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McGill, News

McGill COVID-19 case tracker counts positive cases present on campus

by Jack Zimakas on

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Recent outbreaks in McGill’s residences and in Quebec have called into question the functionality of McGill’s COVID-19 case tracker for students and employees. Since Oct. 4, the tracker has reported eight positive cases of COVID-19 on campus, an increase since mid-September. 

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Fabrice Labeau explained how the Regional Director of Public Health (DRSP) has helped the university enact safe and sensible policies.

“[The numbers] we report in that case tracker are really the [McGill students and employees] who have [self-reported] having a confirmed COVID-19 positive test and have been present on campus [in] the seven days prior,” Labeau said. 

Labeau explained that McGill contacts all individuals who self-report a positive test result to find out their whereabouts on campus in the last seven days.

“The idea is really to do contact tracing [….] The [DRSP] will also warn us when they know about a case on campus,” Labeau said. “What we do is try to determine […] who their contacts were, so we can actually trace back [and find individuals] who are low, medium, and high-risk […] and tell them what [they] have to do.”

Labeau outlined the DRSP’s assessment of infection risk as follows: High-risk contacts are those who have been living with a person who tested positive, moderate-risk contacts have been less than two metres from a positive case for more than 15 minutes without a mask, and low-risk contacts are everybody else who has likely been in contact with a positive case.

“If you’re a low-risk contact, you’re told [to] watch your symptoms like you do every day,” Labeau said. “When you’re [at a] moderate or high-risk level, you’re [going to] be told to self-isolate, get tested and continue isolating until you get the result.” 

The tracker is intended to help students evaluate the risk of being present on campus each week. Some students living near campus criticized the tracker’s narrow scope, claiming that the university downplays local severity by not reporting cases in the densely student-populated areas surrounding the campus.

Christopher Buddle, Associate Provost (Teaching & Academic Programs), explained why the tracker does not account for off-campus cases.

“We can’t really gather data from outside of what we actually know,” Buddle said. “That’s why there’s always a lot to talk about [involving] the Milton-Parc area, and other [areas] where lots of students are living, but the risks of publishing information that’s not of the right quality is really high.”

As social distancing restrictions in residence have tightened since Montreal entered the red zone, stricter enforcement by residence staff has followed suit. Carrefour Sherbrooke resident Pryor Sohn, U0 Arts, believes that the intervention of residence authorities when they suspect a violation of rules is invasive of students’ privacy.

“While I do understand you don’t want […] students going from room to room, and while […] [prohibited activity] should be punished […], there is something [invasive about] purposely listening in to see if [students are] having a conversation or demanding to be let into a room to double-check even when there’s not really any proof of rule-breaking,” Sohn said. “It very much has the vibe of ‘guilty until proven innocent,’ which is not great.”

Quebec registered more than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases last week, breaking a new record on Saturday, Oct. 17 with 1,279 new cases in 24 hours. Despite the increase in cases, Labeau believes in the continuity of campus life, explaining McGill’s tentative contingency plans for residences. 

“There are all sorts of possibilities in terms of what could happen […] depending on the nature of the outbreak,” Labeau said. “[Even though] we are at the maximum alert level now, it doesn’t mean that we empty out residences.”

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If you are a member of the McGill community and believe you have been exposed to COVID-19, go here. 

McGill, News

SSMU advocates for affordable textbooks and Open Education Resources

by Anthony Schokalsky on

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Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) began promoting Open Education Resources (OER), which makes textbooks more accessible by providing them free of charge. Despite rising tuition and textbook costs since the 1970s, the digitization of academia due to the pandemic has not appeared to slow price hikes of education material. In an email exchange with The McGill Tribune, SSMU Vice-President (VP) Student Affairs Brooklyn Frizzle wrote about the student union’s continued efforts to advocate for OERs.

“Open Educational Resources are basically open-source, free-for-use material (think Khan Academy or OpenStax) that can supplement or even replace traditional course materials like textbooks,” Frizzle wrote. “My predecessor, Madeline Wilson, actually kickstarted SSMU’s OER project and we’ve seen the project grow tremendously in the past few months.”

Frizzle noted that several McGill classes already have complete OERs: CHEM 110 and 120, MATH 140 and 141, PHYS 101, and ECON 208.

“At this point, there are six courses where we’ve compiled OERs that can completely replace the textbooks, and we’re adding new courses to that list every semester,” Frizzle wrote. 

The last report on Open Educational Resources (OERs) at McGill was published in 2017. SSMU’s OER coordinators have launched a new students’ textbook experience survey on Sept. 26 to gather information on the cost of mandatory course materials and the current use of OERs. The OER team behind the survey plans to prepare a report for SSMU later this academic year with the information gathered in the survey. 

Frizzle added that SSMU has collaborated with university administrators on possible methods to reduce the dependency of McGill courses on textbooks.  

“SSMU has also been working with McGill to encourage professors to reconsider their current dependence on physical course materials or paywalled digital textbooks,” Frizzle wrote. “In the meantime, SSMU is continuing our #textbookbroke campaign to advocate for a shift from expensive textbooks to open-source material.” 

McGill librarian Katherine Hanz is optimistic about the future of textbook accessibility, stating that the decision to join the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS) has expanded the library’s capacity for digital resources and boosted their ability to digitize items that were previously less accessible. 

“Joining ETAS [allowed] us to provide over two million books from the library’s print collection (including in-copyright materials) online for all McGill students,” Hanz wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “[Including ETAS], the library now has over 3.5 million books available electronically.” 

Frizzle highlights how the McGill library has committed to making course materials more affordable to students by providing more free coursepacks.

“We’ve actually made some solid progress lately,” Frizzle said. “Starting in Winter 2021, the library has committed to offering upwards of 75 per cent of all coursepacks free of charge through myCourses.

The McGill library’s Rare Books and Special Collections section now offers a Digitization on Demand service of their collections, print materials via the Library Pickup Service, digitization of physical course reserves, and has plans to allow students to receive physical items in the mail.

The library’s move to make textbooks more affordable and accessible online comes at a time where the university has had to rapidly transition to online learning.

Jeff Noh, Ph.D candidate and lecturer in the English Department, explained that people interact with physical and digital versions of texts differently.

“It’s possible to engage with a digital edition in ways that you can’t with a physical copy, from being able to do a ‘control-F’ of a text to track word usage to the kind of computational methods employed by researchers in the digital humanities,” Noh said. “But the opposite is true too: There are literary analysis techniques that are encoded to the printed book [like] annotating a page while performing a close reading and, flipping backwards in a novel to verify our intuitions about its narrative structure.”

The SSMU and the library’s efforts to curb McGill’s dependence on physical course material and make textbooks more affordable are underway. Whether there will be any long-term change when McGill eventually transitions back to in-person learning remains to be seen. 

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘Emily In Paris’ is poised off of an idealized Paris

by Deana Korsunsky on

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Netflix’s latest release, Emily In Paris, is a plethora of generic tropes, teeming with cultural stereotypes, questionable outfits, and overused plot lines that induce eye-rolls from even the most charitable of viewers. I binged it in two days. 

The show revolves around 20-something-years-old American marketing extraordinaire Emily Cooper, played by Lily Collins, who, over the course of 10 episodes, is sent to her company’s Paris branch and becomes enamoured with the city of love. When I started the series, I did not realize that I would embark on a tumultuous journey: One that began with skepticism and second-hand embarrassment of my American citizenship, but ended with my undying devotion to every character and a desperate hunger for season two. 

I consulted with Parisian resident and subsequent Paris expert Louise Lienhart, U4 Arts, to learn more about what the show portrays correctly about Paris, and what it misrepresents. 

“I think [the show] exaggerates a lot of stereotypes that have been said about Parisians,”
Lienhart said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “It’s obviously romanticized. It’s always the fancy, polished streets of Paris [that are shown].”

Indeed, while Emily is pictured strutting in front of the Louvre, lounging in cafés, and strolling along the Seine, it appears as though Paris’ more mundane and dilapidated environs, like its metro, simply do not exist. On social media, the show’s beautified city has ignited Parisian viewers’ creativity and meme-making, as they laugh at the absence of Paris staples like manic drivers, overpriced odd jobs, and street pick-pockets. 

Although the city itself is hyper-idealized, the show’s Parisians are far from it. Emily In Paris’s French characters are essentially built from oversexualized and heteronormative stereotypes. It appears that Paris’ charm lies in its overabundance of drop-dead gorgeous men and women at every turn, be it in Emily’s apartment building, workplace, or even local cafés. 

“You think about ‘Paris, city of love’ and the show is making it this whole hypersexualised affair,” Lienhart said. “[The show’s] Parisians seem to always be ready to choose pleasure over work, and have a hard time separating their private life from their professional one, which is not [true in] my experience.” 

Emily’s boss, a Miranda Priestly-like executive named Sylvie, is depicted as a snobbish, stubborn antagonist, constantly attempting to sabotage Emily out of sheer spite. Sylvie flirts with clients, has an affair, and meddles in Emily’s own love life. Although obviously an exaggeration for entertainment purposes, this storyline feels distinctly questionable for Lienhart. 

“French people are more subtle than this in terms of their private affairs. I actually think they Americanized her a little bit,” Lienhart said, drawing on the outlandishness and rudeness of Sylvie’s characterization. 

Lienhart especially notes that Paris is actually more modest than it appears, as she recalls the juxtaposition between Parisian and Montrealaise cultures. 

“I had the contrary effect coming to Montreal, where I felt people were more overt about their appearances and private lives, whereas in Paris, I find myself dressing more modestly,” Lienhart said. (Lienhart has declined all requests to start a @LouiseInMontreal blog.)

Emily In Paris’s cultural ambivalence is not-quite-Parisian, yet not-quite-American. It commits itself to a French aesthetic, yet depicts its French characters through an Americanized lens of exaggeration and drama, resulting in a hybrid Paris with a Sex In The City-esque tone. Regardless of questionable stereotypes and inaccurate portrayals, Emily In Paris still manages to charm and entertain. Full of fashion and sex, the show creates an escapist fantasy of an idealized Paris. It makes fun of itself, bringing laughs rather than offense, and reminds viewers not to take life too seriously. Ultimately, it is not the accuracy of American or French culture that viewers will remember, but the endearing fantasy and silliness of Emily, her boss, and the labyrinth of romantic relationships they navigate. According to Emily In Paris, charm and goofiness will always override accuracy—and viewers will adore it.

Student Life

Tribune Tries: Wine Tasting

by ET Wu, Leyla Moy, Alaana Kumar, & Katia Lo Innes on

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On Oct. 14, the McGill Wine Society held WINE 101: Intro to Wine Studies, a virtual lecture for beginners on the intricacies of wine tasting. After the original McGill wine tasting club dissolved in 2016, Noah Gundermann, U3 Management, and Zachary Goldenberg, U2 Management, founded the McGill Wine Society in February 2020. During the “course,” the Wine Society provided students with supplemental readings and a course materials list for the at-home lab portion, which involved wine tasting.

“I hope the students learned something new about wine and the industry,” Gundermann said in a message to the Tribune. “As most students have very basic to no knowledge on the matter, we wanted to supply them with an introductory and interactive experience with the help of former LCBO [Liquor Control Board of Ontario] director and wine expert Michael Fagan.” 

The turnout for this virtual event exceeded expectations, and each student had a unique experience with their chosen bottle of wine. Members of The McGill Tribune’s Student Life section share their thoughts from the tasting. 

Willm Alsace Riesling 2019, Leyla Moy

Noting the course materials section of the Wine 101 event page, I opted for the only riesling at my local Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ). This French wine was remarkably smooth and easy to drink, a far cry from the acidic depanneur wines I’m accustomed to. It was also a relatively safe choice: As Fagan mentioned, many less-experienced wine drinkers start with sweeter white wines. I detected fruity, citrusy notes immediately, and deeper apple and grape flavours with more scrutiny. 

Le Réservoir Pinot Noir, Alaana Kumar

Though I gravitate toward sweeter white wines, in the interest of higher education, I chose to try a dry red wine—and it was a mistake. During the lecture, Fagan explained how younger red wines are often criticized. His explanation summed up my entire experience perfectly. 

“If you’re drinking red wines that are young, they can be really tannic, really sharp, and maybe not all that pleasant,” Fagan said.  

In the wine-tasting portion of the afternoon, Fagan demonstrated the correct way to extract the maximum amount of flavour from a bottle of wine with our senses. I knew his techniques were working when my terribly flavoured wine only got worse. I learned a lot from Professor Fagan, particularly how unadventurous my personal wine habits are. I look forward to using these new skills again—preferably with a fruity, sparkling, and sugary white wine. 

Les Artisans du Terroir Prémices d’Automne 2018, Katia Lo Innes

Luckily, letting this SAQ steal swish around my tastebuds for an extended period did not—in my case—bring out any unpleasant flavours that the wine might have hidden upon a quicker gulp. I went with this Quebecois white wine, mostly because of the price tag, but was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed my choice. Based on what I could understand from the presentation, I could detect notes of licorice and some sort of zesty fruit—or maybe this was simply just a really cheap, overly sweet wine.

For the sober/underaged, ET Wu

Though the “course” was open to all McGill students, the tasting “lab” component was not. Instead, Fagan suggested drinking tea as a way to transition into the wine tasting hobby. He compared the transition from smoother to more bitter teas to the transition from off-dry to dry wines. I started with smoother teas such as Jasmine tea or chamomile, and transitioned to more fragrant teas such as chrysanthemum or earl grey. I even developed a liking for Japanese sencha and Iron Buddha (tieguanyin in Chinese). After developing a taste for teas at this level, I moved on to Vietnamese green tea, which is highly potent. I still have trouble with the potency of Vietnamese green tea.

The McGill Wine Society hopes to host more cultural and social events around wine, including in-person events when it is safe to do so. For upcoming events, check out their Facebook page.

McGill, News

Robin Beech announced as new Dean of Students

by Dante Ventulieri on

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McGill’s Board of Governors has appointed Robin Beech as Dean of Students, though his five-year term is not set to begin until Nov. 1 2020. Beech will be replacing the current interim Dean of Students Glenn Zabowski, who has held the position since the departure of the former Dean of Students, Christopher Buddle, in January 2020. Zabowski will resume his role as Associate Dean of Students upon Beech’s appointment.

Christopher Buddle, who left the Dean of Students position after being appointed to Associate Provost (Teaching & Academic Programs) at the end of 2019, worked on revising  the Charter of Students’ Rights and the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures during his term. Notably, he broadened the definition of the “university context” and removed intent as a requirement for accusations of harassment. 

Following in Buddle’s footsteps, Robin Beech received his Joint Honours BSc in Genetics and Biochemistry from the University of Nottingham and a Ph.D in Molecular Population Genetics from the University of Edinburgh. He joined the McGill Institute of Parasitology in 1992 and assumed the position of Associate Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in 2015.

In a statement to the McGill community, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Christopher Manfredi expressed that Beech’s previous role as an associate dean is a key factor for his selection. 

“In addition to [Beech’s] extensive experience in student advising, supervision, discipline and policy, he is skilled in conflict resolution, mediation and creative problem solving,” Manfredi wrote. “Following interviews and deliberation, the Committee unanimously agreed to recommend the appointment of Prof. Beech.”

Beech was then appointed by McGill’s Board of Governors on Oct. 1, a decision supported by Zabowski. 

“Prof. Beech […] brings the graduate student perspective along with a wealth of experience as an Associate Dean and Disciplinary Officer in Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies,” Zabowski said.

Beech agrees with Zabowski on this point and believes that his previous work as an associate dean has given him the necessary tools to succeed in this new position. In an interview with the Tribune, Beech explained what he learned in his former role. 

“I found many problems could be solved by paying attention to what people say, and listening,” Beech said. “I believe this experience can be a great asset.”

The Office of the Dean of Students (ODoS) plays a vital role in student life: It oversees issues concerning student rights, academic advising, academic integrity, the student disciplinary process, and crisis management. The ODoS has been behind many McGill initiatives such as the Sexual Violence Education program, the Indigenous Affairs Work Group, and the Mary H. Brown Fund. In addition, the office acts as a referral service for students who need mental health support, financial assistance, and academic accommodations. 

Beech is entering this position during an unprecedented era in global history as the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent transition to online learning has presented new challenges for the ODoS. While Zabowski has laid the groundwork in shifting ODoS services to remote delivery, some of the biggest challenges for Beech, such as the looming mental health crisis, financial problems facing students, and changes to the disciplinary procedures, still are yet to be addressed. 

“I will certainly need some time to learn how [to] best serve the McGill community,” Beech said. “We are learning together how to make the most of these [circumstances], and some of our most talented people with creative ideas are students.” 

In a statement to the Tribune, Manfredi made clear that despite the switch to remote learning, the mission of ODoS remains intact. 

“They will address all issues brought to their attention—big or small.”

 To get in contact with ODoS or to learn more, visit their website.

McGill, News

Tribune Explains: SSMU’s Judicial Board

by Kate Addison, Sequoia Kim on

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What is the Judicial Board?

The Judicial Board (J-Board) is the official dispute resolution body of the Student Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Board of Directors (BOD), the body responsible for the supervision of the management of SSMU. The committee is made up of seven student representatives, the majority of whom are students in McGill’s Faculty of Law. These seven justices are appointed by the Nominating Committee and serve for a one year term or until their successors are appointed.

What falls under J-Board’s jurisdiction?

All members of  SSMU have the right to petition the J-Board on matters falling within its jurisdiction. The J-Board’s duties include interpreting the SSMU Constitution and its Internal Regulations and policies. The board also has authority over the SSMU Legislative Council’s motions and resolutions, procedures, questions and results of all elections and referenda, the constitutions of clubs and services of the Society, the interpretation of any other governance documents of clubs and services of the SSMU as requested, and any equity complaints.

As the J-Board is a committee of  SSMU’s Board of Directors (BOD), it does not have the authority to bind the Board of Directors through its decisions. After the J-Board makes a ruling and communicates the results through a motion at a BOD meeting, the BOD must ratify the J-Board’s decision before it can come into effect.

For instance, although the J-Board ruled that the SSMU constitution students voted on in Winter 2020 was invalid, the SSMU BOD ultimately decided not to ratify this ruling. 

‘Governance Appellate Committee’ or J-Board?

The current version of the SSMU Constitution, ratified in Winter 2020, refers to the J-Board and the Bylaw Appellate Committee interchangeably. 

The Comprehensive Governance Review Committee (CGRC) submitted the initial report to the SSMU legislative council, outlining the proposed amendments to the constitution. As justification, CGRC cited that changing the name to Governance Appellate Committee would better recognize the J-board’s non-binding power and be more truthful to its function as a legal counselling body.

On Oct. 16, ballots closed for the 2020 SSMU special referendum. One of the three amendments proposed to officially change the name of the Judicial Board to the ‘Governance Appellate Committee’. 

However, with only 12.8 per cent of SSMU members—3,117 out of 24,278—casting a vote, the election did not reach the required quorum of 15 per cent. Therefore, the results do not stand and the changes to the constitution were not ratified. 

Filing a Petition

The bureaucratic structure of J-board can make the process of filing a petition inaccessible for students. While the board does not entertain what it determines to be petitions of a frivolous nature, the process is still available to all members of the McGill community who may wish to voice their concern about the operations of SSMU or its subsidiaries. 

When filing a petition to the board, the petitioner must agree to submit the petition only to the J-Board and to abide by its ultimate ruling on the matter. A petitioner can change their mind at any point before the hearing and withdraw their petition by written notice to the J-Board. 

Recent Rulings

On Jun. 6, the J-Board made its final ruling in a case concerning the Education Undergraduate Society (EdUS). In this case, the petitioners asked the J-Board to review EdUS’s decision to disqualify their candidacy for Vice-Presidents (Academic) of the EdUS, a disqualification made on the grounds of alleged violations of the society’s bylaws by the petitioners. The J-Board sided with the petitioners on this matter. 

On May 19, a petitioner argued that improper procedure was taken following the resignation of Moses Milchberg from his position as Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) representative to SSMU. The J-Board ruled that sending proxies to fill Milchberg’s vacancy was invalid and that the SUS should have appointed a new representative or held elections.

Erratum: An earlier version of the article stated that “The Judicial Board (J-Board) is the official dispute resolution body and legal counsel of the Student Society of McGill. University’s Board of Directors.” In fact “The Judicial Board (J-Board) is the official dispute resolution body” and not the legal counsel for the Student Society of McGill. University’s Board of Directors. The Tribune regrets this error. 

Soccer, Sports

Facing the consequences of the second wave in the Premier League

by Karan Kumar on

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On Oct. 13, The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) announced that Cristiano Ronaldo had tested positive for COVID-19. Before the test results were released, Ronaldo had been with the Portuguese national team playing in the UEFA Nations League. He has since returned to his home in Turin, Italy, where he is self-isolating. 

“Ronaldo was released from the work of the National Team after a positive test for COVID-19, so he will not face Sweden,” the FPF said in a statement. “The Portuguese international is doing well, without symptoms, and in isolation.” 

Although Ronaldo’s diagnosis attracted significant media attention, it is just one event in a series of adverse COVID-19 consequences for professional soccer in Europe. Due to the pandemic, soccer leagues across Europe have had to readjust how the game is played. In addition to having no spectators, these adjustments include rescheduling league matches and mandatory COVID-19 testing for players and staff. 

The onset of the second wave of COVID-19 in Europe means that soccer leagues must take place in empty stadiums. The United Kingdom government’s directive of spectator-free stadiums has been in place since May to prevent the spread of the virus. Soccer games without spectators have significantly impacted players’ motivation. Dimitar Berbatov, a retired Manchester United striker, believes that playing in empty stadiums affects player performance. 

“[Playing behind closed doors] can affect your performance when you go out there, and there are no fans,”  Berbatov said in an interview with Betfair. “[Even though] it’s a serious game, your body and mind can tell you it’s a practice game, which can lead to bad games and performances.” 

According to a University of Reading study, matches ending in a home win fell from 43.8 per cent to 41.2 per cent after fans were no longer allowed to attend games. Joshua Kimmich, a defender and midfielder for Bayern Munich, noted these differences.

”[When the stadium is full], you [feel] more [excited] when you score a goal,” Kimmich said in an interview with Psychology Today. “It’s more emotional when there are fans.”

The pandemic has also revealed the vulnerabilities of clubs in the lower leagues. Many clubs are struggling to survive, as their primary source of revenue comes from spectators. The Premier League acknowledged clubs’ financial fragility in the lower leagues and has devised an action plan to support those in need. 

“League One and League Two clubs rely more heavily on matchday revenue and have fewer resources at their disposal than Championship or Premier League clubs, and are therefore more at risk, especially at a time when fans are excluded from attending matches,” said the Premier League in a statement. “This offer [of financial assistance] will consist of grants and interest-free loans totalling a further $50 million pounds on top of the $27.2 million pounds in solidarity payments already advanced to League One and League Two this year.”

The mental health of athletes, whether in soccer or any other sport, must also be considered during this unusual season. Managers and clubs need to start paying attention to mental health as leagues across Europe persevere through the ongoing pandemic. Many players are away from their home and playing in foreign countries. Pundits and critics, who remain overly critical of players’ performances, do not always consider that these players are working in an unprecedented situation. The pressure to win should not be an excuse to neglect the mental wellbeing of players.

 “Your athletes are more resilient when they know how to manage their emotions,” Dr. John Sullivan, a clinical sports psychologist, noted in an interview with CBS Boston.

As in every other field, officials of the top soccer leagues in Europe need to understand the changes in the game at a deeper level. The impact of this pandemic goes beyond just headline-grabbing diagnoses of major stars like Ronaldo. The effect of spectator-free stadiums on players, the financial viability of clubs in lower leagues, and players’ mental health are key areas for management to work on as the restrictions with the pandemic continue for the foreseeable future.

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