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Campus Spotlight, Student Life

‘Lettuce eat’: McGill’s first lettuce-eating competition a success

by Jackie Lee on

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Despite the stress of adjusting to a hybrid semester, McGill students ‘romaine’ committed to cultivating a vibrant campus culture. Case in point: The unbe-leaf-able turnout for McGill’s first-ever lettuce-eating competition, which took place at the lower field on Sept. 24. 

Upwards of 150 people, ranging from enthusiastic participants to bemused onlookers, attended. The event was BYOL, or “bring your own lettuce”—specifically, a head of iceberg lettuce weighing over 600g.

Arielle Lok, U2 Management and founder of Lettuce Club McGill, hosted the event with the help of Bjørn Christensen, U2 Arts, and Joel Conway, U2 Management. While lettuce clubs have existed in universities across Canada and the U.S. with the first appearing in Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1865, Lok thought the “fun and meme-y” concept would be a hit among McGill students.

“I was going to throw this online last year, but I thought it’d be silly to have a lot of people on a Zoom call eating heads of lettuce,” Lok said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “There had been a huge lack of student life [back then], so I’m glad this was able to make people happy.”

Just before noon, organizers ushered the lettuce-eaters into the rough outline of a circle. Brandishing an air horn and megaphone at its centre stood Lok, who first gave a shout-out to the climate march happening later that day. 

“We have to make sure we can grow the lettuce we’re eating!” Lok reminded the crowd.

Lok then blared her horn, the church bells ringing in agreement, and the race began.

Noah Vaton / The McGill Tribune

Lettuce littered the grass as competitors frantically chowed down. Some shredded their heads into manageable handfuls before downing mouthfuls; others bit into them like an apple. The act itself was unwieldy—and sort of gross—but the crowd’s energy was palpable.

Three minutes passed with boisterous fanfare. Soon after, some lettuce-eaters began to slow. The crowd eagerly pressed forward: Two competitors had almost finished their heads to the core, neck-in-neck. With a few resolute chugs of water, Aslan Lacouvee, U2 Arts and Science, emerged victorious. 

“I’m feeling on top of the world,” Lacouvee said to the Tribune after his win, which clocked in at three minutes and 45 seconds.

Is winning just the tip of the iceberg for the freshly appointed Head of Lettuce? Clout is the only prize, according to Lok. As the new leader of the Lettuce Club, however, Lacouvee will be tasked with organizing the next meeting if the competition is to continue. 

Maria Haddad, a second-year master’s student studying neuroscience, and Thomas Allen, U3 Engineering, participated in the contest together.

“I thought, life is short, might as well eat a whole head of lettuce for fun,” Haddad said. 

Allen’s motives skewed more to longevity. 

“I saw this [event], and I realized I hadn’t eaten any vegetables since before the semester started,” Allen laughed. “I thought it’d be a good idea to come here and make up for lost time.” 

Both Allen and Haddad agreed that the event’s turnout was a pleasant surprise. 

“I expected it to be maybe 10 people in a semicircle, [so] seeing all these people turn up is amazing,” Allen said. “I was down at Provigo today and they were having a bit of a lettuce shortage. I got three heads of lettuce and there were only two left on the shelf after that.”

With luck, there will be more creative events to engage the student community this year. 

“[If] you have a stupid idea, you should just go ahead with it,” Lok advised. “It turns out a lot of us like stupid ideas.”

Noah Vaton / The McGill Tribune

Ask Ainsley, Student Life

Ask Ainsley: How do I live harmoniously with my roommates?

by Erika Mackenzie on

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Dear Ainsley,

I’m in my second year at McGill, and I just moved into my first apartment with four of my friends. Although I’m very excited for this new chapter of adulthood, I’ve never had roommates before, and I’m worried that a five-person apartment is bound to breed conflict. What advice do you have for maintaining positive relationships with your roommates?

Sincerely,

Anxious Disorganized Roomie (ADR)

Dear ADR,

Congratulations on moving into your first apartment! Living independently for the first time can be exciting, but also overwhelming. This is especially true when you’re sharing an apartment with four people you’ve never lived with before. Luckily, there are many ways to develop and preserve an environment where everyone can feel at home. 

Since many roommate conflicts are the result of miscommunication, it’s important to ensure everyone is on the same page. Consider forming group chats on Facebook, Discord, or iMessage—whichever platform works best for everyone. You can use this group chat to send out reminders about things like chores and rent. 

It’s equally important to establish ground rules and personal boundaries. You may wish to set up a meeting early on to acquaint yourself with your roommates’ living habits: Are they early birds or night owls? Do they cook elaborate meals or mostly order takeout? All of this information will not only give you a sense of what to expect on a daily basis, but will also help you accommodate everyone’s needs. After becoming familiar with each other’s preferences, you might set up monthly meetings to address any issues that arise—especially since there are five of you living under the same roof. 

Another priority for when you first move in should be to create a roommate agreement that outlines each roommate’s duties and expectations. This agreement can be an opportunity to establish household management and bill-paying plans. Going forward, consider using a chore chart to accommodate each roommate’s unique schedule and time constraints. You can make things even easier by using a roommate chore app, such as Tody, ChoreBuster, OurGroceries, Cozi, or OurHome. 

Even with preventative measures in place, problems may still arise, and you will need a good strategy in place for managing them. While it can be daunting to directly address issues with your roommates, it will save you a headache later down the road. First off, ensure that you approach your roommates level-headed and willing to hear them out. Aside from blurring your own judgment, any anger is bound to put them in defensive mode. Rather than throwing accusations, try to use “I” statements, like “I feel I am frequently taking out the trash and would appreciate a little more help.” By framing it in these terms, you’re expressing to your roommate how you feel, thereby encouraging collaboration rather than conflict. 

The LARA method can also help you foster successful dialogue with your roommates. The L stands for listen: Try and be an active listener by providing them with thoughtful responses, open body language, and eye contact. The A stands for affirm or acknowledge, meaning that you recognize the feelings and needs behind what is being said. The R stands for respond, giving you the floor to express your thoughts and feelings about the problems your roommate brought up, and the second A stands for Add, finishing off with a chance to voice any of your additional opinions or solutions. If you follow LARA, your roommates are more likely to recognize that you are invested in resolving the issue in a way that works for you both.

Using these tactics is a sure-fire way to cultivate a harmonious relationship with your roommates. But if all else fails and you’re still struggling to get them to wash their dishes, you can always leave them passive aggressive messages. 

In all seriousness, living with roommates is an incredible way to build friendships, have fun, and make the most out of your college experience. Don’t forget to enjoy the process and let loose!

Good luck with your semester.

Sincerely,

Ainsley

Out on the Town, Student Life

Nights at Jeanne-Mance

by Holly Wethey and Wendy Zhao on

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By the time 8:00 p.m. rolls around on a nice night, Jeanne-Mance Park is crowded with people. As the sun sets, people form small circles, huddle around picnic tables, and can sometimes be spotted dancing on the grass. In an effort to better understand the diversity of these park gatherings, The McGill Tribune talked to a range of park-goers one evening, many of whom were McGill students.

Isabel Heard, U3 Arts, joined friends for a picnic to break their fast following Yom Kippur. Stepping aside from her circle of friends, Heard shared her thoughts on Jeanne-Mance park gatherings.

“This is a very McGill space for me,” Heard said. “You can tell that there’s a lot of McGill students that hang out here [….] I usually spend time talking to everyone and […] I like it because it’s kind of chaotic.”

Though some associate the park with McGill student life, others like Elyssa Khoury, a first-year master’s student studying political science, have memories that date further back.

“I grew up in Montreal, so […] I have a lot of memories here,” Khoury said. “I planned a surprise party for my boyfriend [here].” 

Khoury has been coming back to the park more often than she did before the pandemic. That night, she and other master’s students chatted over a few beers.

“I think it’s different at a bar,” Khoury explained. “In a restaurant, you can’t really stay six hours, and then that shortens your social activity because you have to [ask] ‘what are we doing now? Is the night over?’”

The night certainly wasn’t over for another group who came to Jeanne-Mance to play volleyball but decided to hang out on the bleachers when they realized the nets were no longer up. 

Vivienne Orrell, a student at Dawson college, and her sister Ingrid, were among the group. As amateur volleyball players, they planned to play with their friends later that night, appreciating the absence of the more skilled volleyball teams that populate the court during the day. 

Gazing up at the Mount-Royal cross, visible from the park’s fields, the sisters looked back on a night they spent out with friends roaming around the mountain, no specific destination in sight. 

“One time we spent all night on the mountain walking,” Orrell said. “We were saying it was going to be an all-nighter, but then everyone went home around five.” 

Spanning 14 hectares of greenery, Orrell feels Jeanne-Mance Park is an essential part of the city. 

“At night, […] people are drinking,” Orrell said. “I suppose the sentiment of downtown is present in the park tonight.”  

While some park meet-ups are planned casually between friends, others are run by student organizations. 

Sophia Howard, U2 Science, was at an event with AM McGill, also celebrating Yom Kippur. 

“It kind of reminds me of Washington Square Park,” Howard said of the park’s liveliness, reminiscent of a hometown spot for her. 

Others, like Ismael Sefiane, U1 Management, and his friend Simo Bouayad, U2 Management, came to the park on a whim. The park’s central location, bordering on neighbourhoods densely populated by students, makes it a convenient meeting place.

“Some friends [from management] called me, so here we are,” Sefiane said. “They just told me five minutes ago.”

In comparison to typical house parties, Sefiane noted the different atmosphere meet-ups in the park offer. 

“It’s more chill [in the park],” Sefiane said. “The house is smaller and […] it’s going to be more crazy.”

As we spoke, a growing crowd gathering behind us began to dance, chanting “hotel, motel, Desautels.” 

With dancing and singing currently prohibited in Montreal bars and clubs, Jeanne-Mance has quickly become the venue for an adapted version of traditional student nightlife activities over the pandemic. Where there is an open space, you will almost undoubtedly find students taking the opportunity to party there.

Commentary, Opinion

Embracing the uncertainties of hybrid learning

by Courtney Squires on

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After the August heatwave, September promised to bring fall weather, pumpkin spice lattes, and the ability to wear full-length pants outside of the house. And for a while, it did: Jeans walked the campus roads; cardigans thrived. But then, the average temperature rose to around 20 degrees Celsius, bringing with it a fashion dilemma: What to wear when it is too hot for pants, yet too cold for shorts. This ambiguous, 20-degree mid-point between seasons mirrors McGill’s hybrid learning model. With the model threatening to freeze their personality development, students must make an effort to make the most of this fall’s ever-changing circumstances.  

Whether it is sprinting to the library from the Stewart Biology Building to make it to an online Zoom lecture on time, or hiding in Starbucks from unexpected bouts of rain, students have adopted flexible mindsets and routines to adapt to this year’s unique challenges. University is a transitional period, a time of newfound freedom where many students begin to discover themselves as individuals. However, remote learning last year interrupted that process, and McGill’s hybrid model this year continues to present challenges, as most students have a mix of virtual and in-person lectures, tutorials, labs, and conferences. Although online learning may allow for flexible schedules and self-paced learning, a study published in PLOS ONE found that pandemic learning has disrupted many important neurological processes in college students, particularly personality development. 

Now that in-person classes have recommenced, the social aspect of learning has returned, accompanied by a harsh mental distinction between online and in-person classes. Hybrid schedules make it difficult to experience either to the fullest extent. Furthermore, much like how sunshine can disguise a chilly day, this balancing act can cause dissonance between the desired, idyllic school experience and reality. While university is usually a place where students discover their own identities, yet when personality development is inhibited, ​​they tend to mirror the traits of others in proximity, rather than cultivating unique personalities. 

Isolation has been proven to exacerbate introverted tendencies and can make it difficult for students to switch between virtual Zoom classes and pre-recorded lectures, let alone contribute to participation marks at in-person classes. Pandemic fatigue and academic burnout further discourage participation. However, taking part in educational settings shapes students’ personality development and other non-cognitive skills. 

In 2013, a study discovered that a positive sense of self in adolescents is often associated with psychological growth and personality development. This was also found to be correlated with increased emotional stability and personal autonomy. The pandemic, and now hybrid learning, has forced students to surrender to life’s unpredictability, dismantling routines and even sense of belonging. These changes emphasize the uncertainty that is living through a pandemic; but just like flash rainstorms, sometimes the unexpected can lead to transformative and memorable experiences. Students should adopt a mindset of radical acceptance and understand that life is unpredictable, but change, and its effect on the psyche, should be appreciated.  

McGill is difficult to navigate without a pandemic, but luckily, personality and self-discovery are neurologically flexible traits that are only enriched by experiences. So, much like the ambiguity of 20-degree weather, hybrid learning will leave students sweaty, confused, and wishing they had checked the weather app one more time.

Commentary, Opinion

McGill’s library vaccine mandate is indicative of its patchwork approach to COVID-19

by Valentina de la Borbolla on

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On Sept. 17, McGill sent an email announcing that students will need to present their  Quebec COVID-19 vaccine passport to enter any on-campus library—beginning in mid-October. The announcement came three weeks into the Fall semester, amidst demands from McGill students and faculty to implement stricter COVID-19 protections. The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) drafted an open letter and staged a protest on campus demanding a vaccine mandate, online accommodation for all classes, the prohibition of mandatory attendance, and a commitment to including student representatives in COVID-19 related decisions. Although McGill’s new library policy is a step toward protecting students, it is also proof of a disorganized and backward approach to vaccine requirements. McGill should instead enforce a university-wide vaccine mandate instead of haphazardly patching up the gaps in their own policies. 

Whereas many Canadian and American universities have implemented a vaccine mandate, McGill has not. The university has argued that the Quebec government’s vaccine passport provides enough incentive for students to get vaccinated and that a university mandate is beyond their legal jurisdiction. But despite McGill’s efforts, alongside the province’s hefty lottery incentives, cases and hospitalizations have risen within and beyond campus. During the first week of class, McGill reported six COVID-19 cases on campus with no community transmission. Just one week later, that number tripled, rising to 18, and the week after that, the McGill community was alerted to 13 cases with possible community transmission in the McIntyre building. This rise in cases is not surprising, given that students are returning to in-person classes and student life, parties, and large gatherings for the first time in almost two years. McGill should have predicted the spike in cases and should have mandated vaccinations for all students, faculty, and staff at the beginning of the term. An all-encompassing mandate would be less confusing, and it would have set clear rules and standards from the start. It would show that McGill is prepared to guarantee students’ safety during the return to in-person learning. 

Although the vaccine requirement for accessing libraries is a welcome step, it does not protect students from transmission in their classes, especially considering the fact that masks are not mandatory for instructors. McGill’s patchwork approach leaves students confused as to where they need to show proof of vaccination, and what the rules are—there is no established standard delineating which spaces and activities require proof of vaccination, and which do not. Not only are there ambiguities, but there are also logical inconsistencies:  A passport is required to attend sporting events, but not to live in residence. Similarly, the decision to require vaccine passports in libraries, but not in other spaces was not a matter of coherence for the administration; instead, it was a matter of pressing firmer COVID-19 protocols while avoiding implementing a school-wide vaccine requirement. 

Furthermore, the university’s vaccine verification procedures have been inefficient, considering the long lines outside of dining halls, where students wait to get their vaccine QR codes scanned. Library lines, too, risk becoming very long because of the sheer number of students that go in and out every day. Considering the amount of time McGill has taken to make this decision, the administration needs to present a plan for a more efficient system. Furthermore, as colder weather settles in, students will begin to migrate to indoor spaces, spending more time in higher-risk areas such as dining halls and libraries. Additionally, many speculate that library capacity limits will increase once access is restricted to those fully vaccinated, or that people will be allowed to take their masks off while studying. If the capacity does not increase, how the university will deal with rising demand in study spaces remains unclear. 

McGill still has some time to figure out the logistics of the new policy, but the administration should be prepared to answer questions and address the concerns of its students before they ask them to comply. 

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

McGill researchers find link between chronotype and sleep behaviour

by Shirley Xu on

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Irregular sleep schedules are common among university students: From late night exam cramming to binge-watching favourite TV shows, most students have first-hand experience with sleep deprivation. Since proper rest is essential for optimal functioning and health, disrupted sleep is associated with many health-adverse effects including cardiovascular diseases. As such, studying sleep and exploring ways to improve daily rest are central to improving human health and wellbeing.

When analyzing rest patterns, shift workers are an important group to focus on as their sleep-wake schedules often misalign with their bodies’ circadian rhythms. Because of this, they are thought to experience shorter and poorer quality sleep. In a recent article published in the journal Sleep, a group of McGill researchers set out to investigate how chronotype—an individual’s preference for going to sleep early or late—can influence sleep behaviour and quality. 

By conducting a field study on rotating shift workers, the researchers discovered that the effect of an individual’s chronotype on sleep quantity depends on whether their shift is in the morning, evening, or night. 

For around a month, 74 Quebec police officers wore an actigraph, a device that functions as a watch, to measure their sleeping and napping behaviour while they worked their regular shifts. The researchers used watch data to determine sleep duration, questionnaires to deduce chronotype, and statistical models to study whether chronotype and shift type affect sleep duration. Between the most extreme chronotypes of the group, the early risers slept 1.1 hours longer on average during a series of morning shifts, while night owls slept two hours longer on average during a series of evening shifts. ​​No significant effect of chronotype on sleep duration was observed during night shifts. Dr. Diane Boivin, professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill and director of the Centre for Study and Treatment of Circadian Rhythms at the Douglas Research Centre, explained that naps were the most efficient countermeasures against shortened night sleep for early chronotypes completing night shifts—making up for the lost night rest. 

“The early chronotype has a more difficult time adjusting to working night [shifts], in that their main sleep period is shorter,” Boivin said. “But they catch up on the sleep restriction by napping more, to a point that the association between chronotype and sleep duration is no more significant [than] with night [chronotypes].”

Running counter to the theory that napping leads to sleep inertia, Boivin insists that napping is something to encourage, arguing that its benefits outweigh its downsides. 

As for coffee-lovers, the study found little interaction between chronotype or shift type and the daily intake of caffeinated beverages. Although it was not directly explored in this static study, Boivin noted that chronotype is not a fixed concept and that it can evolve throughout one’s lifetime.

“In our teens and early 20s, there is a period of delayed sleep schedule [where] we tend to be more evening chronotypes,” Boivin explained. “As we grow older, we tend to be more morning types, [although sometimes the original pattern persists].” 

While previous studies examined the effect of chronotype and shift type on sleep quantity using between-subject comparison and self-reported sleep duration, this study employed more objective assessment methods, such as actigraphy-measured sleep and intra-subject changes.

“This [study] shows that individual differences in internal biological timing, which is regulated by the endogenous circadian clock, impact the amount of sleep that shift workers are able to get,” Boivin said. “Our findings show that chronotype should be considered in the design of strategies or recommendations [to optimize sleep in shift workers].”

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV, Pop Rhetoric

Film trailers with spoilers rob us of the joy of surprise

by Suzanna Graham on

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In an era of empty movie theatres and increasingly popular streaming services, movie marketers are desperate to entice viewers back to cinemas. According to the Motion Pictures Association’s annual theme report, the United States and Canada’s box office market decreased by 81 per cent between 2019 and 2020. At the same time, subscriptions to home entertainment in the United States, including streaming services, rose by 33 per cent. Although the popularization of streaming services may seem encouraging to the film industry, most of this subscription money goes to the service rather than the filmmakers and actors. To put the importance of physical cinemas into perspective: Without movie theatres, the cast and production crew of Avengers: Endgame (2019) would have missed out on nearly $2.8 billion dollars of box office revenue. 

In order to combat the rise of Netflix, HBO, and Disney+, some movie marketers have opted to grab potential viewers’ attention by packing in as much plot information as possible into their film trailers. This strategy has worked in the past—in an interview with Insider, Jason Blum, the producer of Get Out (2017) and The Invisible Man (2020), revealed that it is typical practice for movie producers to market trailers toward those who are indecisive about watching a particular film. By revealing plot points and spoilers, the marketers hope the audience will gain a better idea of what to expect and thus be encouraged to go see the film.

The debate about whether a movie trailer should include spoilers or not was reignited this September with the release of British psychological horror film Last Night in Soho’s trailer. The trailer is essentially a three-minute summary of the film—director Edgar Wright even made sure to warn his Twitter audience about the spoilers. He tweeted, “If you are already sold and would prefer to know NOTHING more of the secrets within, avert your eyes now.” Although it was thoughtful of Edgar Wright to caution his Twitter audience, the lack of warning in the trailer itself destroys potentially surprises which await the viewer in the film.

Many infamous movie trailers have opted to use spoilers as advertising in the past. Tom Hanks’ film Cast Away (2000) follows Hanks’ character as he attempts to survive on a deserted island for the majority of the film. However, the trailer reveals that he ultimately survives, much to some viewers’ disappointment. Similarly, the trailer for Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017), the sequel to the wildly popular Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), exposes that a character presumed dead in the first film is still alive, divulging information solely for the purpose of a shock reveal.

Though movie marketing teams may believe that all press is good press, spoiling the movies without warning removes the novelty of seeing the film for the first time. If someone wants to read spoilers before going to the theatre, there are plenty of blogs and websites that can help. Revealing important information within a trailer completely eradicates any agency over how and when an excited viewer learns the plot. However, as Edgar Wright proves, at least Twitter is a surefire way to discover trailer spoilers—unless it spoils the movie itself. 

McGill, News

McGill Senate approves motion to create COVID-19 advisory committee

by Tasmin Chu on

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The McGill Senate held its first meeting of the 2021-2022 academic year on Sept. 22, where it passed several routine motions and approved the creation of an advisory committee that will counsel the university’s senior administration on COVID-19-related academic policies and planning.

During the meeting, the Senate considered a motion requesting the creation of an ad hoc COVID-19 advisory committee. The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) president Darshan Daryanani helped craft the motion with associate provost (Equity & Academic Policies) Angela Campbell, among others.

Samer Faraj, a professor in the Desautels Faculty of Management, expressed his support for the motion, noting that he no longer sees some colleagues around campus due to their refusal to return to McGill for health reasons. Daniel Weinstock, a professor in the Faculty of Law, echoed Faraj’s concerns, arguing that there was a serious lack of trust in the administration among staff and students. 

“My sense is that there really is a lot of fear and a little bit of anger at the base,” Weinstock said. “The people who are going into classrooms feel that their concerns have not been adequately dealt with, and this has led to a crisis of trust.”

After some deliberation, the motion passed with a 94 per cent majority.

Principal and vice-chancellor Suzanne Fortier announced that the Fall 2021 convocation may be in person and that a final decision would be made at the end of September. 

Fortier reminded senators that Sept. 30 is the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. In past years, Sept. 30 was known as Orange Shirt Day, but thanks to legislation passed in June 2021, the day is now a federal statutory holiday. McGill has several events scheduled, including the Every Child Matters March, which will honour the victims of residential schools and fundraise for the Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS).

Daryanani presented a short statement about the upcoming National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, after which the Senate held a moment of silence. 

“Taking part in this day symbolizes our commitment to remembering Canada’s violent colonial history,” Daryanani said. “As we know, there is still a long way for all of us to go in order to achieve meaningful decolonization of our relationship with Indigenous Peoples.” 

Afterwards, the Senate approved a motion to revise the structure of the Joint Board Senate Committee on Equity, which is tasked with recommending policy that encourages the employment and participation of all individuals in the McGill community, including those from marginalized groups.

Campbell presented the motion outlining the committee’s revised structure, noting this was the first time the terms and structure of the Joint Board Senate Committee on Equity had been reviewed since it was formed in 1994. The proposed revisions included renaming the committee to the “McGill Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.” 

“There were some potential shortcomings, by virtue of the fact that the subcommittee’s structure might be over-general, under-inclusive,” Campbell said. “Their work was not always well-known, and there might be a lack of intersectionality.” 

Moment of the Meeting:

At the beginning of the meeting, vice-president (Health Affairs) David Eidelman Eidelman paid tribute to the late neurophysiologist Dr. Krešimir Krnjević, who was previously the chairman of the Department of Physiology at McGill. He also presented a tribute to the late Dr. John Burgess, an emeritus professor of medicine and a tireless advocate for Indigenous health. 

Soundbite:

“I think it’s going to be very important for this committee to treat us like adults, and say ‘okay, we have actually made some tough choices, and here are the choices, evaluate them as you will,’ rather than […] the decision-making process [being] a black box you’re not allowed to look into. I think we need to get rid of that black box.”

– Professor Derek Nystrom, on his hopes for the ad hoc COVID-19 advisory committee.

News, The Tribune Explains

Tribune Explains: What happens if your classmate gets COVID-19?

by Lily Cason on

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McGill’s COVID-19 management and prevention plan implemented during the return to in-person teaching includes COVID-19-related accommodations, a system of contact tracing, and email alerts to exposure risks. The McGill Tribune looked into what students can expect if they receive an email notice of a potential COVID-19 exposure. 

Who handles COVID-19 outbreaks on campus?

In Quebec, public health authorities have tasked universities with handling contact tracing and internal follow-up. At McGill, this responsibility is handled by the COVID-19 Case Management Group (CMG). The body established an eight-step process for handling cases on campus, which includes reporting COVID-19 symptoms or positive tests, conducting confidential interviews with the CMG, and determining the risk level of reported contacts with COVID-19. This process is initiated when a student or faculty member reports that they have COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive, and culminates with the weekly publication of McGill’s COVID-19 statistics. 

How does McGill identify those at high-risk for contact with COVID-19?

McGill uses the Santé Montreal and the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ) guidelines to define risk levels. A high-risk contact is someone who has been in unmasked, long-term physical contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. A moderate-risk contact is someone who has spent 15 minutes with someone who has tested positive without proper masking or being less than two metres away. A low-risk contact is someone who either spent less than 15 minutes in contact with someone who has tested positive, remained two metres away, or maintained adequate masking. 

What should I expect if a classmate tests positive for COVID-19?

If a student tests positive for COVID-19, McGill sends an email to all of the students in the class informing them of the potential of exposure and indicating the level of risk involved. If a student is classified as a low-risk contact, regardless of their vaccination status, they will simply be told to monitor for symptoms, but are not expected to get a test or self-isolate. Most classroom exposures will be deemed low-risk because of McGill’s masking requirement.

If a student is at high- or moderate-risk for contracting COVID-19, they will be directed to get tested and asked to report the results of the test to the Case Management Group. A high- or moderate-risk student’s vaccination status will determine whether they must self-isolate or not; those who are vaccinated are not required to self-isolate, but unvaccinated students are.

Brianna Faughnan, U2 Arts, received an email from the university informing her she had been exposed to COVID-19 in one of her classes just one week into the semester.

“I got an email that said if you were in this class on this day, you were in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19,” Faughnan said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “They did not tell me to get tested, they [only] said to monitor my symptoms, and they said that I was low-risk.”

Faughnan decided to get a test on her own accord, which came back with a negative result, but Faughnan worries others in her class were likely not as proactive.

“I’m sure that most people in my class did not proceed to get tested, or may not have even seen or read the email,” Faughnan said. “I’m very pessimistic about classes continuing to be in person given the university is not being proactive about health measures and [is] barely being reactive either.”

What COVID-19 management measures does the university have in place on campus?

The McGill administration emphasized that it has a plethora of health and safety measures in place. 

“McGill’s plan for the Fall involves several layers of protection, including exclusion of symptomatic individuals, procedural mask requirements, distancing in non-classroom environments, contact tracing, optimizing ventilation, and other means,” McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle wrote in an email to the Tribune. “Accommodations are available for vulnerable students and employees with appropriate medical documentation. The University encourages people to follow the government of Quebec’s vaccination directives.”

McGill, News

In absence of university-wide vaccine mandate, McGill law professors warn of liability risk

by Dima Kiwan on

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Many Canadian universities, including the University of Calgary and the University of British Columbia, have recently announced proof of vaccination requirements to access campus. Students and faculty began rallying for McGill to implement a university-wide vaccine mandate in early September, and McGill responded in a statement arguing that the policy is infeasible under Quebec law. Following this, a group of 12 McGill law professors wrote an open letter that found fault in McGill’s statement. 

Twelve McGill professors—later 36, as discussions continued—researched the legal case behind vaccine mandates and wrote to Rath Panda, chair of McGill’s Board of Directors, Suzanne Fortier, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University, and Christopher Manfredi, provost and vice-principal (Academic) urging McGill to reevaluate their stance. 

Richard Janda, associate professor in the Faculty of Law and a member of the initial twelve who voiced these concerns, argued that the university may be liable for damages to vulnerable people disproportionately impacted by the pandemic—such as immunocompromised people, pregnant women, and those with young families—should McGill not implement mandatory proof of vaccination.

“We were trying to signal that the university’s policy produced particular vulnerability for those people because they were not sure if they were safe in the classroom and some of them had to make very difficult choices between giving up their year in school versus coming to class,” Janda said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “I have seen the kinds of serious impacts that there can be, and people who would suffer impacts of that sort would certainly have a basis for making a claim if they could make out that the university had acted negligently.”

Janda refuted the legal standing McGill used to defend their position, referencing a recent decision upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, which involved students at University of Indiana making similar arguments.

“To argue that the people we should be protecting here are the people who, for no health or religious reason simply do not want to be vaccinated, is not really the protection of a vulnerable group of Canadians,” Janda asserted. “The president of the University of Ottawa, who has implemented such a proof of vaccination regime, is the former president of the Quebec Human Rights Commission and he’s a constitutional lawyer who knows this stuff inside out. So frankly, I trust Jacques Frémont’s analysis of this much more than I trust that of our general counsel.”

As per the federal government’s statement that education is an essential service, the McGill administration explains it will act, and implement COVID-19-specific accommodations, to make sure that no students are excluded from the learning environment. 

“The government considers higher education to be an essential service, [which imposes] a responsibility to ensure that no one enrolled in our university is excluded from essential learning activities without extraordinary justification,” wrote McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle. “McGill’s plan for the Fall involves several layers of protection, [and]  accommodations are available for vulnerable students and employees with appropriate medical documentation.”

While Janda and the university state that accommodations are available for people unable to get vaccinated for certain reasons, 2L law student *Grace is concerned that the Faculty of Law, in particular, has not delivered on this promise.

“There is absolutely no accommodation at the Faculty of Law,” *Grace said. “There is no imposed hybrid learning, if you miss class you miss class. [The Faculty cannot] accommodate to the point of telling people to just not come to school, which is very ableist in my opinion. There is no way for them to ethically impose vaccine mandates on campus without offering an across-the-board hybrid option for people who can’t go.”


*Grace’s name has been changed to preserve their anonymity.

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