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Opinion

Campus Conversations: Community

by Sarah McDonald, Clara Smyrski, Rupneet Shahriar on

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A love letter to the library
Sarah McDonald, Science & Technology Editor

If you’d have told me when I first got to McGill that my closest friendships would be forged in a library, there is no way I would have believed you, not even a little bit. Surely I’d make friends through classes, residence, and sports teams—but the library? No way. 

Little me simply couldn’t fathom how a library—a space for silent studying and wistful peering out the window, wishing you were at Open Air Pub (OAP) instead of Schulich—could ever lead to anything more than a dutifully earned grade and a fluorescent-lighting-induced headache.

What I didn’t understand is how central the libraries are to community life here at McGill. They are, at least in my experience, more than just academic hubs; they are social epicentres. 

When half of my ENGL 311 class agreed to meet to edit one another’s essays last October, I expected to learn a favourite colour or two, fix our essays, and leave. What I didn’t expect is that over the course of the year, those same people would fill my camera roll, my living room, and my heart so completely.

What began as an editing session in a McLennan library room quickly turned into a Wikipedia deep-dive on our professor. This, in turn, morphed into a conversational spiral only a deadline and a sugar rush could inspire. We left that room with two entire inside jokes—not bad for a bunch of strangers.

For the rest of the semester, we prepped for every assignment—whether it be an essay, a midterm, or a final exam—together. The library rooms in McLennan and Redpath became our second home. Those walls watched as we printed and marked up essays, played and re-played Kahoots, and wrote first drafts. But they also watched as we talked and hugged and snacked and vented and laughed and laughed and laughed so hard someone probably cried. 

Even after we had long established ourselves as a real friend group, we still found ourselves returning to the library rooms. After dinner and ice cream one February night, no one really wanted to go home; our roommates were asleep and it was cold outside. What did we do? We booked a library room.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I will be the very first to say there is more to university than just the library. However, there is also more to the library than just solitary confinement. There is something to be said about the feeling of collective camaraderie that only the environment of a library can truly foster. I don’t care if I’m writing a research paper and you’re solving differential equations; when it’s 2:00 a.m. in a McGill library, we’re in the same boat.

Libraries are the centre of our community for this very reason. Whether you’re studying, crying, or keeled over laughing with those soon-to-be friends from your class, the libraries—or at least their talking floors—will welcome you with open arms. I will forever mourn the day my friends and I stop texting the self-explanatory ‘library?’—a place, a question, and a bid for connection all rolled into one.

Goodbye to McGill’s athletics community 

Clara Smyrski, Sports Editor

On Nov. 20, McGill Athletics and Recreation announced the decision to cut 25 of their varsity and club sports teams, effectively ending 202 collegiate varsity careers and the entirety of the 18-team club sports program. 

For many at McGill, this decision is a mere headline that may catch their eye but will inevitably be pushed to the back of their mind. For others, however, it’s a turning point in their university experience—one that cracks the foundation that has supported them through every challenge university life has thrown their way.

Sports are not just a way to stay active; they teach teamwork, accountability, determination, and perseverance. Sports are arguably one of the most effective community-builders in the world. Sports have the power to bring teammates from completely different backgrounds and contexts onto the same field—and the power to unite entire nations across political and religious divides.

On the McGill Field Hockey team’s Change.org petition, an alumna of the team, Catriona, commented on how field hockey has changed her life beyond university. 

“Playing field hockey was what made me finally feel at home at McGill. It has provided academic and professional mentorship and connections that I would never have had otherwise [….] I know employers that have specifically sought out student-athletes because they work hard, balance responsibilities, and commit to being part of a team,” she wrote. “I will seek [a field hockey team] out wherever I live for the rest of my life—but I would not be doing this had I not been given the chance to play in college.”

Similarly, on McGill Track and Field’s petition, one commenter, Nadine, wrote that universities would not be/universities without sport. 

“My involvement in university athletics had a profound impact on my life. Beyond the medals, memories, and friendships, training and competing taught me how to balance my time, set priorities, and develop discipline and a strong work ethic,” they wrote. “Post-secondary education is far more than what happens in the classroom, it shapes who you become.”
The athletic community at McGill is far from perfect. For years, it has been riddled with unequal resource distribution and tension between teams and their administration. But this decision takes an already crumbling athletics community and rips it down the centre.

Amidst a hiring freeze, Quebec’s new French proficiency requirements, and a nationwide cap on international study permits, both McGill University and McGill Athletics and Recreation are grappling with a new and harsh reality. But when at a crossroads where McGill Athletics could’ve used their international prestige to stand against the Quebec government for the sake of all its student-athletes, they instead chose to succumb to pressures at the expense of their student-athletes. 

McGill has long distinguished itself as an institution that seeks to bring international academic and athletic talent to the province. With this comes a privilege and a responsibility to protect students, professors, and researchers—both current and future. The varsity restructuring decision not only sets a negative precedent for university sports nationwide, but also sows a deep distrust between McGill student-athletes and their administration. McGill Athletics’ continued lack of transparency, their limited and vague communication with teams, and the absence of any accountability mechanisms or appeal processes fracture any sense of trust or community that was previously built.

The athletic community at McGill is invaluable. It is with the heaviest of hearts, a profound agony for a lost future, and a bitter taste in our mouths that we are forced to say goodbye.

Accidental traditions

Rupneet Shahriar, Web Editor

People are often puzzled when I describe myself as an optimistic realist, someone who hopes deeply but holds expectations lightly. Growing up, I moved too often to build traditions. I never decorated bedrooms fully, never sat in the same classroom two years in a row, never stayed long enough for rituals to form. I was always a visitor, carrying only a seasonal pass from one community to another. 

I thought community traditions meant going to church every Sunday or wearing pink on Wednesdays—rituals that stood the test of time. My own immediate family was far more unconventional. Other than wearing new clothes and eating good food on Eid, we didn’t have many annual traditions. But my grandmother did. The night before Eid, her entire house smelled of sugar, saffron, and ghee, each corner steeped in her belief that no one should ever leave her home on an empty stomach. She treated that responsibility like a badge of honour. These moments are the earliest traditions I remember, even if I didn’t see them that way at the time.

I often found myself feeling as though I had arrived after these traditions were already formed, stepping into inside jokes and routines I had no history with. It made the community feel closed off, like something you earned only by staying in one place for years. 

Then something unexpectedly softened: I started noticing moments of belonging I couldn’t explain away. Every Saturday, without fail, I find myself with a warm bowl of food and even warmer company. My friends and I pick a new spot based on the last TikTok we saw, letting our curiosity choose for us. It’s never planned far in advance, and yet it’s become the most reliable part of my week. What matters most to me about this ritual is simple: I am thousands of miles away from home, yet I haven’t spent a single Saturday alone. 

And it isn’t just the Saturdays. Every summer, I find myself back within the yellow walls of a Cheesecake Factory, sharing the same Louisiana Chicken Pasta with the same two friends. Despite twenty other lunch ideas each year, we always return to that same booth—an accidental tradition that has quietly become ours.

It took me a while to understand that community and traditions aren’t predictable. They can be as simple as starting a movie with my roommate and falling asleep twenty minutes in—what matters is that we chose to do it anyway. Traditions show up in the 10:00 p.m. library visits, when you sit beside a friend who’s drowning in notes just so they don’t feel alone. And sometimes, tradition looks like your friends turning off the lights and bringing out a birthday cake every single year. Small communities become something steady, even when nothing else is.

My home will never smell as decadent as my grandma’s, but I’ve learned it can be just as full of love and laughter. In building these small traditions, I’ve begun shaping my own definition of community. Community doesn’t appear once you’ve stayed in one place long enough; it’s about choosing people and letting them choose you back.

McGill, News, SSMU

New campus food initiatives aim to fill the gap Midnight Kitchen’s closure left

by Malika Logossou on

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On Oct. 27, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) launched a free vegan lunch program, offered Monday through Friday from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the first floor of the University Centre. Students can pick up a meal as part of SSMU’s efforts to address food insecurity on campus. The current program was established after SSMU closed Midnight Kitchen—a student collective known for its free lunch service—on Oct. 1. This semester, meals are prepared by a catering company; SSMU is working towards a permanent lunch service run by a Food Services & Hospitality Manager that would operate out of a kitchen space in the University Centre.

In a written statement to The Tribune, SSMU President Dymetri Taylor outlined the current program’s timeline and plans, highlighting that it could extend into the Winter semester depending on the success of an alternate plan for replacing Midnight Kitchen. 

“[The program will] run until December 12th, as that’s the last day that the University Centre is open for this semester,” Taylor wrote. “It may continue to run during the Winter semester, depending on whether it’ll be possible for 5-meals/week to be served out of the 3rd floor kitchen space [by the Food Services & Hospitality Manager].”

Taylor explained that the SSMU has received frequent feedback on how to improve the current program, whether it be requests for larger serving sizes, or concerns about the ingredients used in meal preparation. One of the most common suggestions—asking that SSMU increase the number of meals offered—prompted the union to expand the program. 

“Initially it was 100 meals, increased to 125, and we will now be increasing to 175 meals/day starting next week (total of 875 meals per week),” Taylor wrote. “The frequency is going to remain at lunch servings once per day.” 

Taylor added that SSMU evaluates the program’s success by monitoring daily turnout.

“[Our measure of success is] that all the servings each day are gone and there’s no one left at the end of the serving without food,” Taylor wrote. 

Student reactions to the program remain mixed. One student who has attended the lunch program several times, who wished to remain unnamed, shared concerns about SSMU’s ability to adequately replace Midnight Kitchen in an interview with The Tribune. 

“I don’t think [the lunch program] fulfills the needs that Midnight Kitchen once provided [….] I’ve gone [about] four times now, on different days, and the [SSMU] portions are significantly smaller [than Midnight Kitchen’s], and you’re only given one meal option,” they said. “There’s no […] side salad, there’s no […] dessert.”

The student also emphasized the loss of a sense of community that Midnight Kitchen’s closure has created.

“Midnight Kitchen was great because it was also […] a collective effort of students making [the food served]. Now it’s a catering company that [provides the SSMU meals], and so you kind of lose that sense of community [….] The community and social justice aspect is completely gone.”

Maria Konovalov, U3 Arts, echoed these concerns about the quality of food SSMU is serving through its new lunch program in an interview with The Tribune.

“What I do like is that [the program] is daily. However, what I will say is that I have eaten there twice, and I will not go back because the food fully made me nauseous,” they stated. “There’s no dessert, [the food is] unseasoned [….] I really do hope that [SSMU will] improve the quality of their food.” 

The Arts Undergraduate Society of McGill (AUS) has also piloted its own initiative in response to the demand for accessible meals on campus following Midnight Kitchen’s closure. On Nov. 21, the society test-ran its Food Security Program, offering 50 free meals to students in the Faculties of Arts and Arts & Science who registered in advance through AUS Express for pickup from the Arts Lounge.

For more information on McGill’s accessible campus food services, consult SSMU’s Free Lunch Program schedule and menu, and the AUS Instagram @ausmcgill.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Dijon transforms Montreal into a playground of sound  

by Vittoria Vespoli on

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Halfway through his sold-out tour, Dijon walked out onto the barely lit L’Olympia stage in a sweater and jeans—no opener, no fuss—and somehow transformed a 2,400-capacity venue into a jam session in his living room. Before the stage lights even turned on, he slipped into the first notes of “Many Times,” and the room answered with a shout, the kind where everyone realizes they’re flung into something at the same time. 

2025 has been Dijon’s year: The release of his sophomore album Baby to practically unanimous praise, a cameo in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar-bound One Battle After Another, writing credits on Bon Iver’s newest album, and a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year on Justin Bieber’s best material in years. But in Montreal, all that buzz dissolved, leaving us with something intimate and irreplaceable. Dijon wasn’t playing the part of an artist on a winning run; he was just making music in real time, fully trusting that we’d follow him wherever he took us. 

With his seven-piece band, made up notably of Henry Kwapis on the drums, Amber Coffman from Dirty Projectors, and Daniel Aged, who’s previously worked with Frank Ocean and FKA Twigs, Dijon treated the night like a conversation between musicians: Songs weren’t just played, they changed shape, were remixed and rebuilt in real time. He’d restart mid-verse if the energy felt off, taking suggestions from the crowd. Band members moved around the stage as naturally as if they were rehearsing, tweaking sounds, stepping in and out depending on the track, like they were in a studio session we had the chance to witness. 

The set list swerved between pulse-pounding highs and softer sounds. “HIGHER!,” “Talk Down,” and “Yamaha” hit like quick bursts of adrenaline, the lights flashing on the audience, revealing a crowd swaying in unison. He gave a fresh kick to tracks like “rock n roll” by adding drum weight, creating a version that now only exists in that room. “(Referee)” melted seamlessly into “Rewind,” detonating into the night’s most electric mixes. “FIRE!” leaned heavily on production, sometimes swallowing Dijon’s voice. Still, it didn’t shake the energy in L’Olympia. “my man,” unexpectedly, was the vocal masterclass: A song I wasn’t particularly excited to hear, but one he blew right open. 

When the tempo slowed down, the room shifted with him. “The Dress,” his best-known and beloved track, pulled the audience into a collective trance, thousands of voices singing along. Its transition into “Annie” made the moment land even harder, the two songs folding into each other so naturally that the crowd leaned forward with them, powerless. He surprised the audience with “TV Blues,” an older track, previously untouched on this tour. Dijon’s been keeping fans on their toes, switching up the setlist at every stop, so the second the opening notes hit, you could see the crowd trying to place it, followed by smiles of recognition that ran across the audience.  

After “Kindalove,” he saluted us and left the stage with his band members, but the crowd wasn’t having it. Their applause dragged him back out for a three-song encore: “Big Mike’s,” sped up, “Nico’s Red Truck,” an old single from his discography that had the whole room clapping along to the beat, and finally, “Rodeo Clown.” For that last hurrah, his band slipped offstage, leaving him alone in the spotlight, the audience cast in darkness, singing along. Slowly, the musicians drifted back onstage, folding themselves back into the song when needed. The encore cemented the spell, reminding everyone why he’s one of today’s most surprising and magnetic performers. 

As I walked out, the music still vibrated in my chest, quietly humming, as if Montreal hadn’t just heard a concert but had helped build one.

Commentary, Opinion

Without redistributing power, repatriation of artifacts remains incomplete

by Defne Feyzioglu on

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Reconciliation should not come with an invoice. The Vatican’s decision to return 62 Indigenous artifacts to Canada is being described as a “concrete sign of dialogue, respect and fraternity.” Yet when the Catholic Church maintains control over the timing, framing, and logistics of the return, even forcing Indigenous communities to pay to bring home what was stolen from them, such gestures reveal how colonial power still sets the terms of reconciliation.

For a century, Indigenous belongings—including an Inuit kayak and a set of embroidered gloves from the Cree Nation—sat in the Vatican’s ethnographic collection. The Church claimed the artifacts, and they were added to the Anima Mundi museum as part of its permanent inventory in 1925. Now, the Vatican has decided to return these artifacts to Canada. 

This action, on the surface, is powerful: Indigenous belongings make the long trip home after decades in a European museum. Pope Leo XIV has framed this move as proof that the Vatican is listening to Indigenous demands for justice. Yet, the 62 objects have not been handed directly to Indigenous organizations. Instead, they were formally given to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, which will then be responsible for working with Indigenous representatives and the Canadian Museum of History to identify each object and eventually route it back to its community of origin. This bureaucratic process reflects a broader pattern in repatriation work. 

Indigenous nations bear a large share of the labour and financial burden in regaining what is theirs: Travelling to museums, documenting claims, hiring researchers and legal experts, and covering transport and ceremony costs. One recent report on the repatriation of Indigenous items in British Columbia estimated that fully returning heritage objects currently held in museum collections would cost these groups $663 million CAD. This system places the burden on systemically disadvantaged communities to negotiate with government-funded institutions, which are grounded in powerful academic and cultural networks, just to reclaim what belonged to these communities in the first place.

The Vatican has framed the repatriated artifacts as gifts, stating the items were originally sent by missionaries to showcase both Catholic expansion and the “cultural richness” of the peoples they evangelized. Such characterizations of these artifacts fail to reveal the true context in which they entered the museum—as belongings stolen under conditions of profound coercion. For generations, the Catholic Church was a central power in Canada’s role in colonialism. Catholic orders operated the majority of federally funded residential schools, facilitating land dispossession and banning Indigenous ceremonies to systemically eradicate their cultures. Yet recent moves by the Catholic Church, such as the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery and the 2022 papal apology for residential schools, merely distract from the Church’s duty to reconcile for its theft of these objects, instead casting the Church as a morally awakened actor generously choosing to share what it ‘owns.’

This framing shapes public understanding of what reconciliation requires. If the return of these belongings is treated primarily as a sign of good will, the underlying question of rightful ownership is softened, and the asymmetry of power involved in both the original removal and the present-day repatriation is obscured. 

The return of the 62 pieces is an important step, but incomplete. Tens of thousands of Indigenous artifacts remain in the Vatican’s ethnographic holdings. If institutions continue to control which items are relinquished, on what schedule, and at what cost, they will still retain the most significant form of authority: The power to decide who gets to keep their heritage and who doesn’t.

For reconciliation to move beyond symbolism and colonial facilitation, the logic reinforcing repatriation would need to be reversed. The default must become proactive, institutionally funded returns guided by Indigenous priorities, and a willingness to relinquish interpretive control not only over individual objects, but over the stories museums tell about how those objects arrived in their collection in the first place. 
This responsibility doesn’t end at the Vatican Museums. McGill, situated on unceded territory of the Kanien’kehà:ka, equips archives, research practices, and institutional structures shaped by the same colonial histories that made the Vatican’s ethnographic holdings possible. Whether in Vatican City or in Montreal, reconciliation must represent genuine efforts to repair damage by colonialism—not strategic efforts to save reputational face.

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

The McGill Engine Centre’s 11th annual innovation celebration

by Leanne Cherry on

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On the rainy evening of Nov. 27, the McGill Engine Centre hosted its 11th annual celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship at the Redpath Museum. The event highlighted the students, faculty, and researchers who applied innovative tech solutions to real-world problems with the help of Engine.    

In an interview with The Tribune, Andromeda Wang—a former undergraduate student in the McGill Desautels Faculty of Management and a current administrative coordinator for the McGill Engine Centre—explained what Engine is all about. 

“Engine is an incubator for early-stage tech-driven startups, and what we do is we help students [and] faculty across McGill with their startup ideas […] by giving them training on more of the business side,” she said. “We are primarily tech-driven, so STEM, anything technologically innovative, science, math, […] medicine is a big one, and […] we offer the kind of business support and support for innovation at McGill.” 

The McGill Engine Centre helps dedicated students turn their tech dreams into a reality by providing them with mentorship, funding, and community, among other things. One of the Centre’s key programs is the TechAccel Program, which is open to McGill undergraduate, graduate, and post-doc students interested in launching their own start-ups. This program has granted over $265,000 CAD in funding since 2016 and is an exciting prospect for students looking to bring their ideas to fruition.

“It’s essentially your tech idea, and you […] get assigned a mentor [because] you get to talk about your ideas, do the market research, and, you know, create community within the startup and technological innovation space at MGill and even beyond,” Wang said.

The TechAccel Program takes three cohorts of students annually, and each cycle lasts around 18 weeks. For those who are just looking to get their foot in the door without long-term commitment, Engine offers a number of additional resources. 

“We also host workshops every week during the school year on pre-startup skills. So it covers market research, how to find your customer, Startup Law 101, those are just a couple of the topics we have,” Wang said. “We also have a more in-depth collaboration with McGill SKILLSETS, which again covers kind of the startup skills you need, but it goes a little bit more in depth.”

The McGill Engine Centre also works with McGill engineering students completing their capstone projects. TissueTinker, one of many tech-driven solutions highlighted at the event, began as one of these capstone projects and is now an operational startup. 

“[TissueTinker] is a cancer modelling solution that allows you to 3D print living human tissue to test new drugs on directly without the need for animal studies,” Madison Santos, one of the company’s three co-founders, said in an interview with The Tribune. 

The company engineers materials that simulate different bodily tissues, such as organs. These serve as a scaffold into which researchers can incorporate their cells of interest, whether they are from patients directly or sourced commercially. From there, the researchers can load the scaffold into TissueTinker’s bench-top 3D bioprinter, enabling them to print living tissue to use for their research.

Not only does TissueTinker’s work facilitate groundbreaking cancer research, but it also does so while lowering some of the environmental and emotional expenditure associated with animal research. Furthermore, TissueTinker employs many students, ultimately allowing the founders to carry forward the community-building initiatives that the McGill Engine Centre helps foster.  

“We were all students once. I would never have gotten to this point had somebody not taken a chance on me when I was a student, and I feel we kind of owe that to the next generation to take the chance on people that might also be able to do great things and help them get started, whether it, you know, will long term remain with us or whether they will find their own things and fly off,” Santos said. 

The McGill Engine Centre and the companies that it has helped remind us that community-building is essential, as it is these connections which allow us to flourish on academic, interpersonal and societal levels.

McGill, News

McGill Athletics slashes over half of varsity and club portfolio

by Mairin Burke on

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Recent provincial pressures on McGill’s finances—from government limits on how many international students McGill can accept, to government-mandated tuition hikes for out-of-province students—have led the university to cut costs. Most recently, McGill cut 25 McGill Athletics varsity and club programs.

As McGill Athletics announced on Nov. 20, the teams that McGill has cut beyond this season are men’s and women’s varsity Badminton, men’s varsity Baseball, men’s and women’s Fencing, women’s varsity Field Hockey, men’s and women’s Figure Skating, men’s and women’s varsity Golf, women’s Lacrosse, men’s and women’s Logger Sports, men’s and women’s Nordic Ski, women’s varsity Rugby, men’s and women’s Sailing, men’s and women’s Squash, men’s and women’s Tennis, men’s and women’s varsity Track and Field, and men’s Volleyball.

Teams that will still compete beyond the end of the 2025–2026 academic year are co-ed varsity Artistic Swimming, men’s and women’s varsity Basketball, co-ed Cheerleading, men’s and women’s varsity Cross Country, women’s Flag Football, men’s varsity Football, men’s and women’s varsity Hockey, men’s varsity Lacrosse, men’s and women’s varsity Rowing, men’s varsity Rugby, men’s and women’s varsity Soccer, men’s and women’s varsity Swimming, and women’s varsity Volleyball.

Community members immediately criticized the university for what they called an “unbelievable” decision. In an interview with The Tribune, varsity Track and Field Co-Captain Ashleigh Brown, U4 Arts, affirmed being “completely blindsided” by the results of the varsity review.

“To give you an idea of how blindsided we were, our head coach was in the middle of doing tours for [potential recruits when cuts were announced],” she said. “Given the standards that [McGill Athletics] set, we thought that we fit most of [the review] criteria, so most of us were confident that our team would be staying. We were never told explicitly that the Track and Field team was under [any] scrutiny.”

Similarly, Vice President Competitive of McGill’s Nordic Ski Club, Matthew Randall, U3 Science, emphasized in an interview with The Tribune that McGill Athletics warned Nordic Ski they would be restructuring only two weeks prior to the decision’s announcement.

“We still don’t have more information about how teams were compared concretely [when] McGill Athletics went about making this decision very quickly,” Randall emphasized. “Nov. 3 is when [McGill Athletics] first told [Nordic Ski] that they were going to be making cuts [….] They told us the review process was sort of months in the making, but this [was] the first we were hearing formally of it.”

In a written statement to The Tribune, McGill Athletics shared some of the main factors they took into account in their review decisions, emphasizing a potential provincial focus.

“[We looked at] overall competitive performance and future potential, [….] availability and suitability of competition venues, […] financial and administrative requirements, […] [and McGill Athletics’] ability to provide appropriate and sustainable support […] while ensuring compliance with McGill University policies,” McGill Athletics wrote. “Through a rigorous review process guided by the new RSEQ model, [we are] aligning [our] programming with the future of sport in Quebec.”

McGill Athletics also outlined the post-restructuring supports they have offered to impacted athletes.

“Administrators continue to meet with affected sports to […] discuss potential pathways for continued participation, including the possibility of transitioning to SSMU club status,” McGill Athletics wrote. “We continue to encourage our students to seek support through the [Athletics] Local Wellness Advisor.”

However, Martlets Field Hockey vice captain Grace Hodges, U3 Arts, expressed in an interview with The Tribune that the mental health resources recommended by McGill Athletics are inadequate.

“[McGill Athletics has] one therapist on staff who [is] obviously wonderful at their [job], but can’t possibly be expected to account for all the athletes [cut], particularly given that trying to get an appointment with them [regularly] takes a month [already],” she stated. 

Hodges further shared that the reactive measures of support McGill Athletics has provided to impacted athletes feel performative.

“They’ve offered meetings with all the teams that were cut,” she stated. “I think that is a response to the media blowback that there’s been [….] You have Olympians who are talking about how embarrassing this is for McGill, […] [so] I don’t think there’s a genuine concern for the athletes. I think [McGill is concerned] for their image and damage control.”

Sports Editor Clara Smyrski and Sports Staff Writer Jenna Payette are members of the McGill Women’s Field Hockey team. Neither was involved in the writing, editing, or publication of this article.

Research Briefs, Science & Technology

Do good, feel good: Volunteering and its potential benefits to youth mental health

by Michelle Yankovsky on

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What if youth engagement in civic activities—volunteering, activism, and advocacy—did more than help communities? What if it also improved the mental health of volunteers? While traditional approaches to mental health include psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, and pharmacological treatments, some McGill researchers are exploring how civic involvement can contribute to positive mental health outcomes among young people.

In a recent publication in the Adolescent Research Review, Anthony Sciola, a fifth-year PhD student in McGill’s Applied Child Psychology program and member of the Youth Suicide Prevention Lab, examined how civic engagement affects youth mental health outcomes. Sciola’s desire to investigate this topic developed from a broader interest in identifying alternative ways to support and improve individuals’ mental health.

“I always wanted to find something where mental health professionals are not the only source to help people,” Sciola said in an interview with The Tribune. “We always hear about physical activity, therapy, or pharmacological interventions as being something that will help mental health, right? So [I thought], what can civic engagement, getting involved in the community, do for mental health?”

Sciola’s study compiled 13 longitudinal studies—which follow a group of individuals over a substantial period of time—into a systematic review. Volunteering was the most studied civic activity, and depressive symptoms were the most investigated mental health outcome. He explained that separating civic engagement activities into individual subcategories yielded significant results when assessing their effects on mental health.

“Some studies grouped a bunch of civic engagement activities into one construct, and when they did this, the results were usually not significant,” Sciola said. “It’s really when they were separating the activities, like looking at volunteering, activism, and political engagement [separately that] we really started to see something [significant].” 

Sciola found that volunteering seems to be the most beneficial for youths’ mental health, which is not surprising as this type of activity is known to foster a sense of belonging and purpose, and increase positive social interactions.

Sciola also pointed out the bidirectional association between mental health and civic engagement, where a particular state of mental health can impact one’s level of civic pursuit.

“People who had better mental health scores were more likely to engage in civic activities,” Sciola noted. “But again, it really depends on the specific activity you participate in.”

In a follow-up study, Sciola examined five different civic engagement variables—volunteering, charitable actions, political engagement, activism, and community involvement—to further examine this association.

“Our [follow-up] study found that youth at 20 years old who volunteered or participated in charitable actions were found to have less depressive symptoms three years later,” he said.

However, other activities, such as political engagement or activism, tended to produce more complex results.

“We also found that participating in activism actually produced higher depressive symptoms three years later,” Sciola said.

Sciola explained how activism can affect individual people’s mental health differently.

“It’s not to say that we shouldn’t participate in these activities, it’s just there’s a lot of external factors that go into them, such as discrimination, being viewed a certain way, and putting yourself out there, which could lead to a lot of scrutiny,” Sciola said. “These types of activities have a lot more risk than participating in something like volunteering, where you go to an activity that people are usually in positive spirits for.”

Sciola encourages youth to be intentional about the types of civic activities they pursue. 

“The main message I want to give is participate in an activity that you feel closely connected to and that brings value to you, especially if it is something like helping [others],” Sciola said.Overall, Sciola’s study highlights the importance of finding new approaches to improving young people’s mental health. Since mental health issues have risen globally, becoming the primary cause of disability in youth alongside substance use disorders, it is in McGill’s best interest to explore accessible, innovative, and community-based strategies that support students’ well-being.

Arts & Entertainment, Fashion, Private

2026 Met Gala theme ‘Costume Art’ revives the body in art

by Lia James on

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On Nov. 17, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the 2026 Met Gala theme, “Costume Art,” in honour of the new 12,000 square foot gallery space that will house the Costume Institute’s annual spring exhibition. 

The Met Gala has consistently been a spectacle that sparks widespread discussion; the theme is the backbone of the ensembles worn by attendees. This year’s theme, however, is very broad. In an interview with Vogue, Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton said the exhibition will be on the human body—specifically how the body communicates with costume. “The idea was to put the body back into discussions about art and fashion, and to embrace the body, not to take it away as a way of elevating fashion to an art form,” he explained.

There are many ways designers might interpret the 2026 Met Gala theme, from referencing famous portraits housed in the Met to reimagining other iconic paintings. They could draw inspiration from ancient Greek and Roman marble sculpture. Imagine someone appearing in a dress referencing Winged Victory of Samothrace, a sculpture of the goddess Nike on the bow of a ship. Despite the material being marble, the look of wetness and wind against her body makes the dress flow as if real. It would be interesting to see a designer experiment with that illusion, transforming a hard material into something that looks soft and fluid. 

Bolton mentions in the interview that the exhibit will reference the nude body in art, so perhaps we can expect to see some inspiration from works such as Aphrodite of Knidos, Michelangelo’s David and many more. David was revolutionary in the way it depicted the idea of a ‘perfect body’ during the Renaissance. Designers and attendees can create room for a discussion about the classic ‘idealized body’ and the way nude women have been depicted and perceived by society for centuries. 

The Costume Art exhibition will be split into three sections: Overlooked bodies, such as aging bodies; bodies frequently portrayed in art; and universal bodies, referencing the ubiquitous human anatomy we all share. Basing costumes on overlooked bodies is particularly thought-provoking, especially since many of the celebrities attending the Met Gala regularly use anti-aging procedures, such as Botox and plastic surgery. With a celebrity culture punctuated by Ozempic and unhealthy body standards, plus-sized bodies are also overlooked and stigmatized in visual culture. Ironically, it could be argued that the very celebrities funding and attending the Met Gala are partially responsible for the disregard of these bodies in the first place.  

Bolton’s idea of representing the ‘universal body’ in this exhibit also has many intriguing facets. Can we expect to see ideas of the anatomical body, perhaps dresses that are supposed to represent the human muscular structure, skeleton, or different organs essential for living?

The Met Gala itself is highly exclusive, with tickets from past years costing about $30,000 USD and attendees drawn mostly from celebrity or wealthy circles. In this context, this theme of a ‘universal body’ may be an attempt to reach out to the average person viewing this event, who does not share that level of privilege. The message behind the theme may be a gesture towards connection and community, because in the end, we are all humans. 

Who will be brave enough to represent the overlooked bodies? And while most of the celebrities have some familiarity with their own bodies as works of art, how will celebrities celebrate the universal? 

Commentary, Opinion

Cutting teaching assistant funding will hurt learning

by Max Funge-Ripley on

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With first- and second-year classes averaging 69 enrolled students—and many required classes tallying in the hundreds—McGill must create more opportunities for students to collaborate in smaller sections. The benefits of small-group learning have been widely documented; it is in McGill’s best interest to draw money from its endowment to expand teaching support instead of cutting it.

In 2013, McGill chose to cut 100 seminar-style classes in the Faculty of Arts and redirect the saved funds toward hiring more teaching assistants (TAs). The aim was to offset the cut of smaller courses by dividing larger classes into conferences managed by TAs. 

Studies consistently show that people remember information best when they link what they are learning to their own personal experiences. TA-led conferences can best facilitate this process. Often, this format of smaller class sizes and closer instructional attention allows students to engage with material in a more multifaceted and low-risk setting alongside peers. 

This year, instead of maintaining its promised expansion plan, McGill has reversed course. With the deficit expected to grow to nearly $200 million CAD by 2028, the administration chose to implement 15 to 20 per cent cuts for teaching support in the Faculty of Arts, shifting TAs into other roles and reducing their hours.

This is a lose-lose scenario. Cost-cutting is a short-term solution to a budget shortfall, but it spells demise in the long run. In ten years, will TAs who had their hours cut want to donate money to McGill? What about students who struggled to find classes where their voice was heard and valued, where they could delve deep into topics out of pure interest, not just motivated by a grade?

If McGill wants to receive donations from alumni and preserve its endowment in the long term, it must create positive experiences for its students. More importantly, if students, faced with a tough job market, see that the only programs worth maintaining are those that provide monetary value to McGill, they might apply that logic to their own lives and prioritize performance over learning.

By robbing students of a space to share their thoughts, the administration tells Arts students that their academic contributions are not worth the tuition they pay, even as McGill raises spending on external private security by the millions.

McGill is teaching the wrong lessons. It’s operating like a business and foregoing its primary goal of promoting higher-level learning. If advancing education were truly the administration’s top priority, as President Deep Saini claims, it wouldn’t cut funding for teaching support. 

As Quebec lowers funding and slashes caps on international students, fiscal prudence is wise, but McGill still has an impressive cushion. The university’s endowment sits at $2.2 billion CAD, of which the university spends 4 per cent each year. In contrast, the endowment grosses a ten-year average of 7 per cent per year, a rate that continues to rise. The fund has increased in value by a whopping 41 per cent in the last five years, an astounding number in light of this month’s frantic belt-tightening.

McGill should raise its distribution rate from 4 per cent to 4.25 per cent, freeing up an extra $5 million CAD to hire more teaching assistants. This small budget increase would allow McGill to hire 300 more teaching assistants for the whole year, expanding the number of TAs by nearly 20 per cent, while still ensuring that the endowment grows over time.

Cuts to teaching support will wind up hurting McGill’s fundraising abilities, reputation, and enrollment in the future, while worsening the experience of current students. McGill claims it can’t afford to pay for teaching assistants. In the long run, it can’t afford to cut them.

Editorial, Opinion

Montreal’s unhoused population deserves to thrive, not just survive

by The Tribune Editorial Board on

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For Montreal’s unhoused individuals, the early-descending freezing temperatures and the predicted high-precipitation winter ahead pose fatal risks, including frostbite, hypothermia, and death. Yet, shelters across the city are already struggling at and over capacity. 

Although Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada has promised to expand housing and healthcare services for the unhoused, the city’s political and institutional apathy towards long-term sustainable solutions to the housing crisis persists. Such inaction upholds a cycle that denigrates the city’s most vulnerable individuals, sustains housing and healthcare insecurity, and fails to properly ensure that humans live with dignity, support, and security.

In Montreal, shelter space for the unhoused population falls far short of growing demand. There are about 1,800 shelter beds available but an estimated 4,690 unhoused individuals, forcing some shelters to offer chairs for the night instead of beds. Just this week, housing rights advocates voiced concerns about the increasing death rate among the unhoused, which had been rising long before the winter months. The persistent occurrence of preventable deaths of those already most marginalized lays bare the failures of Montreal’s housing and healthcare systems. 

In her campaign, Mayor Ferrada promised to end homeless encampments within four years, claiming that they pose risks to the city’s cleanliness and security. However, just weeks after her election, Quebec’s Transport Ministry issued dozens of eviction notices to individuals living in tents along Notre-Dame Street, giving residents only days to vacate. Ferrada’s strategy of dismantling homeless encampments without first prioritizing housing alternatives for their inhabitants effectively criminalizes the unhoused population for circumstances created and upheld by governmental negligence.

Instead of supporting crisis measures, the government has put time and money into violently destroying encampments, inhumanely stripping individuals of all their belongings, and leaving them without any place to go. In this way, the Ferrada government has chosen to address a major socioeconomic crisis by displacing a population it considers unpalatable, relocating these groups to areas where they will be less visible instead of confronting the systemic factors that lead to homelessness in the first place. 

The housing crisis is just one in a web of interrelated systems which mutually compound an individual’s risk of becoming unhoused. In Montreal, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are disproportionately represented in these systems. The over-policing of Indigenous populations, for example, leads to overrepresentation in incarceration, which then leads to a compounded risk of homelessness after release. Health disparities incurred by unhoused 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals bear similarly cyclical effects, as a lack of access to proper gender-affirming care and social services leads to increased prevalence of poor mental health, further entrenching housing insecurity. For women, domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness, while children who have been involved in the foster care system are also overrepresented among unhoused youth.  

The Montreal municipal government’s support for the homelessness crisis has come largely in the form of seasonal warming centres and temporary housing. While critical for short-term triage, especially in harsh weather, such temporary fixes must be complemented by equally substantiated commitment to sustainable, year-round housing solutions.

The homelessness crisis is not inevitable—it is curated and actively upheld through political apathy, hostile urban design, and governmental policy. However, that also means that governments, lawmakers, and institutions have the agency to reverse this crisis. 

At the municipal level, Montreal must dismantle its hostile public architecture projects and incorporate cultural sensitivity into police training. The Ferrada government must also set aside funding for housing solutions to supplement provincial funding, instead of relying on the perennial good will of local organizations and shelters. At the provincial level, Quebec must hold itself accountable for pursuing long-term solutions to the housing crisis, as well as seeking improvements to social services and healthcare.

Action need not be limited to government bodies. McGill must commit to conducting comprehensive research aimed at benefitting the unhoused population and ensuring representation in data to best inform future policy. 

Above all, Montreal’s unhoused population must be treated with dignity, respect, and support. Mitigating the homelessness crisis must not be a push to meet the low bar of subsistence, but to ensure that every human being has the foundation to survive, and the resources, agency, and respect to thrive.

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