not have yet yielded tangible progress, Poorhemati’s commitment to transparency and communication with his constituents seems to indicate that his initiatives and advocacy will lead to substantive results for PGSS members moving forward.

Editorial, Opinion

Protecting disability rights is the only way forward

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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On Nov. 16, Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dubé recommended the use of face masks in public spaces again. In a press conference, he cited the rise in COVID-19 cases as well as the uptick in respiratory syncytial virus and influenza cases as a serious risk to public safety. What is being called a “tripledemic” has dramatically increased hospital bed occupancy in recent weeks, particularly in children’s wards. As a system already in disarray, the Quebec hospital network is completely unprepared to deal with what Dr. Luc Boileau, director of Quebec’s public health department, calls a “spicy cocktail” of respiratory viruses. To truly address this public health crisis, the provincial government and universities like McGill must centre disability rights in their COVID-19 policies to move away from violent medical and bureaucratic practices.

Public health officials have, at best, ignored disability rights and, at worst, curtailed them. Although disabled people are more at risk of suffering complications from COVID-19 infections and to die from the disease, public health policies have been geared towards “returning back to normal” rather than protecting the most vulnerable. An insistence on limiting COVID-19 measures even when the epidemiological situation requires them is proof that disabled lives are seen as disposable. Indeed, much of the language around COVID-19 deaths evokes eugenics ideology: Throughout the pandemic and beyond, the Canadian government has engaged in deplorable eugenicist practices, with hospital guidelines denying disabled people ventilators in favour of non-disabled patients, effectively issuing a death sentence for those deemed to have a lower chance of survival. 

While discourse surrounding COVID-19 measures tends to focus primarily on the individual strain on our social lives and relationships, this kind of understanding ignores the calls by disability activists for a politics of care that focuses on mutual aid and community resources. Rather than being burdensome, public health measures like mask mandates can ensure that essential spaces are available and accessible to all, not just those who can weigh the risk of infection. The forging of a “new normal” requires a change in the perception of which lives are worth living, as well as the implementation of strong initiatives to support disabled people. 

Institutions such as McGill have the power to lead this change. However, McGill’s response to the pandemic has been not only insufficient, but dangerous. Beyond masks, the university has virtually eliminated COVID-19 accommodations and case tracking efforts despite the continued spread of the virus. Lecture recordings are no longer mandatory, and professors still have the option to grade attendance. This leaves at-risk students in the precarious situation of having to attend class despite the dangers to their physical and mental health. Furthermore, McGill has not provided any support for immunocompromised professors who do not feel comfortable teaching in-person or being in crowded classrooms with unmasked students. This is just another iteration of McGill’s disregard for worker’s rights and a concerning manifestation of the university’s profit-forward thinking. 

Considering that the provincial health system is in shambles, McGill must do everything in its power to alleviate the strain on Montreal hospitals. Instead, the substandard Wellness Hub consistently fails to address the needs of the student body and funnels a steady stream of students into emergency rooms because of insufficient resources. This adds to the burden of already overcrowded and understaffed hospitals in the province and shows students that their university cannot and will not care for their health. 

As respiratory viruses continue to emerge, McGill must reinstate academic accommodations and make them a permanent feature of university life. Health concerns, especially for disabled people, are not seasonal, and students need proper support throughout their degrees. As such, exam accommodations must be accessible without the need of a doctor’s note, all lectures must be recorded, and mandatory attendance must be scrapped. The university also needs to reinstate case tracking and address outbreaks that take place in dining halls and residences like the health emergencies they are. Most importantly, McGill must reform the Wellness Hub and provide students with quality and accessible health care every single day. 

Until McGill takes action, the university is a dangerous place for disabled students. A post-COVID world must be pro-disabled lives, otherwise we will return to the ableist and deadly status quo that got us here in the first place.

Sports, Volleyball

Martlets volleyball claims victory in rematch against Sherbrooke Vert et Or

by Philippe Haddad on

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On Nov. 27, McGill Martlets volleyball (6–2) extended their winning streak to four games following a home victory over the Sherbrooke Vert et Or (4–6). The Martlets previously matched up against the Vert et Or in their season opener on Oct. 30, where they ultimately lost 3–2. Hoping to redress their opening defeat, the Martlets were fired up for a second shot. 

“We were a lot more confident going into the game today,” first-year power hitter Rachel Leduc told The McGill Tribune. “We know that we can beat them, so we actually played the way we know that we can.”

The Martlets kickstarted their first set with a service ace by third-year outside hitter Masha Solaja. However, Sherbrooke played hard defence by forcing McGill’s libero, Catherine Vercheval, to dive for her digs. A combination of sharp cut shots from power hitters Leduc and co-captain Victoria Iannotti as well as compounded Sherbrooke errors allowed McGill to pull away with a 25-22 score and take the set. 

The second set was similarly sparked by the Martlets’ efforts, this time by a set of blocks from Leduc and middle blocker Meaghan Smith. Steadfast McGill defence was the order of the day as the Martlets repeatedly shut down Sherbrooke’s scoring attempts. 

Leduc told the Tribune about their preparations for Sunday’s game.

“This week, our coach [shook us a bit] and said ‘girls we have to pick it up on defence’,” Leduc said. “We popped off every single practice and everyone was giving their 110 per cent. Today we really brought that into play.” 

The Martlets finished the second set leading with a demoralizing score of 25-15, punctuated by phenomenal defensive efforts from fourth-year power hitter Clara Poire, co-captain Charlene Robitaille, Leduc, and Smith. 

The third set marked another sensational opening run from McGill, as Iannotti and fourth-year setter Audrey Trottier combined for a deadly combo of a clinical attack, a double block, and a service ace to start the set 3-1. Sherbrooke, however, turned it up on their end, forcing mistakes from McGill by bending the Martlets’ defence out of shape to take the lead. Both sides were neck and neck heading down the stretch, with McGill climbing back to match Sherbrooke with stunning serves from third-year Olivia Krishnan and Smith. Despite their second-year setter Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberté’s efforts, Sherbrooke took the set with a tight 26-24 score to hang on. It looked as though the Vert et Or might finally be back in the game, but the Martlets said, not today.

“Our team makes a conscious effort to have a positive attitude,” Iannotti told the Tribune. “[With] volleyball being a game of errors, you cannot get caught up in the past. You have to snap out of it really fast.”

Sherbrooke carried their momentum over to begin the fourth set, but were met with staunch defence as McGill pulled from their energy reserves to finish the game. In the dying moments of the set with the score at 24-23 for the Martlets, a nail-biter rally culminated in co-captain Robitaille taking a hard receive to the head and hitting the deck briefly before getting back into the exchange. Iannotti stepped up and delivered the final blow. 

The Martlets will close out the semester at home on Friday, Dec. 2 against the Ottawa Gee-Gees (2–7) before resting over the winter holidays. 

Moment of the Game: In the final seconds of a frantic fourth set, Victoria Iannotti chased down a setup to crush the Sherbrooke defence and win the game with a commanding spike. 

Stat Corner: Meaghan Smith dominated on the front lines with two solo blocks and six additional block assists.  

Quotable: “When the ball gets up […] whichever way that ball goes will bring a lot of momentum to the team [….] I was like every single time I’m touching the ball in this rally I’m giving it my all to close or set someone else up to close [….] It was time to finish the game.” –– Co-captain Victoria Iannotti on the final rally of the game

Arts & Entertainment, Books

Write a novel in 30 days: Time starts now

by Suzanna Graham on

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While a 2,000-word paper may be a daunting task for some students, others take on a greater and even more creatively stimulating challenge—writing 50,000 words to draft an entire novel over the course of November. Besides being known as the month when exams start to loom, it also hosts National November Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an international challenge for aspiring and established writers alike to complete the first draft of a novel within the month. 

NaNoWriMo began in 1999 as a straightforward challenge: Write 50,000 words in 30 days. Over 20 years later, the challenge is still going strong, boasting over 400,000 participants in 2021. To put it in perspective, 50,000 words is about the length of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (47,094 words) or Chuck Palahnuik’s Fight Club (49,962 words). NaNoWriMo is responsible for the publication of several bestsellers, including The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen—the latter of which was adapted into a movie of the same name starring Robert Pattinson. 

While “winning” (in that someone reaches the 50,000-word count) is the advertised objective, the beauty of NaNoWriMo is that participants can use the program’s resources to support their individual goals. The website is available year-round, allowing writers to create at their own pace. Simply put, NaNoWriMo merely encourages people to write. 

To reach the goal in November alone, one would need to write an average of 1,667 words per day. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, current NaNoWriMo coach and published author Shameez Patel Papathanasiou explained how this goal is surprisingly motivating for aspiring NaNo winners. 

“Almost every writer has one thing in common, and that is the powerful skill of procrastination,” Papathanasiou said. “NaNoWriMo is, for me, such a great way to turn off the perfectionist part of my brain. Because of the time pressure, I force myself to write [….] There’s no way to get stuck if you don’t know what terrible nonsense words you wrote the previous day.”

NaNoWriMo additionally fosters a growing community of writers to support each other along the journey. The organization uses its portal for authors to announce and track individual projects, and connect with fellow ‘WriMos’—other NaNo participants. The company additionally gathers published authors to coach new and experienced WriMos to the finish line through blog posts and Twitter takeovers. Papathanasiou—who drafted and edited her debut novel The Last Feather through NaNoWriMo’s programs—gushed about connecting with her local WriMos in Cape Town, South Africa. 

“Joining NaNoWriMo was the first time I’d met, actually linked up, with other Cape Town authors. I didn’t know that this group even existed,” Papathanasiou said. “Once I linked up with my writing community, they were active throughout the year [….] They become your beta readers, your critique partners, sometimes they’re your cheerleaders.”

Local businesses welcome and support regional authors in their NaNo challenges. In Montreal, WriMos meet up to participate in writing sprints at cafés like Second Cup or Thésaurus Thérrarium, a tea shop near the De L’Église stop on the green line. This year, Thésaurus Thérrarium is an official ‘Come Write In’ location and has provided goodie bags and tea, as well as kindly offering to stay open until 9 p.m. on Fridays in November in support. 

Of course, those participating in NaNoWriMo have work and social commitments to contend with outside of the challenge. WriMos in university have found success and obstacles in participating while balancing full-time studying and part-time work. Two Montreal WriMos wrote to The McGill Tribune about their experiences balancing these commitments. Discord user Reine_Margaux won NaNoWriMo in all four years of undergrad at L’Université de Montréal in the early 2000s. 

“[Winning NaNoWriMo in university] was way easier than it is now. I only had about 3.5 [hours] of classes a day and I was only working part-time,” Reine_Margaux said. “My part-time job was very menial, so [I had] lots of mental space for plotting. I also sometimes wrote in class when I was bored. I can make word count in an hour when motivated, so that helps.”

Time management is obviously a vital aspect of winning NaNoWriMo. As university students, WriMos may have more flexible schedules to sneak in writing time, but are also burdened with their employment and a heavy workload of exams and projects to juggle as finals approach. Ophelie, from Bishop’s University, said that this year’s NaNo is her third attempt at 50,000 words, after being unsuccessful in previous years due to heavy workloads. 

“I struggle to manage between school and NaNo,” Ophelie said. “At first, I was trying to hit the 50k goal since I was in my reading week [but] now I have too much going on to write every day.”

Ophelie is a great example that not every WriMo sets out to win, representing what is known as a NaNoWriMo rebel, someone who deviates from the traditional NaNo objective. She expressed that her main objective for participating in NaNoWriMo is to set herself up for a career in editing. She said she wants to publish a novel herself before publishing others’ books and get a feel for what writers look for in an editor. 

Although it is formidable that Reine_Margaux was able to win her NaNo challenge each year, it’s not feasible for every participant, given that everyone writes differently. Thirty days is not a lot of time to write a draft, and for those who finish, not all WriMos are lucky enough nor have the insider information or connections to publish bestsellers. This idealized conception of ‘finishing’ a novel within strict time limits and potentially inaccessible writing conditions is why Sarah Wolfson, a McGill creative writing lecturer, takes issue with the program. Wolfson specifically feels concerned over NaNoWriMo as a timed challenge, a sentiment she expressed in an email to The McGill Tribune. 

“On the one hand, I support systems that motivate people to embark on a writing practice and to shape meaningful stories,” Wolfson wrote. “On the other, I’m allergic to speed as a guiding principle in writing literature. I think most novels take time, simple as that.” 

Ultimately, winning NaNoWriMo is not attainable for everyone, and maybe that’s okay. Some people write to publish and others to practice. It doesn’t matter if someone wins or “loses” because really, who loses if they’re making progress? Participating in NaNoWriMo is a success for the published author, the aspiring writer, and the rebels forging their own literary path. 

McGill, News

McGill not equipped to handle emergency mental health care cases

by Madison Edward-Wright on

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Content warning: Mention of suicide

Since its inception in 2019, McGill’s Student Wellness Hub has been marred by a lack of staff, minimal support from other university infrastructures, soaring demand for appointments, and the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, students have struggled to book appointments and are often left to navigate Quebec’s understaffed and overwhelmed health care system.

Across Canadian universities, 30 per cent of students experience clinical depression and roughly 65 per cent of students report feeling overwhelming anxiety at least once. In Quebec, one in five people will experience mental health issues throughout their lifetime, but only about half of them will seek professional help. There are currently an estimated 155,864 mental health and substance use health care providers in the province—approximately 1,817 providers per 100,000 people. Despite this, many Quebecers report difficulty accessing care: In the most dire cases, lives are lost because of the system’s inadequacy. Jeremiah Wallace, a Quebec resident, has experienced the failings of the health care system firsthand.

In May 2022, Wallace’s daughter, Hannah, took her own life after a battle with depression and other mental health issues. (Wallace suspects Hannah may have had undiagnosed bipolar disorder.) Hannah was an education student at McGill and an Arts and Culture editor at The Bull and Bear, a student-run magazine published by the Management Undergraduate Society. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Wallace described his daughter as a talented writer, an avid reader, and an overall wonderful person who was failed by the systems charged with caring for her. He believes that Hannah’s past suicidal behaviour should have qualified her for more urgent care.

“[McGill] should not have exposed [Hannah] to the inadequacies of the Quebec health care system,” Wallace said. “She was definitely eligible after a suicide attempt for somebody to take care of her, to watch her [….] My daughter had a nervous breakdown and a psychological breakdown, [yet] she was not able to avail special services.”

Wallace is now channelling his grief into advocating for better mental health care on campus.

“I think [McGill] needs to improve their health care plan to have unlimited counselling. If somebody really needs it, they should be able to see a counsellor every day,” Wallace said. “Don’t say you are hiring one counsellor, that’s not enough. Tell me you are hiring 10 counsellors per year; tell me you are going to tell the next [donor] that shows up […] to spend money on [mental health].”

McGill’s Wellness Hub is currently the main point of contact on campus for students looking to access mental health services. It is not, however, equipped to help students in crisis requiring immediate attention. In a written statement to the Tribune on behalf of the Wellness Hub, Frédérique Mazerolle, a McGill media relations officer, explained that “emergency care for students in crisis is not part of the Wellness Hub’s mandate,” because the Hub does not have the means—financially or staff-wise—to provide such services.

“We have connected with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences to recruit graduates and are exploring more innovative digital recruitment approaches to adapt to an ever-changing Quebec job market,” Mazerolle wrote. “It is important to note, however, [that] crisis care requires a range of highly specialized services working together, around the clock, that the Wellness Hub is not equipped to provide.”

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) mental health commissioner Maya Willard-Stepan added that emergency care is not a part of SSMU’s health care mandate because of its complexity.

“SSMU doesn’t have the level of training or capacity needed to properly intervene in emergencies,” Willard-Stepan explained. “Currently at McGill, emergency cases are tended to through the Office of the Dean of Students, not any student group or the Wellness Hub.” 

The Office of the Dean of Students (ODoS) employs case managers who work with students experiencing mental health difficulties and members of the McGill community who are worried about a student’s well-being. According to Willard-Stepan, case managers can streamline access to clinicians and other counsellors at the Wellness Hub so that students do not have to navigate the process of booking an appointment on their own.

“If there is a student who is either a survivor of a suicide attempt or someone who is experiencing suicidality, when the situation is no longer an emergency, ODoS has referral power to clinical counsellors at the Hub,” Willard-Stepan said. “You do not have to go through normal pathways.”

Accessing care through the Wellness Hub is notoriously difficult. Students have reported wait times of up to nearly three months for an appointment with a mental health care provider. While the Wellness Hub employs nurses, they can only write prescriptions for birth control medication and “smoking cessation tools.” 

Wallace takes particular issue with McGill’s accommodation policies. Though he feels that an extension for a final project would not have changed Hannah’s mental state, an extended break may have been enough to allow him to find her proper care. 

“She [sent] an email to a professor and said ‘I need an extension, I tried to commit suicide,’” Wallace alleges. “His response was ‘talk to your [teaching assistant]’.”

As the SSMU mental health commissioner, Willard-Stepan is responsible for advocating on behalf of students during meetings with the McGill administration. This semester, Willard-Stepan must also prepare for the renewal of SSMU’s Mental Health Policy, which expires on May 1, 2023. In order to forge a policy that responds to the evolving needs of students, Willard-Stepan is holding community consultation meetings. 

One of Willard-Stepan’s goals for the coming policy is to better acknowledge intersectionality—BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ students face many more barriers to care than white, cisgender, heterosexual students. The Wellness Hub currently has one wellness advisor dedicated to serving 2SLGBTQIA+ students, but the wellness advisor supporting Black students position is currently vacant. Mazerolle confirmed, however, that the Hub employs a diverse counselling team “with representation from BIPOC and 2S&LGBTQIA+ communities” and that “all staff at all levels are trained in [equity, diversity, and inclusion] informed practices and care.” 

“I think that in the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of progress and understanding of how your intersection of identities impacts your health and also impacts your access to health,” Willard-Stepan explained.  “Equitable access to health care is social justice.”

Also on the docket for Willard-Stepan next semester is the finalization of a suicide prevention framework. Currently, McGill has a postvention—after the fact—framework that is implemented in the case of a death on campus. There is no framework in place if a student dies off campus apart from formal procedures like cancelling their registration and lowering flags on campus to half-mast. Willard-Stepan is looking forward to developing a preventative framework that will hopefully help students when they are in crisis rather than post-crisis. 

“[The framework] is designed to create a preparedness plan at McGill so that when there is a death on campus or when there is someone experiencing suicidal thoughts, there is a document that gives people the knowledge of what they can do, and when their role stops and they need more support,” Willard-Stepan said.

While advocating for a reform of McGill’s and Quebec’s mental health care systems, Wallace is also calling on the Faculty of Education to commemorate Hannah in some way and to acknowledge that there is a mental health crisis on campus. In the meantime, he is focused on remembering his daughter as the beautiful, brilliant person she was.

“Hannah wrote several novels [….] She was a huge fan of Taylor Swift, Glee, and Love Simon, and before there was Love Simon, there was The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Wallace wrote in a follow-up email to the Tribune. “She likely read 5,000 novels. When she died, it was a bit like the fire in Alexandria.”

Students in crisis should contact Suicide Action Montréal at 1-866-277-3553. For an appointment with a doctor, wellness advisor, or mental health counsellor, students can contact case managers at the Office of the Dean of Students, call the Wellness Hub at 514-398-6017 Monday through Friday, or go to the Hub’s website for more information. To consult with the SSMU mental health commissioner, email [email protected].

McGill, News

COVID-positive students no longer need a medical note to defer exams

by Jasjot Grewal on

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McGill’s exam deferral regulations now allow students with COVID-19 to request a deferral without a medical note. This alteration was made on Nov. 25 after meetings between Law Senator Josh Werber, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) vice-president (VP) University Affairs (UA) Kerry Yang, and McGill administrators.

Under McGill’s existing regulations, students in eligible faculties, including Arts, Management, and Science, get one opportunity while completing their degree to defer an exam without supporting documentation. For subsequent deferrals, supporting documentation is required. Such documentation includes a medical note from a verified health practitioner, a statement of capacity that indicates to what extent a student’s condition has hindered them academically, dates during which the student was impacted, and when they are expected to recover. 

The Deferred and Supplemental Exams webpage now indicates that for students in eligible faculties who have contracted COVID-19 “a medical note is not mandatory even if this is not your first deferral.”*

As COVID-19 case numbers soar once again, medical clinics in Quebec are increasingly backlogged. Yang explained that the modification of the regulations is meant to alleviate the stress on students who contract the virus and struggle to obtain supporting documentation due to the overburdened health care system or other accessibility issues. 

“All this, the documentation, the entire process [of requesting a deferral] is extremely stress-inducing, especially during finals season,” Yang said in an interview with the The McGill Tribune. “We sort of want what requires the least amount of work and effort out of [students].”

McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle noted in an email to the Tribune that exam deferrals should only be used for extremely strenuous circumstances. 

“Deferring an exam is an exceptional measure, and is meant to help students who are severely ill or dealing with unforeseeable, significant extenuating circumstances,” Mazerolle wrote. “Requests due to minor illnesses (e.g. a cold, cramps, nausea, etc.), minor personal matters, for scheduling conflicts (e.g. travel plans), or to manage your workload will not be approved.” 

Deferral requests can also be refused for the failure to provide a valid reason, recurring deferral requests for similar reasons without attempting to address the barriers hindering a student’s ability to write the exam, and inadequate medical documentation. 

While there may be fear of students taking advantage of the policy due to the leniency of the new clause, Werber believes it should not present a significant concern. In an interview with the //Tribune//, he asserted that inappropriate use of a policy is bound to occur and that students in need of deferrals should not be punished for the possibility of improper use. 

“You’ll have students who legitimately deserve a deferral, who don’t get one,” Werber said. “I’d rather have the occasional bad actor get a deferral than [have] some student who’s legitimately sick [not] get it.” 

Macdonald Campus Students’ Society (MCSS) VP UA Alireza Roosta explained that the uncertainty over the approval of deferral requests has forced students to attend their exams while ill. 

“The first thing that you think of is, ‘Okay, I have 12 hours before my exam, and I need to get my request approved and I also need to get, for example, medical documentation. So how can I do all of that? Isn’t it better for me just to show up sick?’” Roosta said. 

Werber has hope that the medical note exemption for COVID-19 cases will be carried over to other illness-related exam deferrals.

“Hopefully, this practice of not requiring a medical note for COVID-19 is the beginning of a new direction by which students are believed when they have an accessibility issue or need a deferral, rather than always having to prove it all the time,” Werber said. 

Those who need to request an exam deferral can do so through the Student Menu on Minerva.

*This information was listed on the Deferred and Supplemental Exams webpage at the time of publication.

Arts & Entertainment, Pop Rhetoric

Pop Dialectic – Two Black Panther: Wakanda Forever movie reviews

by Joy Sebera, Simi Ogunsola on

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Just for Laughs –  Simi Ogunsola

After four years of waiting, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is finally here and people have been talking. Some are calling the film an 11/10 and hailing Ryan Coogler as a genius while others can only describe the film as “mid” and prefer the first movie. Personally, I loved the film, but it was a wild ride for sure. Here is a spoiler-free list of my thoughts while watching.

No wayyy…..

Director Ryan Coogler definitely took audiences for a ride with the cameos and plot twists in this sequel. One second I was flying to the edge of my chair in fear, and the next, shock had me flinging myself back. From multiple conflicts between Wakanda and Talokan going on at the same time, to the frantic omg-the-movie’s-almost-done-but-the-problem-isn’t-resolved stress, the film keeps you engaged and thoroughly entertained.

The U.S. low-key being the bad guy? What’s changed!?

The movie explores tensions between Wakanda and the U.S., among other global superpowers. Without saying too much, it really made me reflect on what makes us consider a country “good” and “bad,” and how narratives (true or otherwise) can be spun to achieve a country’s goals. Poli sci and IDS majors, run, (with an open mind) don’t walk, to this one.

*Speechless*

By “speechless,” I mean that you could’ve heard a pin drop on the stained carpets of theatres worldwide. During the tribute moments, the entire theatre was silent. Fans hoping for a final goodbye to Chadwick Boseman will be pleased by what I can only describe as a love letter to the star. Suffice to say that during the post-credit scene, tears were definitely shed.

Purrrrr Ms. Girllllll!

One thing that wasn’t on my Wakanda Forever bingo card was a touching feminist tale.  The film did not shove the “strong Black Woman” trope down audiences’ throats, nor did it obsess over Shuri being a young girl who likes science. The movie simply said: “Here is woman. Here is woman in all of her different facets.” It illustrated, without obsessing over, all the different ways for a woman to just //be// and I really appreciated that.

The film tantalizes the viewer, the soundtrack pleases and surprises the ear, and of course, the actors bring it all home. A must-watch—you won’t regret it. 

Cultural Faux Pas – Joy Sebera

Just the Facts

Although opinions may be divided about which Black Panther was better, viewers cannot ignore the sequel’s cinematic merit, aesthetic appeal, intense plot, and moving tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman. However, one of the elements that makes it so popular is the majority Black cast and the film’s inclusion of African cultures. That being said, who is actually being represented and who is the film truly for? The Black Panther superhero was created to introduce a Black superhero, not an African superhero, to the American Marvel comics canon, and the films sustain that narrative.  

One Size Fits All

Wakanda is a fictional African country that has closed its borders off from the rest of the world to protect itself from being exploited for vibranium, a fictional resource. The people of Wakanda speak Xhosa, a language from South Africa, and multiple East and West African cultures are represented through the clothing and traditions showcased in the film. Is this positive representation or homogenization that does not take specific African identities seriously? What effect does this serve in a film that does not reflect African realities? Wakanda has never been colonized and the main conflict in the first film is if and how Wakanda should share their resources with a hostile and alienating world. The message is from American voices disguised in African clothing, literally.  

Who’s the real villain?

The Black Panther franchise features arguably two of the most sympathetic villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe —Erik Killmonger and Kukulkan or “Namor.” Without giving too much away, the storyline that pits the Wakandans and the Talokanil against each other is justified, and yet it seems to come completely out of left field. The introduction builds up a plot that would challenge Western exploitation, but it quickly becomes a battle between two nations that both fear exploitation, with Americans at the unsatisfying centre of the resolution. Is it really any surprise that, even in Xhosa, American voices speak the loudest?


Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is currently playing in theatres.

ABCs of Science, Science & Technology

How STEM’s  leaky pipeline persists at McGill

by Athina Sitou on

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At the end of this semester, I will have completed half of my neuroscience undergraduate degree at McGill, and the number of women professors in my science courses so far is slightly alarming. Out of the 22 professors that I have had spanning disciplines like neuroscience, biology, mathematics, physiology, and computer science, only four of them were women—a measly 18 per cent. Many courses offered by the Faculty of Science are taught by more than one professor, and PHGY 311 is a prime example, with four different instructors leading the class over the course of one semester. Each time we finished a section of this course, my friends and I hoped that the new professor would be a woman. But with only three classes left, we now know that we will not be getting the opportunity to learn about ion channels from a woman professor. Many would argue that this doesn’t matter, but it reflects a broader gender inequity that is stubbornly entrenched across scientific disciplines.

PHGY 311 is not an outlier; it is the norm. In McGill’s physiology department more broadly, men represent 72 per cent of all professors. It demonstrates the troubling reality that, on average, academic positions in the faculties of science and engineering are primarily held by men. “Turning the Tide for Academic Women in STEM: A Postpandemic Vision for Supporting Female Scientists” is a recent study investigating the challenges women encountered in academia throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers noted that, although inclusivity in science has increased over the past decades, underrepresentation, salary discrepancies, and increased career-related obstacles are some of the challenges that women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) continue to face. 

The pandemic alone did not cause these issues—it exacerbated the effects of pre-existing inequalities between men and women academics. Women spent less time doing research throughout the pandemic because care responsibilities and other traditionally gendered tasks  fell disproportionately on their shoulders. A meta-research study also found that the number of women who were first authors on COVID-19 papers published throughout the pandemic decreased by a staggering 19 per cent compared to 2019.

The phenomenon behind gender disparities, such as the decreased number of research publications, is known as the leaky pipeline, which describes how gender biases may limit women’s opportunities to ascend to the highest positions within STEM. These barriers can have devastating effects at various stages of women’s careers, such as hiring, funding, publishing, and professional advancement. The leaky pipeline problem has resulted in a persistent gender gap among STEM academics despite the significant increase in the number of women pursuing advanced degrees in the sciences.

Julie O’Reilly, a second-year PhD student in the Bourque Lab at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), has noticed that the number of women in McGill’s science graduate programs contrasts starkly with the number of women who occupy academic positions at McGill. 

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, O’Reilly shared that, even though she has never consciously thought that women would be worse in STEM, she has realized that an unconscious bias, largely perpetuated by outdated social norms, has shaped the mental image that she has of principal investigators. 

“When there’s a great discovery and it’s made by a female, then the article will mention: ‘It’s a female!’ and [the focus] would be about [gender], which shouldn’t be the case,” O’Reilly said.

Intersectional identities can further intensify the inequalities that women in STEM may experience. The term “double bind” encompasses both the institutional and interpersonal sexism and racism that women who are Black, Indigenous, or people of colour face. Another such factor is the variability across specific STEM fields. Some studies have shown that women majoring in physics, engineering, and computer science (PECS) are outnumbered by men who do worse academically. Even more surprisingly, the researchers determined that student-level factors, such as socioeconomic status, self-confidence in scientific abilities, and home resources do not sufficiently explain the gender discrepancies witnessed in PECS.

I sat down with Longyu Li, a third-year student in mechanical engineering at McGill, to learn about her experience as a minority in a major that is still very male-dominated.

“I know that in other engineering departments, there’s quite a few [women students]. Mechanical [engineering] is just that one department that’s mostly boys,” Li said. “I think that if there were more activities and social events, [we would feel better supported].” 

When looking at the faculty members in the mechanical engineering department at McGill, the number of male professors significantly overshadows that of women academics. Of the 27 professors listed on the department’s website, only three are women. 

The lack of representation of transgender and non-binary people in STEM is representative of a larger narrative that erases this community from key industries and fields of study. Queer McGill said in an email statement to The McGill Tribune that the history of gendered violence in Quebec may influence the makeup of the STEM field today. 

“To be a woman in a STEM program is a position especially charged in Quebec in light of the École Polytechnique massacre, which targeted women in an engineering class,” Queer McGill wrote. “We [do note] that many students and staff run initiatives in an attempt to overcome imposter syndrome, lack of equal opportunities, and other barriers related to being a minority in STEM programs.”

Such initiatives on campus include Diversity in Math, the equity discussion group led by professor Rosalie Bélanger-Rioux, and Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering McGill.

“We would like to see these efforts shared and prioritized by the McGill administration,” Queer McGill wrote.

Sophia Moubarak shared some of her experiences as a third-year student in electrical engineering at McGill with the Tribune. When I asked if she could remember how many women professors she has had since she started university, Moubarak quickly responded that she indeed could, because the paltry number—four women professors out of 23—was so easy to recall. 

“You can count your female professors on one hand,” Moubarak said.

In accordance with what seems to be the trend in STEM majors at McGill, only 22 per cent of professors in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are women. Prior to starting her undergraduate studies, Moubarak knew that the demographic would be tilted towards men, but she still expected more inclusivity and better representation.

“If you see someone that you can maybe picture yourself as in the future, you tend to do better in those courses,” Moubarak said.


Some scholars have predicted that many STEM fields like computer science, surgery, and mathematics will not achieve gender parity within the next 100 years. Although the prediction may seem discouraging, there are changes that institutions can implement to fast-track their faculty memberships to better reflect the population. Increased support for scientists who are mothers will help alleviate some of the demands of childcare and domestic work. Advocacy committees can support women in STEM, especially racialized women, and raise awareness about the structural hurdles that prevent them from reaching the top. Pathways for career advancement should offer greater flexibility depending on the scientist’s particular circumstances, such as childcare and household responsibilities. For science to continue its innovative and transformative work in society, the STEM workforce needs to equip women with better resources and tools to succeed.

Chill Thrills, Student Life

Sex and Self’s new shame-free book club caters to open and honest discussions

by Melissa Carter on

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Sex and Self, a not-for-profit, sex-positive organization, held its first book club meeting last Thursday over Zoom. Readers congregated virtually with Mo Asebiomo to discuss It’s My Pleasure: Decolonizing Sex Positivity—the author’s debut book that challenges the basis of what it means to hold sex-positive attitudes in a white supremacist country. Participants discussed their interpretations, experiences, and observations, and also listened to Asebiomo read and discuss their work. 

Sex and Self is a student-run group that aims to educate and empower individuals about their bodies, autonomy, and sexuality. The organization was set up at McGill in 2019 by Felicia Gisondi, but has now expanded across many universities in Canada. Sex and Self’s mission is built on three pillars: Scientifically-backed sex education, intersectionality, and a sex-positive atmosphere. It facilitates various seminars, workshops, and events to educate people about sexual and reproductive health and wellness. Simultaneously, the organization works with sex and health sponsors to attain free products for students and works with health care professionals to ensure their message is scientifically grounded. 

The co-president of Sex and Self McGill, Holly Bloomfield, U4 Science, said in an interview with The McGill Tribune that “[o]ur main goal is to provide comprehensive sex education that’s shame-free, pleasure-focused, and scientifically backed to the McGill community.”

To expand its repertoire of sex-positive offerings, Sex and Self’s newest initiative, Book Club, provides a safe space to explore topics that are often not reflected in the media or sex education programs. A common theme surrounding sex education in the classroom is one of abstinence, in an attempt to scrub the important topic out of students’ awareness. Book Club takes a vastly different approach, with open discussions taking the forefront. 

“Books ranging from anything, like smut, just give people a safe and informed place to talk about all the different kinds of aspects of sex, while also bringing in perspectives that we may not hear through the books,” Bloomfield said.

Sex education taught at a younger age can be inadequate or even nonexistent; often, sex education lacks information, stigmatizes sex curiosity, and is done through a cisgender and heteronormative lens. With the slogan of “Nobody benefits from knowing less about their bodies,” Sex and Self is trying to help fill these gaps. 

“Within our future generations, we don’t have to have this like closing up [around topics like sex]. I would love to live in a world where we can talk about genitals the same way we talk about other body parts like we don’t have to pause and say it quieter or laugh uncomfortably afterward,” said Tess Vardy, the University Coordinator at Sex and Self and a fourth-year Arts student at the University of Guelph. “Like, I’d love to say vagina like I say finger. That’s the kind of world I want to live in.”

This desire for open and shameless conversations about sex is brought into the book club meetings, as Vardy aims to create the most comfortable environment possible when leading the club. They actively ensure a safe space by providing trigger warnings and low-pressure discussions so that people can participate if desired. 

The other McGill Sex and Self co-president, Lidie Silva, U4 Science, spoke about her experience creating safe, inclusive environments while moderating different workshops and events. 

“Allow everyone to learn and [don’t] assume that everyone has different backgrounds, voices, and information. It’s just like, everyone has space to learn together,” Silva told the Tribune.


Sex and Self’s fulsome resources are available on their Instagram or website, where you can sign up for events and stay up to date with their various initiatives. The organization also provides a wellness pantry on the first floor of the University Centre, where, at any time during opening hours, students can pick up pads, tampons, condoms, lube, ovulation strips, period cups, and (if you turn on their Instagram notifications) even sex toys.

Science & Technology, Science Rewind

Trottier Foundation gives $16 million to McGill Space Institute

by Ella Paulin on

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The Trottier Family Foundation announced on Nov. 21 that they would be making a donation of $16 million to the McGill Space Institute (MSI)—which will now be called the Trottier Space Institute (TSI)—as well as $10 million to L’Université de Montréal. Half of the money donated to McGill will go towards building an annex onto the TSI building at 3550 University Street, while the other half will fund fellowships and provide increased support for research projects. 

In light of the donation, Nicholas Vieira, a PhD student in astrophysics at McGill, discussed his hopes for the future of the TSI in an interview with The McGill Tribune. 

“Hearing about this new donation is super exciting as a graduate student, because I know that this kind of money is going to fund all sorts of new students to come to the TSI,” Vieira said.

Since the TSI was founded in 2015, it has grown to house more than 120 researchers who work on a wide variety of topics, including exoplanets, astrobiology, and the formation of stars. As the TSI continues to grow, the extra space provided by the annex will allow for new and exciting research projects to develop. 

“My understanding is that the building is hopefully going to just accommodate a lot more students, because this building is beautiful. I love it, but it’s not the biggest building on campus,” Vieria said. 

Vieira studies kilonovae, phenomena that occur when two neutron stars orbiting each other collide, emitting a burst that lasts for about a week. “The reason why kilonovae are super interesting to me is that we think the reason they shine is that during these mergers, you synthesize a bunch of radioactive elements, and just heavy elements in general,” Vieira explained. 

In the future, Vieira and a team of scientists at the TSI hope to use the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to further their research. 

“We really want to point James Webb at these things, and analyze how their […] colour evolves over time, how their brightness evolves over time, and see if we can learn stuff about the origin of these really heavy elements using that data,” Vieira said. 

Research into kilonovae is one of many space-related investigations currently underway at the TSI. 

“There’s a lot of really exciting stuff going on, which is one of the things that I really like about coming into work here,” said Vieira.

Even before the donation, the TSI was already doing ground-breaking research. Professor Victoria Kaspi, director of the TSI, was even awarded the Albert Einstein World Award of Science in September 2022. 

“The ground-breaking work by the Space Institute’s researchers includes major discoveries in the area of neutron stars and fast radio bursts by […] Victoria Kaspi,” wrote Frédérique Mazerolle, media relations officer at McGill, in an email to the Tribune.

Kaspi is known for her past work on neutron stars, which are formed by the collapse of massive stars and are some of the densest objects in the universe. More recently, at TSI, she has focused on fast radio bursts, which are a mysterious observed phenomenon. 

“Fast radio bursts […] are these bursts of radio waves that, as the name implies, are very fast, like milliseconds long,” Vieira explained. “What’s really neat about FRBs, as they’re called, is we have no idea where they come from, nobody knows what produces them.”

New astronomical telescopes and instruments accelerate innovative research like Kaspi’s, and the donation from the Trottier Foundation will help keep TSI at the cutting-edge of this development. 

“The visionary gift coincides with an exciting age of discovery in astrophysics, thanks in part to the development of powerful new telescopes—such as the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) and [the JWST]—that enable researchers to explore deep into our solar system and beyond,” Mazerolle wrote.

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